#it's still shippy saturday right?

[boinin]

Just home from seeing the EpiNagi dub ⚽🤍 It cracked me up a lot, occasionally unintentionally, but it's a fun film. Some of my personal highlights and thoughts on the film below (spoilers):

Main unintentional humour were the instances of dodgy animation. Nameoka's hands look so jank as he's dissing Reo pre-Hakuho match—I was chuckling. Tbh the bad animation was amusing more than distracting to me, since I knew going in that the movie would have S1-equivalent animation.

Nagi calling Isagi a short normie 💀

Zantetsu's VA and his dialogue were really funny. Unfortunately some of his line delivery was quite muffled, so it could be hard to make out. But his dilemma over eating Nagi's steak and the "shooting out the womb" (??) bit were hilarious.

Bachira saying a really quiet zoom after out dribbling Zantetsu. Also, he had his own friggin insert song for scoring against Team V 🔥 as he deserves 💛

That one OST song that plays over Nagi's death aura scene is so damn cool; I know what album I'm looking up tomorrow.

They bishi-fied Kunigami even more for the movie. Also, any time he cheered IT WAS SO DAMN LOUD. Dude can shout.

Speaking of, why did they make Kuon look so pretty after fouling Nagi. Like?? Noticeably prettier than the other cast, even Chigiri. Only Nagi and Reo got that level of detail otherwise lmao

The movie hammered home how integral Raichi was to beating Team V. His "OR I'LL KILL YOU" moment went way harder than it had any right to.

Anri being a dork — I'm paraphrasing, but she says "It's like going Super Seiy—uh, right?" Then she pouts when Ego shoots her down. 🥹 ily queen you deserve better

The scene of Nagi seeing Isagi's light before the game ends, and Reo's reflection on the the breakup were both really nicely animated. They skimped a loooot in other places, but they knew where to invest time and money.

The post credit scenes 🤍💜 They're movie-original, and do volumes for Reo's characterisation. I can't wait until Episode Nagi's manga reaches that point.

The dub as a whole is decent, though Reo's dialogue is a shade more dudebro-y than it needed to be IMO. It's not as shippy as I'd expected, but that could be down to how they localised the dialogue. The animation is unambiguous though; Nagi's just like 🥺 whenever he looks at Reo.

Zantetsu's dialogue needed more breathing room to land than it received. I still really enjoyed his VA's performance. Other standout performances for me were Ego, and Barou's VAs. Chigiri's VA nailed the few lines they gave him, the standout being "I'll give you a headpat later." 👑

Anyway, I'm considering going to the subbed edition on Saturday, since that's the version I initially wanted to see... I just couldn't make the subbed cinema times this week. 🤷‍♀️ If I do go, I'll make a comparison post.

[wastemanjohn]

hi hello this is late so consider it surrogate fatherfucker saturday………. how do you suppose the first deanbobby kiss goes. is it on a visit while john steps out of the room. do they only manage it after they’ve already hooked up a few times. does bobby freak out. <3

SURROGATE FATHERFUCKER SATURDAY! SATURDAY IS DEANBOBBY DAY IT IS DECREED...

... even though i'm posting this on tuesday

i'm actually of the view that kissing would be a big part of what they have going on. from the get go. bc dean like - canonically LOVES kisses. sure he perves on barely legal cheerleaders and creeps on his little brother's girlfriend because he's a Red Blooded Male and all that (and don't challenge him on that or he'll rearrange your face okay). but that Red Blooded Man also really wants to kiss 🥺 he wants the intimacy 🥺 do u see me will u kiss me am i worth something 🥺

so it makes sense to me that dean would initiate this for the first time - and i can't see a plausible scenario where dean wouldn't be the one to initiate this - with a kiss. he feels safe around bobby. he has a fuckton of affection for bobby. he wouldn't see bobby the same way as the truckers and drifters he fucks in bathroom stalls on the road because they won't ever kiss him at all. bobby's practically family and nothing ranks higher for dean than family. he's got a different special place in dean's heart.

as for when it happens - i think long before anything else. i think it would be entirely impulsive and i don't think dean would realise he was going to do it or even wanted to do it until it happened. maybe he's a confused teen and dad is mad at him again and he's sitting with bobby out on the porch drinking a beer bobby has allowed him to have because he's upset and everything is so overwhelming but bobby is being so nice to him and he's lonely right maybe he'd like a kiss? dean would. he's lonely too. and tbh i don't see it happening much differently when dean's an adult. he is deep down a little boy who needs a father. and i think he never stops being prone to confusion about the people in his life and what they are or should be to him. not even in a shippy way more broadly. bro just has no idea what a healthy relationship looks like.

would bobby freak out? i think internally. i think especially if dean was still a teen or something he'd have an easier time pushing it to one side and thinking alcohol/daddy issues/confusion or whatever. i don't think he'd ever bring it up. i don't think he'd ever forget it though. at first it would disturb and bother him. at first he might start avoiding dean or distancing himself, not even on purpose but just because what the fuck was that and he's subconsciously trying to protect himself from dean's fuckery. but also - yeah, bobby is really fucking lonely. no one has kissed him in years. dean *never* crossed his mind before, not like that. but bobby cant stop thinking about how that kiss felt, how it felt to be kissed *at all*, and maybe he starts to. and - because i really do think bobby has this conceited adjacent view of himself as dean's actual father - that's when he'd start to freak out.

[merge-conflict]

marked for death

(written for a weekly song prompt, just cleaned up today for shippy saturday. non-binary V/Goro)

--

Ten years ago an Arasaka bodyguard had died protecting the emperor of Japan. Beset by the slowly creeping threat of retirement, Goro had always hoped he would end his career the same way– but now his troubles are much bigger than young soldiers with fresh implants and endless ambition. Now he has lost everything and his only hope of redemption relies on the ebbing life of the thief he’s managed to drag into an AI-operated cab.

“Please keep all limbs inside the vehicle during operation,” the AI chirps brightly, and Goro clumsily leans across V to pull her right foot inside. In the enclosed space of the cab her height makes it difficult to maneuver her upright, and he ends up wedging one of her knees into the back of the seat in front of her before leaning back in his own side, keeping one hand clamped on his seeping wound.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” the AI says, and the doors on either side shut securely, with a faint whir. Goro exhales, allowing himself a moment of relief. “Please insert a personal jack to confirm all passengers.”

Ejecting the jack from V’s wrist takes Goro longer than it should, with hands are slippery with blood, shaking from the fading stim and physical shock. His implants are dulling the pain in his side, rerouting connections, reducing blood flow away from sliced veins– but the damage is extensive. Without medical attention he will eventually slip into unconsciousness and die. After much fumbling he finally coaxes her personal jack free, and inserts it into the waiting port, before doing the same for his own.

“Guest passenger confirmed,” the AI reports, the screen in front of Goro briefly pulsing green. “Primary passenger unconfirmed. Please try re-inserting the link.”

Goro does, a few times, without success. The longer they sit here the more danger they are in. “The personal link is damaged,” he says, with effort. He cannot take in a full breath– a blinking warning at the edge of his vision warns him of lung damage. “The bullet…damaged her implants.”

