#if he had to stop his self-sacrificing bullshit so does she!!!!

[the-rogue-mockingjay]

"Hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of calling in the cavalry."

alternatively titled: haha get supported idiot !!

Tinkering with my Bozja canon, and well. O'ravi's friends aren't about to let her try fighting a war alone

[ksfoxwald]

The thing about Magic's Promise is that I think it's one of Lackey's best books for character development and worldbuilding but also always makes me want to beat Vanyel over the head with a stick. His whole character arc in this book is learning to stop moping over his dead boyfriend and that friends are important too... and therefore he has to keep his friends far away, for safety. Because the thing about Vanyel is that he's not selfish, exactly, all Heralds are so damn self-sacrificing (one starts to wonder if the Companions are exploiting them), but he's a bit self-centered. He just doesn't notice anything that doesn't affect him directly. Reading Magic back to back with Arrows is an interesting contrast, because Talia and Vanyel have very different backgrounds and it shows; farmgirl Talia thinks nothing of hanging out with the servants, while minor noble Vanyel barely even notices them.

Reading Magic back to back with Oaths is also a trip, because Oaths is all about Woman Power fighting against sexual abuse, and the only way a woman can be evil is if she is a man under a weird curse (it's the 80s). I don't think Lackey has ever had an actual female villain - Hulda in Arrows is more of an evil henchperson, not the mastermind - so it's a bit startling in Promise to see the effects of a boy abused by women treated with a good amount of sensitivity. I'm surprised she doesn't draw more direct connections between Tashir's abuse and Vanyel's "please stop assuming I am a child molester just because I'm gay" (which seems to be an obligatory psa for every gay fantasy hero of the 80s; ironically MZB has the same motif). The thing is, Lackey doesn't do a lot of subtlety, so when something like this happens I'm not even sure it was on purpose.

The theme of abuse also continues in the relationship between Vanyel and Jervis, one of my favorites in the whole of Valdemar, because it adds depth to what was previously a very basic bully relationship, but not in a way that implies one is obligated to forgive abusers; the way abuse is perpetuated in cycles is also a recurring theme, and I think a subtler writer might have managed to work that into the main plot instead of "so anyway there's this big magic rock..." But Lackey usually draws very hard lines between Good and Bad, and having a character doing Bad out of a desire to do Good and then later owning up to and fixing his mistake is a lot for her. And the fact that Vanyel had no idea that maybe Jervis had some other motivation that just picking on him also speaks to his self-centeredness.

Anyway, there are a lot of interesting notes of this book that never fully come together; Vanyel's arc of learning to enjoy friends despite lacking a romantic relationship is botched by his having about half a chapter with Shavri, which does not quite make for a convincing crisis of sexuality. Not to mention the fact that we know Bard Stefan is endgame, and I still think the reincarnation thing is total bullshit that runs counter to everything the first two books were building towards. And the themes of cyclical abuse could definitely have been tied into the Secret Ancient Family Magic of the main plot, if one had tried.

So it is what it is. It's very 80s. Maddening because it was almost but not quite the queer representation I was looking for at thirteen. At thirty I appreciate it as a queer stepping stone, and acknowledge it had other flaws as well.

Hm... I think I'll do Arrow's Fall next, then Oathbreakers, then Magic's Price. That'll round out the 80s and bring us into the 90s, with Kerowyn, Winds, and Gryphon.

[minefield-of-a-ninja]

All fics are 18+ ONLY unless otherwise noted

SERIES

*at least three parts or chapters

Combat Baby - Dean Winchester x Jo Harvelle

Summary: Dean’s sweet, but Jo likes him nasty

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, canon divergent, rough sex, dirty talk, brief name-calling, exhibitionism, role play, squirting

Words: IN PROGRESS

If We Make It Through December - Dean Winchester x Donna Hanscum

Summary: Donna is horrified to learn that the boys have never had a proper Christmas, so she invites them to her house for the holiday.

Warnings/tags: canon/divergent, there was no rebar, 18+ ONLY, fluff, light angst, domesticity, holiday celebrations

Words: IN PROGRESS

The Mud On Your Boots - Dean Winchester x Donna Hanscum

Summary: Dean and Donna finally give in.

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, canon divergent, dirty talk, fluff, consent is sexy, period sex, fisting, blood as lube, shower sex

Words: IN PROGRESS

Temporary Scars - Dean Winchester x Donna Hanscum x Benny Lafitte

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, angst, Donna has intimacy issues, Dean’s the sweetest, self-sabotage, sort of established relationship, Benny’s swoony as fuck, Dean’s in love, tags on each part

Word: IN PROGRESS

Where Is My Shiny Gun? -  Dean Winchester x Donna Hanscum (voyeur Sam Winchester)

Summary: Sam finds himself in a quandary when he realizes he has feelings for Donna by way of the obvious mutual attraction between her and Dean.

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, canon divergent, Sam is kinky, Dean is adorable, so is Donna, Dean likes to give Donna massages, Sam directing while masturbating, brief spanking + breast slapping, brief knife play - no blood

Word Count: 7785

ONE-SHOTS

*one and done, usually 2k or more

Bad Girls Underneath -  Ruby 2.0 x Dean Winchester x Jo Harvelle

Summary: Ruby and Jojo get hit by sex pollen, again, but this time, they need Dean's help.

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, magical dick/male gaze bullshit, probably too much commentary and emotional complication, why am I like this, I’m sorry, sometimes I can’t help myself, fisting, brief choking

Words: 2,600

Cactus - Dean Winchester x Meg Masters x Castiel

Summary: Post-battle, exhausted and wanting, Dean and Meg and Cas take care of each other.

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, rimming, choking, dreamlike sex, Dean’s always hungry

Words: 3,200

Moving Furniture - Steve!Cas x Meg Masters 2.0

Summary: She’s been gone for a year – sacrificed herself to save Sam and her unicorn – but Cas still dreams about her.

Warnings/tags: non-explicit dream sex, fluff, shmoop, there’s a dog

Words: 2K

Summary: During a pit stop for gas and snacks, Meg promises to keep an eye on Emmanuel while Dean does his shopping.

Warnings/tags: mature, Meg shenanigans, coming while clothed

Smokestack Lighting - Sam Winchester x Rowena Macleod

Summary: It’s been a long time coming, and the dam finally breaks.

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, height difference, sex magic

Words: 2200

FLASHFIC

*random ideas, prompts, challenges, usually less than 1k

Because You’re Worth It - Sam Winchester x Rowena Macleod

Prompt: Sam Winchester ends up with his hair cut shorter than it has ever been.

Warnings/tags: crack-ish, mature, fluff, Dean being insensitive about Sam’s glorious mane, Rowena saving the day

Words: 790

Being Human - Castiel + Dean Winchester

Summary: Cas gives Dean a break.

Tags: Dean and Cas being Dean and Cas.

Words: 555

Carrion - Ruby 2.0 x Sam Winchester

Summary: While Sam sleeps, Ruby plays.

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, dark contemplation, somnophilia

Words: 340

Celibacy, Interrupted - Jody Mills x Sam Winchester

SPN Kink Bingo Square Filled: Facials

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, blow job, sam has no refractory period bc this is fic

Word Count: 570

Fifth Base - Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Rowena MacLeod

Prompt: surly, scruffy Dean — maybe trying to get back to business after a wild night? But the aches and panties in his pocket keep distracting him?

Tags: snarky, hungover Dean

Words: 470

Foxholes - Annie Hawkins x Bobby Singer/Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester

Summary: Annie recalls time spent with each man and what their facial hair told her about them.

Warnings/tags: mature language and references to sexual activity

Words: 340

If You Don’t, Dear, Confess - Sam Winchester x Rowena Macleod

Prompt: Sam has dream about being seduced by Rowena in the bunker that gets interrupted/woken by Dean?

Warnings/tags: mature

Words: 620

I’ll Keep Them Still - Dean Winchester x Jo Harvelle

Summary: Dean remembers promises and pictures in his mind. And he remembers her.

Warnings/tags: mature, songfic, angst, dream/afterlife sequences, purple prose, I’m sorry

Words: 1K

It’s Not Delivery - Sam Winchester x Rowena Macleod, Castiel x Meg (mentioned), Dean Winchester x adult female actresses in costume (in his head)

Summary: Sam wants to play D&D, Castiel is confused, Rowena is Rowena, and Dean is drunk and amused.

Notes: disappointed Sam, comforting Rowena, mischievous Meg, Dean likes porn, and pizza, and whiskey, one F-bomb

Words: 435

I Know All Your Graces - Donna Hanscum x female reader, mentions of Dean Winchester x Donna + reader

Prompt: Donna x fem!reader with the line “that sounded a lot better in my head” please?

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, fisting, breast play

Words: 600

Magic Sex & French Fries - Jo Harvelle x Ruby 2.0

Prompt: Great Big Lesbian prompt: SPN, Jo and Ruby II have to have sex to save the world. Or something. Sex pollen? I don’t care. 😘

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, sex pollen, fisting, confuzzled boys

Words: 1K

Meanwhile… - Sam Winchester x Jody Mills

Prompt: I don’t even remember your rules, but listen Sam and Jody hooked up while Dean was banging the porn star.

Warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY

Words: 500

Not Fade Away - Emmanuel!Cas x Meg Masters

Summary: During a pit stop for gas and snacks, Meg promises to keep an eye on Emmanuel while Dean does his shopping.

Warnings/tags: mature, Meg shenanigans, coming while clothed

Words: 350

On Your Six - AU Dean Winchester + his 11yo daughter

Prompt: Write something fluffy with NO smut or angst! So sickeningly sweet that our teeth fall out 🤪😘

Tags: Dean is basically my dad lol

Words: 480

The Prerogative To Have A Little Fun - Donna x Jody, Donna x Jody x Sam + Dean (kinda)

Prompt: Donna’s visiting Jody for the weekend and the boys swing by on their home from a hunt. Dean mows the lawn, Sam fixes a leaky showerhead, Dean makes dinner, and they both do the dishes. Meanwhile, the ladies sit back and enjoy the domestic display. Really, really enjoy. In fact, once the boys drive off to head home, they decide to help each other work out their frustrations. 😉

Warnings/tags: mature, men doing manly things, inspired by Shania Twain’s song “Man! I Feel Like A Woman”, voyeurism

Words: 1K

Reciprocus - weechesters then bigchesters, John  Winchester, female character

Prompt: “I wasn’t supposed to have favorites.”

Notes: angst

Words: 950

Samwena - Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Rowena Macleod, and a very fluffy puppy

Prompt: I want some snarky Rowena and petulant Sam and just fuck me up however you see fit.

Tags: 1st person Dean POV

Words: 780

Soft Cell - Dean Winchester + teenaged female character

Prompt: Dean x reader dancing in the bunker

Tags: one F-bomb

Words: 720

Till The Clock Struck On The Twelve - Jo Harvelle x Ruby 2.0

Summary: Jo and Ruby hit the town. Ruby dons a necktie and insists on being called Daddy for the night.

