#in part bc I'd need to address the guilt

[acowardinmordor]

ooh boy. that post about Nancy? Tripped the switch in my head that puts a character into a situation time travel fix it. And. Yep. Barb lives. That's obvious. But as much as we talk about Steve doing dumb things to protect the others, Nancy has him beat. She's too smart, and too organized and too determined. 'save Will' yeah great that took her five minutes. She drops off info with Hopper to handle the feds and help El. She's not going to stop shy of standing over Henry Creel's decapitated corpse. I don't know how you write this. She's been carrying the guilt for too long, she's got planning-brain, she's known since 84 exactly what she would have done different. Each time something happens, she's expanded her plan. Given the chance to do it? Shit. 16yo Nancy Wheeler might not survive and come out the UD at the end of it, but she'd hit all her primary goals, and make sure the others had the info needed to handle anything she missed.

[booksandpaperss]

my (probably too optimistic) hopes and dreams for ST season 5

a genuine exploration and explanation of what exactly has been going on with Mike these past 2 seasons. we can guess and analyze but it needs to be confirmed made clear and done well or so help me god-

Will interacts with multiple characters. any characters I'm not picky at this point PLEASE (I'd say main character Will too but that's a given atp)

Will gets to yell at Mike

Will and Mike finally get that hug

Will looses his shit over something One does. idc how or what but it happens and my boy gets to scream

I'd put reveal of Will's time in the UD and Will with powers here but those are also givens (at least they better be lol)

actual OG party scenes

el and Lucas bonding

el has to make a choice between being everyone's savior again and staying to help max and she chooses max

Lucas gets more screen time and development and his trauma is actually explored

free Nancy from being confined to the love triangle drama and explore her guilt with barb thru her friendship with robin

Robin's character gets fleshed out more

Robin and Vickie kiss on the mouth. but that it's not the sole end goal of robin's arc

byler jancy team up

rain fight gets explicitly brought up through dialogue (preferably in a byler fight)

here is where I'd put painting get's brought up but that is definitely a given

Joyce actually interacting with her kids

return of season 1 and 2 Joyce

whatever they do with max's character it better be done well (this includes her waking up at some point and surviving bc it would be dumb as hell to almost kill her twice only to then actually kill her)

hopper does not go back to being a cop

mike fights a creature with a sword

Whatever is going on with time fuckery gets explained in a way that's not rushed or lazy

Whatever Owens' deal is and what he was doing with Brenner gets explained

free Steve from romance unless it's ambiguous homerotic tension with Jonathan that doesn't get addressed but its. there

Give Erica Sinclair the development and plot significance that she deserves

Argyle is there and he's vibing and he doesn't die and he lives a happy life afterwards, also he teams up with the other older teens

she probably won't but. kali content. please I want her back and I wanna know how she ties into everything

What I think definitely will happen

genuine Mike character explanation (also byler endgame is included in this)

will gets to yell at mike

mike and will get to hug

will gets to loose his shit

Will with powers and how they tie into the UD

OG party scenes

el and Lucas bonding

el choosing max over playing the part of superhero

robin and vickie kiss

rain fight gets brought up w painting

Joyce interacts with her kids

max lives

mike fights w sword

time fuckery gets addressed

Owens' deal gets addressed

also known as my ideal season 5 vs the exact amount of confidence I actually have in the duffers and what I think they care abt. it’s not nothing but it’s not a whole bunch either💀💀

[lavenoon]

1st of all, need to say, adored Dove on the Roof and I'm sending you the longest review once I can after work, this is a threat 🔪 2nd of all–if you've thought of it and you wanna share the tidbit–I loved how after sharing Horizons name and Y/N admitted they only used his gadgets, Moon said he was gonna tell Eclipse abt it, Re:

“I’m going to tell him you said that. It’ll be terrible, because he’ll get even smugger, but it’s too good not to.”

and like. Luce. If you wanna share. I'd love to know how Eclipse reacted to that. Bc yes he'll be so smug abt it i just know it, but i also think he'd be really touched that like, his brothers' partner feels that strongly abt the stuff he makes? Struggling to stay coherent bc English is not my first language, but I just gosh. i loved it. going bonkers. hitting u w that long review later. get ready. -Soldrope ☀️💧

New morning new braincells, let's go!

I have devoured your comment(s) and I have been so so normal about the amount of thought and analysis and how many things you've caught that I tried to write in! I'm so so happy that it all came across and I literally cried reading your comments already gfdhjs now I only hope I soon get the spoons to go through my ao3 inbox and reply to the comments I've amassed

As for Moon telling Eclipse? It didn't happen in that window between Moon date fade-out and Sun date, because Moon was too busy cuddling and being a lovebird (he finally gets to be a bird too! <3), though it'll happen after the Foxy conversation after Sun's date.

That conversation will be addressed in a proper drabble/ chapter (they've been getting longer, so by now drabble feels no longer appropriate gfhdjs), so since I haven't written that yet this might not quite fit with how things turn out, but it'll be a fun thought until then!

