#jag rewatch part 3

[deathmybride]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ the craving | jack conroy (part 3) *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

ship: Jack Conroy x fem!OC

warnings: graphic description of a corpse, mortal peril

summary: The gang try to cross the cliff face near the frozen lake.

word count: 2301

a/n: Big day for White Fang fans lmao. I finally finished this chapter after having it in my drafts for like 8 months. Will I write more? Who knows. I think this fic will forever live in WIP hell, getting updates here and there whenever I rewatch the movie, much like my Dead Poets Society fic and everything else that I write… thanks for reading anyways and let me know what you think:)

We made good time the next day, covering a great distance with few obstacles. At times I ran ahead of the team to keep an eye out for upcoming danger; at other times, I stuck to the flanks or dropped behind a ways, scouring the woods for signs of the wolf pack trailing us. At this time I was a few yards ahead. My breaths billowed in white clouds, disappearing fast into the landscape like wisps of my spirit. The mountainside altitude made me feel weak and skinny, but I pushed on, eyes scanning the landscape for danger. I rounded a corner and stopped short. The ground gave way to a sheer slope that led down to a vast frozen lake, punctuated with jutting stones and scraggly trees that had taken root in the rock beneath the snow. The angle was sharp, but the dogs could handle it. I turned on my heels and sprinted back to the team.

 “Alex!” I shouted. “Big drop ahead. Goes straight down to the lake; we should be able to make it if we go slow.”

 We tried taking it diagonally. Alex held Connie on a short leash, half-carrying her some of the way to keep her from running everyone off course. I kept a hold of the ropes in the middle of the dog line, while Skunker and Jack held onto the sled at the rear. It was damn hard work. I could feel my shoulders burn with the effort, and the snow crumbled under me so I had to constantly work my feet to keep balanced. We were going well when something went wrong. It all went so fast that I couldn’t quite tell what happened. One minute, Alex had taken a slip, then perhaps Jack lurched or lost his foothold. All I know for sure is that my arm nearly ripped out of the socket at the force of the sled tipping sideways. I turned just in time to see the whole thing swing around, flinging Jack and Skunker over the drop as they gripped onto the handle for their lives.

 “Hang on, kid, I got ya!” By some miracle, Skunker managed to keep his hold on the sled and pull Jack’s hand up to get a better grip. “Just dig your feet in.”

The advice was for Jack, but I took it myself. I braced my feet into the snow and hooked my arms up around the rope to hold it to my chest. I looked over at Jack and watched as he scrambled against the slope. His wide, frantic eyes met mine and my guts turned to water as I realised he was slipping. Skunker scaled the sled like a mountain goat to pull it back up. I dashed to his side and heaved, the snow sucked at the huge wooden lump and made it feel a thousand times heavier.

 THWING!

 The rope snapped and the entire sled went sliding sideways down the hill with Jack hanging off the side. I was flung back by the force of it, shunting the air from my lungs. I dragged in a gasp with a horrible screech and screamed.

 “Jack!”

 “Get clear of the sled!” Skunker shouted. At least one of us was still competent.

 I’ll never know if Jack could hear us over the rushing snow and the echo of his own screams; but either way, he got free of the sled and began to tumble away from it, narrowly missing a few jagged stones, a splintering log, and several jettisoned items. Frozen in place, my eyes remained glued to him as he scrambled for purchase on the crumbling hillside, until it happened. The ropes tying the cargo down began to snap and all manner of gear and personal effects broke free of the chassis and flung away in every direction. With the knots loosened, the lid of the coffin slid suddenly sideways, and then caught on a snag and flipped away. As if time itself had slowed to show me the moment in all its terrible glory, I saw my father’s frozen corpse come free from its timber crate and rise up as if to stand and bow. His skin was blue-grey from days without breath, hair frozen in spikes, mouth slack as if sleeping, and Bravo’s snarling body still wrapped in his stiff arms. He slid down the hill feet first like a toboggan, then skidded out onto the lake, too far for any sane person to reach. A few cans scuttled alongside him, and one dog bowl came to a spinning halt by his head, ringing metallic on the ice.

 For a second, there was silence. If it weren’t for the wind that passed through the valley as if stirred up by some great unseen bird, you might have heard a snowflake fall. Then the moment broke with the sound of Skunker’s uproarious laughter. Alex was silent. He might have been looking at me, he might not. Another thing I’ll never know. All I could do was stare ahead. I might have stared forever if it weren’t for Jack’s shouting.

 “I’m okay!” He turned and flapped his hand over his head like a child, grinning ear to ear despite his puffing.

 I watched passively as he stepped out toward the lake, observing his behaviour as I would an animal. He held his hands ahead of him, but moved quite sure-footedly. It’s springtime. I thought.

 “Don’t move on that ice!” Urgency was a rarity for Skunker, and hearing it in his voice just barely managed to snap me out of whatever trance I was in.

 “Jack!” I started shimmying down the hill, then sliding. “Jack, don’t you dare move!”

 “I’ll get the ammo!” He looked back at me with a lopsided grin, like he was trying to impress me.

 “Like hell you will!” I got to my feet and sprinted to the lake’s edge, but he was already too far out to grab him. I let my voice fall dangerously low. “Jack, you come back here now.”

 “It’s fine, okay?” He half-turned and threw up his hand in annoyance, then shuffled out a bit further. He seemed fascinated with my father’s body, the robin’s egg blue of his lips, the final embrace of man and dog.

 “Jackie.” I don’t know where that nickname was conjured from. “Jackie, the ice is melting.”

 He ignored me, bent down, picked up the ammo bag, and straightened up. That was enough to destabilise the ice, and it seemed that he noticed it too. He stiffened, turning ever so slowly as the ice crackled like glass underfoot. He took a quick step back like the idiot he was and put his foot straight through, sucking his body and the ammo bag into the abyss below and leaving my father’s corpse bobbing in the narrow hole like a cork. It took everything I had not to run out after him, and thank God I didn’t. Something sucked the corpse down under the ice, and Jack emerged like a sputtering, screaming teabag. Perhaps he wasn’t such a goner after all. I turned on my heels and ran to grab a loose rope, but Alex had got to it first.

 “Hurry up!” He handed me the end. “Help me!”

 We dashed back over and flung the rope out to that sopping, freezing bundle in the water, and with Skunker’s help, we managed to heave him out and drag him along the ice without breaking it again. He screamed, retched, convulsed, like something we had dredged out of hell. Before I knew it I was pulling off his icy wet clothes while he moaned and lolled his head, in some terrible state between frantic and catatonic. His skin was colder than any living skin should be, and white as a ghost.

 “Light a fire, Skunker.” Alex’s voice came out calm, like this wasn’t the worst thing that could happen on a fine spring day.

 “He’s turning blue.” I remarked numbly.

 “Quinn, get these off him. I’ll get the blankets.”

 I obliged, stripping him down to his underwear, and murmuring gentle words in his ear. I wrapped him in the blankets like swaddling a babe, took off my coonskin and covered his quickly stiffening hair with it, securing the tail around his nose and mouth, and freed myself of both layers of gloves and pulled the inner ones onto his trembling hands.

 “Keep moving your fingers, Jackie, that’s it.” I rubbed his hands between my own with the ferocity of starting a fire, which reminded me Alex had sent Skunker to fix that. I turned to see him trying to light some wet wood and tinder, and felt a jolt of fury pass through me. “Burn the damn books, Skunker, ‘fore he dies!”

 Burn them he did. They were Jack’s books. It occurred to me I should feel bad, but I was just glad to have enough kindling to save his life. Thank God above we were carrying that dead weight around. The next half hour passed like a dream. I held Jack tight, as if the cold had sucked up all his weight and a stiff breeze might blow him away. I alternated between rubbing his hands, feet, ears and nose, determined to keep his blood moving until I felt the warmth start to stick in his extremities once more. I thought of nothing besides keeping him safe. I couldn’t face what had happened. Disgust, terror, anger. These things would come later.

 Alex served him pine needle tea before he went off to retrieve my father’s body. I had been through too much to stomach the nail-biting stress of watching him shimmy out onto the ice on his stomach, so I busied myself checking Jack’s extremities for damage, which happened to be almost nothing. He had no notable signs of frostbite except for a whiteness on the tips of his nose, fingers and ears, and his toes were completely fine. He watched me with wide eyes as I looked him over, and blushed deeply as I smeared a little beef tallow on his chapped lips.

 “You basting me up for cooking?” He cracked a smile.

 I forced a wane imitation of laughter. He fiddled his fingers.

 “You think I got away with it?”

 I picked up his hand and gave it another once-over. Nothing. Lucky son-of-a-bitch.

 “Yeah.” I concurred. 

 He paused for a moment, a searching look on his face, then spoke in a weak, boyish voice.

 “I’m sorry.”

 I let go of his hand, beating down the urge to cry, to beg him to go home before this place swallows him up.

 “Yeah.” I let out a shuddering breath. “Yeah, I know.”

 I left the fire then, took Connie off her leash and started walking with her trotting at my side.

 “Where’s she going?” I heard Jack ask softly.

 “Let her be.” Skunker said gruffly, and that was the end of it.

 It was dusk by the time I returned, but where I had been while the light died was a mystery to me. Of course my body had made a lap around the lake’s edge, but I had no memory of the journey save for the blinding sheen of the sunset on the glittering ice. My mind was with my father, scrutinising him. His coldness, his neglect, his quick temper, the way her could leech the life out of a room just by walking past the door. These were the things that made me hate him, yet against my will, I still missed him. I missed that he always knew what to do, and that when I lived by his side, I never had to worry about food, or shelter, or sleeping alone. Without him, what was I? A little lost girl in a land of unforgiving cold.

 The first time he left me, I clung to Scott Conroy. I loved the streaks of grey in his hair despite being only forty when he died, and the bundle of crows feet around his eyes. He had the kindest eyes I had ever seen, and the strongest rough-hewn hands that held me while I cried for my daddy to come home. But he was dead and buried, and who was left for me? Sure, Alex was kind enough, but I knew he’d cut me loose when we made it back to Klondike. He had his lady and enough money to sail south to warmer climes. I just couldn’t see him and Miss Casey adopting an orphan of the Yukon, least of all a seventeen-year-old. Who did that leave? Skunker? Half-mad foul smelling Skunker? I barely knew him, truth be told, and a father he was not.

 As I plodded over to the fire, Jack came bounding over to greet me.

 “Quinn!” He beamed. “You’re back! We were getting worried.”

 “You were.” Alex corrected.

 My heart was almost too heavy to reply, so I just muttered an apology and went on by. We ate in tense silence that night. Alex cooked my share of rice pudding for dessert, offering to no-one else. I supposed this was the rainy day I had been waiting for, but it tasted ashy in my mouth. I brushed my teeth and turned down my sleeping roll early, but I was restless. I wanted to get up and pace. With our supply of ammunition at the bottom of the lake, we were exposed to the pack. We should have made good time on them today, but being stuck at the lake with a sick boy on our hands had given them a huge advantage. 

 I had just started to doze when the dogs started to whine and fuss, and the first howl echoed through the woods like hell’s bells.

[galaxyofhair]

The End of GLOW

I fucking love GLOW and I recently rewatched it with the intention that I would treat the end of Season 3 as the end of the series because (for now, and probably for a good while) it is.

My conclusion is this: The end of season 3 is a viable, if deeply unsatisfying, end to the series. It’s open-ended, but not a cliffhanger so while there are still problems left over in the world of GLOW, there’s nothing that got well and truly cut-off with the intention of resolution coming in the next episode.

And this is a truly depressing conclusion but at the same time it’s an interesting way to look at the series because it mirrors the way real life tends to have dissatisfying and jagged-edged endings for real chapters of living. Everyone’s character story ends with “As far as we know.”

As far as we know, Ruth and Carmen both realize that GLOW is transforming into something they don’t like and they decide there’s something better out there for themselves. Ruth goes on to try and act in serious, feminist roles, and Carmen joins a men’s wrestling circuit.

In the hypothetical 4th season, the two of them might have returned to GLOw for one reason or another--but ultimately I think at least Ruth would eventually come to the same conclusion that she’s ready to grow beyond the show into something more serious and suited to her talents.

As far as we know, Debbie goes on to become the president of a cable network with Bash as the owner. In many ways, Debbie gets the most satisfying ending: She grows from not caring about the show at all to buying into it completely, and literally. She also gets her dream of leaving the acting side of things behind, and presumably she’s Liberty Belle only a few more times before finally hanging up her star spangled leotard for good.

As far as we know Bash and Rhonda stay married, with Bash firmly in the closet--this is one of the more tragic endings that we get, but Bash is also an interesting mixture of good guy one day/bad guy the next so it makes some sense at least. I think season 4 would have finally explored exposing Bash as a gay man to his mother, the loss of his fortune, the possible destruction of his marriage etc etc--and possibly a long awaited conversation about the death of Florian.

As far as we know Arthie is gay and presumably on her way to getting back together with Yolanda. This, to me at least, was the one part of the ending that felt truly incomplete. A lot of the unspoken tension surrounding Yolanda dumping Arthie centers around the possibility that Arthie is not entirely gay, and that she may be bi, or pan, or something that Yolanda is not equipped to handle. Arthie not taking her rainbow headband off seemed to be a bit of self-convincing on her part, and the fact that Yolanda remained unconvinced implies that there’s more going on there. I think season 3′s finally was setting up a conversation in season 4 around Bi Erasure, and I’m sad that we’re not getting that conversation because now it feels like Yolanda got away with erasing Arthie’s (potential) bisexuality.

Sheila is also an area whose story is incomplete feeling. She’s a more serious actor now, but what does that mean for her? Will she stay on GLOW and pick up a new character? Will she follow in Ruth and Carmen’s footsteps and step up to something more serious? We don’t know and won’t find out without a new season. Personally, the direction I would have gone is to have Sheila be the vehicle for Ruth’s second and final exit from GLOW: Maybe Ruth stays on as an actress and gets a lot of shit for not choosing to direct, maybe she returns after a failure in her career--but it’s Sheila who has been using GLOW to save money and acting more seriously on the side, and Sheila who ultimately leaves the show to pursue a real gig (inspiring or maybe making the opportunity for Ruth to do the same.)

And finally, As far as we know the other girls are set to do the things they set up in season 3: Cherry and Keith are going to adopt, Tamme becomes a manager character so that she stay in GLOW. The rest of the girls don’t really have much story beyond that they’d likely remain on GLOW, largely because GLOW is their found family.

So again, it both does and does not work. It works if you squint and view it as a disappointing mirror of real life and the act of moving on---but from a dramatic and prose standpoint it was clear that there were more stories to tell. The themes of the show did swing back to some of the conversations about life and opportunity that started in GLOW’s pilot--but the conclusion of that conversation as we have it feels rushed. Typical series finales take their time to ruminate on the first and final message of a series--but season 3′s finale did was season finales often do: It reminded us of that central theme in a passing sense, and silently pointed towards the future. In a typical show, the future is the next season--but at the end of GLOW’s unintended finale, that future is our own.

