#i would never want them to be endgame if they were alive

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

favorite tragic/doomed ship? from any fandom, i would love to hear your rants

ASHFKFLGL THANK YOU <33

I'm gonna go kotlc because I don't want to spoil anything for my non-main fandoms (I need people to brainrot over them like I did :3), so I'm gonna have to go with ruedacted.

Unlike koralie, they didn't have a chance to be saved. Their paths made so much sense. The two grew together into both being incredibly strong people who wanted to make a change. Brant just happened to fall into the Neverseen, and Jolie tried SO HARD to pull him out, but it was a tricky situation. How are you supposed to tell someone their main focus for changing the world for the better is wrong, especially when you've lied to say you agree with it? It all made such perfect sense. Brant's pyrokenisis was constantly begging him to be set free, and he was too angry to stop it. And he didn't want to kill her, but she was nothing but ash when he was done. And he had to live for almost two decades with knowledge of the love of his life's death being his fault. He got to join her in death soon after. Their personalities and their lives and their flaws just perfectly shaped them into their twisted, tragic destinies. And it's beautiful.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

i don’t think it’s talked about enough that the reason there’s a Godwyn ending where he becomes a Lord (not a God) is because symbolically, he was mirroring Godfrey in more than just name.

Godwyn’s alive body sprouting fish tail and scales isn’t just a random design choice, it’s a reference to Confucius' The Book of Rites, where it’s stated that the subjugation of the Four Divine Beasts will grant the person who tamed them different kind of control:

- Dragon -> control over animals with scales (specifically, FISH. See?)

- Qilin (Lion) -> control over beasts (think of how the Hornsent coveting the power of the Crucibles via the lion dance ritual. The “lion” in lion dance is Qilin in the native language of Asian countries that celebrate that tradition. And it’s why Godfrey’s symbol is a lion, why lion imagery plays such important role in Elden Ring world)

- Phoenix -> control over birds

- Turtle -> control over the heart of men (this might be a reach but Miquella’s connection to the Carian family and thus, the Turtle Pope could be a nice parallel to this)

in Godfrey’s cut dialogues, he said “Dearest Marika is precisely what I must take back” and “Dear Marika, do not fear. I am returned.”, and even without all that, The Talisman of Lord’s Bestowal stated that Godfrey accepted his duty without any sign of wavering, even taking Serosh upon his back so he could conduct himself as a Lord worthy of her. Bro, he loves that girl, he passed Messmer’s vibe check with flying colors.

For Godwyn to be a fruit of such a loving union, i do think Godfrey instilled in him a sense of duty to protect his Mother, and there’s his own love and devotion to her as well. Leyndell Knights all use Dragon Cult incantations and buffs - the kind of power that is only available to them because Godwyn befriended Fortissax (which is why i said that move has an ulterior motive to it).

All of that brings me to this main point I’m trying to make: does Godwyn really that devoid of agency?

I see it’s a popular interpretation in the fandom that oh Godwyn was just a symbol, he had no voice, we never knew what he wanted, etc etc… Do we really not know though?

Sorry for slapping another fandom on this, but this is really relevant to my understanding of Elden Ring as a story, even with the base written by a Western author, was developed by a Japanese team of storytellers and designers:

The concept of soul - body and body snatching etc etc exists a lot in Asian media, and there’s always a general consensus that the body remembers even as the soul perishes. What is Godwyn’s body is doing? The game specifically states that his body is alive. He only perishes in soul.

He was infesting the Erdtree’s roots, spreading Death around like free real estate. If he wanted to let go of life, of his Mother, his body should have just let go on its own. But no, he was tenaciously clinging to the Erdtree, to Marika.

Even Fortissax remembrance stated that despite its best effort, it could not fight back the Death within its friend. If Godwyn really, truly wanted to embrace a true death, would his body just let Fortissax fight alone in an uphill battle like that?

Then there is the DLC revealed that Godwyn’s personal knights were in LoS to find and guard his cadaver surrogate, specifically for the Age of the Duskborn. Their helm stated that their loyalty to him is unbroken. So will they just go and do something that their Master would not want?

These Knights are literally an elite circle that was bestowed the most precious of jewels in Godfrey’s time (the +3 medallions), they aren’t merely good, they are the very best. They are Godwyn’s inner circle the same way the Fire Knights are said to be the ones who know Messmer best.

Even if you think Fia and Those Who Lived in Death were just taking advantage of Godwyn’s death… her endgame goal technically did not even succeed. She wanted to be Mother to TWLiD, but the ending very much shows that the Mending Rune was returned to Marika’s womb. It’s her who would birth Godwyn a second life, so the True Mother™ to TWLiD… would actually be Marika 💀

Like, am i the only one who saw this as some real crazy 4D chess Uno reverse move from Godwyn? Oh these ppl wanted to get rid of him then took advantage of his body? Fine, he would take that challenge and run a mile with it. If Age of Duskborn came, it meant Ranni didn’t succeed, Fia didn’t actually get to be Mother of TWLiD, Death - the very thing that Marika tried to seal, would now be something within her control, because Godwyn is its Lord now. Exactly like how the Dragons’ power became something wielded in Marika’s favor in the end. Thanks to him.

In the Duskborn ending, bro, the God would still be Marika. It’s the only possible new Age involving a demigod that doesn’t get rid of her. Even if it utilize heretical powers to get there.

And the crazier thing? This is not the first time Fromsoft did this, btw.

[reyesranch]

I feel like atp even if there were plans to make bvddie canon theyre gone now. if tim minear is even half as petty as I am he would see that reaction and go u know what fuck you u actually don't get what you want now cause ur acting so goddamn entitled. like when tarlos fans got mad about the deleted scenes instead of appreciating them being released and his reaction was to say "okay fine then I just won't release deleted scenes anymore" (like I'm sure it was mostly a marketing decision but part of me thinks they intentionally released a scene about bucktommy just to prove a point.) idk man it's just really upsetting as a bi man to see the absolutely vile shit bvddie stans are saying and even tho I love the ship I now never want it to go canon cause they've fuckin ruined it

hey anon, at first let me agree with the fact that i do in fact also love bvddie a lot and i still love reading fics for them, the edits of them are fantastic and the fanart is S tier. it’s a great pairing with a lot of potential there IF the writers decided to ever go there but…

huge answer below

yeah, i agree. i honestly think before tommy was introduced again in 7x03 and the kiss in 7x04 that in my brain, bvddie was the most logical endgame for buck until it wasn’t.

i came into the show shipping bvddie much like a lot of new fans to the show but instead of hopping onto the tommy anti express hate train i found myself falling in love with buck and tommy together. at first i was still on board with bvddie still being endgame but as each episode aired after 7x04 i became faced with the reality of the situation (at least the way i see it) that bvddie might always be fanon and that’s ok because fandom keeps ships alive whether they’re canon or not. some of the biggest ships EVER are non-canon (i mean, cmon spirk? one of the OG MM ships?) so it didn’t really deter me from enjoying bvddie to this day. what HAS deterred me from interacting with bvddie content is toxic bvddies. i don’t like using the lil nicknames, idc if other ppl do, whatever, but i prefer just referring to certain kinds as just toxic plain and simple.

toxic shippers have made it difficult for anyone who multiships to interact with bvddie content. while there are incredibly nice & welcoming bvddie endgamers out there, it doesn’t overshadow the hateful ones in my online experience at least. i’ve blocked so many ppl over this ship discourse, which ive never had to do with any other fandom before the extent i have with 911. everyday i still find new ppl to block, you go under almost any comment section on the 911 insta and its filled with nasty comments abt tommy and only caring abt whether bvddie will be canon in s8. people projecting their hatred of tommy/lou onto the cast/crew of the show when it’s be said and proven time and time again that it’s quite the opposite. now im certain there’s bad apples in the bucktommy side as well, but from what ive seen online so far it is not nearly to the caliber of the bvddie side. ive blocked maybe a handful of bucktommy’s for being hateful towards eddie or being toxic overall, but ive probably blocked over 100+ toxic bvddies. i can only imagine it’d be worse if i was active on 911 twt which i’m not (thank god) but i have ventured into the tags before on there and let me tell you, it’s fucking horrifying how gross ppl are over there. twt is a cesspool for fandom anyways tho, the fucking asshole of fandom, it’s a septic tank really.

now im my own opinion which could be completely untrue of course, but just basing my thoughts on what i’ve seen online and interviews and such, tim seems to be really happy about bucktommy and idk how ppl believe otherwise. tim has expressed he loves LFJ and wanted him back on the show. tim showed up on set for the kiss scene. tim posting an entire youtube vibe abt bucktommy being soulmates that touches on the invisible string theory and explains how they accidentally found buck’s perfect match. tim sharing the deleted tommy scene is also huge but im waiting to see if he releases more (because i remember seen somewhere that he said there’d be more?) and if he does then great but it’s also still pretty telling to me after the whole karaoke fiasco.

oliver has said nothing but praises towards buck’s queer storyline. he quite literally said if you dont like it then watch something else. despite ppl saying he’s never interacted with bucktommy content online, that’s a lie because he has liked fanart of them.

aisha, kenneth & tracie have all expressed how they like tommy/lou and love working with him.

jlh said she loved bvddie before but is excited to see where buck and tommy go and then on an insta live said she doesn’t think bvddie is happening and was bombarded by toxic fans to the point of ending the live early.

ppl think it’s all some ruse to make it seem like bvddie is never happening so when it does happen it’s a “surprise” ……..

the nasty hate comments are doing nothing but exposing these types of ppl for who they are and that honestly to them, 911 is just the bvddie show to them. the people who run these social media accs for 911 are looking at these comments and cringing, they aren’t running to tim and abc being like “we must give these crazies what they want!” they’re mostly likely being ignored or honestly, as you said, being looked at and just reinforcing their decision to most likely make tommy buck’s endgame so as long as his schedule is open for filming.

what gets me the most about the hate these types of shippers spew online is how they aren’t embarrassed because they are so sooo convinced they will be right one day and therefore their insane, nasty behavior online will be justified. oliver stark literally left twt because of fans like this, people act like he was joking around, that he was shooting the shit probably because “he’s british and british people just have that kind of humor” which yes to a certain extent but let me just add these posts to set an example to why if oliver were still on twt he absolutely would not be happy with the way toxic bvddies are acting right now.

oliver (and ryan&other cast too) being positive abt bvddie never meant it was going to be canon of become canon one day. they do not decide these things, whether they believe it should or not. a lot of bvddie shippers come from previous fandoms where queerbaiting was there, where they were made fun of by actors of their ships, by the creators of the show! so i understand the frustration but oliver is not queerbaiting and buck is not a queerbait character when he quite literally is now confirmed bisexual and in a relationship with a man.

he’s just not the “correct” queer to these people. despite headcanons (hell even i hc eddie as queer!!) eddie so far, in canon, is not queer. by the end s7 he is still shown to not be over shannon and ruins his relationship with his son over this. ryan has stated in interviews he sees eddie as heterosexual, possibly pushing this because of the influx of ship discourse, and he’s glad to see a vulnerable and deep friendship that buck and eddie can have as a straight man and a queer man and how important he thinks it is.

every single thing that points to bvddie never going canon is like they’re being shot point blank in the chest. i get it, your ship not becoming canon sucks, but again, that is what fandom is for! shipping has never been about how canon smth is, there is 20k fics out there for bvddie and they aren’t canon. they can turn that into 40k, 100k, 1M if they really wanted to! instead they use their time and energy posting death threats, wishing death upon a gay character, bullying ppl online for enjoying a ship.

meanwhile from what ive seen bucktommys are rolling with goofy ass spy tommy theories created by antis and making jokes for our own fun.

so yes, i agree overall. they truly don’t deserve what they think they do. we didn’t whine and scream for a deleted scene. they did. we got ours without even expecting it and are having fun.

maybe if they behaved better i wouldn’t be so petty abt it. it’s a shame because of how much potential it has, unfortunately it is just not going that way atm. and even if it does one day, it is not because they paraded online with hate, it is because that’s the story tim and the others wanted to write and abc approved it.

🫳🎤

[bubbles-for-all-of-us]

Heyyy if you still take requests:

I would like to request a Brennan Sorrengail x reader reunion where she finds out that he‘s still alive and it‘s all angsty.

It’s sad…

How to bring you back?

Nothing can prepare you for losing the people you love. Even if you repeatedly tell yourself that it will come. Even if there are signs. An early warning of the doomsday coming. When it does hit, it feels equally as earth-shattering. But then some people have no right stepping over to the other side. No right to exhale the last breath. Too soon. Too fast. Too late. They go, ripping your heart out of your chest. Pulling it with them down into the grave. While you’re forced to move on. Go day by day. Feeling your heart rot six feet under with no hope of ever getting it back. Of feeling whole again.

“Here you are”, a voice snapped you out of your thoughts. “Been looking all over for you”, Bodhi’s bright eyes met yours as he and Imogen climbed up the hill, joining you in the green field. “Xaden said that you just left”, Imogen pressed her hand onto your shoulder, a silent question in her eyes. One that you knew there was no way of denying. “It’s his birthday… tomorrow”, the lump dubbed in size making it hard to breathe for a moment. “Here”, Bodhi shoved a paper-wrapped bottle into your hands. You frowned at him slightly so he quickly added, “I stole a bottle and before you say anything i don’t regret it”. You shook your head, this kid was reckless, to say the least. “As a wing leader i do not approve”, you pointed a warning finger but still unscrewed the cap.

“Good thing we are family then”, he winked at you before plopping down by your side and while the field soothed you before now with your friend next to you a pain-laced memory slipped past your walls.