Warnings/tags: mature, purple prose, male gaze forbidden, Daddy Kink

Words: 325

Virtues - Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Rowena Macleod, Castiel

Prompt(s): 1) "Have you ever licked a lamppost in winter?" 2) "Oh, what a beautiful bloodbath." "Don't forget the glitter!" 3) "Patience is a virtue." "Not right now, it isn’t!"

Warnings/Tags: couple of f-bombs, weechesters

Words: 970

We Shall Go Until We Die - Bela Talbot

Summary: A letter to Sam and Dean.

Tags: I liked Bela.

Words: 225

Whiskey, Leather, and Lace - Arthur Ketch x female reader

Summary: She doesn’t love him.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, bondage, panty gag, orgasm control

Words: 400

You Want It, You’re Wanted - Sam Winchester x Gabriel

Summary: Mutual gratification is the name of the game.

Warnings/tags: mature, Wartenberg wheel, tiny bit of blood

Words: 320

[minalblood]

Ep 3 p2

Mary's hunting trauma mentioned a bit more in depth but not yet addressed and her immediately sacrificing herself to Buri Baba to get Carrie and Ford are sooo very ... The Dean of it all vibes. As is Ford's words about Carrie and how it was on his watch. Mary and Ford talking was just chef's kiss tbh. As well as the fact that Mary struggles with her sense of self aka not knowing who she is if she's not of service aka hunting. And of course the Indiana Jones of it all is pure Dean too.

In other news, the "my folks made sure the house was super monster-proof" line from Mary has me losing my shit. How many times have we had this issue in SPN of there not being a possibility for hunters to have a main base (bunker doesn't count here, its clearly a special case) but here we have a well known hunting family able to have a well protected house so they don't disrupt every part of their childs life. And while I agree that post hell gate open(s2 fin) more threats were present, thay still does not excuse SPN!John from his bullshit.

I do love the hexbag mention tho, since we see that constantlt used in spn as both harmful and helpful, hell i think the 1st uses on spn are actually protection aka Missouri using it in Home to get rid of the poltergeist and Bella wanting a very old one from Gordon to keep herself safe from hell hounds in Fresh Blood. The use of it here is much closer resembling to its use in Home tho.

Carlos and Ada are the chaos twins in spnwin I've decided, but they are actually competent as opposed to Cas and Sam who tend to break shit (mostly themselves, sometimes the world). Carlos constantly being creeped out by Ada or Lana's darker vibes only to then absolutely admire and praise them is one of my fav things! The fact that Carlos' fighting style is capable but always as flashy as possible is a great bit of characterization. Ada constantly being just this side off of really fucking dark is also absolutely a great piece of character work. I still wish we'd have used the demons in plants thing in spn, but Crowley in rat was close.

Then we have the mention of Lata's father in the context of having told her the story of Buri Baba which... foreshadowing tbh. *special note* john just needs to learn to shut tf up sometimes, he has a bad habit of saying the stupidest thing possible *brought to you here by "contact your folks" hours*

Betty is hereeee!! In professional capacity mostly, but goddamn, John proposed when they were fucking 16 ish?? What was he thinking?! And what happened then, cuz it's heavily implied there was a fight between them. I've questions ok?? I will say John just jumping in no thoughts to the consequences of his decisions is perfectly in character tho.

Lata having to call home hurtttttsss. Hurts sooo bad knowing what actually happened, what her trauma is and how it affected her. God she's so strong to have done that. John doesn't even know how much he asked of her there, he can't. I will say tho, I very much love Lata and John's friendship, they balance each other out really well, he pushes just enough to get her past her freeze response but not so far it breaks her boundaries. And lata calms him down enough for him to actually stop and think before doing things. Love it! But I also love how John has almost that same effect on Mary that Lata has for him? Whereas Mary allows him the freedom to act and the tools to make the right choice before acting or at least give him the information he needs for that. All these characters interact so wonderfully and affect each other with every second of every scene and it's so clear.

In other news, I loooove the monster design, once more, because it's seriously fucked! And i love that!! Aaaaand we get Roxyyy properly for the 1st time!!!

Also really love seeing the actual effects of the day on the group, Ada taking out her trauma on the demon by plucking the leaves for having possessed her and Lata trying to shake herself out of her thoughts about her family and the shit thay comes with that while staring at the phone, John burning the sack, likely thinking about having almost lost Mary and Mary going to see a movie and trying to slowly start doing things for herself. Carlos sadly doesn't really have any lesson learnt here, but they are very much keeping a eye out on Ada, having noticed she's going through shit.

God, finally, these kids are just absolutely fantastic. Carrie ripping Bernice up and Ford just snapping the hair clip are such absolutely based decisions and just instant, no thoughts, just do it vibes. They're the best.

[420technoblazeit]

actually hodl on here's a shorthand summary of the 12 seasons i watched spoilers below

ghosts adn werewolves and vampires and shit i guess. also some freak with really bad spirit halloween contacts *dean voice* we gotta kill those sons of bithces sammy!

sam might be half demon or smth lmao this is why you dotn go to an ivy league school, kids

ah fuck me dean's gotten into some sort of self-sacrificing bullshit again and sold his soul to save sam's life. also there's a really hot british lady now

christ almighty (but not literally, they never actually mention jesus in this show) the angels are here and boy are they all massive fucking dicks. sam thinks he's the antichrist and dean and cas have a weird amount of aggressive homoerotic tension for two guys who just met each other adn are at each other's throats like 99% of the time

SAM FUCKED UP AND LUCIFER GOT RELEASED FROM HELL. THE ANGELS ARE BAD EVERYTHIGN IS BAD, SAM AND DEAN ARE DESTINED TO MURDER EACH OTHER AND END THE WORLD. WE'RE SO INCREDIBLY FUCKED. just kidding free will perseveres :) also oh yeah dean's retired and living with his girlfriend and sam's trapped in hell forever now

just kidding again he's out but now he's soulless. also crowley and cas are speedrunning a bad end good omens. heaven is in turmoil, all the angels are slaughtering each other, raphael still wants to start the apocalypse, and everything is badly written

oh god oh fukc cas messed up big time and now he's dead. the most horribly written bargain bin eldritch beings are trying to conquer the world through really shitty capitalism but im sure everything will turn out fine. aaannnndddd dean and cas are in purgatory now

oh hey dean and cas are back! except now cas is bein lobotomized and mind controlled by the angels because he literally will not stop disobeying for even one second. gettem cassie. anyway sam and dean are tryign to close the gates of hell and crowley goes hey man. cmon. and tries to stop them. sam almost dies adn cas gets tricked into making all the angels fall

i literally dont remember this one im so serious. i have no idea what happens here ohter than i think crowley started kind of being a good guy here and there was a demon girlboss trying to kill him? idk it ends with dean turnign into a demon though

dean and crowley have a summer flign until crowley gets tired of it and calls sam up to cure dean. and then everyone teams up to remove the kill-everything-in-sight curse that dean had to get to murder the aforementioned demon girlboss. also crowley's mom is here now???? adn she's the world's hottest scottish deadbeat witch mommy. i mean mom. anyway she's evil i love u rowena we're all htrilled ur here rowena <3 <3 <3

ok stick with me here bc this is where i start to lose people. htey remove the curse from dean but in the process accidentally release god's evil sister. yeah. um. she's in love with dean for Straight Person reasons also for some reason everyone decides it's a good idea to free lucifer, the actual devil, to try and defeat her and he posesses cas. this season was not good.

THIS SEASON WAS EVEN WORSE THERE'S MORE BRITISH PEOPLE NOW FOR SOME REASON theyre like really shitty secondrate james bond hunters adn they hate americans. honestly everyone does fuckall the whole season and then cas and crowley die adn crowley doesnt even come back so this is about hwere i checked out

THAT'S IT HTAT'S ALL YOURE WELCOME FORT HE SUMMARY

dont plan on watching spn but can i get a recap for the series please?

THE WHOLE SERIES? HTE ENTIRE FUCKING THING??? YOUD HAVE TO PAY ME FOR THAT BUD U COULD LITERALLY GETA BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN SUPERNATURAL

[kathonydaily]

I feel like the closet scene isn't talked about enough! Anthony was so cold and matter of fact when he was trying to ask Kate to convince Edwina to continue with the wedding (which is a whole other conversation in itself since, for me anyways, it somewhat mirrors Kate convincing Anthony to do the same to save her sister from heartbreak and to keep his honor), but when Kate painfully says she herself has ruined Edwina's life, he just immediately softens. And it felt like the lines from Benedict's poem "...that all your defenses crumble... that you would willingly take any pain, any burden for her" was almost actualizing from the way Anthony steps in closer towards Kate to the way he grabs and holds her hand and whispers to her to wait. The more I rewatch this scene the more I'm in awe of it! Episode 6 was a hot mess in a lot of ways, but I also think that it's in this episode when love really does come to the surface (worst yet best timing ever lol).

Oh I SO agree, anon. That scene is one of my favorites actually. And since I already wanted to break it down, i'm going to use your ask to do so.

Let's start with where they were mentally at that point, because it is important. So...I've already said this in another post, but Anthony at the end of ep5 didn't want to get through with the wedding anymore. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life wanting the sister of his wife. Even if by some miracle he would have been able to control his instincts, that would have been pure torture to endure. But Kate in her own self-sacrificing way, basically begged him to go through with it, trying to convince him that what there was between them it will pass. Anthony knew it was bullshit of course, but the problem was that he couldn't say no to her. He couldn't say no to the love of his life, literally begging him to do something.

So here we are in ep6. Anthony was dreading the wedding, but also he was resolute to go through with it. He closed himself off again, his feelings put aside for everyone's else happiness, except his own. And the truth is...there was also some sort of resentment toward Kate. She didn't force him to do anything, OF COURSE, but if she didn't ask him to go through with the wedding, he wouldn't have been there that day, going through that charade of a wedding. And the fact that she could so easily say that what there was between them it will pass...it bothered him. So, if she was able to do that, he could also do that. Yep, it will pass, it was nothing, she was only a thorn in their lives. The plan was always to carry the family's name and found the perfect viscountess to do so. He did, and he would have gone through with it.

Except, when he saw Kate walking down the aisle, his heart stopped, literally. He couldn't stop looking at her, his mind drifting away, betraying his resolve and showing him his most precious and inner dream: marrying Kate. Then he returned to the reality he didn't want, and when the bangle fell off, he couldn't stop himself in trying to help Kate with it. He wanted to touch her just one last time, before returning to his duty. But that act 'ruined' everything. Edwina finally realized Anthony and Kate were in love with each other, shattering all her dreams.

