#i think this season might be the best they've ever been written?

[19871997]

.

[xf-cases-solved]

do you guys think. that mb in the months proceeding the leonard betts/never again/memento mori trifecta, there was a time where scully got a nosebleed around mulder and they both thought nothing of it?

do you think scully had written it off as dry air or seasonal allergies and mulder had taken her at her word and just handed her some tissues and made a joke about not getting blood on the files?

do you think that after he learns about her cancer, he thinks back to that nosebleed in their office and wonders "if only i had said something, then maybe she would have gotten her diagnosis sooner," as if he'd have had any reason to ever suspect that a simple nosebleed could be a sign of something so dire and lethal?

do you think that, late at night, when the insomnia is at its worst (mb when scully is rly sick and his mind won't let him fall asleep bc what if she needs him and he misses the call?), he traces back every interaction they've had since she got her chip removed, using his eidetic memory to analyze every moment where she might have shown signs of illness? every moment he might have missed, because he hadn't been paying close enough attention, WHY had he not been paying close enough attention, he's a psychologist, damnit, a behavioral profiler, the best one in the violent crimes unit--if he can write up a profile of a killer he's never met that's right on the money beat-for-beat, then there's no excuse for him missing the subtle changes in the most important person in the world to him

do you think he remembers a random tuesday morning when she came in late because she had woken up with a killer headache and wonders "was that headache because she had done back-to-back autopsies the day before without enough food or water, or was that the tumor starting to grow?"

do you think he remembers stopping by the convenience store in a rural town in kansas to grab her a box of dramamine because she said she was kind of dizzy, and at the time he'd not given it a second thought, because sometimes she got motion sickness on turbulent planes or riding passenger seat in a rental car down winding dirt roads, but now he wonders if that dizziness had been a sign of something more sinister?

do you think he remembers the two of them laughing off a bloody nose and then going back to bickering about this or that like nothing had happened, and wonders that if he had questioned it then, would it have saved her?

do you think that's just another thing he adds to his pile of guilt, because even though she's the last person he ever wants to see harmed, she keeps getting hurt anyway, and he believes it's always, ALWAYS, because of him?

do you think, when he sees her nose bleed now, he blames himself?

anyway

[hansoeii]

Not a Sylki shipper, but do you genuinely believe they won't be endgame? Like I get it, it seems like Sylvie is not in love with him and they're kinda pushing Lokius (might be just mocking us), but don't you think they could do a 180 in the last episode? It would make no sense, but the writer is a cishet man, who ships Sylki. Marvel is not good at writing romance. I feel sad, because I'm seeing all these people say that Sylki is over, celebrating and I feel like they'll be crushed on Thursday. They could absolutely do a 180, rush the romance with "she was always in love, she was just pushing him away" and make them endgame. Again, it would be bad writing and it'd make zero sense, but the majority of the people don't care about the romance, including my irls, they only want to see the multiverse stuff. So they won't care. And I feel like Disney/Marvel don't care either.

Yes, I totally believe that Sylkie is over and that nothing will happen between them again.

What makes me say that? It's simple. All Sylvie wants is a simple life on the timeline, they've made that clear several times. She only ever follows Loki once that life and her timeline are in danger. And I can't blame her for that. She has no interest in Loki and his friends and what's even more important: she has even less than zero interest in the TVA. She's selfish, she admitted that herself.

The TVA is what's important here. The TVA has become Loki's home, it's the place where he found his family. He (and Mobius) is the heart of the TVA. And he won't part with it, and Sylvie would never willingly stay there for longer than necessary.

She has made it clear by telling Loki to write his own story that their stories are separate ones.

This season so far has been incredibly well written, and I don't believe they're gonna do a big 180 in the finale. I could totally be wrong, but I don't think it's likely.

I believe that Sylvie will be the one to restore everyone's memories in the last episode as her final heroic act and then once the timelines are restored, she will go back to her simple life.

And when it comes to Eric Martin: just ignore him. He's a troll, and I don't believe a single thing he says about any ships. He constantly likes Sylkie tweets and then suddenly switches to liking Lokius tweets. It's best to just watch the show and ignore what any of the creators have to say (besides Tom Hiddleston, I adore his commentary) about it, just draw your own conclusions! And so far, we have gotten 5 episodes that made it clear that there's nothing even close to romantic going on between Sylvie and Loki anymore.

[kocch]

this is a rambling post no one is gonna read but I GOTTA WRITE IT because i've watched the whole 911 show in the past five months and never really talked about it, so i gotta say some things that are important to me (some might be unpopular opinions idk i don't really know the fandom, i've only checked the tag in the past weeks for s8 and all i can see is mostly annoying fanwars about which ship is better)

my dash could be biased and tumblr itself could be biased for mlm ships BUT WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS SHOW HAS LESBIANS. like. i'm gonna use the few screencaps i posted here on tumblr while i was binge-watching the show buT

they're everything they're the best they're all i've ever wanted and they're not talked about enough, i don't know if it's because they're a wlw ship and they're a BLACK wlw ship or it's just that they're an enstablished couple and all, but damn i wish i saw them more in my dash and here on the freaking gay website because they have given me so many emotions through the seasons and they're SOLID and i just love them so much :( of course i know karen is not always present because it's a procedural show and sometimes the characters disappear for episodes, but they've solidified 911 in my heart . because damn this show is QUEER and it has been queer since day 1

my top faves are chim maddie hen and buck ok i don't make the rules they're the best but I LOVE THEM ALL and i think one of the best things of this show is the found family concept. you just gotta love them all. even if sometimes they have crazy writing moments through the seasons (like when buck tried to sue 118 or when eddie left 118 jfefhrf)

i love LOVE LOVE 911 because of all the feelings, the found family, how inclusive it feels with all the queer storylines and how diverse the main cast is (but also the case-of-the-day cast too... i'm a fan of another procedural like fringe, it was the 2010 and it was the whitest thing ever, (and the production was racist too) things have changed) BUT IT'S still copaganda. athena grant is a lot of copaganda. the two things can coexist i can love her and despise her story at times ok.

i hope we get a great henren/madney storyline in season 8 because (they're literally my faves) they're the best. i kinda wish for chim and maddie to long for a second children, now that they have mara in their lives? I'm not sure, i just know i need more of them. they're literally . so good to me. they've captivated my heart in s2 and they never left. the potential chim and maddie had was so great, but timing, trauma, depression, many things were keeping them apart, and every win felt EARNED. i just think sometimes straights have rights and that's madney's case.

i love buck like anyone in the fandom, but i think part of the craze on tumblr is due to his bisexual storyline and i gotta say... i do enjoy bucktommy. atm they're cute. being silly and in the honeymoon phase. do i ship buddie? i do, there are so many GREAT things through the seasons that make you feel - wow they could be perfect together - but that doesn't mean i will hate on bucktommy for now (yeah, i know, tommy was horrible in the past, yeah he was closeted and repressed, yeah he could have been better, he was racist and homophobic, i know, but i guess he got better since the characters are ok with him? sometimes we'll never get that resolution on screen) (i think all of them had their bad moments as characters, i mean, i could open a whole file about athena being a bad cop and still she's everyone's faves)

getting back to buck i did love his bisexuality storyline and i love him BEING BISEXUAL, it's not about tommy or about eddie or about anyone it's about him being bisexual. in his early 30s. BUT I gotta say, for how writers have written these characters, for me it made so much more sense for eddie to turn out gay than buck having his bi moment (and it's because of the writing). it makes sense for buck to be bisexual because he has always loved women and he's tried to make his relationships work, unlike eddie, but then he found out he also like men. he had soo many queer hints around him and it's just. fitting. i love him to bits. i wish s7 was longer so we could get things a bit slower, the pace was fast but i loved it. AND DAMN buck was jealous of eddie because of tommy? or of tommy because of eddie? I wonder.

