#just to reveal in a later season that it was bad on purpose in a way that's recontextualised as secretly good.

[ittsybittsybunny]

ATLA Live Action Series Review:

The Good

Aesthetically this show felt right. Sure sometimes the outfits didn't quite feel lived in, but I always felt like I was watching a fantasy world with decent effects and interesting design. Also, I really enjoyed the sets!

Bending: Yes some of the fights feel very quick, but the bending looks cool. It is certainly better than 10 benders lifting one big rock. I can honestly say the opening bending fight scene gave me so much hope for this show.

Kyoshi Warriors: I loved seeing them in live action, and I thought Suki's performance was great!

Omashu: I think the mashup of the mechanist made sense since that is an important character overall and I would hate to see him cut. However, both Jet & the secret tunnels felt sloppily thrown in.

Northern Water Tribe: I really loved the way it looked, and appreciated the two episodes we spent here. I think Yue gained more agency in this interpretation, and why shouldn't the moon spirit be a waterbender. Also, episode seven felt the most in tune with the original show's spirit.

Zuko: I think he was one of the most fleshed-out and best parts of the show! Dallas Liu really captured Zuko's spirit, and the scene between him and Aang in episode 6 was wonderful!

Soundtrack: Hearing the original soundtrack bits is always great, and when I first heard the ending music I was so excited.

Is the show perfect, no - but I wouldn't mind a season 2.

The Bad

Pacing: Turning 20 episodes into 8 was bound to lead to some cuts...but oftentimes times things felt too quick or disjointed. I think there were editing problems contributing to this for sure, but sometimes things skipped around too much without a clear purpose as to why. Also, why bring in plots from later seasons when you barely have enough time already?

Writing: This show definitely suffered from exposition dumping, though it did get better as time went on. I think the biggest example of this is actually opening in the past rather than the present. We do not get to learn along with Aang that the world has changed, instead, we get to learn that 100 years have passed....which doesn't hold the same tension or worldbuilding.

Clunky Dialogue: Along with exposition, clunky dialogue is another example of bad writing. I think sometimes I felt like the acting was kind of meh in the beginning, but then over time I began to realize it had far more to do with the lines characters were trying to deliver. The actors themselves are not bad, just cursed with awkward writing and lines that feel out of touch with the setting they're in.

Main Trio: I don't entirely know that I believe Katara, Sokka, and Aang are friends as opposed to 3 people stuck together to save the world. Aang feels a little too somber for a young kid running away from his responsibilities, Sokka is protective, but not exactly the heart of the team, and Katara is sort of just there until the last two episodes. Where is her struggle, her desire to learn so strong she steals from pirates? Also, while Gordon Cormier did a great job, Aang does zero waterbending on his own, is overly serious, and tells Katara not to fight. Where is his desperation to protect his friends? It feels like they all lost emotional depth.

Tension: Bringing Ozai, Azula, and Zhao out in the beginning immediately causes us to lose the realization there is an even bigger bad. Part of why Ozai is so terrifying is he is a primarily silent villain until the third season when we finally see the face of the "big bad evil guy" behind it all. Yes, they add to Zuko's backstory, but again, they are revealing the villains too early. Azula is the antagonist of season 2 and one of my favorite characters, so I hope they do more with her in the future. Finally, Zhao is supposed to be an example of the uncontrollable nature of fire unrestrained, instead, he comes off as vaguely threatening with the supposed true power being Azula.

Characterization: While all characters are bound to lose something in a shorter show, it still felt like certain characters were more mutilated than others. I am sure there are 100 different opinions on who, but I think the biggest victim was Katara.

Katara: Katara manages to go from a complete novice to a bending master in what feels like a matter of days. The journey feels short, and that makes the results feel largely unearned. Katara is one of the strongest personalities in the show, determined, kind, and fiery. In many ways, she is the unpredictability of water - equally dangerous as it is necessary to live. She is the child of a war who lost her mother, forced to grow up too soon, and even raised her older brother. Yes, Katara often gets stereotyped as the mom friend, but overall she feels underutilized in this show. We really don't see enough of her journey until the very end.

Iroh: Iroh was always comedic but most importantly wise. Even when Zuko is trying to give himself advice, he mimics Iroh. Instead, he seems to be used more as comedic relief without the underlying experience. He just doesn't feel right. Also, he kills Zhao instead of Zhao getting himself killed - which is less about Iroh and more about the writing than anything.

Ozai is weirdly a little too nice. Yes, he burned Zuko and pits his kids against each other, but he feels toned down in a show claiming to be more mature than the original cartoon.

Azula is perhaps more realistically worried about losing her status as the golden child, but she is also missing the cruelty she and her father share. I understand worrying about making your character cartoonishly evil, but the Fire Nation is currently a deeply nationalistic empire trying to control the world. Where is the deep-seated belief that they are better than other people, not just trying to bring balance to the world? There is a line between creating complexity and toning down the very real evil inherent in this plan.

Roku: I can only say what the fuck was that. He was barely there, and not the serious master to Aang's youthful exuberance.

The Ugly

Show, Don't Tell: The show's single biggest issue seems to be speeding through story parts by simply stating things. Instead of allowing the audience to discover, trusting that we are smart enough to understand, let's just blatantly say things like Zuko is the only reason the 41st division is alive to their faces. Even though in the context of the story Ozai literally already said that.... it's the division, the division for Zuko, Zuko's division.

Thematic Misunderstandings: I think this show makes several minor changes with major implications, such as airbenders actively fighting the firebenders, when airbenders are known for their pacifist nature and the lie of an Airbender fighting force is actively propaganda. Similarly, Aang very quickly accepts his role as the avatar and doesn't even run away in the beginning. Without this conflict between his desire to be a carefree child and the fact that the world needs him - the show loses a key aspect of Aang's character. Also, the obsession with downplaying the avatar state as something dangerous feels like a disservice to the tradition, connection, and strength of the avatar, which can be permanently destroyed as the trade-off for that kind of power. It's dangerous for the balance of the entire world, not just because it's powerful!

The Agni Kai: Zuko's fight against his father is one of the defining moments of Ozai's cruelty, not just because he is willing to fight his child, but because Zuko tried to do everything right. Zuko shows deference to his father, apologizes, and most importantly refuses to fight! The determination not to upset his father and still be grievously injured and banished is a hugely important theme for the fire nation and Zuko's life as a whole. He tries to do everything he is supposed to and only regains his father's acceptance after he "kills" Aang. Zuko's struggle between moral vs. social right and wrong in contrast to his family is hugely important to his character.

-----

TLDR: ATLA was a fantastical animated television show that was never afraid to show character development and flaws. When you turn 20 episodes into 8, you are bound to lose something. You hollowed out the middle, leaving the shell of important moments and events without ever wondering if all the times in between formed the true spirit of the show.

Rating: 6.5/10 It's perfectly fine and worth a watch. Not a disaster, but certainly falls flat of the original.

[cy6err]

Whoops — W.S.

Pairings: Walker Scobell x Actress!Reader

Warnings: kissing ? (On the cheek)

Summary: Your boyfriend Walker made a mistake whilst you were on live…

A/N: I kind of don’t like this one 🥸 but this is a part 2 of first look! (check that one out first if you want, but it’s not required to.) also, this is awfully short and I apologise for it 🙏🏻

. ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

It had been a few months since you and Walker have been together for, but you two kept it on the down low. The people who knew were Aryan and Leah (of course), and they too kept it a secret. The only reason was because you and Walker didn’t want to try and start a whole bunch of chaos within the fandom about your guys’ relationship.

Knowing how the fans are, you both decided to not reveal anything between you two— Other than the light flirting and glances you give each other during small videos uploaded by your friends. It was nice having him as your boyfriend… texting and calling each other every day, unless he’s busy with work or school obviously.

He would also call you during his live streams with Brady Noon— but you stayed in mute because you didn’t want others to hear you talking, you just wanted to be in each other’s presence.

Due to him being busy with work, you barely had time to call or even text him anymore. Yes, he did text you, but they were mostly dry responses. However, he made sure to put an emoji at the end of them so you knew he wasn’t being dry on purpose.

The calls were brief as well, only getting around 10-15 minutes of talking before the, “I’m being called to set and retouch my makeup, I’ll call you later.” Only to find yourself waiting until the moment you fall asleep with no call from him.

He would send an apology text and tell you how much he still cared about you to ease your overthinking. You understood that he was gonna be busy a lot more than usual now that he was filming for PJO season 2.

Sure, keeping the relationship a secret wasn’t all that bad, but it was somewhat hard to take pictures together without making anything obvious (Leah was so kind enough to help you two); So, you posted the ones you found most ‘friendly’ looking.

It had been a normal Saturday when you were home, laying in your bed and rotting in your room. You didn’t need to film until the next month or so, giving you some time to relax after filming for 2 and a half months straight. Your mom was out for the day doing some errands, leaving you home alone for some time.

Walker was also busy today, needing to film for season 2, so he was going to be very distant with you until further notice— which you hated. After contemplating on what to do, you decide to go live for a bit on Instagram and interact with a few fans.

You got up from your bed and set your phone up on your desk next to your window, making sure there was enough light to show yourself clearly. You tap the ‘live’ button and waited a bit for some people to join (which was really quick). You had over 1,009 viewers already and you were pretty shocked at how many people joined the live in under two minutes.

“Hi guys! How are you all doing today?” You greet, smiling widely as you laugh at the flooding comments. Each one being: “are you and Walker dating?” “Where’s Walker?” “Do you and Walker have a thing going on??”

Shaking your head, you deny the comments. “No, we’re just close friends. And he’s doing well, just busy at the moment.” You sat there as you played with a few objects sitting on your desk, answering other questions from them.

You were getting really engrossed with the conversation that you didn’t even realise your mom calling your name until you heard your bedroom door open. “Y/n, you in here?” She asked, peeking her head in your room.

“Oh, hey mom. Sorry, I didn’t hear you because I’m live right now.” You give an apologetic smile, “did you need something?”

Your mom waved to the camera as the comments spammed “hi mrs. L/n!!”

“Just checking up on you, what do you want for dinner?” Your mom asked, moving a strand of hair out of your face.

“Uhh, I’m not sure. Surprise me?”

“Sure,” she laughs, “I’ll call you down in a bit. I invited some friends over and they might spend the night, clean your room please.”

“Okay, are they gonna sleep in here?” You ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Mhm! I’ll let you know when food’s ready.” Your mom then left the room leaving you back to your live.

You turn back to your camera and sigh, “well, unexpected guests I guess… and my room is not that messy!”

