#i wanted to actually make a parallel set for this and the breakup but

[lurkingshan]

We have arrived at a mutual crush, people! And the way they did it makes total sense. Of course the thing that catches Jane's interest and starts those warm feelings toward Ryan is Ryan seeing him in a way no one else at work does. Just the fact that he actually asked Jane about the rumors instead of going along with negative assumptions was already notable, but to then follow that up by acknowledging that he sees how hard Jane tries and how much he's holding--of course Jane is going to want to keep someone like that close. Everyone else in this place just hands him burdens and then criticizes every imperfection in the way he shoulders them; he needs someone who is actually on his side.

Which is not to say he will do anything about any personal feelings he is developing for Ryan. Jane is a professional and there is no way he will be hitting on his intern, and I liked that despite inviting Ryan to his home, we saw that he kept an appropriate distance and kept the conversation focused on work. It was really nice to see him take a beat to recognize that he was unnecessarily rude to Ryan amidst his stress and actually apologize for that, and then take the time to teach him something properly. It's another characteristic of a great leader to recognize their shortcomings and have some humility about mistakes. Btw, I will be needing an analysis of every item in his home, that set was jam-packed with rich character details.

I also really loved the way we saw Ryan blossom under some proper mentorship and get excited about putting together a pitch deck once he had a better sense of how to think about it. His giddiness at getting to wear Jane's clothes to the office was also adorable, and I like that next week we're going to start dealing with the fallout of people noticing his crush. He is not exactly subtle with the adoring looks and radiant smiles whenever Jane is on his mind.

That all of this happened in parallel with Ba-Mhee finally starting to take her job seriously was also excellent. I was glad to get the backstory on her and Tae because it helped me understand her fixation on him a lot better. She was chasing him for years before he finally acknowledged her, and part of her must feel insecure about how mutual their feelings really are. But it doesn't seem to me like he doesn't care about her, he's just wired differently. I am now hoping that rather than a breakup, this is headed for Ba-Mhee finding herself outside this relationship and getting to a healthier balance.

[romantichopelessly]

invitation to speak more about the secret good td3 in your head, if you so desire!

Ok so I sat on this ask for DAYS because I wanted to have some cohesive, great answer, but the thing about The Dreamer Trilogy that haunts me is that I can never come up with good concrete thoughts about how to fix the issues I have with it, which is why I reference the “secret good td3 in my head” because it can never fully leave my head in any real way. That being said here’s a list of some elements I would change to make my secret good td3, in no particular order.

The visionaries don’t exist. Liliana, Persifal, etc. are just psychics that keep getting visions of the end, and die for reasons other than their power. Explaining what Visionaries are and subsequently over explaining the magic system of td3 is part of what made the trilogy so confusing and ruined a lot of the magic that the TRC universe already had for me. We don’t need concrete explanations, and psychics can still fill this role. The changing age and exploding added nothing?? to the narrative?? that I can think of?? We can even keep the age gap for Carliana if we want to, just make Liliana an older psychic like Maura/Persephone/Calla. It will even add to the excellent Carmen-Mr. Gray parallels.

Lean more into the themes of the age group. TRC is a coming of age story. It’s about being 17/18. It’s about learning your inner self and getting others to see the true you. TD3 should be more about being 19/20/21. To me, TD3 at its peak is like Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6. Which is uniquely about the horror of being in your early 20s, losing support systems, having to learn to be a full self-reliant person, grappling with what your parents did to you, and the crushing loneliness of not being around Your People anymore. TD3 has all of these themes, but I really think they need to be fleshed out more, and given proper conclusion that isn’t just “yippee everything is fine now!”

Greywaren is longer. I think almost everyone agrees that Greywaren, as a book was just too short to wrap up all the plot lines set up, and does almost none of them justice. That book needed a whole rewrite. In theory, I’m completely fine with how it opens—Ronan being in a dream coma was foreshadowed from CDTH, and is an idea that I’d actually thought of as interesting before even reading the book. Other elements of this book like Declan’s rampage, Matthew going rogue, etc are great directions for the characters, I’d just want to rework them. I could make solo posts about any of these.

The Pynch breakup either doesn’t happen, or is set up further in advance and lasts longer. Personally, I lean towards the latter. Adam and Ronan’s conflict is set up from the very beginning of CDTH, or even from Opal (Adam warring between wanting to stay with Ronan and needing to follow through with his lifelong plans, and being frustrated that Ronan never asks for anything from Adam (specifically, to stay) ((side note: perhaps Adam’s insecurity here about Ronan respecting his boundaries so thoroughly stems from both having a family that never would respect his wishes, and Gansey (Adam’s model of love, Adam’s model of everything) having to learn not to ask things like that of Adam. What does it mean that Ronan never even tries?)) AND Ronan dealing with the crushing loneliness of being left and dealing with the consequences of having a long distance bf who is more successful than him). So they needed to have an argument about this. It’s also just in character that these two would not be perfect communicators. So. My idea: In CDTH we get no Adam POVs, just Ronan’s side of the story. We see, rather than Ronan just getting upset over one missed text, that Adam begins to pull away after the murder crab incident. We the audience don’t know why, other than Ronan’s unreliable narration and insecurity. So when Adam doesn’t respond to that one text at a vital fraught time, Ronan does what he does best, shuts down, pulls away and self destructs. Then MI rolls around and we start getting Adam POVs. We learn that after the murder crabs, Adam was throwing himself into trying to fix the nightwash situation for Ronan (Adam is not in contact with Declan here, unfortunately). After visiting for Ronan’s birthday and seeing the Lace, Adam starts to have dreams/premonitions about the end of the world (no visionaries in this universe, just psychics who are/were close to dreamers getting the visions!!). So he obviously sets out to fix this alone too. He calls his best approximations to contacts in this underground world that aren’t Declan. Henry and Mr. Gray. (+ maybe also Maura & Calla) ((Also don’t worry Henry doesn’t leave the Sarchengsey trip, just advises Adam on where to start)). Now that Adam has lost contact with Ronan (he was busy and missed the message and Ronan went off the grid like in canon), he goes full throttle into trying to solve everything while managing being his perfect Harvard persona (this gets him close to a breakdown, very reminiscent to Dream Thieves). Perhaps we get to see Adam and Declan working together to acquire sweet metals and understand the underworld of magic together. He and Ronan fight the one time they get to talk over the phone, Adam because he is truly scared Ronan will be the one to end the world, Ronan because he feels like this is another person perceiving him as a failure and wanting to control/baby him (+ he hates Adam hanging with Mr Gray and Declan of all people). By the time Greywaren starts, Adam is wrung out and hurting and Ronan is dead to the world, so yeah. He doesn’t think he can spend emotional energy playing safeguard to his boyfriend’s coma corpse. And then by the end of the book they have an actual argument/discussion no “they didn’t need words” cop out.

The number of Dreamers/Dreams has to be reduced. It’s cool to say that dreams were always integrated into this world, but it creates so many plot holes it isn’t even funny. There is no way Niall could have passed off the Greywaren being a box that brings dreams to life if Dreamers were such a common occurrence. No secret can be kept that well, someone in the black market would have known, and thus Greenmantle/Mr. Gray/Laumonier/ect WOULD HAVE KNOWN !!!

Declan does not have all his character erased by suddenly loving his mommy and daddy. Seriously what the fuck was that. Declan suddenly deciding to forgive his father because actually Declan was secretly the favorite child first is INSANE. Especially after seeing that that changed because Niall and Mor WANTED TO KILL HIS BROTHER!!! The two tenants of Declan Lynch in TRC were protecting his remaining family and fucking hating that Ronan idolized Niall just because Niall loved him best. So why make Declan turn around and do the same??? Suddenly Niall wasn’t so bad because actually he let Declan be shoved into a car trunk during a shootout out of love. I hate this plot line. Family doesn’t have to be forgiven. Understood, that’s one thing. Forgiven?? Not always. Sick of it. The real takeaway from seeing those memories should have been closure to Declan’s arc of learning that dreams should be viewed as people completely.

I definitely have other points but I cannot think of them right now. And I want to post this so I will. But TD3, as you can see, makes me an insane person.

[lover-of-mine]

I was just rewatching dosed (im rewatching random eps) and well the intro of og tk in this ep made me think a lot of fake tk (lol not sorry) and the fact that they are both presented as "enemies" of the 118, or well not liked by bucks family... and i think you already talked about this (and tim said it was by chance because lucys actress couldnt come back-) but it made me think of how conscious the writers are in terms of they put buck once again with someone who hurt his family... idk it made me think, like the way bobby was instantly wary of her to say the least... like its lit more or less the same formula (obv different cause one of them is lit racist and mysoginist) but in the sense that they are presented as enemies then they are more or less accepted as time pass but never part of the family. I guess my question is do you see a patern? And do you see how this could parallel to bt break up?

