#jac things

[whats-a-html]

[thisischaostragic]

okay....... so........ i think agatha all along is gonna have a happy ending....... walk with me here........

we know jac schaeffer is intentional about meta-commentary and structures very good character arcs. wandavision wasn't needlessly devastating; it was devastating because grief is devastating.

i was initially thinking that agatha all along was gonna be a redemption story with a general "selfish to willing to sacrifice" arc, but her morality doesn't actually seem to be the main narrative concern (which i think is cool btw). the story is about all of the ways in which agatha has walled herself off from vulnerability because she never wants to lose anyone again. so... whereas wanda needed to accept loss, agatha in fact needs to accept love.

and.... and... the decision to have this particular arc with a queer character, with a queer ensemble of outcasts, and calling the show a "love letter" to the community..... feeling like jac schaeffer and the very queer creative team might actually understand the dangers of writing queerness as perpetual tragedy...... if i am to take this all seriously............ then....... i am beginning to suspect that agatha all along may indeed be trying to say that it's not too late to find the people willing to love you as you are....... we will see.......

[walison-abigobaldo-iii]

Jac Schaeffer patiently waited for the marvel producers to give the green light to Agatha All Along season 2 to say with all the words that Rio is Nicky's mother

[aparticularbandit]

If Rio is Death and is after Billy for escaping his death.

If Rio cannot kill Agatha.

If they maintain the end of the initial Road story.

I think we might see an Agatha sacrifice for Billy.

Because she would be keeping him alive when she couldn't keep Nicholas alive.

Because dying might mean she could be with Rio.

Because finding a way to reverse her siphoning would mean that she can control it.

Because Rio cannot kill Agatha.

(Rio cannot kill; Rio takes what is already dead.)

Because if Agatha dies, Billy can probably bring her back.

If Billy dies, Agatha cannot bring him back.

[tiredmoonslut]

I hope everybody here having a blast over Agathario has also been Around Enough to know that this miracle of representation in a Marvel project is incredibly delicate. It is of the UTMOST importance that our enthusiasm and excitement is reflected in viewership. In currency. It is EXTREMELY easy for monoliths like Disney and Marvel Studios to shut this kind of shit down due to "poor viewership". Don't let them. Don't LET them. The numbers have to be irrefutable.

So. Tune. In. Every week. Every Wednesday. Watch it multiple times in the days after. Continue to scream about it online. Be. Fucking. Loud. That's the only language Marvel will understand. So do not hold back.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

also really enamoured with agathas absolute inability to value tarot. intuition and interpretation, way too wishy washy for someone who lectured wanda about how long it fucking takes studying all the theory before you can do any moderately impressive magical acts

[we-are-inevitable]

it is not lost on me that a lot of my followers are young, and american, and i just wanted to hop on and say: we are going to be okay. i know this is a really scary time right now, but we’re going to make it. we have to. staying alive and thriving is the best way to shove it in their faces until direct action can be taken. there’s a reason we’ve all been drawn to newsies, right? the biggest lessons we can learn from the show are that community is vital and necessary for resistance, resilience is difficult but worth it, and even small actions can make a difference.

when trump was elected the first time in 2016, i was 14. i was 14, had just figured out i was queer, wasn’t touching my gender identity with a ten foot pole, and lived in a small town in deep-red Oklahoma. i was terrified for my future- and rightfully so. so many people were hurt and harmed, so many lives were ruined, and there was so much bad that it was hard to see the good— but the good was there. i saw it in mutual aid from all ages, whether it was kids sharing food in the cafeteria so everyone could eat or community organizers in my tiny town banding together to save the animal shelter. i saw good in neighbors helping neighbors, mowing each other’s lawns and bringing home-cooked meals to mourners in the wake of a loved one’s death. i saw good in activism all over the country, people marching for what’s right and sharing information and resources for people like me: young people trapped in places that made direct action difficult.

if you can only do one thing over the next few years, focus on your community. build each other up. support your queer and trans friends. support the people of color around you. listen and learn from disabled folk, from indigenous folk, from elders who have fought for our rights before and will do it again. it’s scary and overwhelming, but you don’t have to be the perfect activist when you’re focusing on surviving. just be there for your people, and your people will be there for you. it’s easy to feel helpless when you’re young and can’t do much, but you can do so much more than you think by being a community-minded person. i love you, i’m thinking about you, and i am wishing you all safety and comfort over the next few years.