“Yeah it is.” A familiar voice said from behind, your head snapping toward the direction. Your eyes lit up with joy when you saw your boyfriend leaning against your doorframe, making you jump up from your seat to hug him.

“Walker! I didn’t know you were gonna be here!” You exclaim, embracing him tightly to which he returned with a chuckle.

“Yeah, got some time off for a bit and decided to surprise you. I thought it was obvious when your mom said she was inviting friends over?” Walker said, looking at you with wonder.

“I thought she meant the neighbourhood friends and their children.” You shrug, pulling away but not quite letting go of him.

It was a moment of silence when he finally spoke up in a soft, sweet tone. “I missed you.”

You felt your face get warm and your smile grew, “I missed you too.”

With that, he leaned in for a quick a quick kiss, making you mirror the action until you stopped and looked away, making him kiss your cheek instead. He looked at you confused and a little disappointed, “Why’d you do that?”

“Walker, I’m live. I completely forgot.” You quickly run to your phone, grabbing it as Walker immediately became red from embarrassment. The chat was filled with spamming: “OMG” “THEY’RE DATING!!” “WALKER X Y/N CONFIRMEDD” “MY SHIP HAS SAILED.”

“Im so so sorry, oh my god.” Walker groaned, throwing himself onto the bed as you laugh lightly. “It’s okay, Walker. I guess it’s one way of telling the fandom about our relationship.”

He buried his face into the pillows and ignored you, despite his big smile on his face. You quickly said your goodbyes to the fans and ended the live, joining him in the bed. “We were gonna tell them eventually, right?”

Walker took a peek at you and nods, “yeah. I guess so, I just hope it doesn’t ruin anything.”

You lie down and mess with his curls a bit, “Just ignore them. Being with you is all that matters, you’re my ray of sunshine”

He laughed at your comment, “you’re so corny.” Laughing with him, you got closer until your mom came in the room.

“Foods ready— don’t get too close to each other now.” She says, giving a pointed look making you roll your eyes playfully as she left the room.

“Come on, let’s go eat. Im starving.” You pull at his arm and drag him out of the bed, making him get up.

“Okay, okay!” He grins, kissing your cheek and following you downstairs to eat dinner.

—

(He surprised you with flowers 🤍)

—

HII IM SO SORRY IT WAS SHORT 😔 BUT NONETHELESS, I HOPE YOU LIKED IT :)) it was lowk hard to finish this. feel free to send requests !!

Tag list: @defnot-bri

[littlenastieswewhispered]

i get that spike/spuffy antis have to hate season seven on principle (and the fact that they act like spike’s arc is entirely frivolous and unimportant is so wildly dismissive of buffy’s i don’t think they actually even like her!), but so many are straight up factually incorrect about what actually happens. i don’t know if it’s a media literacy issue or a choice to be obstinate. probably a mixture. when you want something to be a certain way, misunderstanding something gives you room to declare yourself right.

their main talking point is that ensouled spike forces his presence on buffy. this… just doesn’t happen even once in the season. at all.

spike doesn’t return to sunnydale to see buffy. he goes back to the hellmouth. probably because it’s all he knows, as a demon he considers it home, and not for nothing he’s already being controlled by the first who wants him in place for a specific purpose.

in the first episode, lessons, buffy comes across spike on her own. he’s at some of his most insane for this interaction, and he walks away from her. in the next episode, beneath you, buffy seeks spike out. she goes to the basement and can’t find him. he’s actively hiding from her.

later in the same episode he gets himself cleaned up and goes to her, for the first and only time. he says it’s because something terrible is coming and he wants to offer his help. he tells her if she doesn’t want him around, tell him and he’ll leave and she can revoke his invite (which notably is still active). she doesn’t. she accepts his help.

they talk while looking for the demon and buffy says she can tell something is different about him but she doesn’t know what. spike makes a point to say he isn’t going to tell her what it is. that’s MAJOR. spike does not want buffy to know about his soul. he doesn’t put it on her, and he doesn’t make it her problem. he ends up telling her only after it’s nearly forced out of him and he’s triggered back into insanity after a lucid period. after he reveals his soul, he leaves.

in the next episode, same time same place, buffy seeks spike out. he’s once again hiding in the basement, so she knows where to find him, but he does not go to her. she enlists his help that episode, twice.

the next episode is help. buffy goes to the basement to see spike. she asks if he knows anything about cassie. he later helps buffy save cassie from the boys trying to sacrifice her.

in the next one, selfless, buffy once again goes to spike. it’s a definite a pattern. buffy seeks out spike. it’s actually a lot like much of their relationship in season six, only much more one sided. she tells him to leave the basement because it’s bad for him.

the next episode, him, sees a big shift. it’s still buffy going to spike, but this time she doesn’t just leave him in the basement. she actively chooses to help him out of it, getting xander to let him move into his apartment. there’s a huge and important change in their dynamic now. they are solidly in each other’s lives, and that was and continues to be buffy’s choice.

i won’t do little synopses for each episode from the rest of the season, but from here spike offers to leave at minimum four additional times, half a dozen or more total all season.

he earnestly wants buffy to kill him in sleeper and never leave me, because he’s devastated and terrified that he’s killing. buffy says no, she’s going to help him and she believes in him. she rescues him, because she wants to, and moves him back into her house.

later on spike seems to be gaining back control of his mind, but when the first threatens him he once again says he’s a danger and needs to leave and buffy says no because shes not ready for him not to be here.

buffy wants spike in her life. she makes that fact extremely clear. maybe at first it wasn’t for the healthiest reasons, but a major theme of season seven is spike and buffy healing both as individuals and growing closer together because of it. their relationship empowers and strengthens buffy, and the final episode is called chosen for a reason. this season is about buffy’s agency. that starts when she decides who’s in her life and who isn’t.

there’s never a single moment where spike makes that decision for her. he doesn’t once tell buffy she has to accept him, or that he should have access to her. he doesn’t come around when she says to leave, because she doesn’t say to leave. he stays away from her until she beckons him back. over and over.

spike doesn’t think he deserves anything from buffy. he believes the opposite, even encouraging her to date and hiding his heartache about it. he doesn’t make his insanity and suffering her problem. she volunteers to help him.

i understand having issues with the writing choice of spike back in buffy’s life at all after what happened in season six, but only if you’re engaging with it honestly. you can dislike that buffy makes the choice to have spike around, but it’s obvious when you disregard her agency and pretend he’s the one calling the shots. you hate a story that didn’t happen, and it’s impossible take seriously.

[corrodedcoffins-blog]

Surprise

luke hughes x actress!reader

note: love them and this request 🩷

warnings: eating, food, calling kraft dinner bad even though i eat it like once a week

word count: 840

Y/n was so excited to see Luke, they haven’t been together in person for around a month because Y/n was busy in LA filming the next season of the Evelyn Hugo series. And now that that was done filming she quickly got on the next plane to New Jersey to see the boy. She purposely told him she would be there a day later than she actually was because she wanted to surprise him.

Just now she was in the elevator of the building, Jack had told her the code to get into the apartment building so as to not alert Luke of the surprise, when she got a call from the very boy she was going to see. Fishing the phone out of her pocket and glancing at the caller ID brought a soft smile to her face, “Hey, baby.” “Hey” 

She heard the sound of pots and pans crashing together in the background of the call, “What’re you doing, hun?” “I’m cooking!” “You know how to do that?” She said in a teasing voice as the elevator door opened to the boy's floor, she continued the conversation as she walked towards his door. 

“Yes! I do..” His voice slightly unsure, “Sounds like you’re having trouble.” She mumbles, now at his door trying to be quiet and waiting to knock, “Well the directions are unclear.” “Well, I’ll help you.” “How-” He was cut off by the sound of knuckles knocking against his door. He mumbled a small ‘one sec’ before making his way to answer the door which made the girl laugh.

The door opened revealing the smiling girl, and the very happily shocked boy. Almost without thinking Luke brings Y/n into a big hug, lifting her off the ground with his hand under her thighs. His forehead rested against her collarbone, as if he didn’t believe she was there, like she would slip away at any moment. After a few more moments, whispering their greetings small ‘hello’s and soft ‘i love you’s coming from both.

Luke finally let the girl slip down, her feet once again finding the floor. And as Luke goes to grab his girl’s suitcase, said girl did a once over of the apartment only to see water boiling over the pot and all over the stove, “Luke!” She rushed over to the stove a took the pot of the element and turned the heat down, “Who let you cook unsupervised?” “Jack usually does it.” 

He walked past her, giving her a kiss on the top of her head and walked down the hallway to his room where he set the girl’s bags down and came back to the kitchen to now find that Y/n had taken over the entire operation of making dinner.

“You’re not having boxed mac & cheese for dinner.” She muttered, shaking her head and placing the box back in the cupboard. Collecting a few things she sees in the cupboards and fridge to make him a good dinner. She found an onion, which she was very surprised by. It must have been the influence of Jack’s girlfriend. 

Y/n was already cutting up the onions when Luke came back into the kitchen, and ofcourse Luke came up from behind, his hands wrapped around her waist and his chin rested on her shoulder to watch her actions. He eventually asked to help so she gave him little jobs. Then they sat on the couch, Y/n between Lukes legs as they ate dinner and ended up watching ‘10 things I hate about you’ per Y/n’s request, really it was just because she loved Luke’s reaction when she wouldn’t shut up about how hot Heath Ledger is in it.

“-and he is just, like, beyond what should be humanly capable, y’know?” Grabbing his drink from the side table, Luke says, “He’s good as the joker.” This caused the girl to let out a small laugh.

After the movie the two turned on a show, and just cuddled and talked until they would hopefully fall asleep together.

“Why do all NHL players like golf?” “I don’t know.. It’s a sport to play in summer? And I guess you don’t have to think too hard, and we can just hang out and talk?” 

They were now laying across the couch, Y/n’s head on his chest, Luke’s hands running up and down the girl’s back under her shirt as ‘Bob’s burgers’ played in the background. She drew small doodles on his bicep, as they both lolled each other to sleep as they talked. 

“That makes more sense than what I thought.” “What did you think?” “I thought it was because it’s the same action.. Or close.” 

She didn’t expand thinking Luke understood, she assumed that was self-explanatory, but then Luke asked, “What?” “Y’know, like, shooting a puck and hitting a golf ball is the same action in the hips.” “Okay.” Luke said, softly chuckling as he brought one hand to the girl’s hair, giving her head scratches and twirling the strands between his fingers. 