“All passengers must be confirmed before service,” the AI replies, and then pauses. “If you are unable to authenticate with the wrist jack, you may instead connect the diagnostic link directly to the port located near the right mastoid.” With a slight click, a cable springs free of the screen, and Goro picks it up, examining the sharp tip with a sinking feeling. “I’m afraid you will have to insert the link underneath the skin.”

“If I am not careful…she will die.”

“I suggest you proceed with caution.”

Goro lowers the cable to pull V closer and for the second time is astonished by her intense gray eyes, lit by some internal spark that is burning long after it should have been extinguished. She can’t pull herself upright, but she wraps her fingers around his wrist, where he has a firm hold on her collar. The expression on her face is serene, but it sends a burst of adrenaline through his system, and in response his implants steady his nerves in a cool rush of calm.

“Do not move,” he tells her, adjusting his vision so he can see the pulse of blood through the arteries in her throat, tipping her head back for a safer angle. Her fingers tighten on his wrist in alarm, but she does not struggle.

“Do it,” she hisses, when he hesitates.

Panic sets her heart beating frantically, the pulse in her throat jumping in time. Goro picks his angle, lines up the link and pushes it through the skin and tendon until it is nestled into the subdermal connector of her implanted interface. V’s back arches, her breathing panicked, forcing him to hold her still so she does not rip out the link or cause herself further damage. Blood spills down his fingers and over the back of his hand, soaking into the cuff of his shirt.

“Primary passenger confirmed,” the AI announces, before Goro can think of the right words to calm her. She tenses at the announcement but stops moving, except for the frantic pace of her breathing. “I advise you not to remove the link until we have reached our destination–“

A loud ringing in Goro’s ears prevents him from hearing the rest of the sentence. It’s all he can do to hold things steady as the car finally accelerates into motion, taking them further into the heart of a rotten city. V holds his gaze– both accusatory and forgiving with her blood oozing hot down the inside of his sleeve. Then between one street and the next, her eyes slide shut, and she slumps into his side.

The streets of Night City are as endless as they are ugly, and he cannot be certain if he orders the AI to drive faster or if he only dreams it. He grows weaker and weaker, with nothing but determination to keep him alive, to keep V alive– so long as she lives, there is hope of exposing Yorinobu. So long as she lives there is reason for him to live as well.

No sooner as he steels himself to stay awake then he finds himself jerked from unconsciousness as the cab comes to a rolling stop. Panic gives him the strength to open the door and crawl free from under V, limp but alive. A stranger is waiting– a man he can barely see in the end of his rapidly tunneling vision. On instinct he picks up V’s legs to help carry her, but after a moment he finds himself on the ground facing her body in careless repose. Death awaits them both in this filthy alley, within the shadow of Konpeki.

Before his eyes slip closed he is certain he sees a sliver of gray watching his weakness. Witnessing it.

When he finally wakes in the back room of the ripperdoc clinic, he can no longer escape the keen edge of despair– Arasaka-sama’s murder and the loss of everything, down to the cyberware implanted inside him. The emotion consumes him like the rising tide, inexorable and inescapable. He drowns in private grief, consumed with the contemplation of the bleak options before him, until he hears a low groan.

He’s not alone. On the other side of a narrow gap V lies on a makeshift cot the same as his own, connected to a portable set of monitors which display the vitals he can no longer see in the corner of his eye. She shifts in her sleep, making a strangled noise deep in her throat that mirrors the rage and agony in his own chest. Curiosity, or perhaps duty drives him to maneuver himself painfully out of bed.

The loss of stabilizing cyberware and too much blood make him clumsy, and he stumbles through his first step, crashing into her cot before he can grab the edge for balance. Her eyes snap open– desperate gunmetal gray once more arresting his attention.

She has ample reason to hate him– to resent and fear him for tracking her down and returning her to Arasaka for interrogation and execution. But when recognition flickers in her eyes, her bruised and battered face breaks into a soft smile that grabs him unexpectedly by the throat.

He is not alone.

Unsure of what to say he merely clasps her shoulder in acknowledgement, and sees relief flit over her face. She speaks, but her words are garbled and soft, and he’s lost his translation soft. He squeezes her shoulder in response, and with great effort she lifts her arm to rest her hand on his wrist. Her expression grows serene and remote, until her eyes close. He is not alone.

[faememes]

𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐲.

Sentence starters of the shippy moments of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter. Change names, pronouns, and titles as needed.

"All right. A week, next Saturday, at the Stork Club."

"Always so dramatic."

"_______, is that you? Are you alright?"

"I'm gonna to need a rain check on that dance."

"Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?"

"You know, I still don't know how to dance."

"I'll show you how. Just be there."

"We'll have the band play something slow. I'd hate to step on your-"

"Wait! Go get him."

"Yes, I think it works."

"You can't give me orders!"

"The hell I can't! I'm a captain."

"You're late."

"I couldn't call my ride."

"You have no idea how to talk to a woman do you?"

"I think this is the longest conversation I've had with one. Women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on."

"Officially I'm not here at all. That was quite a performance."

"What do you plan to do? Walk to Austria?"

"You told me you thought I was meant for more than this. Did you mean that?"

"So are you two...? Do you...? Fondue?"

"I might when all this is over go dancing."

"Are you ready for our dance?"

"The war's over, ______."

"We can go home... imagine it."

"Goodbye, my darling."

[quaddmgd]

Yes it can! Got something cool to show ya.

So on a Tuesday night I was kinda stuck in the workroom, running rendering tasks, so I figured I can at least pop in a CP77 disc into the One S I have lying around. I had to make some preparations for my future Corpo AU shots and I've never played the last gen version before, so I was already excited to try it out.

I did all I wanted in about 15 minutes and decided to quickly shoot some pictures to see how they stack up against Series X (apart from lower resolution of course). Halcyon suggested that I start Nocturne Op55N1 to get some pics with Hanako. I decided to ship Corpo!Crystal with her after all (now you know). What the hell, I'm stuck here anyway, right?

So let's see what we can achieve with the most vanilla photo mode experience possible and the right mindset - in Cyberpunk 2077 v1.61 on Xbox One S.

I was wondering if I can get any shippy saturday material with such a limited set of tools. I got Crystal as close to Hanako as possible, then tried out (mostly unfitting) poses that I'd deviously cut to make them look convincing enough, similarly to my previous vanilla photo mode ventures (I have yet to post some of my favorites).

It worked well enough, even with the barrier around Hanako stopping me from getting them really close together. I created tension between them, simply by having Crystal "Eavesdrop (Left)", "Distracted Girlfriend" or "C'mere, Gonkbrain" towards Hanako.

But come on.... they had to kiss somehow.

I focused on poses that: a) have Crystal lean in any direction b) have an up/down slider to compensate for the height loss from leaning

Leaning poses made it possible to bring them even closer to each other, but it wasn't enough. No matter which one I chose, her barrier was impossible to break... or so I thought.

See, the counter is seemingly inaccessible, but jumping on any stool makes it easy to get on. Collision system tries really hard to push you off of it but, with some luck, switching photo mode on and off can stop it from happening*, let you stay on top and move freely. Now I was back using poses with up/down sliders and I quickly settled on "Off to the Races" as the one most likely to make them kiss. Luckily, the minimum slider value was IDEAL to get Crystal's lips on the same level as Hanako's. The only issue was with moving C left/right/close/far, as her collision remained in the same place she spawned - on the bar top. At this point sliders were useless, so I had to go back to gameplay to correct her position. After some trial and error I set her perfectly. Now a quick rotation towards Hanako and voila! Now they kiss! * - if your V spawns with the default starting pose - "Tabula Rasa", "What Can I Get Ya?" or "Night City Strut" - then it's a good sign

And how does it look from the outside perspective?

Yes, that's a lot of steps and time spent on a small photo shoot. The lighting is what it is, their eyes are open, Johnny The Parasite stands exactly where I'd want to place the camera, but it's still cute and it proves that creativity can get you places with vanilla photo mode. And final results can look really good, even on a base Xbox One.

Of course, photo editing software like GIMP can get you even better results. I use it to change aspect ratio of my pics, patch up any lighting/texture bugs, and sometimes for basic color correction. For the sake of clarity, I didn't use it for shots in this post. Just know it's there and it's easy to learn.

I couldn't decide whether it should be a blog post or a tutorial, so it's a blog post that goes step by step through my thought process, I guess. I might do some vanilla VP tutorials in the future, if the demand is there, but right now my job doesn't even let me finish my Legacy of Kain: Defiance playthrough, so I can't promise anything!

[kalinara]

I'm so baffled by the way this whole thing has blown way out of proportion. People sending hateful messages to each other AND to the actors?? Totally unnecessary! It makes no damn sense.

Not to be an anti on main, but I genuinely believe that shipping changed somewhere along the way, into something that's a little disturbing.

I'm of course not going to say the old days were perfect. Racism, sexism and homophobia have always been issues and fandom has always been notoriously resistant to dealing with such things. And it's not like Shipwars are new. I remember the Ray Wars in Due South and fans older than me can tell fascinating stories of fanzine wars between Han/Leia and Luke/Leia fans before the Internet was even a thing for most of us.

But I still feel like a change happened somewhere along the way. There's this bizarre sense of entitlement now. There's this idea that a ship HAS to happen or it doesn't count somehow, and that we as fans can harangue the creators and MAKE it happen. (Voltron being the most extreme reaction I can think of).

And I mean, I get wanting representation, but it seems to go beyond that. Look at any 911 discussion thread about Buddie. Despite the fact that the show has multiple important queer pairings, they don't count because it's not the pairing the fans want.

I think this also plays into why we have so many puritan shippers. I don't agree that someone's ships reflect their real world morality. But I do get where a lot of younger fans are coming from, when so much of fandom seems to involve going "no, see, it will happen on screen and it will be AWESOME!". Not every show is Game of Thrones, after all. And nowadays, I do think a shipper probably does need to specify "no, I don't really want Thor and Loki to fuck in the movies directly aimed for kids", because of the rabid behavior of OTHER shippers. It's not fair, but we seem to have created this mess.

We used to joke about a "fannish hivemind" but nowadays, that seems less and less funny. I love shippy meta as much as the next person, but there's a difference between making an essay detailing all the moments that could be used to support a ship and making an essay detailing all the reasons why these moments ABSOLUTELY MUST MEAN MY SHIP WILL HAPPEN AND HOW COULD ANYONE POSSIBLY THINK OTHERWISE. And that attitude seems more and more prevalent nowadays.

We need to get a grip. We need to keep in mind that the creators of the show may not see it the way we do. We need to keep in mind that someone else makes the decisions about the story, and we might like or dislike it. We might want to consider, for example, that an actor who was once on Saturday Night Live, who repeatedly referred to a female co-star at that time as a "platonic soulmate" might actually not be setting up a romance between these two very tightly paralleled characters. That doesn't mean the characters WON'T get together, of course. I'm no mind-reader or oracle. But I point that out because nothing is a guarantee.

But seriously, there's nothing funnier than someone going on and on about their literary credentials when they write their long passionate analysis, because no one stops to wonder, do the creators share those literary credentials? What if all of these patterns really are accidents? Or they mean something else entirely?

And leave the actors alone, for heavens sake. They're just the face of the character. They've got nothing to do with any of this! If THEY want to engage, they're more than able to do that. Hell, the internet is anonymous, maybe they're here right now. But let that be their call. You wouldn't want someone coming up to you saying "I love imagining you and your co-worker having sex!" would you?

[coolsomejet]

Some notes on Space Camp

Welp, now the movie is out. I have so much I wanna say, but I’ll wait until it comes out on YouTube to rewatch the movie (because the UI on the PBS Kids app sucks) and also I have a college thing to do tomorrow and Saturday, so yeah. More in-depth posts will come later. For now, I’ll just do bullet points (Spoilers abound, obviously)

The writers finally remembered that Face 9000 exists, and he plays a critical role in relaying information about the Deshrinkulum.

The writers, however, forgot that Commander Cressida exists. She’s not brought up once, not even in relation to the Great Galacto. Well, I guess that’s the law of equivalent exchange.

Speaking of the Great Galacto, he seems to be a commentary on YouTubers/social media influencers that do stupid things and have an impressionable young audience. He’s a good guy, though. He’s also Scottish for some reason. Well, Uncle Zucchini is Brooklyn/Joisey, so I’m not complaining.

As I suspected, Jet’s insistence on working alone ends up making things worse for him. Of course, he just wanted to protect Sean, Sydney, and Mindy, but still.

I predicted that Jet would have a “break the cutie” moment in this movie, and I was right. He even cries at one point. Poor thing. It’s even sadder that it happened to such an optimistic character like him.

According to the song “Brother From Another Sunspot Mother,” Jet adopted Sunspot from a litter. Here’s the thing though: in the flashback, Jet looks like the same age he currently does. This goes against what was established in “Sunday Drive.” That Sunspot lived with the Propulsions since Jet was a baby.

The songs in this movie are really great. They go into all sorts of genres too. Ska (Dear Great Galacto), a Disney-style award bait song™️ (Brother From Another Sunspot Mother”), blues (“Super Hyperdrive”), a marching song (“It Takes a Team”), etc

The scenery shows massive improvement. The trees especially look more realistic, instead of looking like stage props like in the TV show.

Stella was handled better than I thought. Contrary to what her actress said, she wasn’t a “villain.” She was just a jerk, much like Mitchell was. She didn’t do anything to physically hurt Jet and the others or anything. And she becomes nicer by the end of the movie.

As for Mitchell himself, well, they didn’t handle them the best. He spends 99% of the movie trying to expose Stella and Jet, and acts like he hates them. He even vilifies them by saying that they’re plotting to take over the world or whatever. What the hell happened here? They just undid all of his character development?

A minor complaint I had about the main show is that there was a small amount of background characters, and when there were, most of them were white. It made it look like Washington had the diversity of a cornfield, when that’s far from the truth. However, in this movie, there are plenty of people of color. For example, Houston is Black, Aurora is Asian-American, and Dr. Chandra is Southeast Asian. Heck, there are even some plus-size characters in the crowd shots. That’s also a good thing, since most of the earthie background characters seemed to have the same skinny body type. Heck, even Stella is a bit brown, and her voice actress is Asian-Canadian iirc.

Dr. Bergs is back, as is Dr. Skelley. Dr. Rafferty doesn’t appear at all. Maybe it’s because her voice actress was too busy or unavailable. Who knows?

