#i think even in the rest of this first episode they hold hands multiple times and THEY JUST MET

[all-i-do-is-live-in-daydreams]

put on the first ep of doctor who and Like 6 mins in and I already want to scream over rose and the doctor

[solar-wing]

⚣ Forever 💛

⚣💛 A/N → This is a testament to how I'm unable to write anything under 1.5k words. This was supposed to be a short drabble/prompt writing and turned into a whole fic. Lord help me...still super cute though. WARNINGS: none really. just fluff. comfort vibes. emotional tingz. kind of neglectful parenting.

⚣💛 Summary → After an accident during a training session earlier, Conner and you are cuddling on a couch with your Kryptonian wanting to make sure you're safe and cared for. That includes keeping you from going back to your boarding school which is doing the opposite of that. He really doesn't like your parents.

⚣💛 Words → 4.1k

REBLOGS and replies are greatly appreciated, please! 💛

⚣ ENJOY 💛

It was late at night. You and Conner were laying together under a blanket on the couch for a few hours, watching movies and random episodes from your favorite tv shows.

You were laid against a pillow on the arm of the sofa with the Kryptonian on top of you between your legs, his head lying on your chest, and arms wrapped around your body. He almost resembled a child hugging their favorite teddy bear.

You had your arms rested over his shoulders with one of your hands rubbing up and down his back while the other massaged his head, fingers threading through his dark hair while you both watched the ‘Graveyard Shift’ episode from Spongebob Squarepants.

“I still don’t get it,” Conner spoke gruffly,  “How is he a talking sponge? What gives him the ability to speak and walk?

You chuckled at his words, feeling how he nuzzled his head against your chest from the vibration of your voice.

“I don’t know. It’s a cartoon. Not everything is supposed to make sense.”

“How am I supposed to follow along if I don’t get how the world functions?” He responded, taking one of his arms from under you to gesture at the TV. You couldn’t help the sigh and eye roll that came from your lips at your boyfriend’s antics.

As Spongebob screamed frantically while running to throw the trash out, you removed your hand from Conner’s head to grab your phone. He let out a disgruntled noise, turning to look at you with one of his signature frowns, “Oh, calm down, you big baby. I was just grabbing my phone.” You laughed.

He eyed you with a disapproving look before reaching to snatch your phone out of your hand before you could look at it.

“Conner!” 

“Shut up and rub my head.” He mumbled, laying his head back down on your chest while tucking your phone away in his grasp under your body.

“Conner, give me my phone.” You insisted, trying to squeeze your hand under your body to retrieve it from his hands.

“Watch the talking sponge, Y/N,” He replied, scooting himself up a little so more of his body rested on you, limiting your movement.

Now, it was your turn to huff as you raised an eyebrow at his antics. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

He didn’t respond to you, but you knew he was holding a smug look on his face.

It had been the same thing for the past few nights. You and Conner would hang out with the team after a mission or training session. Then, you both would separate from everyone else to spend time with each other whether that was reading, sparring, laying out by the beach, watching television, or other stuff. 

At some point, you’d realize how late it was and would check your phone to see the time.

The boarding school you attended had a strict curfew policy, and while you had broken this rule multiple times (sometimes in a row) for team missions, you couldn’t count on Batman or Red Tornado to write you an excuse as your ‘parents’ for the simple reason of cuddling with your boyfriend.

Thus, whenever you reached for your phone to check the time, Conner knew it meant you were about to leave. So, for the third night in a row, your boyfriend attempted to prevent that by keeping your phone from you. 

The first night, he simply kept it in his pocket. Everything was fine as you hadn’t even noticed it was missing until you were making out with him in his room, and your roommate had called, wondering why you weren’t back yet as it was close to curfew.

He smiled sheepishly at you, cursing himself for forgetting to silence the ringtone.

The next night, the Kryptonian remembered to place it on silent and decided to leap up to one of the high walls in the Cave to hide it up there. You could’ve left without it if it wasn’t for the fact that the locks on the door to your dorm were Bluetooth-enabled, requiring a link from an app you could only access on your phone, which you now regretted telling him. 

When you spent half an hour searching around the Cave for it, you demanded he tell you where it was since you had already searched his pockets and room. He promised to give it to you in the morning with a cheeky smile thinking he’d won since it was getting late. 

The smile was quickly wiped from his face when he discovered the beauty of Find My iPhone after watching you use it on your computer to locate the phone and make it ring. 

Though, remembering where he left it, he kept his smirk since he knew only he’d be able to reach it, at least until he watched you fly up and grab it, landing in front of him with your arms crossed eyebrows raised in mocking victory.

He forgot about that as well.

Now, he resorted to simply holding your phone hostage, figuring as long as you couldn’t get it out of his grip, you’d have to stay, and he could cuddle you all night.

“Conner, I’m so serious right now. Give me my phone.” You demanded, starting to get annoyed with your boyfriend’s childish antics.

“No.” He responded, tightening his arm around your body.

“Conner, come on, please!” You grabbed at his black shirt, pulling it back and forth to shake him.

“Why can’t you just stay here? You could transfer to Happy Harbor with M’Gann, Zatanna, and me.” He whined when he realized you weren’t going to give up easily.

Another sigh escaped your lips as you pinched the bridge of your nose in frustration. This was also the third time you had this conversation. 

“Conner, you know why I can’t do that.” You said, even if there was nothing more you wanted to do than exactly what he suggested.

But you couldn’t, and he knew it, hence the unhappy grumbling under his breath.

It wasn’t your school that was the problem. It was your parents. 

You hailed from one of the wealthiest families on the east coast, right up there with Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne, who they both knew through social events. But, they shared ideologies that aligned more with Lex regarding his view of Superman. 

It didn’t help when they realized their son possessed abilities similar to the Man of Steel. Minus the heat/X-ray vision and super strength, you could fly, manipulate energy fields, move at inhuman speeds, and possessed enhanced durability. Not the same as invulnerability but somewhat still close.

Your parents sent you to your boarding school under the guise that they wanted the best education for you, but in reality, they wanted the scientists at the school to find a way to ‘cleanse’ you of your powers. Something Lex Luthor was happy to help with at their request. 

Eventually, during another one of Lex’s attempts to destroy Superman, the Justice League found a way to hack into LexCorp, discovering your existence and the experiments being performed on you through an encrypted file. When Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, recognized your picture, he along with Superman and The Flash showed up at your school (in disguise) to meet you. 

When they revealed who they were, you excitedly showed them the extent of your abilities, thoroughly impressing them. You told them about your parents and their wish to rid you of your powers and that you didn’t know where they came from, but you had been teaching yourself how to control them. They told you they could help you learn more about your powers with time and study, especially on the newly discovered possibility of you gaining new ones over time from the information they found in your file from LexCorp.

With little convincing needed, they recruited you to The Team without your parent’s knowledge, and that’s when you met your boyfriend, Conner Kent, aka Superboy.

Of course, this posed many potential problems. 

You couldn’t risk tipping off your parents or Lex Luthor that you were with the Justice League since it could put you and the team at risk, but also your parents. Plus, the scientists couldn’t be allowed to continue their experiments on you with any success. Thankfully, you were smart enough to never reveal all your abilities to them. 

The most they knew was that you could fly and move really fast. So, you had to find subtle ways to sabotage it, which the Dark Knight was more than happy to help in that department.

He did advise not to tell your story to your teammates yet, especially Conner until they found a way to shut down Lex’s little project without hurting your parents. Of course, you agreed. 

You may not have seen eye to eye with them all the time, but you didn’t want any harm to come to them because of you. Plus, with someone like Lex Luthor involved, even you knew there was more to his words than he let on. There was a very real possibility of him using whatever came out of those experiments in a ploy against Superman and the entire Justice League. It was almost definite.

It wasn’t until Conner overheard one of your conversations with Batman in the main room that the team started to get suspicious about your mysterious origins, so they sent him to try and figure it out. He overheard you on the phone with your parents saying how much you had been ‘enjoying’ your time at the school and that ‘Uncle Lex’s’ tests were very effective. 

They were all lies, of course, but Conner didn’t know that when he rushed back to tell the others.

Leading to a mess of complicated events, including a fake mission, you tied to a tree, and Wally, for whatever reason, throwing peanuts at you. Thankfully, Batman revealed the truth to your ‘captors,’ leading them to give you embarrassed apologies.

Accepted by the team now, you got a suit to conceal your identity from not only Lex but also your parents. And you chose the alias, ‘Primus.’

This also sparked the beginning of your and Conner’s relationship with you both sharing a connection over being subjects of Lex Luthor’s experimenting, which is an odd way to bond, but slay queens.

Of course, there was already an attraction between the two of you when you first joined that had the Kryptonian confused, but the fact that he and your other comrades thought you were some molerat sent to spy on the team got in the way of him exploring that attraction.

But, not that everything was in the air, he was free to pursue his interests in you which also led him to want to tell you the truth about his connection to Lex Luthor.

The day he told you was one to remember. You were hanging out with the team on the beach and decided to ask why Batman told you to specifically never mention your background to Conner. When you saw how everyone tensed, you became nervous but he still told you, not wanting to have any secrets between you two. He was scared to tell you, thinking you would look at him differently and not consider him an actual person.

Your response left everyone speechless.

“Wow. You are a miracle to all the gays around the world.”

He held a confused expression on his face as well as M’Gann. Wally, Artemis, and Zatanna couldn’t stop laughing while Dick and Kaldur tried to hide their chuckles.

After that, you two became inseparable. He and M’Gann had already broken up due to him realizing he only felt a friendship for M’Gann, considering he didn’t understand feelings and emotions that well when he came out of the pod hence him having to ‘explore’ his attraction to you. And explore he did…

Wait, are we keeping this PG-13? Well, no one told—Ugh, fine.

He was very very very interested in you.

Happy?

Anyway, when he discovered the world around him, he only saw guys with girls and girls with guys, figuring that was what he was supposed to do.

Then, you came into his life, and, well…he thought his stomach was broken for a week and a half.

It was butterflies.

As you and he discovered your feelings for each other and soon entered a relationship, Conner began to see how some of the experiments were affecting you. Batman and the League still hadn’t found a way to shut down Lex’s operation quietly and safely, and he became frustrated with the time and danger it posed for you. 

Even with Batman’s sabotage attempts, the scientist’s tampering with your powers was causing various side effects putting a strain on your body. There was never a moment when the topic of your ‘schooling’ came up that Conner did not make clear how he felt about your parents.

Plus, since he made it his personal responsibility to walk you back to your campus every night (wearing a disguise, of course) to make sure you got back safely, at some point, he was bound to meet your roommate.

Conner had accompanied you to the gate of your campus, insisting that he walk you to your room to make sure you got back, but you didn’t want to take any chances of Lex discovering him here and linking you two together. Then, your roommate Mason decided to appear at that very moment.

You’d be lying six ways to Sunday if you said the expression on Conner’s face was neutral, at a bare minimum.

After an awkward exchange, your roommate headed to your shared dorm, saying he got you some food from the dining hall, which, for whatever reason, Conner did not appreciate. 

As soon as he was out of earshot, Conner’s first words were, ‘I don’t like him.’ That was the first time he suggested you come live at the Cave with him and the others. When you told him you couldn’t, he suggested (demanded) you switch rooms, to which you reminded him you’d just get placed with another guy. So he circled back to the first option, and you chose to kiss him and run back to your room before he decided to drag you back to Mount Justice (which you had no doubt he would do given the opportunity).

So yeah, it was safe to say Connerhated when you’d leave back to campus every night.

“I don’t like your parents,” He growled, the 1000th time you’ve probably heard him say that exact sentence.

“Conner, I need to get back,” You spoke softly, rubbing his head again, hoping he would give in. But, knowing him and how stubborn he could be, there wasn’t that much hope in the world.

“No, you don’t! You need to stay here where I can keep you safe.” He remarked, pushing himself up and throwing the blanket to the floor before standing up to walk toward his room with your phone still in his hand.