~taglist~

@bunbunbl0gs @daisysthings

[tevanbegins]

This is a long rant to shoot down mad BoB theories insisting that Tommy is a villain / secret spy in cahoots with Gerrard / plot device / temporary LI. The show's writers are mature adults who surely wouldn't go so out of the way to villainize a queer character? To the extent that he'd fool all the main characters into thinking he was a good guy and great for Buck for an entire season, and then start revealing his true colors in the next season? To make a beautiful storyline about queer joy blow up into flames with such a major negative plot twist? All so that Eddie can suddenly realise he is gay and he and Buck can get together? I seriously don't think a 60 year old showrunner would allow such childish nonsense to happen on his show.

I'm not saying queer characters can't play dark / negative roles — Eva's character is an example from this very show itself. But the writers always told us that she is a bad influence on Hen's life right from the start, never got us attached to her by depicting her as a great person in the beginning and then revealing later that she is bad. If Tommy was meant to be horrible for Buck, the narrative would clearly tell us that from the start the way they did with Eva and Hen. The writers cannot be so insensitive as to give the LGBTQ+ community such significant mlm representation with Buck and Tommy, first making us fall in love with their romance and then humiliating us (as well as Buck) by completely destroying Tommy's character — all to serve the end purpose of making a fanon ship go canon? That might happen in B*ddie fanfics written by teenagers, but it can't happen on a show being written for a sensible, mature audience by grown-ass career TV writers!!!

B*ddie would have happened a long time ago if the writers wanted to make it canon. They are not going to do it now, definitely not by making Tommy the scapegoat in that awful mess, just so the toxic portion of the fandom can be appeased over the rest of the audiences who appreciate the show for its thoughtful and sensitive storytelling.

Why is maligning Tommy even necessary to make B*ddie canon? Like Eddie and Buck have seen each other dating one woman after another through the seasons but only Tommy being the bad guy will suddenly lead to a feelings realisation arc? Why didn't it happen before, or why couldn't it happen without reintroducing Tommy if B*ddie canon was always the end plan? Probably because the writers aren't interested in going there at all, and Tommy is genuinely being written as a long-term LI for Buck?

Backing this argument is the fact that most of the conversations had by the other characters after Buck's coming out have not been explicitly about him now identifying as bisexual, but more about him being involved with Tommy. If Tommy was being written as a plot device or a short-term LI, I don't think the other characters (including Eddie, mind you) would be hyping him up during these conversations. The writers would have probably framed the conversations on the lines of, "Oh wow Buck you realised you're bisexual? Congratulations!" instead of "OMG you and Tommy? Tell us more / We love him for you and approve of you two together!" They wouldn't take the efforts they've been taking to make Tommy a pivotal subject of these conversations if he was just a plot device as the BoBs believe. And if he was supposed to be a villain, the other characters would have told Buck to find someone better if they thought Tommy's vibes were off. Not all of them can be foolish to not see through Tommy if he was truly as bad as BoBs say he is (especially not Bobby.) Yes, Buck's bisexuality is valid regardless of who he dates or even if he doesn't, but the fact the characters talk so positively about both him + Tommy during these convos clearly implies this is an important love story blended into the coming out arc.

If B*ddie canon was in the works, JLH and Kenny Choi wouldn't have said on their IG lives that it's not going to happen, Ryan Guzman wouldn't be referring to Eddie as heterosexual, etc. So, we cannot let the BoB comments get into our heads because they are not the ones writing the show. I think we can expect a lot better from Tim & Co. than them giving in to the delusional fantasies BoBs want to see being manifested. Wanted to say this piece because I am fed up of seeing the BoB conspiracy theories all over and don't want to give them the power to steal our joy. That's all for now!

___

[lightwise]

Project Necromancer

Alright, I think we all get the gist of what's going on with Project Necromancer, the cloning efforts on Tantiss, why Omega's blood is so important, and how it all ties in to the Mandoverse and Palpatine's return in the Rise of Skywalker. But, I wanted to make a bit of a reference post with posts I've seen going into detail on each aspect of this and also combining some screenshots.

Necromancer is Palpatine's goal all along, to create endless bodies for himself that he can transfer his life force and Force sensitivity into, so that he never dies and can rule forever. And he is starting those ambitions in The Bad Batch. Unfortunately for him, transferring Force sensitivity successfully to another body long term is almost impossible, which has led to this same project, and the exact same efforts, STILL being just out of reach by the time of The Mandalorian, which is after he has supposedly been killed off by Vader in RoTJ.

Now, the specimens are not actually the clones. The clones are the receivers, the experiments. The donors are yet to be revealed, but I would bet a lot of money that they are using the bodies of the Jedi killed in Order 66 (maybe some captured younglings as well--potentially Grogu?) As the M-count donors. This seems to be confirmed by the similar amber pods seen in the Inquisitorius in Kenobi.

However, they are obviously having difficulty, and we know that Nala Se has sworn that this might be impossible, mostly to protect Omega, who as we learn, has already successfully (accidentally or on purpose we don't know yet) shown to have this capability to receive midichlorian-saturated blood without decay or complication.

So, we know that Hemlock now knows that Omega is actually the key to this project. And we know that Palpatine does eventually succeed in cloning himself. However, what happens in between now and then? Something is going to happen this season that sets back this project, or Palpatine would have completed it long before the Original Trilogy, AND they wouldn't be scrounging for scraps and trying to recreate the results by hunting down Grogu in The Mandalorian, a full 25 years after TBB. (Is Pershing already involved in this effort? When and why did Pershing get caught up in Moff Gideon's schemes, and how did those branch off from Palpatine's efforts?)

Finally, in Rogue One, Jyn Erso mentions a Mark Omega Imperial project that was housed alongside Project Stardust (which was begun around the same time as TBB), and Krennic has appeared in TBB and is already working for the Empire. Is it possible that Omega's name is the aspect of the project being referenced here? If so, is she captured again and experimented on? Will her blood end up being used to help further Palpatine's goals? And how much will the clones be able to succeed and push back this project by the end of the season?

[sandyferal]

Admitting that Tootie and Timmy are the only version of the “girl is obsessed with boy and he doesn’t like her back but they end up together eventually” that I’ve seen done right was painful. I mean I think it’s the truth for the most part but it’s hard to give credit to FOP for writing anything well because they ruin basically all of that in the later seasons. Like they demolish it.

They literally just brought in a random weirdly designed pretty perfect new girl for Timmy to actually successfully woo… when it feels like the whole fucking point was that him disliking Tootie and being attracted to pretty perfect girls without considering their character was a symptom of his immaturity and superficial view of relationships. Also in general what was it with the fucking later seasons only letting girls be perfect or evil. (Except Wanda and Timmy’s mom. Who are literally just “nagging wife” and “mother.” Not much better.)

It’s incredibly funny to me too because I feel like they got so close to making Chloe from the later seasons an actually decent character (outside of her first ep.) Like she was kinda unhinged and flawed and it would’ve been so so easy to reveal that her outward “perfection” was the result of her holding herself to ridiculous standards that actually made her miserable. Crazy that even her saying “no one wants to be friends with me” when that was obviously false could’ve been good writing. Showing her perception was so warped that she thought her not being fully perfect meant she was an awful person and everyone secretly knew and hated her for it. They could’ve still portrayed her parents as good loving people who accidentally implied that they only loved Chloe because they didn’t see her flaws. But like no. The reason she’s “miserable” is just stupid, and she’s not a good enough character that the audience can overlook that.

That’s not even mentioning Trixie. Don’t get me started on Trixie. This show did a lot of character flip flopping even during the good seasons, but Trixie was just. Something else. Like the show really felt like it was actually trying to set up that she was a genuinely nice girl with good values that got buried when she was under the scrutiny of her popular friends, but then it did a turn and decided she was just shallow and/or crazy. And they continued to flip flop on whether Timmy pursuing her was even a good idea. Like man none of the characters actually GOT lasting character arcs but she specifically felt like she was in a position where it would’ve made the most sense to have one.

Insanely grateful character arcs are allowed to exist in A New Wish. I’ll admit, the girls still haven’t particularly benefited from them as much, but at the very least we have Dev. And at least Hazel is a likable character and not just slotted into one of the old “girl” stereotypes. Hell I’m glad ANY character is good. Like just. I cannot believe how bad the last seasons of FOP got. It was that serious man and the girls got it so bad. They really refused, like straight up didn’t try to bring back Trixie or Tootie for a love interest episode when that was Trixie’s entire purpose in the fucking show. But I guess they wanted to give him a win for once. Man.

And importantly, Wanda and Cosmo not only have a better relationship in New Wish, but Wanda is NOT a punching bag. Like it may be a slight exaggeration to call her that, but fuck man, some of the later season eps thought it was so fun to beat her up for literally no reason.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I also saw someone say Adrien getting turned into a pigeon in the same Mr. Pigeon 72 episode was also foreshadowing for the sentitheory, what do you think?

I'm gonna be honest, I sat here staring at this ask for a solid minute trying to make sense of the words on my screen because this is one of the most nonsense things I've ever read. Media literacy can't actually be this bad, right?

No, Adrien being turned into a pigeon is not foreshadowing unless you think him being turned into a Reflecta clone and a Style Queen golden statue also mean something, which I highly doubt is the case. Turning people into things is just a standard akuma power and Adrien gets to be one of the victims from time to time in order to make an episode's plot work the same way he occasionally gets mind controlled. The fact that one of the things he got turned into was a bird doesn't foreshadow anything because that's not how foreshadowing works. Foreshadowing doesn't mean "I can find a way to loosely connect these two things!"

[image: the "I've connected two dots, you didn't connect shit" meme]

For the pigeon transformation to have meaning, it would - at the very least - need to be unique to Adrien in some way, but it's not. He's one of many identical pigeons and I'm guessing that this person wasn't claiming that they're all sentimonsters, right? If not, then how is it foreshadowing? What makes this transformation different on a rewatch now that we know Adrien's status? Because that's how foreshadowing works. It should play different once you know what it was setting up.

If you want an actual example of akuma-based foreshadowing, look at Wishmaker, which showed us Adrien's childhood dream vs everyone else's. The fact that Adrien has no hopes or dreams of his own while all of the real humans do is pretty clearly meant to make you go, "Huh, that's odd." Then, on a rewatch, you go, "Oh, this is because he's not a human!"

That's the way that foreshadowing is supposed to work. It's subtle or blatant highlighting of an oddity that will come to have meaning later on. You may be able to guess the meaning before the reveal, but it should play into the reveal in some way.

Another example of foreshadowing is how, in the later half of season four, the camera starts focusing on the Agreste's wedding rings every time Gabriel or Nathalie gives a command that Adrien then obeys. It's meant to make you go, "Huh, that's odd."