i'm not sure 100% they'll go with buddie for now, but maybe it's just i am not an optimistic per se and i wanna see where they go with eddie's personal growth BUT eddie is gay. he gotta be gay. that man only had one love in his life, shannon, and that love is an idea he has. he thinks they had a great love story, but the truth is that they met when they were young, she got pregnant, he ran away from her for years with the military stuff, then he came back and she ran away, then they got together but still she asked for divorce and then she died. he denies her leaving him because of an idea of something that never really existed. even if he loved her, i'm sure he did love her but, it wasn't something perfect or functioning like bathena henren and madney. eddie is a terrible romantic partner (he's a good dad, but a terrible guy to date lbr) and it's because he's gay. i know everyone in the fandom agrees but i gotta write it down ok. when he's forced to date he feels like he has to perform? he self-sabotage all his relationships with women?? his love stories always end because of him? he had panic attack because of committing to ana??? come on ? the marisol storyline?? That shit is insane if he isn't gay

and that's why i'm asking for eddie to come to terms with who HE REALLY IS without christopher in his life. he's not just chris dad. he gotta stop running away. they have the possibility to make a great storyline for him, after several weird seasons for the poor guy. he gotta understand and accept himself and then maybe he'll work out the things with his son. this is one of the most exciting storylines for s8 and i really hope we get it. if we don't we need a PROPER story that makes sense with all of that tbh.

i'm ok with buddie happening in another season tbh i just want eddie to come to terms with his sexuality. i just love good writing and this show has its great moments with characters and that's why i love it, because it has heart. it has incredible characters i love.

i do love bathena and bobby and athena even if it might not be obvious in this post hahah and i wish we could get back may and henry, i miss athena having actually children

[chaifootsteps]

I was trying to think how to recommend watching the show to someone who might have only seen s1 and figured recommending skipping some episodes of s2 might be the best way, but then I noticed something

when I was trying to pin down which episodes of s2 I think are genuinely good to still watch I kinda realized there isn't any?

like even the episodes I think are the 'best' written (as in they're the least frustrating, no Stolas in them obvs) are still rife with plot holes or jokes that don't land

like exes and ohs felt like the last gasp of the old show and even that episodes has Crimson's nonsense marriage plan that doesn't make a lick of sense. it underutilizes Millie to the point it feels like the writers are just being blatant about how little she matters now. it has the unfunny dildos in the wall joke.

and that's the best episode of s2 as far as I'm concerned. the only other one that's relatively not completely sucky is the midseason musical whatever and that's still pretty bland and has a Fizz who feels nothing like his s1 self in it.

even the shorts have plot holes and issues, despite being the closest to the show's original premise (and not featuring Stolas)

like taken as a whole the entire season is just garbage. Ghostfuckers I think is going to be more mid with a potentially very awful suicidality plot point. I think there's a chance the Millie bit is going to be secondary in awfulness to what they do with Blitzo if my hunch is right that they're going to make Tilla appear just as a means to give him catharsis so he can do the thing the show thinks will 'fix' him - get together with Stolas

I'm not sure how the last two are going to play out but there's near 100% going to be Via leaving Stolas for the stupidest reasons the show can conjure up so he can look like he's in the right, again.

the only thing that might be worthwhile from the remaining three episodes is if Stolas realizes he's done wrong and actually apologizes, and faces consequences for being the suckiest Goetia royal ever. but even then I expect the show to tie itself into a pretzel to find a way to minimize what he did or blame Blitzo for some of his misfortune, as if it was his fault Stolas never once said 'I can't talk about this right now, I'm spending time with my daughter/working/actually being a capable adult for once'

the only other thing I'd want from the season 2 finale is for IMP to feel like a family again and that vision of the show is so far in the rearview mirror I wouldn't even bother making it a prediction for the Sinsmas episode. that one should be about family and coming together, but apparently there are leaks suggesting it's the episode where Blitzo finally gives in and goes to play his role as Stolas' white knight, just like Stolas and Viv have been demanding from him all season long

Agreed, unfortunately. The best part of S2 so far has probably been the shorts...otherwise, it feels like a level of aimlessness, retcons, and plot holes that most series don't achieve until after they've run for years and exhausted all their good ideas.

[ananke-xiii]

About Sam Winchester.

[This post has been edited after my discussion with @samjgirl , @sam-winchester-admiration-league and after @adaav 's comment to my post. I really want to thank them for their time and for pointing many interesting points out. I wasn't well informed about the techniques of storytelling and I believe I lost a bit of focus after season 11. Now I'm actually happier as I've started to even more appreciate this character, so win-win for me!]

The character of Sam Winchester was my biggest surprise and my biggest disappointment while watching Supernatural (but it's not his fault). [EDIT: while I still don't particularly like (for now) s12-15, I've realized that my disappoint was more due to my ignonorance of storytelling techniques rather than by the way the character was written]

It was my biggest surprise because I had never related to a fictional character this much before. I think you just have to both be the younger sibling of a dysfunctional nuclear family and be trauma-bonded to your elder sibling to get it. I won't go into further details about it because it's a whole essay, but I have to mention it because I need to state that I feel a deep connection to Sam. We both made the same choices, the same "mistakes", the same sacrifices.

So I was astonished when I started Supernatural because of the way it felt true and real. I don't know if the writers lived similar experiences and were therefore able to tell this story truthfully, but they nevertheless did a hell of a job in describing the unique bond of two siblings trying their best to navigate their traumas.

From season 1 to 8-9ish, we see Sam morphing from being the hero of the story to one of the two main characters. [EDIT: this is incorrect, Sam has always been the hero of the story. I think I felt like he was "shifting" into a slightly less prominent role because Dean, as supporting protagonist, was given more space in order to proceed with the filler episodes]Slowly but surely, Dean also becomes the hero and I think that was fair. [EDIT: see above, technically this is incorrect, sorry lol!]You can't fully narrate the story of a bond withouth fully integrate one part of it. I loved all the parallels to Michael/Lucifer and Cain/Abel. I thought they were brilliant. The show allowed me to go deep inside and start sorting out some stuff I've lived. It really made me think a lot.

It's fair to say that the brothers' codependency was the crux of their problem. It was painful to watch and sometimed downright awkward but the writers got it all right: the otherwise unxeplicable and toxic jealousy they felt for one another, the inability to share their deepest feelings in way other than fighting, and hell yes, even Sam's decision to run away and not look for his brother after season 7. It was not OOC, it's exactly what he did when he was 18 and what John did as well 4 years after that. As a matter of fact, Sam is more similar to John than Dean could ever be.

It's definitely been a long journey but I find that the resolution of their codependency (in season ELEVEN!) was cleverly thought-out and brilliantly executed. It couldn't have happened before, the two bothers must have been either already in or close to their 30s to confront the knot, to acknwoledge the grip the trauma they've lived had on their life. Sometimes getting older does help and give you perspective. This might be why (as I've stated here) season 11 is my favourite one: it gives a sense of closure and hope.

However, here comes the biggest disappointment part. [EDIT: this is due to the fact that in part, I didn't fully get it]

After season 11 Sam morphs from one of the two main characters to a side character. [EDIT: incorrect, as per previous EDIT, Sam is always the hero and lead protagonist]The show must be about the brothers' bond and I'm okay with that. However, it looks like after season 11 the writers couldn't come up with new ideas to talk about this kind of bond. It felt like, other than co-dependency, the bond didn't have much to say. Therefore, both Sam and Dean almost go back to square one while they had all the possibilities to explore a new aspect of their relationship.