Anthony knew this was mostly his fault. I've already talked in details on how he almost had a panic attack when he stormed in that room, followed by his family. He knew that if he didn't look at Kate, if he didn't help her with the bangle, Edwina would have never found out. But she did, and now the only thing he could do to fix this mess, and to avoid an even bigger scandal that would ruin both their families, was to find his resolve back and convince Edwina to get through with the wedding.

On the other hand, we have Kate, who spent the entire episode being sad but also resolute to get through with the wedding. Her sister's happiness had to come before anything else. She was going to lose the love of her life, but at least her sister would be happy. Then Edwina discovered the truth, and everything fell apart. Her worst nightmare materializing right in front of her: she had ruined her sister's happiness. She found a closet and cried all her tears, throwing away her mother's bangles that were the cause of the failed wedding.

Then after a while, she composed herself and was ready to go outside, to deal with the consequences of her own actions...except she was not. Because Anthony was right in front of her, and she just couldn't deal with him. She just couldn't trust her own feelings when they were together. So she tried to ran away, but he followed her. She tried to escape the closet, but he wouldn't let her. That menance of a man.

Anthony was resolute in trying to get through with the wedding because for him it was the only possible solution to fix that mess, so he asked her to try to convince her sister. It was yes, a parallel to their scene in the park at the end of ep5. And you know, even if Kate said no in that moment, later she did try to talk to her sister and convince her to get through with the wedding. Like Anthony tried to get through with the wedding because Kate asked, even if he didn't want to.

But returning on topic, Anthony was resolute, telling her Edwina would have ruined her life if they didn't do something, but then she said to him: I have ruined her life, and all his resolve went outside of the window. He could tell in that moment how much she was truly hurting, and the only thing he really wanted to do was to embrace her, and telling her that everything would have been okay. But that would be a lie, so the only thing he could do was to try to stop her from going away, and asking her to stay, just for a little while. He held her hand gently, touching the bangle who both ruined but also saved them, at the same time. She looked at him with those big eyes full of tears, and he wanted to kiss her and never let her go.

I think there is a reason why we don't have scenes with Anthony anymore until the end of the episode, after this one. I feel this was the moment when he realized that there was nothing to fix. The damage was already done, and he didn't want to go through a wedding that would make everybody miserable. He was tired of lying to himself, tired of pretending to follow his duty, when the only thing he truly wanted was Kate and nothing else. That's why at the end of the episode he said: 'Your sister is braver and wiser than us both. She had the courage to act on what she sensed between us. And here we are, standing perfectly still... having felt it for months.' He already reached that conclusion on his own, even before Edwina's outburst in the church at the end. And he reached that conclusion in that closet, watching those soulfoul eyes full of tears.

Kate, however, wasn't ready to reach that conclusion yet. She wanted him deeply, she had never wanted something more in her life. But she couldn't. The guilt of being the cause of her sister's unhappiness was killing her too. So she shook her head, and told him goodbye. She tried to do the same at the end of the episode, wanting to indulge just a moment in her dream of wanting him before letting him go forever, but her feelings were too strong and betrayed her. This was the exact reason why she tried to run away, finding refuge in the closet, earlier in the episode. She reached that point where she couldn't trust herself in his presence anymore.

So yeah, I agree. Ep6 is when they couldn't hide their love for each other anymore, and when Anthony totally realized he was tired of pretending.

[l-ryuzakitwenty-four]

All of Us Are Dead Fanfiction “Your Heart Got Teeth” Chapter 1: Wrong Answer

Hello everyone! I love this K-drama so much and I just had to write a fic for it! So, here's my first work for the series!

Chapter 1/4 if you want to check it out on Ao3! I also have it on Wattpad here!

If not, then enjoy Chapter 1 right here!

1 ---> 2 ---> 3 ---> 4

______________________________________________________________________

So, I have a theory:

Gwi-nam, Eun-ji, and Nam-ra were bitten and changed into half zombies, or hambies, a name given to them by Dae-su. Of course, the show never says as to why those three change into hambies and nobody else does. (Unless it does and I somehow missed it. Hit me up if I did.) Now, as the fandom it's our sworn duty to come up with some bullshit reason as to why this happened.

This is where my theory comes into play:

When Gwi-nam, Eun-ji, and Nam-ra were bitten they were terrified, obviously. But I don't think they were terrified of the same thing as all the other regular zombies were afraid of: Death. Of course I do still believe in that moment a primal part of them is afraid of death. However, I believe these three were able to overcome that fear, as they feared something else more. Because of this they wouldn't succumb and accept death. For example:

Gwi-nam: The video of him killing the principal getting out. He would stop it (kill Cheong-san) instead of succumbing to death.

Eun-ji: The video of her stripping getting out. She would stop it (destroy the phones) instead of succumbing to death.

Nam-ra: Leaving the friends that she had just begun to make. She would rather hoard those friendships than succumb to death (making her different than Gyeong-su).

And if Cheong-san is still alive (which he totally is, change my mind): In the beginning he was accepting his death. But, the fear of Gwi-nam killing him (in his mind, making his sacrifice pointless) and escaping to kill his friends was greater than his primal fear of death, so Cheong-san fought Gwi-nam to the end.

To me, these motives seem pretty self-centered (not necessarily in a bad way for all of them).

While we don't necessarily know the feeling of most of the other zombies when they are turned, we do know some of them, and I don't believe they craved anything for themselves in their final moments. For example:

Mrs. Park: Feared Na-yeon wouldn't survive. So, she accepted her death to protect Na-yeon.

Gyeong-su: Feared he would hurt his friends. So, he accepted his death to protect them.

Nam So-ju: Feared On-jo and her friends wouldn't survive. So, he accepted his death to protect them.

Cheong-san's mom: Wanted to know if Cheong-san was alright. She fought in the beginning, but gave up in the end (the opposite of Cheong-san).

Oh Joon-yeong: Was bit and feared his friends wouldn't make it out of the gym, so he sacrificed himself, accepting his death until the end.

Jang Woo-jin: Feared his sister would die, so he sacrificed himself, accepting his death until the end.

I-sak: She was just afraid to die, period.

Kim Ji-min: She was afriad to die too, so she just gave up and succumbed to death quickly.

So the basis is this: Those three students (maybe four) became hambies as to become a hambie, one must want to stomp out a fear; a fear so prevalent that they won't let death stop them from destroying it. Their want to destroy their fear was not for the sake of others, but for the sake of themselves, and they wouldn't let death stop them.

Now, what does this have to do with the story, you may ask? Well my Lovelies, continue to find out!

______________________________________________________________________

When Su-hyeok had woken up that morning, surrounded by his family friends, he had a moment of peace. The morning sun was warm on his face, his body relaxed with the small snores of his friends, a light breeze brought fresh air not clogged with the stench of the zombified dead - 

Oh right

Zombies. 

Their school had been overrun by zombies. It was actually ground zero of the zombie apocalypse. 

In that small moment in time Su-hyeok had let out a small hysterical laugh, but he soon swallowed it down when he noticed Cheong-san startle awake across from him. Soon enough, everyone else had followed them out of sweet oblivion. 

Once again, after many an argument, the plan to go to the teacher's office came together and Cheong-san, in all his self - sacrificing glory, volunteered to go. Of course, Su-hyeok didn't believe Cheong-san should go alone. "Why are you following me?" "Who else do you have?" So naturally whether in a feat of bravery or foolishness or something more, he followed. 

Su-hyeok, while glad that he followed the boy earlier, couldn't help but dig deep crescents into his palms now as he and the others made their way up stairwell after stairwell, choked apology locked behind his lips as he had't had the time to give it before they were off running again. The lightheartedness, the joking about feelings and girls and the tightening of his chest and what it all could mean - 

None of it mattered, as he had almost lost Cheong-san. 

Cheong-san, to the girl he had tried to protect just the day before. Cheong-san, to nameless classmates waiting to take a bite out of nearby flesh. Cheong-san, to the boy's own self - sacrificial tendencies. 

Why was it always Cheong-san? Couldn't Su-hyeok ever catch a break when it came to the other boy?

Clearly, the universe hated Su-hyeok, as the sight of Gwi-nam swinging his bloodied knife wildly kicked the chance of a normal escape (or as normal as it could be with zombies at your every turn) out the window. 

The two teens scuffled for a bit, a kick costing Gwi-nam his knife and a couple well aimed punches adding a few more bruises to Su-hyeok's collection. Suddenly, Gwi-nam seemed to get a second wind, grabbing Su-hyeok and bodily throwing him down a couple stairs. Su-hyeok hit the back wall, a solid groan being punched out of his lungs. 

Gwi-nam grinned as Su-hyeok struggled to his feet, throwing out a kick that the taller boy barely dodged. Su-hyeok and Gwi-nam went at it again before Gwi-nam managed to knock Su-hyeok down, a kick to the back of Gwi-nam's knee sending both teens to the slippery floor.

Su-hyeok huffed as he finally managed to gain the upper hand, lunging to wrap Gwi-nam up in a chokehold. Clothes audibly straining, he tightened his grip until he heard a sharp crack. However, Gwi-nam seems unfazed as suddenly he threw himself forward, pulling Su-hyeok over his shoulder and hard to the floor. Before Su-hyeok could recover Gwi-nam sent one, two, three sharps kick into the taller teen's stomach, drawing out a painfully wet wheeze every time. 

"You think you're so righteous, Su-hyeok? Bare-su ?" Gwi-nam drawled as he grabbed a fistful of dark hair, tightening his grip on the teen below him. He trailed his tongue along the shell of Su-hyeok's ear. Su-hyeok shivered in revulsion. "You used to be one of us. So, you think you can just turn your back on us, back on me ? We used to have so much fun - "

"I never wanted to be part of the sick shit you call fun ." The ever encroaching cries of zombies sent a spike of urgency through Su-hyeok's chest. He jerked beneath Gwi-nam's hands in an effort to escape. "Only freaks enjoy all the horrible things you've done, so I no longer wanted to associate with you. I have friends like Cheong-san who - "

Gwi-nam yanked at Su-hyeok's hair in retaliation before burying his nose into the taller boy's neck. He breathed in deeply before chuckling into dark locks. "You smell good, Bare-su. I can almost taste your... yes. Your fear." Gwi-nam then grinned in realization. "It's always been about Cheong-san, hasn't it? So you're scared, right? I know you're scared. Tell me your scared and I'll let you go. I'm only after your precious Cheong-san, after all."

"Shut up, asshole." Su-hyeok winced at the pain in his scalp, fear for Cheong-san sending a droplet of sweat down his neck. Gwi-nam licked it up without pause. "I could never fear a gopher like you."

Gwi-nam's nose flared as he hissed, "Wrong answer!" and dived, teeth bared, into Su-hyeok's neck. 

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

When Su-hyeok was thirteen, he overextended his arm playing basketball.

Molten hot rods of something tore through his muscle, sending agony racing all along his arm. He remembered curling in on himself and collapsing to the ground, the forgotten basketball bouncing away in tandem with his hiccupping sobs. He thinks he also screamed himself hoarse that day as he wasn't able to utter a single word the next. For the five years following after, Su-hyeok would watch himself carefully so that had would never have to go through that type of mind-numbing, impossible pain ever again. And suffice to say, he never did.