I'm sorry, you're asking me if I see the bucktaylor parallels??? I've been screaming about them since Tommy was reintroduced. I have a set about it. People hate me for it. The bt 2.0 breakup paralleling bt 1.0 would be done for me specifically. It would be the show's gift to me. It would be Tim Minear looking me in the eye and telling me he's sorry for this hell I'm in. Sorry, I'm passionate about this particular angle lol. (Tommy actually parallels all of Buck's love interests, sets on that here)

Anyway... Do I see how this could parallel the bt 2.0 breakup? Yes, considering the Taylor breakup is about Taylor proving she has not changed while involved with the original thing that makes us, the audience, dislike her aka using Buck's family to get ahead, the fact that Gerrard is back and Tommy was complicit to his behavior, could very much be the thing that breaks them, because, well, it's right there, and to show Tommy's true colors while Buck struggles with the fact that he's not sure if he wanted to hurt him or not, is a very simple way to make that happen. Tommy is introduced as an antagonist of sorts and the thing that makes us dislike him is because he is complicit to the toxicity of the 118 at the time, it would really easy to have him tell Buck to just enjoy it and go along with it. I've been toying with the idea of Tommy saying something like that while maybe adding "it's not like Bobby is coming back" since the whole thing with family and the jealousy came up more than once, but I don't know how that would work. I think a core part of the way the bucktaylor breakup happens is the way that Taylor is hurting someone he loves, he could live with her hurting him, with her not fully getting him, with them hurting each other, he can't live with her hurting his family, and that could come into play again with Tommy, I feel like Buck is willing to let things go if they only affect him, but if he finds out something about his family being hurt, he won't stand by it.

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

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1. Hi! This is weirdly specific but I’m looking for modern AU fics set in China, written by Chinese authors preferably because I’m hoping to find the very accurate, realistic representations of China, with all those little “daily life” details that make the setting feel more real. I hope this makes sense, and thank you in advance for your help! ❤️

There's definitely Chinese diaspora collection(s). Give me a minute and I'll see if I can find some for #1 Like this one

I am not sure how many of these are set in China but it's a collection of non canon-set fic recs made by Chinese diaspora fans in two different Diaspora servers

this is another diaspora collection!

The Fifth Type of Non-Contact Force by Caixx (Not Rated, 83k, WangXian, Modern AU, High School, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Fluff and Humor, Actually Somewhat Canon, Mutual Pining, Horny Teenagers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Non-Graphic Smut)

oh #1 even modern day cdrama are not all that accurate for daily life stuff. If you're feeling like branching out from wangxian fic to a cdrama with modern china daily life vibes that isn't 100% romance. Can try "Heart of Genius" it's a time/parallel world travel to the past.

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2. Hello again!!! Thanks for the recs, they're so goooood! I recently read two fics that involve catfishing, how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat) by bwyn, Yuisaki & we'll get him falling for a stranger (or a catfish) by sweetlolixoand I'm hooked! I'll definitely recommend them to everyone!

Ok so I'm craving for more catfish fics. Preferably wangxian but I'd love Sangcheng or Xicheng too! Thanks again ❤️ @dizzydandelionsandhyperhydrillas

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3. ITMF: I'm very, very picky about modern aus but figured I'd give it a try. I want a modern au where they're already adults, it's angsty, and they're in character. My fave is when the angst kind of mirrors canonverse (ie WWX being "disowned," framed for something or disappearing, miscommunication, whatever so long as it isn't kind of just random melodrama) but I'll also just accept if the angst is in a breaking up -> getting back together/exes to lovers arc. Sorry if this is too picky!

These Things Stay the Same by notevenyou (E, 29k, WangXian, Modern AU, Kid Fic, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character DeathInjury, Natural Disasters, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hospitalization, Accidents) kinda

These all involve breakups/canon-level misunderstandings:

Tempo Rubato by Spodumene (E, 107k, WangXian, Modern AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Romance, Persuasion au, Separations, Mutual Pining, Depression, Miscommunication, Emotional Roller Coaster, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Reconciliation, Eventual Smut, Jane Austen Fusion, Underage Kissing)

💖 Pentimento. by orange_crushed (E, 73k, wangxian, modern, college/university au, art conservation, museums, pining, not actually unrequited love, angst w/ happy ending, misunderstandings, smut, major character injury, hospitalization, hurt/comfort, past incarceration, forgery)

Waiting for Spring series by thievinghippo (E, 225k, WangXian, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, Pining while fucking, slight angst, Happy Ending, for a baseball fic, there’s not a lot of baseball, Sports, Baseball)

Dirty Little Secret by ilip13 (E, 67k, wangxian, Modern, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unreliable Narrator, Post-Break Up, Friends with benefits / Exes with benefits / Fuck-buddies, Implied Cheating, Also possibly some cheating kink, Self-Worth Issues, WWX is strong with the self-hatred here, trigger warning: suicide and mental illness (background of minor character), Graduate Students, Liberal use of the word 'fuck', Semi-Nonlinear Storytelling)

The Right to Care by travelingneuritis (E, 61k, wangxian, Modern, Mood Whiplash, musician LWJ, nanny WWX, Developing Relationship, Breakup, Texting, Pining, Eventual Happy Ending, Adoption, Child Abuse, abuse intervention, Miscommunication)

moonlight falls Series by RoseThorne (T, 19k, WangXian, Modern, Found Family, Corporate Espionage, Bunnies, Adoption, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, References to Depression, Anxiety, Blind Character, POV Third Person, POV WWX, Confrontations, Bad Parent LQR, Dissociation, Mental Health Issues, Anniversary, Food, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Emotional Constipation, Communication Failure, JC is Bad at Feelings, JC is Trying, WWX Needs a Hug, Implied/Referenced Sex, Food Sex, Friendship, Reconciliation, Psychological Trauma)

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4. Hey, any fics where wwx's (and lwj's) parents are alive. Absolutely no omegaverse thanks

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5. Hi! I’m looking for modern AU wangxian and I’ve searched far and wide for new ones. I don’t have anything specific except I looking for multichapter / longer than 15K! If there’s anything not talked about enough and AMAZING or something new etc. If there are any authors that write modern AU wangxian I’d love to know. Thank you so much for your page!

once upon a time, 很久很久以前 by gentil-minou (Flyingsuits) (M, 40k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, Canon Divergence, Transmigration, of the townwide variety, Amnesia, of the nearly everyone variety, Mystery, of the shenanigans variety, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, WWX Has Self-Esteem Issues, Single Parent LWJ, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Minor Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending) this is my fic, it's modern au and pretty new. still ongoing though, idk if that's a turn off for you

Just Ask Me To Stay by mrcformoso (M, 20k, WangXian, Modern AU, Former JZ/WWX, Minor NieLan, Minor XuanLi, No Powers, Dancer WWX, Musician LWJ, Roommates, Best Friends, Friends to Lovers, Break Up, Post-Break Up, Recovery, WWX Has Self-Esteem Issues, Fluff, Light Angst, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Oral Sex, Domestic Fluff, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Has a Breeding Kink, Size Queen WWX, Belly Bulge, Porn With Plot, WWX Has Friends, LWJ Has Friends, Hurt/Comfort, A lot of comfort, Romantic Comedy, Cuter story than the summary makes it out to be, Feel-good) bestfriends to lovers and oh my god they were roommates.

eyes closed for you by soultana (E, 36k, wangxian, modern cultivation, POV LWJ, Cultivator LWJ, WWX is a spirit/yao, Dreams vs. Reality, basically WWX haunts LWJ's dreams (lovingly), Sexual Tension, Pining, YLLZ is misunderstood, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Masturbation, WWX is a Tease, Getting Together, Supportive LXC, LQR Is So Done)

take my hand, will you share this with me series by doodlebutt (E, 137k, wangxian, JC/WQ, Modern, figure skating, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Angst with a Happy Ending, Major Character Injury, Recovery, Getting Together, Background Pregnancy, the mortifying ordeal of Talking About Your Feelings, sexually tense pair skating, and tbh. sexually tense everything else too, past trauma, public displays of affection aka canon wangxian behaviour, u dont need a sex tape when the cctv footage is Right There!, There Was Only One Bed, Pre-Relationship, TEEN WANGXIAN MY BELOVED, Semi-Public Sex, sleep deprivation and irresponsible decisions can be sexy sometimes, with additional warnings in start note, Domestic Fluff, Burnout, Yúnmèng Siblings Feels, BSSR knows everything, angst! softness! tender yearning!, demi wwx)

Players gonna play by Scrippio (T, 41k, wangxian, JC/WQ, JYL/JZX, Modern, College/University au, Theater AU, Director WWX, Faculty advisor LWJ, grad student JC, Baker JYL, grad student WQ, Fluff, First Meeting, Getting Together, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Depression, WIP)

Truth Will Out (when caught on video) - End_OTW_Racism! by KizuKatana (E, 108k, wangxian, WN & WWX & WQ, graphic depictions of violence, modern cultivation, canon divergence, YZY abuses WWX , caught on camera, partial core removal, WWX kicked out of Jiang sect, livestreamer WWX, meet ugly, dual cultivation, smut, no war, WIP)

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9. Hi! Hope you guys are okay <3

For your next itmf, I was hoping you could rec me something a bit more particular? Something that highlights Yi Ziyuan's abuse and makes wwx leave the Jiang sect for good. And then as time passes YZY tries to bring wwx down, or just regrets doing what she did. Can be modern, or not, I really don't mind. I just wanna see genius wwx standing up for himself and getting the love and appreciation he deserves!