What could've been this new aspect? Easy: making them realize that the family they each wanted was, simply, different. This is just my opinion on the subject and how I've felt about season 12-15 so it's okay if you disagree. [EDIT: well, this is still my opinion, although it has nothing to do with Sam's narrative role in the story and more about my personal preference, so I think this is where I got confused]

In my opinion, from season 12 Sam is just a part of Dean's family. It's not "Sam&Dean"'s family. It's just Dean's. And I think the writers could've explored that in a more meaningful way. Let me explain: let's take Cas since he makes the perfect example for this scenario. Dean has repeatedly included Cas in the "family", he's called him not just his brother but "our brother". He includes Sam in the equation but I personally don't think Sam feels the same way. Sure, Sam cares for Cas and thinks he's family, but I think his idea of family is "Cas is my brother's husbandbest friend and therefore he's part of the family". He's extended family, kind of. [EDIT: this is still just my opinion and has nothing to do with Sam's narrative role. Although "family" is one of the themes of the show, it was not the only one]

My opinion is canonically backed because, aside from Rowena, all the members of the Winchesters Found Family are part of the family because Dean has allowed them, Dean has a deeper relatioship to them and ultimately because Dean decides who can enter the circle. This is totally in character and I love Dean for his ability to care and form deep bonds. [EDIT: this was also needed for Dean as a character because he's not the lead protagonist so he had to have something else in the story that was not necessarily connected to the mytharc]

However, this is not in Sam's character: Sam is the one who runs away, the one who wants to create his own family, the one who really needs to emancipate himself from his older brother. I truly wished the writers explored his passivity in "accepting" the status quo and made him, if not rebel, at least express his wants.

It would have been a moment in Sam's growth if he could've just, instead of running away, confronted his brother and stated that his desires were different, that he was part of Dean's family but it was not his family. Instead, we only have glimpes of what Sam really feels: he doesn't think of the bunker as his home, he doesn't ever say that he has a family (not surprisingly it's Dean that in "Lebanon" tells John "I have a family" and not Sam), he doesn't really have any other meaningful relationship aside from his brother.

Supernatural ending did him dirty, too. Not just for the awful wig and make-up but because the ending framed Sam as a two-dimensional character: "freed" from his brother and his brother's family, he finds a blurry wife, a dog, a son, a white picket fence. How sad is that? We never get to see Sam really connecting with anyone: all (and by all I really mean ALL) the women in his life, from his mother to one-night-stands while on the road passing through Ruby, end up dead (RIP Sarah Blake). Of course his wife at the end had to be a blurry figure in the backfround (she was not even besides him on his deathbed!): she was a testament to all of his past relationships. Like, seriously, apart from Dean, the ONLY lasting relationship Sam has throughout the whole series is with LUCIFER and this alone, I think, speaks volume. [EDIT: again this just relates to the fact that I'm not particularly fond of s12-15 and of the overall ending. Technically speaking, the ending makes sense. Whether I liked it or not is another issue]

In conclusion, after season 11 Sam is no longer an interesting character because the writers both downright refused to give him another substantial character to interact with and insisted once again on his codependency with Dean (which was already resolved). [EDIT, tbh it was a weak ending to begin with, LOL, I didn't like it even after I wrote it hahahhaa, but yeah, as this whole post proves Sam Winchester is far from being an uninteresting character because I just spent a frigging afternoon learning new things thanks to him so I guess he's like the gift that keeps on giving!]

Having said that, in my heart of hearts, Sam Winchester will always have a special place because I get him, I really do.

[justplainwhump]

Shifting

Under the hands of rogue WRU handlers - and her best friend - Angel falls apart.

Written with @wildfaewhump, and part of the very fun (for us) AU where rogue handles Fin and Piers make themselves at home in Angel's house to teach the runaways their place. Lourdes and Fin are their characters. This complements this piece from Lourdes' pov, written by Vic; the AU is kicked of by this and this piece.

Cw BBU, recapture scenario, (re)conditioning, dubcon, referenced past and implied future noncon, past beating, dissociation home invasion, pet whump. Whumper POV in the beginning (whumpee POV later).

"Alright, Piers. I’ll bite." His boss has been rummaging through Freckles' freezer. When he turns around to face Piers, there's a bag of frozen edamame in his hand, pressed firmly to his bloody chin. 

Piers smirks. Fin looks like an idiot. Getting himself punched by that pet, as she was almost getting away - there’s not much more humiliating for a seasoned handler like him.

Fin grimaces. "Ten bucks says Freckles is just as much of a bitch when your Doe-eyes is done with her. She almost broke my skull with that fucking bolt cutter. She would've pulled through, if we hadn't fucked that dumb stubborn strength right out of her." 

Shrugging, Piers reaches for his beer and takes a swig. "She looked hot doing it though. And you got all your punches in in return. Trust me. Her body is worn down. Some... softer persuasion now, and her mind will follow suit."

"Bitch was about to sacrifice herself for Doe-Eyes."

"And Doe-Eyes is about to sacrifice her to us." Piers grins, remembering the little talk with his own pet before. Oh, they were devoted. They wanted to be a good pet - and they wanted Freckles to be a good pet with an adorable, naive despair. As if it'd do any of them any good. "Who's suited better to wipe out all the idiot beliefs she clings to, than the sweet little pet she claims to love?" He points at the dossiers on the pets' training they've gotten from the WRU servers. "All she needs to be is hardwired in her stupid head already. Let Doe-Eyes push her buttons, and Freckles will be as good as a factory reset."

Fin clicks his tongue. "And just how are they going to do this?"

"Sharing a bath." Piers points upstairs. "Freckles is pretty much out of it, but Doe-Eyes is pulling all the stops. It's fucking hot. You might want to go watch, I'll hold the fort. My gift to you."

Fin scoffs. "It needs to be a lot more than a sexy bath to earn you those ten bucks. I want my pet sweet, stupid and docile; and if she ever gets her hands on a fucking bolt cutter again I want her dumb little brain to know that the only way she's going to use it is to fuck herself with it, while I watch."

"Mhhh." Piers just smiles, as he raises his beer. "Bet."

- 

"Please," Angel whimpers in the bathtub, as Lourdes’ expert fingers wander between her legs. Her friend’s touch is soft on her torn body. Gentle. Loving. 

Relentless.

They don’t hear her. They just go on. Kissing her. Touching her. Soothing, promising, arguing. 

She’s loved them, she thinks. They’ve loved her, too, differently. 

Do they, still? 

Does she, still?

Does it matter?

"It doesn’t matter," Lourdes whispers, as their fingers circle her clit. "You can keep making it hard, and keep hating it, and it's still going to happen. Why not let it be good? You know it could be so good."

Angel lets her head sink back against the side of the bathtub. There’s a bath cushion mounted there, softening the edge. She’s bought it, for them both, after they moved in, when they established their tradition of bath day, entire evenings spend in the warm bathroom and each other’s company, talking, drinking, listening.

Bath days are over.

It was an interlude.

Lourdes’ lips are on hers, tender and unrelenting. Their fingers slip into her, just as their tongue slips into her mouth.

Why not let it be good?

It’s up to her. 

She can make it good. She knows. She’s been made to be good. Just as they have.

She just has to let go. Of the past, of the pain, of the lie she’s lived. Let go of Angel Harris. Let go. 

Just be good.

Angel lets go.

The pet kisses back. 

She still kisses back, when the face in front of her is pulled away, pressed down, replaced by someone else, a man, a handler with a deep gash on his chin and a cruel smile. The pet - 238, Freckles, Angel, it doesn't really matter, as long as she's being good, as long as she's feeling good - doesn’t even flinch.

She's still good.