“Conner…” You groaned, getting up yourself and following after him.

You continued to call out to him as you walked through the hallways, eventually reaching the door to his room just as your phone began ringing in his hand. 

“Oh look, it’s your little boyfriend now.”

You could see Mason’s contact appearing across your phone screen before he opened the door to his bedroom walking inside. And even though you could hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice, the urge to make a joke was hard to resist.

“I have another boyfriend? Wow. I must be hot stuff,” You chuckled, flipping imaginary hair out of your face while following him inside the bedroom before closing the door behind you.

Conner held a sour look at your words, very much not impressed. “Not funny,” He huffed.

“What! You said it. Come on, Conner. You know what will happen if I don’t go back.”

“And I know what will happen if you do go back!” He shouted.

You froze right where you were, surprised at the outburst while he continued his tirade, “You barely could keep up today with training. You’ve got so many drugs and serums running through your body, not to mention Batman’s dilutions to nullify their effects and it’s clearly taking a toll on you! You think I didn’t notice how exhausted you looked when you put up that shield? Let’s not forget you basically fell out of the air mid-flight and would’ve hit the ground from 50 feet up if I hadn’t caught you in time. These experiments are hurting you, Y/N! And you think I’m just going to keep letting you go back so they can do more twisted shit to you? Do you really think I’m going to be okay with that?!” 

At this point, Conner had grabbed you by your shoulders, his voice almost in hysterics.

You could tell he was trying to sound unaffected, but the trembling in his voice was unmistakable. His hands clenched at your shoulders, dropping your phone on the ground which probably cracked and broke it, yet, you couldn’t find an ounce of care in your body about it seeing how distressed your boyfriend was standing in front of you.

The experiments were becoming more extreme, there was no denying it. You were the one on the end of the needles and syringes, so you’d definitely know.

Conner was right, it was definitely putting more stress on your body from constantly fighting the drugs and ‘medicines’ they injected into you. Batman thought adding what he called a ‘dilution’ solution (rhyme unintended) to counter the effects of the drugs would help. But, your body’s immune system saw it as another foreign virus and attempted to flush it from your system.

He and the Red Tornado were concerned when they saw how you were barely keeping up with the others during training. Usually, you were easily the most combative fighter on your team, picking up your lessons and training easily when you joined. But, the last few weeks had been different with today being the worst out of all of them. 

Just trying to fly felt like you were pulling 10 truckloads of bricks, and that was usually the easiest thing for you to do. When had basically fainted during an exercise and fell out of flight, Conner had to leap up to catch you before you hit the ground head-first.

Everyone came to make sure you were okay while the Kryptonian lost it on the Dark Knight. Not only was he yelling and shouting at him, he was also blaming the entire League for allowing you to stay in this situation as long as they did and threatened that if they didn’t find a way to get you out of that school and away from Lex’s experiments soon, he’d take matters into his own hands.

He carried you away to his room to rest, stating you were done with training for the day. When you woke up to him staring at you while caressing your face, you jokingly asked if you should be worried about this in the future. 

You were still slightly confused on why you were in his room and had asked him what happened only for him to respond with a kiss on your lips before nuzzling his face into your neck, breathing in your scent. 

When you figured he wasn’t ready to speak about it, that’s when you suggested going to the lounge room to watch movies and TV, figuring he wouldn’t let you out of his sight from his behavior. He carried you the way there and was going to let you rest against him, but you said you liked it better when he laid against you (which he did too but he would never admit it).

Your friends had stopped by to check on you when they were passing through, and while thanking them and letting them know you were okay, you had to pinch at your boyfriend’s back a few times feeling how tense he got from his arms tightening around you whenever one of them came closer than he liked. 

He was almost like a guard dog that was on full alert, seeing anything that came near you as a possible threat. Somehow, you got the sense that a part of him needed to be near you and constantly holding or having some type of physical contact with you, assuring himself that you were okay and safe. You figured it was a Kryptonian thing.

Now, you knew exactly what happened and why he had been so clingy with you and grumpy at everyone who came by, especially Batman. He looked like he wanted to snap his head off.

And the look on his face communicated his feelings clearly as day without him having to say a word. He was scared, terrified really. You figured the sight of you falling and hitting the ground like that had more than an impressionable effect on the Kryptonian. If the roles were reversed and it was him that almost got hurt like that, you’d probably (definitely) be acting the same way (worse actually).

“Conner, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize-” You started to apologize but he didn’t let you finish, pressing his lips against yours.

You stood there lost in each other for a moment, forgetting about the world outside the bedroom door and all the problems you had. It was a blissful moment, one you wish you could stay in forever.

Eventually, though, you had to come up for air, breaking the kiss as Conner once again brought a hand up to caress your face.

“Don’t apologize. None of this is your fault, but the only way you’re going back to that school is if I’m going with you. And if not, then you’re staying here.” He declared to which you raised a playful eyebrow.

It was no secret to anyone but you that you very much enjoyed how protective your boyfriend was over you, liking to poke at him a few times just to get a reaction.

“Do I get a say in this?” You asked, twirling your fingers through the hair at the back of his head.

A slight smirk appeared on his lips before he leaned his head down between your jaw and shoulder. You leaned to the side, allowing him more access while he traced his nose up and down your neck.

“Nope,” He stated.

“Rude.”

“Don’t care.”

You stood there in silence for a few more minutes with your head resting on his shoulder while he still traced your neck, planting a few kisses now and then. His hands were rubbing up and down your back with one slipping under your shirt to press against your skin which left you shuddering in his hold. How was it a man who ran so hot could have hands that felt so cold?

“Why can’t we stay here forever?” You muttered, nuzzling your face into his chest.

“We could if you’d just move in here. We could wake up and have breakfast together. Go to school together. Have movie nights all the time. You could sleep in my room, which means we could even-”

“Ah ah ah, watch those hands, tough guy!” Your hands shot down to his wrists, stopping them from reaching into your pants with a laugh.

PG-13, remember?

Ever since he was introduced to the world of corny but with an ‘H,’ you’d had a hard time keeping his hands off you. His libido was something else. Another Kryptonian thing, you figured.

He playfully whined as you dragged his hands off you before leaning down to grab your phone off the floor. Surprisingly, it didn’t have a scratch on them. There were missed calls and messages from Mason, alerting you that curfew was soon and asking where you were. Conner grumbled as he watched you reply to your roommate's messages.

“Oh, hush you, big baby. I’m asking him to cover for me since I’m apparently spending the night. You’re lucky it’s Friday,” You laughed before he snatched your phone again, “Conner!”

He held your phone above you, using the phone’s camera to snap a picture of you two before quickly sending it to Mason. You launched yourself off the ground to snatch the device back while flying above the room to see what he sent.

“Seriously?”

“Had to make sure he knows whose room you’re gonna be sleeping in,” He joked, though you knew part of him was serious. The boy was so freaking territorial.

You loved it though.

A hum sounded from your lips though when a thought came to mind and a mischievous grin appeared on your face as you tapped your phone against your chin, “Maybe I’ll tell him I’m bored and ask him to come to get me.”

That wiped the smirk off his face quickly, “You wouldn’t…”

You played like you were typing a fake message as Conner jumped at you, chasing you all over the room.

Yeah, you knew you wanted to stay here forever.

☀️ | Conner Kent/Superboy | ☀️

☀️ | Masterlists | ☀️

[amuseoffyre]

Thinking again (thanks to the dead bird site) about Stede rebooting his worst day ever, aka the traumatic flashback he has multiple times across both season, only this time he gets the acceptance and approval he has craved for his entire life.

The Worst Day Ever is the day his father teaches him to kill, slaughtering a goose and spraying blood all over little Stede's face. He then grabs his son by the arm and drags him out to verbally excoriate him and tell him he is worthless and useless, "a soft-handed, weak-hearted, lily-livered little rich boy".

Faced with the prospect of killing for the first time sends Stede into a panic spiral including that flashback.

It's referenced again throughout the season, but especially in 1x02, loosely in the fever dream in 1x04 (he was scared of geese for Christ's sake!), and 1x09, when Stede is struggling with his guilt, self-recriminations and self-doubts and also being confronted directly by Chauncey.

But the most significant return of the Worst Day Ever flashback is immediately after Stede kills Ned Low, his first real deliberate kill.

Our man is very much Not Okay. The fact that this memory is front and centre shows exactly how much that day - that moment - impacted on him decades on.

He does his usual thing when he's upset - isolates and closes himself away somewhere else, shutting himself down and using the tried and true conceal-don't-feel approach.

The difference this time is that someone comes after him to offer him emotional support, comfort and care (much like Ed did on the beach in 2x09, and this time, more kisses as well). So for a little while at least, Stede is distracted and wrapped up in Ed's affections and can put Ned's death to the back of his mind.

But the trouble arises when they get to the Republic and suddenly, for the first time in his life, he's being praised and celebrated. And, of all the people for him to gravitate towards, he ends up choosing to spend his time in the company of Blood-bucket Bill, an older man in a blood-smeared leather apron, who keeps telling him how cool and amazing he is.

And, after Stede kills in front of him, we get another twisted up mirror of the Worst Day Ever. Instead of his dad dragging him out to humiliate him, Bloodbucket Bill grabs him by the arm and hauls him up and tells everyone "the Gentleman Pirate is the fuckin' dude"

And as the episode continues and Ed leaves, Stede retreats to the bar with Bill, trying to take comfort from the man who has been telling him how good he is all day.

"At least you like me for me," he says to the deranged blood-smeared groupie. "Bonnet, I'd fuckin' die for you" Bill tells him and you can see that it isn't bringing the assurance Stede thought it would.

And to ice the cake, even when he's holding onto those last little vestiges of "yay I'm cool", Izzy shows up and dismisses Bill with three words and Bill doesn't even try to stay. "I'll fuckin' die for you" becomes "yes, right away, Mr Hands".

And the framing. omg the framing in the scene. It is, once again, a deliberate and pointed call back to Stede's Worst Day Ever. Once again, an older man is looming over him and Stede is just waiting to have emotional strips ripped out of him again ("have you come for your victory lap?"). This is the first and only time I can think of Izzy looking taller than anyone, especially Stede.

But unlike the horrendous abuse he got from his father, the abuse Stede expects yet again, the same old patterns happening over and over, Izzy changes the script and tells him "I think you're good for him. You balance each other out".

And if not for a group of his crew - his family - choosing to leave him as well, it might have been enough. But when he's already fragile over the loss of one person precious to him and reassured that he's good for people after all, the threat of losing more of his beloved people pushes him straight back into the reckless behaviour that has filled the rest of his day.

(brb wailing into a pillow that we won't get to see him have a chance to process any of this stuff)

[dramaticallytotal]

I just wanted to say I really like your AU’s, especially the one named “London Calling”. On that note, I was wondering if you’d have any more ideas or any headcanons involving this AU? I’m very interested to know.

Thank you!! And I definitely do! London Calling is such a fun idea to think of.

_______

London Calling Headcanons Part 1:

• Noah wakes up the morning of the London challenge a total of six times, excluding the original time.

• It's after the third time he started writing down the original timelines and the changes he made. Unfortunately, he does have to rewrite everything down each time he "resets".

• The first rerun he had was the one he made sure he was captured first in, and he was grateful for it, seeing as his body kept spasming and jerking around almost like he was having a seizure...or almost like the aftermath of being heavily electrocuted. He was able to hide it from everyone for the most part since he had used the excuse of not feeling well, and Chef let him lay down.

• The sixth time he woke up on Alejandro's chest, he just refused to get up. He was just so freaking tired. Tired of reliving the day only to die in some way or another. Tired of waking up and trying to change things and feeling like he was getting close, only to wake back up on Alejandro. Tired of being tired! He feels like he hasn't slept in a week! So he just laid there and then basked in the little calm and rest he could even as Alejandro asked if he was feeling alright. Even when the boy finally sat up with Noah in his arms, he was so warm. Even when there were multiple voices asking what was wrong with him or even the multiple hands feeling his forehead or neck.