[tremordusk]

Have you all ever thought that Jac might have written an agathario fanfic, with all that content she keeps saying that got cut.

Wouldn’t be surprised if she did have the unpublished drafts somewhere 👀

[likea-black-widow-baby]

I wanted to take a moment to respond to a complaint I've seen a lot of people having about AAA.

I've seen a lot of posts, mostly about Agatha or Rio, talking about how they were "done dirty" by not having enough time dedicated to their stories. There were gaps they wanted to see filled in, or explanations for moments we see that we never get the background for. And I 100% sympathize and even agree. But people are blaming Jac and the writers for that and it is just so not their fault.

I would personally blame the prevalence of short-form storytelling that's dominating TV nowadays. I think we've actually forgotten how long seasons of TV used to be. The first six seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had 22 episodes each! And that's why it was so good! We got to spend so much time with the characters, learning their backstories and seeing them learn to care about each other.

If things feel rushed, if storylines feel incomplete, I would blame this shift towards shorter TV seasons. It's not Jac or the writers' faults-- they were given 9 episodes to pack in backstories and relationships for seven characters, set up the Young Avengers, build a satisfying story for a preexisting character (Agatha), answer questions left by MoM and Wandavision, and, you know, be a coherent TV show with a plot that made sense, all with a smaller budget than most other Marvel productions. This has been a problem for ten years-- all that pressure is the reason why Joss Whedon left the MCU. (Not defending Joss, just saying this trend has existed for a while now).

All this to say, if you feel unfulfilled with how AAA handled things, please don't blame the people who worked on it. They did everything they could with the short leash they were given.

[grilledcheeseandguavajelly]

Listen I know that hcs are meant to be fun and the point of them is not to be canon, it’s just to explore the characters and the world, etc, and I am more than happy to sprinkle them into my fics and just go about my day— but oh my god hearing jac shaeffer confirm my hc and knowing the fic I wrote about it is canon now even though we didn’t see it in the show?? I’m reeling

[thestarlightforge]

New rule.

I’m not gonna base what Marvel stuff I get into on if Young Avengers characters are involved anymore. Not without reviews at least. That way lies disaster.

Instead— It’s based on if Jac Schaeffer or her team are involved, from now on. Because WandaVision is probs in my top 5 all-time favorites. Captain Marvel 2 was lovely, I thought. (My heart for Carol to get to kiss Maria on screen, but alas, censorship—and not the writers’ or director’s faults.)

And Agatha All Along… Oh my HEART. AGATHA ALL ALONG 😭 I’M GONNA BE SICK /POS

[lunaechaos]

absolutely loved the breakdowns The Wrap did for the first two episodes of Agatha All Along i swear 😭 for one i love to hear Jac talk about her creations and it's a delight to know what went on in her mind and what was her creative process like when she made Wandavision and now A3. she is absolutely brilliant, smart, witty and has a vision few in the industry do.

[can i also say how much i loved her indulging in theories and giving us Wanda truthers hope like she isn't one herself. this woman knows how to set up chaos and anticipation like no one else]

[the-red-thread-that-strangles]

Family trees

The day Akai Shuuichi is born, his father plants a sapling.

A weeping willow, as is custom for his time of birth, raised from seed to sapling by the young couple while Mary was pregnant, put onto the earth at the same time as the child. While not as strong as the oak, or as regal as holly, they hope their son will grow to be just as flexible, able withstand the adversities life will surely throw at him.

.

As the child grows, he's taught to take care of his birth tree. It grows rapidly, and needs trimming each season so it stays healthy, so perhaps sooner than he should, Akai gets to hold the pruning shears, snipping away where his father tells him to.

.

He plays under it - he's too young to climb it yet, and so is his tree. It sways gently in the wind, a mosaic of light and shadow across his face as he weaves through the branches, laughing without a care in the world.

.

He gets a baby brother, and really annoys his mother that one time by hiding the both of them under his willow's branches.

.

By the time he's ten, the willow is as tall and lovely as it could be. In spring, the catkins bloom, small and hidden, without fragrance, but still buzzing with activity. The child is equally unobtrusive, unbothered by the insects. One of the branches has been allowed to grow sideways, close to the ground, and Akai is often found lazing around on it, napping or reading, shielded from the rest of the world.