“Why are you looking at me like that”, you shoved at Brennan's shoulder. The evening was warm the fields in full bloom. “Like what”, he smirked, eyes never leaving you. “Just like that”, you waved your hand in front of him, “your eyes are sparkling like crazy”. He let out a low chuckle, hands reaching out to pull you even closer to him. “It’s cause I'm looking at the most beautiful girl on earth”, he mused and you instantly rolled your eyes, “You’re a shameless flirt”. Yet your fingers moved to twist his curls over your finger. Watching the mess of them on top of his hair. Thar careless side of him. That untamed side. He turned his head slightly, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me”, he muttered, reaching out to cup your cheek. “Careful or I will start assuming that we’re the endgame”, you pointed out but Brennan simply tacked you to the ground, eager kisses finding you in the sea of affection as he muttered “mine”, over and over again.

“Can you leave your second in charge tonight?”, you blinked, slightly taken back, only to see Xaden standing in front of you. “Why?”, there was no need for that usual unless something really serious was happening. “Do you trust me?”, he threw that question so casually making you shake your head, “No, not when you go all mysterious shadow hunter on me”. The male rolled his eyes before shooting you another serious glance, “I want to… Need to take you somewhere”, he stated. “Xaden”, you hissed, not at all loving this mysterious side of him. “Trust me on this one”, he clapped your shoulder, “I’ll explain once we’ll get there”. And even with your gut telling you this was a bad idea, you still nodded your head.

“What is this place?”, the dark corridors you walked through were unfamiliar. You two had left your dragons in the field by the big slightly abandoned-looking building. “My home”, Xaden stated, leaning against a wooden fence. You turned at him, gaping, “Riorson house? Xaden…” This place was supposed to have been run over. Burnt at best. That was what everyone believed in.

“Now it’s turning into something so much bigger. The rebellion is forming within these walls” as if reading your thoughts Xaden added. “What…”, you ran a frustrated hand through your hair. First, a building that was not supposed to be here? Now a rebellion? “You’ll understand soon”, Xaden muttered. “You can get fucking killed are you insane”, you hissed at him, fully turning to face him, “You’re leading a rebellion?”, and you prayed and hoped the answer to that would be a no. But he didn’t get to open his mouth before another voice sounded.

“He’s not but I am”, your body froze. Eyes burning into Xaden who now had a sympathetic look on his face. “No”, you breathed, because there was no way. You were imagining it. Yes. That’s what it was. “Y/n”, the sound of your name nearly made you topple over. Because no one ever made it sound so beautiful like… “No, no”, you pressed your hands to your ears. “My love”, and it’s barely a mumble but his amber curls are right in front of you and it’s as if your whole world is tilting. Shifting. Changing.

“No no no”, you repeat over and over, backing up till you hit something solid. “Easy”, Xaden mutters, hands coming to support you by your elbows. “Take me back, get me out of here Xaden”, you don’t even recognize your voice anymore. You don’t recognize anything. It all seems to blur.

“Y/n”, warm and familiar fingers wrap around your hand and you screech, pulling back. “Yn i can explain it all”, Brennan mutters, eyes glassed over with tears. “Brennan, I think this is not a good idea…”, Xaden shakes his head. “Don’t call him that that’s not him. Not…”, you cry out, hands coming up to hold your head. “It is me dammit”, Brennan grunts in frustration, “look at me turn to me and take…”, he pleads. And it’s as if his words break something with you as you turn to him in frustration.

“I buried you, I watched you burn”, you hiss, showing him backward. “They took everything that belonged to you”, you sobbed, fist hitting his chest over and over again. “I’m so sorry, my love”, Brennan whispers, carefully reaching for you once again. “I grieved you, I….”, you hiccup, the pain so deep it feels as if someone was burning you from within too.

“Y/n…”, he pleas, running his fingers up and down your arms. “All this time”, you grunt, showing his hands away. “It wasn’t safe for anyone to know, I only told Xaden a couple of months ago”, Brennan stares, clearly getting fed up slightly. “Months?”, you chuckle bitterly, “Months! Why didn’t you tell me first?”, you demand, stepping forward once again. “Y/n”, Brennan shakes his head.

“I was a second thought”, your voice is barely a whisper. “You were never my second thought. You were the only thought. One I went to bed and woke to”, he leans it, fingers twirling between the ends of your hair. You shook your head, “And yet you let me die inside all this time. To starve. To wish it would have been me”, you say through gritted teeth.

Brennan opens his mouth but you lift your hand silencing him but he doesn’t seem to understand the power of distraction with you. “Baby”, he muses. “Fuck you”, you lash forward, “I hate you, i hate you”, you scream over and over again. “You asshole”, grunting your palm comes in contact with his cheek, “you killed me, I died on that field with you”. He doesn’t even move from your hits. Standing there like a statue. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry, please forgive me”, he practically begs. “Brennan, maybe you should step aside”, and it’s Xaden’s voice that wraps almost a blanket of comfort around you. “Xaden, I can’t”, you whimper, sinking to your knees. And while Brennan moves to get to you, Xaden gets there first. “It’s okay, we will go back. We will talk when everything settles, yeah?”, he gently brushes away the hair from your face. “He’s not here is he?”, you look up at him with almost hope. “He is. And I'm sorry that I kept it away from you”, genuine regret flashing in his eyes. “Y/n”, Brennan’s broken cry falls over you. “You’re dead to me…”, you cry, looking back at the person that shouldn’t be here, “I don’t know how to bring you back…”, your voice breaks. Sob slipped past his lips then. Right as Xaden lifted you carrying you out into the open field. Two souls crying into the depths of night.

[queen-paladin]

disclaimer: yes, I am complaining about cheating in media. Because, yes, writers have the freedom to create what they want but if the morality in creation is free for all forms of media, but no piece of art is exempt from criticism, and that includes criticism on personal moral grounds. I betcha if I said Harry Potter is good, actually, everyone on here would flood my blog telling me I am wrong because of the author's intense prejudice. That being said, I am criticizing cheating in fiction, If you don't like that, don't interact

So often lately I see period dramas where the husband cheats on the wife (ex. Poldark, The Essex Serpent, Queen Charlotte, The Great)...and not only do I despise the cheating trope with every fibre of my being to where I get panic attacks when I consume the media...but specifically with period dramas...

Do these writers not understand the greater implications of a husband cheating on a wife during these periods? More than just the humiliation and heartbreak in the case of a loving, good marriage just like it is today.

In the Western world, probably until certain laws were enacted in the 1900's, if a woman married a man, she was legally his property. She had no legal identity under him. She was financially dependent on him. Any wages she made would automatically go to her husband. Her children were also not legally her children- they belonged to the father. If the husband died, even if the wife was still alive, the children were legally considered orphans.

Women could only rarely gain a divorce from their husbands. In England in the mid-1800's specifically, if a wife divorced a husband she had to prove he had to not only cheat but also be physically abusive, incestuous, or commit bestiality. On the other hand, a husband could divorce a wife just for being unfaithful. Because, kids, there were sexual double standards.

Getting married was often the endgame for a lot of women during that time. Sometimes you couldn't make your own living enough- marriage was a way to secure your entire future financially, with more than enough money to get by. If you were a spinster and middle class, you could get by with a job. But if you are an upper-class lady, the one thing a lady does not do is get a job and work. So upper-class spinsters basically were dependent on their families to get by (ex. Anne Elliott in Persuasion faces this with her own toxic family). As strange as it sounded today, marriage gave them some freedom to go about since a husband could be persuaded sometimes more easily than a father and one had a different home, their servants, etc. A husband was your foundation entirely for being a part of society, and standing up as your own woman.

So if a husband cheated on a wife, that was a threat to take all of that away.

He could give a lot of money that could be used to support his wife and children to the mistress. He could completely abandon said wife for the mistress. And since the wife legally couldn't get a job as he still lived, she would be dependent on any money he would said- and that is IF he sent over any money.

He could take her to court and publicly humiliate her to get a divorce away from her (look up the separation of Charles and Kate Dickens, he would call her mentally ill and say her cooking was bad and that she was having more children than they could keep up with all while having an affair and divorcing her to be with the misteress). And even if the wife was the nicest, more proper, goodest, more rule-abiding never-keeping-a-toe-out-of-line lady in town...as a man, the law was default on his side (look up Caroline Norton's A Letter to the Queen which details exactly that, the poor woman had her earnings as a writer taken by her husband and was denied access to her children from said husband)

So yeah...even if there was "no love" between them (and anytime the wife is portrayed as too boring or too bitchy so He HaS tO cHeAt is brought up is...pretty victim blamey)

So yeah. Period drama writers, if you have the husband have an affair ...just consider the reality of these things and address them, maybe punish the husband for once (*gasp* men facing consequences for their actions?!?!!), and if not, just please find other options and other tropes and devices for once.

[dubiousculturalartifact]

Obviously I’ve been queerbaited before, like, a genuinely incalculable number of times, and maybe thinking Buddie might actually go canon is a ‘fool me sixteen times, shame on me’ scenario, but I think one big thing that’s keeping my hope alive is this thought: If you genuinely believe that Buddie isn’t going to go canon, 100% zero possibility and absolutely no intention of trying... Then you also have to believe the people who create the show we’re all fans of are purposefully cruel dicks. 

Because we have SEEN what it looks like when the showrunner of 911 knows there is no possibility of it happening, has no plans of it, and is generally trying to avoid accusations of queerbaiting.

It looks like S5 & S6. Little bits here and there, the odd important scene to throw breadcrumbs… but a lot of keeping the two characters apart, being circumspect in interviews, PR shut downs on the actors, etc. The show has proven they are capable and willing to exactly that!

So indulge me, and imagine for a second. They had the conversation with the new network, and the execs told them they wanted to continue with the status quo, to write as if Buddie is never going to go canon, BUT were willing to bend so far as to make one of them queer, to keep the fans happy.

What would that look like?

I don't know, call me foolish.... But I think it would look like keeping the same dynamic from The Drought Seasons. Having them be friends and important to each other but still fairly disconnected, not having as much screen-time, etc, It would look like having Buck’s coming out arc be a SEPARATE, individual narrative. If they just wanted to write Tommy and Buck, and that's it, they could have done things differently.

There are just so many conceivable ways they could have written Buck’s coming out arc, to almost completely separate it from Eddie and have it be made clear, in no uncertain terms, that Buck is bi but that doesn’t mean he cares about Eddie like that, that Eddie is a hetero McHetero.

Buck’s coming out arc could have included him being jealous because he’s suddenly faced with Tommy in the flesh and is insecure about how he was technically ‘Tommy’s replacement’ at the 911, with Eddie not relevant to it at all, or have Maddie and Chimney be the ones to interrupt The Date, or literally any other scenario that didn’t make it all about Eddie. 

They could have had one short scene where Eddie and Buck talk about it, and then the rest would be like, Buck talking to Hen about being queer, Buck interacting just with Tommy and getting to know him, Buck doing a research binge about bisexuality and info-dumping at an inappropriate time during a call, etc etc etc.

That’s how you tell that story and only be writing it for the proverbial ‘general audience’.

But they didn't. They purposefully reversed direction. They chose for Buck’s coming out arc to... highlight his nigh-feral jealousy over Eddie forming a homosocial bond with another guy, having said guy repeat with genuine surprise and shock that it was him and not Eddie that Buck was interested in, have Eddie interrupt their date, have Buck be more worried about lying to Eddie than the fact that he’s queer at all, have Maddie say what she did to Buck about telling Eddie in specifically ambiguous terms…

In a season that also included the Fire Extinguisher Incident, and Buck saying he ‘wishes he could help’ with Eddie’s sexual frustration, and a big increase in social media engagement, and having Buck being Eddie’s rock in the last few episodes while he had a bizarrely platonic affair with his dead wife's doppleganger…

If they did that while KNOWING the plan was actually for Buck/Tommy endgame and Eddie riding off in the sunset with a hot female firefighter who has a cool motorcycle or whatever the fuck, or them both dying in a freak car-washing accident, or….

If they GENUINELY planned that? If the entire Buck jealousy plotline was intended to be nothing more than a deliberate queerbait-and-switch? Then they’re fucking assholes, sorry. They would have to know full well exactly what they were doing, how many people’s hopes and emotional investment they were toying with... If they were actually planning to keep dragging it along for seasons more of baiting and dangling things in front of us, while knowing categorically that they had no plans to deliver? That would be genuinely GOD TIER levels of specific, intentional queerbaiting.

Which could be the case! I won't deny that. Shows have done it before, plenty of times. Tim et al could be callous bastards deliberately instructing the actors to wink it up in interviews and share suggestive Tiktoks, and writing Buck’s coming out arc as being entirely focused around Eddie and throwing out hints... All while laughing behind Buddie fans' backs about our gullibility, how we’re keeping the show trending on the force of our delusions, etc. Maybe that's it! Maybe they just genuinely enjoying fucking with people. Or maybe they were just shitty enough writers that they didn't know what they were doing, and it was all a total accident, somehow, the proverbial monkeys pounding at keyboards and accidentally spelling out B U D D I...

But you know what? Call it naive, but I prefer to think they’re not huge assholes, or hugely incompetent.

That there might actually be a point to all this, somewhere down the line.

I guess we'll find out.

[coffeeandbatboys]

In The Endgame (Peter Quill x reader)

A/N it took me an hour to find this specific GIF lol

Request: from Anon

hiii i saw you were taking requests for peter quill and was wondering if you could write something that takes place during endgame where everyone who got blipped comes back and peter and reader reunite since he got blipped but she didnt? just super emotional and fluffy? thank uuuuuu <3

Warnings: angst, fluff, emotion

No...