Good pets don't remember.

They don't, they shouldn't remember being in this very same room, being a person, being assaulted by that same man in their own bathroom. Good pets don’t remember the dread, the struggle, the resistance.

Good pets don't care about anything but their owner's pleasure. Good pets don't care about other pets. Good pets don't have friends, who they need to worry about, drowning or hurting or dying. Friends are for people. Pets only have owners.

Handler Fin is the centre of her world, and he's kissing her, he's making her feel good, and she's kissing him back, with desperate passion.

Her hips shift as she spreads her legs wider for the attention of the other pet, a tool in her owner's hand, she doesn't know how to worry. She knows how to fuck and to kiss and to be good.

The other pet, the one kept under water, the one she doesn't worry about, is keeping their mouth over her clit, gently sucking at it.

"Good girl" he whispers in her ear. "But Freckles may only come if she persuades me that she wants it. Tell me how badly Freckles needs this."

Underwater, the other pet twitches, the handler’s hand pressing keeps them down. 

The pet kisses him like she's she one drowning, desperate, needy, letting the warmth in her lower body simmer, wait, hold back for him. "Sir," she whispers, voice husky, just as she's learned. "I... I want this, I need this, but... I need you more. I... My pleasure is yours, Sir, please, allow me be good, let me finish, please." 

Let the pet finish, please, let them go, let me stop caring, please, let me be good. 

His free hand rests on her throat, squeezes lightly, almost loving. "Freckles has forgotten that I and me are no longer terms for her," he says mildly. "Freckles is not being very good. Why should a bad pet be allowed any pleasure?" 

Under the surface, a hand digs into her thigh painfully. 

The pet closes her eyes. She doesn't care. Please. 

That's what pets are for.

That’s what the one under the water is for. The one whose mouth has lost its former expertise, whose tongue is just twitching desperately. Who still sends ripples of pleasure through her body, because she's made for pleasure, for giving and receiving, always, whenever.

That's what she's for. Her. Freckles. 

"Freckles," she breathes. "Freckles is sorry, Freckles' learned other words for herself in training. Freckles mind is slow, because she's so confused, she has to learn so much, but... But she... She'll be better, she... Freckles is yours, Sir."

"Yes, Freckles is slow," he says. He tilts her head back against the tub, pulls her body by the neck until her back arches. "But Freckles will learn eventually. She has the rest of her life to learn." 

She feels him shove the other pet’s head firmly against her cunt. "Come, Freckles," he commands. 

The sound of his voice almost tips her over the edge almost as much as the pet's mouth, desperately sucking at her clit. 

Waves of pleasure wash over her, make her forget the ache lingering deep in her body, as she lets her back arch even further, gives him everything she has to offer. 

She's his. She knows. She's always been.

Her owner hauls the other pet out of the water by their hair, choking and fighting for breath, but Freckles has only eyes for him, and the affection she sees in his eyes. She is still trembling in the afterglow of her orgasm, the smile on her face all perfect, natural instinct. 

"Good girl, Freckles," he praises. "Freckles is beautiful when she comes for me."  

There's blood on her owner's chin, still. He's been hurt, by someone who didn't understand. Her fr-, Lou-, the other pet, they had always known. 

It's stupid to fight. Pets are meant to lose. Made to lose. But if they accept that, if they do lose in just the right way, if they do what pets do and they are pretty and desirable and fuckable, they can be rewarded still. And she wants to. She wants to be good and loved, and safe, she wants his hands on her like just now, not like - not like on the previous her. The before. The bad pet.

He reaches into the water, lifting her out with ease. It's a short shock, when he lets go of his hold. She finds footing, but the muscles in her legs aren't prepared, are too weak to hold her upright.  Her legs give in, and she yelps, as she collapses on the tiles at his feet, almost forgotten aches flaring up again all over her, echoes of him, her resistance, his anger. "I'm sorry," she whispers, gaze cast down in instant submission, "Sir, Freckles is so sorry, she's... You've had to punish her, and she's still hurting, still learning. It’s her fault."

"It’s alright." He smiles and strokes her head. "Freckles can crawl, if she can't stand." The affection in his touch makes the pet feel warm, in a way she hasn't felt warm for a long time. She nods, grateful for his guidance. Pets should always be grateful.

"Yes, Sir."

She can crawl, she can be on her knees, or on all fours, like a good pet. 

"Dry yourself first," he commands, settling himself on the side of the bathtub.  

She smiles at him, as she gets on her knees and lifts the towel to dry herself, careful and sensual, making sure the movements of the towel emphasizes every part of her body. She knows he likes her breasts, she's seen him leer at them so often, and thus she starts there, working through the pain when the towel runs over welts and bruises. 

She knows he likes her pain, too. She’s known before, she knows now, as he palms himself lazily through his pants, watching her.

By her side, she knows the other pet is drying themself as well. She doesn’t look over. She doesn't care about them, because it would only hurt them. Which doesn't make sense, because not wanting them to get hurt is caring, and she does not care. She bites her lips. It's okay to not understand. Pets are stupid. And she's nothing more than a pet. 

"Let's go to your room," her owner orders. "Get you ready."

She tries to push herself up to her feet once again. Her legs still can't make it. And he's leaving, steps out on the corridor expecting her to follow. She lets herself sink down on all fours and crawls after him, fighting through the burning sting of the soft carpet on her chafed knees.

 "Gonna find you something cute and fuckable to wear, sweetheart."

Sweetheart. The pet name soothes her pain, and she lets the warmth of her own affection for him wash over the strange feeling of wrongness. This is not his house, but she is his - and so it's natural for him to move around like he's a ruler, and for her to follow. 

He stops in front of the bedrooms, as if waiting for her to show him which door to open, and she glances at the one he's looking for, crawls into the room when he opens it.

The bedroom is large, all oriented towards the big windows, decorated with soft colours and light wood. The pet remembers being happy about this room, about it catching the vibes of the sky on a spring day. A bouquet of fresh flowers stands on a desk in the corner, next to a computer and headphones and a half finished glass of water. The bed isn't made, the blue duvet crumpled next to a stripped off set of clothes. The person who lived here has just left to take a shower.

The pet knows she won't come back.

[grishaverse-chaos]

The Darkling

why I like them: could have been SO GOOD in theory okay? I will never shut up about this because "character who everyone thinks is evil is actually just the victim of a smear campaign and some really bigoted propaganda" is SUCH a good character concept and I wish darkling fans were right about him because it would be so fucking cool and aesthetic

why I don't: he uh. he isn't that. he could have been so fucking iconic and instead he was just a vicious murderer. who grooms teenage girls.