Thank you again!! 🩷 @flexible-racoon

💖 Lessons relearned by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not Madam Yu Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing) It's not the focus of the fic, but it does feature characters reacting to YZY's abusive treatment of WWX & has her try to bring him down after he leaves the sect, though that part happens late in the fic

Debts of a Child series by Hauntcats (M, 115k, WangXian, dark, YZY Bashing, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Angst and Feels, lots of anger, JC Bashing, not Jiang friendly, Angst with a Happy Ending, Content warning for icky spiders in later chapters.)

If Wishes Were Donkeys by NightOwl1 (M, 61k, WIP, WangXian, SVSSS, Time Travel Fix-It, Case Fic, Mpreg, Fluff and Humor, Dysfunctional Jiāng Family, Bad Parent YZY, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Period-Typical Homophobia, Crossdressing, LWJ and WWX Have a Breeding Kink, It's All The System's Fault, Post-Canon, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Warning: JGS, Good Uncle LQR, LWJ and WWX Are LSZ's Parents, Inappropriate Humor, Family Feels) If Wishes Were Donkeys, kinda. YZY gets caught between her hatred of WWX and knowing he's talented when LWJ comes to get him to bring him back to Gusu as a bride, forcing her to accept a single copper coin and handing over the rights to all of WWX's inventions and blowing her top when it comes to light WWX's inventions are actually incredible

Truth Will Out (when caught on video) - End_OTW_Racism! by KizuKatana (E, 108k, wangxian, WN & WWX & WQ, graphic depictions of violence, modern cultivation, canon divergence, YZY abuses WWX , caught on camera, partial core removal, WWX kicked out of Jiang sect, livestreamer WWX, meet ugly, dual cultivation, smut, no war, WIP) (link in #5)

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10. Are there any fics that contain WWX resenting/hating on the Jiangs? Maybe he'd do revenge after he's out of LP or something similar with that would be ok

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11. itmf fics where JC is raising baby JL as a single parent. modern au preferred, but any is good! he could have support from others or not, but im looking for fics where he does most of the day to day parenting

To lurk, to lie in wait by trippednfell (M, 124k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Huli Jing, strangers to co-parents to lovers, Strangers to Lovers, Dragons, Kid Fic, teenage juniors, background NieLan, Angst with a Happy Ending, Case Fic, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Not Really Character Death, Fox Spirit WWX, Dragon LWJ, Blood and Injury, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note)

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12. For the next itmf, I’m looking for fics where wwx gets turned into child/baby @selkie-hi

found your writing on my wall by howodd5ever (T, 25k, WangXian, Accidental Baby Acquisition, De-aged WWX, in which jc and lwj have to learn to deal with each other, Post-Canon, Getting Together, Referenced Child Neglect, discussion of parental loss, child food insecurity, Case Fic, kind of, Nightmares)

no time for crying by Narci (T, 10k, WangXian, Wwx protection squad, Age Regression/De-Aging, Kid!WWX, kid!lsz, night hunt gone absolutely right, (lowkey golden core fix it), Fluff, Angst and Feels, Humor, Juniors)

grow by cafecliche (T, 14k, LSZ & WWX, LSZ & LWJ, WangXian, Age Regression/De-Aging, Character Study, Post-Canon, [Podfic] Grow by jellyfishfire)

❤️ in case of fire, break glass by Jenrose (T, 65k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Post-Canon, Canon Divergence, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, Genius Inventor WWX, No Women Die, Background XiYao, Second Chances, unless they're too evil to save, Canon-typical Temporary Major Character Death, First Time) this has some physical deaging via time travel

A Tiny, Untimely Mess by Hauntcats (T, 26k, WIP, WangXian, Child WWX, Canonical Character Death, Accidental Baby Acquisition) this is a WIP

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13. I've had a craving for a D&D AU for a while, but haven't come across any of them naturally so far. I don't mind it being them playing D&D, but preferably it would be a D&D styled fantasy AU. I just want silly Wangxian in Faerun tbh. @littlemintrose

🧡 Where’s Your Emergency? by trippednfell (M, 64k, WangXian, 911 Dispatcher WWX, Single dad LWJ, Kid fic, Modern AU, D&D Games, Angst with a happy ending) has WWX as a D&D player, and he creates characters based on himself and LWJ (and later creates his own fantasy D&D game)

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14. Itmf wwx's motherly instincts towards his ducklings pls

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15. Hi! I love love LOVE fics where Lan Zhan gets badly hurt and Wei Ying gets all protective over him. Bonus if Wei Ying goes all angry/dangerous to those who hurt Lan Zhan. Basically any fic where Wei Ying is protecting Lan Zhan who is in a bad situation is welcome 😂 Do you have specific tags or posts like that? @acklesforlife

❤️ Rabbit Heart by Suaine (M, 57k, wangxian, yearning, family issues)

moonlight caught in mutton fat by Raitelzen (T, 45k, WangXian, Case Fic, Curses, Curse Breaking, Transformation, mild body horror, Hurt LWJ, Ghosts)

the field meets the wood by astronicht (T, 7k, WangXian, BAMF WWX, slight whump, Ritualistic Self Harm, Canon Era, Tang Dynasty style, Blood Loss, Blood and Injury, salt economics, Post-Canon, [Podfic] the field meets the wood by semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona), [podfic] the field meets the wood by jellyfishfire)

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16. hello! nothing in particular, just wangxian fics where lwj calls wwx his airen (i read it once in a fic and i am obssessed)

what price is duty, what cost is love by thunderwear (G, 18k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, WWX was never adopted by the Jiang Sect, War Prize, YLLZ WWX, Mutual Pining, First Kiss, First Time, Falling In Love, eventual dramatic confessions, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Stop (But please don't) by Silvers_Hidden_Corner (Silver_Flame_2724) (E, 1k, wangxian, Dubious Consent, Somnophilia, technically non-consensual somnophilia because they didn't discuss it beforehand, Bite Kink, Overstimulation, Size Kink, Strength Kink, Multiple Orgasms, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Belly Bulge, Dirty Talk, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot)

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17. Hello there! First of all Thank you for all the fic that all of you have recommended, it was very helpful and interesting. Please take care of yourselves well.

For the next ITMF, i would really appreciate if you could recommend me something that is truly heart-wrenching. I want fics that will destroy my feelings and heart.

Thank u so much! Have a great day.

When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, wangxian, major character death, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WWX confesses early on, But canon still happens, LWJ starts confessing after, but the tables have turned, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad, LWJ rejects WWX, Then gets rejected by WWX after, "Get Lost") because I love breaking and mending hearts apparently

New Perspective series by mrcformoso (T, 35k, wangxian, LSZ & LWJ, WN & WWX, LSZ & WWX, LJY/LSZ, major character death, Angst, Hopeful Ending, Fatherhood, Regrets, Flashbacks, POV LWJ, LWJ-centric, Canonical Character Death, Pining LWJ, LWJ Has Feelings, LWJ Needs a Hug, Character Development, Dead WWX, LWJ deals with the death of his love, And learns to be a father along the way, Introspection, Feelings, LWJ is Bad at Feelings, Character Study, Regretful LWJ, Breaking Toxic Cycles, Canon Compliant, LWJ in Seclusion, Post-LWJ in Seclusion, Child LSZ, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence but only the ending, Because can we agree that The Untamed Ending was bull, LWJ regaining Wei Ying's Trust, Golden Core Reveal, Good LSZ; Snippets, Post-Time Skip, Love Confessions, Requited Love, Trust Issues, WWX Has a Fear of Dogs, WWX Has No Golden Core, Jealousy, Fierce Corpse WN, Protective LWJ, Post-Canon, WWX Has Chronic Pain, WWX Has Issues, WWX has Phantom Pain, WWX was Malnourished, Sad LWJ, POV WWX, WWX is always cold, migraines, Suicidal WWX, Suicidal Thoughts, Implied/Referenced Suicide, mirror therapy, Good Friend NHS, Crying, WWX's body is normal but he still feels as if it isnt, POV LSZ. Found Family, Toxic Elders, Growing Up, The Lan Juniors, LSZ's parents suffered, And so he starts a revolution, Bringing about change, LWJ Adopts LSZ, WWX is LSZ's Parent, LSZ is a polite menace, HGJ raised an army of Lan rebels and we're here for it, Good Uncle WN) can guarantee has made multiple people cry

to the act of making noise by words-writ-in-starlight (WordsWritInStarlight) (G, 19k, WangXian, Grief/Mourning, Father-Son Relationship, inquiry, Music, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, CQL Verse, [Podfic] to the act of making noise by Ceewelsh, flamingwell, kisahawklin, Rionaa) This one is totally heart-wrenching (and heart-mending), bring your tissues! Gotta especially recommend the podfic version, especially the one work music added. Absolutely shreds your tear ducts. The whole series is incredible tbh

Home Front by flamingwell (T, 1k, LSZ & WWX, Post-Canon, Angst, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Death, Qiongqi Path prison camp references, hence the referenced child abuse and death, Grief/Mourning, a lot of angst in a small package, War Crimes)

and the calm is deep where the quiet waters flow by izanyas (E, 308k, WIP, WangXian, A/B/O Dynamics, Rape Recovery, Unplanned Pregnancy, Discrimination, Slow Burn, the slowest burn imaginable, Violence/Gore, Child Abuse, Suicide, post-partum depression, a painful but gentle journey into the intricacies of bodily autonomy) one of the most heart-wrenching and disturbing fics I’ve ever read full stop. please mind the trigger warnings. it’s a/b/o but is very much a dark fic that takes it very seriously, to the point that i would hardly consider it an abo fic anymore 😭 incredible world building and deals with themes of sexual abuse, discrimination and all those lovely things </3 unfinished atm but the author has plans to continue