He had almost fallen back asleep when he felt those strong arms hold him more securely before he was moving up and being carried somewhere. The walk was surprisingly smooth, and again, Alejandro was warm, so he couldn't help the little sigh of contentedness.

"You with me now, amigo?" Alejandro asked in a voice oh so soft.

Noah hummed.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Alejandro hummed in response that time.

Before he knew it, he was being handed off to Chris and Chef, who immediately took him to their room, where they laid him on the couch. They asked if he was having an off day and if he took his meds. He did. He also agreed to the off-day statement, so he got to rest and listen to Chris chatter and answer phones before the time for the challenge drew near.

• He still ended up doing the challenge. He promised Chris and Chef and his teammates that he was up for it. Owen somehow became the person captured while he wasn't around, so it was him, Alejandro, and Tyler doing the challenge. He absolutely did not complain about how Alejandro stuck so close by him the entire time. Tyler ended up getting caught in the stretching chamber again, but Alejandro and Noah worked well together. Alejandro even let Noah have a moment with the corgis, who ended up following them, which made Noah smile for the first time that repeat. He still got thrown in the driver box on the bus, and Alejandro caught the ripper, but he was more...aggressive this time than any time before.

• They still lost, but then Chris announced it was a reward challenge. That had shocked Noah so much because each other repeat never ended in a reward challenge. Owen had hugged him and carried him out the elimination room. His team celebrated a bit about it being a reward. Later, he would go back to Chris and Chef's room and give them hugs before leaving and going to sleep on Owen.

• Chris felt this overwhelming bad feeling the whole episode, and it spiked during the elimination ceremony. So he made the challenge a reward and the feeling faded. He had no idea what it was all about, but the relief he felt seeing Noah being carried out of the elimination room was intense.

• I said some people start to feel very protective over Noah, and the first one is Alejandro, second is Chris, third is Chef, and fourth is Owen. Only until he passes the London event and starts waking up to challenge in Greece.

• He didn't die that many times in Greece, and thankfully, it was made into a reward given Duncan and all that drama.

• He's wary of all the interns and crew now except for camera man Jack. Chris, of course, notices and being the concerned boss-dad, he is pulled him aside to ask him if the crew or interns did anything to Noah. Noah broke down completely and told Chris everything about the loops and the "intern" who is always there and involved. Miraculously they both believed him.

"Dude, of course I believe you. You wouldn't lie about something like this but also... it wouldn't be so weird if time loops existed, right? I mean, we have weirdly sentient sharks working for the network. Time loops aren't that weird." Chris casually remarked.

"Son. This universe is too big and complex for some things to not be real despite there being no evidence to prove they are or aren't. I believe you and not just because you know things we haven't shared with you yet."

• Chris and Chef join the Loop Team. Chris and Chef tell Noah that they will believe him no matter what, but they do give him information for him to tell them to prove their repeat selves if he ends up waking up again because of dying. (Chris had looked so heartbroken when he learned what reset the loop each time.)

• Izzy finds her way back onto the plane because she had been watching the show on Aftermath, and during a confessional shown, Noah said their code word! Team E-Scope during the downtime between the seasons had come up with What If scenarios and plans. Ha! They came in handy! She knew they would. Noah specifically mentioned Titor in the confession he recorded and that is their code word for something time related.

She also noticed he mentioned Deja vu! Which she took to mean he either traveled back in time or he was doing do continuously like a time loop!

She got a chance to get back in the game, and she took it. She had never played so seriously before, and everyone was very spooked. She won in a landslide. She didn't bother to celebrate her win other than a smile that was more bared teeth than anything.

Don't worry NoNo! Izzy was coming to help!

• Izzy is the next person to join the Loop Team.

• It helps because Noah feels like he's getting closer to finding out who is killing him each time or causing his death, and with Izzy there, the person is appropriately scared of the girl. It means Noah doesn't die as often anymore.

• Alejandro becomes very, very protective of Noah because he starts to have dreams of Noah dying. Over and over and over again. He will carry him places if he needs to! With all the ways Noah died in his dreams, he wouldn't put it past the bookworm to just trip and die spontaneously. So if he carries Noah places, who cares?

• Alejandro wonders if it's worth it to tie Noah to him, to which Noah vehemently shoots down.

• Jack joins the Loop Team, and he is personally going through the crew and interns to see if any seem off or suspicious.

• Noah's grandma, Elayanila, is part of the Loop Team and calls Chris each reset to talk to Noah and give him advice as best she can from home.

• Alejandro practically has Noah sit in his lap during the flights, and the cast is just chilling or when they are eating, and everyone thinks they are dating, which embarrasses Noah but Alejandro doesn't care. He's going to protect his Zorro!

• Alejandro does break about the dreams, and that's when he learns about the time loop and if you think he was protective before, oh boy.

• Izzy and Alejandro pass Noah around like a doll when it comes to sleep time. They make sure he's with at least one of them.

• Noah feels a little trapped but more so spoiled and he doesn't know how to handle it but he's so happy he has people in his corner trying to protect him, keep him safe, and help him.

• Chef is the only one allowed in the kitchen, no more interns. He makes all the food. They don't need Noah or anyone else being poisoned if the person who is after Noah gets desperate.

• Still, though, Izzy and Alejandro taste the food before getting Noah a plate. He's fine with the manhandling and buddy system, but he draws the line at being fed... except when Alejandro decided to feed him grapes... that one.... that was an exception.

• The rest of the cast are just very confused, except Heather, who is jealous of all the attention Noah is getting from Alejandro.

• Izzy ships alenoah HARD. She is their number one supporter.

• Izzy crawls through the vents to listen in on the crew and interns to see if she can get any info on who their mysterious killer is.

• Ezekiel joins the Loop Team, too!

• The whole Loop Team start to remember the resets, almost like they are going through the loop with Noah, too. They don't know why, but each time Noah wakes up from a reset, they all get smacked with the memories of the last reset.

• Because Noah is trying his best to live past challenges, it looks like he is in it to win it, and a lot of people are rooting for him.

"Who knew not trying to die would make me good at this game?" Noah made that joke once to Izzy and Alejandro.

They did not appreciate it. UnU

[merrybloomwrites]

The Danger of Rubber Chickens and Crocks

Summary: Ian insists he's fine after a fall on Challenge Pit, but that doesn't mean you don't worry about him.

CW: falling, bruises

WC: 1.2K

AN: For some reason, I find inspiration in Challenge Pit videos. This can be read as stand alone, but I imagine it in the same universe as No Pain, No Gain

Inspired by this week's pit video:

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

If someone asked you which Smosh videos are your favorite to shoot, you might have to think about it for a moment. Reddit stories are always interesting, and you get to be comfy on the couch while Shayne reads you wild stories. Scripted sketches are what got you hired at Smosh in the first place, and will always hold a special place in your heart. And who doesn’t love getting to play video games at work?

But honestly, your answer would have to be challenge pit. Sure, plenty of your shows lead to chaos and silliness, but not the way challenge pit does. You never laugh harder than you do filming those videos, and it always feels like you’re just messing around and hanging out with friends. 

Every time you see a new video get pitched you hope that you’ll be chosen for it. Of course you can’t be in every one, the cast always rotating to keep it fresh and keep the fans happy, so it’s always a fun surprise when you see your name on the list. 

For this episode the three challenges are trying to draw the perfect circle, guessing who is the dancing imposter, and the quiet place challenge, which involves you all wearing crocs with rubber chickens taped to the bottom while running away from a blindfolded, pool noodle wielding Amanda. So, just a normal day at Smosh. 

It’s been a while since you and Ian have both appeared on one of these videos, and honestly pretty long since you’ve done any videos together. You know it’s not on purpose, that your relationship isn’t trying to be hidden or anything. It’s just the way the scheduling worked for the past few shoot months.

So you’re extra excited to be able to do this silly video with your boyfriend by your side. Add in Angela, Shayne, Amanda, and Chanse, and you know chaos is imminent.

The first challenge begins, and Shayne draws a frustratingly near-perfect circle. Ian does as well, which, that’s annoying that they’re both so good at this. You and the others, well, you definitely don’t do the worst of the group, but Ian and Shayne totally have you beat. 

The next challenge just leads to sillines, and at one point you’re laughing so hard that you hold on to Ian in order to not fall to the ground. Somehow, Shayne wins once again. This leads to the rest of you becoming extra competitive for the final game.

The rubber chickens are, as always, a huge hit. Sure, they’re loud and annoying, but they make everything about one thousand times funnier. Add in Amanda wearing a helmet and blindfold, it’s truly a ridiculous scene. One you’re getting paid for. 

When the game begins, you’re given ten seconds to run around and confuse Amanda. You’re trying your best not to laugh at the sound of the chickens as everyone sprints in circles when it happens. You watch Ian slip and absolutely eat shit as he crashes to the floor. 

Everyone immediately stops, and even though Ian gives the thumbs up that he’s okay, you’re worried. It was a hard hit, and you know him well enough to see that it caused him some pain. He sees your concerned face and silently reassures you that he’s fine to keep going.

At Ian’s insistence, the game continues. He does get up and starts running again so he’s obviously not injured, though you notice his hand rubbing at his leg a couple of times. He doesn’t give up, but he does play dirty by hiding behind the pillar multiple times, and then when it's just you two left, hiding behind you. 

He manages to win, but you all do give him some crap for hiding, even though it’s technically not cheating. The video wraps up with Shayne being announced the winner of the episode. 

When the shoot is done, you turn to Ian and ask if he’s really okay.

“I’m good, promise. I mean, my leg is sore, but nothing to worry about,” he says.

“Alright. It just looked like a bad fall. I got worried.”

He grabs your hand and gives it a squeeze, stating, “I’m fine. Probably looked worse than it actually was.”

You smile, relieved to see that he really is okay. He leans in for a quick kiss before the two of you part to each go to your next task of the day.

Due to your schedules you don’t see Ian until later that night. He had an afternoon meeting he knew would run long so you’d driven separately that morning so you didn’t have to wait around for him. By the time he gets home you have dinner on the table, one of his favorites. 

After dinner the two of you load the dishwasher together and settle on the couch to watch a couple episodes of a new show you’ve been binging together. 

It’s a perfect evening.

But then it’s time to get into bed. And while normally you enjoy the part of the night when Ian takes off his pants to get comfy, tonight is a different story.

“Ian!” you exclaim looking at his thigh.

“What?” he questions, confusion clear on his face.

“You said it wasn’t a bad fall!”

“It wasn’t,” he replies, still unsure on why you’re bringing it up now.

“If it wasn’t then why is there a bruise on your leg?”

He looks down and you can see the moment he sees what you’re talking about. His expression turns sheepish now that he’s been caught.

“You need ice,” you state. “Get in bed and I’ll grab it.”

“I can go get it-”

“In bed. Now.” You order before softening and saying, “Let me take care of you this time. You’re always helping me when my clumsiness gets me bruised. It’s my turn.”

“Well alright, I guess I can let you tend to me,” he replies, a fond smile on his face. 

Ian does as he’s told and accepts the ice pack when you return. He keeps it on his leg for the recommended twenty minutes and then you bring it back to the freezer so it’ll be cold when you force him to use it again in the morning. 

Cuddled up in bed you say, “I don’t like when you get hurt.” 

“I know. I don’t like when you’re hurt either,” he replies. In the dark room it’s easier to have these more open and vulnerable conversations. 

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I love you.”

“I love you too,” he says. He holds you closer and presses a kiss to your head. Safe in his hold, you fall asleep.

By the time the episode airs weeks later Ian’s bruise is totally healed and any memory of pain is gone.

Which is why, when you watch the completed video for the first time, you can’t help but burst out laughing at the fall. While you had been worried watching it happen live, now that you know he’s okay, it’s an absolutely hysterical wipeout.

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

AN: Thanks for reading! I have a couple more Ian stories in the works, but feel free to send requests!

[blush-bblushing]

Uhh first time writing for tumblr in awhile

Blush blush guys headcanons! (Pt1)

Cw: none. All fluff!