A weird*, but ultimately solid example of subtle foreshadowing is the butterfly logo on Adrien's shoes, hinting at his father's villain status. We know that Adrien probably only wears his father's brand and butterflies are a big deal in the show right from the start, so why would you give Adrien a butterfly on his outfit if that doesn't mean something about his father? You wouldn't, so it's obvious that this is a clue that Gabriel is Hawkmoth or at least involved with Hawkmoth. Let's compare that to the pigeon stuff to really highlight foreshadowing vs grasping at straws.

"Gabriel put subtle nods to his villainy in his clothing line because he's an egomaniac" is a really logical thing to assume. Similarly, "Everything on Adrien's body was put there with purpose by the animators because it had to be custom designed for him, so that butterfly is not an accident," is solid logic. There is no reason for that butterfly to be there if it doesn't mean something.

"Emilie and Gabriel gave their magical designer baby a pigeon allergy to give viewers a subtle hint that he's a magical designer baby made from a peacock feather," sounds like the ramblings of a mad person. Do you also think that Adrien's inability to play soccer is going to come back to mean something outside of Penalteam? Or that him bragging about being good at physics in Evillustrator means that he's ultimately going to be a physicist*? You better or else you're cherry picking because the pigeon allergy is not given any more importance than those other little facts. Facts that were clearly only dropped for the sake of a joke.

This is the problem with trying to claim that a random joke from a random episode must have deeper meaning. It certainly can, that's how subtle foreshadowing works, but for a thing to be foreshadowing, it has to create a clear association between A and B. It also needs to be logical. The pigeon stuff is neither clear nor logical.

Pigeon-related things that would have actually counted as foreshadowing in Mr. Pigeon 72 if they had been included:

Adrien!pigeon not responding to Mr. Pigeon's commands because Mr. Pigeon doesn't have Adrien's amok and that's the only way to control a sentimonster no matter their form (this would go against established lore since Adrien has been able to be mind controlled in the past, but I'm just spit-balling ideas here, okay? Work with me people! Miracular and the Paris special let him get cataclysmed without breaking like a normal senti, so retconing the rules for the sake of the plot is par for the course in my book)

Mr. Pigeon being unable to have a sentimonster because they're allergic to feathers combined with Adrien!Pigeon constantly sneezing, making him standout and be useless

Kagami being established to also have feather allergies since she's also at the pool in this episode, making it really freaking easy to establish this since Marinette is listing off random ass things that Kagami and Adrien have in common

If it doesn't result in an "oh!" or "I knew it" moment later on, then it ain't foreshadowing. But it could be something else.

*Let's circle back to the physics thing briefly because you might have thought, "Wait, that could be foreshadowing if he goes into physics, couldn't it?" And kind of! You're thinking of foreshadowing's parent technique, setup and payoff (or, at least, I've never seen it called something else.) The difference between general S&P and foreshadowing is that foreshadowing should stand out as odd like Adrien's shoes or the rings. It's something that's there to make you go, "Huh." Meanwhile, many of techniques used for setup and payoff don't require a "huh" feeling.

Allow me to explain!

Adrien being good at physics isn't weird, it's just a fun fact about him and it's normal to develop your characters as a story goes on just to flesh them out and make them feel more real. Every little thing you learn doesn't have to mean something about their ultimate fate. But sometimes the things you learn do lead to something bigger. That's just crafting a good, logical story. Knowing Adrien enjoyed physics class at 14 means nothing for his eventual career path, but if he does go into physics, it's now no longer out of the blue.

But it's also not foreshadowed. It's just setup.

An actual example of this type of thing is Marinette's diary. Her diary has been used as a nice little character quirk throughout the show. Then we get to the Paris special and - suddenly - the diary actually matters to the plot.

This isn't foreshadowing. The diary was never presented in a way that would make you think, "Huh, that's coming back later" or "Hmmm, that's odd." But it's still a satisfying moment to see her diary lead to something since it's been around for so long.

If we were never told that Marinette kept a diary and we only ever saw her hiding this pink book, then that would have been foreshadowing as we'd be thinking, "Huh, that's odd." Then we'd get to the Paris special and go, "Oh! That's what the book was!"

In other words, foreshadowing requires a reveal. I'll also note that there's no hard rules for this stuff. I tried to pick good examples that were clearly foreshadowing and clearly not, but there's grey area here, so it's okay if you disagree about some of these being foreshadowing. (Except for if you disagree on the pigeon stuff. I will fight you about the pigeons!)

Another example of setup and payoff is Gabriel getting cataclysmed and then slowly dying throughout the season. His death isn't foreshadowed, it's just a thing that's happening. On the other hand, Nathalie dying via the peacock is used for foreshadowing because it leads to Adrien comparing Nathalie's illness to Emilie's, which is the setup for the reveal that Emilie used the peacock. Nathalie's illness is also just a non-foreshadowed setup for Emilie's reveal so that the peacock hurting people doesn't come out of nowhere, which is why setups are important. You can skip all foreshadowing and only use setups and still tell a good story.

The pigeon stuff was never foreshadowing, but if any of it had been revealed to mean something by the show, then it could be argued to be a situation where it was introduced as a setup for a later payoff. But the pigeon thing has f-all to do with sentimonsters, so once again, it's nonsense and people need to let it die! The pigeon thing has been used for its intended purpose: gags. That's why it came back in Mr. Pigeon 72! Mr. Pigeon 1 didn't foreshadow that, it just setup a gag that they decided to revisit because this is a comedy and little kids probably find Adrien sneezing and messing things up funny.

*One final note: the reason I called Adrien's shoes "weird" is because the butterfly logo was great subtle foreshadowing back when people thought that the butterfly was the logo for Gabriel's company. Now that the logo is a massive G, the butterfly raises questions about Gabriel's design choices since we never see it anywhere else. I've often wondered if this was originally meant to be Gabriel's logo, but they scrapped the idea for some reason. Either way, it's still foreshadowing, it's just slightly less good now that we have to ask, "Why did Gabriel put butterflies on these sneakers for teen boys and no where else?"

[tealfling]

Circuit of Devotion

🛎️🛎️ @kimberbohwrites 🛎️🛎️🍽️ Order Up!

A/n: I wrote this for Kimerbohwrites by request based on this headcanon of mine.

Rolan x Coren (my tiefling Storm Sorc F!Tav)

Wc: 3,600

 It's stupid in love fluff, so no warning I think. well except bad grammar

⚠️NOW ON A03⚠️

 

 Rubbing the back of his neck Dammon hummed, considering everything he could have at his disposal. Dammon mentally listed every artisan and guild trader he'd met in the Gate. His eyes roamed his shop interior and landed on a canvas covering an old bucket. He had never found a use for the material inside, but maybe…

     "I have this," he said, ripping back the canvas and disturbing the dust. Both tiefling men shooed the dust from their face. Rolan waved hishand, magically cleansed the air so as not to cough. He peered down into the pail. There was some arcane essence emitting from the dark, speckled ore before him.

"And this is?" Rolan asked, arching a brow, not entirely sure what he was looking at.

     "Currently? Junk. These pieces are too small to forge into any worthwhile weapon or armor." Dammon held up his hand as Rolan's face began to sneer at the word junk. "But, it is Adamantine and I think it could serve our purpose. She traded this to me and I just never had the heart to get rid of it."

     Rolan regarded the chunks of highly rare, highly enchantable ore. Of course she’d somehow managed to come across such rare material. He considered everything he knew of Adamantine, its history, and innate properties. His head nodded as the possibilities revealed themselves, it wouldn't be easy, and would require their highest skills, but they could do it.

     "This could work," Rolan said, more as encouragement to himself than anything else. The tieflings shared a grin. Dammon couldn't contain his excitement at the challenge before him and it manifested in a subtle wag of his tail. It was going to be perfect.

A Few Months Later

     Coren nuzzled her cheek into Rolan's arm with a delightful sigh. The sun was low. Offshore a dark storm threatened to overtake the sunset. The breeze carried a chill signifying the changing of the season. The cobblestone streets heading towards Sorcerous Sundries were emptying for the day as they strolled leisurely back home. Coren looked back up at Rolan with another contented sigh. Home. Something, someone, she'd never had before. She couldn't help but squeeze his arm. 

     "Thank you for today. That place was delicious." Soft adoration plastered her face while she spoke to the man she loved.

     "I'm glad you liked it." Rolan replied with an equally smitten smile. "Getting on the guest list was nearly impossible. I hear it's currently a three ten-day waitlist." A meager hint of smugness to his tone. He readjusted the garment bag in his arm so that he could bring his hand up to place on hers.

     Coren paused with a giggle, "Oh, love, did you pull the 'Master of Ramazith's Tower' card? For me?" Her voice was riddled with teasing affection and a fiendly smile.

     "I did no such thing." Rolan drawled. "I didn't need to,” he admitted. “When asked what names to put down, the moment your name left my lips, suddenly a spot at the very top of the list became available. Apparently," he continued raising a brow, "you saved the owner's niece from absconding with a vampire in the sewers, the chef's brother from a cultist, and it seems the kitchen fire elemental is very close with a mud mephit and earth elemental couple you once met at a circus." He stopped to spin the woman on his arm to face him. "Tell me, how is it you're not exhausted from being so phenomenal constantly?" He questioned bluffing exasperation. "Also, you must share your secrets for accomplishing so many miraculous feats in such little time." Gentler than his playful tone, he used the back of his hand to push one of her white streaks of her hair back behind her ear tip. She shivered, leaning into his touch, with a contented hug. Enjoying his warmth and the warmth that seemed to spread through her very being when he was near.

     The blue sorceress stepped onto the air, using it to raise up until she floated to meet his eye level. Coren slid her hands up Rolan's jaw with a hum, "I suppose at the time, my two main motivations were ridding my brain of the Illithid tadpole trying to consume it and," Her blue eyes flitted to his lips, "getting my favorite wizard to admit he wanted kiss me." She smiled, "It makes it easier to push through a difficult time with a reward oriented goal in mind." Her nose crinkled playfully.

     "Well," Rolan's breath ghosted her lips, "you always were an overachiever." He slid his arms around the small of her back, drawing her close. Locking his gentle, yellow starburst eyes with her icy ones he smirked "And greedy. You never seem to have enough, but it is a price I am most enthusiastic to pay-" he leaned his forehead to hers, "even if it didn't secure the safety of the Sword Coast."

     Their lips met. Smiles pressed warmly. A soft gentle kiss. Heart fluttering so. If he weren't holding her, she felt as if she could float away. Very reluctantly, Coren pulled back first. Her instinct ever to seek more passion, to press forward with an inherent need to physically show the love that bubbled within her. To reassure him of her steadfast feelings. Still, she withdrew while she had the remaining wherewithal to remember they were in a public street and Rolan was publicly shy about intimacy. Though she did enjoy the little chase his lips gave hers seeking more.