Lillian doesn’t appear either. 😔

For those who wanted Mitchlendez or Propulsean shipping moments, you’re out of luck. Mindy sneaks up on Mitchell just for old times sake, and he does lend her his phone at one point, but that’s it. As for Propulsean, Jet and Sean just have standard friendship moments in the movie. Nothing too shippy, and he doesn’t call him “Seanzo” once. It could be for one of two reasons: the crew decided that they hate the ships and tried to remove any “puppy love” subtext between any characters. The other reason (for Propulsean) is that LGBTQ+ characters in kids shows causes major controversies nowadays, more so than usual, with Ron DeSantis and his fascist friends accusing any kids show that includes LGBTQ+ characters of “grooming.” They even tried to take Work It Out Wombats off the air just for having lesbian mothers. Even so, I’m happy if Jet and Sean are just friends. 

Aside from the basic plot of accidentally going to space, it doesn’t actually have much in common with the 80s movie SpaceCamp.

That’s all, folks!

[bnbc]

Eclipse

_____

don't reupload my content to other sites

[sorryiliketoscreenshot]

[zyana-wyvern]

“If singing is not a girl’s best skill, kissing might work better...”

Ultimate Seduction Tips by Zia Valfrid

[spinarakiweek]

Event Week Upkeep (Art Credit, Busted Mobile Links, and Spoiler Tags)

Two weeks to go until Spinaraki Week: Round 3, and we the mods hope everyone is as excited as we are!

A few quick points to address before we get to the meat of this post:

Per a few questions about it, Mod Nal (@codenamesazanka) is the one who does all our graphics; look forward to more details from her about her fantastic screenshot mockup for this year's prompts at a later date!

I (Mod Stillness) noticed that the links to the rules and the text-based prompt list don't work on my mobile app, so for any who share that issue, if you want to review The Rules or get The Prompts in a nice easy format for copy-pasting, you'll find them beneath the Read More cut at the bottom of this post!

That said, I'd like to take a few minutes to address how we'll be tagging for spoilers for this event week. If you either don't care about spoilers or actively follow the weekly leaks, all you need to know is that we are NOT asking participants to tag their spoilers unless they wish to do so as a courtesy to their own followers; we'll be doing tagging on our end.

If you are concerned about spoilers, read on.

Regarding the currently airing season of the anime: the mods' assumption is that we don't have many people around here who are anime-only, as the anime has—to say the least!—not done a stellar job of translating the appeal of the ship. If you're following us and you are an anime-only, please do speak up either in the notes of this post or via ask to let us know if you'd like us to spoiler tag anything the anime hasn't gotten to yet!

Also, we're thrilled you exist and managed to find this pairing despite the anime's best attempts to hide it from you. Congratulations on your keen insight! You'll probably want to stop reading this post right about now, though.

For everyone else, given the events of the chapter that released just today—Chapter 369—it's looking like we are, for the first time, all but guaranteed to see some Spinner action during the course of the event week! How nerve-wracking thrilling! Chapter 370 is due to officially release on the 23rd, the day before the event starts; likewise, if these things follow the usual timing, leaks for Chapter 371 should start coming out in the Tuesday night to Thursday morning range, with the scanlation coming out on Friday and the official release closing out our week on Sunday.

Accordingly, we'll be tagging any work that deals with content from those chapters as bnha 370 and bnha 371, so do blacklist those if you want to be thorough about avoiding exposure to spoilers!

If anybody has any other requests about spoiler tags (ex. you're all caught up on Villain Hunt but running behind on the current arc) or tagging in general, feel free to weigh in as well with any requests!

That all said, thanks for reading, and here's the promised cut for text prompts and the ruleset:

THE PROMPTS

Monday, 10/24:  Reunion  ~  Delight  ~  News

Tuesday, 10/25:  Flesh  ~  Resentment  ~  Help

Wednesday, 10/26:  Bear  ~  Grief  ~  Transformation

Thursday, 10/27:  Spin  ~  Yearning  ~  Family

Friday, 10/28:  Countryside  ~  Boredom  ~  Mess

Saturday, 10/29:  Leader  ~  Sadism  ~  Prison

Sunday, 10/30:  Hero  ~  Tale  ~  Serenity  /  ~  FREE DAY  ~ 

RULES AND POLICIES

1)  We will accept and reblog any fan-made work—fanfiction, fanart, meta, playlists, etc.—so long as it focuses primarily on Shigaraki and Spinner’s relationship and fits an appropriate daily prompt.  The work must be newly published for the week, though if you wish to also use it as a fill for some other concurrent event, you’re welcome to do so.           You can work with any of the daily prompts you like, singly or in combination.  We try to keep them fairly broad, so feel free to get as creative as you like!  We welcome any fill that satisfies some aspect of the chosen prompt(s). 

2)  We’re celebrating the relationship between Shigaraki and Spinner as it’s been, as it may be, and even as it could have been.  Shippy-fic or gen-fic, canon-compliant or AU, romantic or platonic or any complicated place in between; we’re good with all of it.  Polyshipping/OT3s are allowed, but the focus must remain on Shigaraki and Spinner.

3)  Regarding content, we’re not placing hard limits on what we’re accepting.  Shigaraki and Spinner are villains in a canon that goes to some shockingly dark places, so we consider exploration of that darkness fair game for fanwork.  Likewise, given that this is a week focused on a relationship, we welcome NSFW content.  We do, however, ask that all content be responsibly and appropriately tagged for any content you have reason to expect could be upsetting to others. 

4)  We’ll be checking the tags for spinarakiweek2022, spinarakiweekround3, spinarakiweek, and spinarakiweeknsfw.  As stated above, please tag also for any work that requires content warnings.  We’re only operating on tumblr, so if your work is hosted elsewhere, feel free to post a link to it and use one of our tags, though if you do so, you may also wish to message us about it, given tumblr’s notorious grouchiness about off-platform links.           Feel free to message us if it seems like we’ve missed a fill of yours!  Late entries are allowed and enthusiastically welcome.  

5)  No hating on other ships or characters—we’re here to celebrate and enjoy Spinaraki, so if there’s a character you can’t include without bashing them disproportionately to the canon, just don’t include them.  Likewise, please be respectful of other participants and their work, whether or not it’s to your particular taste.

6)  We reserve the right to exercise moderator discretion in the case of borderline rule violations or unforeseen issues.  

[masterwords]

To Stay Surrounded

Notes: I don't know what this is. It's a glass of wine and a few minutes at the keyboard. It's Morgan and Hotch being very...Morgan and Hotch like. (Platonic. Not shippy. I know right?)

Summary: Hotch isn't feeling great and someone sends Morgan to go check on him. ;)

Warnings: Hurt, pain medication

Words: 2200

**

After Foyet, Hotch's stomach hurt.

A lot.

All the time.

Most days he could go about his business and it was just white noise in the background. He would twist funny and get a little twinge that would take his breath away but as quickly as it came on it would pass. Sitting too long, standing too long, eating the wrong food. He'd gone through his pistol re-qualification without a problem but putting on the bullet proof vest could bring him to his knees. There were no clear triggers it just became a part of who he was. He'd been to the doctor only to be told he had a lot of scar tissue, deep internal scarring that would probably always just hurt. It was to be expected. Would you like a refill on your pain meds? Not much of an answer but it made him feel better about it, made him worry less.