Because after all that, and not charging the night before due to cuddle priorities (and they haven't quite yet reached the stage of a permanently installed charging cable at Y/N's side of the duplex) (it's definitely a thought though, because lugging around their cable for sleepovers has a bit of a hassle), Moon will excuse himself for a quick charge before work, and handle a little special phone call <3

(Eclipse will be smug enough. Moon doesn't need to make the gloating even easier by providing something to screenshot)

Eclipse, on the other hand, is positively surprised and doing his best not to be weirded out by a spontaneous phone call from his brother. That just didn't happen before! He's still getting used to the closer contact, too, and his first thought won't be a good one. Maybe another emergency? At least this time he'll hear about it sooner?

Well, only for Moon to pull the rug from under him completely.

"What do you mean, you haven't talked about me before?"

"I mean, we were trying to flirt, which already kept misfiring. Adding complicated family history that paints a rather ugly picture of us when they never asked wasn't really... Something that came up."

A sigh, and Eclipse does his best to cover up the lingering hurt. He knows their relationship was rocky at best, and he wasn't exactly eager to talk about them to other people either.

(It helps a little, knowing that part of it was guilt - he wasn't forgotten, instead his brothers felt too bad to casually bring him up. But he also doesn't like being a guilty secret either. In the end, he pushes it away to unpack later, and focus on the conversation at hand)

"How did it 'come up' then?"

Silence from the other end, as Moon quickly decides that no, he's not going to explain that he made his own first date emotionally charged in the heavy way to finally talk about his brother, much less the exact conversation that sparked it.

Eclipse never asked for their favorite colors, either.

"No, no, look, that's not the important bit. They went off on me for not telling them."

"Makes sense."

"Because they're a fan of your work."

"Makes s- huh?"

"They like your designs. They exclusively buy their own gadgets, except for when one of yours gets distributed. They said, and I quote, 'That Horizon?'"

Again, silence, as Eclipse processes that. That's so far from what he expected, or even figured would ever be in store for him. He knows his work is good, the agency doesn't really entertain slackers and subpar work, not for leading researchers - but that doesn't mean he feels appreciated. The people he works with are more neutral to annoyed by his antics, and the actual results he produces seemingly fade into the background.

So hearing there's someone out there who, dare he say it, is a fan?

He already thought Y/N/ Robin is nice enough from just the stories Sun and Moon shared before, but this? Now, within seconds, he's decided he has to meet them and become friends.

Hopefully they'll still like him once they've met him.

By now, he's been silent for a while.

"... Eclipse?"

The anxiety gets pushed away yet again, and instead Eclipse starts laughing. Softly, first, but then it turns into a full blown cackle.

Moon just sighs.

"Here we go."

"Since when? How long have they liked my stuff?"

"I didn't ask, that wasn't exactly the focus of the conversation."

"You can ask right now though! Ask them!"

"They're at work!"

"Send them a text then! You'll say you forgot if you don't do it now!"

"I wouldn't forget!"

"Yeah, but you'd say that!"

They squabble a bit, and it feels nice - just your normal, comfortable sibling banter, something they didn't get to share for the longest time. Both draw it out, just a bit, to enjoy it more.

Moon does send the text, but only after making a production out of "not wanting to". Eclipse laughs some more, that smug snicker of a younger sibling winning out over the older one.

And then he thinks of something else, too.

"Oh, oh, have you told them about that drone I've been trying to get approved?"

"No, I haven't, tell them yourself. Did that still not go through? You mentioned that weeks ago, they're really dragging their feet."

"They say it's a fire hazard, and I keep trying to explain that that's the reason why I need them to approve the more expensive fireproof material. Somehow they don't seem to understand that."

The conversation drifts towards other topics, then, but Eclipse is very much soaring from the start of it. That little "tell them yourself" is enough to reassure him on so many levels - this isn't an exception, this is going to be normal, his brothers want him to meet their partner, want to introduce them and give him a chance to talk to them himself.

The anxiety is still there, and a bit of it we see in Duck Duck Goose - he needs them to like him, needs things to go well, and to leave a good impression. He's more than just his work, and unfortunately he's afraid that they won't like the person behind the codename, and that confidence boost of them liking his work doesn't quite shine through.

They'll get there! It'll just take a bit of work, and time, but they're all very willing to put that effort in <3

[silver-wield]

Just putting out thoughts. Aerith's resolution doesn't show she thinks he's in love with her because if she did she wouldn't be surprised that cloud is actually worried about her right at the start of their conversation. Like she just found out that he could actually give a shit about her to begin with. Which is actually pretty sad. Maybe she's referring to the current cloud but... its still kind of dry if his future self was and she reacted this way like it doesn't feel confident at all. But honestly... Without the audience being addressed and just cloud in this instance, why would aerith/ devs feel the need to say "Dont fall in love with me"? It's so out of nowhere... Is it to address the plot or is that mainly to address the plaguing problem of the ltd with the next line that comes after? Aren't there much clearer and better ways to word it out? Like "be careful, discern what is fact or fiction, your life depends on it" or something like that i dunno. Like sure she could be written to sound mysterious but it just ends up making her look awful because this is technically her farewell? Why the heck send coded message than just be more specific and outright with it? It's like she wants him to be confused and for her moment to warn him loose its meaning.

