#i’m getting failmarriage vibes

[sonicblooms]

malcolm landgraab married nina caliente in my save… like i guess!

[chonidale]

6x15

after those rings popped up last weekend and i realized the ~crossroads toni and fangs find themselves at next week isn’t a break up like i thought, i never would have imagined that i’d come out of this episode more confident than ever about a choni season finale kiss, but here we are.

while i always knew that this failmarriage was gonna happen to strengthen their custody case and not out of ~love, i assumed it was gonna be a decision they’d make together after it was suggested to them. i assumed fangs would not have told her about his conversation with kevin and figured maybe that would come into play later, but regardless, i thought it would be a joint decision. wasn’t sure how they’d feel about it - hoped for dreaded it, feared being excited for it - but a joint decision none the less.

these past handful of episodes of them have been brutal to watch, seeing him make mistake after mistake, endangering both her son’s life and her custody of him, and just act all around insufferable and misogynistic, all while she had no negative reaction to it. it felt like i didn’t even recognize toni, and tonight was no different, with her giving him a pep talk after his whining and then barely reacting to him working with percival after all he’s done. so to see her apologizing at the start of that scene? oh i was seeing red.

but then. wow. that plot twist. not only have they set up fangs to feel humiliated and toni to be lying to him (and for me to brush off literally anything she says to him from here on out as her lying), but they also established her being very aware of how much they’ve been disagreeing on everything and how unstable their relationship was. that was very nice to see, i just wish we got confirmation that she’s been so passive because she’s been trying to avoid more fights or something.

anyways, the point is, they’ve now established two massive, relationship ending secrets between them, and set up this failmarriage on even shakier grounds than i imagined. i still hate it because it’s still so unnecessary and think fangs’ phone call in 612 and his other recent behavior is more than enough to break them up, but this did ease my mind on it a bit and make me sure they’re done by season’s end. also the parallel between the abigail/fenn forced marriage to toni/fangs forced marriage? kinda cool!

as for heather, she gave off the exact sketchy vibes i expected and got last week when she ignored cheryl’s email and didn’t show up until she used her magic to forge archie, and she almost certainly killed her mother. but regardless of that speculation, her purpose here was clearly established in their final scene, when they made such an obvious and clunky parallel between cheryl being a witch and cheryl being a lesbian.

i’ve been thinking it was random to bring heather back now when she’s been forgotten for seasons, and wondered why they didn’t just make an original character for this role, but i get it now. it’s kind of a thoughtful parallel to have the girl that helped cheryl first discover she was gay be there to help guide her through discovering she’s a witch. not to mention them finally acknowledging choni, having cheryl think they’re over, and spell out that cheryl is lonely and yearns for love. and of course, the most obvious purpose of giving cheryl a midgame: so people can’t say the lesbian was the only one without a love interest all season.

i’m not 100% sure if i think she’ll be sketchy or in what way, but if i had to bet, i think she’ll either be trying to steal cheryl’s power (hence why she came when she did and probably killed her mom to get her powers too) or her coven is evil and she’s there to try to bring cheryl to percvial’s side, since the actress did follow chris very early on into filming.

anyways, all of this is to say, toni/fangs are even worse than i thought and their days are officially numbered, and cheryl/heather’s midgame status/purpose was made extremely clear. they’ve teased the other old ships during the season because they’re not getting back together this season (per kj) but choni has gotten nothing because they are (riverdale writer’s logic for you). annoying, but i’ll take it at this point.

[thethermocline]

Dare I ask about my oc pairings 🫢 M/C, Moryo /Tinda, and/or Signy/Gloin (yes, I’m just like if narcissus was a girl)

For you I'll talk about any pairing you want...though you know, Narcissus, your reflection may be prettier than I but she cannot give you kisses. 😘

Now let's see if our relationship can survive my brutally! Honest! Opinions!! After all this is spicy hour, I am here for one thing and one thing only, and that is CONTROVERSY

Mel/Curufin: 10/10, impeccable vibes, hand in unlovable hand baybee!! I'm so excited for your failmarriage fic, omg. I don't even like most heterosexual pairings, but between you and tolkien I'm so invested. She's not only the first oc I've seen for Celebrimbor's mother that I found memorable and compelling, but she's just a really good character even as a standalone. In her, I understand perfectly why someone would choose to follow Feanor, as well as rooting for her redemption arc. You already know she's gonna be in my fic, and I'm genuinely so excited to write for her and explore my vision of post canon Mel.

Moryo/Tinda: I am conflicted!! My image of him is not quite right to get married. I love Tinda, I'm very interested in her as a character, but I'm not quite sure about her and Caranthir together.

Signy/Gloin: there's something about them that's so grounded. I love them, love them together, want nice things for them. They both have lovely development and character; Gloin might be named and have lines in the books, but he's still a speculative figure more than anything. You've made him so much more alive to me, just by building his relationship and history with Signy. Signy is like Eowyn to me; very precious and always in my heart. She's also going to be in my fic. I've thought about it, and I'm not sure exactly what it'll be, but I'm gonna do a nice thing for her (besides the obvious seeing Gimli again). She deserves it.

Me, watching you build create amazing, nuanced characters for me to fall in love with: