#jack and will should've gotten together

[scootersscooter]

Something beautiful about Will and Jack not getting together in the original Will & Grace. Something cowardly about them not getting together in the reboot.

[negrowhat]

BL Things that Disappointed Me in 2024

I couldn't let this year end without telling y'all about the things that truly let me down this year. Things that brought down my viewing pleasure.

Dr. Plakao from Wandee Goodday. Specifically that he didn't really get some type of real storyline outside of helping Wandee with his troubles. I wanted to see more of his dating and romantic life. We finally got a taste of some Ace representation and we only got crumbs. I just wanted more of his romance with Blue. I did. I really did.

Third from Century of Love. WTF was he even there for? All he did was get attacked by San and then turned around and sheltered the man and helped him lie to his own friend. Did my boy even get a happy ending? I just felt like he was a waste of a good character.

RyuAtomZen from The Rebound. Because we all saw how the series was selling us on a poly situation between Ryu, Atom, and Zen. The chemistry between the three was great and it was clear that their "love triangle" wasn't even a triangle just 3 points in a circle. All the pieces were there. We saw Zen spend time with Ryu and Atom. We saw Atom spend time with Ryu and Zen. And we saw Ryu spend time with Atom and Zen. They practically all slept together throughout the series and Granny was ready to adopt Atom and Ryu. IT WAS RIGHT THERE and the poly relationship wouldn't have been the craziest thing to come from that series let's be fucking real. Let me move on because I'm ranting now lol.

ViMook from Love Sea. Oh they pissed me off and it was really because they dragged on whatever cat and mouse manipulation game ViMook had going on until the very end. There was plenty of time for them to do all that and move on to being actual girlfriends or at least dating before the series ended. Like I loved them together but their entire storyline was not the fucking vibe. Here's to hoping we get more of Chanya and Aya in 2025.

'Khun Dad' from SunsetxVibes. I'm not even going to get into how disappointed I was with the series overall (I don't have the time) but I will talk about how fucking YUCKY it was for Salin to CHOOSE to call Sun 'Khun Dad' throughout the series. This is the ONLY time I've ever been disgusted by a daddy kink because why in THE FUCK would you want to call your man 'Khun Dad'? It was without a doubt the WORST thing about that series. Gag-o-rama.

Tonkla from 4 Minutes. I was upset that he died. He was the only one whose death was not justifiable to me. There were worse people in that series who lived. He could've run away. He could've fled the country with Korn (or not). It was possible. I have strong feelings about Tongkla not surviving after everything he went through.

TattooAran and HopeSave from Jack and Joker. All I'm saying is that as long as those eps were we should've gotten more development with the 2 other side couples. HopeSave were an established couple and we didn't even get a kiss between them?? And why did they make TattooAran so fucking lowkey?? Why did we get played with MarkProm AGAIN??? A beautiful love story could've flowered between them because the material was all there and we got NOTHING. I'm pressed.

Not seeing Mick in the maid costume in Every You, Every Me. A maid costume was mentioned, even teased, so where the fuck was it? Why didn't I see Blue in the maid costume??? They could've given us a taste. Mick would look so amazing in a maid costume.

[archerandthefoxx]

So I was up from 12am to 5am reading ACFTL and I honestly can't believe that it's over now. Like my brain can genuinely not wrap my head around it. The book I have been waiting for months. The series I've been reading since it was only ouabh. I honestly can't believe it's done now.

So these are just my thoughts on acftl: (SPOILERS BTW)

So I want to start with things I didn't like because I like to end things on a more positive note:

● There was a lot of potential for other things that Stephanie has hinted to in the past (just basically a lot of unanswered questions) that I can't simply believe isn't anything bigger:

> "too familiar nickname" when Jacks called her Little Fox for the first time. This had the potential to be something really big, but the fact that Eva has no connection to the fox is just leaving me confused (as in being the first fox or a reincarnation). Like how. Especially when it was heavily hinted to in the past.

> "heavier than an apple should've been" when Jacks threw an apple at Eva in ouabh. I don't understand what this was supposed to mean if it just ended up being nothing. Like why did it have to be mentioned

> An Evajacks wedding was heavily hinted to in ouabh (even the reverse dust jacket for bn acftl). I just would have liked to see that.

● For me, some of the plot points just felt very disconnected and not linked, to the point where it felt like just random things being stringed together. Like it felt like things were just happening, as if I was reading different books at the same time.

● Acftl kinda feels like after tbona, Stephanie went online and saw everyone's theories and aimed to do the exact opposite. Sometimes I felt so confused because it felt like random facts and points were just thrown at me. Or this felt like this was the original version that Stephanie wrote.

●Why was time personified constantly?

●Where was my boy, Luc? I love him and I missed him so much. I was waiting for him to pop up on the page or make a creepy/funny appearance ("Hello, Eva" - I always laughed when he pulled stuff like this).

●Even though she's not relevant, where was Marisol? You can't tell me she just disappeared. I would have just liked to know what happened to her.

●Aurora's role felt so random.

●The whole thing about Jacks's curse felt to simple and barely touched on.

●I would have liked a better answer on Jacks’s obsession with apples. Like I understand it was left like that on purpose but it would have been nice.

*

●I would have liked the return of Scarlet and Tella. They were the ones who sent Evangeline to the Magnificent North. It would have been nice to see them after all of that and Jacks and Tella could have gotten some sort of closure.

●I love how everyone was hell-bent on the fact that apollo is lysander. The fact that everyone believed Apollo was Lysander started to make me doubt it. When Lysander appeared on the page, I was surprised tbh.

● Tbona established their clear feelings for each other and acftl was them just accepting it.

●Anyways I need domestic evajacks. Like 20 chapters. The bonus epilogues healed me.

My theories that were actually right: ●Tiberius slashing Apollo’s back

●Aurora having some type of magic and being the true villain. I was so sure that she was obsessed with Jacks and placed the Archer's curse.

~"My turn" if you know, you know. Something I never knew I needed. And I need more. There is never such thing as too much Evajacks.

Me having mixed feelings about acftl hurts so much because I've been waiting for this book for so long (I've been reading this series since it was only ouabh). I haven't been able to wrap my head around the fact that this is the official book. Ouabh and Tbona were soo amazing. They were so magical and fairytale like and I cried after I finished acftl, not just because the series was over (because I did) but because it didn't live up to the expectations I had and the high standards that ouabh and tbona set.

This series will always and forever be the series I go back to when I'm sad. Regardless of how it ended, I loved it because Stephanie created a new definition of magic and fairytale for me.

[musicfashionmonsters]

Love Should've Brought You Home

Random short based off of a JH story I'm free styling writing. It has nothing to do with the story itself, though some facts from the latter may present themselves.