Characters: nimh, volks, kelby, eli

Hc's under the cut

Nimh

Due to his heart condition I think he grew up afraid to do anything fun. By that I mean he avoided scary movies, rollerblading, most theme park rides, etc. He still had fun in his own way. But as an adult, he tries to test what he can/cannot do. For example: going rollerblading with marshmallow/mc. Sure, he may need to rest every 5 or so minutes. And that's ok. He still gets to experience something new. All while doing it with someone he trusts.

He has a habit of holding his hands when nervous. Like when he's feeling anxious, he'll rub his thumb on his palm. It became a habit because his family did that for him as a kid. Sometimes he'll do it to marshmallow to when they hold hands. Regardless of if they're nervous or not.

When shopping for clothes, blankets, or anything with fabric, he has to check the fabrics texture. Nimh can be jumpy at times. And sometimes certain fabrics feel like a spider touching him if he forgets the texture. So to avoid that scare, he'll lean towards softer fabrics. Obviously, not everything he has is soft. It's just the majority for his sake

This is a lot more simple- I firmly believe he watched shows like strawberry shortcake, Teddy ruxpin, bear in the big blue house, etc. All of these shows are still a comfort to this day. If he feels particularly anxious he'll watch an episode or two to calm down.

Volks

Volks is pretty good at braiding hair. During childhood, he would play with his mom's hair. Mainly stemming from boredom. This eventually led to his mother showing him how to braid. To this day, he can do multiple braid styles. His personal favorite is a fish tail braid.

Obviously he isn't a touchy person. However, if the stars align, he'll rest his head on marshmallows' shoulder. Or even rarer: he'll hug marshmallow from behind. Just don't bring attention to it. Or else he'll quickly jump up and stop. It's not an issue he has with his partner. Simply Volks trying to be more affectionate.

When he first became a wolf, Volks accepted his fate. He didn't ignore the existential horror of the situation. He just didn't care too much about it. It gave him the freedom to act in ways he couldn't before. To elaborate on this: he has a lot of self enforced "rules" for himself. Like societal expectations but with stuff he made up. After the whole wolf & marshmallow thing, he has far less of these. (Men will literally become an animal instead of going to therapy/j)

With it being revealed in his coffee date that he sometimes sings: he likes laufey. Her music makes him feel comfortable with the idea of being soft. If one were to catch him washing the dishes alone (and with his phone on), he'll be singing "from the start". He knows most of her songs by heart.

Kelby

Ugh. He's underrated. So these are to give his fans some food.

As a result of his active lifestyle, Kelby doesn't play videogames. He's tried them a few times. He sadly doesn't see the appeal.... except for one. Marshmallow showed him animal crossing. And if you've played it, you'd know there's a whole subset of characters who work out. Since he first played it, he'll occasionally ask Marshmallow to check on them. He wants to encourage his digital workout buddies :]

He doesn't have nuch of a wardrobe. It's mainly sport uniforms and hoodies. As a joke I like to think that any exceptions to this wardrobe were either 1) "forced" (asked him to try the clothes on) upon by marshmallow or 2) he realized that the event he's going to wouldn't appreciate him wearing a basketball uniform.

Kelby didn't always work out. In early childhood he did typical kid stuff. Eat a bunch of candy, watch TV, etc. Until he got around 8 years old. When he thought it'd be fun to try out his dads workout equipment. After a few days, he was caught lifting his dad's 5lbs weights. Since then his parents encouraged his efforts. And he's been athletic ever since! He still appreciates dessert or binge watching a TV show about once or twice a week. To treat himself after some hard work.

There's memes about guys using 10 in one shower products. One would think Kelby is the same. Surprisingly enough, he isn't. He takes special care of his hygiene. Hair thickening shampoo & conditioner and fancy shower gels are only a couple of examples. He doesn't like the assumption that he only cares about working out. Self care involves everything about the body. Not only the aesthetics of it.

Eli

Had a massive vocaloid phase. (They call it a phase but he literally has a couple miku figures in his room. They bought the newest figure only a year before marshmallow came) he and Marshmallow have already planned on visiting miku Expo. So long as they bring back the holograms.

Because of how varied Eli's fashion sense is, he will occasionally chose to wear something nobody expects. One day, they wore an outfit similar to poe's. Most of the other guys' reactions consisted of "who are you and what have you done with Eli?!" (Poor guy only wanted to dress up :[ ) luckily, since then, the others have gotten used to it. Some of them even encourage it if it helps them express themselves better.

As most know, he doesn't I love you much. That doesn't mean he can't show genuine affection. Say hypothetically marshmallow were to have a bad day. They'd come home to not only some new clothes in their room, but also their favorite food and a comfort movie/show/videogame on the TV. From experience, Eli finds gestures like this to be more meaningful. Proof that someone does genuinely care. And that all their words aren't superficial.

And for the final headcanon of this post: Eli always has some sort of makeup product or accessory to share. You never know when a style emergency may happen! Someone who cares for their looks (like he does) is bound to worry about others. You need a hairtie? Gotchu. Never wore makeup before but wanna try? Already have the bag out. A seam tripped in your favorite shirt? Somehow a sewing kit is ready??? They have your back in nearly anything your style may struggle with

That's all for now. If I remember to do so later, I'll share the ones I have for the other guys. Hope this was at least entertaining to read

[a-jar-of-beetles]

kristen thoughts plus divine musings

I really want to write out my theory and speculations about last episode but Kristen C. Applebee's won't stop taking up all my brain space so I might as well share my ramblings.

First off it was a really interesting choice to reach out to her parents she could have easily settled for checking in with Bucky to see how he and their other siblings were doing, but decided to talk to her parents anyway which besides being brave also shows a maturity that often alludes Kristen (not that ignoring her parents for the rest of her life is immature but that's not the point I'm making).

Although I wish she could have interacted more with her brothers her conversation with her parents was not as confrontational as I would have expected I for sure thought that Kristen would have bitten back at the "Helio might not have let that happen" comment when Kristen the literal chosen one of Helio has died multiple times.

Another thing that stuck out to me was the way Mac and Donna talked about Galicaea, they acted like she was just some random goddess but in Elysium Galicaea refers to Sol as her brother which is a weird thing for Kristen's parents to ignore so is the fact that Sol and Galicaea are siblings something that not common knowledge? Could it just be something that's forbidden or just taboo to talk about? Mac and Donna were also pretty judgemental about elves when they were first introduced so maybe it has something to do with that?

So that got me thinking about how Cassandra is mostly referred to as Galicaea's sister instead of Sol's while it could just be that they're both associated with night and that they both had elven followers but it made me wonder what type of relationship they had. Were they just never close in Elysium he never mentioned Cassandra but that could have just been because Kristen didn't ask him about her the only real thing we know about Sol is that he obviously approved of Ankarna and Cassandra otherwise he wouldn't have officiated their wedding.

Which brought me back to how Sol followers in the modern/evangelist church of Sol don't seem to actually know or care about what Sol actually represents/represented, which made me think about the inverse. Does Sol even truly know what's going on with his followers? Because of devil's nectar we know Gods can be purposely deceived but we also know that the nectar works by deceiving yourself first so if you truly believe something and tell your God the same they will believe it too because in Spyre the gods aren't omniscient, we've literally seen it with Galicaea who thought that Cassandra erasing her old name was her own idea and the Nightmare King killed her even when there was evidence to the contrary. Do you think her clerics did it on purpose? Whether their words were Honeyed or delusional Galicaea was still lied to. Galicaea who loved her sister, who would destroy anyone that would dare hurt her baby sister, who bared her fangs at the mention of doubt and only spoke of conviction and clarity which belonged to her fallen sister in law.

Do you think that after Cassandra died Ankarna wasn't the only one who got corrupted? Do you think that with out someone to champion doubt and hold peoples hand through the unknown, people stopped questioning the words of their preachers, paladins and clerics? because doubt became hard to speak about was it just ignored and swallowed? Was it the avoidance of doubt that made the followers of Sol demonize Ankarna? Because without Cassandra Ankarna was no longer a part of their family? Sol and Galicaea did they care? How did they when they lost the last part of Cassandra besides themselves? Were they sad?angry? relived? upset? apathetic? Did they even notice it happen at all?

Maybe I've just been thinking too much

IDK

[emmabirb8]

Ok ok, but have you thought about the fact that throughout the series, Nandor has saved or protected Guillermo's life just as much as Guillermo has saved and protected Nandor's? Because I have, and I am feeling Ways about it.

Obviously, Guillermo has always gone  above and beyond for Nandor as far as familiar duties go, and he has slain countless vamps to protect not only Nandor but also the rest of the household. It's a given and it's been a given from the start that Guillermo would do anything to keep Nandor (and his other housemates by extension) safe. He has outright said they are his found family, and it definitely shows. 

Well, in a slightly subtler way, the case is the same for Nandor. God, the things that Nandor has done for Guillermo - the risks he's taken, the knee-jerk reactions, the choices he's made? It is profound.

Consider that Nandor a. as a vamp is not expected to care about his familiar beyond using him as a tool to get things done, b. believes acting "aloof," aka unbothered and unconcerned, is key, and most importantly c. struggles heavily with identifying, working through, and expressing his emotions. AND YET, without even stopping to think about it, he:

Stepped in to stop that hungry vamp at Simon's club (Manhattan Night Club)

Refused to let Guillermo be eaten by the Vampiric Council (The Trial)

Stopped Topher from drowning him (Resurrection)

Kept Guillermo's slaying a secret after discovering that he had dusted Carol (The Return)

Told Celeste to "be kind to Guillermo" when he thought she was gonna be his new vampire mistress (arguably, this counts bc he was making an effort to ensure Guillermo would be treated well and kept alive under Celeste's watch) (Collaboration)

Defended him against the wrath of Nadja and Laszlo (the housemates Nandor has known, lived with, and loved for far longer than he's known Guillermo) who were 100% prepared to kill him every single night for a month while he was imprisoned in the basement (The Prisoner)

"Yanked" Guillermo away from the line of fire when he was acting as bait for The Sire and attempted to fix the situation himself (The Escape)

Immediately dove into the sewage hole in the floor to rescue Guillermo when he fell in (Reunited)

Volunteered to battle him in place of a more dangerous vampire at the Night Market (The Night Market)

Made sure he was okay at the end of the fight after pretending to snap his neck (The Night Market)

Nandor is the KING of repression, but actions speak louder than words, babes. This is not even counting the times he has shown outward kindness, affection for, and attachment to Guillermo to the point where it's entirely too conspicuous for anyone to believe he's not in love with him. (Tho he's apparently managed to fool himself well enough, hasn't he? lmao) 

Hell, I'm in a listing mood - let's recount those moments too, shall we?