     As if to prove her point, the bell of a shop door opened then closed, and hasty boot steps grew closer. Coren lowered herself back to the ground and Rolan pulled back straightening his shoulders then drew his hands to smooth out his coat. Respectable in appearance once again. He looked so handsome with his longer hair pulled back. It would almost be a shame to dishevel him later.

     The approaching footsteps finally drew the lover's attention away from each other long enough for Coren to immediately recognize her favorite tangerine tiefling blacksmith rushing in their direction, donning a coat.

     "Dammon!" She waved. The three tieflings greeted each other. It was odd to see the blacksmith out at this hour. He was usually still wielding his hammer at his forge into the early evening. Instead his hands held a fine looking wooden box. "Did you close the forge early?" Coren asked, tilting her head inspecting the box.

     Turning to look over his shoulder, almost like Dammon was checking that he did indeed close the forge properly. Satisfied that it didn't slip his mind, he turned back to the mages before him. "Oh, yeah. I'm trying to catch Lakrissa at the Elfsong." He lifted the box at the other woman's name. It was a simple rectangular box, but expertly crafted to showcase the red wood's natural beauty.

     Coren's eyes went wide, "Is that for tomorrow?!" Her tail flitted around in excitement.

     "Sure is," Dammon smiled sheepishly. He leaned in as if he were about to whisper a delicate secret. "Would you like a peek?"

     She almost missed it. The way Dammon's blue hazel gold eyes flicked back over her shoulder up to Rolan. That was- odd. Something had just been shared between them that she was not privy to. She turned up to Rolan. His face gave nothing away. He just gently looked at her and nodded encouragingly toward Dammon's box. Coren nodded, the curiosity overwhelming her moment of suspicion.

     The lid creaked open. Two daintily crafted rings of golden rose metal and pink gems lay on a bed of velvet. A pair of larger, finely detailed companion horn bands, completed the set perfectly. Gazing at them felt like hearing a love song. Coren could almost hear Alfira's singing dancing around her heart. These were perfect, like the love they represented.

     "You made these, Dammon?" Coren gasped, hovering a hand over the rings as if to touch them, but worrying they were so delicate that she might break them.

     Dammon cringed, "Ouch. You don't have to act so surprised."

     "That's not what I meant and you know it." Coren pouted, narrowing her eyes. Behind her she could hear Rolan stifle a chuckle in his throat and batted his calf with her tail. He immediately caught her tail with his own and the two intertwined like a tether.

     Distantly thunder boomed and Dammon snapped the box shut. "I'd better get going. Lakrissa will kill me if this box gets ruined." He nervously slid the box inside his coat.

     Coren giggled, "We wouldn't want that."

     Rolan re-laced his arm through Coren's, "We'd better be going, too. Good day, Dammon."

     "See you at the wedding tomorrow. Tell Lakrissa I'll make sure this storm's past. She can expect gorgeous weather for two gorgeous brides!" Coren said, waving her friend off as he sprinted down the street.

     Sorcerous Sundries was still more than a block away. And with the sky darkening quickly, they knew they'd need to use the portals there as they'd never make it to the tower on foot. 

     Coren's smile, however, could not have been brighter as she returned home with Rolan. He looked down at Coren, a wealth of warmth spreading through his chest. "What's got you all smiles?"

    "I'm just so happy. For us. For everyone. Everything is perfect. Everyone is safe. We're together. Cal and Lia are doing great. You're the most admired wizard south of Waterdeep." Rolan scoffed at her playful jab, as she continued, "Dammon's smithing is doing well. Bex and Danis just had a baby, not to mention the success of their bakery. And Alfria and Lakrissa are finally getting married. When we all met our lives were kinda, well, shit shows. But look how far we've come," Coren was beaming, truly proud of them all. "Even Mattis and Mirkon are keeping out of trouble. I can't believe how good this feels. To have friends. To be with you." She glided up to place a kiss on Rolan's cheek. Thunder clapped over head.

    "Do you think we'll make it?" Rolan peered up assessing the sky.

    "No. I can feel it under my skin. It's too close." Coren tugged herself closer. "You're not afraid of a little rain now are you?"

    Rolan huffed playfully. "Of course not. I just don't want to get our nice clothes wet. Or ruin your dress for tomorrow." He said lifting the bag in his other hand.

    Coren produced a pout. "I'm not sure if I should take offense to that or not. You know I wouldn't let you get wet if you don't want to. I'll always be here to protect you, my love, especially from the Big Bad Evil Rain Storm."

    "As it should be, my dear," he smiled warmly, pressing his lips softly to her forehead between her horns. "But that's not the point and you know it." He held out his hand. "Let me Dimension Door us to the Tower."

    "Fine." She exaggerated a sigh, but tangled her fingers with his all the same. "But you know how much I like the rain. That first wave always makes me feel so powerful," she pouted over exaggerating her pillowy bottom lip.

    Rolan pulled her close, resting his forehead on her's and wrapping his other arm around her back. A mischievous grin pulled at his mouth as he whispered, "In that case, my dear, let me see what I can do." He lifted her up into a kiss, but this time she pulled herself closer deepening the kiss as they disappeared from the street in an arcane flash.

    Rain softly pelted the tower windows. Coren lightly skipped over the sopping wet clothes passionately thrown across the bedroom floor after being ripped from heated bodies. That was future Coren's problem. She slid into bed, handing Rolan a fresh glass of water, and seated herself beside him. Coren took a bite of leftover strawberry lemon cake she'd gathered as Rolan gulped down his drink.

     "So," she continued, dusting the crumbs off Rolan's shirt that hung loosely over her smaller frame. "What was that weird look between you and Dammon earlier?" she asked, chewing another bite of sour sweet cake.

    "What look?" Rolan asked, not hiding the small awkward cough of water as well as he thought.

    Swallowing her snack, Coren continued, "Dammon gave you a look when we met up earlier. Like you knew something I didn't. So, 'fess up."

   "As I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about, there is nothing to ‘fess up.’"

She studied him for a moment. He held her gaze with his sunny sunflower eyes, but Coren sensed he was holding something back.

   "No, there was definitely something weird between you two when Dammon wanted to show me the wedding rings." Rolan readjusted himself, placing his glass on his nightstand. “And since we’ve been together over a year, I think I know when you’re trying to hide something from me.”

  “Oh, do you now?”

   “Yes, so what has you all cagey about Alfira’s rings? Why would you and Dammon- '' A thought struck her at that moment. “Unless,” she started, more to herself than him. A flutter of excitement stirred in her stomach. “Unless there are other rings you two talk about. Are you going to ask Dammon to make rings?” Her tail curled behind her and she threw her weight forward on her arms invading his space. 

   Rolan’s neck tensed, he averted his gaze, and scoffed. “I don’t need to ask him to make anything. It’s already made.”

   Coren bounced back on her thighs, “You had rings made for us?! Let me see!” Her tail thumped behind her and her voice burst little too loud.

   “No. I had a ring made. Your ring. One. And I know the second you see it you’re going to put it on.” Coren shook her head in agreement. That’s exactly what she would do. Without a doubt. Rolan sighed, “I just haven’t found the right time to ask. I wanted the moment to be as perfect as you are.”

   Coren almost groaned, “If that’s what you’re waiting for, then I’ll never see it. Just a little peek. Please.” She purred, leaning forward, “You know I never beg. Pretty please.” Her tail swished behind her.

   Pinching the bridge of his nose Rolan relented. “Fine. No use keeping it from you now. But, just one look.” 

   Coren was vibrating with her giddiness. He knew now that she was aware of its existence, Coren would certainly spend every unsupervised moment tearing the tower apart in search of it. Might as well save himself the trouble of cleaning up the destruction in her wake. Rolan leaned over, opened the drawer of his bedside table and pulled out nothing. Clutching an empty hand he muttered a dispelling incantation. A beautiful purpleheart wooden box was revealed in his hand. 

   Coren gaped, “It was there the whole time!?”

   “Easily concealed from the wandering eyes of a sorceress by a simple Invisibility charm.” Rolan bragged as Coren pouted, protruding her plush bottom lip, and grumbling about wishing she’d taken Volo’s eye. She thumped her tail behind her. Rolan eased the box open, revealing a single stone dark metal band.

   Springing forward, Coren snatched the ring from its box and held it up to her face closely examining it. It was a simple ring, but Coren didn't mind. There was something familiar about the cold dark blue-grey metal that she couldn't quite place. The band itself was almost plain looking except for a few faint runes Coren could feel, but not really make out. She'd never seen anything like the dark center stone before, but she could sense it tugging at the magic within her. 

   Drawn in by the stone, Coren hadn't realized she had lined it up with her finger ready to slip it on until Rolan grabbed her hand.

   “Wait,” he paused, sliding the ring out her hand. "You must be sure before you put it on." 

    "Why? Is it cursed?” Coren smirked. “Did you make me a cursed ring I could never take off?" she quipped.

    Immediately Rolan rebutted, "Of course not. But you would be the one to wear a cursed item without a second thought."

    Coren leaned in to tease. "Did you curse it so that I would never leave you? Because you were already cursed with that the moment I survived the Absolute."

     "Is that so?" Rolan chuckled, a soft grin pulling up to one side. "No, it's not cursed, but it is heavily enchanted,” he stated. “Everything from the Adamantine metal to the gems, Astral Shard, and engravings were all meticulously selected for their specific arcane properties,” he explained, turning the ring over in his fingers as he did. “I wanted something that would not only look beautiful, but enhance the natural abilities of its talented wearer.” He looked at her with a cheeky smile before his brows knit together. “It will immediately attune to you once you put it on, so you must be sure.” With a wistful sigh he continued, “I only wish I could have come up with a worthy way to ask you to wear it.” 

    Coren arched her brow and smiled softly trying to lighten the mood, “Like, what, getting down one knee in front of the Baulderan fountain? That guy’s an asshole.”

    “Ha, it had been a thought.” Rolan admitted. “I wasn't sure if it would be better to ask in the traditional Baulderian manner, or if one of the many tiefling customs would have been more appropriate. I-"

    Coren slid her hand over Rolan's, "Darling, you're overthinking this. My answer would be the same regardless of the way it's done. Do what feels right for you. Don't hold yourself to the standards of others- we know they fall short of your greatness anyway.” She smirked trying to boost his ego a little before continuing, “Alfria proposed to Lakrissa in song because that's what bards do. Do what feels comfortable to you. I can't answer a question I'm never asked, but don’t doubt yourself. Because- I hope you know- there’s no doubt about my answer.” Coren's words were earnest before she looked down in his hand, “I am still going to put the ring on though."