Warning: Angst ahead

Synopsis: Jack is engaged to his former high school girlfriend Simone after they reconnected and began dating in their adult years. As the stress of their careers, wedding planning and their relationship weighs heavy on them, Jack begins a five month affair with a woman he met at a party. Growing tired of lying and sneaking around, he decides to tell Simone everything.

Main Cast: Jack Harlow and Jourdan Riane (as Simone)

Cameos: None

Mad Love Library Masterlist

Jack laid back in the comfortable California king bed staring up at the ceiling as Stacey laid asleep next to him. He looked over at her, though his mind was elsewhere. He thought about Simone, his fiancee of a year and a half and the only woman to have gotten him near the full point of marriage.

The two of them had known each other since they were 14 years old and dated from ages 15 to 17. They'd broken up months before graduation due to their differences in plans and Jack's acceptance of gaining attention from other girls. She wanted to pursue a degree while he wanted to chase his rap career. Though the two supported each other's dreams and remained faithful to each other, the relationship didn't last.

Others thought they would be the high school sweethearts that stayed together through college age and eventually get married and have kids. The two of them secretly thought that as well.

Simone Le'vine was the name she was given at birth and what the world knew her as, but he knew her as Monie. A Louisville native of both French and Haitian decent with the brains, beauty and spirit to match. Hypnotizing brown eyes, brown skin, beautiful naturally curly hair that he liked to run his fingers through when it wasn't in a protective style, long legs with thick thighs and an ass he loved to grasp in his palms. She'd earned her degree in both business and psychology while in college, though she became a model due to being discovered shortly before her graduation.

She had been on nearly every famous magazine cover known in and outside of the US and even walked a few runways. Though her height was only 5'7, designers were mesmerized by her with every step she'd take.

The two of them reconnected at the 2022 Met Gala with plenty of hostility from her end which he understood. A civil conversation between them eventually took place and they renewed their friendship, though Jack knew he wanted her back. Simone wanted him back as well, but didn't want to come off so eager. Which she wasn't.

They'd gotten back together and things had been great the past three years. Until Stacey came along.

He'd met Stacey at an awards after party nearly five months ago and the two had been sneaking around ever since. She met her around the time that he and Simone had been bickering and having petty arguments back and forth. It didn't help that Simone had a male friend that she was close with who was also in the industry she was in. The guy rarely hid his desire for her or the fact he wanted her to be with him instead of Jack.

It pissed him off more when he would comment on every photo she would post or the photos he would take with her, alluding to there being something more between them. Sometimes he wondered if there was.

He looked over at Stacey's sleeping figure once more, shaking his head to himself. She wasn't even half of what Simone was and he began to think with his head up top instead of down below.

He needed to come clean with his woman and stop whatever he had with Stacey.

He flipped back the covers and got out of the bed to put his clothes on. As he dressed himself, Stacey turned over, her eyes fluttering open as she looked at him.

"Leaving so soon?" She asked in her sleepy voice.

"Honestly, I should've left sooner." He admitted honestly and grabbed his New Balance sneakers, "Look, I might as well go ahead and tell you now. This is the last time we're gonna see each other."

Stacey immediately sat up, covering herself with the comforter.

"What? Why? Did I do something wrong?" She asked him, concern laced in her tone.

"It's not you that did something wrong, it's me. I should've never started this...thing with you. I have a woman waiting for me at home that I love and I'm here with you. This should never have happened." He shook his head, slipping on his sneakers.

"Wait, Jack. Just wait. What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that what you and me had is done. I'm going home to my woman and I'm telling her everything that's been happening."

Stacey scoffed and chuckled humorlessly, "And you really think it's that easy? You think she's gonna just welcome you with open arms? From what you've been telling me, she never has welcomed you with open arms."

"You know nothing about her or the history we have." He defended, "That woman knows me better than anybody else and look at what I'm doing to her. It took a while for me to get her back and this is how I treat her. I'm going back where I belong and you and me are done."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, leaning back against the headboard.

"Fine, do whatever. When she kicks you out of the house and breaks up with you, don't come crawling back to me."

"Believe me...I won't. Made the mistake of crawling to you once, a second time is not needed to remind me."

He grabbed his phone, keys and wallet and walked out of the bedroom towards the front door. He left, got into his car and immediately started the engine before pulling out of the driveway.

When he arrived back to Simone's house in the last night hour, he used his key and carefully the front door, quietly closing it behind him. He tiptoed through the spacious entryway, making sure not to make too much noise.

Suddenly, the lights in the living room came on and he looked to see Simone sitting on the large sectional with her arms crossed. If looks could kill, he would be a dead man.

"Studio session must've ran late, huh?" She questioned him, the look of anger swirling in her eyes.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck and walked closer towards her, "Yeah, about that...um, I wasn't at the studio."

"No, really? I had no idea." She expressed in fake shock, tilting her head.

"Cut the sarcasm, Monie."

"You don't get to tell me that. I don't wanna hear shit from you except her name. Who is she?" She badgered him.

He sighed and looked down at his feet.

"Her name is Stacey." He confessed.

"And how long have you been seeing her?"

The guilt began to sit in more and he sighed a second time.

"Five months." He mumbled.

Simone chuckled humorlessly, pinching the bridge of her nose and bit her bottom lip as she attempted to suppress her rage before directing her attention back to him.

"Five months? Five MONTHS?!" She exclaimed, standing up from the couch. "We're supposed to get married in six months and you've been sleeping around on me with some random bitch?!"

"I know, I know! I'm sorry! You and I were arguing so much back and forth and neither one of us wanted to listen to each other. I met her at an after party and she just-"

"Distracted you from the problems we had when you should've been talking to the main one you have the problems with?" She finished his sentence, crossing her arms.

"Baby, princess...I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did it, I really don't. I know I should've been thinking with my head up top and I should've talked to you first instead of letting her come between us. I don't want her. I even told her I'd come clean to you and I broke things off with her because I couldn't live with doing that to you."

"Clearly, you could live with it. You made it five months, what's a lifetime?"

She scoffed deeply and pushed past him, marching up the stairs to the bedroom. He was hot on her trails, following her upstairs and watched as she grabbed a suitcase from the walk-in closet.

"I know I fucked up, there's no excuse for it. I was wrong and I'll do whatever to make this right. Just please give me another chance." He begged her.

Simone remained quiet as she packed some clothes and other belongings into the suitcase.

"Come on, baby. Why are you packing a suitcase? Where are you going?" He asked, keeping his eyes onto her.

She chuckled humorlessly again and looked at him.