[peony-pearl]

Gargoyles Re-watch - Awakening Pt 1

It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down to rewatch Gargoyles; probably since 2020. This is a show that is absolutely synonymous with my childhood, having premiered when I was 6 years old. Memories of watching it are hazy, but I hope I’ll always remember vibes of watching it at my grandmother’s house with my older sister @cherryfinolahobbes​ and our late uncle. Seeing all of the new content, from the amazing Neca figures, to the new comics (which I still need to purchase and read), to listening to the entertaining and informative Voices from the Eyrie podcast (which indulges my love of hearing from voice casts and behind the scenes trivia; seriously if you’re a fan of the show go sub to this great podcast); it’s been great being a fan of such a lovingly crafted show as of late.

However, I’m awful at not only keeping up with things, but also with rewatching, because my ADHD will try to fill in memory gaps/distract me and I’ll just... not turn things on or put them on pause lmao. BUT I want to share one of my most favorite shows! And seeing a lot of rewatches and analyses of Avatar the Last Airbender from so many of my mutuals (I need to do a series for that show too), I’ve decided to do one for my beloved Gahhguyles. So sit back, Happy New Year, and get ready to hear me gush about voice lines, music cues and magic spells recited in latin that have been rattling in my brain for the better part of 30 years!

Immediately you’re welcomed with a title card, a jagged set of stone letters that read ‘Awakening’, overlayed with snarls and a hint of ominous music. Bitchin.

We then cue in to New York City in present day (well, present day in 1994), where explosions can be heard and seen in the clouds; one of the tallest buildings in the city disappears into these clouds, and after a continuous round of noise begins to catch onlookers’ attention, rubble begins to fall from out of the clouds, nearly killing multiple people.

The police are on the scene, and from a particular red car steps out Detective Elisa Maza, voiced by Salli Richardson-Whitfield. Elisa is no beginner to her field. She’s smart and quick-witted, and when she arrives she’s greeted with respect from her fellow policemen who update her on the situation.

More rubble falls, and Elisa sees a set of marks that takes her off guard.

“What could be strong enough to leave claw marks in solid stone?” Elisa asks. This line, if I recall, was used in almost every piece of advertising for the show. We’re then greeted with the Gargoyles logo, and we go back in time. 1000 years to be exact, and now we’re in Scotland, where a group of Vikings are attacking the castle. They’re led by Hakon, voiced by Clancy Brown, and they seem to be winning against the castle, as their catapult destroys a wall and takes down some archers.

We then get our first glimpse of the Gargoyles, a set of stone statues in the dying light of day.

Quick detour for a moment to talk about the animation. Gargoyles is GORGEOUS. The colors of the sunset at the moment we look up at the tower that the Gargoyles are sleeping on are beautiful. There are some episodes that have infamous animation, but they’re not often, and even then, Gargoyles has some great character animation, as everyone has their own unique personality.

We’re then shown the Captain of the Guard, voiced by the late Ed Gilbert, defending the Castle and shouting to his men, who are uncertain about their fate.

Captain: “Stand fast! We can hold them back!”

Soldier: “Aye, and catch boulders with our teeth while we’re about it!”

Gargoyles has one of the snappiest scripts and we’re not even 3 minutes in.

The Captain mentions that once the sun goes down they’ll ‘see some fun’, but just as he does, another boulder strikes nearby, and we get to properly meet the Vikings as the camera pans in on them while they cheer, and Hakon stands proud in front of his army. However, he has his dissenters.

Viking: *talking to another standing near him* “Attacking a castle full of Gargoyles near nightfall! This is crazy, and Hakon knows it!”

Hakon: No, my friend. That’s not crazy *he grabs the viking to look him square in the face* Questioning my sanity when I’m in earshot, that’s crazy!” *he looks back to the castle* I say these Gargoyles are naught but chiseled stone! And even if they aren’t, it’s worth the risk for the plunder within! ATTACK!”

The Vikings charge over a gorgeous red sky, continuing their assault, even making it through the gates as they climb the tower leading straight up to the Gargoyles.Hakon leads the way, his rope secured to where the largest Gargoyle rests.

The sky is getting darker. Hakon reaches the top just as the sun sets, and he witnesses the stone statue crackle and burst to reveal a mammoth purple beast, who looks at him with more annoyance than fear. He grabs Hakon easily and holds him over the ground, more than capable of dropping him right then and there.

The first words of our main man Goliath, voiced by Keith David, are a growling, matter-of-factly “You are trespassing.”

The rest of Hakon’s men witness the rest of the clan awakening (hehe) from their daily stone slumber, becoming alive at night. Hakon draws his sword and slams it into Goliath’s hand, drawing blood. He then urges his men to fight as ‘they are not invincible’.

The battle ensues, and Hakon manages to escape Goliath.

As we see more warring, we come across three distinct Gargoyles; I want so badly to call them by their names, but they don’t have those names just yet XD so for now we’ll just go by Red, Green and Blue.

Green, voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez, is the smallest, but that doesn’t deter his personality. He’s sharp as a tack and sassy, and doesn’t hesitate to berate his brothers when they annoy him.

Red, voiced by Jeff Bennett, is impulsive, but earnest and caring and tends to get put into the ‘badass’ category (... but I mean... come on he is a badass; he was my favorite when I was a kid)

Blue, voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, is the laid back foodie, but there’s more under his exterior than meets the eye.

When we meet the trio, Green is watching intently, while Red’s eyes are darting from place to place, bursting with excitement as Blue just sits back.

Red: “Shall we let all our brothers and sisters have all the fun?”

Red then immediately glides away, leaving Green and Blue as Green smirks at Blue, who seems reluctant to join.

Green: “Not afraid, are you?”

Blue: *offended as he stands to his full height* Afraid? Me? HAH! Why, all of nature trembles at my passing! *he lifts up his gut to his chest... only for it to wobble back down*

Green: *pokes his brother’s pudge* “I can see why”

The two join the brawl, and we witness more fighting just as we’re introduced to the next member of our main cast, a capable, much older Gargoyle, voiced by the late Ed Asner, holding his own until a Viking sneaks up on him just before Goliath can glide down to stop him.

Goliath: “Watch your back, old friend.”

Old Friend: *amused* “Huh! Watch your own.”

The fight rages on, we witness the Captain of the Guard in his element as he and Goliath begin fighting side by side. The Captain mentions the Vikings most likely followed a band of refugees the castle is giving shelter to, and as we pan over, we see Blue make his way to the clearing where said refugees are staying, helping himself to some of their food as he’s watched by a young boy and his mother. The boy is amused as he watches Blue easily dispose of a Viking with a large drumstick.

Hakon is then greeted by a Gargoyle beast, a big blue Best Boy who absolutely destroys a stone wall trying to tackle him. Our man Shakin’ Hakon tries to run off, but is stopped by the haunting visage of our final main Gargoyle, Goliath’s mate and second-in-command, voiced by Marina Sirtis, who is going to be one of the show’s absolute BEST characters, if not one of the most amazingly complex characters I’ve ever witnessed. She scares Hakon off easily, and he’s promptly defeated by her and Goliath, but he proclaims he’ll return as he retreats with his men, who are chased away by the arrows of the archers; but as the archers proclaim victory, we notice the way Red, Green and Blue look at each other, feeling their hard work has been ignored.

It’s just the first taste of how the humans of the castle treat them.

Goliath gets his hand bandaged by his mate as the Captain proclaims how the castle owes them their lives.

Goliath: “As we owe you ours every day.”

All is well.

: )

We then cut to the inside of the castle as some upbeat music plays. A flute, a tambourine and a drum lead a simple, but effective merry jaunt as the soldiers enjoy a feast to celebrate the victory. We get our first glimpse of Princess Katharine, a somber-looking young lady voiced by Kath Soucie, and the Magus, voiced by Jeff Bennett (Jeff is like, half the cast in this show), a sorcerer who is always by Katherine’s side.

As the Captain joins the feast, he overhears some of his men teasing about how he’s more like ‘captain of the gargoyles’. You get a sense that the Captain really truly cares about the Gargoyles. He seems unhappy with the teasing, but doesn’t argue. Anytime we see the Captain with his army, there’s not a lot of camaraderie; but with the Gargoyles, he seems very at home. When he’s greeted by the Princess, who thanks him for the battle well fought, the Captain doesn’t hesitate to also credit the Gargoyles for their assistance - but Katharine doesn’t feel the same. She becomes unhappy hearing about them.

Katharine: *after hearing Goliath’s name* “Please, don’t mention that monster’s name in my presence”.

The doors burst open, the Magus drops his drink when he sees their ‘guests’ are that of none other than Goliath himself and his mate, who are there as the Captain’s guests. But not everyone is happy to see him. Katharine admonishes the Captain, and the Magus as well has some choice words, but when the Gargoyles approach and frighten Katharine, she’s surprised to see Goliath bow to her in respect. But after she insults them once more, Goliath’s mate is ready to strike, but Goliath is quick to diffuse the situation and he promptly leaves.

Goliath, despite his name and stature, has great patience and understanding; he is a great leader, and will later show some really interesting character faults. Keith David’s performance hits the nail of the head in every episode, making Goliath relatable, even when he’s at his most stubborn or at his wisest.

As Goliath, his mate, and the Captain reconvene in the halls, the Captain apologizes for Katharine’s words.

Goliath: “No apologies needed. We are what we are. Her opinion will not change that.”

Mate: “Have you no pride? No sense of justice?! We saved their lives and they repay us with contempt!” (this line has lived in my head rent free for nearly 3 decades it’s acted so amazingly)

Captain: “She is right, Goliath. You deserve better than this.”

Mate: These cliffs were our home ages before they built their stone fortress. They should bow to us!”

Goliath: *takes her hand* “It is the nature of humankind to fear what they do not understand. Their ways are not our ways.”

Going back to Goliath and his design, his words and beliefs can carry so much gentility; however we’ll also see later that a lot of old teachings can often drive wedges between him and loved ones, especially when we meet Angela next season.

However, the Captain is still unhappy with the situation that has unfolded. He cares so much for the Gargoyles, and it’s obvious he wants to change some minds.

Cut to the Magus, perusing in his book, the Grimorum Arcanorum within his study; and at dawn, a mystery figure rides off away from the castle - all the way to Hakon to make a bargain.

At nightfall, Goliath removes the bandages from his injured hand, which is now fully healed; in the meantime, the Captain of the Guard urges for Goliath to take the Gargoyles away from the castle as the Vikings had promised to return. The Captain and the Mate continue to try and convince Goliath of the idea, but he refuses to leave the castle unprotected. He decides to go and ward off the Vikings with his old mentor, and he tells his mate to stay with the castle. He promises to her that they are one, now and forever.

In the meantime, we return to the trio of Red, Green and Blue, playing catch with Best Boy, using a slab of meat. The Mate comes around to watch, smiling as they have fun around the refugees that are still under the castle’s protection. The little boy from the previous night curiously runs over to watch just as Best Boy finally gets his meal. Mate is apprehensive of the boy’s presence, and he introduces himself; his name is Tom and he asks for the trio’s names.

Green: “Except for Goliath we don’t have names.”

Tom: “How do you tell each other apart?”

Green: “We look different.”

Tom: “But what do you call each other?”

Red: “Friend”

But Tom’s mother, Mary, steps in, afraid for her boy, and she tells him to get away from ‘those monsters’. Red insists they wouldn’t hurt him, but Mary chucks a hunk of wood at him, striking him. Goliath’s mate, from up high, is enraged, and she insists Mary is the monster, just before Red and Green agree that if she thinks they’re monsters, maybe they should live up to the name.

But just before they can do anything, Goliath appears. He orders for Red, Green, Blue and Best Boy to go to the Rookery until he returns. Mate insists they weren’t at fault, but Goliath refuses to condone any fighting, and he must find ways to deter it, and he promises he’ll make it up to the boys later.

Goliath and his Mentor leave to find the Vikings, locating some questionable tracks. We then check back in with the trio, sent down to where a clutch of eggs rest in a cave like children sent to their room. Blue, interested in some slime on the wall, decides to have it as a snack and we’re treated to an uncomfortable several seconds of him just chewing on this slime.

The camera cuts to a mystery figure, tampering with the Castle armory just as we return to Goliath and Mentor, who laments sunrise is near just as Goliath finds the Vikings. They attack, but realize they’ve been tricked and were being decoyed the whole time. They try to return, but the sun rises, and Goliath and Mentor turn to stone, unable to make it back home before the Vikings ransack the castle. This time, successfully, as the inside job and betrayal is revealed to have been because of the Captain, and he personally apprehends Princess Katharine in a really great moment as she rushes down the stairs, and he slowly ascends to greet her in shadow.

Katharine: “The Vikings, Captain! We are attacked!”

Captain: *grabs her wrist, looking her in the eyes* “It is worse than that, your highness.”

The following silence as Katharine realizes what’s happening, her expression, this quick moment is SO GOOD. We then watch the castle inhabitants led out in chains as Hakon and Captain talk above the commotion.

Hakon: “Not that I’m ungrateful, but why? Why betray your own kind?”

Captain: *almost in pain* “They’re not my kind.”

But it’s not long until Hakon, mace in hand, decides it’s time to get rid of the Gargoyles as the sun sets. The Captain is horrified, and he tells him to leave them alone.

I wish I could describe how much I love that Gargoyles mostly had it’s actors record together (although some exceptions had to be made); you can often feel the fluidity of the conversations, and while I’m not sure if this particular exchange between Hakon and the Captain were recorded in the same room, it’s one of my absolute favorites.

Hakon: *staring at Captain as he’s prevented from destroying a gargoyle* Are you mad?! In a moment they’ll be flesh again and my men will be their prey!”

Captain: “Once your band is out of sight, they won’t follow! It’s not their nature!”

Hakon: “Ahh, well, in that case-” *he strikes Captain, aiming his mace for his head as he pins him against the wall* “Care to discuss the matter further?”

Captain: “...No.”

Hakon: *releasing him, he looks at one of the stone gargoyles* “I haven’t lived this long by taking foolish chances.”

The swell of music as Hakon lifts his mace, the sound of the stone being smashed as Hakon’s silhouette casts over Captain’s horrified face as he stumbles in agony. Damn; DAMN I love this show.

Night falls, and Goliath and Mentor return to the castle, now in smoke as fire still rages. They find the smashed remains of their clan, and Goliath shakily picks up the pieces of what he believes to be the form of his mate as he speaks to her in anguish, just before releasing a roar of despair; we pan out to another hauntingly gorgeous shot of the smouldering castle with a glowing full moon behind it as the screen fades to black, and we’re greeted with the first of many ‘To Be Continued’ cards.

The first episode of Gargoyles wastes no time in getting right into the action, while also building mysteries that will be revealed in later episodes. Yup, we’re already laying groundwork for later plots!! This show is dense with storylines that weave in and out so well, sometimes you’ll get payoff to a question you never even asked about.