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[devondespresso]

writing my silly little fic and again im struck with how much opportunities they missed by pretending the s2 stancy breakup wasn't messy, specifically for Nancy's guilt about barb and forcing herself to grow up too fast

like s1 Nancy spends one night being a stupid teenager goofing off at her boyfriend's party and staying over to get spicy while Barb goes home. then she later realizes Barb disappeared and died that one night she was letting go and having fun. this is widely recognized trauma for her and informs a lot if not most of her actions through the rest of the show

in season 2 she's feeling the weight of it more around the first year anniversary. steve trys to help by taking her to a party to forget for a little while and 'be stupid teenagers' for a night. a perfectly set up parallel already

the way the show wants it to go, we get the bullshit argument, they fight, allegedly break up at some point, and nancy sleeps with Jonathan. later steve tells her to go with him and we're supposed to read it as Steve stepping back so jancy can happen. we're supposed to be seeing this as a happy ending.

but with the material we're given this would have been the perfect place for an emotional repeat of season 1 for nancy. she and steve go to the party and pretend to be stupid teenagers for the night. but oh no! nancy lets lose too much, lets herself relax and drink and dance, and the next day her boyfriend's pissed. hes saying she said things she never remembered saying and its hurt him and she doesn't know what to do. and kids around school are talking about them breaking up at the party, and that fits with Steve's anger she saw, so they must've broken up right? it sucks, even if she wasn't in love with him, that'd be the worst way to break up with someone (especially if she's confusing platonic and romantic feelings or convincing herself it has to be romantic when she really just values him as a friend)

and then she doesn't have time to work it out, she needs to go with Jonathan to avenge barbs 'disappearance' to give her family closure. She's got a lot of conspiracy shit to do and its stressful. so when murray starts going off about how she's not really in love with steve, how she actually likes Jonathan and he seems to like her back. they finished a lot of the hard work with the conspiracy stuff, she can let her guard down and have a quick good night.

then the next day is chaos. demodogs and labs and will being possessed. It a rough fucking day. Steve tells her to go with Jonathan while they get the mindflayer out of Will, civil like they're on good terms so she does (and thank god she did because that was rough and they needed all the help they could get)

and then everything's fine again, with the upside down. and it looks like she handled things better this time, was about to relax occasionally and still made it through.

except apparently she and steve didn't break up. he thought it was just a few fights, that they put their shit aside for the apocalypse and now they can work things out.

and it could ruin nancy. a year later and she's still hasn't learned her lesson, that letting her guard down hurts the people she cares about, that relaxing and having fun makes her lose people. its her fault for the messy breakup with Steve and its her fault that barb is gone. she's the reason she's lost friends close to her, 2 for 2, and now she only has Jonathan left (and what do you know, season 3 has her conflict with Jonathan and in season 4 she's not let anyone else get truly close to her and fred still dies)

you see what i mean?? by having conflict magical resolve itself in the background we loose so much powerful, painful character drama for her. our girl who thinks she has to keep the world around her up solely on her shoulders because she can't handle the loss of her best friend in season 1. Nancy who desperately wants to be normal and have people she loves but keeps losing them, through factors both in and out of her control, but feels like everything has to be her fault just because some things were.

and to be fair, that story is still present in the show. its there and definitely compelling, but it could've been even more so. i feel like if maybe there was less 'nancy has to be a strong independent girlboss' in there (abd it's definitely there, they want to make a point of making her a Strong Woman Character so bad) and she was allowed to have mistakes acknowledged by the narrative, this is the direction it would've gone. She could've been an excellent example of well written women who are strong and awesome through their own right instead of the narrative trying to make us like her

[sopphiex]

The chances of this being accurate are low, but never zero, so here's my take on how the relationship between Eddie and Marisol could go:

7x05: Eddie and Marisol starting over because they don't know anything about eachother, their relationship based only on sexual interactions (which still baffles me bc what is this version of Eddie???? It's like he was unable to focus on anything else beside how pent up he was because he wasn't getting any????) and don't even get me started on her moving in and out in the span of a few days without involving Chris in any capacity. They could've showed them being unable to share stuff about their personal lives without this whole living together fiasco. What were the writers thinking coming up with this storyline? Truly the most bizarre thing to happen in season 7, next to Marisol being a nun (although if it was a plot device to kick start Eddie's journey with catholic guilt I will allow it).

7x06: I honestly don't think we will see Marisol at all. First of all, the actress hasn't posted anything from set from this time (and we all know she wouldn't pass up the opportunity to show her wedding outfit or another selfie from the trailer with her being the attention seeker that she is). Second of all, there's probably not enough screen time and she's not that important of a character to be included in this whole storyline. Eddie might mention her in passing like he did in 7x04 but I think that's it.

7x07: Now here's when things might get interesting. I want to see them break up, I really do, not only because the actress is shitty but she's basically a nobody this far into the series and I don't see how they could suddenly make us care for her. Tim saying how he didn't know what to do with her tells me enough that she's not sticking around and he's just trying to fix the mess KR left. Let's not forget Tim saying that at least one relationship (bucktommy or eddisol) will have complications. I'll bet my money the couple in question will be Eddie and Marisol. The episode being titled "Ghost of a Second Chance" (which literally means sth has a little chance of succeeding) makes me think we will see Eddie trying to get to know Marisol (but i'm begging, no more sex scenes between them, once is enough, don't do this to us again) and him coming to realization how little he truly likes about her. I would like to see him go "wait, I actually don't want to do this with her, she's not someone who i want to be with". I think it's too soon for him to see how uncomfortable relationships with women make him and why he always feels like "he has to perform" but it would be a pleasant surprise if they did actually dive into it already. I don't know what exactly could trigger him to break up with Marisol (and I think it will be Eddie who puts an end into this relationship based on the ending of the last episode) but it would be nice if we got some kind of parallel to his breakup with Ana and the "I thought it would work". Since Ryan said in one of his interviews that Eddie has enough on his plate this season, I don't think he will have any kind of feelings realization regarding Buck in 7x07, but if this storyline further explores his repression then count me in, I'm getting my snacks and my drinks and I'm seated.

(just watch this being completly wrong when E*y Gan*m posts another selfie in her 911 trailer in a few days)

[milkyetoile]

after this great post by @thesherrinfordfacility about Crowley and Aziraphale’s domestic, it got me thinking about the beautiful contrast between the relationships shown in season 2. it was such a great juxtaposition, a chiaroscuro in writing that seriously left me in awe and ruin, not just from what happened but for how the relationships were laid out in writing.

so here’s an essay on the romance in S2, written by your local arospec lesbian

Gabriel/Beelzebub

essentially, I think this was the “ideal” romance. two beings who were in high positions on opposite sides, having secret meetings to complain about their sides and then falling in love to Buddy Holly’s Everyday…there was an understanding at every meeting that they probably wouldn’t have reasons to meet anymore after they agreed, but they kept meeting anyway. they fell in love in the process until Gabriel placed his memories in the fly that Beelzebub gave him, after getting in trouble for not wanting to continue with armageddon't. and when the whole mystery was solved, they immediately agreed that they just wanted to be together and they did do that. they go off to Alpha Centauri to live happily ever after and both Heaven and Hell will probably leave them alone (probably).

I say it’s ideal because it’s like a movie or book romance. two people meet, get to know each other and fall in love, then conflict!! but once it’s resolved, they get together with a sappy ending. to be clear, I have 0 complaints with this, I’ve shipped them since s1 and they were cute in s2…but I also love how it was set up like the kind of romance both Aziraphale and Crowley were visualizing previously.

Nina/Maggie

this relationship was more realistic and healthier. Nina was in a horrible relationship with an emotionally manipulative partner (kinda parallel to Aziraphale’s experience with Heaven) and Maggie’s a disaster lesbian smitten with her. Maggie tries to make a move on Nina then finds out that Nina already has a partner, then Nina’s partner breaks up with her. then our two favorite idiots try to meddle and matchmake her with Maggie for the sake of the ruse. things go pear-shaped with them getting involved because Maggie wanted to help Aziraphale. but once everything’s done, Maggie and Nina actually talk about things and agreed not to start a relationship because Nina wanted to heal first after her breakup. and they agreed that after that, if Maggie was still interested (which she swore she would be), then they would try.

it was more realistic because they’re humans like us. part of what makes humans such pivotal parts of the story is that we have shorter lifespans that result in an “urgency” in comparison to the non-humans. striving for success, loving people–being on essentially a time limit motivates us to be a lot more direct and straightforward when the situation calls for it. humans have to grow to get what they want. and so, Maggie and Nina, as mature adults, decide to communicate properly and it ends with them not being together yet but having an understanding and being on the same page–a better foundation for romance than what Aziraphale and Crowley imagined for them.