Until now.

Su-hyeok had been bitten by a person before too; one of his cousins had had a bad habit of doing so as a greeting for the longest time. However, it was usually a quick pain that dulled just as fast as it came. It would never be as bad as his injury at thirteen. At least, he never thought it could. But this - 

This - 

Nothing could compare to this. 

Damp air was Su-hyeok's only warning before blood stained teeth pierced his jugular, all of his senses seeming to zero in on the area and enhance tenfold. A bright flash burst into existence behind his eyelids as he snapped them closed, a scream tearing from his throat. With a morbid curiosity Su-hyeok compared the pain he felt at thirteen to now and quickly deduced that he'd take tearing his arm off over this. At least, he would know what would happen to his him. At least, blood loss would end him quickly. Now, all Su-hyeok could feel was the fire that coursed through his body, head to toe. He felt his joints grind against each other and melt in their sockets. His muscles shriveled up and his bones crumbled to ash. Still, he renewed his struggle against Gwi-nam, fought to leave his grip, to fight back, to stop the pain, to survive - 

But all he could do was listen as Gwi-nam cackled from far away. The taller teen felt Gwi-nam draw back them dive in again with gusto, gulping down the life that seeped from Su-hyeok's body that failed to splatter against the linoleum tile. 

Su-hyeok's vision began to blur, the cold from the floor below seeping into his deadening limbs. Tears of despair replaced those of pain as his hearing began to fade in and out. A faint grunt then shatter sounded in the distance and he was suddenly free of weight, but that passed his mind quickly when red began to blossom in his vision. 

Fear hit Su-hyeok again when he realized that he had truly begun to die. 

No! Su-hyeok howled as a cage locked him in his mind. I won't become a mindless zombie! I can't.

He swore.

Goddammit!

He pleaded.

Please! 

He cried. 

I can't! The others - Cheong-san - they don't know! They don't know that - that there's someone like Gwi-nam out here! If I don't tell them he'll find them and they don't know - ! 

Su-hyeok did all these things. All the others that came before him did these things. Su-hyeok didn't want to die like this. Neither did the ones before him.

But Su-hyeok was going to die, just like those before him. He wasn't special. He was just a boy, who would love and lose and sacrifice again and again and again - 

"No..." Blood dribbled past Su-hyeok's lips and inside, he raged. Fuck this, he wasn't going to die here in a stairwell! He wasn't going to turn, he wasn't going to hurt anyone! He would survive to see his friends again, to feel the sun on his face and breathe in fresh air and tell him because if he didn't fear wouldn't stop Su-hyeok from telling him he wouldn't be able to protect him, touch him, feel him - !

Bare-su!

DIE, LEE SU-HYEOK

Sannie! 

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Crack

______________________________________________________________________

Chapter 2 will be up soon, I promise!

Thanks for reading my Lovelies,

L_Ryuzaki24

[linearao3]

BUFFYVERSE KANEJ?? PLEASE DO TELL (if you wish)!!!

So spoilers here for if I ever do write this, obviously.

*deep breath*

Okay so Bombastique deserves at least half the credit for the concepts here, because this is all born of her bullshitting with me in her DMs on twitter. Initially we were joking about this as a crossover with my Reylo/Buffverse fusion, In All the World, and then it kind of slipped free. But anyway there are two versions of this. They both begin in the same place: Alina Starkov was the Slayer; she died (“died”) and the call passed to Zoya. But it was very convenient, that passing, very handy that it went to someone in the same place, dedicated to fighting the same enemy. (That would be the Darkling, of course, probably in DC? Just because I don’t know shit about Moscow.) Meanwhile, up in the Greater New York area, there’s a girl who’s quite fast and quite strong but not like… supernaturally fast or strong. And there’s a young man whose brother was killed by vampires, who’s dedicated his life to learning everything he can about the supernatural. He could have been a Watcher, but Watchers have to listen to the Watchers’ Council, and they’re meant to watch over Slayers, not pursue personal vengeance quests, so he took a pass. And the young woman, Inej, she’s not a Slayer, but all his self-taught magic suggests that there’s something about her. He, Kaz, recruits her into his pursuit of occult knowledge and amateur vampire slaying. They get to be… friends? Comrades? Something else?

But there’s someone watching from the shadows. Heleen is a Watcher, assigned to observe Inej, because the Council knows Inej has the potential to become a Slayer. Heleen, who is very ambitious, delved into dark magic and discovered that it was Inej who was meant to follow Alina in the Slayer line of succession, but Alina and Zoya diverted the line to defeat the Darkling and his apocalypse. The transfer of the call to Zoya took away Heleen’s chance to be the Slayer’s Watcher, a position she had great plans for. Since she’s been cheated of that, she resolves to get some of her own back by kidnapping Inej and sacrificing her in a demonic ritual, since there’s still magical potential in her.

Here’s where things diverge.

In one version, Inej gets away, but runs straight into a gang of vampires who’ve come looking for Kaz. They turn her, and leave her, assuming she’ll kill Kaz when she rises. But they don’t know that she was a potential Slayer, and that because of that, the demon fits badly inside her. When she rises, rather than try to kill Kaz, she tries to kill herself. He stops her with a binding spell. She hates her demonic nature, but as a vampire, she’s now almost as strong as a Slayer, and Kaz convinces her to essentially become one, with him as her Watcher. When she gets too hungry, he lets her feed on him. Does this activate his phobia? Yes. Is it also sort of intimate and a little sexy? Yes. Heleen and associated demons are probably the principal bad guys in this one, with the Watchers’ Council playing a substantial role.

In the other version, before Heleen captures her, Inej makes the horrible discovery that her friend is now a vampire. Running from him in terror, she runs right into the clutches of Heleen, who goes to sacrifice her. Kaz interrupts the ritual and saves Inej. He offers to make Inej a vampire too, but she’s not having it. She assumes he’ll kill her, but instead he keeps her alive, telling her that if she stays with him, he’ll eat hedge fund managers, and if she goes, he’ll eat runaway teens. So it’s really up to her who dies, isn’t it? In this version, the main antagonists are Pekka Rollins, local vampire lord and killer of Kaz’s brother, and Kaz himself, as he makes himself his own little vampire kingdom while Inej struggles to find a way to recover his soul. (Though if she does, what then?)

Obviously these are very rough sketches, and don’t have proper plots. Both of them probably have to do with the theme of not being the chosen one, being the people who are overlooked and unmythologized, who have no resources and have to fight for everything they get. Getting the other Crows in there is tricky, though I have ideas; not just repeating the plot of In All the World is tricky.

Anyway, sorry for being slow to answer this. But perhaps you needed a brief distraction from how rotten things are and I hope I could provide that.

[the-other-mrstitanic]

@the-other-number1120

“It’s been years.” Jamie sighed, fidgeting with the star necklace that she still wore. “I really don’t even remember what it’s like to live without wondering… wondering…”

“If they’re coming back?”

Jamie choked back a sob at Lea’s words. “yeah..”

“Oh, darling..” Lea squeezed Jamie’s hand as she held it. 

Jamie took a deep breath and let it out. “Sometimes I wonder if it would’ve been better if I’d never taken them in. He’s my best friend, Lea, truly, but- sacrificing for him spiraled into sacrificing for… for so many others. Once, I told him that I was going to go and kill the people in charge of LABS, and he stopped me. Not because he felt bad about killing them, or even to keep me safe, no. He stopped me because he’d suffered more than I had under them and he wanted to do it himself.”

“And he-”

“He never did. Clearly.” Hundreds of words Jamie wanted to say to him caught in her throat, in a space somewhere between love and anger. “So now we’re both suffering, years later. That’s not fair. I’m- I’m so sick of being scared for him, and for the others, and now for you and Aves- I can’t keep doing this, Lea. I can’t.”

“I know, darling. I know.” Lea lifted Jamie’s hand and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it. “You have every right to do whatever it takes to put an end to this. I will be by your side through it all.”

“I’m going to have to kill people. I know you understand that. This is… this is far beyond my comfort zone, to say the very least.”

Lea wrapped an arm around Jamie and pulled her close, tracing circles on her back. “You and I both know you wouldn’t hurt anyone without a reason.”

Jamie nodded, leaning against Lea. “I’ve done the research. I know where to find each of them- and for such an extensive operation, there aren’t many people actually in charge. Ninety-nine percent or more of LABS is made up of people who are forced to be there. So many have suffered- are suffering. I’ve been trying to save them all one by one, and-” She does break into sobs now. “I’ve been doing this self-sacrificial bullshit for so long that it’s expected of me now. Wright called me a few months back, angry at me for not trying to kill a fucking demon because they hurt someone I didn’t even know existed. He wouldn’t back down, even after I told him that trying to kill someone like Anti would only end with me and everyone I love dead.”

Lea wiped the tears away from Jamie’s cheeks gently, listening.

“And not too long ago, he would’ve given anything to keep me from harm. I.. I don’t understand. It’s like some kind of switch flipped, like he got so used to me doing everything I could to keep him safe that he expects that of me in any scenario.” Jamie shook her head, burying her face in Lea’s shoulder. “I don’t know if stopping LABS will help with that- that- whatever part of his brain that sees me like that. Like a fucking martyr.”

“You care a lot about each other. Anyone can see that. It will work out, James. I promise. It’ll be okay.”

[gentrychild]

Chapter 294 reactions

I have a message to every character in this arc so please, listen:

GO HOME.

It’s over. Everyone is injured and tired. Just. Go. Home.

At this point, I am ready to call an uber for the villains. That’s how tired I am.

Aizawa is being evacuated? When did that happen?

And if they can send doctors, ambulances and other, WHAT ABOUT SENDING THE ARMY TO END THAT FIGHT DEFINITELY?

HAHA, I TOLD ALL OF YOU THAT GRAN TORINO WAS ALIVE.

So, the explanation is that Manual and Rock Lock grabbed the injured and escaped brought them here.

I should probably judge them for not taking the kids with them and leaving them fighting against the villains but... Well, I am still going to judge them but I acknowledge that I wouldn’t want to grab Midoriya while he is in rage mode. He bites and everything.

So, Best Jeanist is saying that the anesthetic worked because of everyone who tired down Gigantomachia.

We are then shown Mount Lady who didn’t have a chance to beat Machia but hanged on to him and slowed him down like crazy, proving how much she has grown since chapter 1.

Midnight, who is the one in charge of the whole anesthetic plan and who asked for the help of 1-A.

Endeavor, who stood there, not moving for ten whole minutes, punched Gigantomachia, and promptly passed out. Yes, I am going to roast him for it.

And Izuku...

Izuku?

What did he do against Gigantomachia to be put on the list?