.

By the time he's 15, the willow has reached full maturity.

It's only natural, then, that so has the boy of days-gone-by. He leaves his roots behind, branching out to find the one he lost.

.

Akai runs to the last place he called home when his cover is blown, to lay low and recover for a few months.

His family home has been abandoned for more than a decade now. Family friends have been checking up on the grounds to make sure there are no squatters, and a gardener came by every year to make sure it doesn't look completely abandoned up front, but the small garden behind the house is wild and overgrown.

He spends his time trying to undo the damage time and abandonment have wrought.

Some are beyond help.

His father's mighty oak has fallen, withered from within. He spends a week cutting it down into firewood for the winter, although it's likely he won't be here for it.

His brother's rowan needs pruning, having grown wild and unfocused, though there's a lovely set of wild roses that's grown beside it. He can't bear to cut them all down, so he just trims both of them down to size.

Below his willow, small white flowers that dwell in twilight have grown, their blossoms wilting in the late summer heat. It's a shame he didn't get to see them bloom. Poison ivy has started wrapping itself around the bottom of the tree. It might be poisonous to humans, but it won't hurt the willow while it's healthy, so he leaves it be.

If it's weak enough to be consumed by the ivy, then so be it.

.

He's not there to witness it, but when he's thirty-two, the willow is struck by lightning. The ivy burns with it.

.

The next time he visits, the willow is starting to wilt, itself.

Lack of care during its prime hasn't done it any favours, and it's probably really only still in shape because the ivy has wound itself around the stem quite tightly. In fact, the burnt and blackened parts, destroyed past recognition, are covered by it, making it appear healthier than it really is. But Akai has cared for his tree for years and years; he knows it will soon be time to cut it down in order to not become a hazard.

It's a bit of a shame; birds are singing in its branches, bugs and bees have made it their home, and when he kisses his lover behind a veil of leaves, for a moment, the world narrows in on just the two of them.

(He should've brought Rei sooner.)

.

They stay for a month, their first real vacation in years now, watching as the leaves turn brown and then, finally, fall.

While they wait, they tend to things - the house, the garden, themselves and each other. It's a far cry from the lives they usually lead, bringing with its own set of challenges, but they manage to weather them, together - even if it is strange and sometimes difficult for the other to be around at all times. This is the path they've chosen, the one they want to travel together. They're not backing out easily.

Which is good, because getting the necessary phytosanitary documentation for bringing a branch-turned-sapling to Japan is a bit of a pain.

They leave the old willow behind, cut up into firewood, the ivy grown in too deep to separate. One day, their ashes will be scattered together.

.

They dig a hole, together, and plant the sapling in the company of friends and family.

Just like the child it was bound to, long ago, the willow comes back from the dead in their new home. Theirs is a small house in the outskirts of Beika, much more of the grounds they purchased together dedicated to creating a garden.

For now, Akai tends to it. Eventually, his husband will retire there, too.

.

The seasons come and go, the years pass, and eventually, the willow is large and lovely, though a little lonely, standing tall and proud on its own. Flowers may grow in the meadow beneath, but all trees are kept a certain distance, to preserve its majesty.

It's Rei who makes the suggestion one evening as they're reading in the study, pointing to an illustration of 'àitason', the married vine.

For rather obvious reasons, they've never quite gotten back into drinking heavy liquor, but on occasion, they do enjoy a glass of grape juice, fermented or otherwise, and Rei's been pushing for growing some grapes of their own. He used to leave his husband free reign (leading to lots and lots of hydrangeas), but now that Rei's retired too - and hey, even a couple years early, Akai's counting it as his win - Rei's got his own ideas for what to do with their garden, nitpicking and nagging in that passionate way of his that just shows how much he cares. Akai wouldn't have it any other way.

So he agrees.

.

Despite their shared experience - Rei getting dragged in under grumbled protests many times throughout the years, though he eventually relents that it is actually quite pleasant to work side by side with Akai again - it takes them several years and just as many attempts to get the grapes to stick.

It tastes like defeat, every time they watch the vines wither and die, never even reaching the willow's tall branches. But if they've kept anything from the tumultuous days when they first started dating, it's their attitude to keep trying and trying to make things work. If a couple of years in a long-distance relationship, stationed on different sides of the globe, haven't managed to disentangle the pair of them, a streak of horticultural failures won't break them either.