favourite episode/scene: LOVE the bit where alina stabs his hand in s1e8. tbf that's more of a fav alina moment than anything else lmao, let me think... okay fr I love the "fine. make me your villain" scene bc it just really showcases who he is as a character and how he sees himself (hint: those two things are not the same)

favourite season/movie: imo he's better written in s1 of the show than in s2, idk though. and I do love his story in the kos duology lmao

favourite line: that one bit in rule of wolves where he says "everything I have done has been for ravka" because it's so clearly Not True and yet.... he clearly thinks it is.... so where does intent stop and impact begin...... it's deep okay

favourite outfit: purely for shits and giggles I'm going to say his black kefta in s2 where there's bits of gold bc I loveeee people being haunted by those they've wronged and I think alina haunting him really fits into that theme

otp: no thank you! in all honesty he prob could have been Fixed™ if he'd had a genuine relationship at an earlier age but he didn't so I refuse to inflict him on any other character. darkolai is interesting to consider though bc I feel like the ways they see themselves clash so heavily.... it's about self image and it's about villainy and law and justice and power and and and. they would Not be a good relationship but I think they should interact more for the Narrative

brotp: his sister ulla! they'd have such a fun sibling dynamic lmao I think it'd be sweet

headcanon: tbh I don't tend to think about him much beyond the big narrative stuff so I'm struggling to think of something that fits the genre of "headcanon".... but let's humanise him a little! I bet he reads really literary fiction and gets ever-so-slightly pretentious about it lmao

unpopular opinion: is it unpopular to say that despite his original good intentions he's a bit of a dickhead and not as smart as he thinks he is? in some corners of the fandom it totally is but idk

a wish: at this point there's not much more that could be done with his character beyond what's already been set up (him being mercy killed so he's not suffering in the thorn wood for all eternity) so I'm going to say that I hope his stans get better reading comprehension bc dear GOD some of the takes I see (posted in the alina tag btw I'm not deliberately seeking them out) are absolutely horrendous. is that too salty? perhaps. idc though it's my blog and darkling stans are free to block me if they don't like my takes

an oh-god-please-don't-ever-happen: I swear if he goes NEAR alina genya or zoya again I will reach through the fourth wall to kill him myself. only half joking btw I'd be so pissed. imo they've all had the closure they need narratively and for him to seek them out again would be a dick move of the highest degree

5 words to best describe them: used to have good intentions. that might be cheating but idk if I can pick 5 random adjectives lmao

my nickname for them: I call him darkles sometimes (bc it's funny and also I think it'd piss him off if people called him that in-universe) also a lot of less positive nicknames ("that prick", "shithead" etc) but idk if that counts

[rainparadefromhell]

Hi.

Okay so I haven't really said much about the trailer on here (I'm a bit more active on twitter so follow me there if you wanna talk more @ casualenjoyr) but I just can't explain this feeling that I have in my chest since watching it.

I'll start of by saying I am really really optimistic about season 4. I think it has the potential of being my favorite season (1,3,2 is my ranking rn). Most of you know I'm a benvi so let's start with the obvious.

Ben & Devi

I've seen some people say they are worried about Ben and Devi, with the whole Margot and Ethan situation and I have to admit that was so me... before the trailer. Yeah it sucks because it looks like they are just repeating storylines but I genuinely do believe Ben and Devi need that push to actually admit their feelings for each other. When you think about it, they haven't done that yet. The closest we got to it was Ben telling Devi he likes her personality and that he'd miss her and even though you can see an "I love you" written all over his face neither ever really verbalized the strong feelings they have for each other. The trailer shows us a lot of B&D conflicts but like I said I have a really good feeling about this. Mainly because of this one scene and you all know...

I want to frame this picture and put it on my fridge like they are my family. (bc they are)

Whatever conversation they have here, talking about their futures and leaving school, having sex for the first time - hell even if they just breathe next to each other for a few seconds, I am convinced it will be one of my favorite scenes of the show if not my favorite. The show has been building up to it and I am sure the writing will deliver as it always has with their romantic scenes.

The boink

HA! I totally knew they did it. I think it is the best decision for the season. The show always made a point to acknowledge the connection they have and now that connection is even stronger. I think it perfectly shows, now more than before, just how much more comfortable they are with each other vs. other people they've dated. I also can't wait for the awkwardness that will follow this whole thing. I hope Mr. Shapiro makes some clumsy monologue that ties into what happened (like when Devi was thinking about having sex with Paxton and freaked out in class).

Paxton & Devi

I really hope the writers don't cave in and have anything happen with them. My favorite scene of them is Devi telling Paxton that he was a dream to her last season. I know it's been hinted that Paxton still has feelings for Devi but I do not think she still has feelings for him. Hopefully there will maybe be a situation that happens but then they figure out they work better as friends. I think it will be interesting seeing Paxton technically in the adult world while working in the same high school he once went to. I think there is a lot to explore there with his character and that he matures even more.

Trent, Eleanor and Fabiola

I really like Trent and Eleanor together and I hope they don't break up but if they do I think I'd be okay with it as long as it makes sense with the characters. It seems like Eleanor might have some intense storyline of her own involving acting and I'm really excited. I can't say much about Fabiola because I think she got sidelined a bit again which frustrates me honestly.

(I will be talking about a leaked script spoiler here so please skip this part if you don't want to see that).

The only conflict involving Fabiola I remember happened in the leak we have and it involves Fabiola getting into Princeton and Devi getting waitlisted. Still it just ties her to Devi and not her own storyline but I wonder if it draws a wedge between them. I am also not one of these people that care too much if Devi eventually gets into Princeton. I just hope whatever happens she learns not to put so much pressure on herself and break down if things don't go exactly like she planned. Your life isn't ruined if you don't get into a particular school. In the end, it is what you make of it.

.

.

The rest of the Vishwakumars

We haven't seen much in the trailer involving them but I think their storylines will be really good. I always enjoy and appreciate the plotlines of the adults in the nhie universe so I am excited for that too. Who is getting married? Honestly, I don't even care who it is, I just really want to see a wedding happen. It's a great way for us to rest from all the chaos and the drama. I don't think anything major will happen with Nalini and Devi, I just hope we see even more mother daughter moments because for me that is the heart of the show.

Leaving and moving on

Okay so here's the part where I fall apart a little bit. One of the things that stood out to me in the trailer is Devi having that feeling of not wanting to let go and realizing she'll have to say goodbye to a lot of people. I am really proud of her here because for a nerdy girl dealing with grief that wanted so badly to be popular and have a hot boyfriend, seeing her love her friends, her family, her mom FIRST means so much to me. Devi made a lot of mistakes and put people and status in first place when she shouldn't have. Season 3 reminding her she already has everything she needs around her, that that is her support system means everything. We are all just trying to find a place in the world for us to fit in but never consider that that place isn't found, it's made. And boy oh boy, I think she finally made it, folks.

Saying goodbye to nhie & me being sappy

I am really excited to see these characters again but having to say goodbye will be really hard.

:(

Never Have I Ever is not a perfect show and if you know me you know I criticize it quite a lot but it is really near and dear to my heart as a viewer that has watched it from the day it came out in 2020. I've joined Tumblr first during season 2 and connected with a lot of people whose posts and opinions I appreciate and value SO much. I've never really been a proper part of a fandom like this before and I have to say that for the most part it has been such a wonderful experience. It gave me my first followers (also online friends) and a community. Thank you to everyone that has interacted with me in any way, I really did spent a lot of nights reading your metas and analyses like they were the most influential philosophy works of our time.

I hope this sweet little show stays with you in some part even if it's just John McEnroe crawling inside your ear on a random Tuesday. You tell him to stop but he is in there.

[lunar-years]

If you pause and zoom in, the texts are VERY desperate. Asking for dates, begging for contact, talking about trying to forget about all the drama. They totally took away any sort of moral high ground Keeley had in 3.08 here, like it felt like, you know, Keeley didn't like Jack's POV, she was right, and it was up to Jack to change her mind and get on Keeley's level. Now, it looks like Keeley was willing to just cave and beg, like she wanted Jack back so bad. It isn't a great look that they've done this to her character. What the hell?

Okay to preface this I haven't gone back and zoomed in on the texts yet so I'm just taking your word for it that they're very desperate (but combined with the raging context clue of there being about a million zillion of them and that one being a solid BLOCK of text [oh Keeley] I don't exactly find it hard to believe, lol).

What I will say is that I continue to think Keeley is much worse off mentally right now than she appears on the surface. I don't think what they're trying to get at is that she's suddenly tossing her morals out the window by begging for Jack to take her back...it's just that her morals are currently being overridden by her overwhelming fear of abandonment and her desperation for external validation as well as her lack of confidence and trust in her own mind. I made a post a few nights ago after rewatching 3x08, and the same sort of problems are written all over that scene where she asks Rebecca if she should be embarrassed or ashamed by the leak. Keeley knows she is in the right, but she still can't quite believe it, she still questions herself, she still needs Rebecca to confirm it for her. I think the same things are at play here with these texts to Jack.