Now, since I am apparently a very optimistic individual, I am still going to cling to the idea that the “This feeling again!” thing Izuku had last chapter right before Machia lost his strength is the Fourth’s quirk doing something (Lifedrainingquirklifedrainingquirklifedrainingquirklifedrainingquirk) and I need more Izuku to verify my hypothesis but that’s his only appearance in the whole chapter. 

Kudos to IIda for saying this mouthful every time he talks to Bakugou.

You know it’s serious when Bakugou of all people can’t talk.

Nejire, please, don’t be like that. I need at least one of you to have some self-preservation instinct.

I see that the translators are having fun again.

But that’s the thing: none of you have dreams. You have no idea of what you’re doing. You’re just attacking kids and causing destruction.

Dabi is the only one who has something close to a dream and it’s pretty much burning himself alive while murdering his brother just to emotionally break his dad. Even you must see the problem with that. 

Best Jeanist is DONE. You’re all going to sleep. 

We are getting closer to reality but I have seen the spoilers and I think someone is annoyed that he is getting upstaged.

That. Was. Not. Necessary.

That man gave an arm and half a butt for the League. When will it end?

See, all the people who wants Izuku to lose an arm to learn about consequences? Horikoshi just proved that it does absolutely NOTHING to curb self-destructive tendencies.

Compress: “I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING IN THIS FAMILY.”

Escape and deception are your only strengths? My dude, you can bisect anything and anyone with your quirk. Stop underestimating himself. You’re the new Kurogiri: if you’re not there, the League will either get arrested or will go back to dumpster diving.

Okay, that’s actually interesting and the reason number 346 why I need a spin-off about the Dawn of Quirks.

I am now wondering if Oji Harima knew All for One.

Did he have a laugh when he saw Compress in the League?

1. People need to stop being mean to Shouto. 

I also adore how we can’t see how injured he is, so I guess I will have to wait five more chapters to stop freaking out about it.

2. Dabi, as the ultimate theater kid, is unable to motivate himself unless he has a public.

3. DABI, COME ON. THIS MAN SACRIFICED HALF OF HIS ASS TO RESCUE THE LEAGUE. CAN YOU GET ON WITH THE PROGRAM???

I need to know about this rectification. I need an entire chapter about it.

This is the whole problem about it. This is an incomplete reveal, rushed and you know there is so much more to discover about it but Compress is going through this because he doesn’t think he will survive. The most mysterious character in the LoV is revealing one of his secrets because he doesn’t want to be forgotten after today.

He wants to matter.

...

EXCUSE ME SIR BUT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE OLD? AND NOT TO LOOK LIKE THIS???

WHAT KIND OF GENES DID YOU INTRODUCE INTO THE FAMILY WHEN YOUR ANCESTOR LOOKED LIKE THAT?

Horikoshi, filthy liar that he is: “I can’t draw hot characters.”

Us: “BULLSHIT.”

Poor Compress, it’s so sad he will never know that he sent about half of the fandom in simping hell.

Also, he is missing not only half of his butt but some details like ribs and part of his lungs. And his shirt, I don’t know what happened to it, but I don’t care. It’s been a long arc and that’s the only victim I will accept.

I know that everyone in-universe is convinced that this is a fatal injury... but so many characters survived a wound at this same place, so I am not really worried for him. (All Might, Best Jeanist, Endeavor, and so on in case you’re wondering.)

And by that, I mean that Compress is too pretty to die.

I also appreciate how Compress expects Shigaraki to wake up and end the fight, as if the guy hasn’t been napping for the five last chapters. He is done. He didn’t wait for his uber. Stop counting on him.

[moonlayl]

Thoughts on ScarletVision?

You mean WendySiri? Just kidding, just kidding. (sorry for the late reply). I assume you’re talking about the show ‘WandaVision’ but since I’m not sure I’ll also share my thoughts on the actual ship. 

 (long and negative rant)

Okay so throughout the entire show, I was kind of conflicted. Marvel did a really good job with all the clues and the suspense, and also the whole sitcom-through -the-decades kind of thing, and I applaud them for that. it honestly was really good and interesting and I really loved it. The show had so much potential, but that’s where things went wrong. 

A part of it is on me for assuming, or more accurately, wanting, but I was waiting for the reveal that Wanda was being controlled or manipulated. Obviously that didn’t happen, and it just ruined the character for me. This show literally took everything that I liked about Wanda, and everything that made me sympathize with her or even defend her, and then changed it for the worst. I was a fan but not anymore. Wanda’s character through the other movies was someone who tried to do better. Like she joined the avengers to fix her mistakes and to help people. She hurt people in civil war and was guilty over it. She killed Vision to try and save the world and stop Thanos. WandaVision took a big dump on all of that. 

I know many will use the “she’s grieving” card, and while it’s important to note, does it really excuse torturing and mindcontrolling a whole town? “But it was an accident. She didn’t mean to.” Yeah, at first. She discovered what she’d done way back in episodes 2/3 and decided to keep it. “She didn’t know she was hurting them.” But she knew she was violating them and keeping them captive. She knew they were actual people. And she still went with it. She didn’t care.

Fake Pietro says he admires what she’s done and she goes “you don’t think it’s wrong” Like she is literally self-aware. Vision, the man she loves is literally scared and confused and she goes “can’t I?” when he says she can’t control him. Broooooo. Wtf was that? Like she literally admitted to wanting to control him, or at least doing it, and wasn’t even ashamed? And in one of the episodes, despite literally dying and being in pain, he still tries to escape Westview so that he could fix her problems. So that he cold get away from her. So she brought him back, and had children, and just decided that she gets to control them along with the whole town??? I’m sorry but the show literally made her a terrible partner, mom, and avenger. And here’s the thing. I don’t think she’s evil, and I sympathized a lot with her. But she just got worse. 

So not only did she willingly keep a whole town hostage (where everyone was suffering and separated from their families and children literally stayed asleep which means they were in a constant state of seeing her nightmares) but this woman got scared and angry when Agatha freed them. She’s like “I kept you safe.” Wanda literally would’ve kept them in that prison if Aatha had never arrived. She wouldn’t have cared about them. Like Agnes said, heroes don’t do that. 

And then there’s her treatment of Monica. Wanda literally tried to kill her multiple times, and Monica only tried to help. Then she doesn’t even apologize in the end. I hated how this show wrote Monica or how they included her. From the Wanda only starts to use her powers when she sees Monica (when literally everyone else is pointing a gun) to how she automatically grabs her and tries to kill her, and then later has the audacity to say “don’t make me hurt you.” And Monica basically being ignored and used just to defend Wanda and prop her up. Like it was just bullshit. The way they treated their only black character. They even had her say she’d do the same. wtf? Even Jimmy Woo, their asian character, was more of a sidekick to Darcy in those episodes and ended up not contributing much. It sucks. 

And as a person who criticizes Tony Stark, it’s really weird how a lot of his haters use the same arguments as his stans when they try to defend Wanda. ‘She has mental illness” “she paid for her mistakes.” No, giving up her family that only existed because of the torture of innocent people doesn’t win you any points. It’s the least she SHOULD’VE done.  

And the thing that bothered me the most is that she never even learned her lesson? Like she took the darkhold and is trying to find a way to bring her kids back. mf, didn’t the entire show and mess start because she accidentally brought back vision? She literally didn’t learn a thing. What grief did she process if she’s just going to go and try to use dark magic to bring them again? 

And then there’s all of Sword. First Maria was killed off, and then Sword was introduced as this thing that’s always existed, yet we’ve never heard of it??

And there’s also Agatha. “Agatha All Along” umm. What exactly did Agatha do all along? The show set her up to be this big bad and then Wanda took her down it was not satisfying at all. Wanda, who doesn’t know how to cast spells, managed to learn a spell and use it without Agatha knowing in 5 seconds? As Agatha was taking her powers? BS. And then I hated Wanda’s plan. She decided to take her back to the past for what? Agatha’s own family to kill her? And then  later she traps Agatha into her nosy neighbor counterpart? And I’m supposed to go, “what a hero’? 

Obviously Agatha isn’t a good person, but the entire mess happened because of Wanda. It felt wrong for her to use the same prison on innocent people on another person and it be celebrated. And then there’s the whole “They’ll never know what you sacrificed for them line” i literally lost all sympathy for that character after that. 

And I still don’t understand the romance between Wanda and Vision. I can’t get over the fact that he’s a robot. All in all, there are many aspects of the show that I didn’t like, but the number one reason is that it completely ruined her character. There was so much potential. But no. First they changed her age. “it was never said that she was a teenager.” Hawkeye literally said “if you want to go to high school.” no one says that to a 27 year old. Maybe he meant it as something else but in aou, he was the one to form the closest bonds with her and Pietro and it was the same movie that showed us that he had kids. it would make sense if it was supposed to be like a “he wants to help them because they’re young and he’s a dad so he knows how to deal with young people. And everyone referred to her as kid, so it just all fit. (also the actress looked  a lot younger in aou than in her other works before that movie so the make up department probably tried to make her seem young.) And the way she dressed and acted. 

second, apparently even though aou had us believe that they thought they were signing up to save their country, wandavision literally just went “yeah Wanda knew it was a terrorist organization’ and she didn’t even seem to regret it? 

The show went about the entire situation the wrong way, and really ruined her character. 

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (April 11th-16th)

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: After the Truth episode occurs, Luka will either not appear nor be talked about(not even by Marinette, Juleka, Sass, or Anarka) at all, or, if he does appear, he'll avoid Marinette like the Black Plague. Guess who's fault it'll be(Kagami will still appear and be on good terms with Adrien, though, since anything that makes Marinette happy needs to be either ruined or gotten rid of, while anything that makes her miserable needs to stay around just to be rubbed into her face.).

I s2g if they have Adrien and Kagami patch things up immediately just to make Marinette feel awkward--

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: The idea that Nino's hat is a keepsake from his late brother comes up during an episode where it inevitably gets damaged and/or destroyed. Marinette is somehow responsible/blamed for this, and/or is forced to try and repair it regardless of feasibility, while being guilt-tripped/ridden every inch of the way. Bonus points for Adrien making some clueless comment about buying a replacement and STILL being treated as more empathetic to Nino's feelings even while ignoring them.

“Bonus” if everyone pressures her over the hat, which eventually leads to Marinette realizes that it can’t be fixed to be the exact same way, so she hides it and lies about it, leading to the episode blaming her for hiding things from her “totally understanding friends” (who are suddenly “totally understanding” and are only upset that she lied to them/”thought so lowly of them”) instead of her friends for making her feel like she had to be perfect.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: A Sleeping Beauty-inspired akuma will ensnare Ladybug, 'forcing' Chat Noir to kiss her awake. While Adrien/Chat naturally claims that he would 'never take advantage of his lady', he is openly gleeful at the prospect and taunts her afterwards, complete with a call back to Oblivio as he tells her to 'check the LadyBlog' to find out what happened. Her dismay over this is played entirely for laughs.