They're revitalizing their life together, now that they can, and this challenge is just adding spice.

Shuukichi's twins save them, eventually, clambering up the tree to wrap the vines several times around a branch to steady it. Akai had insisted he could do it just fine, and then Rei had knocked the walking cane from his hand and caught him as he stumbled, stealing a kiss and handing the can back. While Akai prefers Rei's breathless 'yes', his cheeky 'no' is almost as good.

And when the vines still hold onto the stem in a gently curved arc after a storm, and Rei kisses him silly, well, it's just the two of them again, like so many years ago.

.

The willow turns twenty-five, and the pair of them renew their vows beneath its branches. They've taken good care of it, this time around; it will last a good twenty-five more, though the same might not be said for them.

Weeping willow is an accurate name for the occasion- they've never expected to make it this far, and now that they have, it's worth celebrating their roots.

The days are getting longer and harder, but their love is still growing softly and steadily, gently winding around them.

They've managed to produce just enough grape juice to give each of their guests a shot glass' worth.

.

The willow is growing old and rugged, despite good care.

Their gardening days are over, and so the plants are mostly left to their own devices unless family comes by to help out - which is every two weeks, when Masumi comes by and brings her kids. Grumpy teens they may be, but Akai once was one himself - he knows how to get them to open up about their interests, when to drop a spy fact to impress them.

Akai's been slowly losing his vision, leaning on his husband for support and descriptions. Rei's laughter, quiet, but true, by his side when he strings them along is his greatest joy. Maybe he did learn a thing or two from his husband's machinations.

.

They sit, one afternoon, under willow and vine, taking a nap. Akai doesn't wake up anymore, finally having found peace.

Rei keeps his husband's ashes, so when he, too, passes, they can be scattered together.

He doesn't have to wait long. Without Akai to grasp for support, there's little to hold him anymore, and soon he, too, collapses.

.

Together, they return to the earth from whence they came, under their beloved willow tree.

[sunflowerscottie]

Hey if Rio saves Agatha…Will they kiss then…

[aparticularbandit]

Meanwhile, I'm here for what I expect will be Nicholas and Billy parallels.

I'm here for Agatha "I have successfully walked the Road before" to have attempted it with Nicholas (or FOR Nicholas).

I'm here for this to be why she doesn't particularly want to walk the road with Billy.

I'm here for Nicholas having also been super into witchcraft and his super powerful witch mama just like Billy is a fan.

I'm here for Agatha having lost Nicholas when she walked the Road.

I'm here for Agatha having walked the Road before to try and bring him back getting paralleled with Billy walking the Road to get Wanda back.

I'm here for Agatha getting the Darkhold and getting into dark magic to get Nicholas back the same way that Wanda tried using the Darkhold to get her boys back.

I'm here for Nicholas being the reason Agatha wanted to absorb Wanda's power. (She wanted to see how Wanda was making the Hex. Necromancy is different than what Wanda was doing. Maybe Agatha wanted to learn for her own son.)

I'm here for Agatha being jealous that Wanda CAN get them back, even though she wasn't successful with Nicholas.

I'm here for ignoring that the Salem Seven are Nicholas's kids in favor of -gestures to above-.

I'm here for Agatha adopting Billy.

I'm here for Billy standing up to save Agatha when Nicholas comes for her.

I'm here for Agatha choosing to save Billy instead of Nicholas. Because Billy reminds her of what Nicholas was. And she wants to keep him from turning into what Nicholas did.

I'm here for Agatha having the "I can be good" "No, you can't" conversation with Nicholas for familial trauma parallels.

I'm here for Agatha "does not have a coven" Harkness who already destroyed her first coven (her mother's coven) still trying to build a second coven to walk the Road and doing so successfully.

I'm here for Agatha Harkness narrowly escaping Nicholas by the skin of her teeth when he tries (and succeeds) in destroying her second coven as they walked the Road (but she escaped when her own mother did not).

I'm here for Agatha seeing her mother in herself and hating every moment of it.

(I'm here for Wanda thinking she understands Agatha's most traumatic moment but not grasping the true layers of it being repeated again.)

I'm here for the beating heart of this show being generational trauma and narrative parallels.

[saltpepperbeard]

:(