This wasn't supposed to happen.

You weren't supposed to die in space.

None of you were.

But Thanos had taken Gamora, and Peter, Drax, Mantis, and two of the Avengers you'd met all turned to dust right in front of you.

Your heart suddenly broke, knowing that Groot and Rocket were with Thor.

And now you were stuck in space with Nebula and Tony Stark.

Two people you were not incredibly fond of.

Once you were rescued and brought back to Earth, you learned that Rocket was alive, but Groot hadn't made it.

"What the hell happened to us, Kid?"

And even though he wouldn't admit it to anyone but you, he cried.

You cried for months after losing the love of your life.

But in the five years that followed that fateful day, you never moved on.

You kept yourself busy helping Rocket and Nebula to hold the Galaxy together and searching for Thanos while many of the heroes were 'dead'. And then one day, a bug dude showed up and brought the concept of time travel with him.

And this is how you ended up back on Morag in 2014.

It was the first time you'd seen Peter since he dusted. You desperately wanted to run to him and kiss him again, but this wasn't your Peter.

As he danced dramatically to 'Come and Get Your Love', you, Nebula and 'Rhodey'—as you'd been introduced—watched on at the utter ridiculousness.

Rhodey broke this silence.

"So he's an idiot."

You couldn't disagree.

"Yeah." You smiled sadly. "He's my idiot, though."

After all you'd been through there was no turning back now.

Portals opened everywhere in the ruins of the Avengers campus, and that's when you spotted Drax and Mantis, then—

Him. Your sweet, loveable idiot, Peter Quill. Sprinting over to join your found family once again, he spotted you and broke a smile. You returned it, giving him a desperate kiss when you reached him.

"I thought I lost you forever!" You cried, clinging to his jacket.

He looked confused. "It was only a few hours?"

Your head snapped up.

"Uh, try five years."

"What?..." He whispered, eyes widening as if horrified by the concept of you being alone for five years.

You turned towards Mantis and Drax, waving to them with a giddy expression. They both waved back, and you all faced the Mad Titan's army ahead.

And soon, you were right in the thick of it.

Lunging at a nightmarish humanoid creature, you blasted it before turning to cover Peter, who was fighting off two more. Once those were taken care of, you moved in and fought them back to back. Being close to Peter again felt like heaven, even in the battlefield.

Even when you saw all of the Female avengers joining to push back against the army, you were hesitant to leave Peter's side in fear that you'd lose him again.

"Go." He told you with a smile and a kiss. "I'll be here when it's over."

You ran after Mantis and Nebula, spotting...Gamora? You weren't sure how that worked, but you were glad nonetheless. It didn't feel right that Natasha wasn't there, but this, you felt, was to honor her. It was what she would want.

Fighting a pale squid looking thing, you watched over it's shoulder at Carol, the woman who had saved you in space, entering the fight. You cheered wildly and pumped your fist in the air. There was no way you would lose, now.

As you struggled with a Titan monster, you received some help from Groot, who skewered it with a thick branch while you blasted it in the head.

"Thanks, buddy." You high fived him.

"I am Groot."

"It's good to see you too!"

And all of the sudden, the Titans were disappearing.

It was then that you looked over to see Tony, slumped against a piece of wreckage, pale and barely breathing. It hit you that he had just snapped the enemy away, and that had drained everything out of him.

You shared a sad look with Rocket.

As dickish as Tony was, he had a good heart.

And he gave it all to save the world.

Everyone stood in silence as he breathed his last. And then one by one, they began to kneel. A king, a sorcerer, a captain, a soldier, an assassin, all from different backgrounds, honored one man. You kneeled and began to cry, knowing that he had a wife and daughter, one of which would be waiting for him.

After the funeral, you sat at the edge of the lake outside the Stark's cabin. Peter sat down next to you and slid an arm around your waist.

"He didn't have to do that." You bit back tears and leaned into him.

He signed deeply. "I don't think he saw a choice."

You had learned that Gamora, was in fact not the one you knew, but the one that didn't know any of you. The last you'd heard is that she'd run off in a ship from the battlefield.

"I missed you, Peter. You have no idea." You sobbed.

He pulled you closer "I'm sorry you had to go through that, babe."

"I...I couldn't bring myself to move on. You better treat Rocket right, too. He's the only reason I'm still here."

"I'm really glad you didn't. And, were on good terms, trust me."

You chuckled, giving a small smile.

"There it is." Peter crooned, kissing your jaw softly. "Wanna go get Dairy Queen before we head back out there?"

"Hell yeah!" You cheered.

[ghoulie-67-baby]

Haunted - BAU team.

Summary: A particularly difficult case leaves you with death haunting your vision.

Warnings: General criminal minds issues, mentions of: weapons, suicide, injuries, explosion, fire, imagined death, anxiety attack, panic attack, anger, angst, crying, grounding exercises, exhaustion and fatigue, praise, pet names,

Pairing: BAU team x reader (Platonic/ Otherwise).

Word count: 2,011.

Having anxiety was no secret. I never was the best at hiding it and the team were well aware of how bad it could be but I handled myself when I needed to. I had tried to hide it from the moment I met them but I'd never shown how debilitating it was at the worst times.

The case we had been greeted with this morning was an active shooter and we all barely got out alive. Through having to split up and me losing my partner in the flurry of bodies, we were lucky to make it home. There was no doubt we could all do our jobs properly, we were well versed in our line of work but the horror of losing them was at the forefront of my mind the entire time, haunting me through the case as my mind ran rampant with what-ifs. I should have known it was useless trying to hide my thoughts around a team of the most prolific profilers but god did I try.

We surveyed the building, kitted in vests and guns, deducing this would be his endgame and we were right. Prentiss had my six and we worked seamlessly to scout our section of the building. But he caught us off guard with his final move. We profiled him as narcissistic, arrogant, someone who wanted everyone to know his name but never as a suicidal maniac.

The profile had been right, up until it wasn't, until we recognised some of the floor tiles were fitted with timed pressure bombs. The whole building was a ticking time bomb and we didn't know how long we had until it blew. Our communication lines with each other screeched with shouted warnings of the issue and on three we all ran to the closest exit. Emily and I were the closest to the exit, and the rest of the team spread out further into the death trap.

My chest heaved as I ran as fast as I could, pushing Emily out of the door before she could argue, the pair of us skidding to a stop at a safer distance as the bombs blew the building to pieces and flames engulfed the remaining structure.

The feeling that flooded my body as flames licked at the sky was indescribable, throwing me straight into a rational panic. Frantically, I scrambled towards the building, dodging falling smouldering debris in search of my team, my family, begging for them to be alive. Arms snaked around my waist and yanked me back, my eyes wide as I tried to read Emily's words over the blaze, shattering and sirens. At least she was thinking straight. My heart and stomach were in my throat, tears blurring my vision as I gave up fighting her grip. Penelope's voice was the first thing that filtered through the racket, tears evident in her voice as she begged us to answer, for us all to be safe but I couldn't find my Voice.

My knees practically buckled beneath me as Rossi's voice cracked in my ear followed by the remainder of the team, confirming everyone was present and accounted for. We all got away with bumps and scratches, a sprained wrist or ankle from jumping the building but otherwise unscathed, at least physically.

The day played on repeat in my head as I stood in my office back at the BAU, fake scenarios trampling through my vivid imagination as I watched the team through my blinds. Even David and Aaron were out of their offices, relief clear on their faces as they laughed and joked together. Every so often, they would look over at my window and I would make out I was busy, knowing if I joined them I would bring the mood down and my body would shut down. They had seen bad days, they had experienced their own bad days but they hadn't witnessed me at my worst and I wasn't sure I wanted them to.

My knees trembled as I walked around my desk, sinking into the plushness of my chair but it brought me no relief. Often, I used my job as a way of coping or pushing things away so nobody would see me break but today that method was far too little for what I was feeling. An hour dragged by in a concoction of sweating hands, shaking limbs and the occasional faint laughter from my team. No matter how I tried to drown the world out, I just felt worse, each moment getting more unbearable.

"Jesus Christ," I grated out through clenched teeth, holding my hands behind my head as my chest tightened. "What am I doing?" The question seemed mocking in the silence as I ran my fingers over my face to gather myself. Steadying myself, I took a deep breath and towards the door, White-knuckling my files before exiting my office and walking along the catwalk to Aaron's. Eyes instantly locked onto me, following my steps as I fought to regulate my breathing as rapid breathing created spikes of pain in my chest and head. I let out a silent plea in my head for the world to swallow me up, grappling with my image to stay composed.

A shaky hand rose to swing open the door, stumbling slightly towards his desk as tears began to take my vision. The files all but fell from my hands as I doubled over, my hands gripping the edge of the desk as I poorly attempted the breathing techniques Spencer had told me about but instead, black spots danced across my vision. It didn't take long for the team to notice my blunder as the sound of footsteps filled my ears, curiosity and worry permeating the air.

I didn't move from my leaning position as they filed in, closing the door and blinds as I struggled to control the broken and ragged breaths that squeezed from my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself not to cry, not to break as they watched.

Not here. Not now.

The flare of pain in my chest shocked me as my hand slapped to my chest in panic, palpitations knocking my heartbeat off course. Images of their mangled bodies flooded my mind, each of them lying motionless at horrifying angles in the rubble of the building. The sight of my family lying dead in the dirt as though they were raggedy dolls caused bile to rise in my throat as I glared at the floor.

"Y/N," Emily's voice rang in my ears, her dead lips moving in time. "What do you need?" Scalding tears streamed down my face as I let out a cynical laugh. Why would she ask me that when she was the one lying ripped apart and covered in dirt and soot? What I needed was the least of my worries. Being caged in my own head scared me more than anything and anger quickly rose as I shook the bars, wanting to escape, wanting to move. What I would give to laugh and joke with them in this moment. And yet I knew it was in my head, knew that Emily wasn't really dead but my own brain refused to acknowledge it.

The anger quickly boiled over, becoming unbearable, as I launched an empty glass from Hotch's desk at the wall, sobs clawing from my throat as I dug my nails into the wood in an attempt to ground myself. I tried to filter the facts into my mind; I was safe, my team were alive and trying to get my attention, the world was locked out leaving us in the soft light of the office and I needed help. God, I needed help dealing with this, I couldn't do this one alone.

"Y/N, let's get you sat down." My head shook, betraying me as I let go of the desk, trying to straighten up. The action was instantly regrettable as my head screamed at me and my legs collapsed under me. I gritted my teeth in pain as my head throbbed, joined by pain radiating through my spine and butt. Wonderful, just to add to my plate, I was now ridiculously embarrassed. Heartwrenching sobs worked up in my throat and escaped, leaving me pained and vulnerable to my whole team who were scrambling around me, making sure I wasn't hurt.

My body was unexpectantly hauled into a pair of arms, fight or flight kicking in as I tried to escape them, the room filling with breathless whimpers and wet gasps from my cries. My eyes were tight as vices and the burn of their eyes simmered through me, witnessing my weakness. I loathed that they were seeing me like this, especially at work.

"We've got you, Y/N, We're here." I tried to focus on David's softened voice, gripping his arms as they held me, back resting against his chest. I felt a shift as someone knelt beside us and my eyes shot open, more tears forced from them as the blurry image of Spencer came into a wavering focus. Gentle fingers rested against the pulse point on my wrist as my body vibrated with effortful breaths. I stared up at the tiled ceiling, teeth chattering as I let the pains in my lungs and head run their course. The rest of the team has taken up space in the office, on the sofa, office chairs and even the floor. They'd made such an effort to make me comforted with just analysing the space around us and making themselves fit into it rather than towering over me and making it feel worse.

"Remember the breathing techniques I told you about, stay in the room with us." I nodded shakily, watching with haunted eyes as Spencer's hand circled my other wrist and placed it on his chest in an attempt to have me breathe with him. David's steady, strong heartbeat thumped against my back and I sunk into the feeling of them as JJ's hand came to rest on my ankle. The heat of it burned my cold, clammy skin as slowly but surely my breaths came easier, my eyes cleared of spotted vision and the tingling feeling in my hands and feet subsided. My breathing was still a little unsettled, hiccups emerging between small sobs as my team, my family, encouraged me.

"You're doing so well," Penelope's voice was gentle and sweet, similar to how you would speak to a scared child and the irony stung a little. "You want some water?" I nodded, scrubbing at my face only for silent tears to replace erased ones. A brightly coloured bottle was thrust gently into my eyes and I gratefully took it, gulping down the liquid to soothe the sear in my throat. Shivers began to run down my spine as I calmed down, teeth chattering as the chill overtook and my eyes geared up more as Aaron removed his suit jacket, wrapping it over me as a comforting blanket. My body was trembling as though my blood sugar had plummeted and fatigue set in quickly as all the energy drained from my body and I slumped bonelessly against the older agent.

"Hey baby doll, you got through it, you're okay." I took a deep breath, a small smile twitching on my face as Derek praised me. "We're proud of you."

My eyes began to flutter as I fought to keep them open, gentle murmurs of voices filling the space as the room settled down. Aaron and David's voices registered in a low, soothing hum, barely registering through my exhaustion. Time seemed to dawdle by until I was carefully lifted into strong, warm arms, carrying me across the space and laying me down softly on the sofa. I hummed a thank you as a blanket was draped over me along with the suit jacket and my head nestled down into Emily's lap as the smell of Penelope's lavender laundry detergent wafted from the blanket, lulling me to sleep alongside the gentle nails grazing my scalp.