The problem I have with it is that we've now spent an entire season on this Keeley CEO girl boss arc...and I don't think it's progressed her character at all. If anything, I actually think her self-esteem has only tanked further. When the season first started, I thought they were going to use Shandy as a mechanism for Keeley to grow and develop into a mentor who could carry on what Rebecca has done for her, but right now she is still not anywhere near being in a position to be that person for someone else.

Listen, I loved that Roy and Keeley broke up before the season started because I truly felt they needed time to discover themselves and grow into the best versions of themselves before they could ever succeed together. Instead, they've both been in an absolute crisis-spiral all season (but at least I feel Roy has made some progress in the Chelsea episode and his scenes with Jamie, as well as tonight, and I think his spiral has just generally been clearer and better written).

The messy crisis era for the two of them is all well and good unless:

we really do only have three episodes left of this show EVER and we are only just NOW starting the upswing of their mutual growth arc

they throw Roy and Keeley back together before the season ends when it is more obvious now than ever that they are not in a good position to be doing that shit. For one, they've still barely spoken all season. What they need is a reckoning with one another (and Jamie) and then a friendship era before anything happens between them again relationship-wise. Three episodes isn't enough for that all to happen, however you slice it.

Which is to say, I think a lot of this might still work if it is ultimately setup for a s4, but it is not working as a final season arc, if that's what it truly is, and in that case I would think they've done a disservice to Keeley's character.

[meggie-stardust]

20 Questions for fic Writers!

Tagging myself via @lucky-bishop because I'm half bored, half a bit loopy on benadryl... And same suggestion; if anyone else wants to do this, say I tagged you <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 73?! Wow that surprised me.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 403,636

3. What fandoms do you write for? These days, mostly Teen Wolf, but I've written a lot for Merlin, Percy Jackson, BBC Sherlock, Gundam Wing, and assorted others over the years.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Acts of Man (Merlin/Arthur, Merlin): On the morning of their Annual pre-Christmas Dinner, Merlin is shocked to find out that Gwen thinks his boyfriend, Arthur, isn't good enough. But after a glimpse into Merlin's quirky flat, Gwen realizes that she might not have the whole story. 2. Nightmares (Jason/Percy, PJO): Percy feels lost and alone after returning from Tarartus. And if that's not bad enough, he can't sleep without having horrifying nightmares. Luckily for Percy, Jason is the one person not avoiding him, and the one person that has offered to help. 3. Looking for the Thing We Lost (Stiles/Peter, Teen Wolf): But the thing is that Stiles had already been forgotten by everyone. 4. Here I Am (Stuck in the Middle With You) (Jason/Percy, PJO): Percy and Jason's mission gets derailed when they find themselves trapped in a room with no way out. Luckily, they find a way to pass the time… 5. Know How A Man Becomes a Beast (Stiles/Peter, Teen Wolf): Peter took a steadying breath and stepped into room. He held up his hands and walked forward slowly, the way he would approach any wild animal. “Stiles. It’s gonna be ok.”

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes, I try to, even it take a while -- at least on my newer fics. I haven't gone back to things from like 10 years ago to reply to old comments that I missed, but I try to keep up. I want people to know I appreciate the time they've taken to read and react to my fic, and you never know if you're going to connect with someone new and make a new fandom friend.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Give Me Pure Energy (Stiles/Peter): the alternative season 2 where Stiles craves some normalcy and befriends a new kid in his econ class, only to realize that maybe they both want more from each other than just a simple friendship. This is a super darkfic anyway, and has the kind of ending that's happy only if you're ok with all the awful things that Peter does during the fic... but generally, I like my angst with a happy ending so this is the best I can do.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh gosh, so many of my fics have happy endings... that's how I like em... uhhh. I'm going to go with one of my all time favorites:

Stuck Between Stations (Stiles/Peter): the one where Peter and Stiles are stuck in a time-loop inside The Wild Hunt.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have been so lucky to not get much hate. If people are talking about my work behind my back, it's not getting back to me. And aside from an odd comment or two, I've gotten through about 20 years of fandom without having to deal with random hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yes. I've written m/m, m/f, f/f, and, I think an m/m/f once... but I'm into all sorts of things and have fun writing about it

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I have in the past; a Harry Potter/BBC Sherlock x-over that got abandoned. I've also done a few prompt challenges that lead to crossovers/fusions like SPN meets MJN Air, etc.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? god, I hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, I have been so lucky to have a few of my fics translated into different languages. It's always such an honor, and I give full permission for people to translate my work as long as they connect it back to mine on AO3.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have but it's been ages. And I think there may be someone *cough*@punchedbymarkesmith*cough* that would be great to collaborate with if an opportunity presented itself...

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Steter it would seem. I've been reading and writing it since 2016...!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I fully intend to finish It's Only Forever, but I've used some of the ideas for it in other things, so I know it will be hard to get back into where I was going with it. I don't want to abandon it, but it's been a few years... le sigh.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good with dialogue, especially banter. I think I'm also great at taking a small detail from canon and using that to world build something different.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Oh, that's easy: action and mystery. I really wish I could write a good casefic or mystery plot, and I just can't. I have to distract and misdirect at the end... I have to do the same with the action, too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I don't trust myself. I might confer with someone who speaks that language if it was really needed, but I would probably do something like:

"Wow, I can't believe you survived that helicopter crash," he said in Spanish.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Gundam Wing, followed my Newsies and Harry Potter.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? I already gave a call out to Stuck Between Stations above, so I'm going to have to go with:

At This Truth We Have Arrived (Stiles/Peter): Five years after the death of Laura, Peter returns to Beacon Hills only to be confronted by the truth that the pack has moved on without him. But the fact that everything he once knew has changed isn't necessarily a bad thing; not when there is someone like Stiles who is so full of possibilities.

OR as my WIP notes for this fic say: "Peter is curious. They do something. Murder murder. Sex sex."

[kitkatopinions]

Criticisms and Praise of the RWBY Volume 9 intro

RWDE ahead, only read if you're alright with criticisms including nitpicks. (I have not seen the full ep and have only seen the intro, and all of my expressing fears I have for this season isn't saying it'll definitely be that, it's just expressing fears.)

Also RWBY volume 9-ish spoilers (it's just for the opening intro and song and stuff so it's not much of a spoiler but like better safe than sorry.)

The little opening melody doesn't fit very well with the rock theme later. I'm sure it sounds better in the full version, but with just what I've heard in the opening sequence, it feels disconnected from the rest of the song. I'm sure that's part of the point since there's a whole 'Team RWBY and Jauney boy are now disconnected from reality,' but... I just didn't like it.

2. On that note, I also didn't happen to like the song much. It's better than some of our themes have been and not as 'samey' as a lot of the higher speed RWBY music can be. OK Goodnight (I think that's what Casey Lee Williams' band is called) taking over the music I think is a good thing and I'm thinking we'll get some good songs, but this one - while it had good to it - didn't feel like anything particularly special.

3. The visuals of Weiss, Blake, and Yang being pictured together and Ruby being pictured on her own is good and clearly gets across that Ruby is likely to experience some isolation this volume.

But this?

Is not giving me high hopes. I want Jaune in support and I want him to not be an antagonist and I honestly don't want him and Neo to interact at all, ever. Hopefully they're just putting them here together because they didn't have time to do flashes of both of them alone, but also it's really not inspiring when you consider what Ruby being separated from her team says, because it's clearly imo meant to display to you that she's going to be on her own... So is Jaune being paired up with Neo here telling us to expect these two to join up?