Aziraphale/Crowley

this is the complicated, messy relationship with a generous heaping of unhealthy codependency and unresolved trauma. the slowest of burns, 6,000 years of knowing each other, and yet neither of them really talk. they’ve made some progress since armaggenah. they’ve both been more open in comparison to S1, they have been trying. but 6,000 years of dealing with their individual trauma plus being on opposite sides and needing layers of subterfuge and denial to even have a semblance of friendship…on top of that were the events of arma-fucking-geddon and the aftermath (which included COVID among other things, mind you)–4 or 5 years in comparison is nothing. they were just adjusting and getting comfortable in the new status quo…cranking up the engine, so to say. throughout s2, they both made assumptions about each other. they both clearly talk about wanting to be together but they had different ideas of how that would look like. they were on the same page for a mere sentence then ended up on different books altogether, so to say.

anyway, I’m losing my point bc it’s 5 am here and I’m finally getting sleepy…but it took them a time limit of the apocawhoops for their relationship to progress significantly. and another catastrophe plus a literal intervention from Maggie and Nina for further progress. then, when they’re finally completely honest about what they want between the two of them, it’s when they have two opposing ideas. and those said ideas tie back to their individual trauma and fundamental parts of their characters…honestly, as much as I’d love for them to end up together, they need time apart to grow, Heaven’s interference notwithstanding (looking at you, Metatron). ironically, Aziraphale says, “nothing lasts forever” yet their idea of forever is much longer than humans’ and that resulted in stagnation.

truthfully, I think this was also quite realistic. some relationships don’t work out due to various factors. you could find the person you’d be most compatible with in the world and still end up separating if you’re not emotionally ready. love is incredibly complicated and messy.

Final thoughts:

the ending of this season fucking hurts but honestly, I loved it. I personally love these kinds of stories. and the direction of those final scenes was just…*chef’s kiss*

I’ve rewatched that last scene with them at least 5 times already. am I a masochist? probably lol but seeing their minute expressions really digs in the knife more and I love it.

special mention to Michael Sheen’s acting during and after the kiss, like make it hurt more, why don’t you??

I really loved the juxtaposition and parallels between these relationships. beautifully done, I wish I could write like that. I didn’t think I could respect the phenomenal writers more but here we are.

if you need me, I will be spending the next few days rewatching S2 and reading and possibly writing fanfiction. we'll see.

[saerins]

Girl, you don’t have an idea of how much interesting i found the argument/ angst between Mirin & Sae(? idk only if u want, u think u could give us some “extra” (it can be just a single short post) about them? Like, I think Mirin was A LITTLE right to be mad bc he was practically the love of her life and let’s be honest 😭 it’s heartbreaking that ur first love that promised u everything now is in a arranged married AND ACTUALLY loves his wife😕 idk THEIR ANGST IT’S SO GOOOOODDDDDD😢😭😭😭😭

ok hi nonnie !! lemme preface this by saying i was gonna write a whole part of mirin’s pov but it will just be centred around the same scenes and i don’t think you guys want that haha so here’s some extras for you, some small parallels between sae/mirin and sae/yn :) + my own opinions on them mwahahaha

fun fact: sae fell for mirin first. imagine the rich cold guy awkwardly trying to get closer to her & eventually winning her over because she gets to see all the sides to him that nobody else can.

+ mirin was always cautious with relationships because well, her family’s own personal issues. & sae was always patient with her, always entertaining her little ‘tests’ - think something along the lines of: continuously pushing him away and expecting him to always come back (which is exactly why she acted that way abroad). <- this was obviously very tiring to sae but he always did it, but that was why her dating other people was considered a huge blow to him and honestly made him feel like giving up on her altogether.

would he and mirin have worked out if yn wasn’t in the picture? maybe. a hugeeeeee maybe. pros: if yn wasn’t there, then mirin wouldn’t have acted the way she did and sae would still think the world of her. cons: they had their own issues that weren’t so apparent only because sae is laser-focused on making it work with yn.

would he and mirin work it out IF yn and sae don’t work out? nope. HUGE nope. he finds out she slept with oliver? done deal bye bye <3

also, mirin and sae never made their relationship too public :) they were always sneaking around because mirin wanted it private. aside from their inner circles, to everyone else, the most that they were were rumours.

did sae mean what he said to her back then? absolutely. 100%. it’s the kind of love where he realised “shit what is this fucked up feeling and why am i willingly diving into it?” and she taught him a lot, tbh. a lot of which helped him personally when trying to communicate with yn.

anywho !! i feel that given the context of what happened between sae & mirin - how she insisted on the breakup, dated other people while abroad and both of them naturally drifted (because sae didn’t really have the heart in him to keep trying since it looked like mirin was kinda trying to move on, even if she said in the end after that that she couldn’t forget about him) - for me personally his only fault was not offering her closure when he knew her intentions. that night at the karaoke bar when she was there, he should’ve set things straight (not that it would change much but still 😭).

mirin had a right to be angry - she didn’t get any closure and it’s easy to spiral but she knew he was married. didn’t even bother to ask him why he agreed or nothing and just tried to win him back. in comparison, we have yn who wants to try to understand him, who goes along with what he says because despite now it being sae who’s trying to push her away, she’s still there. despite him knowing she’s a passive person and easily scared, she stands her ground and covers for him even when he’s being an ass. that’s a huge part of the reason why he so easily faltered - fron personal experience he knows it’s not easy.

when sae fell in love with mirin, it felt more of chasing after something seemingly unattainable. it was a new, first love that exposed him to any such feelings. but with yn it was subtle. it was him noticing little things and growing to love them. it was him realising the beauty in trying and understanding yn will be much more of a bigger person than he could ever be. his respect and admiration for his wife grew with each day and that is why ultimately in the end, from sae’s pov, he has to learn to catch up with her in order to be able to give her the kind of love and support she deserves.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

I have thoughts about the TTPD speculation/two years/loneliness/sharing feelings through songs train but I'm putting them under a cut because. Yeah.

OK, so I'm giving a warning:

I'm talking about BTTWS, but NOT about the speculation/inspiration behind it. Just about the feelings in it and the Midnights of it all/the idea that sharing the difficult things brings comfort/companionship. So getting that out of the way so we can remove that part of the discourse out of it.

Regardless of whatever the inspiration/event behind BTTWS may be, whether it's about a loved one or personal, I've long felt that its inclusion on Midnights, an album about things that have kept her up at night, is significant in the feelings it portrays.

For instance, we can be fairly certain that Taylor wasn't actually turning in Scooter B. to the FBI and conspiring with his ex-wife to bring him down (or was she?) in Vigilante Shit, just as we can safely guess that she probably did actually pick up that pebble in Wicklow that reminded her of a peaceful time in Sweet Nothing. The line between fiction/reality, personal vs. narrative matters less on Midnights in this case than the feelings she was expressing in the songs, which are very personal and truthful. The revenge fantasy in Vigilante Shit is her working through her anger over having her masters sold and how she's fought hard to have the last laugh over someone who is a sworn enemy. Sweet Nothing is her reflecting on the dichotomy of her (presumed) quiet home life she felt was safe and the noise of the outside world. (Now, we might speculate on why she was ruminating on this, but that's another story.)

So with that preamble out of the way, BTTWS's inclusion in the tracklist I feel is just as important, again regardless of the inspiration behind it or her personal connection to it. Even if it is a song about someone other than herself, including it as the only "not personal/not diaristic" song on an album as ostensibly self-reflective as Midnights would stick out if that were thecase, though obviously it's her album so she can do whatever she wants and could have her own reasons. (Just like she included Ronan on Red and Soon You'll Get Better on Lover about similar themes, it could just be a tribute to a loved one.) But given all the thematic arcs and parallels on Midnights, I do feel like it's there to include a specific set of feelings being processed, even if the origin on the feelings may or may not be her own. (I'm trying to be really sensitive in my word choices here, hope they make sense.)

BTTWS is a song about loss and grief, and specifically the fallout of an event outside of her/the narrator's control. The person in the song has nothing to turn to to deal with their pain: no faith to guide them, no wisdom to tell them everything will be alright. Throughout the song there is a pervasive sense of isolation: everything is over, they're living without something that was once theirs but suddenly was not. It captures the fog and confusion of living through a painful event without having any way to process. She even says from the start that, "no words appear before me in the aftermath," which for someone like Taylor who has stated over and over how writing is literally how she processes her life would be the ultimate reflection of the depths of her hurt.

(To be clear I do not think this is a song about a breakup whatsoever: IMO it clearly is not about a relationship dissolution of any kind. I just think that the feelings of grief and loneliness in the song may have felt relevant to whatever she was going through during the time the album was coalescing in 2021-22.)

Knowing what we know now about at the very least the period between 2021-2023, Taylor was going through a time of significant difficulty in her life behind the scenes, which is how The Tortured Poets Department came to be, right on the heels of her completing Midnights sometime in early 2022. She has said herself that making TTPD was a lifeline, that she had to keep writing to deal with whatever it was that she was experiencing and going through. And as I posted about earlier today, she's also said repeatedly on tour that not only is writing about her feelings how she processes her pain and loneliness, but that then sharing that music with fans brings her great comfort because it makes her feel less lonely to know people understand and relate to what she's going through.

And we know that she has self-edited her albums over the years (including Midnights) to protect herself and perhaps even the subjects of her songs, which we have seen with the inclusion of the vault/bonus tracks in the re-records and on Midnights. Obviously some of these reasons are logistical -- album was too long, cut songs sounded too much like others, maybe she or her producers felt the ones that were originally chosen were stronger, narrative or sonic cohesion, etc. -- but with what we've seen over the last few years, these songs also filled in the lines of the stories being told and reframed the narrative being told.

Nowhere is that clearer than with You're Losing Me, for example. It's pretty obvious why it was held back: presumably she wouldn't want to release a song about a relationship at its breaking point when she was still actively in the relationship. Yet as soon as the relationship ended, she released it, we can only assume because of her realization that sharing the music and having people respond to it validates her feelings and makes her feel embraced, as it were. Then with the announcement of TTPD and how it's been brewing for essentially the intervening period between when YLM was written and now, we can also surmise that these songs will be dealing with feelings she also felt the need to hold back for whatever reason at the time, but has now decided should be out there so she can feel more whole.

So coming back to BTTWS, it being included on Midnights the way that it was strikes me as a form of sharing feelings that may have been too difficult to process. Again, not implying I have any insight into what the origin of the song is about, or imposing my own beliefs onto her, or that she was sending some sort of secret message with its inclusion! But thematically, BTTWS deals with an intense loss and feeling completely unmoored and alone as a result, which is present in her other work. And that the dreams the narrator once held have gone up in smoke, leaving her reeling about what's to come next. She's cut off from the world because of the event, unable to speak about or grasp what has happened. Similar feelings are also explored in You're Losing Me for instance, and even Dear Reader (not to mention on past albums like evermore, this is me trying, arguably hoax, etc.). Just reading context clues from TTPD and her surprise song choices of late, I don't think it's outrageous to presume some of those emotions are going to be present on the new album as well.

So this is just a long-winded way of saying, I feel like the sense of loss, confusion and uncertainty about the future likely resonated with both what she had gone through in the past, and the story as a whole she was trying to tell on Midnights. And while the origin may or may not be personal or relevant to the new story she's going to tell, I also feel like these same kinds of themes are going to be present on TTPD because they're so important for her to share. (I could even mention that the response to BTTWS may even provide evidence that people sharing their experiences in general brings comfort to those going through it, but that may be veering too far into parasocial "why did Taylor do X" speculative territory.) She sings about these kinds of all-consuming losses so eloquently and mindfully that I know the new album is going to be an absolute gut punch.

(not being self-promotional but I delved a little deeper into the Midnights 3am tracks including this one a few months ago so it's why it's top of mind and why the connections and thematic parallels are so resonant to me lately.)

[izzysillyhandsy]

"You must have a lot of time on your hands"

A list of my (very much Izzy-related) meta from the most recent to the oldest:

After the Finale:

Prince Ricky and Izzy Hands (WHY did noone notice the gun?)

Izzy is punished for every transgression (and dies of a combination of the worst traits of the people he loves/aligns himself with)

Izzy isn't the main character (but he makes the main couple more interesting)

Why do some people hate Izzy so much? (or: it's so much easier to hate Izzy than Ed)

The cruelty of the murder/suicide scene (finally closeness - but at what cost?)

Izzy didn't die of the gunshot alone (Ed's and Stede's suicide missions combined cost Izzy his life)

Poor Izzy aged 10 years in 6 months (he finally looked like a father figure, at least)

Izzy's "death threat" towards Edward (as if Ed would ever believe Izzy could kill him)

The difference between Izzy's and Ed's anger (Inwards vs. outwards)

Ed is an "us" person (Ed and his attachments to "the one" person)

Re: the deathbed conversation (a very confused post where I fail to make sense of it all)

A cool death - Ed's theatrical, performative suicide (Ed and Iz and their rituals, and when Ed went too far)

Death and change in OFMD (maybe it doesn't have to be a death?)

Izzy as Calypso, Ed as Odysseus :) (OFMD and Greek mythology - there are parallels, I swear)

How I learned to stop being angry and love the Death Scene (for now) (the death scene is either well-written or tragic, but never kind)

Thoughts about the finale, and my utter confusion about Izzy Hands (posted 2 days after the finale, expect sadness and confusion about Izzy's purpose in the narrative)

It's only suicide if we die... and Izzy's second suicide was planned to set Ed free (a very weird theory, posted 1 day after the finale - proceed with caution)

What I wanted most from Ep 6-8 - and a very hurt reblog after the finale :( (Ed and Izzy were done dirty)

Between Ep 7 and the Finale:

The meaning of the skeleton mermaid flag and Stizzy's Revenge theory Part 1 as well as Stizzy's Revenge theory Part 2 (my favourite theory ever!!! Should be canon imo)

Ed and Izzy: Cleaning up the mess (too much trauma, too little time - or: Ed needs Izzy to be whole)

Izzy is NOT ok (the "I'm feeling GReAT!!" phase of breakups) (a reaction to people posting "happy Izzy gifs" where he actually looks like he's barely holding it together)

Izzy's Gravy Basket (Ed and Stede had their visions/dreams - Izzy needs that too!)

Ed-and-Izzy-related stuff that stood out for me in episodes 6 and 7 (lovely little moments between those 2)

May I present Izzy's Fuck-I'm-going-to-die-for-this-twat sequence (not meta but kinda prescient)

Between Ep 6 and Ep 7

The Man with a Hook for his Head (it's Izzy - he gets his own symbolic bedtime story)

My predictions for the S2 finale (also, 100% wish fulfillment) (some of that didn't age well)

Too many thoughts about episodes 4 and 5 and "Moving On" (a very emotional post about Izzy and Ed and my fears for their trajectory)

Between Ep 3 and Ep 4

My immediate thoughts about the murder/suicide scene (there's soooo much going on!)

Izzy has love for Ed. Ed has love for Izzy. (it's an unhealthy love but it IS love)

"Can't believe I was living like this" - "I feel like a million bucks actually" (Ed wasn't feeling better at the end of Ep10)

Before S2:

What do you want most for Izzy Hands in S2? (we got so much!!)

What I like about Izzy is that he is so sincere. (my most controversial post for some reason - it's so tame idk? But that was the atmosphere before S2 I guess)

Reasons why Iz is so relatable (to me at least) (my first attempt at explaining why I love Izzy when so many people still hated him)

[deviousdevilx]

When you realize Terry came back 35 years later to hurt Daniel like

Breakup was so bad in 85 he came back to do it again like atlest buy Daniel a bonsai tree first and don’t walk in with kreese behind you 🤨

Like the breakup was so bad for terry he got therapy but it all went out the window when he heard Daniel name

Literally told him you know you liked it in a damn convenient store with cereal behind Daniel head

Dude is down bad its actually funny because it so real because I would be obsessed with Daniel to I actually am because he is adorable

But like the man be kicking his feet and twirling his ponytail and beating Daniel rivals up and burning down a furniture store just because Daniel didn’t forgive him for there toxic relationship in 85 that terry totally fucked up

I don’t think he knows how relationships work or he does but he does in his own style

Well he didn't come back to hurt Daniel though, as much as I enjoy watching season 4/5 with Silverusso goggles on, honestly I feel like his toying with Daniel was just a bonus in his grand goal of turning Cobra Kai into a national name or whatever. Making his own legacy, and that kinda does include Daniel, because I dunno if Terry ever really taught or was a sensei to someone before Daniel during the early days of Cobra Kai before he handed it off to Kreese?

His move into hurting Daniel only began with Daniel not accepting his shitty apology, genuine or not, the optics were BAD, I just don't see how someone as smart as Terry clearly is, thought that was the time and place to apologize. I do like the idea someone shared that maybe Kreese set him up to fail to ensure the apology was rejected (Daniel IS a hot head bless him) so, I do like that angle, but the show sometimes the writing choices confound me with how they write characters and their motivations.

Like something something, parallel between Kreese being Johnny's sensei, maybe Terry feels that connection with Daniel as his student, even as toxic and "fake" as it was, he clearly feels some way about Daniel that he doesn't for all the rest, and he gets rid of Kreese but Daniel, he likes to play with (and we gotta admit, Daniel did interfere, and had Chozen infiltrate Cobra Kai, and a lot of Terry's actions are REACTIONS to Daniel's moves. which is why when Daniel is like "i'm done" Terry is PISSED, like you bring in Chozen, have him come into my dojo pretending to be someone else, approach Mike, approach Stingray, and now suddenly it's too much you're gonna walk away? NOPE!) Not to say Daniel wasn't justified in his concerns and fears but I kinda side with Amanda that he should have left well alone.

I also think Terry likes that Daniel can't and won't stop coming after him, so another reason why he loses his shit during that fight is in a twisted way he doesn't like the idea of Daniel taking back some control over whatever the fuck that is happening between them. Daniel wants to disengage their game and Terry wants to keep playing. He wants that power and hold over Daniel's mind.

I dunno I'm tired but yeah whatever the show writers want us to think about their relationship feels muddy. Like villains being obsessed about their heroes is a common trope, and Terry does some off like a scorned lover/friend even though he was the one who ruined it in the first time.

[sexybabystevie]

I agree with what you said about b/lers viewing the Duffers as their friends and allys and therefore watch the view in a different lense and make it out to be this carefully thought out masterpiece that it simply isn't. Like they forget Stranger Things was supposed to be only one season, b/ler wasn't a thing. Yeah, they queercoded Will but not with the intention to have him pine over his best friend. Plus, like you said, Will is more of a plot point than a real character, esp in s1. In s2, he also wasn't much of a character he was again a plot point, and we never saw his real personality on screen. In s3, he was almost nonexistent, and that's sad, but I genuinely don't think the Duffers know how to write him. So his stans have to rely on the crumbs they are given and then delude themselves into thinking this is all part of a big love story bc that's easier to admit than the show being not that great and Will being a flat character.