"I'm not going anywhere. See, I don't know if you forgot, but I paid for this house and I pay for the bills that go with it." She reminded him and pointed at the suitcase, "These are your things."

"Baby, please don't. I don't want her, I don't need her and I don't even love her! I love you!" He expressed desperately.

"You love me?! You love me, huh?! Is this how you treat somebody you love?! Sneaking around and fucking some other bitch behind my back?! Lying to me for months?! If that's your idea of "love", I don't fucking want it! Love should've brought your ass home to me instead of her for the past five months!" She raged, angrily zipping up the suitcase.

Tears filled both of their eyes as she took the suitcase off of the bed and placed it in front of him.

"That should be everything. Anything else, I'll have it sent to you."

"Princess, I don't want this. I don't want to be without you. I don't want anybody else, I want you. I want you forever. Let me know what I can do to make this right. I swear I'll do anything." He pleaded, cupping her cheeks into his palms.

"You know what you can do?" She caressed his cheek.

"I'll do anything. You name it."

All of a sudden, Simone reached back and slapped him as hard as she could. Jack stumbled back slightly and held his reddened cheek, looking at her sorrowfully.

"You can take the suitcase and get the fuck out of my house. I don't want to see you right now, if at all." She spoke calmly, her voice trembling in anger and betrayal.

"Princess..."

"Get out, Thomas. NOW." She demanded.

They always used each other's middle names whenever a situation at hand was not one to be taken lightly. It was also a way to show just how upset one or the other truly was by something that was done or said.

Knowing there was no changing her mind, Jack grabbed the suitcase and began walking out of the bedroom.

"Oh, I just remembered. You did forget something." She spoke up.

She reached for the seven carat engagement ring on her finger and threw it at him. It bounced off of his chest and he looked down at it, feeling more tears fill his eyes. He grabbed the ring off of the floor and looked at her as the tears fell down her face.

A burned memory that he'd never forget. He had no one to blame for it but himself. Usually, he'd be the one wiping her tears from someone else causing her harm. Now, the cause of her tears were on his hands.

Not another word was said as he held the suitcase in his hand and walked down the stairs and out of the door.

If she never wanted to see him again, he knew she would've been well within her rights. He did the one thing he promised he wouldn't do ever when they got back together.

He broke her heart and her trust.

[vanyzvat]

FAILED TIMELIFE

A short fanfic in which Jack gets erased from the universe, and within minutes, the story adjusts itself, and Henrik loses all memory of him ever existing.

Trying to work with the current canon events, so I thought of a concept, in which c!Jack gets erased from the timeline mid-story!

This is loosely inspired by Doki Doki Literature Club, specifically how Sayori was erased from the game, and then the script had to work itself around that gap.

Henrik carefully opened the door to the hospital room, where he found Jack still lying on the bed, unconscious. Every time, he hoped it would be different. That things could go back to normal...

...But, they never did.

“Top of zhe mornin', Jack...!”

“You know... Chase has grown tired of imitating you, your fans miss you, we miss you. Have you ever thought of zhat? Well, you should've thought about it before zu went up and died...!”

...Henrik sighed. Being mad at the circumstances wasn't going to change anything, but if things continued down this route, he might have to just... Give up, and let Jack go.

He really didn't want to consider that as an option just yet.

He administered some medicine through the IV drip before walking out of the room, heading right back to his office.

He was still studying Jack's records, trying desperately to understand what he was missing. His brain wasn't supposed to do that, his heart wasn't supposed to beat like that...

Suddenly... His computer turned off, and...

...

What? What was he doing again? He swore it was something important, so why couldn't he remember...

Oh! Right, he was studying [][][][]'s records...

...Whose records? Wait...

What was going on? Why couldn't he remember his name? Henrik tried to think, but he just couldn't piece his memories together. This man... He couldn't remember anything about him. His name, his face- It was like his memories were suddenly tampered with.

Henrik scratched the back of his head in confusion as he sat up from his chair and stepped out of his office, heading back to the hospital room he had left moments prior. The patient was in this room- So if he just walked inside, he should be able to refresh his memory.

...What?

There was... No one there.

The hospital room was completely empty, with no sign of anyone ever being there to begin with. What just happened? Had Henrik lost his mind? But he swore there was someone...

Maybe he had just gotten too tired from work.

...

...Why was he in this room again?

[phregnancy]

''he definitely did because that’s what got more views and paid the bills'' totally agree but maybe he should have found a topic that didn't involve his friends personal business?? you know what i mean? chris and pj were being shipped as well online maybe he should've used that for views. PJ never touched on phan the way chris did and their relationship still remains till this day

i do know what you mean and he did! the vast majority of his content didn’t mention dnp at all and it was him exploring his humor and different bits and having an audience, but every now and then there’d be a phan mention (whether it be phan specifically, dan, or phil) and his primarily phannie audience was waiting for those crumbs. chris and pj did use their own ship for views, quite a lot lol people loved the idea of kickthestickz and phan being real fantastic foursome etc. i assume chris thought phan was a similar shippy joke between two friends. i don’t think chris mentioning phan vs pj not is the explanation for why these friendships work/didn’t work. pj is one of phil’s best friends, if not his actual best friend (excluding dan from this conversation) - their relationship has always been solid and dan’s friendship with pj has gotten stronger over the last decade, i’d be willing to bet that pj knew about dan and phil dating from the start, because he was there before dan came into the picture. chris is close friends with pj and was good friends with dan and phil, through pj. they did hang out occasionally separately and made content together, but pj was the commonality between them. a lot of their good friends made phan jokes (tomska, jack and dean, dodie) and they’re still friends with all of them, i think this has more to do with chris’ feelings towards them/the audience or a non-phan related issue that would’ve ended that friendship.