Just off the top of my head, Nandor has canonically also:

Made Guillermo a glitter portrait depicting the two of them together as vampires as a gift to celebrate his anniversary of becoming his familiar (that he was clearly proud of and excited about and that clearly took a lot of effort and planning ❤) in the very first episode 

Held him up above his head to help him reach higher places when dusting and held him up in front of a mirror so he could experience the sensation of flying (like what vampire does that fr???? he was down bad even in the earliest eps) 

Become a blubbering mess worrying where Guillermo was while high on drug blood 

On multiple occasions actually took him flying by wrapping his arms tenderly around him 👀, then admitted he was his friend out loud in front of Nadja and the camera crew as early as ep 4 after feeling guilty about accidentally dropping him during a flight

Played chess with him (and it's implied this is a regular thing for them 🥹)

Been visibly upset each time Guillermo has left - it's heavily implied he missed even the smallest gestures like the hand holding, and he outright verbally expressed his hurt feelings in front of the entire Theatre des Vampires

Been distraught enough after the Celeste situation that he attempted to "win" Guillermo back first by talking to him and then by giving him another gift with the "beating off" pillow, and then actually complied with Guillermo's requests to be more respected and given breaks after that

Taken the time to go down and keep Guillermo company while he was imprisoned in the basement and made a genuine attempt to give him better quality food

Urged Nadja and Laszlo to treat Guillermo with more respect and to try to take an interest in his life at the casino

Reacted in a way that wasn't even the slightest bit angry (and in fact, he appeared grateful for it besides becoming excessively horny on main) about The Slap

Said he has "grown to have some affection for" Guillermo out loud to his face (which, for someone as repressed as Nandor, is huge)

Offered a very blatantly romantic turning scenario in which he expressed a desire to share soil with Guillermo, which, again, is huge 

Become markedly upset that Guillermo never showed up at the train station to accompany him on his trip

Started making steps in the direction of reversing their dynamic in s4 by doing things like helping Guillermo dry off and getting him a glass of water after he fell into the hole, paying more genuine attention to him and his life, expressing a desire for Nadja and Laszlo to be more serious and respectful of him, valuing his input (esp for the dick wish), and being appreciative of all the work he has constantly put in for him (whenever using his new penis 😏) 

Offered Guillermo the position of best man at his wedding which was clearly of utmost importance to Nandor, even more so than finding someone to marry in the first place 

Actually remembered the exact amount of years Guillermo has been his familiar/bodyguard and called him his "closest companion" in front of lots of other (arguably dangerous) vampires 

Been so excited and proud of Guillermo's moves when he was battling other familiars at the Night Market to the point of exclaiming "that's my fucking guy!"

Called Guillermo his friend out loud again when he got visibly worried he may have killed him

Admitted to Guillermo that he was afraid right before his wedding (!!!!), looked at Guillermo longingly/lovingly, accidentally revealed his desire to literally hug Guillermo close and kiss his face through his wish about Marwa (!!!!!!), and took a moment to whisper sweet nothings to Guillermo and cover him up when he discovered he'd fallen asleep (!!!!!!!!!)

Dorkily but sweetly prevented Guillermo from falling in the bg shot of Go Flip Yourself (like, truly, why would he care omfgggg he's so in love it's making him look stupid)

Actually made a very misguided but solid follow-through attempt to fix the Freddie situation as soon as he realized how upset Guillermo was about it

IT'S JUST SOOOO MUCH!!! I've been going through the series highlighting Nandermo moments for creative idea purposes in these last few weeks, and I can honestly say that I believe there are possibly more instances where Nandor has hinted at or displayed his feelings toward Guillermo than there are of Guillermo hinting at or displaying his feelings for Nandor. It's fucking insane you guys. 💖

[stupidlittlespirit]

I think other reason why most people find Ford more appealing than Stan is that, while there's more content for him, there's also a bit of his fatherly demeanor that fits the 'older relative' description more. After all, he's been around since the first episode and we've always known him as a great-uncle and the fact that most people were around the age of Dipper and Mabel when the show came out makes Stanley look that way. It's like that 'Grunkle Stan' is stuck to him.

Ford seems to be more of a separate person from the family and Alex doesn't include Ford when he talks about the Pines in most interviews, he refers to him more as the author. And that's completely normal, since Ford arrives in the middle of the second season, we don't see his relationship with his family as much as the others.

Also even in the Old!Stan x Young!Reader stuff, the writers sometimes make Stan call the reader "kid" and it drives me crazy. Well, it can be in the part where feelings are denied, I can't say anything about that but it seems absurd to me that it happens after the age problem is overcome

I agree with the concept that we spent more time with Stan as a familial figure and for some of the audience, it probably coloured our view of him. We do bond with him through the eyes of the kids because, like them, we also don't really know who he is, we've kind of also been shipped out to the cabin to spend time with him, and we learn the truth at the same time the kids do. The audience is driven to feel that level of love for Stan because our POV is via the children.

I disagree that most people were around the kid's ages when the show came out. A lot were, but just as many weren't. I was 19 and my life was going the exact same way Stan's was when he was my age.

For me, I saw Stan and my brain went 'oh my god, he's me'. My bonding at that time with Stan was done on a mutual level because we had so much in common (scarily so and still do). He wasn't my uncle so much as he was my own twin. I love Stan a lot, and although I can play around with the fantasy aspect with regard to him, he's always going to be a kindred spirit to me before he's anything else. But he's certainly viewed through a more familial lens.

On a surface level, Ford does benefit in that sense from not being so tied to the family-esque nature. He can be placed on a different pedestal and seen as someone less platonically-loved and patriarchal, so desire can be tied more closely to him.

(We don't want to get bogged down here with psychology stuff, so I know that I could go another route on both of them and mention the Electra Complex but I won't so keep your daddy-issues to yourself! /s)

But on a deeper note, I don't think it's good for Alex to make canon!Ford stay like that. While Ford is a separate character from the family to some extent, he's still part of the family. It's a hard thing to describe because you really have to hold multiple realities in one hand when you do it; Ford is as part of the family as Stan is, but he's also estranged/distanced from the family. Ford is to the kids what Stan was to him for a long time and vice versa. I mean, he's also that to Stan, of course, but you understand my meaning (I hope). Ford and Stan never stopped being brothers, not really, but they were separated. The love exists and it never stopped.

By keeping Ford apart from the family completely, even after he returns, it creates an even larger gap between him, and Dipper, Mabel and Stan. Obviously, we haven't really had much content since the series ended so it is kind of hard to talk about Ford's interactions with the rest of the family, but even in Lost Legends, Ford is still very separate from the others. He's The Adventurer, he's the Leader. He's not the Uncle. He shows concern for his family but he's always more action packed than heart driven, and I don't think that's fair for him. He is very full of love (we've seen it!) but he's never quite given the room to show that in the main content that we have of him, which I think is really sad and I think it drives this real dislike of him. I am admittedly concerned that if we get more content, like that Sea Grunkles story stuff Alex talked about, it won't show him in a balanced light, and if by some miracle it does, a lot of the fandom will refuse to engage with it charitably. Certain people have proved themselves very capable of that.

I have noticed this happens a lot, it isn't GF focused, but a significant number of people have lost the ability to empathise and are instead dedicated to making characters they don't understand suffer. They won't engage and they won't analyse with honesty; either because they don't want to or because they don't know how to. I think it's a healthy scoop of both. I hope I don't sound high and mighty saying all of this because I don't mean to, but I've talked with other people in the past about similar (though unrelated) stuff, and there's consensus that analytical skill seems to be dying out at large. I mean, take a look at the regular news. It's everywhere.

RE: the Stan 'kid' stuff. I think maybe post-relationship it is a little weirder, but I do also think he'd use it in a very tongue in cheek way. Stan is significantly older than most of us, I expect, so anyone under like 45 would be a kid to him. He's more inclined to be quite dry with his humour so I can see him using it as a jest as opposed to meaning it genuinely.

Sorry.... Again, I went on a lecture. You guys should start kicking the soapbox out from underneath my feet.

[pyxaperson]

I am procrastinating on my uni assignments so here’s the 2012!TMNT main cast ranked on who would be homophobic/transphobic

1 being the most and 6 being the least

this is my opinion and my interpretation. i will fight people for one of these rankings if they disagree with me

6 - April

You cannot convince me she isn’t a 2012 Tumblr girl like… look at her. She spent most of her teenage years debating with homophobes on the internet. She would 100% watch supernatural and 100% ship Castiel.

"Would she fetishise mlm relationships?" NO. She would also watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and ship Fuffy. She reads yaoi AND yuri in her spare time.

If she swoons over a mutant and an alien getting together, she will 100% do the same for a gay couple.

Probably taught the others not to be homophobic (mostly the top 3).

If you believe she hates the LGBT+ community, I am sorry but you are objectively wrong I will be hunting you for sport right now. I am outside your house with the episode "Karai's Vendetta" playing loudly on my laptop.

5 - Donnie

“Erm actually, homosexual behaviour has been heavily documented in animals such as penguins, bats and hyenas. It’s very much natural.“

While I cannot imagine him ever being homophobic, I can imagine him being transphobic when he was younger.

BUT I only think that because the primary school biology textbook was his bible when he was five.

As soon as he had access to a more “advanced” biology book, he learnt his mistakes.

Had a deep understanding of gender before his brother understood the differences between them as a result of this.

4 - Mikey

Thinks LGBT+ people are awesome, however his only exposure to gay people is rupaul drag race so his views on them are stereotypical.

He would probably be taken aback if you introduced him to a gay man who isn’t flamboyant, but he would adjust after a bit.

He would definitely say “You don’t look gay” though.

Aside from April, he would be the most angry when hearing homophobic/transphobic comments.

3 - Leo

The middle point between homophobic and not homophobic for the group (even though she's seconds lmao, the group is just not really homophobic).

I headcanon her as a trans lesbian so any homophobic/transphobic thoughts she would have are a mixture of her sheltered life and internalised issues.

Nothing extreme though, but her mind would get hung up on two girls holding hands on the street for multiple days.

She would also go through the 5 stages of grief for every unprompted homophobic thought she gets.

Everyone helps her overcome this, especially after she discovers herself and comes out.

2 - Raph

I am sorry, but he would probably use homophobic language before meeting April.

However, that’s due to him not understanding what he was saying. He probably thought gay was a synonym for stupid.

Once he understands who LGBT+ people are and what they face (AKA being scolded by April), he would probably feel really bad about it.

He wouldn’t really apologise for it verbally, but he would 100% kill a homophobe after that so everyone understands he’s changed.

Mikey would then make fun of him for being homophobic which would get him really mad. It's revenge for Raph calling him gay to insult him and brushing his genuine anger off.

“At least I’m not-“ “I’M NOT HOMOPHOBIC MIKEY!”

1 - Casey

I am not sorry, this dude was definitely homophobic before meeting the Turtles + April. Like, actually homophobic.

His dad is homophobic so it comes from that.

He called Donnie the f-slur behind his back to the rest of the group. To put it lightly, they were not impressed.

The first moment where he questions his behaviour is when April rips him to shreds over it, but it’s not until Raph pulls him aside to express disappointment that he realises how bad his behaviour is.

Probably goes MIA for a couple of days undergoing serious reflection on his life and beliefs. He then comes back to apologise for his behaviour.

He takes some time to truly overcome his bigotry, but he gets there eventually. Like Raph, he'll kill a homophobe after the ordeal.

[sterlingarcher23]

Happy memories=Season 5: Addendum & Will foreshadowing

I already altered my previous post (link down below) a bit - I overlooked something: Lucas.

Time jump (correction)

Lucas telling Max that he's there, right in front of her, and she's kind of ignoring him is foreshadowing the scene they shot with Sadie and Caleb: Max in coma, "ignoring" Lucas who tells her that he's there. "I don't want a letter. I'm right here."

It's either that or the scene in S4 in which he reads the book. And the sequence includes Season 4.

The "I'm right here" scene in the memory corresponds with Lucas sitting at Max's bedside (but she is looking just like Sleeping Beauty because she's not in cast and Ross saying that she's in a coma - which means in this scene),and her "ignoring" him. It's possible that this is this scene. It's also possible that it refers to S4. - His watch shows Thursday 11 2 (!), so November 2nd and that's 1989.

Next is Max swallowing the red Skittle (You were wearing that yellow Benny's Burgers t-shirt and it was so big it almost swallowed you whole - like a Pac-Man swallowing the red ghost in the scene, red jacket Max enters the Arcade.), then El and Max link and we hit the time barrier...

Note how in the memory scene they cut the original moment before the linking and after the linking - that's a time jump in itself:

Season 3 mall scene = time jump in Back to the Future. (JC Penney - they used the brands without getting money for it, it's not because they want to make commercials but used them for specific reasons like KitKat, Skittles, M&Ms) The linking/vanishing and reappearing part isn't in it.

The original version is cut in three segments (not sure about the exact terminology here, so I better leave that out, in German which differ from English terminology its probably: halbnah, Totale, nah). If you see the original footage as a single sequence, the edited memory version is visually a temporal jump.