Some things just had to be accepted.

On Saturdays he went running with Morgan. It was more or less a way to get Morgan off his back at first, once he was cleared to exercise again. Morgan worried about him and it manifested in him being overbearing and insufferable at work so to counteract that, Hotch agreed to Saturday morning runs. Meeting him in the middle, he could keep an eye on Hotch and also make sure that Hotch was staying in shape. He hated being watched but there were worse things than a run through the park on a crisp weekend morning followed by a nice hot shower.

At least it wasn't Prentiss and her irritating texts all weekend long, the kind where she wouldn't even give him a chance to respond before following it up with another, and then a phone call. He told her he was going to file a restraining order if she didn't stop. For a brief moment she thought he was serious, he never even cracked a smile. Instead she called his bluff and doubled down so he changed his number and gave it to everyone but her.

It had taken her almost a week to figure it out. Now she texted less but was still overbearing. He could forgive and ignore it.

On this particular Saturday he slept in, his stomach hurt and he thought he pushed snooze but he turned off the alarm and kept sleeping. He woke with a start an hour after he was supposed to have met Morgan, saw a text from the man saying he was going to hit the road without him and to take care. Nothing that lead him to believe Morgan was at all concerned about him – odd, but he accepted it for what it was. Morgan was irritated that he'd been stood up and was simply going to enjoy his run in spite of that. Good for him.

When he showed up at the door a few hours later, Hotch wasn't entirely surprised. Palming the sweat from his forehead, Morgan pushed his way in, watching the way Hotch moved slowly, painfully. Hunched over like his stomach hurt. Not unusual or really even concerning, all things considered.

“You okay man?” Morgan asked, knowing exactly the answer he was going to get. It was always the same. He asked anyway. Hotch grunted his reply and shuffled toward the couch. He was clearly neither thrilled nor bothered by the intrusion. He was getting used to them.

“Sorry I missed our date,” he muttered, pushing his hand back through his messy hair. The way he said date made Morgan laugh, clearly a joke but dusty and dry, brittle like old bones. “Not feeling too hot today.”

“I gathered...” Morgan watched as Hotch sat himself down and picked up his heating pad, flipping it on and pressing it against his stomach. He went about his business, settling into the couch, trying to get comfortable as if the other man wasn't even there. Unconcerned with Morgan watching him, he was used to being under the microscope now. He pressed the heating pad right up against his skin and curled himself around it before pulling his blanket back up to his shoulders. If Morgan wanted to stay and see this, he was welcome. Hotch was done fighting them about privacy. Apparently Foyet had forfeited his right to that. Better he accept it now.

Morgan was done fighting him, too. Instead he just did things. Hotch's sink was full of dishes, mugs with tea bags crusted to the side mostly, a few small salad plates with the dusting of crumbs, butter knives– he was existing on tea and toast, apparently. Easy enough to deal with, he pulled the tea bags out and tossed them in the trash before loading everything into the dishwasher and setting it to run. Hotch didn't even look over at him while he worked, just lie there on the couch curled lovingly around the heating pad as it poured warmth into his aching belly. There was a part of Morgan that felt awful for him, the look of misery always present on his features, the sadness in his eyes. The incredible loneliness of losing everyone he loved and hurting so bad on top of it. He wondered if there wasn't some small part of Hotch that wanted these intrusions, even if he wouldn't ever say it. There was a bottle of vicodin on the kitchen counter and Morgan examined it, picked it up and shook it. Still full, he bet not a single pill was missing and the prescription was over two weeks old. He liked Vicodin. The way it mellowed you out, made you sink into the couch and just stare into the void for hours. Probably why Hotch didn't want to touch it. “You know these are for you to take when it hurts, right? It's kinda the point.”

Sarcasm. They lobbed it back and forth, incapable of being serious with one another for any length of time. This was easier, it was familiar. Give shit, take shit. Hotch grunted and shifted, rolling until his face was buried in the back of the couch, the cord tangling around his legs. He kicked a little, twisted, tried to untangle the cord without sitting up but it was useless and easy enough to live with so he did.

“Hotch...”

What was he going to say? That the wounds had healed but the pain was still enough to make him break down and cry sometimes? Yes, he'd refilled the prescription because it was that bad but he couldn't bring himself to take them once they were there. He just stared at the bottle and grabbed for the heating pad instead. It helped take the edge off, that was enough.

“Don't make me call Rossi,” Morgan teased, gathering up a few random items of clothing – a jacket from the back of a chair, a pair of gloves from the table, shoes beside the fridge. All easy enough to find places for, keep his hands busy.

“Go ahead,” was Hotch's reply, voice muffled by the soft, warm fabric of the couch. His gut knotted at the thought of another person in his space, scrutinizing everything from his dirty dishes to his dusty television that sat unused. He had no idea where the remote had gone, Jack had played around with it one morning and it vanished. He couldn't exactly ask Jack where it was these days, not that the child would have any idea anyway, he'd probably say it was in the bat cave. Where that was really was anyone's guess. Hotch's sock drawer, maybe? Beneath the bathroom sink? Didn't matter, nothing on the television interested him in the slightest and the noise was too much. He preferred silence, no one could enter undetected if it was silent.

“You eaten yet today?”

Shots fired. Hotch grunted and Morgan took that for a no, started opening cupboards and shifting things around until he spotted something he thought he might be able to get Hotch to eat. The man didn't keep a well stocked kitchen, mostly half finished boxes of kid cereal and a box of pop-tarts with one package remaining. Things Jack ate when he would stay that were now going to collect dust like the rest of Hotch's life. In the back, though, he kept a tub of old fashioned oats and if Morgan knew how to make anything in this world it was a bomb bowl of oatmeal, the way his mom used to. Nothing fancy but it was a stick to your ribs kinda deal, that's what she'd tell him – eat a bowl before school and you won't think about food again until you're hearing the dinner bell. They didn't have the money to buy those fancy little packets that were more sugar than oats, she crafted the real deal on the stove top. He rifled through the cupboards until he stumbled on a bag of brown sugar, hard as a rock but it would do. There wasn't much to it, a little brown sugar, a lot of milk, barely cooked oats – none of that mushy stuff, he liked his oatmeal to have some bite. A dash of cinnamon and a banana sliced on top, the only fresh food he seemed to keep in stock in the entire place.

“A culinary masterpiece awaits you,” Morgan announced, setting the steaming bowl of oatmeal down at the table. In truth, he could have taken in to Hotch, he was sure the man had no qualms about eating at the coffee table by the state of things but he wanted to see his friend upright, wanted to see him walk. Hotch saw right through it and groaned. Weighing his options, he knew Morgan would just as soon drag him to the table as he would be kind about it, he knew not to force the issue.

“C'mon man, a couple of bites and I'll get outta your hair...sounds like a sweet deal, huh?”

It was enough to drag him and his aching body to the table, and Morgan could see just how much pain he was in. He set the bottle of pills down beside the oatmeal, a pointed threat, before sitting himself at the table, leaning forward with an expectant look on his face.