[queermania]

Hi what are your thoughts on Lebanon? (the episode not the town hehe)

the first time i watched it i loathed it. now that i've had time to sit with it, i've really come around. i think it has a couple flaws, one of them fatal, but i still like it.

it's first flaw is that it's too ambitious. there's not enough time for what it's trying to do. the town as a character is a really neat concept and one they could've gotten a whole episode out of (and they should've). and the concept of john coming back for a day is also a really neat concept, and again, something that needed at least an entire episode to breathe. smooshing those two together makes it all feel underdeveloped and rushed.

the second flaw, and the one that is fatal in my opinion, is the john and mary of it all. i know a lot of people are bothered by sam and dean forgiving john and having nice family moments with him but i'm not. those were moments that they earned, not because john deserved them, but because the boys did. sam didn't need to have another shouting match with john. he'd already come to understand why john did the things he did. he'd already forgiven him. hell, he'd already forgiven him to his face even if john didn't know that was happening (in 5x13). this just let sam have closure.

the same is true of dean. dean didn't need to yell at john and tell him all of the ways he fucked up. i mean, the fact that john ruined their lives is already pretty clear. dean is in his forties and is living in a bunker and still hunting. but dean got to look his dad in the eyes and say, "this is my life because i chose it and it may not look the way you think it should but it's mine. i don't need your approval." he got to choose the family he built for himself over his dad and that's so so special to me.

none of that was about forgiving john, or even forgetting everything he did. it was about closure.

the only one who let john off the hook was mary. john gave her children the exact life she didn't want them to have and he did it in her memory. he turned her into nothing more than an effigy to mourn. she's been told, to her face, that what john did to her children was child abuse..... and she has no thoughts about it? i didn't need to see sam and dean yell at john and spew every hateful thing they ever felt because i already knew how they were feeling. i'd watched over fourteen seasons of it. but mary's surely complicated feelings about john are never addressed at any point in the show and that's fine up until the moment they bring john back to stand in front of her, face-to-face. i know there wasn't enough time in the episode to get into it but that's a problem. you cannot load the chekhov's gun of john and mary being forced together for breeding purposes + have mary learn of every horrible thing john ever did to the children she didn't want to be hunters, all in her name, and then not pull the trigger. you just can't. and it never gets addressed before or after this episode either. it's just a glaring neon sign. and it makes the whole thing feel like john apologia.

all that being said, i do love the idea of the town as a character and what it reveals about sam and dean. i loved seeing sam and dean have those moments of closure with their father. i loved seeing a glimpse into an alternate timeline. i loved the utilization of cas and zachariah. i loved that in the end dean chose cas and jack over his father. there was a lot of good in the episode.

[angelsdean]

about the ensemble cast missed opportunities.

cas and dean babysitting baby cas and baby sam while sam, garth and bess hunt down some monster of the week with a very sniffable smell.

jack and claire sibling team up to save dean and sam, who turned into adorable frogs after being cursed by a fairy tale related object. meanwhile cas is on a girls night out trip with eileen and rowena, but they are disturbed by one of rowena's ex girlfriends.

crowley centered episode where he is bored running hell and takes a vacation everytime he wants to sip on his cocktail and relax, someone else calls him for help/info etc

yesssssss i want all of that !!!

deancas babysitting adventures would be sooo funny. i'm torn between cas wanting to actually put all the baby knowledge he gained from those parenting books to good use OR him just angel-magicking away any issue. like baby is fussy bc they have gas? angel magics them all better. teething pain? not anymore! hungry? sims-cheat-style fills their hunger bar. gross diaper situation? grace-zaps it clean again. meanwhile dean's got the other twin and he's running around warming up a bottle with one hand and bouncing and singing to the baby in the other arm. he's got sweat and baby spit-up all over his shirt. cut to cas sitting on the sofa peacefully reading to his twin. i think cas has baby sam while baby cas is making dean's life a living hell jdkfdkg

frog shenanigans: jack keeps frog!dean and frog!sam in his jacket pockets. dean keeps grumpily ribbeting for attention. sam is trying to communicate in morse code because he thinks he knows how to turn them back but jack is just like "you guys are sooo cute" and puts them back in his pocket. both claire and jack are also Very Determined to solve this together on their own and insist they Cannot Under Any Circumstances disrupt cas, rowena, and eileen's girls night out trip even tho rowena def could undo the curse in a second.

crowley, poor crowley. let the man drink his little fruity drinks in peace! he's about to close the gates to hell himself if one (1) more person calls him! he should've never gotten the demons on a cellphone plan

[omarwolaeth]

Hearing some thoughts on Rin's lines about Clear Wing.

I don't disagree that it feels off-putting or wrong (whichever you prefer to describe it as), but I imagine her reasoning doesn't necessarily boil down to seeing herself as above Yuugo (though it's very possible it partially is; they both lived in a dog eat dog world - the City - and they're commons to boot - so they're fighting one another to duel Jack up until she's kidnapped, even if Yuugo says they were going to do it together), as much as it boils down to her being the responsible one.

Yuugo really isn't, so it might possibly be that, given how dependable of a monster Clear Wing (and Crystal Wing) are, Rin thinks her burn deck is a better fit for such a monster than Yuugo's luck based deck. The answer to this is obviously no as soon as anything to do with Zarc or Ray comes into the picture (Clear Wing and Yuugo are both cut from the same quarter of the Supreme King Dragon, even if it was by En Winds.)

Or, Rin is probably jealous she doesn't have effect negation in her monsters, and is bullying Yuugo about it because she's seemingly never really dealt with her frustrations in any other way (because Yuugo's always there.) Or maybe because Clear Wing is a unique card and Rin wants a copy too.

Alternatively, this is somehow the same thing as Yuuri's sadistic streak; a hold over from their Original self, and Ray decided Clear Wing should've been one of her monsters. As if Zarc would lose one of his dragons without a fight, though.

(Additional note I think is important but couldn't figure out where to put it in; Rin's defeat line in the overworld implies to me that Yuugo expects her to win her matches, like it shouldn't be hard for her. Yuugo's never gotten angry at her even if she's gotten angry at him multiple times and she's probably afraid of what he'd think - either this hasn't happened and she's worried all his frustrations with her would ungracefully tumble out, only putting up with her because she wins and can get food on their table even if we know that wouldn't happen - he loves her so much he'll ramble about her to anyone given half a chance, or it has happened before and Rin doesn't want to experience that sort of thing again, as though it would embarrass her.) (So her self esteem is either rock bottom when it comes to losing. or she's got too much pride to admit any of her losses to the one person who adores her)

[magerightsyeah]

To the End of the Line

Rating: T

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077

Pairing: Johnny Silverhand x Fem!V (platonic or romantic)

Warnings: Suicidal ideation, discussions of grief, hurt/comfort

Summary: V finally gets to mourn Jackie properly instead of hiding from her feelings

Her mouth was too dry for the pill she forced down her gullet, but she didn't care. V downed a gulp of rum from her flask to wash it down. Vik had probably said something about not doing that, but she needed something to dull the pain.

She hopped off her motorcycle, looking up at the Columbarium. Her hands were shaking and she almost regretted doing this alone. Maybe she should've asked Misty to come, or maybe Panam. A part of her even regretted taking the Omega Blocker, Johnny's ribbing always had a way of distracting her from whatever was bothering her.

But she couldn't let him see this, she needed something to herself, something that was all her own. Something he couldn't fuck up.

It wasn't the first time she'd gone to visit Jackie, but it was the first time in longer than she'd like to admit. It was the first time since right after his ofredna.