    "Wait!" Rolan said, adjusting to his knees. "One moment." His eyes frantically darted around nothing as he worked through a thought in his head. Rolan lifted his hands drawing purple arcane sigils, whispering an incantation under his breath.

    The bedroom around them slowly disappeared into darkness. A deep, unnatural, pitch-filled darkness. It almost reminded Coren of the imposed darkness of the Shadows Curse, but there was no impression of evil. A sense of ease fell as Rolan's magic settled through the room like a warm blanket. The arcane nature of the spell almost made it difficult to see even as Coren strained her dark vision to make out the outline of the man in front of her. There was stillness for a moment while she felt the arcane energy in the room shift as another spell was cast in the darkness.

    "Coren," Rolan breathed gently, grazing his fingers along her own until he held her hand in his. The moment he spoke movement in her peripheral drew her attention away from the direction of his voice.

    Across the room deep in the darkness, a tiny mote of golden light flickered like a firefly.

    "My beautiful storm. My peaceful center." Another slightly bigger green light appeared. Then a blue, and a purple. A colorful assortment of lights began to spark into life around them as Rolan spoke. "Since the moment I met you, I have called you many things. There were a few I– admittedly–regret, but the rest, you, have brought me so much joy."

    The chromatic oscillation surrounding them was memorizing. Like standing in a field of dancing technicolor fireflies. Try as she might to focus on Rolan, Coren couldn't help but look around in wonder. The stars themselves didn't sparkle as bright. She recalled this enchanting feeling forming in her chest. The way her heart skipped a beat in her camp by the Grove while she watched Rolan perform for his siblings. A precursor to the magnificence engulfing her now. The longing for people that cared for her like this little family clearly cared for each other. It was breathtaking.

    With a gentle squeeze to her hand, Rolan brought her back to him, he held the dark metal band over her finger. "Would you please allow me the long overdue honor of calling you my wife?" He whispered, sliding the ring onto her finger.

    Bright, electric blue light crackled around the metal of the band, followed by a softer icey blue feathering. The interior of the center gem whirled like a galaxy and flickered like a storm. A warm sensation crept from Coren's finger up her arm, through her very veins, through the threads of Weave inside her. Small jagged crystals in shades of white & blue jetted up around the center shard. 

    The warm sensation spread through her chest like a deep, calm breath. It rippled through her body like a beating heart and the primordial elemental magic inside her beat with it. Tears silently slid down her cheek. Where once she felt the constant clawing to contain it, now she felt like it lay in the palm of her hand. Ready to wield. The magic enveloped her like a familiar embrace. It felt like power. It felt like love. Like Rolan.

    “Coren,” Rolan whispered, touching his horned forehead to her’s, “are you going to give me my answer?”

    If she wasn’t so damn enthralled by him right now, she knew there was a joke to make there. Stupid wizard and his enchanting displays of affection. She nodded her head and cupped his cheek in her hand.

    “Yes.”

[its-magical-here]

More thoughts on part 2...

I'm about to watch Polin scenes ep 1-8 again. But I was thinking...

They did try to pack a lot into this season, just for Polin alone:

-Becoming friends again after Colin talked bad about her last season.

-Her trying to find a husband and him helping her.

-Their first kiss. His "oh shit, I'm in love with her?" spiral.

-Him ruining her potential engagement, the carriage scene, and the proposal.

-Lovey-dovey stuff, then Colin finding out about LW and him struggling to accept the two sides of Pen: his life-long friend and LW.

-The wedding. Colin's jealousy of Pen because she has a purpose and he's still not sure what his purpose really is.

-Then the blackmail and LW reveal to the ton.

All of it needed to happen this season. Imagine waiting 2 full years to wait before any of these Polin plotlines were resolved if they had extended them to season 4?

But that's sooo much story for 8 episodes where there are so many characters also sharing the screen.

Okay, gonna rewatch, I heard the Polin storyline hits great when you watch it all at once =) definitely will post more later!

[tgammsideblog]

Let's talk about Jinx vs The Human World

Jinx vs The Human World is... certainly an episode. It hasn't been talked much in comparison to The End because it has been greatly overshadowed by the later.

One thing that i think many of us can agree about Jinx vs The Human World is that it has super chaotic pacing. It doesn't give you room to breathe because it is already jumping to the next plot point and you can't digest well what you are watching. This hurts the emotional impact crucial character scenes have, because again, they aren't allowed to flow well, not letting the characters to react properly.

It's an episode that should have been around 44 minutes long since it covers multiple plot threads. With that ammount of time some things could have been better paced and given a proper conclusion.

As for the plot threads, i already talked about how i like Jinx as antagonist in this episode. She is fun, her song sequence is pretty good. She ends up capturing Molly and using her as away to power up her sobgoblins.

I really enjoy seeing Scratch finally having to deal with the consequences of not being a good leader. The reason the events of this episode happen are because of his own irresponsibilty, letting Jinx steal the Chairman robe and take over the Ghost World. He realizes that he has been messing up a lot and someone else should be in charge instead. He lets the chairman robe go and chose a more appropiate candidate to be the new chairman.

My biggest issue would be the Chens plot part. I do like the part of Ollie and June standing up to Ruben and Esther and trying to persuade them into helping them to stop Jinx. It's a scene that serves more or less well as a conclusion for their arc, even if Necro-Comicon and The Grand Gesture have this purpose, (more for Ollie's character)

The reveal that Geoff was the ghost that scared Ruben was nice too. It has been a thing that was foreshadowed back on ¨Book Marks The Sprite¨

What i'm not so fond of is how it was Geoff sneezing at him when he was a kid. I think it could been more interesting if it had been Geoff hurting Ruben by accident or scaring too much. That way Geoff apologizes to Ruben, showing to him that he didn't mean to hurt him that way.

Ruben also feels like he lacks proper scenes to show his change of mind. Sure, he realizes that Geoff wasn't evil as he thought he was, making him question things. But there isn't much else. I think there could have been a scene of Geoff saving Ruben from the sobgoblins and Ruben realizes how a ghost saved him, making him reconsider his views.

His change of mind is like it comes a bit out of nowhere. Another problem is how he seems to be super friendly around ghosts near the end which it is very weird. I think it could have been better if he had some expressions and lines that indicates that he is still trying to get used to not seeing ghosts as evil.

In addition to this, the Chens don't get to do much in this episode outside of trapping Jinx inside the phantom canister. I wished that they could have set up traps to catch the sobgoblins and contain them temporary at least, that would have given them a bigger role in the plot.

I do like some moments that June has, like her interations with Darryl and giving some funny moments. She is pretty enjoyable in this episode and she shines almost scene she is in.

In some other problems, i find the whole wraith transformation of ghost friends unnecessary, it doesn't have any funtion in the story aside from seeing how they look as wraiths (which is cool!) but the plot could have played out the same if it had been just Scratch and Molly going to the Ghost World.

The Ghost Council saying nice things about Scratch and that he wasn't so bad to give Molly joy fits well their character arcs this season, but, Sir Alister saying they are Scratch's ¨friends¨ doesn't add up since Scratch doesn't want anything to do with them and he has interacted with them because he was forced to be the Chairman in first place. I would change that line of dialogue and leave it as them thinking that Scratch is not so bad instead.

In all, i think what really hurt Jinx vs The Human World is that it needed to be a way longer episode (around 40-50 minutes) to allow things to be spaced out better. A good chunk of the issues from this episode seem to come from that. With more time to explore the events and changing some things, this episode could have been more presentable in quality as a whole.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Meaningless Suffering ≠ Consequences: An SPOP Rant Analysis

so one huge argument i've seen from SPOP fans, when it comes to Catra's redemption is that “she got tortured and mind controlled by Horde Prime. she almost died at his hands. therefore, she faced the consequences of her actions.”

now.. could this be considered a consequence of her actions? the important question here is: why did Catra get punished by Prime? for going against his rules and freeing Glimmer. she got punished for doing one good thing. this was the consequence of her doing something right. if anything, she would be more discouraged to do good in the future, because the first time she does something good, she almost gets murdered for it.

but i digress. i've seen this trope be used with quite a few characters in media. the other example of this i want to talk about is Marcy from Amphibia. (spoilers for Amphibia below)

in the s2 finale, Marcy is revealed to have stranded her friends Anne and Sasha on Amphibia on purpose, because she didn't want to be alone. while this wasn't as bad as any of the shit that Catra pulled, it was still a fucked up thing to do. Marcy deliberately took Anne and Sasha away from their home and their parents, for her own selfish reasons.

like Catra, Marcy also has abandonment issues. her parents had informed her that they had to move and Marcy was terrified at the idea of having to leave Anne and Sasha behind. but that was still not an excuse for what she did.

not long after her secret was exposed, Marcy gets stabbed by King Andrias while trying to escape Amphibia. she doesn't die, of course, it's still a kid's show.

but to make things worse, she gets possessed by the Core later on, which is shown to be an extremely painful and traumatizing process (which they barely touch upon later). and then they show in a flashback that Anne and Sasha used to ignore Marcy and make her feel lonely, when this was not touched upon earlier in the series. in fact, Anne was shown to be very caring and attentive to Marcy up until this episode.

at this point, it's clear that the writers are trying to make the viewers feel sorry for Marcy. if they keep adding reasons why she's so miserable and traumatized, maybe the viewers would forget what she did to Anne and Sasha. right?

there is a small scene in s3 where Sasha questions why she should forgive Marcy, but it is quickly fixed by Anne telling Sasha that she should forgive Marcy. there's also a moment of realization for Marcy but even that is done in such a cliché and lighthearted manner, where the severity of her actions aren't addressed. and that's it. Marcy is rescued, she apologizes, and is immediately forgiven.

but then again, like SPOP, the last season of Amphibia was trashfire. i refuse to believe that people genuinely liked that season, it was so badly written and ruined everything that was set up prior to it.

anyway, let's come back to SPOP. it's clear that the writers of SPOP were also trying to do the same thing. put poor catgirl through the wringer, have her almost die and come back to life and voila! she is absolved of all her crimes.

for those of you who are still not convinced, let me try to make a real world comparison. let's just say i'm someone who bullies or abuses people. one day while getting home from school/work, i get hit by a car. i get grievously injured and go through a lot of pain. heck, maybe it even leaves some kind of permanent disability or injury.

is that a punishment for my actions? you can call it karma, but let's be real, karma doesn't exist. it's just a coincidence. and you bet i'm not going to wake up in the hospital thinking “this must be my punishment for abusing people”. if i really am an abuser who has no remorse for my actions, a random accident isn't going to change my mind.

and that's what happened with Catra too. she didn't consider Horde Prime's torture as a consequence of her actions. if anything, she used that as an excuse to mistreat Adora and the others even more. it's clear that she pitied herself for what happened. and everyone else pitied her, including the audience.

imagine if the good redemption arcs were written this way. imagine if, instead of working through his issues and facing actual consequences of his actions, Zuko was just tortured and traumatized even more by Ozai, and the Gaang just forgave him because they felt bad for him. yeah, people wouldn't be praising his arc anymore. or they would, who knows. i know i wouldn't be praising his arc.

because this is not the way to redeem a villain. the only way to redeem a villain is to have them face consequences of their actions and work for forgiveness. to show them consistently trying to make up for what they did and trying to be a better person, not because they want to be forgiven or accepted by the heroes, but because it's the right thing to do.