Here again the comparison between this scene (without the final shot) and Back to the Future:

So this is the time jump - it's the third element in the memory sequence (and those are completely out of chronological order) and my guess is, that there are like two jumps potentially. - There's also some contradicting Infos about the time jump, like some say "immediate" time jump but other sources say from Episode 1 to 2. It's still possible that there are multiple time jumps and the hand holding scene IS right before waking up.

(Caleb is wearing a jacket in the bts shot and we don't see what he's wearing under it but in the hand shot he's definitely in role.)

The Back to the Future time jump reference in the memory is happening right after the "I'm right here/Lucas at Max's bedside" scene - however these moments are probably much closer than I initially thought.

And these segments of Lucas touching Max, the red Skittle are connected and the BttF time jump sequence may show us the result of this.

My guess is that there's at least one scene, maybe more, before the actual jump, involving Max (that has not been filmed yet - it would need summer weather) and we get to see already a partial resolve of the jump with Lucas holding Max's hand. Still comatose but a coma is only important if and how someone wakes up.

The coma is a "time jump"

"I'm right here" is either Season 4 ending or the scene from S5. Thinking about it, both would make sense. The first one even a bit more if we think of the coma as the actual starting point for the memory sequence to foreshadow everything the follows after.

Falling in coma, swallowing the red Skittle, time jump sequence and the rest is the boys who meet the killer, the ghost trap scene, ElMax foto session, fotos (in media metaphorically) freeze people in time like:

(There are some Whovians out there that say, that some Doctor Who is also in Stranger Things. And those stasis cubes are visualized as paintings. - An endless summer skateboarding sounds very much like a stasis cube or a pocket dimension. )

.. the movie date (storytelling technique called promise gets it's payoff) ElMax hugging...ElMax & Lumax Endgames.

And they could only use existing scenes but those are very deliberately chosen (there's a scene not in this sequence that has it's own rhyme and I only just discovered it but it demands another moment like it, it involves ElMax, certain posters but most importantly: a sea shell lamp).

And it's been foreshadowed how we would react to the time jump that the JC Penney reference alludes to - I didn't make it up, the Duffers made this connection in the show by showing us the exact moment including Doc saying "The temporal displacement occurred at 1:20 am"

Yepp...these two idiots. That's us.

Conclusion?

The coma is a time jump. "I didn't disintegrate anything. The molecular structure of both Einstein and the car are completely intact. I sent him into the future.", Doc Brown.

In the memory scene, except the "coma" segment as a starting point and the Endgame (It's you and me won't be unhappy), the answer to EVERY memory sequence is ElMax, shown as inseparable after linking. That's neither queerbaiting nor is it just a "regular" relationship. This is not even slightly one of these stories.

Nonetheless is gives us some basic elements of the plot.

And it's ElMax making Lumax Endgame possible: High five. 1st place. Winners....whatever you want to call it.

Soo... The sequence foreshadows some basic elements of Season 5 in regards to the character relationships. - And ElMax appears like inseparable in these moments, either linked, very close by, hugging ...

It doesn't get more obvious. They tell it straight into our faces.

And I would say that it's obvious that they make a huge deal out of Max's coma. Just her having powers? That's it? How is this such a huge deal? The Vecna has absorbed her and stuff can easily be debunked too.

Will

And I have Will proving that they do this shit with the window and foreshadowing ...just differently. This is almost not so surprising, is it? That they show us that he has a "crowbar" in his head. - Oh, yes, people.

And while the class scene in Season 2 is about him. It's also about Max, she however has light reflections like "God rays" pointing to her head when the focus changes with Mr Clarke's words on top. Seriously, people. This is a subtle as fireworks in the middle of the towns square.

ElMax Endgame

ElMax will turn out to be a dissociative identity/multiple personality disorder system of two individual minds residing inside the same body. Max's body. They'll be together. Literally.

This way Max is healed by the cure/medicine: El. - This way ElMax and Lumax can happen and it's in line with the themes of the show. And it fits in regards to the inspo for Eleven taken from Elfen Lied - kids having supernatural powers do do some lab science MK Ultra style etc etc, why not Fringe? Because Elfen Lied has a main character that has DID.

"One skull, two tenants"

Previous post:

[pinkjacketorangetie]

So how do you think the Lupin gang and zengata would deal with having a s/o where they are not easily weakened or easy to cry, very tough, can deal with the hectic lifestyle, was born into it, even they have their breaking point though, they break down right after something fucked up happened to them? (They’ve dealt with fucked up shit before, but this really hit a wound of theirs). They’re crying loudly like their heart got ripped out and they can’t see the world around them. If they’re hugged at all, s/o clings onto the person hugging them until they stop wailing? How do lup gang and zeni deal with during the crying, and after the crying, there is calm after the crying, but s/o is not cheered up either?

head canons -- you are inconsolable

this is such good stuff!! comfort headcanons under the cut. thank you for requesting these! my box is always open

lupin:

he is immediately affected by your emtions and shares in your distress

the situation was high stress for everybody, but he was suprised at your reaction

he always assumed you could handle anything because that is what you showed to people. he was wrong, obviously

he pulled you away from the chaos and led you into a back room. he could tell you were tripping over your feet so he scooped you up and threw you over his shoulder for the rest of the way

when it was safe, he held you tight against his body, trying to protect you from hurting yourself as you seemingly lost control of your body

he didn’t want you to hit your head on a wall or break your arm if you fell or something

he felt your legs weaken and wobble, so he gently sat down with you, putting your body between his legs as he continued to hold your torso against him.

he kept his hand on the back of your head on the descent down, keeping your face buried into his neck. your tears began to stain his shirt and his jacket but he didn’t care

the only thing he was worried about was you

he laid his hand on your cheek and tilted your face up to look at him once you calmed down. you were still quivering but he could tell that the episode was passing.

he leaned down and kissed your cheeks multiple times, pressing his lips against the tracks the dried tears made on your skin.

“we’ll talk later.” he said simply, looking back at how the dim lighitng made her face glow.

you looked up at him and nodded, now becoming consious of her much your fingers ached after gripping his shirt. you let go and he laid his hand over yours, messaging it gently.

jigen:

you didn’t want him to see you like this. you knew he wouldn’t know what to do with you. you knew he’d get frustrated quickly.

but when two in the morning rolled around and your world was falling down around you, you had no other choice.

you wrapped yourself up in a blanket you had brought and left your motel room, walking outside down the railing to his room. you raised your first up and hesitantly knocked.

jigen opened almost immediately. he looked just as distraught as you did, his eyes full of worry for you. “you giving up the touch bitch act?” he said lightly, opening his arms to you.

that was when you lost it. you crossed the threshold and fell into his waiting arms. he held you instantly, holding you as tight and as sure as he could, reaching to shut the door with his foot.

he lifted you up, keeping you wrapped in your blanket, and carried you over to his bed.

he sat down, the combined weight of him and you on his lap sank into the mattress.

he pulled the edge of the blanket over you head like a hood and snuggled you close, nudging his nose against her cheek as he whispered in your ear.

“i was so worried about you, angel.”

“i knew you would need someone tonight and i’m happy you picked me.”

“please, please let me take care of you. you don’t have to do this alone anymore. let me help you.”

after a while he laid down with you and tucked you in, stroking your hair. he smiled when you began to calm down, the worry lifted out of his heart.

“i’m not going to let that happen to you again, you hear me?

goemon:

“are you… are you alright, y/n?”

you had come to sit by goemon a day or two after it happened and you didn’t say a word. you had a distant look in your eyes and as you turned to him, it was obvious that you were looking at anything except him.

reluctantly, he opened his arms to you, assuming you wouldn’t take them, but your actions suprised him.

you threw yourself into his arms and cried. it was unlike anything he had ever seen before

he wrapped his arms around you, almost like he was a cucoon around you protecting you from the outside world

in this case, the outside world was pure nature, and it was harmless. but for a moment, he mourned not being able to adequately protect you from the outside world that hurt you

gently, he reclinced back with you in his arms, until his back was flush against the ground. he could only hear your cries and the sounds of the river in his ears. he looked up at the sky, which was turning to dusk. the sight of you falling apart broke him and he knew he could have prevented your pain.

after a while, you noticed you began to breathe in rhytm with him. you noticed how you would blink in syn with his hand rubbing your back. you noticed how his voice hummed gently in your ears as he recited mantras and chants to calm you down.

by no means did you feel better, but his steady presence was just enough to comfort you.

he noticed and once he felt brave enough to look down at you, he did, and took in the sight of your tear-soaked form clinging to his body. he nudged your chin gently.

“look up at the sky, y/n.”

you obeyed and took your eyes off of him and looked up at the sky.

“count the stars.”

you obeyed, and he watched as your lips mouth the numbers, but no sound came out of your mouth.

“look at how they shine for you, my love.”

fujiko:

when she returned and saw you in the state you were in, she frowned.

setting down her bags and taking off her shoes as she walked over to you, she sat next to you and wrapped her arms around you.

when you felt her body you crumpled into it, tears starting to take over your whole being.

she held onto you, leaning back so that you both could hopefully be a little more comfortable.

she knew not to speak. she knew how to hold you and where to put her hands and how to make you feel safe. she knew you probably would not feel better about this for a while, but she wanted to make your life easier as you dealt with it.

when she felt like you could handle it, she asked you if anything happened that was a trigger. she asked if anything she did was a trigger.

you answered her honestly and put to bed any worry that it was her fault.

fujiko frowned when she noticed how absolutely sick you looked. “my love, you’re green.”

you pouted for a moment and sniffled, looking into her eyes for the first time since she got home. you two had your own places, but an agreement where whenever you felt like this, you would go to hers and wait for her.

it didn’t happen very often, but when it did, she wanted you to know you could turn to her for anything you needed.

she guided your head to rest on her shoulder as you began to cry again,

she knew it was going to be a long night. as your emotions began to weigh on her, she’d cry with you. she’d be by your side every time you stepped forward or backslid.

zenigata:

it happens in the interrogation room after you got caught and taken in. you were hurt and betrayed that the gang would leave you with zenigata like that

of course zenigata capitalized on those emotions during questioning to get the most information he could

before he could really get anywhere, you broke down. you fell onto the floor and curled up as sobs racked your body

zenigata was alarmed and tried to pick you up off the tile. you were limp and he had to scoop you up in his big arms to place you onto a couch in a different office.

questioning was over and now his main focus was taking care of you.

he always had a soft spot for you, even though you were a criminal, and always secretly had hopes of reforming you.

he sat on the couch with your head in his lap and stroked your hair. he cooed softly, encouraging you to relax and calm down, and that you would be okay.

“shh, pretty baby, don’t worry. you’re with me now. i’ll protect you, nothing bad is going to happen”

his voice was smooth like silk and you finally gave into him, letting him coddle you as your body finally reacted to the months of emotions you were hiding.

when he thought you were calmed, he sat you up and stroked your tear stained cheek gently.

he guided you to lean your head on his shoulder, placing his other hand on your back.

in the silence, he leaned down and kissed your head tenderly.

“my dear one… what am i going to do with you?”

[the-masked-reviewer]

Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief Comparison

Book v. Show

What Changed

There are jokes in the book that are completely left out and never even alluded too. The episode named “We take a Zebra to Vegas”, shows you multiple animals that the smugglers are transporting, none of them being a Zebra. They kept the book’s corresponding chapter name but not the actual Zebra.

The show’s focus is more on Percy and Annabeth and their relationship, but in order to accomplish that, they pushed Grover into a more side character position making it far harder to see Percy and Grover’s relationship as the platonic soulmates they are.

The books show Gabe’s behavior in fairly subtle ways, mostly through Percy’s internal dialogue and not through direct scenes with Gabe. I think the show actually did a pretty good job at showing just how bad of a person Gabe is, though they did leave out a few scenes that would’ve helped. I don’t think changing the way Gabe turns to stone really does anything other than take away Sally’s revenge and make a dumbass die by cause of being a dumbass.

Celestial Bronze is explained early on in the book at the same time most of the basic general knowledge of demigod life is explained to Percy and the reader. However in the show, they don’t even tell you this is a material that exists until the fifth out of eight episodes, taking away both Percy’s growing knowledge of his new world and the importance of the material.