His niche was fairly out of the way, Mama Welles having scraped together all she could to get the nicest one she could provide. V had offered to pay, of course she had. But Mama Welles had refused, of course she had. The whole family was always far too proud for their own good.

"Hey Jacks." She said quietly, hands folded in front of her.

She raised her right hand and ran it across his name, glowing a soft blue against the grey concrete. She then moved to her throat, gently thumbing the bullet necklace Misty had gifted her. Once again she found herself missing Johnny's ever-present snark.

“So, I did it, kinda." She laughed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I mean, I'm dyin' so that's not great, but every fixer in town thinks I'm the biggest thing since Morgan Blackhand, so that's cool."

She paused, but she wasn't sure what she expected. An answer, maybe? Maybe she'd gotten too used to the dead talking back, meeting two in the last couple weeks. Three if she counted herself.

"Um, you got your drink, choom. I get it every time I go to the Afterlife, which is pretty often..." She sniffed. "Misty misses you, talks about you all the time. Mama too, I try to be there for them but… you know I was never good with the emotional stuff. They've been helping each other, I think…. it's nice, I think" She shook her head. "Of course it's nice, what I meant was just-"

V leaned her head against the concrete. "Fuck, Jackie. I miss you, I miss you real bad." She shuddered, unable to stop the tears that now fell at full force. "It's hard, Jacks, goin' on without you. Sometimes I'll be on a job and I'll turn to look, expectin' to see your stupid grin at just blowin' some gonk away but…… And then I just get this sinking pit in my chest that I just can't get rid of."

She shuddered

"I fucking hate being alive without you, Jackie." She pulled back, gently running a finger over his name. "Sometimes I can't wait for this stupid chip to kill me. I don't know if I agree with Mama and Padre about what comes after, or even Misty. But, fuck, at least it'll stop hurting so fucking much."

"Shit, V."

She jumped, instinctively drawing her gun and pointing it in the direction of the voice.

Johnny didn't flinch, why would he?

She didn't bother to wipe her eyes, allowing her tears to trickle down her reddened cheeks. "What the fuck are you doing here? I took the blockers."

He shrugged. "They wore off a couple minutes ago, thinkin' they probably aren't as effective anymore.”

She cursed, holstering her gun and turning away from him. "So you couldn't give me a little bit of fucking privacy then? Not a single moment alone to mourn my fucking choom? Haven't you ever lost someone before?"

"Yeah, that's why I know you shouldn't be alone right now."

There was a sincerity in his voice that she hadn't heard before, at least not in her own memories. There was something in his though, but she couldn't quite reach it.

“C'mon, I need to show you somethin’”

V furrowed her brow, but followed as the engram led her through the Columbarium to the very back.

“Alt’s niche?”

He shook his head, and pointed to the one up and to the right of it.

Robert John Linder 1988 - 2003

She racked her brain, trying to find someone by that name in his past. But she came up empty.

“Who was he?”

“That's my name- or, it was. After I deserted I changed it, I left that man behind. I saw friends die, I saw brothers die. Better men than me, men who deserved to live way more than I ever did. And they died for nothing, for a stupid fucking corpo dick measuring contest.”

"Johnny-“

“So yeah, V, I lost people. Even before Alt and fuck I think those hurt more. I know how it feels, that survivor's guilt that fuckin' eats you alive: But I couldn't die, I knew I was meant for bigger things. I knew I was gonna fuckin' do something with my life. And so are you, V”

She couldn't meet his eyes.

“You ain't gonna die, V. We're gonna find a way to fix this"

She lifted her head, smiling slightly. "We huh?'

It was hard to tell behind his dark sunglasses, but V was pretty sure he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, V. We. I'm with ya, to the end of the line.”

“To the end of the line.” She agreed.

[purposefully-lost]

She couldn't move. There was a heavy, leaden weight in her limbs, leaving them pinned to the ground and unyielding no matter how hard she tried. It was to the point that she wasn't even sure how she'd ever managed to move at all, since thinking into existence did nothing. She was thinly aware of a vague, throbbing pain somewhere in the back of her neck, but it seemed to come and go at random. Sometimes it was so excruciating she wanted to scream, and sometimes it felt like she'd simply laid down to take a break in the middle of her hike. She wasn't sure how long she'd been here. The sky had gotten darker.

She'd never been so tired of the inside of her own head. She didn't know where her bag was or what had happened to it-- she just remembered wandering off the trail, and suddenly she'd woken up here- but she had a book inside that she would've killed to have in her hands just then. The Return of the King. Jack had let her borrow it. She was so close to the end...

Jack. He liked to come out here, she knew. They'd never come together, at least not yet, but she wanted so badly to go camping with him. They'd talked about it. He had this place he wanted to show her, this meadow. It sounded so pretty.

She couldn't really see the stars above her. Not only was there a canopy of leaves blocking her view, but her vision had gone sort of halfway blurry and halfway dark. She didn't think her eyes were working quite right anymore. But that was okay. All she needed to be able to see was light. Then she'd know, if a shadow passed over her, that someone had found her. He'd kneel down next to her and talk to her in a soft voice. Stroke her cheek and pull her close to his chest and tell her that it was okay, if she was scared, but she'd be alright. He was going to carry her home. When she was stuck in the hospital getting back her fluids and being henned over by her mother, he'd sit at her bedside and read her the last few chapters of the book he'd given her. He'd hold her hand.

Chris let her eyes fall shut and tried again to move her hands, but it didn't work. She should've kissed him when she'd had the chance.

She could hear crickets, and the distant call of an owl. The swish and sway of leaves in the wind. Very quiet, she could hear the running of the creek. And the cracking of a branch as something walked towards her.

Her eyes flew open again. Involuntarily, unable to really feel it, her breaths quickened to something almost panicked. She strained at the corners of her version, turning her head what miniscule way she could and enduring the pain that followed to try and see. It'd be him. He was going to kiss her, her first kiss, and everything would turn out alright. She'd tell her mom that she thought Rabbit's home wasn't a very good place and he'd be allowed to stay over whenever he needed to. They could sit in the living room and listen to records and re-do what they hadn't done on the night of the formal. She waited, so certain it'd be him, but it was the large, cloven hooves of an abnormally sized buck that stepped close to her.

Maybe it was just the way she was staring up at it, but he was huge. Large, elegant antlers that should've weighed him down, really, but he didn't seem hindered. The deer lowered his head until he was staring right at her, his hot breath on her face, then lifted again. It let out a long bleat, seemingly just at the night, then started to lay down next to her. His large, heavy head rested on her chest.