[acourtofthought]

I have no doubt that Lucien loved Jesminda with his entire heart. But in romance books, the author does typically want to write the endgame pairing in a way that lets readers know that their story is the ultimate love, something that could not have even been topped by a characters first love. I sometimes think on how SJM will go about convincing both Elain and the readers that Elain is his soulmate and not only because they share a bond but because of who Elain is as an individual and why she as an individual is everything he could want, why even if Jesminda were alive he would still choose Elain (something I do think Elain might have fears over). It's easy to see why Graysen was never going to be right for Elain, the red flags were already included in ACOMAF for us but Jesminda is on a pedestal for us, her death truly seems a tragedy for Lucien. However........ "She had teased him taunted him - seduced him so thoroughly that he hadn't wanted anything but her."

"She had chosen him."

I wonder if there is something in those lines because Lucien spent his youth being tormented by both his father and his brothers, he was clearly unwanted by 7/8th of the people around him and the one who loved him (the LoA) did not seem to have enough agency to prevent what was done to him. Lucien loved Jesminda, no doubt, but is she who he would have chosen for himself? We aren't given hints that he was initially drawn to her, we're told she was drawn to him. Was he overwhelmed by the fact that someone made him their priority, that they wanted him and him alone when he had spent so much time being unwanted and that is why he dove into their relationship with his whole heart? Jesminda was his escape from a terrible life and I can understand why he put his everything into it, she would have been the brightest light in the darkness. He would have been willing to leave everything behind for her, the court, his title, but that's because those things were his curse. Had he loved his court, his family, his brothers, would he have still been willing to leave that all behind for a female who was too wild and free to remain trapped in a life with structure and expectation?

I realize it's important for Elain to choose Lucien but I think it's important for Lucien to also choose someone who hasn't made it easy for him. He did not have to put effort into Jesminda to win her heart, Jesminda made her intentions very clear and all Lucien had to do was say yes. He was able to easily find female companionship even after that (though it's evident he never opened himself up emotionally to any of them). So yeah, I think the Elucien stalemate is actually a good thing for Lucien because it shows that he longs for Elain even when she does not seem to be reaching out to him, is not chasing him. She is not his current escape from sadness, from loneliness and he's not clinging to her because it's the one good thing in his otherwise uncertain life. He still wants her despite the fact that she's part of the reason he is struggling (the hallmark of all epic love stories, am I right?). Lucien has suffered in his life, no doubt. But he has never suffered for a female to earn her love and that is the one thing that Elain can believe in if she's ever in doubt as to his desire to be with her. She is the one person who he wanted regardless of what she felt for him. She is the one person who he waited for, regardless of how long it took. She is the one female who didn't fall at his feet, making it easy for him which is proving to the reader that he would stand by her side through the highs and the lows and I hope we'll find that it's because of who Lucien has seen Elain to be and how she is exactly who he would have chosen for himself.

[works-of-heart]

I don't get it.

Like seriously, I honestly don't understand it.

Sjm says that Elain was someone who she and Lucien didn't see coming. She had always envisioned him with Nesta, but realized they'd tear each other apart (not in a good way, as she loves that kind of banter, but theirs would be awful). She mentions 'without getting too spoilery' that and I quote:

"there was actually a great deal of tension, growth, and healing to be found for both of them (together)"

You mean to tell me, that she says there is a great deal of tension (which we've all been seeing between them), growth and healing for them TOGETHER ONLY to have Elain break her bond with him and leave him to suffer a broken bond?

You want to tell me that SJM planned to have Elain become Lucien's mate, so they could grow and heal together, only for her to dump him and choose Azriel, and leave Lucien alone with a broken bond?

This woman, who has written Lucien as kind, patient, understanding, and truly concerned for Elain, is planning on making his mate turn away from him? This man who is said to be fiercely loyal, who could have ANY woman in Prythian he wanted but has no interest in any females, who has suffered physical and emotional trauma to help his friends. You think Sarah is just going to be like "Yeah, I'm going to put Lucien with a girl who is all around perfect for him and just take her away so she can run into the arms of another man!"

Look, I torture my precious babies too, but that?! That's INSANE to me that anyone thinks Sarah planned to set him up with a mate and said all those things if she planned for it to be a failure.

Especially since she made a comment, unprompted mind you, about an Elucien date where they go visit the gardens in London, before heading out to the countryside, stating that they're BOTH happy in nature. So she's going to talk about Feysand, Nessien modern dating, and just throw in Elucien even though she doesn't even plan for them to be together?

it simply doesn't make any sense to me.

Like take a moment, to actually sit down and think, why would this author say those kinds of things if she as some had said "planned Elriel since MAF" when she literally states the opposite. She confirmed Nessien in that same moment as well, because the series was originally supposed to finish. Az and Elain didn't have anything together, they were never planned. She didn't change from that trajectory either (as stated in her interview that I guess people want to misquote, forget, or take her words completely out of context).

SJM did say there were SMALL changes, like some characters had been added (which I suspect are Gwyn and Em), Mor's sexual orientation, but the overall arch was still the same.

Honestly, here's what I think about that.

Azriel was always meant to have a mate. A lot of people pointed out that in MAF there was a lot of Moriel hints and they were meant to be endgame. When she got backlash for lack of LGBT representation, she just decided to have Mor's preference shift. I think it left Az without a mate, but by the time SF came around she began to leave breadcrumbs for who he'd end up with. That being Gwyn.

I personally think SJM wants Gwynriel so much so, that she retconned Az's backstory so he was the one at Sangravah. That he killed everyone in site, leaving none left alive (completely OOC for Az, yet fitting with mate behavior). Like if she had no intention for Az to be connected to her in such a way, why actively make HIM the one to save her? Why make it so that Az killed everyone and left not a single person alive?

Why did she have his shadows react to her in a very specific way, a way that's calm and happy? The way they sing and dance to her, reaching out to her in a playful way. Why would she change history and put attention on these things, if there was never any future for them? What, so we can see Az fall for Elain? You mean Sarah went out of her way to change parts of Az's story and how his shadows react specifically to Gwyn, just so he can turn from her and rush into the arms of Elain? Why bother?

And before anyone says "lightsinger" and Gwyn's 'evil powers' are causing Az's shadows to dance and sing... there's a whole bonus chapter where Az's shadows dance to Azriel's singing. Gwyn isn't even there, so that's debunked.

That's all, I just had to get that off my chest. I keep seeing so many people rant and say that SJM's old editor pushed for Elucien and her new one is pushing Elriel because it's more 'popular' and she's going in this new direction now. I have no idea where that came from when she said that nothing's changed from her drunken rant, so we'll see I guess.

[scarabjewels]

Corpse Bride had the PERFECT ending.

SUE ME.

The number of people who wanted Emily to be Victor's endgame, with myself included, have a similar issue or lack of growth with Emily's arc throughout the movie.

Clinging onto the idea of love, to the point of forcing it onto someone. I'm calling us and her delusional.

She also went through a sort of roundabout response of the stages of grief: grieving her life.

Shock and Denial

She knows she's dead, and yet she delusionally believed she was still a young bride waiting for her groom

Emily was murdered and Barkis, her now ex- fiance, took her dreams with her life. My theory is that after she died, she had to grieve his betrayal first. She probably coped by clinging on to her dream, convinced that she had just found the wrong guy, and that the right one would come eventually. While we see she is popular in the underworld, she was not able to find a young enough suitor or one that sparked her interest.

She also exhibited extremely idealistic scenarios of her finding the right guy. Hey, the girl was murdered the last time she took a chance on an impulse. While her pattern of falling hard fast still exists, she probably convinced herself that Victor was better because she had no dowry to present for him to take and leave her, yet he still asked her to mary him (despite being an accident), so it must be "true love". This is the kind of behaviour a loottt of people with reoccuring similar toxic relationships tell themselves, I know because I was one of them.

Emily was our hot dead girl with the delulu issues. She was in denial of the reality of the situation, even when she was aware of this.

Pain and Guilt

Notice how when Emily has a fit about Victor seeing Victoria, she said the words "you should've thought of that before you asked me to marry you" and he responds "don't you see it was a mistake, I would never marry you". The silent blinking and realization of Victor's lack of tact, out of so much frustration, and Emily's small glimpse of what kind of person she had become, was perfection. She obviously knows she was holding him captive, but she was denying the truth until the wedding. It was painful for Emily, but her reality is so twisted that she can only see her pain before Victor.

The essence of guilt came when she was given the option to poison Victor to forever be tethered to his marriage to her. With guilt, there is kindness, and her kind heart shined before guilt. She couldn't bear to kill him for her dreams because she genuinely cared and loved him still. Another time was the wedding scene. She had second thoughts and finally realized that she was taking Victor and Victoria's chance.

Anger and Bargaining

When she caught Victor seeing Victoria, not only was she pained, she was blaming and angry at Victor, as in her eyes he was cheating on her, when all he did was to escape from her, because duh, he is held against his will.

Going back to their argument, while Emily felt jealous and envy, she subtly wished she was alive. In the lamenting musical scene "Tears to Shed," she accepted her death a long time ago but envied Victoria's main asset that she can never compete with: being alive.

Depression to upward turn

Emily's lamentation of being dead and that Victor will eventually leave her, being lonely again, was evident during the Tears to Shed song and just before the infamous chemistry induced piano scene.

While we see her depressed, she had calmed down and was able to be serenaded into a neutral mood again.

Emily was in this stage completely when Victor and her were gathering everyone and getting ready to get married upstairs.

Reconstruction and working through

Emily was in her full delusions of her dreams finally come true, but her reconstruction stage flashed when she was delivering her vow and saw Victoria watching.

My own little headcanon is that she saw herself in Victoria, and she saw herself as Barkis, taking her dreams away.

She stopped Victor drinking the poisoned wine and finally spoke her truth, the raw truth that Emily is seeing the reality she is in and what she has become.

Her dreams were taken, and now she is the one taking from someone else, and she hated it. She loved Victor so much, but he wasn't hers. She brought the Vs (keehee) together, deciding to call off the marriage.

Now, facing her past is probably her final stage of reconstruction. She meets her ex-fiance and is able to protect Victor from him in the midst of the two men's showdown. She was absolutely disgusted and hated his presence, pointing the sword and telling him to get out.

The karma probably hit best when Barkis drank the poisoned wine, his last words showing how full he is of himself. He was dealt with by Emily's underworld friends soon after he died.

Acceptance

While Victor and Victoria were finally in each other's arms, Emily smiled with bittersweetness and began to walk away. Victor stopped her, attempting to keep his promise. Emily reassured he already did. He set her free, and now it is her turn to set him free.

She literally walked the aisle alone. She accepted the truth, the past, and the present. Her only future was to move on.

As a sign of moving on, she tossed the bouquet that eventually landed on Victoria's hands. With her last breath, she bursted into butterflies. Finally free.

My Conclusion: Delulu got her the Solulu

I think a major theme in Emily's arc is letting her delusion get the best of her, almost portrayed humanely. Just an observation, aside from the art style of Tim Burton, Emily looked lowkey deranged? While Victor looked tired and scared, Victoria had wonder and curiosity, and Emily looked low key crazy and held on to what little sanity she had left. I think the reason why I couldn't see that aspect as much is because she also looked so beautiful, sounded sweet, and looked delicate, albeit being a red flag and literally a horrifying, decaying reanimated corpse.

Corpse Bride really was Emily's story, told through Victor's perspective. Let's be honest, if it was from Emily's perspective, it would be similar to 500 days of summer, an unreliable narration from a delusional protagonist. That is the difference between her, Victor, and Victoria. They saw what was actually going on.

Victor was already a developed character, in my opinion. He was just a young man living with anxiety. He liked Victoria at first sight and wanted to get married. He was kind and musically inclined. He was much more of an established person than say a character needing another character for their development like Joel from Eternal Sunshine (that's a read and I meant it). So was Victoria, she was a young woman who wanted to get married, looked forward to getting to know her betrothed more, and was quite outspoken and courageous. They were just bothe caught up in an arc. Emily, albeit the different girl, was probably the one who needed a manic pixie dream man, and she got Victor. She really needed character development.

One more theme the movie has is what a broken heart can do to you. Emily loved and was betrayed. She clung to an impossible dream even after death. Victor saw the opportunity for a rebound the minute he heard Victoria was going to get married to another man. Victoria was in total shock when she was going to be betrothed to someone else and accepted to help her parents, but also stood up for herself from Barrkus the minute he showed his intentions of marrying her.

I really loved Emily realising what was happening, it took her a good minute but she got there. I also loved that Emily and Victoria never got into some kind of argument or showdown, seriously I feel like that would have happened in early to mid 2010 fantasy romances, ehem Twilight (I hate the story and the characters but it was entertaining hot garbage). It was a graceful story of love and let go.

I'm sure we have a collective head canon of Victor's and Victoria's first daughter to be named Emily.

[anki-of-beleriand]

The House At The Edge Of The World Ch. 14

Summary: Y/N is the owner of an Airbnb at the edge of the world, a place in which Wanda would either heal or become what everyone is afraid of.

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff/SW! x Female!Reader

Warnings: Minors DNI! +18, angst, jealousy, drama, slow burn, hurt and comfort, friends to lovers, pregnancy, romance, fluff, mentions of depression and self harm, healing, R owns an Airbnb that welcomes many known characters from Marvel, R has powers, Wanda needs healing, and so does R, R sometimes is an asshole but for a good reason. More warnings as the story progress.

Author's Note: The story follows up the events of Wandavision right before the twins birth. Since I didn't like the fact Natasha died in Endgame, she is alive as well as Tony everything else just happens the same way it does in the movies. We will see some Eternals and mentions of all the new members of the cinematic MCU.