In the books, Percy describes when he meets Hades like, “He was the third god I’d met, but he was the first that really struck me as godlike” (pg. 309) but the show introduces him as a weird fruity twink. It just takes away all the power the man is supposed to hold. He is literally the King of The Underworld and he is shown as a guy I don’t think anyone could ever reasonably be afraid of Even when Percy describes Dionysus, the first god he meets, “He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a straitjacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life” (pg. 70-71). It’s clear that these beings have an aura and could never not have a large powerful presence. But here Hades, the King of The Underworld, is just a guy. Comparing the two descriptions from the book makes it so clear how powerful Hades is supposed to be if compared to the visions of death and people turning into dolphins doesn’t register as godlike.

The show never once tells the audience what Tartarus is, not even after Percy and Grover are nearly dragged into it by Luke’s flying shoes. There was never any real foreshadowing for Luke or parallel to him a Percy until later in the season where you get flashbacks to Luke and Percy training. At that point it feels more like an afterthought to add in the evidence that it’s been Luke the whole time.

The show lets the audience witness scenes we’ve never gotten the chance to see before, and I can’t understate enough how much I love that. Getting to see Grover and Ares both attempt psychological warfare on each other in a dinner is peak Percy Jackson. However, the way the show is written takes away the audiences ability to truly see just how smart Percy is.

One of the changes I actually ended up liking far more than I thought I would initially was the change in the number of pearls the gang is given. By being given four pearls it shows that Poseidon not only cares for Percy and is watching him as he goes through life, but that he also truly cares for Sally.

The flashbacks are some of my favorite scenes. They’re written so well, and are great at taking advantage of the visual story telling techniques you have when you make a television show.

Not wanting your show to have a very exposition heavy introduction is understandable, but the show’s way of working around this problem is to put information right before or during the thing that’s being explained is happening results in a very exposition heavy, slow show where your characters, in this case Percy, are completely clueless at worst. For example, the gang not only knows but has a plan for facing Procrustes. The audience does not get to see the gang making this plan, just them executing it, having Percy explain to Procrustes (and the invisible audience) who he is and why he’s bad. This isn’t the only example of explaining things for the audience, like when they go over the entirety of Hephaestus’ story and his relationship with Aphrodite when clearly both characters in the scene know the story. The information these 12 year olds (Grover is technically 24 yes, but in human years he is also 12) is just inconsistent. They know who Medusa, the fates, Hephaestus all are, and yeah I’d honestly kind of hope they would. But they also know Crusty’s whole story, and details about how monsters hunt and generally act? Echidna literally spelled out who she was before the gang was able to figure it out (they then seem to understand perfectly how the Chimera hunts while simultaneously not knowing what kind of monster it is). Yet they seem to not only know but be intimately familiar with Crusty’s entire mythos.

When the gang is traveling with the animal smugglers, the book audience learns these guy are not good people from the description Percy gives of the inside of the truck and how the animals are treated, whereas the show has Grover tell Annabeth and Percy “the men driving this truck are not nice people” (Episode 5, 4:35). This would’ve been such an easy moment to take advantage of the media they are using and tell us this visually in the same way the book did.

The fact that the gang knows what kind of situation they are walking into practically every time does more than just take away the surprise. It takes away the viewers ability to try and predict what’s happening because it has already been explained. And what’s worse is it takes the tension away from the story. Without impending unknown doom, and always having a plan may paint your characters, primarily Annabeth because she is the one who always knows and makes plans, as smart and prepared but it also takes away most of the stakes and point of the story.

A lot of the story stayed mostly the same, and details and deliveries changed the most. But two of the changes that bothered me the most were the lack of explaining what Riptide even is and its importance, which for a show that likes to explain everything is awfully surprising, and how they decided to turn Gabe to stone.

Why Change it/Care

Dialogue is an important thing in storytelling, obviously. But there are some things that work better when shown. You don’t need to explain out loud all of the “you’re ___”s and “This is how your story goes.” In order to tell an interesting story you have to get a balance of dialogue and showing the story in order for it to be interesting. You have to trust the audience to figure out what isn’t explained.

The Thrill Ride O’ Love scene is one of the best examples of being to reliant on dialogue. Instead of letting the beautiful animation play out and leave the viewers using their brains to figure out what’s happening (which isn’t very hard, the animation is done wonderfully and tells the story of Hephaestus brilliantly) they have Percy telling the story over the animation (and “what is love” which is a crime of its own) and narrate the story. This is especially annoying because the only other person witnessing this (aside from invisible audience) is Annabeth, who’s been the one in the gang who knows and explains everything. I already don’t like how they’ve been using the “Athena’s kid” and “six steps ahead” things as Practically all of Annabeth’s character traits, but in this instance it’s only the two of them and Percy is telling the story. Who is he supposed to be explaining this too other than the viewer, Annabeth clearly knows the story too.

The flashbacks are so well written that while rewatching they kept tricking me into thinking the show wasn’t over explaining what was going on and was instead letting the story do all the heavy lifting. Then of course it would cut back to the current story and I’d be reminded that the flashbacks were in fact the exceptions and not the rule in this shows case.

The heavy exposition, read just straight up telling the viewer what’s going on, was used mostly in the side adventures and for world building things to do what feels like an attempt at saving time. While exposition is usually used for basic world building things, it wouldn’t have taken any more time to have so many of those things be shown visually. There are places where it may have added time but the show’s episode lengths are inconsistent and range from having content in anywhere from roughly 27-40 minutes depending on the episode, so even if there was a time increase from doing things visually there’s space to shuffle things around and make consistent episode full of visual story telling.

In the notes I took for this project I only used the word “explains” nine times to cover the entirety of the book. In the first three episodes of notes alone I used “explains” 14 times. Meaning, in less than half of the show something is explained 1.5 times more than the complete book.

Sometimes you just have to trust the audience to understand what is happening in the story. I understand media literacy is going down (which is an insane fact given how much media people have access to now) but if you continue to talk down to them, they obviously aren’t going to learn how to figure it out themselves. I know “kids show” and all that, but if the kids who read the book were able to understand, and love, the story without it being almost all exposition, why would they not get it when it’s in the form of media they do know and consume now?

When adapting a story, it’s expected that things get cut and altered to fit the new media and really take all the advantages of that media to show pieces of the story that wouldn’t have worked in the original source. But in the case of Gabe turning to stone, it’s only talked about and isn’t actually in the book. Where in the show you show Gabe turning to stone but make it something he brought upon himself. It would not have taken more time or been any harder to have Sally take care of Gabe like we know she does. They could’ve shown her doing it, or followed the books way and only show the outcome. It is astounding how hard they worked to not have the story play out visually in visual media. This feels like the show version of the “highlight everything, if it wasn’t important it wouldn’t be included” mindset.

I understand the source material is a first person book, so everything is in the form of dialogue or internal monologue but you’re working with visual media, everyone doesn’t need to always state what is happening.

Needing to condense and simplify the story to work for the form of media you’re in is the whole point of adapting. It’s supposed to take advantage of the different things you can do that you couldn’t do in the original form of media. Having people explain what things are and what’s happening is definitely something that could happen in a book, but it didn’t happen in The Lightning Thief  because it doesn’t make for a good story. So why would doing that in visual media make for any better of a story?

Is it Good

The build-up to the show was full of Rick promising it would be far more faithful then the [REDACTED] movie. All that press really helped get everyone excited because the fandom, much like Rick himself, hate the movies and how much they changed the story. Then the show comes along and repeats the mistake of the movies in different ways, a fact made all the more worse with everything Rick had promised. The show is more faithful to the books then the movies, but that isn’t a very high bar.

I’ve seen a few people mention that they should’ve made the show animated, with the main reason of character congruency since real life people obviously grow up. A thing made more obvious with the timeline most streaming shows end up taking. And while that probably would’ve been a better show, I think if they had just treated this like a real television show and made it on a classic (read mostly outdated, unfortunately) timeline it would’ve ended up a much better, more consistent show. There were also the points of special effects and the gods all looking better animated, which again they would have, but if done right, would look especially good in live action. I mean imagine watching a real Percy Jackson come face to face with a well-designed, perfectly intimidating Hades, and it all looks as real as they can get with CGI.

A friend of mine, who had to put up with my ramblings about this the whole time, said “As someone who isn’t a dedicated fan of the books and just read the first book for 6th grade English… I can’t say anything about the show as an adaptation but as its own thing, I’d honestly say it was between ‘ok’ and ‘great’ and I think the fanbase deserves better than halfway between ok and good”.

The flashback with Sally and Poseidon talking about Percy and Poseidon just being there to support her does so much. It’s easily the best scene in the entire show, and my favorite, hands down. The final episode of the season let the story work. It’s probably my favorite episode, even if I don’t like how they ended up handling Gabe. Since it’s a post-credit scene I’ve decided to not let it affect this.

The behind the scenes documentary was a chance for me to step back and look at the whole show not just all those tiny details that drive me crazy. Solidifying that the only real complaint is the writing, which is important, because the acting, set design, casting, direction, just everything except parts of the dialogue are so good. It isn’t even all the writing, just the over explaining. It’s one of those things where everything was set up to be perfect but one tiny thing didn’t hold it’s weight and tainted everything else.

The frustrating thing is I don’t think it’s the show (or even Disney) that’s at fault for why it wasn’t great. I think this is just the direction tv media (and all visual media) has been heading towards. If they had more time for the story, they would’ve been able to show us the in between moments and more interactions between our characters. The documentary really shows how much everyone working on it, both in the cast and crew, deeply care about the project. The way everyone talks about their work in the documentary make it so clear how much love and care went into to show. I’m more mad at the industry and streaming corruption making the show into what it was then the show as a whole.

It feels like the show version of not planning out where to write you letters on a poster. You start out all big and bold and slowly everything just gets more and more squished.

It’s a good show, and I did enjoy it. But it didn’t stand up to the expectations that were built up for it. Those expectations were so high, primarily because of Rick continuing to say it’ll be close to the book, and the knowledge that he was involved and hates the movies as much as the fans, gave me, and all of us, hope for the story. Then we got the story and while it wasn’t hugely changed, it was still fundamentally different. The moment I found out how long the show’s season was going to be, I knew it wasn’t going to be quite what I wanted or what it deserves to be because so much would have to be cut and/or altered to fit.

read all here <prev 2 next>

[theblobmaster]

chanlix in retrospective

so i've been watching old skz content for the first time and i have thoughts specifically about how chanlix is shown. this isn't necessarily about shipping, but it's also a big part of how kpop groups are promoted by their companies so it also kinda is.

first up the survival show:

1. - jype really just handed chris felix and said here he's your responsibility now. we find out in the second episode that felix moved into the same dorm as chris as soon as he landed in korea. him having been living in the dorm with chris, jisung and jeongin for 8 months when the other guys move in.

and i do think that was pretty intentional, chan has said that he knew felix was coming to the company beforehand, so jype probably sat him down and was like we have another aussie boy joining, help him settle into the company and communicate with others.

which no wonder they ended up close if that was the case.

2. - they barely interact throughout the entire show. the only time we really see them together are very short 2 second clips from their selcams where they're joking. when they're out and about they constantly seem to be in close vicinity of each other, yet we never really see them speak? it's weird.