He was gorgeous. He wasn't what she wanted. Chris realized she could see even less than she could moments ago and a cold panic took hold of her heart. She closed her eyes to block it out, putting all of her effort instead into trying to make a sound. Nothing but air-- nothing but gasps that made her lightheaded and dizzy. She tried to look up again and couldn't- or maybe she'd finally lost her sight and just couldn't tell the difference between open and closed. Some sound finally escaped her throat, the last she knew she'd ever make, and it sounded almost like Jack.

[paperandhis-paper]

Arc-V Month Day 11: Legacy for the Future

(Is that a motherfucking Jojo reference?)

Ok, so, I've spent most days of @arcvmonth so far gushing about the show, so warning: negativity ahead.

I'm overall mixed on the Legacy characters. I don't think they ruin the show as some people claim, but I happen to have problems with... all of them? There are also positives, ofc, so ANALYSIS TIME!

Crow: he's... fine. His screentime is fine. His role in the plot is fine. Everything about him is just fine. My only real complaint is that I wished Shun had won and gotten another duel with Yuya, but it's whatever. He's really only part of the Lancers because he's a legacy character, as I don't think he's the most interesting Synchro character.

Jack: by far the best Legacy character, Jack somewhat takes the role of rival from Reiji, down to having 3 duels with the protagonist and a 3000 ATK ace. Giving him the role of a mentor is an interesting take on the character, although it was weird going back to 5D's I don't know how people feel about him beating Sergey (I know some people hated that when the episode was first announced), but somehow it works fine? It's an interesting subversion, because you'd think Yuya would be the one to do so, but instead Yuya's role is to be the one to unite the people together. My only problem is that it's... kinda weird that Jack just lets the City remain a shithole. Like, do something my man! I also wonder if Yusei wouldn't have been more fitting for his role, but I understand they didn't want to have the protagonists so Yuya wouldn't be overshadowed.

Kaito: I never cared for Kaito in Zexal (granted, it's been a long while since I've seen it), and Arc-V Kaito has similar issues. Namely, being a bit too powerful. He never has a solo loss, and here's where being a legacy character begins to hurt. He had a reputation for being unbeatable (Tron cheating aside), so the writers know they can't have him lose easily. He even almost beats Yuya! The best thing about him is that he provides a mirror for Shun; he's basically edgy-bird Shun from the beginning, but in some ways worse. He steals spotlight a fair bit, but his most egregious case of this is to another Legacy Character, so whatever.

Speaking of...

Asuka: done dirty, and so unnecessarily. Seriously, let her duel Dennis! Him vs Kaito isn't a TERRIBLE set-up, but she needed a big win so her presence doesn't just feel like fanservice. Her getting carded also sucks, but I get the writers kinda had to (can't have a Ritual duelist face Zarc, after all), plus it gave Yuri some much-needed depth.

But at least she got a win, even if it was against mooks. Unlike...

Edo: oh boy. See, I don't actually have much issues with his arc. It works, so long as you ignore that it has basically nothing to do with Edo's character in GX. No, what I wanna talk about this is his duel with Yuya.

I'm gonna be blunt: he should've won that duel. For one, he didn't get a single win in the series (tbf, his opponents were strong, but still), but most importantly, earlier on we saw with Kaito vs Shun that even if you lose you can still reach your opponent. And Edo got development himself by accepting Entertainment Dueling and grabbing an Action Card. The fact that Yuya wins by grabbing an Action Card of his own just rubs salt on the wound. Plus, I just like the idea of Yuya never beating an arc villain (other than Zarc, sorta), his role instead being another (then again, I guess then people would use that to claim Yuya is a weak protagonist and whatnot, so maybe it was for the best).

Also, both him and Kaito interrupting Yugo and Yuri's duel is dumb. Saving that rant for later.

So yeah. Legacy Characters were a mixed bag. I think the writers struggled with giving them the prominence they deserved without outshining Arc-V's massive cast. That's a very fine line. But hey— we got Legacy Support! That's always a good thing, right?

[owengrose]

Shipper tag game

tagged by my friend @sunriseverse (hi friend!!!!!)

What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore?

johnlock. listen. i'm aware. i am aware. Thankfully I've grown as a person and now I don't care about anything or anyone associated with that mess of a show.

Which ship would you consider your first one?

uhhhhhh aang/katara maybe? I really wasn't interested in romance that much until like middle school, but I do remember thinking katara and aang should get together as a kid.

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

probably destiel. Actually wait no, guaranteed destiel.

Do you remember the first couple you saw fanart of?

i was in middle school when Twilight came out, so I can almost guarantee you somebody drew Bella and Edward fanart and showed me. I don't actually know this for sure though, this is just a guess. The first fanart I actually remember seeing was Percy/Annabeth.

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

lmao no. it's just not worth it literally ever

Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?

mmm not really. i have ships where I just don't see it, but I don't usually feel all that strongly about it.

Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

Sam/Jack from Stargate! This is entirely @kbunny10 's fault, she got me into Stargate and now I have Feelings.

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

I mean, always. The biggest ones are probably Morgwen, Sam/Jack, destiel (i thought i was free but then nov 5 happened so......). But I'm not super actively a shipper these days

Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

no bc everyone i've ever wanted to get together did so in my heart. Sam and Jack should've gotten together on screen, but In My Heart they did get together so it's chill.

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

not that i can think of! my romantic tastes tend to be relatively consistent honestly. maybe the gay ones before i became not homophobic (and then not straight! yayyyyyy!!!!! :D )

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would've been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

again, none that i can think of! I'm kind of a normie tbh

What is your favorite crack ship?

so this isn't actually a crack ship but like. Captain Hook and the daughter of Snow White/Prince Charming on OUAT got together. That was a real thing. They really said "you know who we should pair with our main character, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming? Famous villain Captain Hook. Yeah we're gonna make him young and sexy so it's fine." That was a real thing!! It aired on television and I was REALLY invested!! Man OUAT was such a wild ride lmao

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

i thought it was destiel but i checked by ao3 bookmarks and apparently newmann are still unbeat!! shoutout to the year where i was obsessed with those gay little scientists, i went absolutely NUTS for them. My newmann fics that I bookmarked are more than the #2 and #3 ships COMBINED.

What do most of your ships usually have in common?

there's usually an earnestness or a sincerity that either one or both of them has. where one person is just like very open about how much they like/admire the other, or where they engage with people so trustingly, or something along those lines. sometimes its sincere4snarky, sometimes its sincere4sincere, and sometimes its "i'm only earnest around you"

What you absolutely hate in a ship?

lack of communication. it drives me INSANE. unless they're miscommunicating about their feelings for each other, then it's great. but otherwise i hate it bc like, this is your partner!! talk to them!! what the fuck!!