*flashbacks to the “jokes” in “Prime Queen”*

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Just like in countless Salt Fics, Alya will get upset at Ladybug for claiming that it's 'too dangerous' for her to be Rena Rouge anymore after Miracle Queen. Regardless of what she does/how she lashes out, Marinette will be held 100% responsible for the fallout, with Su-Han criticizing her for selecting Alya/the others in the first place AND for 'allowing' their identities to be exposed.

That’s what you get for trusting people, Marinette (apparently).

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will expose more Miraculous-related secrets on the LadyBlog, such as posting the identities of the heroes who were 'already outed' by Miracle Queen. Marinette will be blamed for this, with Su-Han reading her the riot act for every single choice she's made.

And also, Alya will get no flack for this because “she’s a journalist!! she’s just doing what she’s supposed to do!”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: After spending most of the season taking the piss out of Marinette at every available opportunity, Su-Han will start warming up to her just in time to be taken out of the equation by something like Alya posting another 'big scoop' on her blog revealing his existence to the villains. Marinette will be left with even less support and all of the guilt, while Alya learns absolutely nothing from the experience because why would she?

Considering “Truth,” I just automatically presume that characters who support Marinette lovingly/unconditionally will either be abused or kicked to the curb.

Anonymous said:

Don't need Burrow: "Queen Banana" will be like typical episode with Chloe akumatization. 90% Chloe drama and angst, 10% akumatized Chloe (and probably 0% sense)

Show, I’m begging you, just let this character’s focus die already. We are SO tired...

Anonymous said:

didnt need burrow: the show ends with hawkmoth (now shadowmoth i guess) being defeated, heavy implications that the LS will be canon, but no solid proof, any other plot holes disappear in the cheery end music and all fans are left annoyed at the open ending filled with plot holes (bonus: That Guy says smin like "you would know if you watched carefully" to anyone that asks wtf happened)

Fun for us love square salters at least so there’s that? :P

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Trixx wants to return to Alya despite the danger/her past exposure, and ignores Marinette's concerns, leaving/reuniting with Alya over her protests. This is either played as 'It's fine, and Marinette should have trusted Alya more' or 'It's not fine, and it's all Marinette's fault for trusting Alya in the first place and letting Trixx get so attached'. Or both.

Astruc would totally use the opportunity to brag about the whole, “She’s already taken!” line in “Truth” being foreshadowing.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Bunnix reveals that there is an alternate, 'better' future in which Lila never worked with Hawkmoth and became a heroine instead. The turning point was, naturally, that Ladybug never called her out for lying/stealing from Adrien. (Possibly because Adrien never snooped in the safe in this timeline, yet it's still depicted as Marinette's fault.) May couple with confirming she's the future Hawkmoth and that it's all Mari's fault the heroes are still fighting her years later.

Which means that Chat makes the “reversible” mistakes (i.e: Cataclysming Bunnyx’s miraculous) while Ladybug makes the “permanent” ones.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette/Ladybug will get accused of being a selfish glory hound who needs to learn how to share the credit and 'be a team player'... after Adrien/Chat slacks off during a fight and refuses to help. Bonus points if this is tied into the exposed heroes' predicament somehow, implying that the REAL reason she won't give them 'their' Miraculi back is that she's selfish/short-sighted/not good at working with others/insert other bullshit excuse here.

T_T

I’m so tired.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette will do something unbelievably selfless and self-sacrificing, only to promptly be slammed by the narrative and treated as though her decision was incredibly selfish.

Honestly you could just ad lib that.

“Marinette will do [something positive], only to promptly be slammed by the narrative and treated as though her decision was [negative].”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Su-Han will pressure, belittle and berate Marinette until she breaks and agrees to give up being Ladybug/the Guardian. This is naturally treated as the worst thing she could possibly do, with everyone (including Su-Han) ripping into her for it. There is no equivalent of Plagg's 'I've had many holders, but nobody can replace you, Adrien' shilling, beyond Marinette being informed that she MUST continue and deal with her many inadequacies by becoming BETTER. She has no choice.

“You’re the worst Ladybug!”

“Okay I’ll stop being Ladybug.”

“HOW DARE YOU”

“?!?!?!”

Anonymous said:

Don’t need Burrow to know that the writers will retcon Marinette allowing Adrien to BORROW her lucky charm so that Marinette actually GAVE it to him instead.

Bonus: of course, the birthday scarf issue/secret is never addressed. RIP in piece, Marinette gift number xxx0

Technically, this has already happened even back in “Befana,” so I don’t count it. Adrien has said that Marinette gave him that lucky charm forever.

Definitely adding that scarf one though.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: We get Love Square scenes (shipping fuel) in the next episode (even though Maribug and Adrichat just broke up with Luka and Kagami).

I mean, we got love square shipping fuel in the Adrimi and Lukanette episodes, so :|

I’ve just come to expect inappropriate timing at this point.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: In a future episode Chat Noir will be even worse than he was in Lies and still be portrayed sympathetically. I don't know how you can get that low, but I have faith that the writers will be able to pull it off and that's not a good thing

“I don't know how you can get that low“

they’ll find a way, I’m sure

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Kagami will become an antagonist/team up with Shadow Moth post-Adrimi breakup for the plot twist "the main villain has been in the show all along." ((This is based on the end card for Lies. I really hope they don't do this because Kagami is one of the only reasons I'm still watching the show.))

I’d only be here for that if her endgoal is getting Luka and Marinette as far away from the plot as possible.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: We STILL don't know how the Peacock Miraculous got damaged and how Emilie Agreste fell sick. Bonus points, we find out in the season/series finale or on social media.

Double bonus if Astruc claims that the decision is good and they did it on purpose (probably to keep people talking).

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Zoe debuts as the new Bee holder on the same episode Chloé is akumatized.

I’m 100% expecting Chloe to be salty at all the adoration that Zoe gets.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: if Adrien is ever in the wrong about something, it will only be for about five minutes and it will ultimately be blamed on Marinette.

Marinette: *breathes*

writers: Yes! Something we can blame on her!

Anonymous said:

Didn't need burrow: The relationship between the Couffaines and Jagged will not be explored. They might perform a song together and that's all, Luka forgives Jagged for abandoning him (his daddy issues just magically disappear so he doesn't bring it up anymore) while Juleka doesn't interact with Jagged at all

I’m torn between, “Luka will basically never appear again,” and, “Luka will suddenly appear much more often now that he’s no longer a ‘threat’ to the love square (Marinette didn’t break up with him because of Adrien but sure).”

Anonymous said:

Didn't need Burrow: "Gabriel Agreste" will be all about how he's not really evil just misunderstood. He had a lonely childhood or some garbage and we should feel totally sad for him you guys.

wow i hate it

[batterycityghoul]

Reconcile (Daniel Le Domas/Reader)

Author’s Note: I’ve had this idea for about a year, and it was probably supposed to be longer, but for now it’s this. Will I be tempted to revisit this and show how things progress? Maybe. 

Word Count: 1.5k

Masterlist 

When you opened your front door, the last person you expected to see on the other side was Daniel.  

"No," you snapped before you slammed the door closed in his face.  

"Oh, come on, Y/N," he pleaded before he tried knocking on the door again. "I've got to talk to you."

"There's nothing to say," you told him as you tried to ignore the urge to open the door.  

You hadn't seen Daniel in years. With how you left things, you didn't want to see Daniel. At least, that’s what you told yourself, but even you weren’t entirely convinced of that. Even just catching one brief glimpse of his eyes was enough to send a little thrill shooting through you with the knowledge that he was so close.

As much as it pained you to admit it, Daniel Le Domas was your first and only love. You had met him when you were young and stupid and didn't know any better than to fall for his charm. You were both terribly broken when you met, but over the course of your relationship, you had foolishly thought that your broken pieces fit together. You picked each other up and never tore each other down. Daniel got you in the most frightening, exhilarating way.  

That was why it caused you such unbearable pain when he suddenly broke everything off. You found out weeks later that he was getting married to a woman named Charity. If seeing the engagement announcement in the paper hadn't felt like the biggest slap in the face, then having him completely drop you like every time he whispered 'I love you,' into your hair while he was holding you late at night was complete bullshit definitely did.  

You mourned him like you mourned no other. You didn't know how to cope with his sudden absence or the proof that he had moved on in the shittiest way possible.  

You wallowed in your grief for months before you finally started picking yourself back up. It was a struggle, but you managed to find ways to make yourself happy. You found a way to move on.  

Now, knowing that Daniel was just on the other side of your front door, you weren't really sure what you were expected to say or do.  

You were just considering turning on some music in an attempt to drown out the sound of Daniel's persistent knocking on the door when he said the one thing that guaranteed you were going to listen to him.  

"My family is dead," you heard him practically shout in an effort to get your attention. "At least give me a minute of your time."

You found yourself opening the door before you could fully process what you were doing. You wanted to scold him for lying about something so tragic just to get you to talk to him, but your words fell short at the sight of his face. There was such sorrow in his expression that you couldn't help but think that he must have been telling the truth.  

"A minute," you conceded as you stepped aside to let him pass you.  

You caught the tiny smirk that appeared on his face as he let his arm brush against yours when he stepped into your apartment. "That's all I need," he promised as he moved to settle on your couch, making himself at home like it was still his and not the one he abandoned years ago.  

"Fuck," you groaned before you closed the door. You had a feeling this was going to be the longest minute of your life.  

"Bullshit," you accused over an hour later after Daniel finished telling you a wild and crazy story you weren’t fully sure you believed. "Human sacrifice and deals with the devil? For fuck's sake, Daniel. You expect me to believe this shit?"

You saw him grimace before taking a sip of the glass of whiskey he had been nursing since you offered it to him. He looked like he wasn't sure whether to find your disbelief amusing or annoying. He sighed and leaned forward, placing his glass on the coffee table. He reached up to begin unbuttoning his shirt, pulling aside his collar as he went.  

"Whoa," you said in an attempt to stall him. "What are you doing?"

"If you won't believe me, then will you believe this?" He asked as he turned his head to the side and bared his neck, giving you a good view of the barely-healed wound on his neck.

"What the hell happened?" You couldn't help but blurt out as you moved to get a closer look.  

"I told you," Daniel said as he finally angled his head to give himself a better view of you. "My ex-wife shot me in the neck and now she's dead. I shouldn’t even be alive right now, but it turns out I had more of a soul than the rest of them," he confessed with a grimace as if he couldn’t quite believe that deep down he might actually be a good guy.  

You huffed out a disbelieving breath, but you couldn't quite stop yourself from reaching for him. To see the proof that he had been so grievously hurt had you wanting to seek reassurance that he was really there in front of you and not dead like the rest of his family.  