The end looks like a good conversation, and decisions to be made. R is ready to do so, but will Wanda want to stay with her?

English is no my mother tongue so I do apologize for any grammar, spelling or funny mistake.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Epilogue

Chapter 14

Stay with me

Whatever had happened after you left, you didn't care. 

Your main priority had been Wanda, and all through the flight you and Ajak had been tending to her injuries and her general state. Yelena had been observing from afar, but her eyes never left your form while you worked on the redhead. She had known about your power, about the strangeness behind your family and the world surrounding you. Yet Yelena never imagined she would fear the power hidden inside you. 

The gate of the Quinjet opened to show the image of a dark-haired woman with fair skin and kind features. She locked eyes with you almost instantly, your heart leaped at the sight of Sersi coming over to you to wrap her arms around you. 

"Y/N, are you okay? How is Wanda?" Sersei asked looking behind you to see the redhead woman still unconscious being carried on a stretcher. 

"She is still unconscious. Her magic has been greatly affected by the device they use on her." You were trying to hide your real emotions, your eyes never leaning those of Sersei who merely offered a comforting smile. 

"Well, she is in luck, right? Ajak and I are here, and you will be there as well." Sersi stepped back, turning to Sprite who was coming onto her with the same concern written in her face. 

"Sersei!" 

"Hey, Sprite, how is it going?" 

The conversation between them faded away while you let your feet take you inside the house and followed the women leading Wanda to the closest room. You could see as they settled her down making sure she was comfortable before setting the medical bay for the redhead. 

"Her nervous system has been affected by the electric shocks." Ajak said to your right, she stood there overseeing everything while never losing sight of your persona. "She was sedated so it will take a while for her to wake up."

"She needs magic, and…" 

"I know." Ajak placed a hand on your forearm, the tenderness behind her gesture almost made you break. "It's going to be okay, she is far stronger than you gave credit for."

You crossed your arms, tilting your head to the side. It wasn't as if you didn't know how strong Wanda was, you have known for a long time. It was more the fact that you feared what would happen when she woke up. 

Would she stay? 

Would she leave? 

So many questions roamed inside your mind, and the uncertainty of the situation was almost unbearable. Never in your wildest dreams did you imagine you would fall in love again. Much less with a woman that, by all accounts, was just like you. 

"They will come, and they will have questions." Ajak intervened again, you didn't need to ask who she was referring to. "Are you ready for that conversation?" 

"Are you?" This time around you did face Ajak with an unreadable expression. "I could lie and get away with it."

Ajak softened her features by nodding at Wanda, "but you won't lie for her, or else, whatever chance you get to be together may slip away."

You opened your eyes, raising your eyebrows at this. Following Ajak's stare you realised Wanda had changed a lot of things in a bubble world you had built around yourself. You were not a hero, you never were, but you couldn't ignore the world any longer… you couldn't ignore the world Wanda was living in. 

"Think your words carefully, and be ready."

"What about you and the others?" Your secret might be out, but the rest of the Eternal should keep their own secrets for themselves. 

"We are family, Y/N, whatever you decide we are here for you."

Ajak gave your forearm a light squeeze before turning around and leaving you alone with Wanda. You hesitated before stepping forward and sitting beside her, your hand found hers and the warmness of her touch brought comfort to your soul. 

______________________________________________________________

Night had already fallen by the time you exited her room. 

Wanda was still asleep, and during all that time people had come and gone after making sure the redhead was not in danger and that her recovery was a matter of time. 

You knew the meeting with the people who had come to her rescue could not be postponed any longer. Wanda had on her peaceful expression, her magic was still flickering and and out of reality, and the pain in your heart was a longing for her to be better, for her to put you out of your misery. 

With a kiss to her forehead, you knew there was nothing else you could do. Not until she woke up, and not until you had spoken with everyone. 

It was time for you to face the world. 

The noise coming from the study told you where you should go. It wasn't difficult to find everyone waiting for you, the many faces you had known personally or by the TV news were all staring at you. 

The first person you noticed was Sersi, her tender smile warmed your heart giving you strength to enter the room. To your left were the people you had called family since you were a teenager Ajak and Sprite sat comfortably on the sofa with Thena and Gil hovering behind them. To your right were the women you had helped at some point, friends and people you had trusted with some secrets but not all of them. 

Natasha and Yelena wore their Widow garments, with Nick Fury and Tony Stark wearing casual clothing that hide the real power both of them possess. 

"She is still asleep." Your words echoed into the room, your eyes falling upon Ajak. "Her strength is coming back, and her magic is not as erratic as it was a couple of hours ago."

"Erratic?" Tony asked, leaning back, his posture relaxed and open. "What do you know about that? More importantly, who are you besides a dirty secret from Romanoff over here?" 

Natasha growled at the man, but her eyes were just as curious as those of Yelena. They thought they had known you, but after what you did on that island they were not so sure anymore. 

"I'm Y/N, and I'm merely the owner of a destroyed Airbnb." You shrugged, cracking up a smile. "That's gonna cost you an extra, you know that, Mr. Stark?" 

Tony returned the smile, "I'm aware. Though I would say you already got a good deal out of this mess, Maximoff seems to be very fond of you, from what I heard."

The comment made your eyes flickered gold, a hand placed itself on your shoulder and you knew Sersi had come to the rescue. 

"I pride myself to be well-informed of what is happening around the world, and who are the people I should watch out for." This time around it was Fury the one to speak, he placed his elbows on his knees, his hands wrapping around one another and his sole eye pinning you to the spot. 

" You and your friends were certainly a surprise for me today."

"That made you nervous, Agent Fury?" You retorted eyeing the man with a blank stare. "We've met before, you know?" 

This time around Fury was shocked by the news, he narrowed one eye as if trying to place you in his memory. You chuckled tilting your head. 

"You won't remember me, I was different back then and you were just being recruited into the secret organisation that works for your government." 

"How…" Fury started but trailed off when Sprite created a scene right in front of them. 

A young Nick Fury with both eyes, talking with a man that looked nothing extraordinary. Yet they exchanged words, a handshake and soon Fury had a piece of paper. That was it, they both parted ways, Fury went straight to what seemed like an office building, the other man went inside an old car and drove away. 

"What were you doing there?" 

You smiled, "I was following him, and old debt to settle. He was the son of a friend, I was making sure he was not killed that day."

"He died, though." Fury stated narrowing his good eye at you. 

A flash of sadness crossed your face at the memory. 

"He did. I couldn't make it on time. And, at the end of the day, I am not a hero." You leaned back glancing at Fury then at Tony. "I am a mere owner of an Airbnb at the edge of the world."

Silence settled around the living room for a moment, you could see the observant eyes of the heroes of the world observing you and your family. For the very first time in a very long time, your world and the real one crashed in a single moment in time. 

You could see the possibilities forming in the mind of Fury, the questions pouring from Stark's mind and the many unsaid things you had between Natasha and Yelena. 

At the end of the day, she was the first one to speak. Her tone revealed how hurt she was for the situation, her eyes never leaving yours. 

"You never told me you were this…" Yelena trailed off for a moment, her gaze dropping. "This powerful."

"Y/N powers are not something you play with." Thena said, settling her eyes on Yelena. "None of you had seen what they can really do, and it is something Y/N have always been careful with."

"Having powers doesn't mean you have to put them to work for the greater good." Gil continued lifting his chin. "The world can be an ungrateful place."

"That's true." Natasha chimed in uncrossing her arms. "But sometimes, it needs to be saved either way."

"You guys are young." You said shrugging. "The world, people… Some of them will never change. I fight only for my loved ones, Natasha. As long as my family and friends are fine, I am fine."

"Which will explain why you came to the rescue, right?" Tony intervened tilting his head and settling his eyes on you. "You love Wanda, you couldn't allow her to get hurt."

"I do, yes." You replied simply, Tony nodded leaning back on the chair. 

"Are you a threat?" The man asked and you couldn't help but laugh at his bluntness. 

"Oh, I am." You replied, your eyes gleaming a dangerous shade of gold. "I can be your worst nightmare and none of you would know what happened or how it happened."

"But you are not interested in fighting us." Fury didn't even flinch, his words were just as neutral as yours had been a moment ago. 

"Or protecting you, no."

"At some point the world would come crashing down on you, don't you think?" 

You turned your head to Ajak, the older woman offered a single smile matching the one Sersi and Thena were wearing. You knew the world, the real one had come to you in the form of Wanda Maximoff. She had broken the icy facade you had worn for so long, that right now it was almost impossible for you that her world was starting to be a part of yours. 

"It already has, Fury." You sighed, lifting your eyes to the ceiling. "I am not a threat to you or your government. I'm not interested in power or fighting, I only want peace."

"And Wanda." Tony mentioned with a teasing tone. 

You flared at him looking away until you saw the same teasing glint in Natasha's eyes. 

"I guess, we will see."

Fury nodded, crossing his arms, "I guess we will."

"Well, now that the conversation is over, how about something to drink and eat. I bet everyone is hungry." 

Ajak stood up with many agreeing to her sudden change of topic, you sat there for a moment watching as Ajak left the living room with Fury and Tony following them and everyone soon scattering around the house. 

Yelena came to you slowly, she sat down with a frown on her face trying to catch up to what she just heard, to the things she had seen. 

"I'm sorry, Lena. It was never my intention to make you feel…"

"Cheated?" Lena snorted, shrugging. "I knew there was something else about you, but you had never raised any bells in my head or Natasha's… We knew you were not a threat."

You smiled at the young woman leaning over placing your elbows on your knees. 

"I never intended for this to happen." You lowered your head thinking hard over the last couple of months. "But she… I

I don't know…"

Yelena swallowed down her emotions, she nodded curtly placing her hand on yours. 

"If she hurts you, I'm gonna kill her."

You couldn't help the laughter leaving your lips, your arms wrapping around the young woman with tenderness. For some reason, you knew she and you would be okay, and whatever had happened with the rest of Earth's Mighty heroes… Well, that also seemed to be okay. 

Now, all you had to do was wait for Wanda to wake up. 

______________________________________________________________

It happened at dawn. 

The world was sleeping, the sky was changing its colours with shades of blue, purple and red igniting the horizon. There was a cold breeze biting at your skin, sitting by the balcony you had allowed time and weather to invade your thoughts and insecurities while trying to forget what you feel. 

The soft footsteps brought you back to reality. Your heart beat fast, hitting your ribcage the moment you sensed her and your eyes found those of hers. 

"Hey." She didn't rush her feet, her dopey and tenderness made you gasp in affection. 

Standing up from your position, your hands wrapped around her, putting her against your body and feeling at peace knowing she was there. That she was okay. 

"You shouldn't be up, love." You whispered, her hands playing with your hair while you felt her smile against your neck. 

"You weren't there." Her words were tender, a mere whisper in your ear that told you of her doubts. “And I thought…I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t lose me, Wanda. I’m here.” And you meant it in more ways than one, you made sure to look at her the wounds on her neck, the ones on her wrists and then her tired expression.

You almost lost her. 

And your heart broke into a million pieces thinking you wouldn’t be with her anymore. And now that she was back, that she was in your arms, the fear had doubled. What would happen if she didn’t want to stay? What if she had to go?

Wanda softened her stare, she didn’t need to hear your thoughts because those same thoughts were inside her head. Being with you had been so different, falling in love with you had been…what she needed.

“You won’t lose me either, Y/N. I’m here…for you.”

At that moment you realised she wasn't the only one feeling the uncertainty the recent events had brought to your lives. It took you but a second to notice her lips against yours, the neediness behind her gesture, her hands travelling down your body. 

The flash of crimson told you Wanda ws not alone, and soon you were being dragged inside the house and you gave in knowing that moment could end up in a heartbreak. 

By the time you woke up again, the clock on the table was showing it was past midday. The warm body to your side stirred, you lowered your faze to see Wanda snuggled against your side with a content smile playing on her lips. 

She was awake, and probably had been for quite some time. The place was completely silent, and you couldn't even make the sound of people outside the room. 

"Everyone went to visit the town." Wanda mumbled without opening her eyes. "It's only you and me."

As soon as she said this, her body trembled and her hands grabbed you tightly. You sighed looking at the ceiling, the arm you had around her midsection wrapped tightly around her. 

"So, it's only you and me in a big empty house? Whatever can we do?" 

Her giggles made you look down and find her green eyes looking at you. You smiled back but your eyes were finally showing how you were feeling with the whole situation. Wanda tensed lightly, turning around she sat down letting the blankets fall to the bed. 

"I think we should get ready."

"I think we need to talk."

You watched as she merely stood up and left, the emptiness in your chest made your body ache with longing. Tilting your head to one side, you knew that falling into bed with her had not been the best of decisions when there was so much left unsaid between the both of you. 

"I made you something to eat, and there was some orange juice and some wine but I wasn't sure what you may want so early…"

You observed the redhead walking around the kitchen, babbling non-stop while evading your eyes and trying to make it impossible for you to bring the white elephant in the room. 

Wanda gasped, halting her actions, finding herself looking into your golden eyes. 

"Y/N…" Wanda whispered your name with fear and longing. 

"I am in love with you." You all but whisper, your left hand cupping her cheek but you never did anything to shorten the distance with her. "I thought I would never feel this again, and you came into my life showing me this was possible… That I could feel like this again…"

Wanda's eyes watered at your words, she was trembling by now with her lower lip quivering under the weight of your words. 

"Wanda, I…"

"I'm sorry." Wanda whispered with a sob escaping her lips. 