Tagging: @kbunny10, @inesathammar, @cawfeeann, @lacigarra, and anyone else who wants to do this!

[archester-creations]

Rated: G

Pairing: Solar Dawn (Sky Lark/Sun Wukong/Yang Xiao Long)

Word Count: ~2k

A/N: Day five: healing @rwbyrarepairweek ; security breach au, animatronic Sky

Not every kid likes Sky. A small portion actually hates him, though he is supposed to be a jester and not a clown and Yang had thought the clown-fear thing was mostly myth. That was before she started working for Scarlatina Entertainment as a technician. Yang rubs the back of her hand against her forehead, smearing grease. "Alright, can you move your fingers?"

Sky raises his left arm, the bare brown metal glints slightly under the lights of her workshop under the Pizzaplex, and flexes his fingers. They move without so much as a creak and he smiles. "Fixed."

"Thankfully. Now on to the second one," Yang says. "Can you turn for me?"

Sky nods and turns around to straddle the chair, draping the already fixed arm over the back. He drops his head to rest on it, too. "I still can't believe those brats managed to hurt both arms before a parent got to them."

"Neither can I." Yang clicks her tongue. If Ruby or her did that, they would've been grounded for weeks. Not that either of them would've ever done it. Even as kids they were both way into robotics.

Actually, thinking about it, if they were young enough they might have tried some pretty stupid stuff to try and see how it worked. Yang still remembers all the pens and mechanical pencils she tore apart—a few of which were Weiss' that she ended up being unable to fix. There is a knock on the wall and Yang calls whoever it is in without turning from Sky's wires.

"I heard Sky got hurt again?" Sun asks as he walks into the room.

"Yeah," Sky and Yang sigh together.

"Have you sewn his sleeves?" Sun asks.

"Yeah." Yang vaguely gestures to where they sit on the table, next to the still open sewing kit. "Can you put it on him?"

Sun nods, knowing that while she can't see it, she would know he did anyway. "So did you scare them or were they just bastards?"

"Bastards." Sky sighs. He holds his arm up so Sun can attach the sleeve to his forearm. "Preteens."

The cloth is long and flowing; it attached to under the metal at the joint between the animatronic's upper and lower arm and Sun carefully feels along the seam to reattach it. His fingers flutter against Sky's metal and wires. It doesn't hurt, but it does tickle, and while Sky tries to stop he can't help squirming.

Yang clicks her tongue. "Babe, stay still."

"Sun is tickling me," Sky giggles, the noises bubbling up.

"Sorry." Sun removes his fingers and sits on the table in a clear area. Cloth hangs loosely from the spots Sun didn't get to. "I'll finish after you're done, Yang."

"Thanks," Yang hums. "And sorry, too, I forgot how ticklish he is there."

"So did I for a few moments," Sky says. He lays his arm in his lap, the action making a hollow ting sound. It's easy to forget he's ticklish even like this. "Are you almost done?"

"About. I need to go slower with your arms, I don't want to hurt the wires so your fingers malfunction," Yang says and smiles at the panel she's messing in. "You need those to flip off Cardin."

Sky hums. "I do, so I guess I can sit here patiently for a little longer, if Sun entertains me." He glances up at his other boyfriend and Sun snorts. It's an ugly type of snort, it always is, but it also always makes Sky feel a little like he's overheating. He loves that snort.

"What do you want me to do?" Sun asks and Sky forcefully keeps himself from shrugging. Yang hums in appreciation.

"Anything. Yang's too focused to talk to me," Sky says.

"Then what if I…" Sun pulls three balls out of seemingly thin air, sliding off the table as he does, and Sky laughs. "juggle?"

"Isn't that supposed to be my thing?" Sky asks.

"You don't have a monopoly on juggling." Sun taps a finger against his beak.

"Alright." Sky rolls his eyes in mock annoyance. "Show me what you got."

"Cool." Sun smiles and it's just as sunny as his name. Sometimes Sky thinks Sun should've gotten the security jacket with the sun patches instead of the lightning bolts, but he likes that his security guard matches him. "I've been practicing this."

Sky shifts in the seat, not enough to disturb Yang but just enough to sit up. Sun throws all three balls up together and catches them before he starts truly juggling. As an animatronic, Sky is nearly an expert at juggling. It's one of the things that's just in his coding. He's literally built for agility, hand-eye-coordination, athletics. Anything a jester might need to physically entertain. Whether or not he was actually good at any of that stuff while he was human, he doesn't really remember, but he thinks he was. All that is to say, Sky loves watching this. The balls arc and spin, Sun moving with them and never missing a catch, even as he has to lean into the table for one. The movements speak of time, speak of hours, speak of passion. The way Sun smiles, bright and large and all laughter just without the sound, speaks of passion. Speaks of fun. Sometimes Sky fumbles a ball, but his body is really just code. It's wires and metal and made for errors like that to happen as statistically seldom as human error can achieve. And with Yang as the main technician– as his only technician– Sky rarely makes a physical error. Meanwhile Sun juggles without error because of practice. It is beautiful, though Sky knows neither of his human boyfriends would naturally think of it that way. But that's okay. Sky knows people see beauty in different things and he is more than okay with being the only person to look at Sun and see his forever messy hair, curls bouncing as he juggles, and know that it is beautiful.

A spark in his wires causes him to look over at Yang, who flushes and looks away from Sun and back at his arm, and Sky thinks happily that she does see it, too.

Sun juggles for a bit longer, and on the ball's last loop he throws each of them higher and ducks under them, mouth wide, and swallowing after all three falls so it looks as if he's eaten them. One of his arms is behind his back, and Sky knows it means he's simply caught them. Something he thinks is more impressive, because that means Sun caught all three without looking. With all three balls in his hand, Sun takes a bow. Since Yang has his right arm, he claps by hitting his thigh. His palm makes a soft ringing sound against the metal there, like a bell.

"I'm done," Yang says at that moment and rolls her chair away. She stands and stretches, her spine and elbows making a popping sound. Sky smiles and flexes the fingers of his right hand, rotating the wrist to make sure everything is working probably, though he knows it is. The only reason he checks is because he knows Yang wants him to.

"Thanks, Yang," Sky says.

"Anything for my girlfriend," Yang says, smiling cheekily as she adds, "Plus it's how I get a paycheck."

Sky puts a hand on his chest to gasp dramatically. "Is that all I am to you? A job?"

"No," Yang says, sudden seriousness belied by the way her lips are twitching upward again. "You're also an annoyance."