“You gonna count my bites, mom?” Hotch muttered, lifting the spoon. It did smell good, whether he cared to admit that or not. Morgan shrugged.

“Depends,” he muttered and he left it there. Hotch regarded him seriously, trying to figure out what his endgame was. He'd hardly been quiet about how he felt about Hotch over the years, good and bad. It wasn't like him not to just come out and say something but he was holding back now. At first his visit felt logical, he'd been stood up for a run, he was worried but that wasn't it, it didn't fit with his behavior. This was premeditated, he'd come in with a purpose. Whatever was going on in that head of his, Hotch wasn't sure he wanted to know, not if Morgan couldn't just come out and say it. Instead he took a bite.

And another. Before long he was eating and Morgan had ceased scrutinizing him, instead was rambling about a beautiful woman he'd seen on his run that morning like this was just what they did, shoot the shit, talk about women and life, maybe even sports. Hotch just kept eating, finished the bowl and leaned back in his chair feeling satisfied even if his stomach did still hurt. It wasn't worse, anyway. There was nothing to be done for that. Morgan was pushing the Vicodin now that he had a tummy full of food and he'd seen it coming but he still didn't like it. He was perfectly capable of pushing through, wasn't really keen on the idea of being high out of his mind for hours on the couch, but maybe he could just sleep through it.

As Hotch took the pill and chased it with a sip of water, he wondered when he had started letting Morgan bully him. He wondered who put him up to coming, really – Rossi? No, he'd just come himself, he had no qualms about invading Hotch's space but he'd been by the night prior and they'd had a nice time. Prentiss? He did push her away awfully hard, she was overbearing and pushy but he knew she would have no problem busting down his door. Penelope maybe, she was always badgering him to take care of himself. If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have had the tea and bananas in the kitchen to begin with, she'd been dropping shopping bags on his desk almost daily since he returned to work. Little things from the farmer's market or grocery coop, fresh fruit and strange exotic teas, fresh baguettes, little cellophane envelopes of artisan crackers for him to munch on at his desk. She could do that, but she couldn't tell him to eat it, for that she'd need Morgan.

Because he wouldn't take no for an answer. He tucked Hotch back into his spot on the couch without asking, just pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and made sure the cord for the heating pad wasn't tangled in his legs before leaving. He'd done what he set out to do, he'd forced Hotch to eat, to care for himself even just a little and it wouldn't last, he'd be back, but it was one day at a time.

“Reid?” Morgan asked, leaning casually against his car, phone pressed to his ear. “He's fine. I got him to eat a bowl of oatmeal and take his meds, you can stop worrying now. See you Monday.”

[starbright-cobweb]

The Guns of Navarone is the gift that keeps on giving in terms of, politics I guess. When I first became completely attached to it, I thought of setting up a pan-fandom LJ - it was called Jaw Jaw - for very shippy vintage war movies (and i still think about trying to infiltrate Band of Brothers) But what quickly became clear is that really, there aren't any. That is, there's lots of films with no female characters and men in close-quarters situations but...unless you have your slash-goggles duct-taped to your face, there's nothing there. Whereas what I'm seeing in Guns of Navarone...is there, it's there distinctly - not necessarily a consciously gay plot and proof that my OTP is canon, but something very different from other films of its ilk (and I've seen a lot of them!)

One thing that's standing out for me this week is the radicalism of its politics. My favourite tone for war films is an in-the-middle place of neither too jingoistic and enthusiastic nor too gruelling; a Saturday afternoon war film, of which many were churned out throughout the 40s-70s, this golden age where WW2 was relevant and emotionally simple, and before mass-media frontline footage and Vietnam made anglophone filmmakers reconsider how they depicted the topic. Navarone is smack in the middle of this phase, in 1961 - blending this old-world of cheery chaps on stoic adventures with an anticipation of the anxious moral mire to come. Anyway, I remember horrifying a former-soldier running a school trip when I was a teen by suggesting that interpersonal relationships were far, far more important than loyalty to a country - an idea I'd picked up from Navarone - and I think at the time I was very unaware of quite how shocking that concept is to the way we think about wars and nations. I wasn't a very cool teen, politically; but that seemed certainly True. & now I'm writing some fanfic about another protagonist - the crack assassin who's tired of killing - except, the more I look into it, the more there seems there's more to it. Brown is an Welshman who fought in the Spanish Civil War - which means he's an ideological communist who went over there as a volunteer, about as courageous and committed as it gets. There's an undertone, that was invisible to me before I started looking into it, and before my own politics matured. That's not just "when you stab a man you're close enough to smell him" war-weariness, that's the beginnings of a no war but class war consciousness. Brown broke the law to go to Spain, because his loyalty was to his cause not the crown. People like him were banned from the British army, specifically due to fears of politics like this: that they might abruptly figure out, and start influencing others, that rank-and-file Germans weren't the enemy, but other working class people with very little power of any kind. That they might figure out their key loyalty is not, in fact, to the Concept Of Britain or to the Royal Family or to the British Army, but to higher causes, more compassionate and humanist ideals. That Nazism needed defeating, of course, but that was one step in a war and the British Empire was next. Anyway, my husband keeps having panic attacks about conscription. And out of nowhere, he brings up Brown. We watched Guns of Navarone on our first date, and it continues to be flattering to me how well he remembers it. It's a testament, I think, to the rarity of what Navarone is saying anywhere in our media culture or general political consciousness; and it sneaks it in by being a men-on-a-mission-movie for dads. But what it's really about is the accusation that Brown faces: "what right do you have to make a private peace?" To determine that you are not the property of your country - that countries, perhaps, do not exist - only people. And that you decide the bonds you make with them, regardless of how useful those bonds are to people in power. And how existentially terrifying it is to nations when their people develop the 'wrong' bonds, bonds that can't be weaponised. I don't think I appreciated fully how electrifying this film's implications were when I was young.

[solesurvivorpaigeargot]

HOLY HELLO Sketchy friends, followers, and fans! It's that time again, time for...

SHIPPY SATURDAY!

The heck is happening here? Here's an FAQ~ Wanna support the event? Here's my Ko-fi!

That's right, it's FINALLY the last Saturday of the month... and I've decided it's high time our Quotable prompt evolved into a Dialog prompt! This is gonna work a lot like previous Quote prompts, but with an extra twist, so please make sure you read the guidelines for a valid request before sending in!

ONWARDS!

To make a VALID Shippy Saturday request, please send me the following in an ASK to my ASKBOX:

The COUPLE you'd like me to sketch up ---- OC? Heck yes! Canon? Hell yeah! All characters welcome, so long as they're from Fallout ---- OC x OC? Cool! Canon x Canon? SWEET! OC x Canon? DAMN RIGHT.