[diocletianscabbagefarm]

Wait, no, this Kalina thing is driving me slightly insane I feel like I need to write it out rather than do shower-thought-analysis.

- Kalina was pretty adversarial with Kristen at the start over what their plans should be, but that seems pretty understandable considering A) they were literally fighting to the death the year before when she was the NMK’s familiar B) her goddess existence - and by extension her own - was super precarious (or “instantly killable” as she put it) with only two followers, with the cleric kinda dropping the ball on their responsibility to spread Cassandra’s worship. Cassandra was noticeably anxious about straight-up dying, and Kalina was forceful on her behalf in advancing the argument since Cassandra was afraid and hesitant to be pushy about it C) Her character trait is being a petty bitch like that and honestly good for her; maybe she was even trying to be Cassandra’s favorite over Kristen but that’s just inside politics.

- Kalina advocated going to the mall, which is where the attacks took place and that can be construed as suspicious or purposeful, as the Bad Kids concluded later in the season. However it could also just be a story excuse for Brennan to get them at the mall to use the battlemap, and there are some alleviating factors; before the attack Kalina went to Adaine at the strudel bar to ask her if she could get Kristen to come (if she orchestrated the attack it would’ve been better to keep a high level cleric absent), and as Cassandra was initially affected by the shatterstars she again told her to get Kristen there asap. During the attack Brennan described multiple times through insight checks that Kalina was horrified, stressed and panicked.

- She threw herself in the path of a shatterstar headed for Cassandra (bloodily piercing through her paws to halt it), and even then first rushed to heimlich the shrimp out of Cassandra’s throat before the rage effect took hold (her eyes go red) and she says she liked Cassandra more when she was the NMK and slits her throat. Before being affected by the shatterstar she also quickly shouts out Ragh’s name as a hint to the Bad Kids to help them solve the mystery.

- Aelwyn said Kalina had come to her to modify the spy’s tongue curse so that it’d work on herself (being a non-humanoid) at some point near the end of freshman year (so before the Bad Kids destroyed her in Sophomore), so working together with Porter seems to have been an old plot from back when she was the NMK’s familiar rather than a recent thing. Aelwyn also mentioned she seemed rather pissed about needing it, and of course she mentioned Ragh’s name already to try and lead the Bad Kids down a trail of questions that’d end up pointing them to Porter (how did Ragh become able to see Kalina -> barbarian healing)

- In Baron’s Game she manages to push through the rage to repeat Ragh’s name again, and then when Cassandra offers her a moment of clarity she clarifies the hint (“it’s the only name I can say”) and < SNAPS! HER OWN! NECK! < in order to not be a threat to the Bad Kids anymore, like how hardcore do you want your sacrifice to help the heroes be because even if you can be brought back, that one is pretty hardcore.

- The Bad Kids discover some medicine in Porter’s desk to help with cat allergies. Could be recent, but could also be old from when they worked together in the past. This seems to be what leads the Bad Kids to conclude Kalina is still evil, but I can also construe it as Brennan trying to offer confirmation they correctly identified the link between Kalina and Porter.

Like, with all this I find it kinda hard to square Kalina was being evil and working against Cassandra; her actions at the start of the season speak more of protectiveness and anxiety, and after being shatterstarred she used every opportunity available to help the Bad Kids crack the mystery, why would the final reveal be she was actually still a villain - why actively sabotage herself, without any payoff? I can understand her to be bad if all she did was trick Cassandra into going to the mall in the astral, and that was the end of her role in the season, but she did so, so much afterwards to help the Bad Kids. To me this speaks at most of her having been a participant in the past, prior to being reconstituted, unless I am missing something major.

The logical followthrough for a Senior Year season - if it were to happen - would be to run with the thread that accusing her of being evil was a hasty judgement, and that because Ankarna was all to happy to smite her wife’s cat she never liked (even at the end Cassandra meekly protested, but was overruled by everybody), Kalina knew to make herself scarce. Great story potential, with the reason for the Kalina-Buddy teamup being that though wrongfully accused she was now on the run and grabbed the nearest ally to hand. Being able to be summoned by Bakarath could indicate Kalina was forcibly disowned from Cassandra as her familiar, and if I were a familiar unceremoniously dumped like that because someone else said you’re bad, I too would probably become the champion of a tiny god of rage because I’d sure be a teensy upset about it. Imagine the potential emotional payoff and catharsis to resolving such a false accusation during the story, Brennan doing one of his monologue things, and proving the faith Cassandra seems to have in her familiar correct despite everyone else insisting otherwise. I really really really hope that’s the direction they take it, rather than doubling down she was bad the whole time (fully ignoring the ways her help was integral to sabotaging the plot) and randomly slaughtering her in a Night Yorb treatment.

[williamaltman]

I'm gonna talk more about the episode later (including some positive stuff) but, right now I just want to say I'm really disappointed that apparently there's really not gonna be any retcon/reveal/whatever that Lestat actually wanted to make Claudia/was happy with the idea of having her as a daughter when Louis came with her.

I mean, on this episode they brought a version where Lestat was *even more* against the idea and is completely miserable about it, and, it does seem to be fake for the purposes of the trial, but... Louis then says it's actually closer to the truth?

And even if he's wrong, if this is not supposed to be believed like it seems at first glance (tbh I don't think he even meant that the whole thing was right, more just that Lestat told him it was wrong to turn a child), then this is already meant as the different "wronger" version meant to highlight the previous version as more real. Either way the difference is Lestat being annoyed and mildly reluctant vs Lestat being passionately against it and miserable when having to do it, which is like, a lose lose situation.

What I wanted from the beginning was to see a version where, at the very least, Lestat is happy with the idea when he realizes Louis means for her to be their daughter. Like I've said before, this is very easy to do. All you need to do is have him smile and appear excited or pleased when he says "...a daughter" and goes on to do it. Which is still not even close to the book version where he's the one to come up with the whole idea in the first place, but it would be at least one step closer and overall frame their (Lestat and Claudia) relationship in a more positive light from the beginning.

I'm happy with the crumbs we got on the trial, really, but it's not enough to me if besides reaffirming the narrative of her turning they're (possibly) going even further into Lestat being against it.

I know what people are gonna say, that in season 3 it's gonna be revisited again, with Lestat's reeaal perspective, but I really don't think so. This seems to be the revisiting already. I think it'd be kinda ridiculous to have a third version of the scene, and even if there is, that's not to say it's necessarily gonna be something more akin to what I think it should.

With the fact that they already showed more of the "fight" too, including making Lestat more sympathetic (which is clearly not fake considering the fact that LESTAT LITERALLY WENT OFF SCRIPT to express his guilt over it, how wrong he knows it was and to not let Santiago dismiss it), I think this means that the writers are more intent on their version of things than some people imagine when the idea of revisiting things and showing other POVs comes up.

I know that we most likely will learn of more things Armand might have changed in Louis' memories, but, this one at least is clearly not gonna be one of them. Armand's mind edits would be more focused on Lestat as a lover than something like Claudia's creation, and if anything I think he would be more likely to alter things to make Lestat more willing to break the rules rather than less.

I'm sure we'll hear about how much Lestat loved her, how devastated he was over her death and how he saw himself in her (especially since we already got a bit of that on the trial), but I think her turning is always gonna be "Lestat doesn't want to break the rules or ~have a third~ in his relationship Louis" which imo is such a misrepresentation of him and his dynamic with Claudia. The fact that even after Marius' warnings he didn't give a fuck? That's Lestat. It seems like if anything the writers want to make him *less bad* by not doing that (which is weird considering some of their choices in the opposite direction), by having him being somewhat responsible for a moment, but him not caring because he wanted her so bad and still not regretting it even after everything is so much more important.

Even if they do the "And I cannot say even now that I regret Claudia" it's not gonna ring true to me, because even if he misses her there's not much to regret in the first place when the responsability is like 90% on Louis in the show canon...

This is all water under the bridge in a way since it's mostly just how I've felt since 1x04, but, you know, with the idea of revisiting things and showing different versions I ended up getting some hope of it being changed and now it hasn't. Maybe there's really a third version and this will age like milk, but right now I don't think so.

[leikeliscomet]

We Failed the First Black Doctor (Part 1)

We failed the first Black doctor.

I know you’re thinking ‘What the hell, I didn't do anything to Ncuti!’. That right there is part of what I mean. When tabloids and fans say ‘the first Black doctor’, our minds go straight to Ncuti Gatwa and rightfully so. Some fans might say Lenny Henry. Some fans might even say Peter Davison. When I say ‘First Black Doctor’, I mean Jo Martin. I think about the Fugitive Doctor. I think about how in only one episode she appealed to so many fans. I think about how she carried a gun and ripped off a Judoon captain’s horn. I think about how a great character was fumbled so badly by the show. I think about how fans barely think about her now. I think about how the first Black doctor was done so dirty. Your next thought is probably ‘Well isn’t that Chibnall’s fault?’. In a way, yes. But also no. What exactly went wrong varies from writing processes to behind-the-scenes structure to fandom politics. To unpack why Fugitive was done dirty, we need to start from the beginning. 