"How dare, good sir! Sun, do you see how our boyfriend treats me?" Sky bemoans, making Sun snort. If not for the weight difference, Sky would’ve leaned against Sun just to really sell it. Instead he tips backwards in the chair.

“She’s being terribly cruel,” Sun agrees and that gets Yang to break, laughter filling the room as they join in. it always feels good to be silly with them. Natural in a way that isn’t related to his job, though that is very natural, too. It’s just different. Sky waves his arm and the cloth moves in the air like a wave.

“Finish my sleeves for me?” Sky asks, batting his eyelashes. There is still humour in Sun’s smile as he takes the unattached cloth in his hands and continues to attach it to Sky’s arm while Sky tries his best to keep it still despite the tickling feeling, so he doesn’t pinch and hurt Sun’s fingers.

"You're so spoiled," Yang says, only half joking but fully fond and unrepentant as she is one of the two doing the spoiling, and bends down to kiss his forehead. Sky beams up at her.

"As I should be," he says with all the snottiness he can muster while smiling and being unintentionally tickled. It makes Yang snort. Sun purposely flutters his fingers at his wires and Sky gives a cut-off laugh, freezing up.

“Suuun,” Sky complains and Sun just smiles.

“Gimme your other arm?” Sun says. Sky sighs and holds up his other arm so Sun can connect the other sleeve.

[a34trgv2]

What I've Learned From My Parents Splitting

-It was years in the making

-They should've talked about the root cause of their problems and developed closure.

-My siblings and I were all caught in the crossfires and are dealing with the aftermath differently.

-Nothing anyone says or does now can erase the past

-My life has been permanently scarred by the separation.

-Feeling sad, angry, frustrated, upset, and depressed are all more than valid emotions during this time.

-My parents hate each other, they have since I was a kid and it was only as recent as 2018 that they decided that they could've live together anymore.

-I could've been an alcoholic by now because my parents split, but I never even sipped beer because even I know that wouldn't fix anything.

-The depression I experience on a daily basis for the past 5 years weighs me down like a tone of bricks.

-There never was a good reason my parents couldn't understand and forgive each other like they taught me and my siblings for all our lives.

-The last good Christmas I had was in 2017 with high hopes that 2018 would be even better; boy was I a naive moron.

-All my efforts to keep my parents together growing up were for nothing.

-It has never gotten easier.

-My Mom doesn't like talking about it and my Dad believes that this is a trial we're going through.

-This "trial" would've and should've been over years ago.

-In fact, my parents were considering going into counseling in 2021, then my grandmother died and it's back to square one.

-I haven't been able to keep a steady job for more than a year since my parents split.

-It's now my responsibility to help pay the mortgage.

-I can't go back to the carefree and campy mindset I had with Jack Frost and Fira unless my parents get back together.

-I've gained weight and lost days worth of sleep.

-My spiritual life has been in flux when it used to be straightforward before the split.

-Nobody on my Mom's side of the family likes my Dad, save for my Nana who likes everybody.

-Had I known the circumstances that lead to the separation years in advance, I would've set my parents up for marriage counseling immediately.

-I can't accept that I'm not responsible for my parents marital problems.

-I saw/heard them fighting all the time growing up, and I should've gotten in touch with my grandparents who would've deescalated the situation.

-I put my parents on pedestals, holding them to an unreasonable standard about everyone else.

-The birth of my niece, their first and so far only granddaughter, was NOT a joyous enough occasion for them to let bygones be bygones and get back together.

-I don't know what else to say or do to convince God to end this "trial" and have my parents get back together.

-If this was a trial, it's unnecessarily long and redundant as my parents should've either gotten back together or officially divorced a year or 2 after splitting.

-There's an alternate timeline where my parents didn't spilt and Christmas 2018 was the best Christmas ever.

[daylightaftertherain]

finished s&b season 2, random thoughts below (spoilers obviously)

THE CROWS but esp wylan bc he's my son and I love him

not the biggest fan of how they ended up combining the two series together, the crows definitely deserve much more than this, and also I kind of hate how they're just pulling things out of both six of crows and crooked kingdom randomly with no regard for how the scenes reflected the characters' arcs

kaz and jordie though? TRAUMATIZING

idk why they included jesper's mom in there either, it was fun seeing him using his powers but the books do SO much better at realistically handling him overcoming his feelings of guilt and fear over an extended period of time with support from people he loves, rather than him suddenly gaining clarity because of a poison trip hallucination

also the last ep handled everything weirdly imo, like inej already hunting down slavers when that makes no sense for what her arc was in the books, and right after the "how will you have me" scene too (still iconic though)

wesper should've gotten their slowburn, but I will still happily replay their scenes until I feel something because I'm still a sucker for wesper being couply even if their relationship was super rushed

thank god for kit and jack doing the "just girls" scene during promo because the show's effectively eliminated any chance of that <3

ICE COURT ICE COURT ICE COURT ICE COURT >:D

JURDA PAREM

really really hope they handle wylan and van eck properly if we get a third season

overall I just think the writers either didn't fully understand the crows' personalities and stories and picked whatever was most popular within the book's fandom, which, yeah, you have to do some fan service, but this has zero regard for what people who've read the books actually wanted, and while I did enjoy watching, I really would've preferred their stories getting handled with care (even if it meant less screentime)

also can we stop with the whole pulling shit out of our asses that have nothing to do with adapting the books faithfully and don't even contribute to the plot of the show thank you

enough about the crows ahjsgjkhfdhf let's move on to shadow and bone

still despise alina with either mal or the darkling, I'm sorry but they both do not deserve her and she had better chemistry with nikolai in five minutes than those two ever did

tolya and tamar were some of my favorites unsurprisingly, they're iconic and I would do anything for them (and tamar getting her sapphic love story oh my god)

I also loved alina's interactions with the crew and basically anyone who wasn't mal or the darkling, she's thriving this season and I'm glad she's becoming her own person

nikolai was so well portrayed, really hope he gets his king of scars arc and we get to see more of him, but I think they should've kept in the bit where he was basically a volcra for a while (probabaly got cut because of budget or smth but it added so much to his character)

why would they kill off david (I'm half-holding onto the show/movie logic of not seeing the body yet but STILL) it's way too early in the overall plot of the book series, and I can't enjoy the show when they pull things from different points in the timeline without any reasoning behind it, it's just lazy and stupid. also genya did not deserve this much suffering in one season istfg

I skipped most of the darkling's scenes because that man pisses me off so much, but ben barnes did a good job at adding depth to him after baghra's death

speaking of baghra she's an a+ character, no notes

that's it I guess? def forgot some thoughts that I might add later, but yeah this season was fun and I had a good time, there's just some huge issues with how they adapted the books to the show, and their handling of all of the characters