Writing this was a DOOZY; I was not expecting this to take me a good couple of hours lmao, but hopefully I can keep with it! I love this show so much and I don’t think I’ll ever stop recommending it!

[thegreencarousel]

Summary: I have so very little to look forward to each week so I’ve watched Black Adam 3 times in the cinema during cheap Tuesdays and I just want to talk more about it. Putting this under a cut as it is very long and out of consideration for my followers because none of you followed me for this out of the blue hyperfixation lol. Don’t worry, content you do follow me for will be back soon once I get this obsession out of my system. It also goes without saying there are massive spoilers under the cut because I’m dissecting why this film is making me so obsessed ;u;

I think its a bit unfortunate that you might have to rewatch Black Adam multiple times with the mindset of wanting to dig out the diamonds from the coal to appreciate the quieter moments of the film, which was overshadowed by how much the movie really wanted to be an epic action piece. Granted it did the epic part really well, perhaps a bit too well given how its a sensory overload which can be too stimulating for some and just perfectly too much for me (my adhd brain was so overstimulated it went brrrr hence my obsession in rewatching it). Its also deeply unfortunate that in the battle royale of which writer/director gets to keep their voice in the movie the end result was a draw with at least 4 conflicting tones. 

I wish they let the contemplative voice run the show, I don’t think it would have made the movie any less epic because it would have allowed for some breathing space in the film after all the action. Which were all truly well directed, the cinematography and fight choreographies really embraced their superhero directing and I can tell whoever storyboarded Hawkman’s scenes has become a bird person because he moved beautifully like a bird of prey in the air (also Aldis Hodge gave so much despite having most of his face hidden behind a helmet). I’ve already gushed about the cinematography, so the only thing left is the script, which unfortunately was so confused in its own existence that it dragged everything else down despite the best attempt of the cast, the music and visuals. I think its a shame the script was too scared to really tackle the darker side of Black Adam’s character, or at the very least the grim consequences of his lack of control over his abilities. The script was lacking in a lot of ways but given that this is supposed to be a Black Adam origin story, it is unfortunate that the JSA and even the Tomaz family had more obvious personable moments than the titular character himself.

Personally I really enjoyed Black Adam’s introduction; the way he’s shrouded in shadow with only cracked bits of his lightning icon for light and the jagged edges created by his cloak in the silhouette really evoke Brightburn vibes, which coupled with Dwayne Johnson’s hard stare did enough to tell the audience that Adrianna might have woken something dark and not exactly friendly. I think people are kind of hard on DJ for saying he is just playing another Rock character because imo the way he approached Black Adam kind of reminded me of his character in Faster where he played an ex-con seeking revenge against his brother’s killers and went down a bloody path which he later regretted. Its only in this sense that I would agree DJ was playing a similar character but only in its execution. I admit my bias that I do enjoy DJ as an actor even when some of his movies are not the best, but I do think there is something to be said about how his stoic, hardened fascade as BA was contrasted greatly with how emotional he was as Teth-Adam the father. It was a shame that very little of Teth-Adam the human was allowed to appear in BA, though arguably I can maybe see it in the way he refused to compromise for less collateral damage because in the past he had to repressed so much of himself for fear of his family being the collateral damage. And now that they’re gone, with him being alive because his son refused to let him die as a consequence for him being a hero, I could see how this might twist him to be someone more reckless. Unfortunately the script refuse to explore this aspect, but inklings of it were there in DJ’s acting.

It was also such a wasted opportunity that the script didn’t have Adrianna or Amon react negatively in the aftermath of the mine explosion. I think DJ did a great job there in appearing regretful and subdued despite his bombastic performance in previous scenes, and the twist and his subsequent depowering scene was a beautiful emotional treat. I wish we’ve had more of that, that quiet and sadder BA to juxtapose against his effortless violence. The brief moments where we do get that are unfortunately ruined by rather cheesy one liners or mistimed comedic shifts. Therefore a great transition to his depowering scene would have been a moment where BA was confronted by the consequences of his lack of control, whether it be Amon’s injuries and fear of him or Adrianna’s worry and fury as his mother. I mean he was sort of regretful and aware of how out of control he was, but that acknowledgement went too quick for us to see that this was what made him decide to surrender himself. This is something that should have been very obvious during the first viewing and not a moment that only felt impactful in the second and third viewings only because I was looking out for it and strained to really hear the dialogue.

Another scene which took me repeated viewings to notice and missing it kind of impacted the story beat: I have complained that Black Adam didn’t try to bridge what we know about him from the intro of Shazam, but it’s only on the third viewing that I realised BA actually really did kill the other wizards in the fight to lock him away. Initially when the wizard said BA killed the other wizards I thought he meant it in a figurative sense that they died trying to fight the Seven Sins which were released by BA’s powers. It was really hard to tell with all the rainbow light flying around but if you ignore all that you can also see BA blasting lightning at the wizards, and in the birds eye view you can see their bodies lying on the ground. I can maybe overlook the lack of acknowledgement that him using his powers for revenge resulted in a near apocalyptic event on the world if we could see clearly that he killed the wizards that tried to stop him. The accidental release of demons on the world as a blowback of the misuse of his powers is sort of an understandable accident, but him intentionally killing the people trying to stop him from further chaos seem like it would have been a great point to bring up to support the JSA’s mission. I think it diminished the urgency of the JSA and made them out to be rather flat when there could have been another layer on top of the criticism of American powers on international soil, because there was a difference in BA killing Intergang mercenaries/the king intentionally and slaughtering the Council of Wizards who recognised the danger in letting someone who could let his anger destroy the world go free.

I’ve asked my brother, who only watched the move once (unlike his questionable sibling) if he could remember what happened to the wizards and he admitted the light show was so distracting he could only stare at Djimon Hounsou’s wizard and was also surprised to hear BA killed the other wizards. I think this was a rather important scene the movie should have made clear to audiences because up till now BA just felt like a very misunderstood dark hero and not really someone capable of killing indiscriminately if driven to it. It would have been a great callback to the Brightburn vibes as well as the villainous, darker side of the character that was advertised about and long established in the comics. I think this and the post-mine explosion scene were the two biggest wasted opportunities in letting the audience feel conflicted about BA. I think its harsh of critics to say BA was intentionally written to be simple and deprived of any subtlety because the scenes I’ve pointed out did have indications of a deeper story, was actually included in the film and the actors all acted their hearts out in those moments. However given that I was only really able to appreciate those moments fully in repeated viewings perhaps it wasn’t unwarranted to say it appeared shallow at first glance.

I will now talk about why the film had me hyperfixated, obsessed, and went away hook, line and sinker with DJ’s Black Adam. From now till the end this will be utterly 100% fanning, brain empty no one home in this head. I did say I watched this movie 3 times in the cinema and intend to wait for the blue ray release for more. This says something about myself that I will need to explore at a later date but I have a very weak spot for stories that focused on grieving parents. When BA talked about how the world only mattered with his son in it, staring at the statue of an adult version of his son that he will never be, I think my brain just broke and whatever transgressions the movie committed prior to this with the script was forgiven briefly. In a lot of ways BA came across as rather arrogant in the unabashed use of his powers, confident in the knowledge that no one can stop him. However if you view that unrestrained and uncontrolled use of his abilities through the lense of a grieving father who had nothing else to lose, who only wanted to die so that he could see his family again and was forestalled by the knowledge his son died so he could live, it suddenly felt like the weak veneer of a man who wanted to fight to the top of the food chain for a chance to die a death that was out of his control. 

This also puts a lot of things that seemed rather janky earlier in a different perspective. For one thing, BA constantly having to reiterate he isn’t a hero felt rather flat prior because it seemed like he was just parroting the movie’s byline, that he is supposed to be the anti-hero and a villain adjacent character, but never actually do anything that showed he isn’t a hero. However when you recall these lines in conjunction with the reveal that his son gave up his powers so he could live and then died for it, it made a lot of sense that BA will never call himself a hero because he didn’t work for his powers, it was given to him by the blood of his son. It was only until he gave up his powers voluntarily and then saved everyone from Sabbac that he was on the path to accepting his mantle of heroism (or at least, something close to it). Even his willingness to save Amon from Ishmael couldn’t change his mind on how he viewed himself because his actions then did nothing to challenge his perception of himself and his powers. Giving it up voluntarily meant he recognised in his own self depreciating way that his son would have been ashamed of how he used his power after his death, and if the absence of his abilities meant respecting his son’s legacy then so be it. There is also something incredibly heartbreaking about BA noting that his son thought the world would be nothing without his father, but BA also felt the same about his son and there was a sense of bitterness and defeat that he was unable to achieve the same sacrifice for his son.

On this note, I do think critics were a bit unfair in saying BA was just parroting the Terminator and John’s dynamic with Amon. This was actually something you catch during the first viewing as the film made sure the tone between BA and Amon is quite different from that of the Terminator and John’s. Yes the catchphrase shtick was similar, but imo in Terminator it was an attempt to humanise the Terminator, in BA it felt like it came across as an attempt to modernise BA because Amon was very openly a superhero geek who might have a future in merchandising. I think it was one of the more interesting and endearing callbacks to popular culture because you can see BA actively trying to do what Amon suggested and being frustrated by himself when he failed, and then being pleased with himself when he finally got it right. I attributed this whole thing to his dad mode being switched on full throttle the moment he woke up to Amon after having a nightmare about his son. The film was not subtle at all with that transition, it made it quite clear the audience was meant to see that BA subconsciously view Amon in place of his own son, which while also a bit cliche kind of distanced it from the Terminator comparison. I do agree that the confusion to 21st century living could have been done better, a good contrast would have been when MCU’s Captain America was defrosted and he ran out into the busy street and was instantly overwhelmed by how different it is. Although maybe this established BA as a villain adjacent character than a hero because his first instinct was to kill the people making those loud unfamiliar noises rather than staring at them in confusion lol.

Overall I kind of give the film a solid B-. I’m not sure if we’ll see a Black Adam 2 given how everyone seem rather sure it would be a flop, but since DJ is a producer for it who knows. There are also a lot of things I do want to say about the obvious yet lacklustre attempts in criticism about neocolonialism but it would also involve criticising the film’s lack of callbacks towards the Egyptian culture that inspired BA or any attempts beyond the superficial to cultivate Kahndaq as a culture that felt like it could be a country in the Middle-East rather than the appearance of one. Which I’m not educated enough to talk about so just to put it there, I was very aware of it and it did grate on me but I’ll leave that to the more well learned.

[imsorryimlate]

tagged by @caligarish thank you ^^

favourite color: red

last song: so high school by taylor swift (while dreaming of having a swiftie gf to sing it to lol)

currently reading: "jag, en gycklare" (stig järrel's memoir) + slowly but surely catching up on whale weekly

currently watching: what am i not watching? today i had a bridgerton marathon of season 3 part 2, and i finished another rewatch of sex and the city

currently craving: going home to my parents, i miss them so much (and the peace of being in my childhood home)

coffee or tea? tea ♡

thanks for the tag!

[popblank]

Year-end personal goals and culture roundup for 2022:

I deliberately set no personal goals out of laziness and also to see what would happen. What happened was a mixed bag: 

Did not exercise basically all year

Was less politically engaged than in previous election years

Read fewer books than expected

Did maintain a 300+ day streak in Duolingo, with the help of many streak freezes

Worked a lot of extra hours

Saw a lot of theater

This year I think I will set some sort of health goal because the lack of exercise (and poor sleep habits) made themselves pretty apparent toward the end of the year.

Culture stuff

Theater:

Went back to my pre-pandemic habits and saw 23 unique shows (plus a few repeats). Individual posts are linked; for ones where I didn’t write a post it was probably because I didn’t have the time or energy.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Slave Play

Assassins

The Lehman Trilogy

Hadestown

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Tootsie

Aida

King James

Pretty Woman

Come From Away

Lempicka

Moulin Rouge

Dear Evan Hansen

The Prom

+ More thoughts on The Prom

Oklahoma!

Jagged Little Pill

To Kill A Mockingbird

Omar

2:22: A Ghost Story

Invincible

Clyde's

Bat Out Of Hell

Music:

It is the first time in a while that my most-listened to song has not been from Eurovision or Melodifestivalen. I am finding that if I don’t make an effort to listen to music, I don’t listen to music, which is disappointing.  In any case, my most listened to track appears to have been Tove Styrke’s 2020 cover of “Bara du och jag” from Så mycket bättre season 11.  (My most-played Eurovision song was “Með hækkandi sól” by Systur, which ended up around #3 overall.)

Television:

Supergirl S1 (yes I am still trying to finish Season 2)

The Great American Barbecue Showdown (unexpectedly engaging)

The Great British Baking Show/GBBO S13 (liked the contestants, still puzzled by the taco technical)

The Midnight Club (not especially scary or horrifying, which is fine since I am not typically into horror; even so this has got me interested in Mike Flanagan’s other work)

Street Food: USA (apparently food holds my attention well)

Andor S1 (as good as everyone says)

Kalifat (compelling, also a bit depressing and cynical)

Movies:

Not much of a year for movie-watching since I spent so much time on live theater. Of the things I saw that were released this year, I think there was only Avatar 2 and Glass Onion. Might rewatch Glass Onion if there’s a commentary available.

Books:

Sprinting Through No Man’s Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France by Adin Dobkin: First book I managed to finish this year and it wasn’t until late August. Knew basically nothing about the Tour de France but this felt like part history and part travelogue, which kept me interested.

The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen: Listened to on audio, does provide some context for the current war in Ukraine, though history of Russia prior to 1980s or so remains a large gap in my knowledge

Less by Andrew Sean Greer: Essentially a bit of a slow-burn romantic comedy, fun airplane read

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson: dystopia + magic, good combo; very specific location (post-apocalyptic Toronto) is also good 

[harmandmac]

Jag rewatch 9x22 “Trojan Horse”

YESSS IM BACKKK

I missed my flyboy so much I’m crying 😭

AND I MISSED MY BABY GIRL TOO 😭😭😭😭

I MISSED THEM TOGETHER BEING KICKASS AND KICKING EACH OTHERS ASS

ohhh the singing soldier case hahahaha.

Also that Simon dude. Yikes I never liked him

Mike was so petty wheew. And I thought I was petty af

“You have a way with spies” Harm baby, your jealousy is showing from the ship you are at to pluto

“Has he hit you Sarah? Is he drinking?” Nope and a lot

Lmfao the small cameo to Bellisario’s star .