She sounds so unsure of cloud yet so sure at the same time (about it being a lie and impossible reality). There's no indication that soldier cloud was Focusing on her at all, is that something they'll do in rebirth instead? But it's rather misleading and a damper on the build up for cloti and aerti's friendship? I don't think that will end well... I'd hate the unnecessary drama too. There are like more important things to cover in rebirth.

What do you think? Well I suppose wtvr it is, we'll get our answer pretty soon, 6 months to go right? It feels so far away though. PS I hope Tifa's GSD is the only one we can get. Even though I know people would riot.... Just to emphasize its actually canon.

Cloud won't focus on her because he never gives a shit about her. That's part of his guilt complex over her death. He agreed to be a bodyguard then didn't do his job and she died. He puts a lot on himself when things are out of his control. He was the same in bc and cc when he was assigned to guard a scientist and failed.

It's in the material ulti plus that the Aerith in her resolution is from a point in her near future, meaning she's projecting back through the lifestream to talk to Cloud. That means she's dead because she admits in ToTP she can't do that ability consciously since she was a kid because it scared her. You'd think she'd be all "I'm gonna die so save me" but she just gives him some ambiguous bs that confuses him. From her pic she's reached the ah ha point where she understands Cloud is fucked up, but has no idea how much, so is hinting that to him so he doesn't fall for Sephiroth's influence. Because Cloud is stupidly susceptible to Sephiroth and Jenova. In her last moment before death, she's trying to warn him about his fake persona without breaking his fragile mental state, but it's only Tifa who can get through to him because she's the only one he opens his heart to.

[gunmetal-ring]

Every single day I grow more and more confident that caryl will be canon and every episode so far that has featured one of them even with Leah (ESPECIALLY the ones with leah) has only served to reinforce it and the ONLY thing that makes me think otherwise are spoilers that are intentionally misguiding and shit-stirring and that says a lot about both my anxiety/investment in this stupid zombie TV show and how absolutely certain we should be that caryl will be canon.

Think about it - that spoiler about the last episode couldn't have been more out of context, deliberately making us worry about Daryl possibly actually falling for Leah, and the episode couldn't have been more obvious that Daryl was trying to convince Leah and Carver that he was Part Of The Reaper Team + distract them from the fact that Team Family was hiding right below them and sneakily escaping. He said it right after Carver referenced how badly Daryl and Leah's relationship ended. Daryl didn't just blurt it out in the heat of the moment or a private almost-kiss or a desperate on-his-knees plea or any other romantic trope - it was literally part of a conversation about whether or not the Reapers should trust Daryl's intentions, and he hopped on the first chance he could get to defend himself.

All this to say... any spoilers about Carol and Zeke coming up are a complete and total non-issue. She left him, remember? The two of them acknowledged that their marriage was rocky and largely rooted in their love for Henry (at least on Carol's end). Of course she's going to hug him or be friendly and caring or kind or whatever - the last time she saw him he was diagnosed and visibly suffering from a (as of yet, we'll see how Commonwealth handles it) incurable, fatal disease. There was never any guarantee that he'd survive the trip to Eugene's girlfriend's camp, either - walkers galore and possible savior-esque murderers and whatnot. They were married for six years, of course they're going to hug or whatever, she still cares about him. And she's not a mean, callous person.

Whatever other spoilers come out for the rest of the season - we. always. need. context. I said before that if Daryl verbatim says "I've always loved you let's get back together forever" to Leah and have sex afterwards, I'd STILL be confident that caryl is endgame. Sure, out of context it's alarming, but so far the show literally could not be clearer that Daryl is lying his ass off and manipulating Leah into trusting him, and using their history against her because he knows it's her weakness. Not exactly what a guy in love does, hmm? (Not to mention... he's never and would never do that to Carol ahem)

Zeke and Carol need closure. A single desperate end-of-the-world we're-going-to-die let's-get-a-modicum-of-comfort-where-we-can-and-also-distract-from-the-fact-that-Daryl-might-hate-me depressed lonely fuck last season is not closure, despite the fact that Carol very obviously rocked zekes world lol (and she didn't look particularly impressed lol). Carol is in a much better head space now than she was when she Slept With The Ex (trope alert) and can officially close the Kingdom chapter so that it doesn't weigh on her when she and Daryl ride off into the sunset. Because remember, the spin off is apparently a completely different tone, meaning that the core of the show almost certainly won't be Daryl's guilt/self-loathing for not saving everybody and Carol's guilt/self-loathing for being an emotional burden and hurting people in her quest for vengeance and killing Lizzie (bc if this isn't addressed ever I will lose my shit)

Caryl is endgame and that's that on that!