The NUMBER of the dialog snippet you'd like me to art them saying ---- Got more than one favorite? You may list up to THREE in your ask, in order of preference, to help the artist avoid repeats <3 ---- Still can't pick? Send in 'Dealer's Choice!' and the artist will pick one for you.... oooor possibly make up some fresh dialog on the spot ;3

What KIND OF RELATIONSHIP your couple has with each other ---- Romantic? Platonic? Professional? Familial? Rivals? Neighbors? Despite it's name, Shippy Saturday is about all kinds of human connections, not just the romantic ones! ---- Is your couple part of a larger OT3 or poly group? Tell me who else is part of the relationship; they probably won't get arted, but they might add their two cents to the scene from off-frame XD

IF YOU'RE SENDING IN AN OC!! ---- Send your request ask FIRST, without reference information ---- THEN send your OC's reference information to me via my Tumblr IM ---- Don't have any reference pictures, but you can type of a written description? Great! I love working from written descriptions! :D [ No, really, I do. Give them to me :D ]

After that, you can leave all the rest to me! :D [ I.e Please do not request poses or specific actions ]

Hokay? HOKAY! With all of that out of the way, let's get onto the dialog snippets! These are taken from various things I enjoy, as well as some of my own work. These quotes have been modified to gender neutral pronouns, to remove most proper nouns, and for brevity.

[ Some of these quotes have multiple speakers! That will be shown like this! "Speaker A" -- "Speaker B" ]

"Yeah, well, I'm a victim of circumstance" -- "... I thought you called it your pecker."

"Here, you look cold."

"You are so lucky I love you." -- "Damn right."

"You know the routine." -- "Yeah! WE do all the work, YOU get all the credit!"

"I want you with me, but... I'm scared." -- "Trust me. Trust me to take care of myself." -- "I trust you, it's the rest of the world I'm terrified of!"

"No breakfast?" -- "I did it yesterday-- bologna and beans, it's your turn." -- "No... It was eggs. I did eggs... over easy." -- "The hell you did! Bologna and beans, it's your turn!"

"I like the kind of person who can handle themselves... think on their feet."

"So you were ahead of me." -- "I don't know about ahead, but I've been behind you ever since you fried those mannequins."

"Don't make me say it out loud..." -- "... I can say it first, if that'll help."

"Nooooooope... five more minutes." -- "We were together all night." -- "Didn't count... I was sleepin'."

"Well, this is very serious" -- "IT IS!" -- "You, you destroyed a door." -- "Colonel, we're talking about a test on an armored vehicle, that will carry people into combat." -- "Right, but this door is property of--" -- "The shell barely penetrated the door." -- "okay, but now it's all bent out of shape. How are you gonna get it back on its hinges?" -- "I'LL BUY THE ARMY A NEW GODDAMN DOOR!"

"Sorry, I thought... I thought you were trying to buy something I'm not selling."

"I'm busy." -- "Too busy to look up?"

"You can't kill people just because you don't agree with them." -- "You see, that was the ONE point me and the doctors could never agree upon."

"Would you ever consider having a drink with an enlisted solider?" -- "Depends... does the enlisted soldier think I need one?" -- "What are they gonna do? Kick you out?"

"Thanks" -- "No problem, anytime."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up-- one day it's gonna happen to you. Someday someone is gonna ask you, who is it? And a face is gonna jump to the front of your mind, and it's gonna completely sandbag you... I can't wait to watch!"

[to a peacefully sleeping person ] -- "Good moring, Mx. ___, this is your wake-up call. Please move your ass."

"I say we run for it" -- "Running isn't a plan, runnin's what you do when a plan fails!"

"... Normal Illinois, is that on the map?" -- "Yes, Sergeant, it is." -- "... is it normal in Normal?" -- "... Uneventful, I think, is the word."

"Now-- how many brahmin does it take to make a stampede? Is it like... three or more? Is there a minimum speed?" -- "Wish a stampede up your ass."

"I don't mind being a secret of yours."

[Right after THE BIG FUCKING KISS] ".... let's not make it a year before the next one, okay?"

"If we were serious about money, we'd quit being hired hands--" -- "Handymen! We are han-dee-men." -- "Oh whatever! We'd quit this and go find some real money."

"Please... don't go where I can't follow."

"Alone is fine! I can do alone, it's worrying after them that's got me all wound up!" -- "Have you considered that's because alone is NOT FINE and you don't wanna do it anymore?" -- "---!!"

"This is not the first time you've been here." -- "We've been down this road before, that is correct." -- "Several times, in fact." -- "I hadn't been keeping count."

"And you must be ___, I've heard all about you." -- "I deny everything."

"First time I saw you? I thought to myself, that's the kind of person BRICK WALLS jump outta the way of." -- "Figured you'd be safer behind me rather than in front of me?" -- "Damn right."

"Just keep looking at that beautiful sky; that's the sky that'll be over our roof when we're done." -- "What if we don't finish the roof? Then we can look at the sky all the time."

"Yeah, well... maybe a friend is what I need right now."

"Next thing you know the Feds will be at our door; Sorry, time to move out, Eminent Domain." -- "Down honey, down."

"Even a heat-seeking missile can miss a target." -- "... you taped so many hot-plates to the test target you could fry an egg at 20 feet, and it STILL missed by a mile."

"My dear, my darling, love of my life...." -- "What do you want?"

"What I mean to say is... you make here a better place to be. For me. Easier. Does that make sense?"

"Calm down, you make it sound like a war." -- "What do you people have against being prepared?!"

"This is not just a report, it's a deadly weapon." -- "Sir, an M-16 is a deadly weapon. A report is just a pile of paper, unless you plan to inflict a lot of extremely vicious paper cuts."

"Stupid son of a bitch, knocked himself out cold..." -- "Cold my ass, he's dead."

"Y'know, in baseball, a guy who hits .400 is consider pretty damn great." -- "In baseball the losing team isn't killed by their opponents."

"Hey... I love you. Did I tell you that today?"

This post is going online at 8 PM, June 24th, 2021, US Pacific time. The askbox will open for requests until 6 PM, June 25th, 2021, US Pacific Time. Get yours in now!

Arting will begin at 9 AM tomorrow morning, see you then! :D

-Loor

[dreatine]

I love reading your CM meta! I especially find the Cat/Spencer stuff interesting. I 100% agree there was a shipper in the writer's room. The BTS stuff from Entropy made me think that Breen Frazier always saw Cat as a romantic/sexual foil for Spencer. He's written all the Cat centric episodes (and Zugzwang so take from that what you will)

Thank you! I like thinking about meta behind shows. Especially when trying to figure out the writers motive for doing odd, out of nowhere things.(ie Date Night kiss and Jeid confession)

Remember he also wrote the Spencer having to kiss someone evil in order to help someone he cares about. Kissing Diane to help Maeve. Kissing Cat to help Max. There’s a pattern here.

Interesting that he was co writer of ‘Saturday’ too. But none of the Jeid episodes in S14/S15. Hmmm..

I agree with you about Breen Frazier seeing Cat as a romantic/sexual foil for Spencer. Frazier liked the bad girl/good boy trope I think. Actually, like with Eddy Kitsis on ‘ONCE’, he also liked bad girl with redeemed bad guy turned good guy thing. Seems like quite a few male writers might be trying to play out some fantasies here.

The one thing that makes me come back to against what Breen was trying to slyly imply in ‘Date Night’ about Cat and Spencer being attracted to her was what she did to Diana. It would be hard to see Cat and Spencer romance after ‘Entropy’ because of what she did to Garcia but since she was one of 4/5 who stalked Garcia, I guess one could plausibly write it in a way that Cat only played a small role compared to the other assassins. Hard but not impossible.