Before your fingers could brush against his neck, he reached up to grab your hand. "Y/N," he said, bringing your attention back to him. "I'm here," he reassured you as he squeezed your hand, obviously not intent on letting it free of his grip. "I've got a recently widowed sister-in-law who can back all of this up," he told you as he leaned forward in his seat, his eyes meeting yours as he silently implored you to believe him.  

"Don't give me that look," you chastised him as you hastily glanced away from him.  

"What look?" He asked, the faux innocence in his tone giving him away.  

"That look," you stressed as you nodded at him. "The big, wide eyes and the kicked puppy look. You know what it does to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he dismissed with a tone that told you he knew exactly what he was doing to you.  

"Daniel," you sighed, finally meeting his eyes again. "Why are you here?"

Daniel studied you for a moment before he finally let your hand fall from his grasp. He scooted closer to you on the couch, his knee just barely grazing yours. He didn't say anything for a few moments, making you wish that you could look away from him, but you felt oddly transfixed. After years of banishing every stray thought of Daniel Le Domas from your mind, you couldn't help but notice it was remarkably easy to let him into your space. A small part of you couldn't help but wish that he had never left.  

"I did it for you," he finally murmured, catching you off-guard.  

"Did what?" You couldn't help but ask, even though you knew. You knew he was about to pull some kind of self-sacrificing bullshit and claim that he only broke up with you to save you. Maybe you would have thrown him out for that whole spiel just hours before, but after the tale he just finished telling you, you couldn't quite rule out the possibility that it was actually true.  

"They would have killed you. Crushed you," he amended with a grimace before he took another sip of his whiskey. He glanced towards your fireplace, carefully not meeting your eyes as he spoke. "Even if they didn't hunt you down like Grace, I couldn't make you go through that.  The choice between me or your soul?" He let out a humorless little laugh before he finally looked back to you. "I couldn't have done that. Not to you," he insisted with a shake of his head before he drained the contents of his glass.  

"Daniel," you found yourself saying, not quite sure which words were supposed to follow. You believed him? You forgave him? You still loved him? None of it felt right, but when Daniel's fingers laced with yours, you couldn't help but think that it felt better than anything you could possibly say.  

"I'm not asking for a second chance, but..." he trailed off, fixing you with his signature look that was bound to make you weak.  

"But you're asking for a second chance," you finished for him, a reluctant smile tugging at the corners of your lips.  

"Sounds about right," he added with a smirk as he leaned in closer to you. "So, how are my odds?"

You couldn't help but glance down at where he was still clasping your hand in his. Sitting on your couch with Daniel wasn't where you thought the evening would go when you woke up that morning, but you couldn't help but concede that it was just about perfect.  

As you leaned in to finally close the distance between you, you couldn't help but think about all of the long talks and revelations that were yet to come. Daniel had just lost his family in a violently gruesome way and no amount of puppy dog eyes would erase the years of hurt and heartbreak between you.  

But now, as your lips pressed to his and you let yourself fall into him, you couldn't help but think that maybe, for once, everything would be okay.

[onebatch2batch]

24 or 43 for kastle from the 50 prompts thingy??

43. “Are you drunk?” [ao3]

I got a little carried away....not sorry. Thank you for the prompt!!

--

The sun has long since set by the time Karen manages to shoulder her way into her apartment building, annoyed. It’s been a long and difficult week, and she had been so excited to get home to her pajamas, wine, and fuzzy socks. In fact she’d been almost out of her office before realizing that her cabinets at home are completely empty. She’s been so busy at work that grocery shopping has been on the back burner, and she knew that if she’d just gone straight home after work she would have ordered in food all weekend. Her budget would never allow for that--and so she’d stopped at the little bodega on the way home and bought what she needed. All in all it had amounted to about four bags and a bottle of wine tucked safely away in her purse. She’d walked the five blocks home with aching hands and aching feet, dreaming of her quiet apartment. Maybe I’ll take a bath, she thinks as she shoots the broken elevator a sour look, or maybe I’ll just lay in bed and watch Netflix. Or try to work through one of my cold cases. Or read. Oh, maybe I’ll read in the bath.

She does none of those things. Karen reaches her floor, turns the corner, and her heart stutters.

There’s someone at her door. He’s got his back to her, so she can’t make out much, but he’s in dark clothes and his hood is up. He’s got his forehead pressed to her door. Part of her hopes he’s just drunk and thinks he’s somewhere else. The more logical part says that she definitely recognizes those combat boots even from behind.

“Frank?”

He jerks, then turns to give her a wide, loose smile. “Hey, Kar’n.”

She stares. Blinks. Stares some more. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh.” He shifts, nearly trips on a frayed part of the hallway carpet, catches himself last minute. “Can we talk inside?”

There goes my quiet evening.

As happy as she is to see Frank Castle alive and well, she knows not to expect more than a friendly social call. Karen passes him a handful of groceries and digs out her keys, letting them both into her warm apartment. Frank slides the lock in place behind her as she moves towards the kitchen, kicking off her heels with an embarrassingly happy groan. “Is this a coffee conversation, or something strong?” she asks over her shoulder.

Frank carefully maneuvers the handful of bags onto her counter and focuses on removing everything for her to put away. “You worried ‘bout me bein’ here?”

That’s a loaded question. She raises a brow. “Frank, you never visit recreationally. What’s going on? Are you on the run again? Need some info on someone?” If they have to have this conversation, she’d rather get the niceties out of the way and get back to her weekend.

“Nope. None of that.”  He smiles again, nearly drops an apple, and then something clicks.

“Wait a minute,” she gasps, amazed. “Are you drunk?”

His answering grin is enough. Karen laughs incredulously, some of the tension knotted in her spine loosening. As soon as she’d seen him she had assumed that he needed something, or needed her help. Not that he was paying a visit on the way home from a bar.

“I didn’t even think you drank,” she huffs, amused. She quickly puts away her groceries and then pours a glass of wine for herself.

“I don’t usually,” he admits, leaning against the counter. Now that she knows what she’s looking for, there’s a warm flush on his cheeks and a looseness to his limbs that’s different from his normal, tense posture. “It’s Curt’s birthday, we had a couple after group.”

She’s glad to hear he’s still going to that group. They settle on the couch and exchange small talk about how it’s going and how Curtis is until curiosity gets the better of her. “So why are you actually here, Frank?”

He looks caught. She’s interested to see that his usually expressive face is much more so when inebriated. Every flicker of his eye and clench of his jaw gives away what he’s thinking. It’s like reading a book on how dodgy a vigilante can look. “Well, I wanted to see you.”

It's such a line, and coming from anyone form him she would have rolled her eyes. As it stands, the idea of The Punisher making a booty call because he’s had a bit too much to drink makes her laugh. She catches the hurt look on his face before he can hide it.

“What?”

“Oh no, Frank, I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you. I’m glad you’re here.” She reaches over to squeeze his arm reassuringly, which seems to mollify him slightly.

“What’s funny, then?”

“Just the thought of The Punisher making a booty call.” Karen laughs again, unable to help herself. Frank is the most intense person she’s ever met, and she would certainly know if that was his plan. She doesn’t think he would be able to hide it if it were. She looks at him, inviting him to share in the hilarity of the idea, but he’s not laughing. Not even a little. In fact, his face flashes red and he clears his throat, looking away.

“Hang on,” Karen says slowly, laugh dying in her throat. “Is that what this is?”

“No,” Frank says quickly. “No, of course not.”

He’s lying. It’s the first time he’s ever lied to her. Karen’s mouth drops open. She stares at him, waiting for him to crack a smile or announce that he’s messing with her, but he just stares out the window and clenches his jaw. When she realizes he’s not planning on explaining, she takes two large gulps of wine and sets down her glass.

“Really? Because it kind of seems like I hit the nail on the head there.”

He’s already shaking his head emphatically. “No, Karen, Christ, I just, I--I wanted to see you, that’s all--”

This could go so many different ways, she’s not sure which option to explore first. She could let him off the hook and feign ignorance, maybe talk for another hour and then send him on his way. Or she could demand he tell her what he wants. Or she could mercilessly tease him--who can say they’re able to tease The Punisher and get away with it? And anyways, he’s gotten her into plenty of life-threatening situations (even if he usually saves her from them later) so joking around to get back at him is too good to pass up.

“Is there something off putting about me, then?” She raises a brow, having only a hair too much fun. “Because now you’re being a little too defensive for my tastes.”

“Oh Jesus, Karen--”

She shrugs. “I’m just saying, we’re both single and know each other and if that’s what this is, then you just have to say it--”

He’s starting to look panicked. “No it’s--”

“Come on, Frank, just admit it. You came here for a booty call--”

“Hey, no--”

“Because you’re drunk and have some excess energy--”

“It’s not because I’m drunk.”

The game is over. Frank is looking at her with a particularly focused expression that steals the air from her lungs. He leans forward, in her space, stopping just short of her lips. “If you think,” he rasps, and now it’s Karen’s turn to flush at his proximity, “for a second that I would come here just to sleep with you like it’s not something I’ve thought about constantly for two years, like I would just ruin this for one night--along with you and your fucking stubbornness and your smile and how you look in those fucking--...skirts--...” he takes a deep breath in, closes his eyes briefly, and then snaps them open to give her a loaded look, “--then you’re fuckin’ crazy, Karen.”

And then he sits back, and looks away.

She’s sure she looks like a complete idiot, but Karen can’t wipe the shock off her face. After a few moments where it feels like her heart literally stops beating, it reanimates with a pounding she can feel between her legs. Her throat is suddenly too dry, and she swallows hard. Her mind races to get them back on solid footing, but her mouth has other ideas. “So you’ve thought about us having sex?” is the first astonished thing to escape her lips.

“No,” Frank sighs patiently, but like she’s deliberately being obtuse. It’s such a funny, cute little sound that she’s never heard from him before, and it’s doing nothing for the desire that’s coursing through her. “I think about us in every way. Having sex, sure. But watchin’ tv together. Gettin’ a dog. Goin’ grocery shopping. Shit, just gettin’ up and having coffee in the morning. Just...I just think about us.”

It’s such a momentous confession that Karen feels inadequate to handle. Ever since she pleaded with him in the hospital, begging for him to leave the fight behind for her, she has filed away her feelings. After such a staunch dismissal of her feelings, she was sure he wasn’t interested in her other than as an informant and maybe, just sometimes, a friend. Now with his (albeit drunk)  confession, she knows otherwise. She still doesn’t know what self-sacrificing, self-deprecating bullshit caused him to turn her down before, but that’s a discussion for another time. Right now, she wants to drag him towards her and kiss him senseless. She wants to smack him for waiting so long to say something. She wants to cry with relief. She wants to make him feel validated and loved. She wants to prove to the world that Frank Castle is a good man who has been dealt a shitty hand, even if she has to scream it from theEmpire State Building. “Frank,” she chokes out, “you should have said.”

He tenses, looking at her wearily. “Am I too late?”