4. They need to stop showing us the original outfits and then the Mistral arc looks and then these stupid new Atlas outfits that I hate (except for Ruby's.) They've done it for the past two volumes, it's no longer special and it just serves to remind me of how ugly the outfits are (again, except for Ruby's.)

5. Also omg guys but their faces in those scenes, let me see if I can get close ups.

So Weiss has a very basic character-less smile, okay, whatever. Blake is giving a smirky smirk, which doesn't feel very in character for Blake... Either version of how they've written for her. Yang is beaming away, just looking so psyched to be here somehow. And then the Ruby I have a pic of here is the original V1-3 Ruby, who looks like... No face that has ever been made by any person.

6. Also also, Blake's color isn't purple. I'm gonna say it a million times. Weiss's background looks vaguely blue, but then it settles on white when her emblem lights up. Yang's background is yellow and stays yellow. Blake's background looks black until it settles on purple! Like, I know that they've reinvented Blake to the point where she's pretty much a different person and therefore they might think she needs a different color than True Blake had, but by heavens, it makes me persnickety.

7. The themes for that particular sequence seem to be either 'Blake, Weiss, and Yang know who they are and are confident, but Ruby does not know and is not confident' or 'Blake, Weiss, and Yang are the best that they can be they are the best versions of themselves, but Ruby is not the best that she can be and is not the best version of herself.' I'm hoping it's the second one that might result in some good growth for Ruby, but at the same time, both things... Feel a little bit frustrating, because Blake, Weiss, and Yang should also be going through things and still in need of growth and stuff. I do think that Ruby's growth should be treated as particularly important since she's the main protag, but this isn't inspiring me to think that the others are gonna get any real growth themselves.

8. I hate all these mice. Including Litte. I could not be less enthusiastic about having to see them and deal with them. Same goes for the Racoon. And same goes for the cat. It might go well, but I doubt it, and even if the animals are as well done as they can be I still don't like that they're here.

9. I feel like just from the look of him, I could like this weird little... King Olly the Origami King do over with his bright red eyes. But I could also hate him, depending on how he's played. But it could go either way.

10. So I'm told that there are actual 'shadow people' in the fairy tale wonderland world, which is just... Peachy keen aces perfect. /s It's giving 'Shadow's House'

But, RWBY has never (in my knowledge) claimed to be full of original ideas, and the visual is cool. Also it's clear that the new girl (who I've seen referred to as Alice and Alex so idk what to call her) is really important due to how much she's featured in the intro, I've got theories, but I'm gonna talk about those later. The visual is nice. And while they're really hammering home Ruby's isolation and exhaustion and the breakdown they want us to think she has (not sure yet if there's gonna be convincing follow through there) arguably too much, I also like the image of her slowly starting to get left behind. I really hope this season gives me conflict eight ways to Sunday!

11. This is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

I want it to be away from me. Also, how obvious can they get? Isn't RWBY supposed to be transformative? Why this season do they think 'let's just slap this Wonderland thing in our plot and make the design slightly different and it'll literally smoke the exact same thing and blow the smoke at everyone?' Who came up with this weirdo? I mean, besides the creators of these two:

It just doesn't feel creative or transformative, is my point. Maybe he has a role that makes him distinctive, but visually, this is lazy imo.

12. This expression is the stuff of my nightmares

I'm pretty sure that's the point, so... Good job there.

13. In contrast, Neo could not be hotter than she is right now... Except maybe if they fixed her hair back to the old way it was.

14. I like the style of this

It's pretty, and also a clear reference imo to 'the girl who fell through the world.' Also it's worth noting that Ruby is once again on her own. (please please please don't let this mean the development for the other girls is going to be minimal...)

15. This design is simple, but effective and I like it.

16. I think these backgrounds can look very PS2 game graphics-ish in a bad way.

(I want it to be clear that I don't blame the animators who were likely overworked, underpaid, and/or fired.)

Anyway, those are my criticisms and stuff of the opening intro.

[raayllum]

Opeli and Claudia for bingo?

I love Opeli more than is probably warranted given her role/actual screentime, but I'm always a slut for "pov adjacent to the main cast but without context" / "the remaining people who are alive/around to remember the castle kids growing up" perspective so it's really no surprise that I love her. When I wrote a oneshot about her and Callum's potential bond they'd only exchanged like 3 words, and now into arc 2 they've had multiple conversations and I feel so spoiled. I also really love her dynamics with the rest of the dragang. I think someone who wholeheartedly devotes themselves to the concept of the Crown but also has to deal with the political and personal (more than she ever expected) of that reality is super interesting, and I love the way she provides easy excuses for religious worldbuilding, which is one of my faves to write.

I'm both an aroace Opeli and a post war aged up Sorpeli endgame truther though - so fanon really is the best of both worlds <3

[ Black Xs represent squares don't apply to Claudia that might otherwise look circled. ]

I feel like a lot of the reasons I adore Claudia is how opposite she is to Opeli in a lot of ways, strangely enough? (Upon reflection.) Like she grows up in the castle but clearly has very limited loyalty to the actual king and royal family (bc they're royal) because one of the first things we learn about her is that she's been lying to them. Her loyalty is first and foremost to her family/her father and watching the sliding scale of people she cares about go from friends to obstacles to enemies she's willing to enjoy (with the added bonus of she and Callum having once been technical love interests) is just... so fun? But also she makes me so sad. I don't think there's any reality where dark magic exists and she has access to it that can end happily for her, and she is still going to take her sweet time seeing just how much it's destroyed her and hitting that rock bottom to hopefully start clawing her way up.

She's a character I've written a lot of ways in various fics/divergences - an adoptive sister to Rayla, a strained but long term love interest to Callum, Aaravos' puppet, breaking free of her dad of her own accord for better and/or for worse, as a dark mage, a primal mage, etc. I've killed her and I've written her redemption arc more than once. It's also been super satisfying to see her steady decline over the seasons as the "she's a cute goofy goth girl" read she generally got in the initial fandom post-s1 felt boring and shallow (it was always deeply clear to me there was something wrong with her lmao) so I do think fandom conversation surrounding her as a character has only gotten better, more accurate, and more interesting as the show has gone on (even if sometimes people don't have enough sympathy for her perspectives and choices). That all said I do think no matter where TDP leaves her as a character in the final season, I'll always write towards and imagine an ultimately happy ending for her with the soft boi of my choice

[hypermania]

Have you watched the other walking dead spin offs and which ones are worth watching?

i've seen at least an episode of all of them i think and i have thoughts!

fear the walking dead: i watched at least the first season when it was airing, maybe part of the second, but i never really got invested. i just didn't care about the characters. i've been told that there's a huge tonal shift when morgan shows up though so it might be worth powering through. plus, dwight eventually shows up over there and he's one of my favorite characters in the entire 'verse so i should probably give it another shot. but it's basically just the walking dead in california/mexico and with less interesting characters (at least in the beginning).

dead city: i watched the first episode just because i was curious how they were going to justify maggie teaming up with negan and they do justify it but it's very contrived. i had no interest in continuing to watch it because i loathe negan and think he's the worst thing to happen to the entire walking dead universe but if you feel differently, it might be worth it? visually, it seemed very comic book-y in a way that annoyed me but that might be appealing to other people.

daryl dixon: i watched all of the first season minus the last episode (i just couldn't find a link for it and by the time one became available i'd already read a synopsis and seen clips of the parts i'd want to see anyway). i thought it was fine but unnecessary? i know the caryl fandom at large hates it but i don't really agree with their assessment. i think they're letting the bts drama influence their feelings about the content of the actual show.