Similar with Steve, we also only get crumbs and make the best out of but we can see the Duffers as our enemy because we have no problem to admit that they are shitty writers when it comes to characters. Like we never delude ourselves into thinking he is the main character and the Duffers know what to do with him and the lack of information is this big twist we will get paid off in the last season. I don't think he will die, narratively, it doesn't make sense, especially with Dustin involved (who is arguable one of their faves) so I'm thinking we get a shitty end for him (aka St/ncy). Like I still have hope for Stobin best friend shenanigans in the big city after s5, but it's only slim. I don't trust the Duffers that much, and like you said, b/lers whorshipping them is setting them up for failure if their "clues" turn out to be false.

For b/ler to happen, m/leven had to break up for sure in s4. Like Mike's monolog is a pivotal point in s4. And even if b/lers say he was lying, well that makes it everything worse, because El thinks he loves her. M/leven breakup has to be handled with care in order for b/ler to start.

I hate when ppl say st/ncy = m/leven and j/ncy = b/ler, and they view this as something great. Objectively speaking, the st/ncy breakup was so messy and unfair to Steve that I don't get why people want El to go through the same thing. Because the foundation of j/ncy was cheating and not them being a cute sweet couple, star-crossed lovers style. Every time people joke about the Wheelers not saying I love you to their respective partners bc they fancy someone else I want to puke because it's not a cute parallel and the other person in that relationship is lied to which is horrible. Plus, it already makes b/ler about 3 completely different characters that have nothing to do with it. There should not even be the want to compare relationships because everyone is different. And I need people to realize j/ncy getting together was done in such a disastrous way you don't want that for your couple.

Sidenote people who get mad at Steve stans for giving him trust and abandonment issues after Nancy are not getting the severity of what emotionally cheating does to a person. Steve wasn't aware of problems, Nancy told him she loved him a day prior, and then it all came crashing down. Plus him not committing to anyone because he is scarred from that experience is valid and it's an explanation for his behavior in s4. It doesn't make Nancy a bad person, but her actions hurt him, and he should be allowed to feel that way, especially if she was his first love. If El went through that with Mike, I also think she would develop trust issues (on top of her already abandonment issues).

Anyway, I think b/lers are in this secluded bubble, and if things don't go exactly their way, it will break them, and I'm actually scared. Like even in s4, I had witnessed complete meltdowns over b/ler, and I need everyone to chill bc we talk about two 14 year old kids. Especially when older people (mid twenties and up) are overly involved in shipping children, I get this weird feeling. There's nothing against ppl going into fan spaces, but it's weird obsessing over the love life of two children in such an intense cult-like way.

response under the cut again! <3

yeah, i honestly don't even know where this entire narrative about stranger things being a secret love story started, because the primary theme has always been friendship and the power that people have when they come together platonically. it's bizarre to me too, because i've been in this fandom for years (not always on tumblr, some on instagram or whatever) and b/ler just kind of massively grew up out of nowhere. i'd seen maybe one or two people before talking about it during previous seasons, but there was just this huge uprising of the b/ler community after s4 (which sort of makes sense but is still a little odd to me that they came up out of nowhere? i also don't remember previous b/lers being this exhausting to deal with). anyway, yeah, it all pretty much comes down to the fact that they all believe that the duffers have been hinting at this for years (which, hindsight vision is 20/20 so that's not really a valid point tbh) and fully believe that they're getting this picture perfect endgame.

honestly, i think another thing people are neglecting to think about is all of the stuff that we have to wrap up in 8-9 episodes. there is SO much going on now in this show that plot holes are pretty much guaranteed, not even considering the possibility of b/ler becoming canon. i'm honestly not really sure what they think is going to happen - the show will just take an entire shift into being solely about mike and will JUST to resolve the possibility of b/ler happening? i'm not even trying to be bitchy and put these people down or something, it's just crazy that people think that the show will take this massive shift in direction or that they'll just add in a whole new plotline when we probably won't even have enough time to satisfyingly and properly wrap up everything else.

also, there are so many characters that i think the duffers just don't know how to write or what to do with now. jonathan, will, erica, probably dmitri and murray now that they've basically joined the giant cast. and the sad thing is that fans come up with plotlines and stuff all the time for their fics or just for silly posts online, but the duffers just seem not to know what to do with most of their characters ever. (cough cough st/ncy s4 revival for NO reason).

the setup for b/ler just ISN'T there, like you said. yes, there are a few cracks in the foundation of m/leven's relationship, honestly, but that's not enough to wrap everything up and end AND start a whole new relationship in 8-9 episodes. whether b/lers want to realize it or not, b/ler is NOT the main plotline. defeating the upside down and vecna is. those are just obvious facts, and therefore this is the priority when it comes to things that have to be addressed and finished by the ending. maybe, if we have two more seasons to go instead of one, or if this was a show with 22-26 episodes per season, i could see where s4 was the setup, but it just isn't. we don't have the time to focus on it.

mike's monologue may have been a lie, who knows, but again, like you said, this is just... bad??? like why would you want that. there are already parallels between the whole st/ancy = m/leven thing at this point, but that was so messy and it's still not resolved to this day, and that was from s1!! again, we don't have the time to reenact all of st/ncy's breakup with m/leven because it was a disaster. and also no one ever knows how to hold fair accountability over people, so i'm 100% certain that that happening would lead into people shitting on el even more than they do already and blaming her for everything.

also a small point that's been in the back of my mind lately that i want to point out, as a queer woman myself, is that this ship would not be so popular if it was two girls/women instead of two boys/men (speaking in terms of actor ages since they're adults now). it's a thing that happens where everyone LOVES mlm rep and shits on anything wlw because theres always some bullshit reason to hate seeing a wlw relationship portrayed in the media. i know this isn't a primary issue but it still upsets me so much because it's so obvious, just from the treatment of robin and her literal canonical love interest vickie!! there's some fucked up misogyny in all of this, and also in the way that everyone will throw el to the side, putting this idea onto her that she either doesn't like guys so she can't possibly like mike or that she just is basically "too traumatized to know what love is" and i'm so tired of it. i'm SO tired of it.

back to the st/ncy = m/leven thing, i REALLY appreciate you pointing this out, "Every time people joke about the Wheelers not saying I love you to their respective partners bc they fancy someone else I want to puke because it's not a cute parallel and the other person in that relationship is lied to which is horrible." because that's exactly how i feel. it's not cute or funny, it's immature and deceitful. and yes, they're all children/barely adults at this point, but still. it's not some parallel that you should be happy about. i've been in that situation, i've been the steve harrington of the st/ncy & j/ncy love triangle, it's not fun. it hurts, someone is quite literally saying they don't love you (or perhaps worse when they CAN'T say they love you because they don't) and it's traumatic and everyone yet again ignores that.

j/ncy's getting together WAS chaotic and messy and honestly i'm not even surprised that they're falling apart in canon right now because you can't start out like that and then expect a good, happy, fairytale ending. it just doesn't work that way. everyone's mad about them having issues and raged about them being "couples goals" and the "best ship of the show", whatever, but honestly it was quite literally just someone cheating and lying to try and escape a relationship she didn't want instead of having proper communication. and i get it, it's hard to do that, but the show and the fandom never hold nancy accountable and always blame steve for everything, so i'm honestly annoyed with it. seeing all this mess, how could you possibly want that for your ship?

LOVE your steve sidenote there, because you're so right. everyone ignores the fact that steve has trauma, both from nancy and the upside down (seriously, how can we agree that EVERYONE ELSE except him has UD related trauma but he doesn't?? i don't get it). and i get it to an extent because the duffers ignore it just as much, but still. for some reason steve fans adding onto his character with realistic things is just a horrible thing to do, despite the fact that will fans have to do this as well and it's fine when they do it. i don't know how any of the st/ncy fallout was 100% steve's fault, and i will defend it until the very day that i die, honestly. the show has a narrative, and then it was to equate being popular and being a jock to being a villain, so they tried to make the audience take nancy's side and sympathize with her. which, again, is fine, but don't go and attack other people for wanting to see from multiple perspectives here.

i quite literally saw a post the other day that was like "the people who go and add all this stuff to steve's character are so annoying because none of that would happen in the show." well sweetheart, it's not happening in the show because the duffers don't care and also don't know what the hell they're doing lol.

"Plus him not committing to anyone because he is scarred from that experience is valid and it's an explanation for his behavior in s4." THIS. why are we all just glossing over this??? the pining after nancy again for old time's sake, the serial dating that never develops anything intimate - some people for some reason think it's just "proof" that he truly wants/belongs with nancy, but no! it's literally him being afraid to commit to anyone again, and honestly i don't blame him. and like you said, it doesn't make nancy a bad person, but honestly i just wish canon would at least have them talk about it so he can have actual closure or something for once. that's the best ending for him i can think of - st/ncy closure and stobin platonic besties forever.

absolutely agree with getting the weird feeling about shipping two children. it gives me an odd feeling too, honestly. which, i'm not taking it too seriously, it's just a little weird. other than that, they definitely are in their own little bubble of delusion and when that bubble inevitably pops, i'm not even sure what to expect, because it is a little scary. they attack anyone who disagrees and are genuinely so rude for no real reason, so who knows what they're gonna do when they realize that they don't get this happy ending that they've manufactured? honestly this is just another solid reason that i'm glad it'll take a while for s5 to come out.