“Was that really necessary?” “I would’ve thought he’d want to remain aboard with you as long as possible” JEALOUS BEAR: CHECKED

HE IS BEING SO SHADY TO HER I STAN

AJ trying to push these two to talk. His patience amaze me

“Your back’s been bothering you for a while now” “I’m fine. It’s just a battle scar from tangling with Sadik” IM GONNA CRY AGAIN UGH UGH UGH

SIMON CALLING THEM OUT JUST LIKE THAT SHDHSHDHD “god forgive i should offend the mighty Commander Rabb. What’s the deal with you two anyway? Is he a diversion for when Webb’s out of town?” “That’s totally uncalled for” but Mac, he ain’t wrong

Height difference is so notorious when they are in a ship

“Harm, I’ve seen you through how many women? You’ve watched me fall in love, fall out of love, get confused, get angry... what is normal?” WEEEFUCKINGWOOOOO

“You know, we’ve been dancing around this for like a year now. Are you in love with Webb?” “I might be” “so you’re doing what you always do. Not committing, leaving your options open” IM NOT BEEATHING CALL 911

“Are you trying to throw me into his arms, Harm? Is that really what you want?” “If you love him, it wouldn’t really matter what I want” FUCK ME U P

Harm and Mac to a tee

[everyfandomsprincess]

Owl house season 3 spoilers

So the parallels between Hunter and Luz with Philip and Caleb are crazy right.

I’m sure you’ve probably seen some of the comparisons like the drawings

But what’s interesting is that Hunter is taking the place of Philip every time.

In Hallow Minds one of the paintings shows Caleb hugging a cursed Philips. And in Thanks to Them we see Luz hugging a cursed Hunter.

Also in Thanks to them despite the masks, Hunters shadow makes it appear that he has horns.

Which is associated with Belos, from a child, to empower, hell even when he losses Hunter later.

A lot people mention how Luz’s shadow looks like she’s being stabbed. And if she’s playing the part of Caleb, we know this doesn’t end well.

But way back is season 1 episode 3 (which is the opposite of the newest episode) Luz pretends to be an abomination to help Willow. Only for bump to want to dissect her.

Leading to this ominous scene of a jagged knife casting a shadow over her. A very similar knife we see later…

So that was heavy… on a lighter note if you rewatch the first few episode of season 1, every time Eda leaves she says bye the same way hunter did as the Golden Guard in early season 2. Idk I guess it’s a family trait.

[myworldisfictional]

👑Young Royals👑

Just a hodgepodge of asks to get to know your favourites and gush some more about YR (one day it will be enough right?). Share your thoughts dears! 💜

Thanks for the tag @ladyauroraborealis 🥰

Favourite:

Kiss

I completely agree with Lana. The smile right before the kiss. Ugh it’s just so sweet

Hug

Wille grasps onto Simon like he thought he was going to lose him. There’s so much desperation but just to hold Simon and be held by him. He so badly wants everything to be okay

Foreheads touching

It’s so delicate and sweet. And everything else going on just makes it so heartbreaking

Hand holding

They’re both seeking comfort in each other and just desperately trying to hold on to each other

Wille and Simon outfits

For Simon the purple hoodie (obviously) and for Wille the blue and black sweater

OST

This song perfectly conveys their emotions in the scene and it’s just so pretty to listen to (but honestly that’s true for all of them)

Share a moment that

Made you cry (happy or sad tears)

I never actually cried while watching yr but this scene was the closest I got to actual tears

Made you smile big

Honestly every single cute wilmon moment. Theres not a single one of them I can watch without smiling like a complete idiot

Made you want to throw your screen against a wall

I remember the first time I saw this part I legitimately screamed. The whole circumstances of their situation and then the confession of love just got me feeling a whole lot of emotions

Fish scene or morning after scene?

The morning after scene. It ranks high in my favourite scenes across all film/tv

Moment you knew this show was something special

This scene holds a special place in my heart. The technical aspects are amazing and as soon as I saw it I knew this show would ruin me

Quote you love

Jag bara vill inte förlora dig. Du är den enda som jag känner att jag faktiskt kan prata med här

Who would you want to be friends with first (or be BFFs) if you went to Hillerska?

I feel like I would probably get along best with Simon

Pick a song you like that you feel could be Wille’s, Simon’s, or Wilmon’s anthem

So for Wilhelm I think Bloodline fits really well with his season 1 storyline. He keeps pushing against the grain to follow his heart but ultimately caves into what he’s expected to do

I strongly believe Wille is going to fuck shit up in season 2 and I am so here for it. I also found this song thanks to @grizviser gaslight, gatekeeper, girlboss playlist that has loads of other great anthems for Wille in season 2

This song is so good and when I translated the lyrics I thought it fit with Simon especially in season 1. He’s so empathetic and he deals with Wille’s inconsistency and ultimately gets hurt in the end

For season 2 I think Simon is going to be trying really hard to move on from Wille but he does truly love him so it’s not going to go away easily. It’s the I love you even though I don’t want to (until they get back together of course)

I saw someone else (sorry I don’t remember who) mention Like Real People Do for Wilmon and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it because I think it fits really well for them in season 1

I think Fallout might fit well for Wilmon for at least half of season 2. Like I think the first verse sounds very much what Wilhelm will be feeling and the second verse is more Simon. And I know we don’t want a love triangle but the jealousy implied in the song also fits (and it doesn’t necessarily have to refer to a love triangle)

And a little extra but I hope (maybe for season 3) that their relationship gets to the point where this song works perfectly

Show me a scene that when you see it, makes you want to rewatch the show right then and there

The fish scene is probably the scene I see gifs of most often and every single time I want to rewatch the show

I’m tagging @gold-rush-wille @goldenwilmon @whatintheeverlovingfucketh @eyeofthedrgn and anyone else who wants to participate!

[measuringbliss]

Glee Rewatch Masterpost

Hi, this post serves as introduction and as masterpost to my ongoing Glee Rewatch. I watched the show once before (during the first half of 2022) and I already missed it a month later, hence the idea to not only rewatch it, but give my thoughts on each episodes in individual posts. My thoughts range from simple opinions (you'll see a lot of me gushing on outfits) to full-on analysis (why is there a French cabaret poster on the wall?) but it's all very not serious. I don't delve much (at all? for now?) into the real-life stuff since I'm still new to the fandom and everyone probably already knows everything about everything.

Written on October 1st, 2022.

Season 1

Just finished writing for the first episode!

Finn is cute in Glee 1x08 after being slushied

Glee: Grilled Cheesus

Pilot | Showmance | Acafellas | Preggers | The Rhodes Not Taken

Vitamin D | Throwdown | Mash-Up | Wheels | Ballad | Hairography

Mattress | Sectionals | Hell-O | The Power of Madonna

Home | Bad Reputation | Laryngitis | Dream On

Theatricality | Funk | Journey

Rocky Horror Picture Show references in Glee

Glee is avant-garde

Season 2

Audition | Britney/Brittany | Grilled Cheesus | Duets

Rocky Horror Glee Show | Never Been Kissed | The Substitute

Furt | Special Education | A Very Glee Christmas

The Sue Sylvester Shuffle | Silly Love Songs | Comeback

Blame It On The Alcohol | Sexy | Original Song | A Night of Neglect

Born This Way | Rumours | Prom Queen | Funeral | New York

Intermission

The Glee Concert Movie

Season 3

The Purple Piano Project | I Am Unicorn | Asian F | Pot o' Gold

The First Time | Mash Off | I Kissed a Girl | Hold on to Sixteen

Extraordinary Merry Xmas | Yes/No | Michael

The Spanish Teacher | Heart | On My Way | Big Brother

Saturday Night Glee-ver | Dance with Somebody | Choke

Prom-asaurus | Props | Nationals | Goodbye

Glee: Sebastian, Seblaine and Kurtbastian

Thinking again about Cruel Intentions and the Glee CI!AU Seblaine fic and why is Blaine as Annette so great????

Season 4

The New Rachel | Britney 2.0 | Makeover | The Break-Up

The Role You Were Born to Play | Glease | Dynamic Duets

Thanksgiving | Swan Song | Glee, Actually | Sadie Hawkins

Naked | Diva | I Do | Girls (and Boys) on Film | Feud

Guilty Pleasures | Shooting Star | Sweet Dreams

Lights Out | Wonder-ful | All or Nothing

Season 5

Love Love Love | Tina in the Sky with Diamonds

The Quarterback | A Katy or A Gaga | The End of Twerk

Movin' Out | Puppet Master | Previously Unaired Christmas

Frenemies | Trio | City of Angels | 100 | New Directions

New New York | Bash | Tested | Opening Night | The Back-Up Plan

Old Dogs, New Tricks | The Untitled Rachel Berry Project

Season 6

Loser Like Me | Homecoming | Jagged Little Tapestry

The Hurt Locker, Part One | Part Two | What the World Needs Now

Transitioning | A Wedding | Child Star

The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester | We Built This Glee Club

2009 | Dreams Come True

Glee's iconic moments

Fandoms before and nowadays: Glee compared to Buffy and Hannibal

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (19-25 Jun 2022)

ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᶦᵐᵐᵒʳᵗᵃˡ ʷᵒʳᵈˢ ᵒᶠ ᵈᵒᵒʳ 'ᵇᵃᵇʸᵍᶦʳˡ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃʳᵉ ˢᵒ ʰᵒᵗ ᵃⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᶦⁿˢᵗᶦⁿᶜᵗˢ ᵃʳᵉ ˢᵒ ᵇᵃᵈ'

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😍 Fete For A King (Shivadhverse #1) (Sam Starbuck) - cannot express how much I love this entire universe!!!! This book started as a 'what if there was a hallmark movie where a guy-fieri-like celebrity chef fell for the crown-prince-soon-to-be-king?' - it's sweet and fucking hilarious and very low angst and all the characters are amazing

😍 Infinite Jes (Shivadhverse #2) (Sam Starbuck) - 2nd book in the same universe; a recently retired ex-king at loose ends decides to start a podcast and ends up acquiring more loved ones in the form of a nonbinary producer and their 15-yr-old apprentice/son/disaster magnet

😍 👂‍ The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes (The Queer Principles of Kit Webb #2) (Cat Sebastian, author; Joel Leslie, narrator) - fuck, I knew I was going to fucking love Marian Hayes and I wasn't disappointed; give me a prickly, angry romance heroine every day and someone who loves her because their jagged edges fit together

😍 Ain't No Grave (Can Keep My Body Down) (spitandvinegar) - reread, absolute five-star forever fave; always enamoured of the idea that a broken, junkie recovering-from-hydra former asset would find enough of bucky barnes left to adopt two queer homeless kids; all the characterizations in this are incredible

😊 👂‍ Death in the Clouds (Hercule Poirot #13) (Agatha Christie, author; Hugh Fraser, narrator)

😊 Sweet Berries (Cambric Creek #2) (C.M. Nascosta) - mothman monsterfucking romance, very enjoyable

😊 👂‍ Enter the Saint (Simon Templar 'The Saint' #3) (Leslie Charteris, author; John Telfer, narrator) - surprisingly fun action adventure story; what little I knew of The Saint was from the solo hero he would later develop into - I enjoyed this early stuff where he's the leader of a vigilante gang of Bright Young Things

🙂 Dear Mona Lisa… (Claire Davis & Al Stewart) - short novella about a middle-aged synesthete trying to find the right way to come out to his daughter before his impending wedding

💖💖 +311K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Me and the Lavender Moon (emchant3d) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 10K - another fantastic part of this series about nonbinary kitchen witch bucky & cap!Steve - really love this entire series so much

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Fire Island - just as amazing and wonderful on the rewatch; nothing but pure serotonin

Legends of Tomorrow - s6, e8-13

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

99% Invisible #496 - The Rights of Rice and Future of Nature

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - Breathe

Shedunnit - Bonus: Ask Me Anything Part Two

Strong Songs Bonus Episodes - "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" by Kate Bush

Hit Parade - These Are the Good Times

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Fire Island Movie Soundtrack playlist

Presenting Janet Jackson

Women Who Owned '99

Gotta Get Away!

Pride Anthems

Summer Ska Celebration

Lazy Summer

Presenting Reba McEntire

Up All Night with Nile Rodgers

[flightfoot]

My ranking of Sentibubbler, Rocketear, Mega Leech, Crocoduel, and Wishmaker

Since it looks like it’s gonna be a bit before we get some new ML episodes (seriously it’s been nearly a month since the last one and we STILL don’t have an exact date), I figured that I’d rank the episodes we already have, giving my reviews of them along the way. I already ranked the first nine released episodes, which is why I’m only doing the next five right now. At the end of the season I’ll probably rank all of season 4′s episodes together, but with less in-depth reviews because that would be INSANELY long and no one would read it.

I’ve enjoyed all the season 4 episodes so far and this was a pretty good batch in general, but some of them still have to be further down the list, sadly.

5. Mega Leech

This one was hands-down my least favorite of the batch. I liked Ladybug’s speech to Mylene about how being brave doesn’t mean being fearless, and Mylene and Ivan standing up against eco-washing corporations, even defying Mayor Andre to do so, was pretty cool. I found it interesting that they’d tried to tell their classmates about what was going on for AGES, but hadn’t gotten their attention until now, and the class didn’t even remember it. Just nice to see Mylene and Ivan having their own problems and goals that, since we normally just follow Marinette and Adrien, we don’t really see.

Personally though, I just found it kind of forgettable. A fun enough episode, but not much more. I’ve always been okay with Mylene, but never found her super interesting, and this episode didn’t change that. The Gabriel and Adrien scene at the ending was interesting, but raised more questions than it answered.

In a season as chockful of plot and character development as season 4, Mega Leech came off as filler.

4. Rocketear

So all four of these next episodes are AMAZING, so the rankings might shuffle around in my final season 4 ranking, since they’re pretty close to each other. 

Rena Furtive looks awesome, and I really love how we got to see Alya and Nino dealing with their own emotional issues, having their viewpoints shown. Poor Nino had the world conspire to make him think that Alya had fallen for Chat Noir. His detective-noir setup was hilarious! 

Got some major bombshells too, with Adrien finding out Alya’s and Nino’s superhero identities AND that they knew who the other person is, that they know each other’s identities. Something which he doesn’t react well too, and for good reason. Gives some delicious drama and angst and exploration of Adrien’s emotions and feelings.

Really appreciated what the episode did with Alya too! She has her own wants and needs. She really wants to be able to show Rena Furtive off, but understands why she can’t - she was the one who came up with the ruse in the first place, after all. Doesn’t stop her from really, really wanting too though. Enjoyed seeing her banter with Chat Noir too, they both give as good as they take.

Best of all, Alya put her own mental and emotional well-being and her relationship with Nino ahead at the end. She tried lying to Nino, she understood why Marinette asked that from her, but it helped lead to this awful misunderstanding. Plus she’s seen how much Marinette’s struggling with keeping all of her secrets, how much it’s impacted her relationships, and decided that she doesn’t want to get to that point.

Reminds me of Gang of Secrets, with how Marinette pushed all her relationships, all her friends away to keep her secret, but then finally caved so she could get some support. Alya hadn’t reached that point, but I can see why she’d try to head it off, not let it ruin her relationship down the line.

3. Crocoduel

I think I’m in the minority with this one, but I had a blast with Crocoduel! Tigress Pourpre was GORGEOUS, we got some of that Couffaine family drama I’ve been asking for since “Truth”, and a bunch of interesting conflicts and misunderstandings, and just... the exploration of emotions was great.