She leaned in hiding her face on your chest, something inside broke for you knew her life was out there in a world filled with danger and heroism that you were not ready to be a part of. Whatever you could offer to Wanda was a life of tranquillity and solitude in a place that was almost forgotten to the rest of the world. 

It hurt knowing you would lose her. 

"I couldn't… I tried… I just…" Wanda cried softly, holding onto you. "He… He was there… And I just…" 

"It's okay, it's okay… I know." You whispered, hugging her comfortingly. 

"No! No, it's not." Wanda finally said, she stepped back wiping her face. "I should have seen it, I could have prevented it… but I left him there, I thought…" 

"Stark recovered his body, and he won't be used anymore." You commented softly. Wanda shook her head but you didn't stop there. 

"They were waiting for you to recover, but as soon as you're fine you can go back…"

Wanda stopped her passing, she winced at the memories coming into her; she placed a hand on her face while trying to collect her thoughts and you couldn’t help but close your mouth and remained silent watching her without knowing what to say. Or what to do. 

“I thought Vision was my everything.” Wanda tried to hold onto her tone of voice, her eyes completely lost in the memories and the situation she had evaded moments before she was taken from the Hill. 

Wanda remembered the time she had been tied to that room, her eyes seeing the dead body of Vision while she thought of her life in the most recent months. She had been happy, not having to fill out anybody's shoes, or trying to hold herself for fear of triggering someone, or messing up while trying to help someone. Wanda and Scarlet had gone through her memories and her past, and everytime she thought about the end well…

It all came down to Y/N, to her smile and the warmness behind her words. I never thought love would feel like this…

And if she was honest with herself, Wanda never thought it would be like that; the young woman dried her tears while her lips broke into a tentative smile she dedicated to you. You didn’t dare to dream about her thoughts or her choices, waiting too much about the people around you could be painful at the end of the day. 

“Then you came into my life and…” Wanda shook her head putting her arms around herself while biting her lower lip. “And I found myself falling so hard, and so deep for you…I know…I know it would be impossible for me to live away from you.”

“Wanda…”

The fact that the home was empty, and that this conversation happened right after you and her had shared a dawn filled with passion and tenderness should be the indicator this was going through the right track. But you didn’t dare to hope, a lot of things had happened in the past for you to think this could be different.  

The young woman came onto you, and your world stopped for a moment when she cupped your face in her hands with her lips curving slightly. At that moment, it was Wanda and Scarlet all in one sending you a stare that made your soul tremble in a way you hadn’t done for so long. 

“Everybody is waiting for me to go back, to be better to…” Wanda trailed off for a moment, her eyes flashing with the memories of how her life had been up until that point. “When I had to come here I was mad, and sad and ready to leave everything for a glimpse of normality, to recover a life I never really had but dreamt of.”

“And now? What do you want, Wanda?” You finally asked in a whisper, Wanda turned to you and you realised you hadn’t been this vulnerable in front of anyone in a while. 

“Now, I want a normal life…I’m tired of what am I and what I can do I only want…” Wanda bit her lower lip, a flash of fear crossing her green eyes. Your hand placed tenderly under her chin lifting her stare to look at you. 

“What do you want?” You could give her the world, if necessary. She just needed to say it and there was nothing in the world you wouldn’t get for her.

Wanda sighed showing the vulnerability you had come to appreciate from her, those moments in which she would stop pretending in front of you.

“I want to stay here, I want to…I want to be with you and see what will happen.” Wanda all but declared, you stood there for what seemed an eternity and the other woman was starting to step back, her face falling with a crack of uncertainty.

“Then, stay with me.” You stepped forward wrapping your arms around her, giving her enough space to leave but letting her know you wanted her with you. “I can’t promise you it will be easy, but I can promise you I will do everything I can to make you happy.”

Wanda stepped forward, and without any more words she sealed the deal with a kiss.

______________________________________________________________

It was past midday by the time everyone was back into the house. 

At another time, and perhaps in another place the moment of peace you and Wanda had enjoyed during the day would have been cut short by the needs of the people filling out Ajak’s living room. Wanda was taken to the side by Tony and Nasha and soon you found yourself under the watchful eyes of Thena and Sersi.

Wanda stood on the balcony leading to the kitchen, the world in the coast of Italy was something she had come to appreciate in her soul. It was peaceful, and her heart found comfort in knowing this could be her new home.Her body turned lightly, and she and Scarlet stirred uncomfortably when her green eyes found the form of Thena leaning close to you.

Jealousy was something Wanda had learned recently, and the fact she had to be on the balcony while you were inside with a former lover was making her restless. 

Tony stood by her side, his dark shades reflecting the afternoon sun while the sound of laughter filled out the streets. Fury rested the weight of his body on the rails crossing his arms while letting his good eye pinned the redhead on the spot. Natasha sat down playing with the drink Ajak had given her, enjoying the cold breeze of winter, and the strange silence amongst the group. 

“This went a little out of hand.” Fury broke the silence talking to the group, his good eye moving from Wanda to Natasha. “Monica is trying to gather all the evidence she can, while Rhodes is helping out with some other bases around the coast.”

“Hayward was not working alone.” Tony commented lightly, his lips pressing together while his hand helped him out of his glasses. “But the fact he thought he would get something out of stealing the body of Vision and getting to you…”

“I thought about it.” Wanda finally said, looking away while wiggling her hands. “When I came back…I…he was alive because Thor gave the mind stone and his body the charge he needed to be alive. I thought…my magic could do something similar.”

“That’s why you started the whole Westview thing?” Tony asked, Wanda offered a broken smile shrugging.

“I wasn’t thinking when that happened, Tony.” Wands sounded tired all of a sudden, her body giving up on the tension she had been accumulating as of late. “But the moment I went to get his body, I knew it was a possibility.”

Fury narrowed his head leaning forward, “why didn’t you?”

“I was afraid, and I didn’t know if it was possible.” Wanda stepped forward until she was standing beside Tony and observing the blue of the ocean in the distance. “But I knew I could find a way to do so, perhaps…perhaps if I got to know my powers and who I was, I could use my powers to do it.”

“Then you just finally explode.” Natasha had seen the state Wanda had been in during Steve’s funeral, the way she had fought during Thano’s attack from the past and how she had been when she realised everything had been lost.

Wanda lifted her shoulder turning slightly, she locked eyes with Natasha and her smile was different. Without a doubt, Wanda had changed, and that was all Natasha needed to know at the moment. 

“Are you ready to go back, or do you think you will explode once more, Maximoff?” Fury asked, straight to the point while uncrossing his arms and stepping forward. “We are trying to build the team from scratch and…”

“I won’t go back.” Wanda said firmly, her eyes hardening as they settled on Fury. 

Tony and Natasha interchanged glances, while Fury merely lifted a single eyebrow at the bold declaration. Wanda dropped her arms, tilting her head to the side.

“It took me so long to get to where I am right now.” Wanda stated simply, Tony snorted, nodding towards the house.

“You mean, with a lover girl? Never peg you for a lesbian, Maximoff.”

Tony chuckled under the glare of Natasha and Wanda, he lifted his arms in a sign of peace but instead of mocking all Wanda could see was understanding, something she never thought Tony was capable of.

“It’s not about Y/N.” Wanda satiated turning to Fury who was looking a little sceptical. “You sent me here to heal, and get better. For the first time in my life I was able to be just…me. Someone who didn’t have to keep with anyone’s expectations, who didn’t need to jump every morning to save the world.”

Tony held back the smile threatening to leave his lips, he could see Wanda had changed in the last months she had been away from the life she had lived during her time as an Avenger and a runaway. She seemed relaxed, and the gleam in her eyes told Tony she was happy, happier that he had ever seen her before.

“I don’t want to give this life up, Fury. Not now,not any time soon.”

“Is this you talking, or is this what happened to you a few days ago talking for you?” Fury inquired, tilting his head and making sure Wanda could not look away from him.

The young woman pursed her lips shaking her head, “it is me talking, Fury. Before this…I just…I thought I had to go back to everything I left behind. This was supposed to be a holiday so I could get better.”

“It wasn’t about that.” Tony intervened, stepping forward, he placed a single hand on Wanda’s shoulder and Natasha nodded briefly, giving Tony the heads up to go right ahead. 

“What do you mean? What was that?” Wanda pointed at Tony then at Natasha, both of them stirred lightly while Fury leaned back waiting to hear the story.

“We thought about getting you out of the States and really out of commission for some time.” Tony revealed glancing at Wanda with a tenderness she had only seen in him whenever Morgan was around. “What we saw when trying to get you out of Westview told us that you were just asking for help.”

“A help we never provided because we were too busy saving the world.” Natasha said simply. 

“So you never thought I would be better?” Wanda asked, crunching up her nose.

“No, we never thought you would be back to do the same things you have been doing over the years. We thought you would be back changed.” Tony waved his hand around smiling. “And you did.”

Wanda knitted her bros together, she set her eyes on Tony first then on Natasha and finally on Fury.

“So you were expecting me to stay here?” 

“Not here, exactly.” Tony replied. “But perhaps telling us you didn’t want to go back into the hero world. Which, we would have understood, we actually got you kid.”

Wanda was kind of surprised at some point they thought she would choose a life different to the one she had been leading up until the Blip. She had been lost, and with some many broken thoughts inside her mind, so angry at the world it had been quite difficult to try and find a way back to what she really wanted or needed. Her powers had been part of that confusion, and her misused of the magic had created so much conflict inside her and in the world that she never thought she had a choice. 

“We lost track of you after Westview.” Fury started passing around the balcony, his hands in his pockets. “And Hayward came over to try and start an illegal operation in Italy that we stopped just on time.”

Wanda stood there for a moment, confused as to what Fury was saying exactly.

“As far as I know, Wanda Maximoff dropped off the face of earth, and we are one venger down.” Fury snorted. “Just my luck, gotta start looking for new talent then.”

Wanda stood there with her mouth hanging open, “Are you saying…?”

Fury shot her a pointed stare, ignoring the smiling faces of Natasha and Tony. He knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it from Tony, but for now he could give away what he knew would bring peace to Wanda. It was the least he could do.

“Just try to not break anything around here, and try to not make yourself noticeable.” Fury stepped forward walking towards the entrance of the house. “You know how to find us, Maximoff. I hope you find what you are looking for. Good-bye.”

Wanda stood there for a moment, still shocked by what had just happened. Tony and Natasha turned their eyes on her waiting for her reaction, Wanda just shook her head passing her hand through her hair looking first at Natasha then at Tony.

“Is he serious?”

“As serious as Fury can be, yes.” Natasha commented leaning back on the chair she was occupying. “So, you want to stay then?”

Wanda broke into an easy smile, and this time when she lifted her eyes you were looking back at her. The smile on your face, and the wink you sent her way was everything Wanda needed at the moment.

We really are staying here.

“Yeah, I’m staying here.”

______________________________________________________________

Night had already fallen, and your footsteps were taking you to the edge of the cliff.

The smell of the ocean reached you out, and the wind caressed your skin lightly while the moon shone a silver light above your head. The town was a golden paradise you could oversee from your position in the Hill; and the silence around you was enough to make you feel at ease. The woman on your left shivered, and you turned to her, passing your arm around her shoulders, putting her closer to you.

Wanda snuggled closer, her hands dropping around your hips leaning in the place of her face on the nape of your neck. Your heart jumped in your chest, your body tingling all over while you placed a soft kiss on her forehead. 

“I’m thinking of a new setting for the house, perhaps something bigger for both of them.” You commented lightly, Wanda pursed her lips watching what used to be your guest house.

Your breath was taken away when she lifted her face with a brilliant smile, she grabbed your hand dragging you around the backyard towards the ruins of the house. You chuckled watching as her hands gleamed red and the idea you had in your mind became more real right before your eyes. 

“Like this?” She asked teasingly at you, you shook your head putting her closer brushing your nose against hers.

“You know Gil is gonna be mad he couldn’t help around?” You whispered putting some strand hairs behind her ear, Wanda closed her eyes for a moment only to open them filled with unshed tears. 

“He can help, this is only so he knows what you want.” Wanda bit her lower lip, enjoying the closeness of your body and the sight of your smile. 

“And what about what you want?” You asked leaning in to plant kisses on her cheek. 

Wanda closed her eyes tilting her head to wrap your lips with hers, a soft caress of lips while the kiss turned into an intimate moment of shared emotions. You broke the moment by spinning her around, your arms surrounding her waist making her laugh at the silliness of the moment.

“Go on, Wands, tell me what you want.” You whispered in her ear, your eyes gleaming gold showing off a big house with people coming in and the sight of you and her as a family. 

Wanda and Scarlet jumped at the sight, her breath caught in her throat when they noticed the sight of a bump in their abdomen. You could sense the woman in your arms tensing, disbelief filling up her senses as she stepped away from you turning with green and red eyes glancing at you.

“What did you…?” She started and you shrugged looking away for a moment before looking back at her. 

“Magic without intent, Wanda, is not magic.” You replied, stretching out your arms around the hill. “But if you put your heart in it, well it can work miracles.”

Wanda placed a hand on her abdomen, the dreams she had about her life back in Westview and what chances were coming onto her made her dizzy for a moment. She jumped when you grabbed her hand tentatively, you chewed on your lower lip before dropping your shoulders.

“I….I am in love with you, you know that.”

“I do.”

You nodded as if confirming her words, “I want to be with you.”

“I want to be with you, too.” Wanda replied suddenly understanding what you were trying to say.

“There is still a lot we need to figure it out but…I just want you to know I wouldn’t miss this new adventure with you for anything in the world.” Your voice was almost trembling as you opened up to her, Wanda was glancing at you completely serious hearing every word with a beating heart.