it wasn't as ridiculous as i was expecting. more than anything i was just like "okay why are we doing this??" it doesn't tell me anything new about daryl. it (so far) hasn't developed the relationship between daryl and carol (platonically or romantically). it just introduces a new world of characters that are fine but that i ultimately don't care about. i've talked about it before but i think one of the problems with the latter seasons of the walking dead is that they introduced way too many new characters and just expected me to care about them without ever taking the time to give me any reason to. the dary spin-off is basically just an extension of that. but i do think it's better storytelling than the last few seasons of the og show simply because it's following one fairly tight storyline instead of like seven.

the ones who live: this is the only one of the spin-offs so far that justifies its existence in my opinion. some of that is simply because of how rick and michonne were written out of the walking dead. of course we want to know what they've been up to and if they've found each other. but some of it is just that rick grimes is the walking dead. there's a gravitas to andrew lincoln's performance that makes whatever's happening on screen feel more immediate, more threatening, more.... important? and when you add in the chemistry between andrew and danai, it's fucking magic. i don't care about the crm or what's going to happen with it at all, but every time an episode ends, i want to watch the next one right now!!!!!! because i want to see what rick and michonne will do next. it's rick and michonne!!!!

anyway, all of this to say that i think if you like the og walking dead, it's probably worth giving any/all of these a shot just to see which ones, if any, vibe for you. it's not like you have to keep watching if you're not having fun. i think the ones who live is far and away the best but i'm very clearly biased about that haha

[thephantomcasebook]

I wanted to know more about GRRM and his deal with HBO. I always thought this idea to create some Marvel Cinematic Universe using prequels set in Westeros was dumb and wouldn't work in the long run lmao. Do you think the strikes, on top of WB's money problems, and HOTD probably not doing as hot in ratings as HBO tried to PR spin means less and less ASOIAF-related shows will be greenlit?

He signed a sight-unseen development deal with HBO in 2013.

He's been developing "House of the Dragon" since about 2016.

They began serious development on it in 2019, since HBO didn't want to continue to keep GRRM on salary when he hadn't been contributing since around 2015 - when he broke with David and Dan on "Game of Thrones".

"House of the Dragon" was a toxic project that no one wanted to take after the disaster of Season 8 of "Game of Thrones". But at the time, Ryan Condal had been fired from Amazon after the head of their Network canned his adaption of "Conan the Cimmerian" show that he was developing. And, having read his treatments, GRRM hired him to help him write the scripts for "House of the Dragon". However, they still didn't have a show runner. But, after reading the scripts that GRRM and Condal wrote, HBO was confident in the project and went hunting for a showrunner ...

And they settled on Sapochnik ...

At the time, he had absolutely refused to come back to ASoIaF due to his hatred of both the franchise and the fans. But, HBO was so desperate to get the show on the air that they dumped a bunch of money in front of him and promised him complete creative freedom.

So, the first thing he did, was gut GRRM and Condal's scripts and hired Sara Hess to be script supervisor on set so that they can rewrite them on the fly. This is also the time in which Sapochnik's wife suggested that they turn Alicent and Rhaenyra's friendship into a secret closeted Lesbian romance, which was not in the original scripts - as confirmed by multiple sources, including Emily Carey. Sapochnik and Hess also decided that the angle they should take for the narrative was to turn a dynastic civil war into an allegory for Intersectional-Feminism.

The budget on "House of the Dragon" Season 1 was about 250 Million Dollars - one of the most expensive shows that HBO has ever produced. The ratings were the best that HBO had since "Game of Thrones" but it didn't reach anywhere near GOT levels.

Now, Season 2 has been a quagmire of a production. They've turned in terrible scripts that had to be written multiple times - GRRM had to come down and rebreak the story several times. Then the scripts were given to a story editor that Warner Brothers had to pay out of pocket. The production was so delayed that they lost out on a majority of their location shoots in Spain. The two main actresses have been flirting with disaster in pissing off the fanbase - Olivia Cooke especially. And there's just bad feelings all around over how its all shook out.

So ...

No, I don't think that GRRM is getting a blank check after the strike. I think that "Game of Thrones" is too big of a brand to ever let go. But I think all the grander plans for sweeping epic Prequel series are at an end. I think they'll green light "Dunk and Egg" and they'll rush to finish "House of the Dragon" in Season 3. And then that'll be it for ASoIaF on Television. Smaller more grounded stories that require less of a budget to shoot beyond what you might find on a BBC or ITV period drama.

[chidoroki]

I don't know who decided to put Ray under Isabella's care but the culprit is the biggest ever. giving her her own child to raise to death? Of course she didn't know and would have never knew if Ray didn't remember but still. Do it means that the other mamas in the other farms had to raise their child too? I love that thank to Isabella who has listed all the mamas and their alive children (when she was grandma) because now they can be reunited in the human world. It will be nice for the youngest

You know what.. for the longest time my most hated TPN character was that demon bastard who ends the life of my favorite villain ever.. BUT NOW? I think it might have a new contender hahahaa. Ahh, yeah, that’s really such a cruel move to pull off. I wanna doubt they had any idea on which babies go to which mother, but I sorta can't. It seems the Grandma distributes the babies to the individual plants and we know from Isabella’s side-chapter that Grandma’s have access to all sorts of information. So if Sarah (if it is her here) actually knew that she was handing Isabella her own son, then DAMN. Yet another reason for me to hate her!

It’s not a totally bad thing though? If Ray was sent to a different plant, he would’ve still used his infantile amnesia to learn the secret of the house, but then I dunno how well his plan to survive would go if he had to make a deal with another mom. I hardly believe any other mom would even tolerate the idea one bit like Isabella did. Take Krone for example. Once she learned from Isabella that some kids knew the house’s secret, she was so quick to decide that those kids needed to be shipped off. I’m sure a handful of sisters/moms would’ve handled the situation the same way, so Ray might not have lived very long at another house. That is, if he even attempted to make a deal at all.

So I guess we have to be thankful he did end up under Isabella’s care instead? Partly because she low-key says “to hell with the house’s rules” and cares more about producing high quality merchandise, but also because she was dealing with her true son. It’s a rare moment when her “Iron Lady” facade cracks so the revelation certainly effected her greatly, so as much as she tries to hide it, she does indeed care for him.

As for other sisters/mothers raising their own kids or not, I'm sure it had to have happened occasionally, (Sarah certainly seems like that bitch to pull it off more than once too) but I don’t believe any of them knew like Isabella did. The four sisters in ch181.7 seem pretty surprised learning that their children are even still alive to begin with.

I wanna say it’s rare the ladies wouldn’t know anything, but then again how did Krone manage to confirm Ray was Isabella's son from the note he left? We don't know what was fully written in the note aside from “Dear mother..” so while that alone could be valid enough proof, I still don’t understand how Krone managed to confirm this information as true instead of be skeptical about it or think it was just a trap.

What book of secrets did you manage to get your hands on girl? I don't wanna put belief into something so random because there's really no better look at the book Krone uses, but they resemble each other very faintly..

Anyways.. yeah, thanks to Isabella for raising the children so well that they were able to survive and possibly spend time with their potential mothers, if they ever choose to that is. I also find it real sweet that they're all so happy and relieved to be free. They truly deserve a life of happiness for all they've been through.

I'm still unbelievably salty that ch177 ended the way it did (thank god that was the one positive change to come out of season two) because damn it, you can't give all these women and children freedom and a bright future and not include the best mom ever aka Isabella aka love of my life not ever having the chance to experience her happy ending with her own precious kids! Ahh I'm gonna stop here before I get emotional. Thank you again for the question anon!