Really loved what it did for Juleka and Luka especially. Juleka got some nice character development, being able to make herself heard. And as for Luka, we got to see that the class are as much his friends as Marinette’s, that they love and care for him and want him to feel better. Seriously, that scene where all of them hug Luka and tell him how much they care for him was great!

Misunderstandings, conflicts, and fears abounded this episode, with Marinette being nervous about talking to Luka, both for her own sake and because she was afraid of hurting him more, Juleka feeling ignored and forgotten by Jagged, Marinette asking Juleka to try to ward Luka away from hers and his birthday party, and Jagged and Anarka’s pissing match. Confrontation and communication saved the day this episode.

I really love complex emotions and conflicts being explored and resolved, so I love this episode!

2. Sentibubbler

This episode might as well be named “Why Alya Is Awesome”. Seriously, Shadowmoth had her on the ropes, with Marinette, Nino, and her family all held hostage, and she played him like a freaking fiddle. And it was HER plan too, something she came up with and implemented herself during an extremely stressful situation! It convinced me that if the need arose, Alya could take over as the planner. Which makes sense, since Marinette’s been training Alya to basically be her backup in case something happens to her.

The fallout from the first half of the season with Chat Noir being sidelined and generally not seeming to be as needed came to fruition this episode, with him getting really frustrated at being left out again, after already not getting to the battle in time in Optigami. A lot of us had noticed him getting less focus and action had really, really hoped it was part of the story arc, that it’d be addressed, so it was good to see confirmation on that.

1. Wishmaker

It was a tough fight between Sentibubbler and Wishmaker, but overall I found Wishmaker to be more fun while still being a really plot and character heavy episode. It made me like Luka and Alec quite a bit more, which I did NOT expect with Alec. He’s always been a bit of a jerk, but that was really explored and explained this episode, and I liked his character development. 

As for Luka, I’m just glad he had more focus NOT centered around his relationship with Marinette. HIs interactions with croco-jagged were hilarious, and it was nice to see what he wanted to do for a living. 

Really interesting that he discovered Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s identities, and DIDN’T tell Ladybug. I’m curious to see where that goes.

Oooh, and Adrien’s dream, or lack of one - that was heartbreaking. The fandom’s talked about Adrien not really knowing what he wants, but to see it addressed like this... it was great. DAMN though, his dream being to be what his parents wanted him to be, and for him to have that dream since he was an INFANT? That hurts.

The akuma was really fun in general, giving us Croco-Jagged and Pickled Banana. I rewatched it twice in one day, and loved it both times!

[spaceorphan18]

Glee Rankings 2.0 Final Rankings

I was going to do a bigger post that broke down my reasonings for changing things around a little better - but it’s been a year and a half, and I really want to put this project behind me, so I thought I’d post the list I created and be okay with it. 

I took the original list, and as I watched, I moved things around to fit better how I felt about them.  There are still some things I might move around here and there - but for the most part, I’m fine with how this list settled.  

Some thoughts about watching through the series this way... 

I actually had a lot of fun watching this way! It’s kind of weird to watch things out of order, you get a good sense of just how different each season is, but it was more enjoyable one might think. 

Admittedly, though, about a third of the way through I questioned why I even liked the show.  One of the pitfalls of watching all your least favorites in a row.  

Each of the seasons has a different reason for episodes being closer to the bottom.  Season 1 is just boring.  Season 4 has some messy and questionable story lines.  Season 3 is just bad.  

Speaking of which... Season 3 is bad.  Anyone who has been around my blog long enough already knows this, but I feel like I confirmed it, and I shuffled a lot more of the season down towards the bottom.  The problem is that there are just a lot of poorly handled story arcs in this season and  its burdened with too many characters that they weren’t sure how to handle.  Nothing had me wanting to throw things a the tv screen more than a Season 3 episode. 

However - I will says, Heart was the surprise delight of the rewatch, fwiw. 

On the other side of things - I think Seasons 4 and 6 are underrated still.  

And by the time I reached the last third of my rewatch, I had a really great time watching the episodes. 

I would say around 80 and up is when I started enjoying the episodes more than I didn’t.  

There were times when I missed watching things in order.  

One of the interesting things to come out of this - I really made my peace with a lot of issues within the Kurt/Blaine/Klaine story line.  I don’t think there was anything there that really bothered me throughout, and while, clearly, there are a lot of non-Kurt/Blaine/Klaine episodes near the bottom, rarely was that the sole reason those episodes were ranked lower. 

What I did find this time around was stuff that hasn’t aged poorly, or were in poor taste to begin with.  I started clocking things like all the racism (there’s a lot of it, btw), the fatphobia, the mean-spiritedness for the sake of being mean, and other things the writers probably thought were funny, but just aren’t.  That was the kind of stuff that bothered me the most. 

While I did shuffle a lot of Season 3 down, I don’t think there was much that filtered its way up, nor do I think the list is all that different from my original one.  I mostly just tinkered with placement - which I’m sure I would do any time I would rewatch it.  

The nice thing about this project is that I ended on a high note.  My top ten (top 40 really) is a collection of really fantastic episodes, which reminded me why I did like the show.  

Final list below the cut... 

My Subjective Rankings of all 121 Glee Episodes

New New York (5x14)

Original Song (2x16)

Love Love Love (5x01)

Tested (5x16)

2009 (6x12)

Dreams Come True (6x13)

Prom Queen (2x20)

The Untitled Rachel Berry Project (5x20)

The First Time (3x05)

Born This Way (2x18)

Guilty Pleasures (4x17)

Loser Like Me (6x01)

Duets (2x04)

The Quarterback (5x03)

New Directions (5x13)

Laryngitis (1x18)

Dance With Somebody (3x17)

Puppet Master (5x07)

A Wedding (6x08)

Never Been Kissed (2x06)

The Hurt Locker pt. 2 (6x05)

Wonderful (4x21)

Theatricality (1x20)

Silly Love Songs (2x12)

I Do (4x14)

Big Brother (3x15)

Dynamic Duets (4x07)

Diva (4x13)

The Break Up (4x04)

The Back Up Plan (5x18)

Grilled Cheesus (2x03)

Blame It On the Alcohol (2x14)

Home (1x16)

Jagged Little Tapestry (6x03)

The Purple Piano Project (3x01)

Glee, Actually (4x10)

Girls and Boys on Film (4x15)

The Power of Madonna (1x15)

Frenemies (5x09)

Old Dogs, New Tricks (5x19)

Homecoming (6x02)

Goodbye (3x22)

A Katy or a Gaga (5x04)

Sadie Hawkins (4x11)

Makeover (4x03)

Sexy (2x15)

Extraordinary Merry Christmas (3x09)

Movin’ Out (5x06)

All or Nothing (4x22)

Wheels (1x09)

The End of Twerk (5x05)

Bad Reputation (1x17)

Bash (5x15)

Transitioning (6x07)

Trio (5x10)

What the World Needs Now (6x06)

Opening Night (5x17)

City of Angels (5x11)

Sectionals (1x13)

We Built This Glee Club (6x11)

Pilot (1x01)

The Hurt Locker pt. 1 (6x04)

Heart (3x13)

Furt (2x08)

Feud (4x16)

Ballad (1x10)

Journey to Regionals (1x22)

100 (5x12)

Rumours (2x19)

New York (2x22)

Preggers (1x04)

Michael (3x11)

Tina in the Sky With Diamonds (5x02)

Special Education (2x09)

Naked (4x12)

The Substitute (2x07)

Dream On (1x19)

Choke (3x18)

I Am Unicorn (3x02)

Thanksgiving (4x08)

Yes/No (3x10)

Funeral (2x21)

Swan Song (4x09)

Hold Onto 16 (3x08)

Shooting Star (4x18)

The Role You Were Born to Play (4x05)

Asian F (3x03)

Britney 2.0 (4x02)

The Sue Sylvester Shuffle (2x11)

Hello (1x14)

Mattress (1x12)

The New Rachel (4x01)

Showmance (1x02)

Saturday Night Gleever (3x16)

A Very Glee Christmas (2x10)

Hairography (1x11)

Previously Unaired Christmas (5x08)

The Rocky Horror Glee Show (2x05)

On My Way (3x14)

Sweet Dreams (4x19)

Child Star (6x09)

Comeback (2x13)

Throwdown (1x07)

Promasarus (3x19)

Mash Off (3x06)

Vitamin D (1x06)

Britney/Brittany (2x02)

Glease (4x06)

Lights Out (4x20)

The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester (6x10)

Funk (1x21)

A Night of Neglect (2x17)

Acafellas (1x03)

Audition (2x01)

The Rhodes Not Taken (1x05)

Props (3x20)

Nationals (3x21)

The Spanish Teacher (3x12)

Mash Up (1x08)

Pot o Gold (3x04)

I Kissed a Girl (3x07)

[unmaskedagain]

Ladybug (Not) in Paris

So this is the follow up fic to my Series  Ladybug in Smallville and it’s sequel Ladybug in Gotham (And Space). When i opened my asks a few days ago, i recieved multiple prompts asking for part 3. A lot people also asked for a reaction from people in Paris after Lila was exposed. I don’t think I did a fic just focused on the fallout before so I decided to try my hand at it. Warning: i’m not kind to the characters. Even the ones i usually like. Sorry.

Ladybug (Not) in Paris

           Ladybug’s interview with Nadja didn’t just sent shock waves through Paris. It was a hurricane, a tornado; throwing everyone off their feet and destroying everything in its wake. Yet somehow, it was the aftermath, when everything settled down, that hurt the most…

Tom and Sabine

           Four months ago, they had thought they had done right thing. Marinette, as far as Sabine and Tom were concerned, had changed too much. They hardly recognized her anymore. First the accusations of her bullying some poor girl; of being a thief and a liar. Then expulsion! But no matter how much evidence was presented against the young girl, Marinette refused to budge on her claim of innocence. Their daughter’s actions had weeks of silent treatments and disappointed looks from them. They longed to see the daughter they remembered. The one with the smiling face, looking up at them with love and trust as if they were her entire world; always believing that they had the power to make everything better. The one who they recognized. One they trusted.

           Nadja had sided with Marinette and tried to convince the two parents to hear their daughter out. A furious Sabine all but threw her out the house; she didn’t need to hear anymore lies or tall tales from her offspring. Even if her friend was foolish enough to buy them.

It was all too much.  

           And when Gina, Tom’s mother, suggested they send Marinette to her friend. They leaped at the chance. Tom and Sabine truly believed their daughter had become toxic to their way of life, to her friends way of life.

           Nadja had found out Marinette had been sent away three days after the girl was gone. She ended her friendship with Sabine right there and then.

           After Marinette was gone, they waited for her to call them. Either to beg for her to allowed back; promising to change. Or just to let them know she was alright. Or just call as an olive branch, like she always did. She never called. Gina did. She told them Marinette had gotten to Smallville safely, and that was it.

           It would be a month before they’d hear from Marinette; and it was only because Gina had conferenced her in. Only Tom was willing to speak with her, though he had nothing positive to say. Sabine refused to give up on her silent treatment. She would continue to refuse to speak to her daughter for months.

           Sabine and Tom settled into relative peace without the chaotic presence of their daughter. Each ignoring the gaping hole she left behind. They only updates came from Gina.

           Then Ladybug’s interview aired.

           They had been working in the bakery at the time. A customer was watching it on his phone.

           As the interview went on, and Ladybug denounced the school, the teachers, the students, and the wrongful expulsion of Marinette Dupain-Cheng; but most of all how much a liar Lila Rossi was; it was like their world crashed.

           They quickly closed up shop and rewatched the interview.

Sabine had turned paler than she ever had before. Tom lost all feeling in his legs.

What had they done?

They sat in silence as the memories of the last few months their daughter had lived with them filled their heads; her desperate pleas of her innocence, her tearstained face begging them to listen. But they hadn’t. They sent her away.

They sat in silence, just watching and rewatching the video. Tears slowly slipped down Sabine’s face. A very small part of Sabine wished it would change. That suddenly Nadja would be confirming Marinette misdeeds instead. Anything! So it wouldn’t mean that Sabine had been a terrible mother, like Nadja had claimed she was when she found out Marinette had been sent away.

But no the vindictive look and overly pleased smile on her former best friend’s face didn’t change.

           It was Tom that called Marinette, putting the phone on speak. She didn’t pick up the first call. Or the second. When she finally answered, Tom immediately launched into apologies. He promised his daughter the world to make it up to her as soon as she came home. Sabine just cried in the background.

            Silence came from the other line. And for moment Tom thought the call had disconnected.

“I understand,” Marinette’s voice rang out through the living room. “Thank you for apologizing.” That was it. That was all said. There was no forgiveness in her voice. No love in her tone. “I love you. I do. But I will not be returning to Paris.”

           Tom burst into tears right then and there.

           When the call ended, neither parent knew what to say; just wondered how much of their relationship with their daughter was left to salvage.

           For the next month, both parents would try to call their daughter every day. Most days she wouldn’t answer. They understood why but that didn’t stop the dreadful feeling they had for every call that went to voice mail. The only she called them was to tell them the farm needed to be repaired and that she would be living with Clark and his husband.

           They longed to see their daughter’s smiling face, looking up at them with love and trust as if they were her entire world.

           It would a few months later that they did see it. Sabine and Tom were watching on of Sabine’s favorite red carpet events: the Wayne’s Annual Gala. It was a charity event that all the celebrities went to. A show Tom barely paid attention to.

           However, his wife’s gasp got his attention. She pointed to the screen, and then it was Tom’s turn to gasp.

           Their daughter was on TV, on the red carpet with Bruce Wayne, Clark, and the rest of the Wayne family; fitting in seamlessly with her dark hair and her blue eyes, in the most gorgeous pink dress they’d ever seen. Marinette easily passed as Bruce and Clark’s daughter. The press there screamed questioned about adoption or another love child.

           Bruce seemed to take great pride in showing off his new ward; bragging about her accomplishments and that she made all of their outfits of the night. Clark, while didn’t brag, didn’t hesitate to tell everyone how amazing his niece was. Marinette just laughed; looking happier than Sabine or Tom could remember her being for a long time, even before she left.

           The part that broke their hearts? Was their daughter’s smiling face, looking up at them, Bruce and Clark, with love and trust as if they were her entire world; like she believed that they had the power to make everything better.

           From how wonderful their daughter looked, and how much better off she seemed to be. The two men had.

           Clark and Bruce did the one thing Sabine and Tom forgot how to do.

           Be there for their daughter.

 Alya and the rest of the Students

           Four months ago, Alya had partied with her entire class over the fact that they had gotten the biggest bully kicked out of school. All the kids enjoyed the peace that had filled the classroom after her departure. They had another party when they learned Marinette had been sent out of the country. No one in class spared too much mind toward theirs ex-friend, apart from a few scathing remarks about her.

           Alya was glad the dark presence in their life was gone. Happy that her bestie Lila didn’t have to worry about the awful bully anymore. Everything was good again. Everyone was happy. Everything was peaceful.

           Then Ladybug’s interview aired.