“I want to grow old with you, and if you allow me I want to build a family with you. Whenever we are ready, whenever you ar…”

You were cut off by the woman crashing her lips against yours, she held onto you with the same passion she had done so those first times you two were together. She kissed you with love and neediness, and her magic reached out to yours in ways you had learnt for years but that came out naturally to her.  You smiled into the kiss, a game started with you trying to cut it short while she chased after you laughing as you tickled her and soon both of you were just kissing and playing around until, little by little, you went into your destroyed home and enjoyed one another under the night sky above your room.

______________________________________________________________

Tag list!

@cowboyboots236 - @kacka84 - @alurajordyn - @mrscromanoff - @trikruismybitch - @njavezan - @alwaysgoodnight - @mrsmaximoff21 - @casquinhaa - @kyaraderuwez

[fakesmileinalllive-blog]

I may get so much hate for this but I need to say it.

Percabeth ended in Tartarus.

Hear me out. So far they were cute and lovely (maybe aside from first book where Annabeth was unnecessarily mean to Percy) so for me it would be an endgame. Even if I were a little concerned about the fact that their feelings might be based on mutual trust in eachother and their abilities and not necessarily love or some other positive emotions/feelings that are not connected to the fact that they were constantly fighting for their life together (something like relationships of convenience if you know what I mean).

So it was all fine until the Tartarus part.

I admit it was straining for both of them physically, emotionally and mentally. They went through so much that it still amazes me that they were ready to continue the quest. But in Tartarus they also reached their breaking point for example Percy's fight with Achlys. This is the part that bothers me the most. To protect himself and Annabeth (but mostly her, let's be real) he was fighting goddess of misery while being hurt, tired, hungry and thirsty. He gave his everything to make sure that they'll stay alive and I feel like Annabeth didn't appreciate it as she should. I get it she was scared of him, was overwhelmed from everything. I really do. But after it she made him promise to never again take control over poison DURING WAR. It might have been some slip or bad choice of words on her part but the fact that she didn't stop to think about it later really bothers me.

Girl you're in middle of war and hell and yet you make your protector promise to not use a power that may save ton of lifes. Why didn't she make him promise to not use it unless to protect himself or someone else? Why take away from him one of the means of protection?

And the worst of it is fact that Percy kept his promise during fight with Polybotes or while freeing (dunno if it's a right word) infected Nymphs. Those were situations in which his and other people's life were in danger and yet he consciously chooses death to breaking his promise.

Such thoughtlessness from Annabeth is what broke this ship for me. She ignored that he saved her (and it's somehow valid when I think under how much stress she was), made him make a promise that endangered him and other people AND later on while talking with Piper (who she knows didn't have high or positive opinion on Percy) agreed that he need to be controlled.

Just thinking about it makes me sick and I can't look at them (at her) the same. If they at least at some point came back to this promise and reworded it or something then it would be different. But they didn't. And it hurts.

If you don't agree with my opinion and want to discuss it or anything please stay respectful💜

Have a nice day everyone

[eemcintyre]

I know this is a bit of a controversial theory and I understand why some people don't like it, but I'd honestly be okay with it if the endgame of Terry Silver's character is that he's dying.

As much as anyone who knows me knows I adore him, I love a lot of the other characters too and I don't want to see a series where the bad guys win. Plus, that would never be allowed to happen in a thousand years, what kind of parting message would that be, and if Terry doesn't win but remains alive, what other possible outcome is there for him?

No way he'd just go back to the vapid life by the beach where we were initially reintroduced to him, and I doubt he'd go to prison, or at least stay there for any significant amount of time, bc as many have accurately said, rich people don't go to prison, silly!! But Terry is so determined and proud and plain feral at this point and he has so much at stake even if he's not dying; man's not just going to go peacefully into the sunset or, God forbid, surrender or turn good- I genuinely think that the only thing to stop him at this point that would be remotely realistic and fitting would be death.

And really, it would be so incredibly and beautifully tragic and befitting the messages of the show (whatever is left of those at this point; just think of the first couple seasons ig) if, after a life of doing whatever needs to be done to get to the top and maintain control over everything and everyone, despite having what seems to be all the power and money in the world, if you wield it with evil intentions, you ultimately end up with nothing that really matters. One of the main themes of the show used to be that violence just begets more violence; it's an ouroboros that just ends up eating itself; it is self-destructive.

Terry seems to want legacy more than anything else; deep down, I think he fears being insignificant/forgotten and losing control more than anything. However, he's gone about it all wrong, to put it mildly, and all it seems he will leave behind that will last is pain and fear- which, if that's what he wants, then there you go, but somehow I don't think it is. I believe he really wants people to, sure, have enough concern to make them think twice about crossing him, but to marvel at his great, lasting accomplishments and also admire, and perhaps even love him. But in his quest for absolute control and with his belief that he's above pretty much everyone, plus, oh idk perhaps the malice and violence, that will not be a thing that happens. Anyway, that's a bit of a separate conversation.

Back to what I was saying about what he fears more than anything; perhaps these are the only things he fears- being insignificant/forgotten and losing control. As for the latter, it would be such poetic tragedy if, after a life of trying to be and probably believing that he is so much greater and better than everyone else, and seeking constant control, he is ultimately met with the one thing he can't control and which equalizes him to everyone else. Terry is convinced that nothing but a grand death on the battlefield becomes him, yet he ends up comparatively quietly passing away on a hospital bed like most everyone else.

Listen, I know it would be so profoundly tragic and I get sad just thinking about it, but I sincerely believe it would be the most interesting, realistic and meaningful ending, and I would be satisfied with it.

[baleriontheblackkitten]

A Game of Thrones - Daenerys I

Ah, Dany! A thirteen year old girl who owns nothing, not even herself, and will go on a crusade to allow other people to own themselves. A meek, frightened creature who only wishes for a simple, normal life where she can be free to just be, who will embrace leadership not because of the glamour of it, but because she wants to make the world a better place for the people who have nothing just like she had nothing.

A part of her will always long, deep down, for that simple normal life with no pressures and no responsibilities. But that's not an option for her - or it doesn't seem that it could ever be - because she is the blood of the dragon, the culmination of a long line of people cursed by prophecy, saddled with a responsibility that's a double edged-sword. Prophecy allowed them to survive the Doom of Valyria, but they swapped that doom for another doom, the poison that came with being the leaders of Westeros.

Dany is what is left of that, just like the Targaryen house were what was left of the entirety of Valyria. And with being the survivor comes the weight of destiny.

But this is really soon to discuss all of that lol. We're just meeting little scared Dany. But actually even this very first chapter already features what she desires, what she truly wishes for herself, although she knows it could never happen: be one of the common people around her, carefree, just allowed to be themselves and live their lives. My ideal endgame for Dany would be for her to eventually retire from leadership, after achieving the closest thing to a lasting condition of peace and freedom for her people. But we'll talk about this later on...

Viserys! Believe it or not, he's one of my favorite minor characters. Not in the sense that I like him as a person, but because the more I think about him, the more I want to chew on glass. It's easy to look at his abuse of Dany and dismiss him as just an asshole, but he's such a tragic character, and when you really think about it, he never really had a choice to become anything but his bitter, cruel self. Just like he never really had any choice at all, a plaything in the schemes of powerful men. And when you learn that he was never intended to be reinstated as king - when it all clicks into place, when Illyrio's weird, risky plans are revealed to be perfectly reasonable as Viserys was never supposed to get out of his Dothraki adventure alive, when you realize that Viserys was a decoy and was fed lies and delusions his entire life - his story becomes horrific.

His story becomes the story of a boy who lost everything - his family, his home, his things, his sense in the world - and was used, trapped inside a golden cage of lies, for the power games of other men, until his role in the game was done and he was discarded.

And you wonder how much he believed in the delusions because he was arrogant and conceited and stupid, and how much he had to believe in the delusions, how much he made himself believe because he had no alternative to survive. Is he bitter because the Usurper took everything away from him? Or is he bitter because he knows, deep down, that the promises of helping him get the Iron throne back are false? That he has no allies, really, and has no chances and no choices? Is he bitter because he has no hope, no matter how much he forces himself to believe the empty promises and the lies?

And his behavior towards Dany is so very human. He has control over nothing - nothing except his little sister. She is the only thing he can exert control over, and of course he'll direct the anger that stems from his grief and powerlessness over her. And the sexual abuse of her is somewhat justified in the logic of his world, a world where marital rape is not recognized: all his life he and Dany have lived under the assumption that they were going to marry. Viserys sees her as his future sister-wife, expecting they would officially get married when she would be older, or maybe when they'd get back to Westeros to celebrate the wedding there. It's quite natural for him to see her body as his propriety… and it gets sad when you realize that his concept of what a husband-wife relationship is like comes from his parents' relationship. His behavior with Dany is modeled after Aerys' behavior with Rhaella, and how could it be any different?

This, of course, doesn't mean I justify Viserys' abuse. Dany's journey of learning to stand up to him is glorious! He is a trash excuse for a human being, but a trash excuse for a human being that is the result of a tragedy.

Alright, let's actually look at the chapter now.

For the first time we leave the North, and we leave the Seven Kingdoms entirely… but only physically, because the Seven Kingdoms haunt the Targeryen siblings, and the Targaryens subtly haunt the Seven Kingdoms, even if the current regime would not want you to think too hard about it.

Her brother held the gown up for her inspection. “This is beauty. Touch it. Go on. Caress the fabric.” Dany touched it. The cloth was so smooth that it seemed to run through her fingers like water. She could not remember ever wearing anything so soft. It frightened her. She pulled her hand away. “Is it really mine?”

Oh the irony. Dany frightened by soft fabric that feels smooth like water, she who will walk into fire and ride dragon scales. Of course it's not the fabric itself that scares her: she is intimidated by the luxuriousness of something she does not feel adequate for. Worth of.

Is it really mine, she asks: she's a girl who has never owned anything. The idea of owning something, especially something valuable, is alien to her. We'll learn soon that she's never even owned herself - her own brother is selling her. She's his propriety until she becomes another man's propriety.

There's an additional layer to the "is it really mine" line, because the dress is meant for her, but it's not hers. Viserys calls it a gift, but Dany understands what Magister Illyrio's gifts are. Dany was thirteen, old enough to know that such gifts seldom come without their price, here in the free city of Pentos.

She's supposed to play the part of a princess. Which… she is, but she's never been. The little sister of the beggar king. At this point, the fact that she comes from a line of kings, that royal blood runs in her veins, that dragon blood runs in her veins, mean nothing for her. Her brother is the dragon, the rightful king, she's just a girl.

“Illyrio is no fool,” Viserys said. He was a gaunt young man with nervous hands and a feverish look in his pale lilac eyes. “The magister knows that I will not forget my friends when I come into my throne.” Dany said nothing. Magister Illyrio was a dealer in spices, gemstones, dragonbone, and other, less savory things. He had friends in all of the Nine Free Cities, it was said, and even beyond, in Vaes Dothrak and the fabled lands beside the Jade Sea. It was also said that he’d never had a friend he wouldn’t cheerfully sell for the right price. Dany listened to the talk in the streets, and she heard these things, but she knew better than to question her brother when he wove his webs of dream. His anger was a terrible thing when roused. Viserys called it “waking the dragon.”

Dany is perfectly aware of the reality of their situation. She seriously doubts that her brother is ever going to be reinstated as king in Westeros. She thinks of Viserys' ideas as "webs of dream". She knows. Does he? Sure, he doesn't seem to mingle with common people and hear what they say like Dany is said to. I can imagine him living in his own bubble. But how realistic is it for him to live constantly inside a bubble, when they've spent thirteen years moving around Essos, living off the hospitality of others? I personally don't think he's that naive or stupid. I think that his naiveté is a survival tactic - he's hanging off a thread. If he were to accept the reality that his dreams are futile… he would just shatter. Which is what happens to him with the Dothraki, after all.

He is also full of contradictions - right now he seems overjoyed at the prospect of gaining an army through selling Dany to Khal Drogo. He later tells her he'd glady have her fucked by Khal Drogo's entire army and their horses if that means he gets his army. But we'll later learn that he has a breakdown over it, that he tries to get Dany's maidenhood before Khal Drogo does… He just seems detatched from reality in a way that is definitely not mentally sound. He wants the army that will gain him Westeros… but that's hardly real to him. What's real is Dany's body.

Dany could hear the singing of the red priests as they lit their night fires and the shouts of ragged children playing games beyond the walls of the estate. For a moment she wished she could be out there with them, barefoot and breathless and dressed in tatters, with no past and no future and no feast to attend at Khal Drogo’s manse.

Oh Dany's wistful dreams of a life as a nobody who has nothing but is free! This will return, when she wistfully half-wishes that she was not the blood of the dragon, that she did not carry the weight of the responsibilities that come with that. No past and no future - no ancient prophecy, no destiny, no intergenerational curse, no dragon dreams, no responsibility to save the world. She doesn't even know about all of this yet, all she knows is that she has a role to play as her brother's sister, foreshadowing of her promised role as the last Targaryen.

“Our land,” he called it. The words were like a prayer with him. If he said them enough, the gods were sure to hear. “Ours by blood right, taken from us by treachery, but ours still, ours forever. You do not steal from the dragon, oh, no. The dragon remembers.” And perhaps the dragon did remember, but Dany could not.

She does not feel like a dragon yet...

Yet sometimes Dany would picture the way it had been, so often had her brother told her the stories.