But once Cat kidnapped Diana, any romance would have to be off the table. Not only was Cat chief instigator but it was her plan, so everything that happened to Diana is 100% on her. How could Spencer ever think of someone romantically or attracted to after what she did to his mom? This is the person he loves most in the world, who he’s taken care of, revolving his life around her and her care, how could Spencer ever like someone who’d hurt his mother? That is the demarcation line that couldn’t ever be crossed. And if it Spencer did cross it, it would be a total blow up of his character. The hatred that we saw in him choking her is not something that just goes away.

So, that’s why I think Breen Frazier did that stuff in ‘Date Night.’ He knew that if he legitimately put Spencer together with Cat especially after S12, the audience would not only be upset but realize that it was so out of character for Spencer that it would be ruined. However, that little inkling of wanting to see them together was still there so he decides to write ‘Date Night.’ He gets a Cat/Spencer date in, gets Spencer to say some stuff about thinking about her, then a kiss. And he does it in a way to cover himself from accusations that he’s making Spencer like a murderer. The writers if criticized can say, “Hey, Spencer only went on the date, only said what he needed to say to keep Cat from leaving, only kissed her or she threatened to off the family, all to save the family. “ Since, we know Spencer’s character is to do whatever he has to do to save people, it’s not out of character for him to have to do it, And the fact that it was Max’s family? Made the stakes higher and Spencer’s actions more desperate to do whatever he had to do for the family of the woman he loved. Kinda like in ‘Zugzwang’ with taking off the vest. Kinda of like a “He loves/cares about Max so much, he’d do whatever no matter how terrible to get the people she loves back.” And making it a parent as well as a child, ups the stakes than say a friend.

And for me, since Erica Messer confirmed that some on her staff were Jeid shippers that convinced her to go through with that confession, it stands to reason she would greenlight a Cat/Spencer shipper to do a storyline where it could be seen as shippy.

I also have a theory of how this is different than Emily/Doyle. With them, it’s implied a little that Emily had some feelings for Doyle, nothing explicit but an inkling. With them, back in the day, Emily didn’t have anyone she was close to, so her liking Doyle wouldn’t have been seen as weird to the audience. Basically, they portrayed her as part of a team that was only thrown together temporarily for a case, so not as close as BAU. So, a romance wasn’t seen as odd because that was her cover as well she was kinda on her own.(does this make sense?)

However, once Doyle came back in S6, the minute he threatened Emily’s BAU family, anything that she had close to feelings for Doyle dies right there. Emily had the love and support from the team and no one was going to take that away nor was Emily going to cross a line here. Even they had the BAU team be very concerned when JJ came back to inform them of Emily’s role years ago with Doyle. Especially Derek. I’ve always thought Derek’s part in this storyline was to show the audience that the writers at the time do not condone an agent with a romantic interest in a terrorist. His whole thing throughout ‘Lauren’ was to show his displeasure of Emily’s actions in regards to Doyle both in the past as well as the present. It was like he was almost both the audience viewpoint as well as writers viewpoint that they wanted to get across that they aren’t in favor of romance here.

Interesting that 2 different show runners, handled a somewhat similar type situation differently. Edward Bernero who was show runner in S6, went one way definitively with this and Erica Messer, show runner in S15, went a less definitive way.

Peace. 🙏

[besidemethewholedamntime]

One last game of Tag? Agents of Shield #PartingShot

I was tagged by the ever wonderful bean that is @2minutes2midnight - thank you so much!!

With this tag game, I want to know the answers to these five (5) questions and then tag 5 or more mutuals. Wasn’t tagged but want to join? Join in ! Everyone is an essential part of this fandom! Name from @ agent.of.shield_ on Instagram ( @agents-of-fangirling ) who had a great idea to post a picture of yourself with a drink (or just a drink) and tag it #partingshot as a finale goodbye to the show (which I also am going to post tomorrow on IG).

Where were you in life when you first started to watching AoS?

I was 16 and sitting my highers (the ones you need to get into university) and was so unbelievably stressed out my box about needing those 5 As that, 3 days before my Biology exam, I decided to start this show that my online friend was absolutely obsessed with and reblogging all over the place. And I got hooked. Quickly. It was the Saturday I started and Sunday morning I was on ‘FZZT’ (all while studying). I finished binge-watching it all in time for the season 3 finale (which aired the night before my final Chemistry exam) and coming home after my exam to watch it - not even stopping to think about how terribly my exam had gone. I was so small and so stressed and so shy and AoS really gave me time to forget everything else and just enjoy something for once.

Where are you now?

I didn’t get my 5As but I still got into uni and honestly, AoS has been there through it all. I’m now 3/4 of the way through a Forensic Anthropology degree, I have a solid friend group and a job that I love. I still have those moments where it’s like I’m 16 all over again and so alone and afraid in the world, but, just as it was back then, AoS is always there to help me through it. 

What character development arc (or storyline in general) did you love the most?

This is honestly so hard to choose because I think of one and then think of another one, but Jemma Simmons is Amazing. The way she changed from a young scientist who wanted to follow the rules and make everybody happy, to somebody who wants something for her and knows that, sometimes, doing the right thing is not always following the rules but often deviating from that. I was re watching early Season 4 clips and boss!Jemma was absolutely amazing and so confident in herself, and I really love how she got that opportunity to come into her own. 

What will you miss the most?

Honestly? Everything. I love the whole buzz there is between seasons/episodes with everybody theorising and wondering how it’ll all play out. I love the edits and the fics and the playlists and all the wonderful beans who take the time to make these for everybody to enjoy. I love the cast and crew and how excited they are about the show and to share the things they have made for us. I love waking up on the morning after an episode is aired and going on Twitter to find out all that’s happened in it. I love all the gift exchanges the fandom does to celebrate this show we love. I adore all of the wonderful friends I have made because of this little show that could. This is the first fandom I have properly been in and made friends in, and the first fandom I’ve been a part of when the show is ending. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m going to miss all of it more than I can say. 

Favourite quote?

There are so many quotes that have resonated with me over the years as the show has progressed, but the one I have to pick is the first quote that ever did:

“Pasty? Oh, really? Well since when did you become so sun-kissed? Because I'm pretty sure that every minute of every day, you've been stuck in a lab right beside me. At the Academy, at Sci-Ops, this plane! You've been beside me the whole damn time.”

And it’s been four years(!!) and I’m still not over it.  The way it was meant to be an insult and was said like one, only for the both of them to recoil as they realise what it actually means. They have always been beside each other. They have always done this job together, no matter what, and now, for the first time, it looks like they could lose that. What I loved about the two of them, before the shippy stuff, was their deep best-friendship and I feel that’s conveyed brilliantly here. Everything changes in that moment, and it’s never the same again. Iain and Elizabeth portrayed it amazingly and I’ll never be over it. 

Thank you so much for tagging me, Zuza! You are one of the most wonderful beans I know and I’m lucky to do so! 

Tagging some more wonderful beans that I’m also lucky to know! (Please don’t feel obligated, and if I haven’t tagged you then please feel free to do it and say I did!):

@rathxritter @agentmmayy @justanalto @sunshineandsciencebabies @doctorofaos @ellsey @bobbimorseisbisexual @infinitestarsintheskye @daisylincs @blancasplayground @libbyweasley @ismaelmyblogisamess