           They had been at school, in class. The bell had just rang for lunch when Alya got the Ladybug alert on her phone. She was sitting next to Nino, texting Lila to hurry up and make a move on Adrien. She was surprised to see the hero giving an interview as she hadn’t had much time to so much as glance in Alya’s direction. With Bustier’s permission, Alya played the interview on the white screen of their room; with a little help from Markov.

           The entire class cheered when the interview started as they all ate their lunches in class.

           The interview had started off great. Ladybug had a new costume and Nadja asked about it. The hero showed it off a little. Then it got serious.

           Ladybug said Chat Noir was never returning; confirming something Alya had suspected for months.

           Then she mentioned the Ladyblog…

“Bad journalism,” Ladybug said. “That’s all that blog is. It’s poorly researched and full of lies. I’ve seen better research from the magazine that said Bigfoot’s having an affair with the Lochness Monster.”

“What Lies?” Nadja asked.

           Alya nodded. “This had to be a mistake. Everything I write is true!”

           Nadja pulled up the Ladyblog on the screen behind them.

“Well, for example, who the hell is Lila Rossi?”

           Silence filled the classroom. Everyone’s eyes on the screen. Lila froze in her seat.

“That girl is not my best friend,” Ladybug stated. “I saved her from her own akuma save five times now. That’s it. I don’t know the girl. I don’t like the girl. What was written would only serve to put Lila in danger. And what’s this about Lila saving Jagged Stone’s cat? From a plane? Which airline was this? Who could be so careless?”

           After that the reporter and the hero ripped the Ladyblog to shreds; dismantling each and every lie on the blog.

“Every reporter should know one cardinal rule,” Nadja said seriously to the audience. “Check your resources. Don’t be like the writer of the Ladyblog.”

           Alya seethed in her seat, throwing furious glares at Lila who had paled and looked read to flee the classroom. No one else in class knew what to say or do. Lila was lying? How could Lila be Lila? It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be true.

           As the interview went on, and Ladybug denounced the school, Bustier and a few other teachers, the students, for the wrongful expulsion of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“I heard one poor girl even got expelled,” Ladybug shook her head. “From what I’ve heard, there was no investigation, just word of mouth, easily planted evidence, and then expulsion. I’m surprised I didn’t have to deal with her Akuma.” Ladybug’s sad tone was clear to hear. “I looked into the incident a bit. A rather brilliant Robot name Markov had been recording the room at the time.” Marinette nodded to the screen. “I had them blur the students’ faces for security reasons. The girl with the short hair is the victim in question.”

           The video played. And it was clear that a long haired girl had stolen the answer key from the teacher and planted them on the victim. Another video played of Lila taking the necklace she said Marinette stole and planting it in the bluenette’s locker. It was a damning video.

           After the videos, the students and teacher were stunned. Too stunned to move. Too stunned to speak.

“From what I understand only a teacher named Mendeleiev actually tried to do something about the whole mess,” Ladybug praised. “She had been filing complaints with the school board for months. She and a majority of the staff, actively protested the expulsion of the victim before and after it happened. They stood strong against bullying. Even of the threat of being fired hasn’t stop Mendeleiev. That is the type of teacher, the type of person everyone should aim to be like. She should be the principle.”

           Ladybug went on to full tirade against school. She ripped the principle and teacher Bustier to shreds. For allowing bullying of students, victim blaming, and sheer negligence. Reciting how many times Ladybug had to deal with akuma from that school, particularly from Bustier’s class.

“I just wish I could’ve helped her,” Ladybug sighed. “The victim. She lost everything; all her friends, her family, because of this and the actions of a seriously disturbed girl who was nothing more than a liar. I can’t help but wonder what happened if I had found out sooner. If Lila Rossi had never lied. Or if the Ladyblog had fed into them. After this, I will never work with Alya Césaire, author of the Ladyblog, again. She is terrible journalist and from what I understand, and equally terrible friend. Everyone at that school should be ashamed of themselves.”

“I know the girl you’re speaking about,” Nadja frowned. “She’s stronger than she looks. Still, she deserved better. I swear to you that I’ll be leading the charge in investigating the wrongful expulsion. Justice will be had.”

           The fallout was epic. And started seconds after the interview ended with Alya launching herself at Lila, ready to strangle the girl, tackling her as rage and misery filled her.

           It took Nino and Kim to pull her back.

“How could you!” Alya screamed, tears building in her eyes. “I trusted you! We all trusted you. You! You! You Monster!”

           No bother to help Lila off the floor. Her hair was a mess and her nose was bleeding. She looked around her help, as she struggled to come up with a lie to spin everything in her favor. But video proof and a national icon denouncing you on public TV was a hard thing to spin. The class looked at her with cold hatred, already laying all the blame at Lila’s feet.

Lila didn’t get the chance to come up with a lie.

Mendeleiev along with two other teachers and the gym coach arrived before she could.

“Rossi,” Mendeleiev growled, fury in her eyes. She had warned Bustier and Damocles about the girl, had filed complaint and complaint with the school boarding regarding Marinette. The fool Damocles had threatened to fire her if she didn’t stop but she hadn’t. Mostly because it was the right thing to do. Partly because she knew he didn’t have the balls to do it. “You’ll be leaving with me now to the Principal’s office. Your mother is on the way.”

           Lila paled. Suddenly remembering that Ladybug had said her name on live TV. Her mother probably saw everything. She’d kill Lila for this. Her mother had to move to France after Lila had gotten in trouble at her last school for lying. Yet the trouble she was in now was far worse than she’d ever been in.

           She cursed the fact that Hawkmoth had already sent so many strong akuma. He’d be too weak to send anymore.

           Mendeleiev turned her attention to the class with cold eyes. They were just kids so the teacher didn’t blame them too much. Kids made mistakes. She hoped they would learn from this. Grow from this. “Class, Miss Ashton will be your teacher for the rest of the day.” The English teacher stepped forward. “Miss Bustier will be coming with me.”

           Caline Bustier nodded, not even bothering to argue. She knew her career was over. Her teaching license would be revoked. Her name smeared across the papers. Still a part of her wanted to cry that she thought she had done the right thing. Everything had be so obvious, all the evidence there. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized she should’ve been suspicious to how easily the so called evidence was found.

           The students watched as Mendeleiev marched Lila and Bustier out of the classroom, the teachers besides Ashton joining her.

           The bell rang. Ashton gave the class a kind smile, “I think me maybe your teacher for quite a while.” She told them. “So today, I would like to discuss Shakespeare’s JULIUS CAESAR and the book the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.”

“The Ides of March. Wrong imprisonment,” Max answered his face forlorn. He knew what the teacher was getting at. “Both are famous for the betrayals in them. Each main character were betrayed by their friends.”

           Ashton’s smile suddenly looked a lot colder. She turned around and write on the white board in Giant Black Letter. “Et tu, Brute.” She read off the board. “Et tu, Brute is one of the Shakespeare’s most famous lines. Historically inaccurate but still used very much today. It’s usually said to one friend from another when a harmless betrayal happens. I, myself, said it just last week when my boyfriend stole last piece of pecan pie. I deserved it once when I erased his futball game off the DVR to make room for the newest episode of the Flash. What about you? Have you ever done anything to deserve it?”

           No one in class said anything. They all knew they had.

           When class let out, they flood the bluenette’s cellphone with apology texts begging her to answer. Alya had called her bestie a dozen times but not one call got answered.

           When Alya got home, she was met with the disappointed faces of her parents and sister. She had tried to explain her side of things but they wouldn’t listen.

           Then her sister said, “We need to get a lawyer.”

           Her parents nodded, resignation in on their faces. Alya balked, “Why? We didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything.”

“Your website told lies about famous and powerful people,” Her mother explained, with a slight fear in her voice. “They could sue us for defamation of character.”

           And they did. In the weeks after Ladybug’s interview celebrity after celebrity, or at least their lawyer contacted their family lawyer. They were all pretty lenient as no one wanted to be seen suing a teenager girl over a fanblog but the terms were clear. The Ladyblog had to go.

           Her life’s work was deleted on a raining Tuesday. Alya stilled blamed Lila for her sorrows. The Italian girl had been expelled and sent far away by her mother.

           Everyone in class blamed Lila for what happened. For getting poor Marinette expelled. Marinette who still didn’t return their calls or texts.

Alya knew she had done wrong to Marinette but it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know Lila was lying. She made a mistake. Everyone should just move on.

Unfortunately for her, they did move on. Damocles and Bustier were fired. All of the students in Bustier’s class was put on probation for their bullying of Marinette. (One toe out of line and they would be expelled.)  Most of the student body avoided the lot, fearing they’d be tarred with the same brush. They were persona non-grata.

Alya parents took away her laptop and forbid her from creating another website. She was forced to attend mandatory therapy session; something about owning up to her own mistakes.

Alya wished that everything would go back to normal. She wished her bestie was back in Paris already. So Marinette and her could go back to giggling over boys and dreaming of their futures. Planning to rule the world as the dynamic professional and extremely successful women they were sure they’d become. Her bestie who was always there for her, always willing to listen, always on Alya’s side, unlike everyone else in the world at the moment.

Weeks passed and no one heard or seen a hair from Marinette. Most of the class just knew if they could just apologize to the girl everything would be alright again. They’d be friends again. Alya was certain of it.

Still more time passed, and nothing.

Finally, one girls’ night, after they all finally finishing being ground, they all met up at Rose’s for a sleepover. They laughed and did each other’s make up, ate greasy food, watched trash TV and felt at peace for the first time in a while.

Rose shushed her friends at the Wayne Gala started. “Doesn’t Gigi Hadid look amazing!” She exclaimed.

“Please, look at Beyoncé,” Alya said. “Now that’s a queen.”

           All the girls pointed out their favorite celebrity and gushed over their outfits.

“Oh it’s the Waynes,” Rose chirped excited. “They always look amazing. Is that… that’s Marinette!”

           All the girls’ eyes were glued to the screen because sure enough Marinette Dupain-Cheng was on the screen being escorted by Bruce Wayne.

“She’s in Gotham?” Alix pointed out. “I didn’t know she was in Gotham.”

           Mylene’s eyes were wide. “I wonder how she likes it. I heard Gotham was pretty scary.”

“Screw Gotham,” Alya yelled a giant smile on her face. “She knows Bruce Wayne. She knows the Waynes!”

           Bruce Wayne introduced Marinette as the newest addition to his family and went on to rave about her in a proud fatherly tone. His husband Clark Kent doing the same.

           Rose awed, “She designed that dress. It’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen.”

           Alya wanted to high five someone. Her bestie was Bruce Wayne’s newest kid. She had to text. She needed all the details. What was it like? How rich were they? How rich was she now? Could Alya come visit?

           The glasses-wearing girl was filled with hope. Maybe Marinette would give her an interview, the exclusive. Maybe one with her new family too. An interview with Bruce Wayne would be amazing. Maybe Alya would get to meet Clark Kent, he was a famous reporter. He worked with Lois Lane.

           Alya gasped. What if she got to meet Lois Lane? Marinette had to know her. Clark and Lois were best friends, everyone knew that. She was even the surrogate for Clark’s son Jon. She was practically Marinette’s aunt now. Maybe Marinette could get her an internship at the Daily Planet. That would show everyone. They’d all see that Alya was some stupid kid pretending to be a journalist. She was the real deal. They’d see.

           …If only she could get Marinette on the phone.

           A month and then two went by and still no answer from Marinette. Alya figured the girl had lost her phone. Marinette could be pretty careless sometimes. And forgetful. Alya thought that until she got to class one day, and Juleka was telling everyone that Luka was going to Gotham.

“Marinette invited him,” Juleka said, her eyes a bit sad, but she was otherwise happy for her brother. Luka had been the first to make it clear that Juleka, and the others, were in the wrong and it was up to Marinette to forgive them if she wanted. “Her new guardians are paying for him to come. Her Birthday’s coming up. It’s going to be this huge event for the Princess of Gotham,” She giggled at the name the media had given the bluenette who had earned their love quickly and easily. “She really loves it Gotham.”

“Girl, have you been talking to my bestie?” Alya accused. “Behind my back. Seriously!”

           To her credit, Juleka didn’t bat an eye in the face of the girl’s anger. “I haven’t spoken a word to Marinette. Luka talks to her almost every day. They’re friends.”

“Does she get a new phone?” Alya asked quickly. “Or maybe she had a new number! Can I have it? Call Luka and get it!”

“She did get a new phone,” Juleka confirmed. “But she has the same number as before.”

           Alya huffed, “Then why isn’t she answering! Why is she talking to Luka and not me?” She was Marinette’s bestie. Alya was the one who should be talking to her every day, not some random guy. She was one who should be flying off to Gotham to attend Marinette’s extravagant birthday party. HER!

“Luka and Marinette are friends,” Juleka repeated. “Last time we talked to Marinette, we all made it clear we weren’t her friends anymore. Why would she talk to us? After what we did?”

           Alya gaped. “I’m not the one who lied.”

“No. You just helped bully her.” Juleka shrugged. “We all did. Or at least didn’t stop it. We hurt her. And that’s not something we can blame on anyone else. It was our actions helped Marinette get kicked out of school. That’s not just one Alya. That’s on us.”

“We really hurt her,” Rose whispered. “We made her cry a lot.”

“We shoved her,” Alix looked down.

“Destroyed her homework,” Kim said, regret clear in his eyes.

“Ruined her designs,” Mylene added as she teared up.

“Sent horrible texts,” Sabrina said looking anywhere but at the white board.

“We left her all alone and told her she deserved it,” Juleka clenched her fists.

“We sent viruses to her computer,” Max winced. “Made it more useful as a paperweight.”

“Or we did nothing at all and just let it happened,” Ivan swallowed hard. “And that was just as bad.”

“Because we were scared,” Nathanial said between clenched teeth. “We were cowards who didn’t want the same thing to happen to us.”

“We betrayed her,” Nino admitted. “Every last one of us. That wasn’t Lila. Because Lila was never her friend. Betrayal doesn’t come from your enemies. It comes from your friends.”

           The weight of the world seemed to hit her, as Alya plummeted back down in her seat, feeling numb. Her eyes on the white board. The giant bold words screamed at her. She could hear them in her head, repeating over and over again, all in a familiar voice.

“Et tu Brute,” The ghost of Marinette whispered, seemingly more alive in the classroom, than ever before. “Et tu Brute.”

           Alya wanted to protest, scream that it wasn’t her. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t fair. But she couldn’t find the words for once. The memories of all the harm she had caused her bestie, her former friend filled her head. Everything her other classmates had done, Alya did twice over. She even convinced Marinette’s parents of the girl’s wrongdoings, turning them against her. Lila wasn’t to blame for that, not entirely. It was all of them.

           It was Alya. She betrayed her best friend. Everyone in class betrayed the Bluenette.

           And much like the Ides of March, they had all taken turns at stabbing the girl. Even when Marinette had tried appealing to Alya, her best friend, but Alya stabbed her. She could still remember the disbelief on Marinette’s face as she left.

           Alya swallowed hard. Tears prickled her eyes.