In Bran's chapter, he mentions with affection how their father tells them stories of the age of heroes and the children of the forest. In Dany's case, it's her brother that has the role of storyteller in her life, and who's so passionate about the stories that Dany can visualize them perfectly.

We are also presented for the first time the story of Robert's rebellion from the other perspective. From the first chapters, the reader would be ready to accept the Starks and their friends as the good guys. Ironically, Ned himself will have a journey of coming to terms with the fact that his friend Robert is not the hero he liked to think him as...

There's a little detail I didn't remember from my first read - that Dany was born nine months after her mother and brother fled King's Landing for Dragonstone. Meaning, by the time the Rebellion started, no one even knew of her existence. Heck, she didn't exist yet, and was conceived at the last moment, while the Usurper's armies were already moving towards King's Landing. It also gives Rhaella and Viserys nine excruciating months in Dragonstone as the Rebellion rages on, and then Rhaella dies in childbirth, and then the garrison on Dragonstone decides to hand the children to Robert (and meet the same fate as Elia's children), except a handful of loyalists save them and bring them to Braavos. How terrifying must have all of that been for Viserys?

They had wandered since then, from Braavos to Myr, from Myr to Tyrosh, and on to Qohor and Volantis and Lys, never staying long in any one place. Her brother would not allow it. The Usurper’s hired knives were close behind them, he insisted, though Dany had never seen one.

Oof, Dany sort of doubts the reason they were always moving being fleeing from assassins. More like, they were guests, and their welcome in the house of each host would end after a while. Then again, I'm sure that Robert's hired knives were an actual danger for a while at least (the fact that when Dany gets pregnant he wants to send assassins after her suggests that there were no assassins after her at that point, which suggests that a number of years into his reign, his power solidified at that point, the Targaryen kids no longer left that dangerous and no longer worth wasting money for.)

What will be Dany's reaction when she learns that Viserys and herself were the decoys, waved around Essos for Robert's assassins to chase after, while the actual person who was meant to be reinstated on the throne was a different, secret boy? It doesn't even matter if Aegon is an actual Targaryen or not. If I were Dany I would be aghast of what was done to her and especially her brother, fed false promises while another boy was raised to be king.

In another passage it is said that the final nail in Viserys' mental state was selling their mother's crown, the very last thing they had left. I wonder who bought it. Some rich Essosi that just liked the idea of owning a unique item, or maybe that just liked a pretty crown. Or maybe someone who bought it with a more specific goal? Will this crown ever reappear in the story? Probably not, it just represents how the "beggar king" had to give everything away and lost even the last link to his mother and family history. Still, I wonder where it is.

Viserys wants the Seven Kingdoms and the royal wealth back. Dany just wants her childhood back. But really, they both want the same thing. The Seven Kingdoms and the silks and jewels are Viserys' lost childhood.

Slaves come to get Dany ready. "There was no slavery in the free city of Pentos. Nonetheless, they were slaves." Such a little but powerful line.

They filled her bath with hot water brought up from the kitchen and scented it with fragrant oils. The girl pulled the rough cotton tunic over Dany’s head and helped her into the tub. The water was scalding hot, but Daenerys did not flinch or cry out. She liked the heat. It made her feel clean. Besides, her brother had often told her that it was never too hot for a Targaryen. “Ours is the house of the dragon,” he would say. “The fire is in our blood.”

Ehe. Also the first mention of the "cleaning" effect of heat, like the purifying dragonfire that she'll dream about later. Dany, her dragons, and fire are purifying forces in the narrative, burning away corruption and metaphorical dirt and rot.

Her journey will be a journey to understand that fully, to realize that her dragons are not mere weapons of destruction and death - destruction can be good if what you destroy is bad, and heat is life.

Love the golden collar imagery.

A princess, she thought, but she remembered what the girl had said, how Khal Drogo was so rich even his slaves wore golden collars. She felt a sudden chill, and gooseflesh pimpled her bare arms.

She is being sold as a slave, and while Drogo's slaves do not actually wear golden collars, her golden collar represents that she is property of men, who are exchanging her like an object.

It's also sad how the worldview she's been taught sees her future husband as a savage, while her own blood is the pure, precious blood of her Valyria, and how this union contradicts what Viserys has always told her. Viserys is obviously disgusted by the idea of a "savage" having her, and yet he's selling her... it was not his mother's crown that was the last thing he ever owned, it's her sister. Now he's selling the last link to his Targaryen ancestry, his only family member left. It's no wonder he has a breakdown.

“The realm will rise for its rightful king. Tyrell, Redwyne, Darry, Greyjoy, they have no more love for the Usurper than I do. The Dornishmen burn to avenge Elia and her children. And the smallfolk will be with us. They cry out for their king.” He looked at Illyrio anxiously. “They do, don’t they?”

So confident he acts, but he's not. Funnily enough, while it's not true that the smallfolk are ardently waiting for his return, he is not wrong about many noble houses not having any love for the current regime, and definitely not wrong about the Dornish.

Dany knows that Illyrio's words are false. It's not like the truth about his plans will come as a surprise to her - she already can tell there's no actual plan to reinstate Viserys as king. But she does not know the extent of that falseness yet.

Dany noticed that her brother’s hand was clenched tightly around the hilt of his borrowed sword. He looked almost as frightened as she felt.

Funnily enough, what's scarying Viserys right now specifically is an Unsullied.

Dany is represented right away as living in a world of slavers and slaves, one where the line between free and enslaved is sometimes clear and obvious, sometimes thin and ambiguous. She is not considered a slave, she has slaves taking care of her, but she belongs to other people. They call her a princess, but she's being sold.

Daenerys looked at them all in wonder … and realized, with a sudden start of fear, that she was the only woman there.

Say whatever you want about GRRM, but I appreciate him including this very specific feeling.

We're now introduced to ser Jorah Mormont, a sudden link to Westeros that distracts Dany from her current fears.

The irony of ser Jorah's past is obvious - he has left Westeros because he dabbled in slave trade, to eventually end in the service of a girl whose mission will be to end slavery. But this bit offers us some little further insight about this world and slavery.

“The Usurper wanted his head,” Illyrio told them. “Some trifling affront. He sold some poachers to a Tyroshi slaver instead of giving them to the Night’s Watch. Absurd law. A man should be able to do as he likes with his own chattel.”

Of course Illyrio, a slaver, has a slaver perspective. For him, it's normal to sell human beings and there's nothing wrong about participating in the slave market. But this line gives us an additional layer: from the perspective of a foreigner, the Night's Watch is made of slaves. Criminals get caught and handed to the Night's Watch - so what difference does it make if the nobleman under whose autority they were caught chooses to give them to someone else?

This leads us to make some reflections. A man sworn to the Night's Watch cannot leave it, lest he is sentenced to death - like a slave who runs away from his master. Technically one chooses to join the Night's Watch, but it's obvious that that's a façade for most. There's men to pick the Night's Watch over being sentenced for a crime, there's boys from noble houses with too many heirs.

And yet it would be incorrect to call the Night's Watch a form of slavery, as its members are not chattel. This is where Illyrio is wrong - nobody in Westeros is chattel, even though the living circumstances of some look similar to a slave's in the eyes of an external observer.

And yet, the men of the Night's Watch are not free men at all. Not coincidentally their narrative foil is the free folk... in whose eyes, all Westerosi are slaves. Of their lords, of their king. All Westerosi bend the knee to someone else.

That, I assume, will be the final challenge of Dany's journey, where her journey will meet Jon's.

Let's get back to where we were. We also meet Khal Drogo, who looks younger than Dany expected him to be, and a quite impressive looking man. Viserys calls him "Aegon the Dragonlord come again" which is another sign of his mental system of contradictions. The man whose queen the Targaryen princess is going to be, must be some kind of Targaryen king. And yet Viserys is the Targaryen king, he's supposed to be the new Aegon here, but he's not.

“I don’t want to be his queen,” she heard herself say in a small, thin voice. “Please, please, Viserys, I don’t want to, I want to go home.” “Home!” He kept his voice low, but she could hear the fury in his tone. “How are we to go home, sweet sister? They took our home from us!” He drew her into the shadows, out of sight, his fingers digging into her skin. “How are we to go home?” he repeated, meaning King’s Landing, and Dragonstone, and all the realm they had lost. Dany had only meant their rooms in Illyrio’s estate, no true home surely, though all they had, but her brother did not want to hear that. There was no home there for him. Even the big house with the red door had not been home for him.

Dany has no home, Viserys does, and that's the tragedy of each of them. Viserys longs for a home he's lost, Dany longs for a home she's never had. His home is a strange place for her that she's never seen, the places she's ever felt at home in have always been strange places for Viserys that he's never felt at home in.

Her brother orders her to smile and stand up straight, and

Daenerys smiled, and stood up straight.

For the entire chapter, in her inner monologue, she's been Dany. Now she becomes Daenerys, almost a character for Viserys' sake. She is not Daenerys Targaryen yet, she is not the blood of the dragon yet. She is a girl that plays the part of the Targaryen princess for other people's sakes. Her journey in this book is a journey of becoming Daenerys Targaryen for her own sake - no longer a character she is forced to play, but her most authentic self.

[spywhitney]

Thoughts on ships in The Bear

Sydcarmy (Sydney x Carmy)

I filtered out the tag weeks ago and I haven't undone it yet 💀.

98% of posts on my page in the last 6 months or so is to do with this ship- I've had a lot of thoughts about it.

S3 soured my opinion on it, and I've seen some eyebrow raising opinions emerge after s3 that are kind of wild, but sobering I guess?

But unfortunately I've hyperfixated on this ship now so I won't let go until it's over. So yikes for me I guess.

Like I've invested so much attention to it and the odds are looking terrible, but I hope it works out anyway?!?!

Sydrichie (Sydney x Richie)

It's the older man/younger woman trope. That's all it takes for me lol.

I read these fics when I'm tired of the above ship lowkey.

Their dynamic is so interesting to me.

If there weren't so many ****** **** ball sucking/suit licking on Richie while simultaneously trashing on Syd I'd like it a lot more (probably).

I was going to say how Richie treated Syd in s1 is what turns me off too, but I ship Syd with Carmen so, welp.

If they got together it would piss so many people off. Like the hater in me is cry-laughing thinking about how upset certain people would be lmao.

Wish we saw more of them in s3, it would've made so much sense too.

Sydmarcus (Sydney x Marcus)

Um, are the sydmarcus shippers even alive?

Y'all were done dirty. Y'all didn't deserve that man.

I never got the impression Syd liked Marcus however, but still.

If she did, they would've been so cute, like omg.

Marcus has had Syd's back the most and is arguably the only friend she has.

He treats her like a friend/overtly asked her out as more than a friend too etc etc.

The fact Syd didn't even acknowledge the fact Marcus made a dessert and named it after her is wild though.

Their dynamic has a healthy balance of reciprocation, exercised respect and care.

Obviously there are some that insist they should('ve) got together because they don't want sydcarmy which is ridiculous.

Then there's the "Syd deserves better" crowd which while I understand and somewhat agree, I also believe people choose what they deserve, so that's her business lowkey.

Saying all that I'd be all over Marcus. He's passionate, fine as hell and he's super chill?! Already climbing that man personally.

Claircarmy (Claire x Carmy)

I don't care about Claire, so it's hard to care about the relationship.

As much as the Claire hate is entertaining to me (and very valid points have been made about her), I'm pretty neutral on her for the most part.

I will say, the fact that their relationship has been shown to be perfect up until the s2 finale and Carmy calling her a waste of time was all it took for her to walk away is hilarious.

Like, if you can't deal with Carmy saying one mean thing about you, you're not ready to be with him girl lol (especially when compared with--)

The show pushes this a lot so if they're endgame fine, I just want that plot point to be done my goodness.

Carmrich (Carmy x Richie)

I've read a couple of fics and woah?

I like this quite a bit.

Their dynamic is so engaging in the fics I've read.

I almost feel like I don't appreciate their relationship enough in the show.

Sydluca (Sydney x Luca)

Kind of yummy if it was endgame, eh if otherwise.

I'm being dramatic, see my post here for more context.

The actor is british so maybe my bias is showing with this ship ngl.

He's one of the few actors I recognised also.

They look kind of cute, or whatever.

Fak x Richie

They have moments for sure.

I get it.

Marcus x Luca

I never saw this honestly.

To me, it was feel-good to just see a black man eagerly learning in a healthy environment.

I want Marcus for me though, like I said so lol.

Nat x Pete

They're canon.

They go well together, though I will say I don't have a strong opinion on them.

I guess since we don't see any significant conflict with them/they're very stable there's not a lot of emotional weight?

Nat x Richie

I felt some vibes here and there, you know?

They're sweet.

Richie x Jess

It would make sense as a part of Richie's arc.

Funny how some people that ship them based on a couple of looks hate sydcarmy with 3 seasons worth of interactions though.

Michael x Richie

I feel like I'd like this like camrich, but also it might break my heart, so idk if I want to see what's up.

Marcus x Chester

Chester was chill, shame he only got two seconds in s3.

Knowing Marcus had someone outside the restaurant who's supportive was comforting.

Tina x David

They were adorable in "napkins".

Makes sense they're married irl.

Tina x Michael

Felt a vibe for a split second when she talked about him in s1 ngl.

If she didn't have a husband atp--

Sydney x Claire

I think I saw a fic with this on ao3. Don't care about Claire, so you know.

Richie x Tiff

Clearly there's still love there, shame with what happened to them.

Carmy x Luca

I don't see why not.

Carmy x Chef David

😳 I mean, I get the appeal but in the context of the show, yikes. (Not that I haven't shipping something "worse").