[lover-of-mine]

I know I have 4 Bucktaylor/bucktommy parallels sets, but I legit have a list. That is not all. Between visual parallels and actual plot, I have maybe another 3 in me. I don't want to keep making them, I'm just happy I got to parallel the breakup, but they are there. Tim did that for me.

[simpforcatra]

i'd like to propose the ideal SPoP speedrun viewing order. feel free to argue for your own episodes. this mostly follows the catradora arc with some additions i consider essential- but it does skip some episodes that are perhaps useful for context

s1e1 and s1e2. obviously the sword parts 1 and 2. vital to understanding not just the story of spop but also catradora. also introduces us to glimmer and bow.

s1e8. princess prom. not as essential in the world building order but i mean like. come on. it's princess prom. maybe the second gayest episode in the show.

s1e11. promise. the breakup. fr this time. i think this episode really seals the reason why catradora is so filled with angst.

s2e2. ties that bind. my only pick from s2- this is mostly just a for funsies one because catra interacting with bow and glimmer is hilarious, and i felt weird not including s2 at all.

s3e3. crimson waste. e2 is fine but i find e3 more interesting and fun, and it's got catra. this is imo the best cold opening in the series, and leads into the next 3 episodes.

s3e4-6. portal centered. 4 sets up the whole shebang and there's a bit of drama between the two. 5 and 6 are portal world and are really gay. at this point there is no catradora content until save the cat arc, but i feel like the next couple are pretty vital to watching the show if you're speedrunning it.

s4e1. coronation. one of my personal favorite episodes in the show. the parallels between glimmer and catra are chef's kiss.

s4e6. scorpia. pretty emotionally charged episode and we start running into the bottom of catra's arc.

s4e9. hero. i'll always bake a pie for you mara <3

s4e10. fractures. catra's fracture. the best friend squad's fracture.

s4e11+12. beast island/destiny. pretty important imo, we find micah, we learn more about she-ra, and we start to see the first glimpses of adora's she-ra, not the first one's she-ra.

s4e13. destiny. catra bottoms out. shit goes down.

s5e3-5. save the cat arc. corridors is an instant cry ep and i actually enjoy the gas station episode, plus i feel like it helps bring glimbow back into the fold. and of course the whole reason we're here is save the cat itself.

s5e8 onwards. finding melog. returning to etheria and saving the chipped individuals. spinnetossa arc did make me cry. don't throw tanks. drunk shadow weaver. failsafe. the kiss. you're my dad. this is the crux of the show. we are watching these.

total episodes: 26 (half the show total) runtime: roughly 9 hours

honorable mentions:

s1e3. razz. not the most important character imo but her episode with adora is pretty good.

s2e5. whiteout. fun ep that is interesting but not entirely catradora packed.

s2e6. lightspinner. this is a good ep but i really dont want to see sw more than i have too.

s4e2. valley of lost. introduces double trouble, but perfuma annoys me this ep a bit

super super condensed version (idk why you'd even watch this):

s1e1+2

s1e11

s3e3

s3e5+6

s4e12+13

s5e3

s5e5

s5e8

s5e11-13

episodes that you can not convince me include:

s2e4. roll with it. this one is like actually filler if you argue for this one you're just wrong

actually pretty much every other episode in s2 that i didn't mention.

okay thanks please present your counterarguments if u love this show as much as i do lol

[septembersghost]

Omfg.....I am in shambles. AOTG is too good. It has that plot of invisible string with the reference in paper rings fleshed out("without all the exes.........here so tall"). Her vocals 🤯🥵🥵. How could she leave this. This makes me sure that joe also had his share of 'all too wells'. Something she hinted in willow (show me the places where the others gave you scars). And the treat me like a lady😫😫. I feel like the bathroom reference is jake(party bathroom,cry tears mascara in the bathroom,etc..) The ready for it...? reference (I forget their names now).The leaving without saying goodbye part made me think of HS(Mainly because of her AYHTDWS speeches and breakup makeup). It is also important to note that she is not jealous of his exes but she is thankful they made him who he is today. For some reason this song feels like false god sound to me. God!!!! I wanna teach you what forever feels like is such a 'I wanna brainwash you into loving me forever" .

Ps. I feel like I am going to come to your ask box again if I want to scream something . Sorryyy💕💕

i love just reading this and nodding along, and for every argument about why she left it off the record (too many love songs, she uses its themes in other songs, lover was already too long, etc), i have two counterarguments. the first is, she has never actually addressed the concept of being thankful that the other girls in his life existed, because they helped him become who he is, plus the mention of his mom!, and there is something very warm and gracious and newly grown in that concept (i've seen people say this makes it too much like thank u, next, but they're quite different to me?), and, second, IT'S A GREAT SONG!!! WHY CUT THAT GOOD OF A SONG?! AHHHHH

i still think she could've opened the album with it to set the whole scene. iftye is...fine...but the callback to rep isn't entirely necessary and it doesn't do as much for the album's whole concept. imagine starting with the gratitude and then telling the rest of the story, the bookend with daylight, with once believing love was burning red, but it's golden! envision this with me please, it makes me lose it!

there are so many parallels and references to her past experiences, as you pointed out (even to glitch and "dudes who give nothing"), and the idea of "forgetting" can tie into the experience with CH as well. definitely think crying in the bathroom and leaving without saying goodbye are allusions to those relationships you mentioned, and her processing the way they fell apart so sharply contrasted with what she feels with joe. the reason i half-joked that this song would've ended so many arguments years ago is because it gives us an even more whole picture of them, and her maturity and the love they share as partners, it gives us that peek into the fact that he's had his share of heartbreak too, AND it has killer production and amazing vocals. i've been in the TRENCHES for lover and aotg would've simply proven those points!!! that's interesting that it feels like false god to you, i wonder if it would've helped false god feel less out of place sonically to some fans? (i loooove false god btw!) her sincerity and that feeling of contentment in the song too, i just! it's very "all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing" coded too.

another thing the leaks of aotg and need did was remind me how very much i love lover and its heart and the revelations she gave us through it and its soundscape. taylor's description: "Lover is, like, completely just a barn wood floor and some ripped curtains flowing in the breeze, and fields of flowers and, you know, velvet." i feel that SO vividly in these two tracks where i might not in a couple of the songs that did make the album, and i'm curious HOW she made those decisions. (secret unpopular opinion shhh but they reminded me why i actually cherish and prefer the overall sound of lover to midnights. not at all discounting midnights' strengths as a whole, but in my heart, i'd always choose lover.)

she paints such a beautiful portrait of their love and i adore every crumb we get of it, i am a simple hopeless romantic girl! every dead-end street lead you straight to me! because things that feel like endings take you a new path! i love you more!!! 😭

i'm rambling on, but i agree with everything you said, and please don't be sorry, come and scream in excitement to me whenever you want!!! 💖💖💖

[floralb0t]

been listening to a lot of Set It Off lately so here’s the song’s i’d make blorbo animatics to if i had the energy and time

Criminal Minds - Maggie + Lifeline’s Rebel plotline (i think it would have cool timing to show characters agreeing to participate?? I can imagine it so well)

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing - Maggie and F*se specifically fighitng (over BH) during her introduction season. they hate each other but there’s ! so ! much ! history ! i think about her writing him that letter he never read SO often

Bleak December - Maggie and F*se more historically I guess. he’s such a sellout fr fr and I think she should get to break his nose about it.

Midnight Thoughts - uhmmm Game wraith right after her interaction’s with Voidwalker (she has depression sorry)

Hourglass - Lore and Cinematic parallels between ash and revenant (not as a shipping thing just as uhm those two little gys who died teehee) (specifically about the chorus, the verses otherwise don’t hit too hard)

Different Songs - Lifeline and Octane’s like sibling breakup (NOT A SHIP. NOT SHIPPING.) from Ajay’s perspective where things just sort of like. fell apart. she didn’t know Octane like she thought she did or something.

Bad Guy - Same as above but from Octane’s perspective (lot harder to make it obvious i don’t ship them romantically bc of the actual lyrics to the song i think but its just such a good “You are putting the blame on me for no reason” song) (i find their falling out so compelling)

Raise No Fool - Bangalore going through the like Jackson’s Shoot Out and Wraith saying she found evidence that he’s dead dead and then him showing up and wanting no acknowledgement that he’s Him and she held onto hope and his memory for this long :(

Miss Mysterious - Loba pining over Bangalore and being given the cold shoulder sorry lesbians love loses here

Stitch Me Up - no idea for any sort of actual content i just think rampline could be SO cute here. girlies helping each other out in the heat of battle. kissing even. love could win here.

Killer In the Mirror - Horizon and Ash are Kissmessis .

Lonely Dance - Mirage BPD propaganda sorry. this was my SONG in college and the blorbofication of it requires me to think about mirage experiencing mentall illness to it

Happy All The Time - SORRY obligatory miragehound sorry sorry there had to be one (i think they could support each other through the horrors !!! there are parallels in their personal horrors !!!! i will die on this hill)