           Et tu Brute, indeed.

Adrien

           Four months ago, the kindest girl Adrien had ever known was expelled from school. He had only given a weak protest when it happened. Tried to get Lila to reverse it. But nothing worked. And when he heard Marinette had been sent away. He decided to move on, not make a big deal out of it.

           The whole ordeal had been terrible. Before she left, Marinette kept calling him and texting him to get him to help her; reveal that Lila was lying. Adrien refused. Everyone in class liked having Lila there and she wasn’t hurting anyone.

           It got to the point where Adrien just ignored her calls and texts. He even had Nathalie tell her that he wouldn’t be getting involved, and that maybe they should take a break from each other for a while.

           To make matter worse it had come after Fu had taken back the ring; declared Chat Noir and unfit superhero. It was all too much.

           Yes, it was better to just move on. Everything would go back to the way it was soon enough. Marinette would come back. Lila would be better and not lying so much. They’d all be friends again.

For now, Marinette was probably happier where she was. She’d move on. The class was happier with her gone. Everyone should just move on.

           And they did.

           The class went back to being a happy and friendly place. They all went back to being the amazing friends they were. It was a little strange without Marinette but it wasn’t like the girl had been active in his or any of their other friends’ lives. Her accusations against Lila had gotten her the cold shoulder from the class.

           Adrien had warned her to stop. If only, the bluenette had listened. But girls always seemed to have trouble listening to him.

           Like Ladybug.

           If Ladybug had just gone out with him, he’d still be Chat Noir. They were soul mates, why didn’t she see that?

           It took the blond a while to get used to not being a hero anymore, a while before he’d stopped unconsciously complaining to Plagg whenever they were alone.

           It was fine though. Adrien moved. He and Nino hung out more. It was easier now that he didn’t have to worry about getting so much cheese or coming up with excuses to fight Akuma. Ladybug come back soon enough, he knew. She needed him. They were a team. He was sure of it. Just like he was sure Marinette would come back to class and everyone would be friends again; everything would go back to the way it was.

For now, he would just enjoy the break.

           Then Ladybug’s interview aired.

           And once again, Adrien’s world was thrown up balance.

           Ladybug’s interview had been cruel. She had depicted a coldness Adrien had never seen from her before. She tore everyone to shreds. She tore the school to shreds. It was like she didn’t care who she hurt. Or how many people would be hurt by the truth being out there like that.

           He had thought she was the type of person to take the high road. It wasn’t like Lila had been hurting anyone. And Alya had made a simple mistake. Nothing that could be fixed, right? Everyone would get over it. They’d move on.

           And they’d be better off for it.

           All of Lila’s lies were revealed like Adrien always told Marinette they would be.

           The Italian girl got expelled that same day; which Adrien thought was a bit harsh. Bustier and Damocles were fired, again harsh. The class turned again the liar and laid the blame entirely at her feet; that Adrien found was fair.

           Then he waited with a big smile in his class the following Monday after Lila’s expulsion. Waiting for Marinette to walk through the door with a happy smile on her, excited to be back. They’d all apologize and everything would be alright again.

           However, Marinette didn’t come back on Monday. Or the next day. Or the day after that. She never came back.

           No one in class could get a hold of her. The Bluenette didn’t reply to their texts and never answered a call.

           It was so unlike their everyday Ladybug. She couldn’t still be mad, right? Even if she was, they were friends. You have to forgive your friends right. No one could be angry forever.

           Mariette would get over it. She’d come home soon. Adrien just knew.

Adrien didn’t call her or text. He knew it was best to wait. Marinette always was the one to make peace. It was just the way she was.

So he waited.

And he waited.

And he waited.

And waited.

Weeks turned into months. But there was no sign of Marinette anywhere. His phone making it glaringly obvious that the girl never called.

How were they supposed to go back to being friends if she never called? Didn’t she care?

Adrien wondered where Marinette was.

He found out during guys’ night when Alya texted Nino to turn the TV channel. And then they all saw her. Marinette smiling brightly on the red carpet, looking more beautiful then he’d ever seen her before. She was in Gotham, living with the Waynes’. She was Bruce Wayne’s new ward. Everyone knew that every time Bruce Wayne got a new ward, they always got adopted. Always.

By the time, Adrien got home that night the news was filled with articles like:

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the newest Wayne?

Who is Marinette Wayne, and why you should love her!

Marinette: Secret love child of Bruce Wayne!

           Marinette’s name was in lights. All world was talking about her. She was famous.

           Which was why Adrien became even surer that Marinette would call. He was the only other famous kid she knew. He could help, be there for her to talk to. It’s what friends did. Marinette would call soon.

           The next morning his father joined in for breakfast for the first time in weeks. He only ever did it when he wanted something from Adrien.

“Did you know Miss Dupain-Cheng was in Gotham?” His father asked.

           Adrien shook his head, “No. I didn’t know what happened to her when she left school.”

           Gabriel nodded. “You were friends, yes?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He had always counted the Dupain-Cheng girl as one of Adrien’s few likeable friends. “Nathalie told me you two had a falling out.”

“We took a break,” Adrien corrected. “We need a breather from each other. Things had gotten pretty bad because of Lila.”

           Gabriel frowned. What happened with Lila Rossi had been a blow to the stock prices of the company. They had endorsed the girl whose name made headlines after Ladybug denounced her and publically revealed her lies, and that she had been willingly working with Hawkmoth. Shareholders didn’t like that. “Miss Dupain-Cheng lives with her Uncles, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent; two notable figures in society. Reach out to her, end your ‘breather’, reconfirm your friendship. A connection with the Wayne family will take us far.”

“Yes, dad.”

           Adrien was still reluctant to reach out first. Marinette just needed a bit more time. When she was ready, she’d call him. She always did. She was their everyday ladybug, and that meant something.

           However, Nathalie made sure he did. She made sure Adrien sent every text his father wanted him to.

           His first text was simple: hey, how’s it going.

           There was no reply.

           He asked when she was coming back to school. Told her they all missed her.

           No reply.

           At Nathalie behest, he asked about Bruce Wayne and the other Waynes. What they were like? If all their suits were custom made.

           No reply.

           He asked if she wanted to get lunch when she got back to Paris.

           Nothing.

           He never received a single reply. His father was disappointed. Until Adrien suggested that maybe Marinette changed her number. That wasn’t something either them could control. His dad backed off, and Adrien breathed a sigh of relief.

           Adrien found out that wasn’t the case when he heard Juleka telling Rose that Luka was going to Gotham. Then Alya started in on the quiet girl about going behind her back.

           Then Juleka had said something that shook Adrien a bit.

“She did get a new phone,” Juleka confirmed. “But she has the same number as before.”

           Adrien first thought was that he hoped his dad didn’t find out. That would be bad. And ugly.

           Alya huffed, “Then why isn’t she answering! Why is she talking to Luka and not me?” She was Marinette’s bestie. Alya was the one who should be talking to her every day, not some random guy. She was one who should be flying off to Gotham to attend Marinette’s extravagant birthday party. HER!

“Luka and Marinette are friends,” Juleka repeated. “Last time we talked to Marinette, we all made it clear we weren’t her friends anymore. Why would she talk to us? After what we did?”

           Then the happy vibe that the classroom had started with went away. Each student admitted their wrongdoing, telling how they hurt Marinette. How they betrayed their once friend. It was awful.

           Adrien nearly interrupted to tell them it would be alright. Marinette would forgive them. They’d all be friends again. It wasn’t that bad. They’d move on like none of this had ever happened.

           But Ivan spoke before he could, “Or we did nothing at all and just let it happened,” The bigger boy said. “And that was just as bad.”

           No it wasn’t. All they did was stay out of it. All Adrien did was stay out of it. It was the right thing to do. Everyone was arguing and fighting. Adrien getting involved would only make it worse. Right?

Right, Adrien thought firmly. He ignored the pit that seemed to appear in his stomach.

           Adrien spent the rest day re-convince himself that everything would be alright. Everyone just needed to calm. Marinette also needed to come back. Or at least answer their calls. Then they could tell her everything was good again. Lila was gone. Time to celebrate.

           However, while Adrien was getting ready that night, he got a text from Nino. It was of a video of Marinette at her new school. Luka had gotten it from her, with the blessing to spread it around; show everyone that she was fine.

           And she was.

           Marinette looked happy in her new school uniform. She was surrounded by friends and seemed be having a ball.

           She had moved on.

           It was what Adrien had hoped would happened, he remembered, so many months ago.

           He had hoped Marinette would move on. That everyone would move on.

           And she did. And everyone was starting to.

           So why did he feel so bad?

           Maybe because he was having a hard time moving on to?

           Maybe it was because a part of him finally realized that nothing was going to back to the way it was?

           Why didn’t everything go the way he thought it would?

“It should have,” Adrien frowned, turning to speak to Plagg. “Right?”

           There was only silence to answer him.

“Oh… yeah.” Adrien said remembering, again, that Plagg was gone. Just like Chat Noir. “That’s right.” He’ll get used to it. He was used to it.

           It wasn’t like it was a big deal.

           Right?

Marinette

           Marinette didn’t want a birthday party. She told Bruce she didn’t want a birthday party. She told Clark she didn’t want a birthday party. Yet somehow she was getting a birthday party! She knew the accidently slip to Kara that she spent her last birthday alone had been a mistake. Marinette’s got sad eyes from her new family for a week.

           When it became clear that the birthday party was happening to matter how much Marinette protested, she decided to try a different. She made it clear that she didn’t want a big birthday party. She wanted something small with just her new family and friends. However, the more she said it, the bigger the party plans got. First the justice league got invited. Then the Teen Titans, and then young justice. Then all her school friends. Then all the friends she made while on the Kent farm. She was fine with that. She had invited Nadja, Luka, Kagami and even Chloe to her birthday; the only friends she had left in Paris. She invited Jagged and Penny and Clara.

And yet the party just kept getting Bigger and bigger…

           Until it was some extravagant event all press talked about. Her birthday was trending on social media. But did that stop Bruce? Nooo?

           Then it just got bigger and bigger.

           Until celebrities were tweeting that they RSVP’d already. It was as big as any red carpet event.

           Marinette glared at her guardian from the across the breakfast table.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Bruce said. “The party will be fun. You’ll love it.”

“She did want something simple, Bruce,” Clark shrugged.

“Said the guy who invited the Justice League.”

Clark narrowed his eyes, “Said the man who paying One Direction over three million dollars to get the band back together for one night.”

“One Direction was her favorite band!”

“Then why did you invite Shawn Mendes,” Clark asked smugly. “And Taylor Swift. And Maroon 5. And BTS. And Ed Sheeran. And Billie Eilish. And Lizzo. And who knows who else you got! Not to mentioned the cast of Riverdale, supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Teen wolf, and the new Spider Man movie. Bruce, you’re throwing your own Teen Choice Awards.”

           Marinette blinked. And then blinked again.

           Then she got up and walked away from the table.

           She needed to find Alfred. She needed to find someone remotely sane to talk to. Which was a hard thing to come by at Wayne Manor.

           Marinette loved Gotham as much as she had loved Smallville. She loved working with the Justice league. She loved her new brothers and sisters.  She loved them she really did.

           But she’d be the first to them to take a chill pill.

           Starting with Bruce, then Clark, the Dick.

           Followed up Oliver Queen and Arthur Curry; otherwise known as the Green Arrow and Aquaman.

           Every time Marinette visited the watch tower, Oliver would shove his son Roy at her. Once literally.  Then Arthur started doing the same his kid Kaldur.

           This displeased her guardians. Both had taken to glaring at Green Arrow and Aqauman during meeting. Arthur backed off a little. Oliver not even a bit. The man had plans.

           Marinette didn’t find Alfred, as he had left on errands. Instead she found Tim on the coach. “You’re the third sanest person in this house… when Luke’s not here.”

“Alfred, you, me, Adds up,” Tim cracked a smile at his little sister. “What’s up?”

           Marinette plopped down next to him, “Make them stoooppp!” She whined.

           Tim gave her a look, “You want me to stop Batman and Superman.”

“Well, when you say it like that its sounds dumb.”

“And impossible.”

           She pouted, “What should I do?”

“You willing walk aboard this crazy train,” Tim shrugged. “Now you just have to enjoy the ride. It’s the only thing you can do.”

“And try not lose my sanity too in the process.”

“That’s a good princess.”

           Marinette sighed.  She hated her new nickname but the press ate it up. The party was just making it official.

           But what could she do? She loved her new home, her friends, and her family. Marinette was finally getting everything she ever wanted.

           Her birthday would be one of the biggest events of the year. She was having a party fit for a princess.

           The princess of Gotham that was.

           Because that was who Marinette was now.

           She wasn’t just Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was just Ladybug.

           She was Marinette: Princess of Gotham.

[firefly464]

The Real World - Chapter 9

:insert eyes emoji here because shits about to get real:

@i-have-this-now​ wrote the last part because she’s great and amazing and wonderful :D

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~~~

Wilbur sat in his office, staring at his computer screen in dismay. It had been roughly a week since him and Tubbo had gone and visited Tommy. Roughly a week since his friend's panic attack. A week since Tommy had started acting differently. His friend had been acting secretive all week, almost terrified in a strange way. He acted as if no one could see the way he flinched at loud noises, or the fearful look in his eyes whenever someone came too close. He had fumbled around with the phone, as if not even knowing how to use it. He had talked to Dream in an almost pleading tone, begging for… something, and Will didn’t know what it was. He had never seen his friend acting like that before. 

His hand traced over the long scar on his arm that Tommy had given him during his panic attack. He didn’t blame his friend at all for the wound, in fact it was mostly his own fault for trying to comfort him. At that moment, it had been clear that Tommy hadn’t actually been seeing him. He had seen someone, or something else. In Wilbur’s concern for his friend, he had reached out to comfort him, despite the fact that he knew it was a bad idea. 

His stupidity had earned him a long, jagged cut down the side of his forearm from the pencil that Tommy had been wielding as a weapon. He had jerked back with a hiss of pain. “Get the fuck away from me! I won’t let you hurt anyone else!” Tommy had screamed. 

Tubbo took a small step forward, his hands out in front of him comfortingly “Tommy, you’re ok, I promise. No one is going to hurt you.” His voice was soft and calm, as if he was talking to a wild animal. Based on the look in Tommy’s eyes, it wasn’t too far off from the truth. 

Tommy’s blue eyes had snapped over to Tubbo, as if trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. “Tubbo? Tubbo you need to run! He’s going to kill you, he’s going to fucking kill you and burn our home to the ground!” 

“Hey, it's all right. I’m fine, see? No one is going to kill me.”

Desperately, Tommy grabbed his friend's shoulders, trying to get it through Tubbo’s head that he needed to run. “You don’t get it. H-He’s going to kill all of you. You need to find the others and warn them. I can’t… I can’t fucking lose you.”

“Tommy, take a deep breath. You’re safe. I promise that we’re both safe.”