Series 12 would be a complete 180 of series 11; returning monsters, a more energetic soundtrack and heavier reliance on Doctor Who lore (or whatever was left of it). Apart from a vague Timeless Child namedrop in The Ghost Monument, Thirteen’s run was smoother than her predecessors in terms of less overwhelming narrative arcs. No Hybrids or a Time Lord Victorious, just a girl and her fam. Until one day in Gloucester, a tour guide named Ruth would transform in a lighthouse and essentially change Thirteen’s life for the rest of her run. What seemed like an RTD-esque Judoon episode turned into the debut episode for a brand-new incarnation of the Doctor. And we never saw it coming. And neither did Chris Chibnall apparently. In an interview, he revealed that the script for Fugitive of the Judoon was already underway and the Fugitive was a last-minute addition. This was red flag no 1. A last-minute character wasn’t inherently a bad thing, as it was assumed Fugitive would return again in the second half of series 12 and likely in series 13. These appearances were lacklustre, but I’ll go into more detail later. Fugitive’s casting made a lot of noise; bad and good. Right-wing sides of the fandom were outraged at a Black woman playing a role they thought was exclusively for white men (no surprise there) and plenty of comments fuelled with misogynoir, antiblackness and colourism were thrown her way too (no surprises there either). What made this outrage worse was Fugitive’s ambiguous role in the timeline. Many were angry about Fugitive being before One and thought it disrespected William Hartnell’s legacy of being the first incarnation of the show. Contrary to popular fandom belief, Chibnall didn’t actually confirm if Fugitive is pre-Hartnell or not, he left her placement vague on purpose. We as fans have reason to believe so because she didn’t have a sonic and we saw One to Two’s regeneration on screen along with One’s companions, so we know she couldn’t be between those two. Pre-Hartnell is a ‘fanon’ theory, but this doesn’t take into account how Fugitive's TARDIS is a police box already. Another popular idea in the fandom is the season 6B theory. We know Two regenerates into Three, but the physical regeneration is never actually shown on screen, so a sneaky incarnation between them is possible. But again, the missing sonic does poke a small hole in that theory. Fugitive did however state she was smart enough not to need one rather than saying she didn’t know what it was, so maybe the 6B truthers were onto something. The Timeless Children promised to answer these burning questions and didn’t. So, we were back on square one, assuming we ever left it in the first place. With Chibnall also confirming Fugitive is not from a parallel universe, so she had to fit into the main lineup but not after Thirteen, figuring out the origin of the Fugitive became a painful and lengthy debate for answers we never got and probably never will.

Fortunately, details about the Fugitive would end up in her design process. Costume designer Ray Holman added elements of previous doctors in her design. The tweed in her jacket comes from Eleven, whilst her black trousers and boots reference Twelve. Her boots are also for combat purposes, drawing parallels to Three in terms of martial arts ability. Additionally, the colourful shirt she wears is Kente cloth, a colourful Ghanaian fabric, giving a small African cultural nod to our first Black doctor. Jo Martin has spoken about the importance of representation in interviews, stating she didn’t see a lot of Black characters growing up and how Fugitive allowed Black kids watching the show to have someone to look up to. She also noticed the Black and mixed race cosplayers and has shouted them out on her Instagram page. Many pictures and stories on her page showcased fans of colour in blue jackets and yellow glasses, giving the Fugitive her well-deserved flowers. For the first time, we had a doctor that looked like us and this was what made the Fugitive groundbreaking. A dark-skinned Black woman with locs playing the Doctor is something I didn’t see coming. A wish and a hope maybe, but seeing it come into reality definitely touched me. Not only was I seeing a Black woman of my complexion as a main character in Doctor Who, but she was the main character. Not only that, but her backstory was engaging. Why did she run away? Who is she running from? Where does she fit in the timeline? Within one episode, Jo Martin had already captured the ‘Doctor essence’ needed for the role, with some even saying it challenged Whittaker’s performance.

Enter Ruth. We see her get ready and head to work on her birthday. We don’t know a lot about her but she seems friendly. Her partner Lee on the other hand seems a bit sketchy. Fast forward, Judoon are on the hunt for the fugitive who they assume is Lee. Thirteen and the fam swoop in to help the two out. Thirteen knows something is wrong and she can’t place her finger on it. But as time goes on the situation spins out of her control. The alleged tour guide has ripped the horn off a Judoon’s head, an act of dishonour and humiliation. Thirteen’s doubts grow as the two reach the lighthouse because the holes in Ruth’s story are starting to show. Why live in a lighthouse? Why have a blank gravestone? Enter the Fugitive Doctor, previously Ruth. The lighthouse was her fob watch, hiding her memories and true identity. Lee was her companion playing a role similar to that of Martha Jones in Human Nature/Family of Blood and gave his life to save her. Taking that story, we now see how it plays out from the other side; from the POV of Martha Jones as protector to the POV of the Fugitive as the protected. In this 50-minute slot, we already have a backstory for this new doctor that still leaves room for the imagination. On board the Judoon ship, Gat is defeated by Fugitive with a gun she didn’t even have to fire. As she timed this according to the ship’s acceleration, Gat’s shooting takes place in interstellar space with no laws so Fugitive gets away with murder. Almost literally. She’s confident with a powerful presence and takes control of the room, contrasting Thirteen’s more chaotic and vulnerable approach. Thirteen and us as the audience are stunned as this complete stranger has saved the day and made it look so effortless. From there, the groundwork had been done for a new main character in the Chibnall era cast. But this wasn’t delivered.

Part 2 ->

[lostloveletters]

Baby's Got It Bad (John Egan x OC)

Summary: Day 27 - Breast Worship.  Holly knows how to take care of her darling, exhausted husband after he's been away for so long. [AO3 link | Kinktober 2024 Masterlist]

Note: I’m not gonna lie this fic would not exist without Elizabeth Shue’s performance in season 1 of The Boys 🫡

Word count: 1.1k

Warnings: Sexually explicit content involving gentle femdom, breast worship, praise kink, handjobs, come-eating.

When she heard the front door open, Holly glanced away from the movie magazine she was reading to look at the clock on her bedside table. 9:37. Not too late, but from the lack of fanfare upon Bucky’s arrival home, his prompt trudging up the stairs, footsteps slow and heavy, she knew her husband was exhausted.

He sure sounded it on the phone earlier, letting her know with weariness in his voice that he’d be getting in later than he thought. Could’ve sworn she heard him stifle a yawn on the other end of the line, but even if she had told him to call a cab, and they could get his car in the morning, he’d insist it was nothing a cup of coffee couldn’t fix.

He opened the bedroom door, setting his suitcase down beside it and offering her a tired smile. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

“You’re one to talk,” she said. “Did you eat? I made a plate for you.”

He shook his head. “I’m wiped.”

“Poor thing,” she said, the sincerity in her voice sent warmth flushing through his tired body. “C’mere then and get some rest.” She set her magazine aside, revealing her bare breasts and extending her arms to him. 

He undressed, his clothes haphazardly left on the floor before rushing into her embrace. Burying his face in her chest, he let out a sigh like a sad old street hound. Her heart lurched. She carded her fingers through his curly hair, gently petting him as he nuzzled his nose against her tit.

“I missed you while you were away,” she said. “Did you miss me?”

His answer was a muffled moan against her soft, supple breast. 

“I know you did, baby,” she cooed. “You called me almost every night to tell me how much.”

Her eyelids fluttered shut for a moment, taking in his mouth on her skin, warm and full of worship. His tongue lavished attention on her nipple, and his big hand took care of her other tit, massaging until it was tender. She whimpered his name, cradling his head against her chest.

By the morning, there’d be a mark above one of her breasts, soft lilac that would threaten to peek above a daring neckline. Once in a while she’d wear something low-cut on purpose, just to catch the silent recognition in people’s eyes, watch them play the scene to themselves, and then attempt to keep their gaze off of it, almost impossible once they noticed.

“I hate when you’re away for so long.” She hummed pleasantly when he caught one of her nipples between his teeth. He glanced up at her to shoot her the slightest smile, earning her fingertips scratching against his scalp. “Almost makes me forget how handsome you are.”

Back in England, he returned to her with scars littered across his skin, his mind too, leaving him with nightmares or odd hang-ups. She didn’t adore him any less for it. Made her want to take care of him the way he did so well for her. Sometimes, she felt like he was the only person who really understood her, and for that, he deserved unending affection.

“Let me take care of you, baby. I know it’s been a while,” she said.

He whined in relief against her breast, his retreating mouth leaving a glossy strand of saliva from his pouting bottom lip to her nipple.

Kneeling in front of her, presenting himself to her, she saw the vulnerability in his eyes and all the trust that came with it. Her chest ached with excruciating tenderness. She never loved anyone the way she loved him.

She held out her hand, and without further instruction he spit into it, keeping eye contact with her like she usually wanted. He moaned when she wrapped her hand around his shaft, spreading his saliva on his aching cock. 

His panting filled the room, a sound so heavy it moved through her. She studied him, her eyes darting across his body for the tells she’d come to recognize so intimately. A shaky breath that rattled through his chest, his big hands clutching the covers once, twice, then a moment of hesitation because he wasn’t quite sure what to do with his hands before grabbing at the floral patterned duvet again.

Her fingernails scraped gently against his trembling thighs. “Are you close?”

“Yeah,” he managed, would’ve been embarrassed at how desperate his voice sounded if it were anyone but Holly in front of him.

“You can cum whenever you like, baby,” she said.

He groaned in response, his head lulling back as his hips jerked. Bucky never came quietly, but long gone were the days where he had to bury his face in a pillow or her neck to stifle his moans of pleasure. Sometimes she still shoved her panties in his mouth, just because she liked the way lace, spit, and desperation looked on him. But watching his throat as he came, she knew it wasn’t the night for that.

“That’s it,” she said, her voice soft as she encouraged him, pumping his cock until it was limp in her hand. “Let it all out.”

Chest heaving, he stared at the cum painted across her chest with bleary eyes until she cradled his face with the same hand she used to bring him to climax.

“Be good and clean up after yourself,” she ordered gently. 

Without hesitation, he lapped at her breasts, his head spinning, stomach doing flips at the taste of himself on her. Sweat, semen, and soap intermingled on his tongue, not entirely pleasant, but the way she looked at him made his breath hitch. So warm and loving, he wanted to be good for her, to make her happy. Waiting up to take care of him the way only she could.

Holly smiled, pleased with how well he cleaned her up. “That’s my Bucky.” His lips glistening with spit and cum, blue eyes hazy like a warm lake after a cool summer rain, his dark, curly hair soaked with sweat—he looked as if every wet dream she ever had came true. “Why don’t you kiss me so I know how much you love me?”

In less than a heartbeat his mouth was on hers. She reveled in the taste, an intimate tang that made her moan softly as it settled on her tongue. Caressing his cheek, she smiled when he leaned into her touch.

“I love you,” he whispered, his voice strained. 

Poor thing could barely keep his eyes open.

“I love you, too.” Her gaze was fond as she brushed her thumb against the corner of his mouth, barely resisting the urge to push it between his swollen lips. “Get some sleep, baby.”