3. - then we have episode 8 with felix's elimination. where we still don't really see them interact in the first half. we do get chan saying that he's worried about how felix will do, but not much else. then he gets eliminated and we're shown chan being devastated over it. it's a completely different reaction to when minho was eliminated.

side note - the footage taken during and after minho's elimination is some of the most invasive i've seen in a long time. it made me deeply uncomfortable to watch. idk if they got backlash from it but i was so happy to see that they turned it down for felix's elimination.

back to felix and chan: the entire band is crushed, but chan is visibly more upset than the last time. it might be because he has now lost two members of the group he put together and the collective loss makes it harder for him to hold it together but the line,

"always find me, yeah? i'm not gonna leave you behind"

is not something you say to someone you're not deeply attached to. and up until now we've had no indication they're close at all? it's so left field from how they're portrayed the rest of the time. and of course we have chan breaking down in the solo interview shot, blaming himself. and that's on par and he also did that when minho got eliminated. tho not as visibly emotionally distraught.

in the montage of felix with the members we get 1 (one) clip with chan and they're not even interacting, chan is just looking fondly at felix while he plays around. we see more clips of felix with minho who at that point is not in the band.

there were multiple clips of chan and minho during his montage. (also with minho surprisingly clingy and affectionate towards chan) chan and felix cannot have interacted that little for them to have no footage of them at all.

4. - when felix and minho gets their second chance and the other find out, we only see chan interact with minho (not a lot) and welcome him back. the closest we get to him acknowledge is him staring at the whole group celebrating.

In the studio when felix and minho join the other seven members to record, felix beelines to sit beside chan and he does so throughout the session. even after he went in to record and got back. yeah we never even see them look at each other much less talking.

5. - and then there was the final, which was broadcasted live...

yeah, chan gives felix comforting touches on multiple occasions throughout the ments and when they're just standing. more importantly is, it does not look awkward or forced, it looks like something he's used to. felix doesn't react as if it's something new either, it also clearly settles him more.

when it's announced they're gonna debut as nine members, felix once more beelines to chan and crashes into him so hard they stumble away from the group and spends quite a good few moments standing so far apart from the group hug the members are doing. it's almost as if they were told they'll debut as a duo and the others as a group. it's a tight hug, it's a hug between people who know and love each other a lot.

they at some point join the others and then when jyp is on his way down to congratulate them on his own decision, you see felix and chan in another tight hug just the two of them. felix breaks it off when he sees jyp approach them.

and again in the end when the camera zooms out and captures the entire stage, the two are in another tight hug just the two of them. and i mean they're clinging to each other.

i think after the last one you see them in a group hug with one other member, when chan is clutching the other two close.

end note for this show - i haven't watched any of the extra clips they uploaded seperate from the official show yet, so i don't know if they interact more there, but i would've been so goddamn confused if i was a viewer back when it first aired with none of the knowledge i have of their relationship now.

at no point do the show indicate these two members are close and yet we get an extreme declaration from chan after felix is eliminated and when they get to debut together they're clinging to each other? with how they edited felix and his relationships, you would've thought he would be clinging to changbin.

they really went in hard on the changlix on this show, and i'm not trying to discredit how close those two are, but it was a really obviously a choice made by the showrunners to focus on their relationship.

i've been in the kpop fandom for a long time and it's not unusual for a company to push a specific 'ship', scarily aware of how much shipping goes on and how much money they can earn from it. it happens less so with newer groups than back when i started getting into kpop, but it still happens. and funnily enough normally chan and felix would've been the perfect fit. two boys far from home, but they can find solace in each other, and oh they're also from the same city, maybe they've crossed paths without knowing before ect ect. people tend to eat that shit up and companies are aware of that.

so why is it, that from the get go we're almost never shown that? why did the jype take that decision? it's really fucking confusing.

i'm probably gonna do more of these when i go through their other shows. because my brain has decided these two are the hyperfixation for now.

[2nd-mushroom-circle]

lines that made me cry in my 3rd relisten to the chaos protocol ep 32 (MAJOR SPOILERS):

- “brother heed me, as you ought.” something about the way connie says brother this time… i will never be ok about sing and seir

- i mean i could say the entire rest of the opening monologue. but the little hesitance on “lover, hold me”? OW.

- THE WAY VAL’S VOICE SOUNDS ON THEIR FIRST LINE. illegal.

- similarly, the sobbing after “it is lost. forever.” always catches me off guard and RIGHT IN THE HEART

- the way connie just moves on to lumiéra after val says “something snaps”. cause there’s nothing more to say. nothing that can fix it.

- “a door that had been so carefully pried open slamming shut, and… he doesn’t feel.”

- “and he just… looks at where he should have been a shield.” have i ever mentioned that cai is a masterful storyteller? cause cai is a masterful storyteller and god. i’ll never stop feeling things about xainan esch

- this whole scene with xainan crumbling into dust destroys me.

- “you have always been half dead, xainan esch”

- connie calling oblivion the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen as xainan is drifting away from his own life sure is something, huh.

- “i think im just exhausted with being a coward” no cause i have so many feelings about lumiéra waiting, waiting, always a little too hesitant and afraid to tell sing how she really felt, even though sing felt the same, because it’s too scary because it’s too complicated because lumiéra is literally just fucking HUMAN and it takes so much to make that step - only for her to finally do it and it’s just. a moment. too. late.

- the moment when we move from lumiéra’s flashback to the present. the imagery of happy, triumphant, hopeful lumi giving way to lumi crouched over sing’s body, tear tracks staining her face.

- and the imagery of seir holding up lumiéra with his sister. fuck me i guess.

- THE FUCKING PERSPECTIVE SHIFT

- ok being fully fr seir’s monologue here is when i actually started crying in earnest this time. what the fuck val. not one line. all of them

- “the knife that is xainan” always hits me a little bit

- “whelming it’s pitiable vessel” is just such a good phrase. didn’t make me cry but i love it

- the music cue when artemis appears did make me cry though

- “eyes that immediately fall upon sing’s body” if i think too hard about artemis’s relationship with sing (artemis singing the twins to sleep, artemis signing her transfer request because artemis can see right through her, artemis giving them all the warning she can, artemis knowing when they die and appearing right away but unsurprised, with grief that has always been there, artemis making a choice) i will break. and start making some not-yet-canon assumptions about artemis’s own emotional state. so we are not thinking about that!

- “a lance in her chest” “bleeding.” ow ow ow the multiple possible readings of this line. connie and sea kicking off their insane narration chemistry with a lance to my chest. ow

- “those warm, gentle hands, that do not touch, that are so careful with their love” ok so when i said we weren’t feeling things about artemis? i lied

- “and when her hands pass through your flaming horns, snuffing them out like a candle at the end of its wick, it is not violent. it is not to put a cap on your grief, not to quiet you, not to for you into a box or a body that cannot contain you -“ “it is a mercy.” “it is the sweet mercy of rest when you have no tears left to cry.” the actual reason i’m relistening to this episode is to memorize all the words. so i can hold them like precious things in a box inside me. btw

- and artemis sings you and your sister to rest one final time.

ok. *wipes away tears.* anyways.

- artemis wiping a tear from lumiéra’s eye and calling her the bravest girl in the room .

- we interrupt your regularly scheduled tears to bring you: i’m gonna pull an øka* and punch fate in the fucking face. “this pain has a design”. yeah it’s called fate’s a BITCH and a BAD PARENT. and you can quote me on this

*i have not yet watched the second stranger only seen the clip of øka punching fate. so many times. i replayed that clip quite a bit after this episode.

- “and you cannot hold on to your life much longer. you are a dead man walking and you can go no farther than this.” ok back to crying! this is the sequence i was originally most abnormal about. and you know what? it still hits. so much. xainan my beloved

- sea and connie narrative trading my beloved.

- “do you want to live?” “i don’t know.” “then why don’t you come with me, and you can tell me your answer later.” god what a line. what a perfect response. there are no words that can fix this, but maybe with time and love and care someday you will want to live again. why don’t you come with me.

- “and she carries you home.”

- i don’t think i fully internalized the imagery of sing’s sword being driven into the earth by the roots of the world tree and the roots growing up around it before, but this time i imagined wildsailors hundreds of years from now coming upon this site and approaching it with reverence and love, knowing that it was here that something bigger than their world changed forever, holding sing’s eulogy in the very heartwood of the wildsea—yeah.

- “i love my dad, ok?” thanks abasi already sobbing.

- “it is effortless, the care that they hold for you. it is a reality unto itself.” just. cause. this is what i was hoping the whole time in the lead up to this episode. i know it would be awful and crushing and it would break them, and i was so worried that they would have to just. find a way to push on somehow. make plot happen anyways. but this, nova being cared for and held and protected in their grief? someone carrying them home when they can’t do it themselves anymore? this was just what they needed. and what i needed. i cannot wait for arc 2.

[shipcestuous]

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley (Episode 2)

@dragomer: We got canon future incest in The Coffin of Andy and Leyley now in chapter 2.

/

Anon #1: Hiiiii! Have you heard of the game The Coffin of Andy and Leyley? It’s mainly a horror game about cannibalism and murder, BUT it’s centered around two siblings who have a toxic, insanely codependent relationship. They’re really weird about each other but still so very much like your typical pair of bickering siblings. If you have heard of it, it’s FINALLY (yay!!) in early access right now, and part 2 (of 4) is released! Also, (SPOILERS? But it’s technically all over the Steam page reviews) canon content is 100% confirmed to contain explicit, undeniable incest in one of its routes! Like. It’s not subtext anymore. Not even sugarcoating this; it’s depicted pretty straightforwardly. And imo it’s arguably one of the “healthier”—for lack of a better word? bc I don’t think they’ll ever really be healthy by conventional standards—routes for the siblings’ relationship. If you haven’t played it yet, or haven’t checked out the newest installment, definitely recommend! The first ep was great but the second is FANTASTIC

/

Anon #2: Hi, this is the anon who was so enthusiastic about the Coffin of Andy and Leyley a couple of months ago. The full game is now in early access and can be bought on Steam, as the creator has decided (after a community poll) to release the rest of the game episodically. Currently episode 1 (which was the demo) and the shiny new episode 2 are available, with episodes 3A and 3B (different routes based on the choices made previously) being slated for release somewhere in 2024. So, we still have to wait sometime before the full game is finished. But for now, what does Episode 2 – ‘Graves’ offer us? (Warning: some spoilers) The answer is: pure gloriousness. It’s even better than I could've imagined in my wildest dreams. The relationship between Andrew and Ashley is just that amazing. Over the course of the (horrible, awful, and darkly hilarious) events comprising episode 2, we learn a lot more about our favourite pair of cannibalistic siblings. Their not-too-pleasant childhood is explored through multiple dreams and flashbacks, and for the first time we also have segments where we play as Andrew, providing the reader with direct access to what he actually thinks (and feels!) in regards to his beloved sister. And oh boy are his thoughts interesting! A lot of people who picked up on the interesting vibes between them in the first chapter assumed that they were mostly the result of Ashley’s obsessiveness, but this chapter contains an infinite amount of hints that Andrew is actually the one whose feelings towards his sibling are the most ‘romantic’ in the classic sense of the word. The way he physically touches her, the jealousness and protectiveness which was already present in the first chapter but whose full depth we actually see now for the first time, the fact that he regularly shares a bed with her to stave off his nightmares and panic attacks, but then it is revealed that he sometimes fakes them! In one flashback he asks his ex-girlfriend to tie her hair up, which would very obviously make her look even more like Ashley than she already does! At one point he literally thinks this about his sister: “You're struck with an odd urge to pull this broody bitch into your arms, and force her to stay until she smiles. But you push such an idea to the back of your mind. Where it may fester with all the other thoughts you wish you never had.” Ahhh, It’s almost too much, and that’s not even the best part yet of the episode! Depending on the choices you make, a situation can occur in which the siblings have a prophetic dream together (after falling asleep while holding hands! This game is just too much...). The contents of the dream? Well... I don’t want to spoil too much but let’s just say that a canonical incest route has now been 100% confirmed. I’ve already seen the artwork from that scene floating around on tumblr so people who have been following the TCOAAL tags might have seen it already. I could ramble about this game for hours on end but I feel like I’ve been writing and potentially spoiling way too much already. This game has completely taken over my brain and I just wanted to share that. I regret nothing!

/

This is such great news that you all bring! It does sound better than we had any reason to hope for. I will definitely have to play this, but I may wait until it is complete and officially released.

I'm so excited that the creator went full tilt on the incest, and that those of you who shipped it so hard after the demo are being rewarded with such glorious developments.