“But Dream-” he shuttered, a wave of sobs running through him, “God this is my fault. Why the fuck did I listen to him? Now you’re all going to fucking die because of me!” 

Wilbur stared intently at the scar on his arm, trying to figure out what the hell Tommy had meant. Clearly, Dream had done something to him. But what? What had he done that was so terrible, it had caused the boy to collapse over a simple video clip? Will had rewatched the clip several times, trying to pinpoint exactly what could have possibly triggered the terrible PTSD. He had found nothing.

After WIlbur and Tubbo had left Tommy’s house, it had seemed like things were slowly but surely returning back to normal. Tommy had quickly gone from acting as if he knew nothing about the world around him or how to do anything, to slowly but surely returning to his old, chipper self. Even so, it didn’t feel right. Something was still wrong. His jokes all felt forced, his smiles all fake. Whenever they were in a call together, his words all felt carefully planned out, as if he were scared of saying something wrong. No one brought up his outburst, but it was clear that they were all thinking about it. 

At one point, Tubbo had hesitantly suggested that Tommy get on the DreamSMP, clearly scared of triggering another panic attack. 

However, Tommy had just gone silent, before very quietly saying, “What…?” His voice had been filled with a hesitant hope. Hope for what, Will didn’t know. But it was something that he hadn’t heard in his friend's voice all week, and he wasn’t going to question it. 

“The SMP? The server?” “How do I… How do I do that?” He had asked quietly.

Tubbo had ended up walking his friend through the entire process of getting online, never once asking why or sounding annoyed. It was clear how important this was to Tommy, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin it by teasing. 

As Tommy had logged onto the server, the discord call was silent. No one spoke as he spun in a slow circle, taking in everything around him. Not a word was muttered as he cautiously moved around. The only sound that could be heard were the quiet sobs being picked up by his mic.

“Home…” He had whispered quietly, the sound just barely loud enough to be picked up over discord. 

God, none of it made any sense. None of it made any damn sense, and just thinking about it made Wilbur’s head hurt. Tommy acted as though he was an entirely different person. At first, Will had just attributed his strange behavior to PTSD. A strange way of coping after whatever hell he had gone through. But now… Now he wasn’t so sure. Tommy was recovering far too quickly for it to be merely PTSD. So what the hell was going on? He needed to talk to Tubbo. They needed answers.

~~~

The next day, Tommy was sitting in front of his computer, staring at the walls of L’manberg. Looking at it made his chest hurt with homesickness, but it was his only connection to his old life. It may not have been as impressive as the real thing, but it was still beautiful in its own right. Ever since the others had shown him the server, he had spent most of his time on it. He hadn’t exactly done anything, but simply walking around the familiar lands of his home felt calming. 

A ring sounded from his computer, making him jump. It took him a couple seconds to calm down enough to register that it was only an incoming call, and not any sort of attack. With a slightly trembling hand, he answered. 

Silence. “Hello?” he asked, trying to see what was going on. 

“Hey Tommy.” Tubbo’s voice was reserved, almost nervous in a way. Tommy could feel his muscles tense. The last time he had heard his friend speak like this was during the war. Something had happened. Something must have happened.

“What's wrong? Are you ok? Did something bad happen?” he asked, trying to figure out what was going on. 

“What? No, no. We just uh… We just wanted to ask you something.”

“I mean, go for it…? Are you sure everything is alright?” 

“We’re fine. Tommy, I want you to answer me honestly, got it?” Wilbur’s voice cut interrupted his rampaging thoughts. Thoughts of how his friends were hurt. Thoughts of what had gone wrong. Thoughts of how Dream might have gotten to them… “Tommy, what happened to you?”

“I told you already. I don’t remember,” he replied half heartedly, his mind elsewhere. 

“I think we all know that isn’t true. Tommy, what did Dream do?”

That brought his train of thought to a screeching halt. What did they know? How did they figure it out? What had he done wrong? “W-what? What do you mean?” 

“Alright, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Tommyinit wasn’t this shit of a liar. He was bad at it, yeah, but at least he could lie without sounding like a moron. I’m going to ask this once, and I expect a straight answer. Who the hell are you?” 

Tommy felt like his blood had frozen in his veins. They knew, they fucking knew. Dream was going to kill him. Dream was going to follow through with his threat. “I uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Wilbur ran a hand through his hair. “Alright. If you aren’t going to give us a straight answer, I might as well ask Dream himself.”

“NO!” He screamed. If Will went and asked Dream, then Dream would think that Tommy had snitched. Then, who knows what would happen. “Please don’t talk to Dream about it. Please.” 

Will had already left the call.

~~~

“Yeah, you’re right, chat. Hold on let me check if he’s online,” Eret said, switching browsers from Minecraft to Discord. “Yep, he’s in VC 3 with Tubbo.” 

Eret clicked on the voice chat. He tried to talk yet Tubbo cut him off. “Oh fuck, we aren’t in a private VC.”

“Sorry, a wha-”

“Er… Hello?” Eret said. The two of them suddenly stopped talking. “So, what’re you two up to?”

“...Eret?” Tommy said, it sounded more like a statement than a question.

“Am I intruding on something? I can go if you’d like.” Eret replied, hoping to lighten the tension on the situation. Eret’s twitch chat was going insane, spamming questions and shouting. Eret wasn’t really focused on the chat.

“Hold on, I think we should go to a privat-” Tubbo spoke but was cut off.

“No, that- that’s not right- I- you fucking-” Tommy started, and was immediately removed from the VC. Tubbo also exited the VC seconds after.

“It is actually getting a bit late here so I guess it’s time to end the stream.” Eret tried to make an excuse to end the stream. “I’ll see you later guys. I love you all so much, thank you for all the support this stream. I think I’m gonna be streaming tomorrow? Still not sure. Anyways, I’ll see you guys later. Peace.” 

He quickly exited Twitch and stopped streaming. Tommy sounded… mad? Upset? Scared? Eret didn’t know. He opened Discord and sent a message to Tommy. 

TheEret Today at 8:52 pm

You alright? 

He instantly got a Discord notification back, but it wasn’t from Tommy. 

Tubbo_ Today at 8:52 pm

can we private VC?

TheEret Today at 8:53 pm

sure

The second he sent the message, he got a call from Tubbo. “Hey, Eret.” Tubbo said. “I… I don’t think Tommy’s feeling too well. I’m really not sure what happened.”

“Oh god. Is he okay?” Eret asked, concern creeping into his voice. 

“I- hold on, I’ll dm him and see if he wants to talk.” 

“Alright.”

A few seconds passed. “Oh. Oh no.” Tubbo said.

“Wait, did something happen? What’d he say?” 

“He’s very… mad at you. I- Oh jeez, that’s a lot of messages- I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Do you think it’s because of the SMP? I- you know it was just a bit, right?” Eret asked. Surely, Tommy can’t be mad at him because of a video game right?

“Yeah, yeah, but he’s… he sounds pissed, man. I don’t know wha- Oh. Shit, hold on, he wants to be added in the call. You okay with that?”

Honestly, Eret wasn’t sure. “Uh- yes?”

“Eret.” Tommy’s voice rang through the call. His voice was quiet and stable, unlike his usual self. “What the fuck.”

“I- I’m sorry? I don’t know what I did wrong. Was it the SMP? You know that was a-”

“You could’ve been on the right side of history, Eret. You could’ve-” 

“Tommy, calm-”

“Instead, you chose to loot us and leave us for dead. You chose power. You chose to be with Dream.”

Wait, were they supposed to be in character? Eret just ended his stream, so was Tubbo streaming? Or was it something else?

He immediately switched into character, hoping it was the right move. “Well, it wasn’t hard for me to choose. You were fighting for something futile, something you didn’t guarantee. I chose Dream because you were fighting a losing battle, and I didn’t want to get the short end of the stick.”

Whilst he was talking, Eret sent Tubbo a Discord message.

TheEret Today at 9:12 pm Are you and tommy streaming?

Tubbo_ Today at 9:12 pm no?

TheEret Today at 9:12 pm so i’m not supposed to be in character?

Tubbo_ Today at 9:12 pm uhh yeah

Before Eret could wrap his head around the situation, another person joined the call. It was Wilbur. “Dream said you have 48 hours, Tommy wh- wait, why is Eret here?”

Before Eret could respond, he was kicked from the call. He stared at his monitor in stunned silence, not entirely sure of what had just happened. Tommy had seemed so mad at him for his “betrayal,” even though none of them were supposed to be in character. Why was he so upset? And why did Wilbur react to Eret being there in the way that he did? Had he said something wrong? Was there some sort of planned stream that Eret wasn’t told about?

Eret turned off his computer with a sigh. His mind was racing with possibilities of what had just happened and why, but he wouldn’t be able to act on his thoughts until tomorrow. All he could do now was sleep.

~~~ On the other side of the country, a man sat in front of his computer. A sadistic grin sat upon his face as his green eyes pierced through the dim light. “I warned you not to tell them Tommy. Now, it's time to face the consequences of your actions.”

~~~

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[merinelsa]

Have you ever done a ranking list of your favourite episodes?

not really , the thing with me is that i never rewatch tv shows . i binge through them once and then just watch few scenes in yt , but never rewatch any of it even if it was one of my favourite show. Glee is the only exception , though i really only watch very few eps from the earlier seasons and rewatched s5-s6 twice , though i’d skipped 100, new directions and the wedding during both my rewatches. there are eps like new new york and wonderful that i watch time to time as comfort eps playing in the background . from s3, first time and big brother are the only eps i have rewatched 

i’d only watched glee for the first time last year , so like it’s not been that long to warrant a rewatch , but since i’d binged most of it in one stretch ( had taken a one month break b/w s3ep7 and ep8 because of how much i was getting tired of the shitty storylines of s3 , hence it being my least fave ) i forgot a lot of the non klaine stuff.

but i’ll try to rank the eps , just know that i’m very biased to klaine/kurt/blaine storylines . and the seasons too are ranked in the order i like them 

6 . season 3

22. i kissed a girl

21. pot o gold

20. prom-asaurus

19. yes/no

18. i am unicorn

17. mash off

16. the spanish teacher

15. asian f

14. on my way

13. props

12. choke

11. hold on to sixteen

10. saturday night gleever

9. michael

8. goodbye

7. big brother

6. nationals

5. heart

4. extraordinary merry christmas

3. dance with somebody

2. purple piano project

1. first time

5. season 1

22. the rhodes not taken

21. funk

20. showmance

19.  vitamin d

18. hairography

17. ballad

16. mashup

15. throwdown

14. the power of madonna

13. mattress

12. acafellas

11. dream on

10. home

9. pilot

8.  hell-o

7. sectionals

6. preggers

5. bad reputation

4. wheels

3. journey to regionals

2. theatricality

1. laryngitis

4. season 4 

22. britney 2.0

21. sweet dreams

20. lights out

19. shooting star

18. all or nothing

17. feud

16. thanksgiving

15. the role you were born to play

14. glease

13. swan song

12. sadie hawkins

11. naked

10. makeover

9. girls and boys on film

8. diva

7. glee,actually

6. i do

5. dynamic duets

4. the new rachel

3.  break up

2. guilty pleasure

1. wonderful

3. season 2

22. britney/brittany

21. the substitute

20. comeback

19. special education

18. a very glee christmas

17. the sue sylvester shuffle

16. night of neglect

15. new york

14. funeral

13. never been kissed ( except for the klaine part, the whole ep is a mess)

12. rocky horror glee show

11. rumours

10. audition

9. sexy

8. grilled cheesus

7. blame it on the alcohol

6. prom queen

5. born this way

4. silly love songs

3. duets

2. furt 

1. original song

2. season 6

13. the rise and fall of sue sylvester

12. hurt locker part 1

11. child star

10. homecoming

9. we built this glee club

8. what the world needs now

7. hurt locker part 2

6. a wedding

5.  dreams come true

4. 2009

3. jagged little tapestry

2. transitioning

1. loser like me

1. season 5 ( i’m not going to rank the quaterback )

19. opening night

18. 100

17. tina in the sky with diamonds

16. city of angels

15. bash

14. a katy or gaga

13. new direction

12. end of twerk

11. previously unaired christmas

10. trio

9. movin out

8. the back up plan

7. puppet master

6. love love love

5. old dogs new trick

4. untitled rachel berry project

3. frenemies

2. tested

1. new new york

now top five glee episodes over all

5. original song : don’t ask me what happened besides klaine in this because i truly don’t remember . but the klaine parts are pure heavenly. s2 klaine is something i missed a lot and didn’t appreciate enough during my first watch but rewatching some klaine centric eps has made me appreciate their friendship a lot more. even the stuff leading upto the kiss is fantastic , it’s also an ep that shows how rachel and blaine can get similar but how they react to criticisms and how blaine tries to include everyone when pointed out unlike making a fit out of it with rachel is where they diverge and makes these incredibly different personalities .and the kiss was just to good and sparks were flying everywhere and it is something that glee could never recreate with any other couple. and “ reminds you of your mom’s funeral doesn’t it “” the casket was bigger but yes “ just proves that they are equally dumbasses that fit each other so well

4. wonder-ful : this is just pure comfort ep. it’s so bright and upbeat in the middle of the previous dark eps. so much kurt and klaine . a bit more focus on kurt’s mental health issues, which will later be forgotten but it’s good over here. supportive blaine as always just highlighting how much they understand each other. a lot of burt which is always a plus . a very good mercedes plotline which should’ve been given more time but still is one of the better ones she gets.just seeing how light and loving kurt turns once burt is finally in the safe zone. and ‘you get kinda cute when you get nervous’ and ‘with you in it a wondeful life’ and whatever homoerotic stuff that is going on b/w rachel and cassie

3. Loser like me : the pure angst . i love storylines where they hit the rock bottom from such a happy place and have to find their way to the top by leaning in on each other and supporting each other. great klaine scenes, s5b we where pushed to believe that kurt had it all together, but we finally got to see kurt being an absolute mess and realizing how he contributed to their relationship not working out instead of pitting it all on s4 cheating . confident got help all by himself in a better position blaine , rachel finally getting a storyline that’s interesting and makes her one to root for . This ep always gives me the chills and makes me excited for the rest of the season

2. Tested : It’s genuinely one of the funniest eps ever. amazing rachcedes moment . the guys presenting one of my fave family dynamics in the show. great samcedes and klaine plotline . and i love the way liab is shot , such a well choreographed performance and it really looks like chris and darren had so much fun doing it.

1. New new york : this ep is the perfect mixture of fluff , comedy and angst. And on top of that we get never tried before combination of dynamics like rachel and artie as well as our favourite dynamics like klaine, blam, kelliot . also , out of all the klaine plotlines, this feels to me the most realistic one and really shows how much they want to work out their highschool relationship into an adult setting but they’re still young clueless inexperienced couple who doesn’t really know what they’re doing but still trying to work it out the way they think is the best one to protect their relationship , showing how much they care for each other as we enter into the crazy hard parts of their relationship. also , to see these whole set of highschool friends trying to navigate their way into this busy adult life is so fun to watch .