She doesn’t answer with words. She’s too busy closing the gap between him and burying her face in his neck. He smells familiar, like sandalwood and vanilla, reminding her of a different day in her apartment. She’d hugged him for much longer than appropriate and he hadn’t pulled away. She thought maybe it had been a sorry and thank you all at once. And then he’d left again, and it had nearly broken her in two. “Never,” she vows into his skin, painting a promise with her lips.

She hears his ragged exhale, and then he’s drawing her up towards him. His kiss is soft, just a brush of lips against hers before he presses another to her cheek, her forehead, her chin. When he returns once more to capture her lips, Karen lets her hands wander the wide expanse of his chest, lets herself revel in the firmness of his body against her. Touching him like this is such a foreign feeling, but like she’s finally found the missing piece to a long started puzzle. His hands are just as eager, running along her spine and then resting on her hips before his strong fingers sink into her hair, the others pressing firmly on her lower back so that he can grind up against her. Karen gasps and Frank takes advantage of her parted lips, deepening the kiss, his tongue curling against her teeth. As Karen loses herself in the feeling of his heat and hands and kisses, she daydreams about what could happen next. She could slide off his lap to kneel between his legs. She could take the very strong evidence of his arousal and pepper it with kisses until he begs her to take him in her mouth. She could get him just close enough, and then crawl up the hard line of his body to take him in every way possible. She could make him believe that he’s been worth waiting for.

Instead, she pushed lightly on his chest until he pulls away with what she can only call a pout. He looks the definition of dishevelled with his soft curls askew and pupils blown wide. Her chest heaves, and she bites back a small noise of disappointment when his hips cease their wonderful friction against hers. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re drunk,” she reminds him unsteadily.  

Frank lets his head fall back against the couch. His hands tighten on her waist briefly, reminding her of their precarious position--as if she could forget. She hasn’t been so turned on in eons. “Yeah,” he mumbles. “I know.”

“We should stop.”

His head lifts, eyes meeting hers, hopeful. “For now?”

Karen smiles, allowing one more brief kiss. It takes every bit of self-control in her to keep it chaste. “Until you’re sober. Then we’ll talk. But we can check one thing off your list, if you like.”

His mind struggles to switch gears. “Which one?”

Karen kisses his nose before clamoring off the couch (and his lap) on wobbly legs. “I’m going to preset the coffee machine for the morning. Now, which side of the bed do you sleep on?”

When he gives her a tentative, wonderful, bashful smile, Karen has to force herself to walk into the kitchen. Frank Castle has never been so dangerous as he is now, she thinks, sitting on that couch with mussed hair and swollen lips. Every instinct begs for her to return to his lap and continue what they started, but she measures the coffee out and stays strong. They can finish tomorrow, but they have things to talk about.

Over coffee. She smiles and sets the timer.

[grgwshngdone]

FINAL SPACE EP CHAMBER OF DOUBT LETS GO *SPOILERS*

Let's get the lighter parts out of the way:

gay -> gary carressing avocato's pecs for No Fucking Reason?? gay

love -> gary and avocato's interactions when trying to figure if ash was bad

milf -> sheryl goodspeed (i will announce this every time even if she only had like one line this episode)

i lowkey really like orb guy. i forgot his name but his whole thingamaboo is really cool

ok THEORY TIME - please go look at @unus-annus-will-live-on 's theory it's sexy and better written

this isn't really a theory but a train of thought and Can We Address Gary's Mental State right now?

man was abandoned by his mom at an early age

dad fucking dies the most bold-faced tragic death of all time

man goes to jail ISOLATED IN SPACE!! FOR 5 FUCKING YEARS!! with n o human (or I guess living) contact or interaction

only to then get thrust into a bullshit space fic where he has to fight aliens

his best friend (made from the lowest standards possible) fucking dies

not-gf gets taken into an alternate dimension

so does his PLANET

he gets trapped in alt dimension, gf about to die, takes on agonizing pain, gets separated, sees his mom again, loses child, the list goes on and on this man is nottttt mental stable dawggggg

he can't. no way. absolutely not

and now: he kills fox against his will. after he was already Possessed by invictus

this man was already Barely holding on and Obviously not processing his emotions one bit. he would rather jump off a bridge than admit anything (maybe that's why i love him so much). this has to be the last straw

but then we have episode 8? which is supposed to be the Hardest episode for any of the creators to voice act?? after we say avo and gary FIGHT in the trailer? nah this man is gonna lose it

in the earlier theory I mentioned, they made the great point that invictus would Want gary alone because he is the literally glue that holds everything together. throughout the show we keep getting reminded of gary's importance (even this ep from the insane bolos) and with the amount of therapy this man fucking needs? i won't be surprised if he just ups and leaves to 'protect the crew'

isn't a repeating thing that 'gary will be the end to everything'? let's not forget the Looks he keeps giving every time he hears it (also the LOOKS!! Am I supposed to believe this man is not doubting himself to the MAX right now??????????)

like are we honest to god supposed to believe this man loves himself? he already blames himself for Everything so ash being upset with him for something he did Technically do? i wouldn't be surprised if he needs little convincing from invictus (or anyone) to leave the crew at this point. or maybe just himself. this man is so self sacrificing that he would see this as a way to protect them or make them happy. cause would he really want to make anyone 'suffer' around him?

maybe i'm wrong and gary still has confidence and happiness left in him. but i would not be shocked

(this episode is so painful this isn't even half of what i want to yell about but i have to stop at some point)

(also are we gonna address the little-cato-is-over-60-years-old thing soon or what)

[kuronekonerochan]

*deep breath, takes cover* so...about Start Up *activates shields*

Warning: This is a rant... a looooooooooooooooong raaant (pls read this in that long man jap commercial singing voice, if you don’t know what I’m talking about google it...it’s...wow).

First, let’s start with how I feel watching this drama vv

^^ Found footage of drama viewers who went into this hooked by the first engaging episodes thinking it would be a good drama and not crumble to the ground in the second half, after already having gone through Do You Like Brahms? and Record of Youth just in the past few months of 2020.

I think the problem with dramas this year is that the scripts seem like they were written without purpose. A writer should want to tell a story. They should have a clear picture in their minds of what story they want to tell. Of who their characters are as people and how they want them to be at the end and what happens to mold them into who they become and how they get there. 

These scripts don't seem to want to tell a story at all. The writers instead seem to have something to say instead of a story to tell. They want to say ppl are like that and they behave a certain way and so we end up with scripts like Do You Like Brahms? or Record of Youth with a million characters portraying relatable irl attitudes and it works as social commentary, but without a proper plot for a story they want to tell to streamline the whole thing it becomes little more than people watching that is interesting at the beginning as character study but quickly falls apart when it becomes apparent they have no idea what to do with the characters they've created. 

And in DYLB the characters ended up having no time to have properly structured arcs because they stopped the drama and filled the runtime with secondary characters demonstrating various forms of pettiness in human nature and when they got back to the main characters and broke them down they suddenly ran out of time to make them heal on screen so it was a rushed mess.

 Record of Youth was so worried with showing also a billion characters for the different types of ppl there were, that besides PBG, most characters had little to no development They were just there, there was no story it was all pointless.

Start up also had this  vast set of characters, each with defined personalities and individual issues to overcome: the sister with her internalized (and misplaced) guilt and her defense coping mechanism of lashing out on her sister and overcompensating stubborn behavior; the mother with her life choices; the grandmother with her past lies and current health issues; Dal Mi with her rage issues and her inferiority complex and her relationship with her sister; Do San with his confidence issues and his self sacrificing/self sabotaging bullshit; Ji Pyeong with his loner complex and his guilt towards grandma and back into her family and the unresolved issues with Dal Mi; plus the found family aspect, the team growing together, Ji Pyeong being begrudgingly supportive against his will and Nam Do San being disarmingly honest and kind to him even when they disagree bc that's how he is, even if he now stands up for himself and starts to be cheekier.

 And that's how the drama was going... until it wasn't. Because there was a sandbox competition and jargon and stuff to cram in there for conflict and a love triangle they decided to drag for some reason... and suddenly because some events needed to happen the characters start behaving in a way that makes no sense to their established personalities. Do San is blowing up all the time and him and Ji Pyeong hate each other all of a sudden... no more endearing bickering, pure vitriol; Dal Mi after the whole reveal with the letters never had a personal conversation with Ji Pyeong again; the mother had an out of the blue christian mea culpa...without barely talking to any character prior besides the MIL; and one of Do San's friends is pissed at Ji Pyeong, also out of the blue bc years ago he was mean to his brother and he killed himself. He is mad now, halfway into the competition...not when they met Ji Pyeong at their old place, or during the whole "fooling Dal Mi as a CEO" arc, or even at the beginning of the sandbox...just randomly now. Artificial conflict who?

 And Dal Mi and her sister...well the drama doesn't have time to unpack all that, or show a proper personal conversation between Ji Pyeong and Dal Mi, but this drama also needs to end with the family back together and Do San still needs to end up as the brilliant confident engineer he needs to be, and since him and his Sherpa, who should have been the one to nurture him (even with a bit of tough love), are now busy hating each other...well TIME JUMP TIME!

Character development on screen who? Do you like Brahms? Start up sure does bc they did the exact same thing...when you write yourself into a corner...stop writing, do a time jump and tell everyone everything already happened. 

This is latest mutation of the time jump trope is even worse than the usual kind. The romantic trope one was usually for self reflection, to make a break from the conclusion of the dramatic plot and transition smoothly into a happy ending (since killing off the bad guy, who one of the characters might be related to or had befriended before he went off the deep end and thus have conflicting feelings about, and immediately jump into the smooching mood might be a tad too much), or fix up the power imbalance in traditional kdramas (the female lead spends the whole drama as his secretary...time jump glow up for curriculum abroad so she doesn’t have to work for him all day before coming home together...not that sexy, kind of exhausting really), or simply kdrama trope tradition like the last minute amnesia...just because.

 But in our year of the devil 2020 time jumps are now where the meat of the plot should be. The emotional resolutions, the healing, the forgiveness, where relationships are mended and strengthened and the important events take place. It’s the divine spa for plot holes and lazy writing where scriptwriters sip their drinks and congratulate themselves for a work well done, because in the end it all worked out...their characters come out of the time jump spa feeling refreshed, with a new purpose in life at peace with themselves and all their struggles past them, just in time for a happy reunion, or just footage of them looking at cellphones and posters and talking about other characters so the audience knows all is well and they’re all pals now... and then they go back to their chores and the camera pans out (okay this one I realize due to the pandemic maybe having the entire cast together could be difficult, but at least showing them interacting one on one for god’s sake).

I know this was long and ranty, but I am getting tired of this new trend of  Don't show and don't tell...at least not to their faces. Go with "Oh, haven't you heard? xoxo gossip girl". I am all for good character study and social commentary, but maybe tell a story and then according to the actions of the characters give them realistic personality traits. And only then, after having a clear plot in mind, incorporate the characters into the story and not the story into the characters.