#kill him and his entire family except for the evil half of his dad. who she ressurected. She's also a zombie. and also technically

[anabetel35]

Guys hear me out -- Ninjago DR AU where Morro manages to leave the Departed realm (or the space that used to be the Departed realm but is now in the merged lands) and kind of. appears on the ninja's doorstep. He's held on to a bit of his power as a way of defying destiny. The ninja absolutely hate the idea of keeping him around but he's the only one who can properly teach Euphrasia and also knows what's going on in the Departed realm.

And because he's still technically only like fifteen, not having aged since he died, he's now actually more similar in age to Sora, Arin, Wyldfire and Euphrasia than the OG ninja. Even Lloyd is/acts older than him.

He's the designated gay emo cousin of the monastery. People would definetly use that plant mister that Lloyd has on him when he's being annoying if it wouldn't kill him.

[codenamesazanka]

I hate that it’s “I engineered your entire life,” because, thinking back on AfO’s backstory, it’s much more fascinating if he was genuinely like, “I will give this Shimura child a better childhood than I had.”

Which he… technically succeeded at, (shelter and food security, for one,) except his definition of a ‘better childhood’ still includes things like “wandering the streets alone murdering anyone who tries to push you around,” and “Obviously he’ll want his family’s severed hands as keepsakes. After all, I’ve kept my brother’s hand with me for a century now after I accidentally killed him!”

Just like. Tenko vomiting on the floor as a trauma response after killing somebody, and AfO as the clueless-> meme guy thinking “I’m an incredible mentor. So much better than any hero would be.” Tomura showing up at the USJ a half-feral manchild, because he was primarily raised by a half-feral man.

Right??? AFO is a Bad Dad, but that's because he doesn't know any better. Also he refuses to do any better. Hell, in the most recent chapter, he says, 'Now I understand... It is tragedy that makes people stronger' and that's his parenting. 'How to make my successor stronger? Throw tragedies at him. It worked for me!'

Yeah, the idea that AFO wasn't particularly trying to torture a Shimura child because it was a Shimura child or that he's Evil(TM), but in trying to craft his 'Next Me', he did give Tomura a better life in that Tomura got food and shelter and learned how to read at age 5 instead of age 9 or whatever... but AFO also recreated most of the trauma from his own childhood onto Tomura, because that's how things should be? Fascinating. And fun.

AFO: "Tomura. It is now your 16th birthday. It's time for you to go halfway across the world to murder a celebrity you're jealous of. Let's make a vacation out of this! I am a great dad."

Thanks for the ask!

[nadival]

HOTD(Imperfect rant)

Bassiacly what i said it should be longer, imo the first half of Season 1 should be at least the ENTIRE season one and the second half should be season 2.

Also the characters should change WAY more. I mean show Rhaenyra acts like a kicked puppy, she's not politiacly savy, basically everything that happens is because of other characters. She's always asking Viserys and Daemon to fix her problems instead of doing things herself and kill Vaemond herself like she does in canon.

She has her moments sure but she's so inconsistent, and why the fuck is she and Alicent still tryna fuck one another?

The fact that Alicent isn't the evil stepmother and an actual IMPORTANT member of Team Green is its separate problem, I mean let women be evil! She's not supposed to be sympathetic! She's a usurper! She's a schemer! She loves her children but even that has its own problem, cus she doesn't do shit to defend them or raise them properly. She loves Aemond and honestly, he's like Team Green's one redeeming quality(Ewan I'm looking at you), honestly so far he's been rather cool except by the end when he REGRETS killing Luke! I mean the fuck he literally spent YEARS wanting revenge, and yet they made him regret it, it sucks! The deleted scene was WAY better, I mean almost all deleted scenes are better than the ones we got. Daemon comforting his kids after Laena's death, Daemon mourning Visenya and Viserys, basically any deleted Daemon scene is better than the one we got.

Also why the fuck is Daemon CHOCKING his fuckin wife? I get it he's a borderline psychopath but he loves with all his heart or hates with his entire being. I get that he felt bertrayed by Viserys for not telling him the prophecy and losing Visenya, but he should've like raged at the wall or something.

Now onto other things like Rhaenyra X Alicent what the fuck is that about? I mean they're just Laena X Rhaenyra from wish, and it's a pathetic attempt at making Alicent sympathetic(Read above for what i mean).

On the topic of Laena she is the cousin of Rhanerya and in the shwo the two are "close" however we aren't shown any of their relationship. Then she eventually married Daemon and has children with him. One conversation with Daemon, and then one with her daughter, shows us that she is a strong character with lots of potential. Moments later she takes her own life via her dragon.

Yet in the books we are told much more and it could've been much more meaningful, her death could've been much more meaningful.

However we barely know Laena and she just becomes a side character for Daemon, and a useless one at that. They could've shown us who she was, how she raised her kids with Daemon, and then in classic GoT fashion, ripped our hearts out by killing her in a dramatic and Dragonriding way. Remember, she had claimed Vhagar, the oldest and largest living dragon. But that wasn’t enough to earn her some screen time?

Now after Laena's death. Laenor shouldn't've decide to abandon his grieving mother and father after the death of his sister while also murdering someone in the process. That turned a sympathetic character into someone I honest to god hope suffers forever. The face of Rhaenys when she thinks her son died is gut wrenching. Also why the fuck is this Rhaenys actually fighting for Rhaenyra? She belives she had her son killed?! Also protray The Greens better, not whitewash them literally have them be better characters and make them make sense. The fighting pits doesn't make any sense, this is the guy who drank and raged endlessly after his son died and yet he has his kids fight in pits? The fact that he's a rapist doesn't make his character better, in fact it makes things worse. It was very forced, and made just for shock value. He can be a perverted asshole but that doesn't mean he's a fuckin rapist.

More on Aegon have him actually spend time with Sunfyre and his family, with his kids, i'm not saying he has to be Dad of The Year, but the reason he Usurped Rhaenyra was because he was scared for his family. Also let the greens present their actual arguments(Great Council, Bastards, Daemon, fear for their safety etc). Allow Ser Criston to crown Aegon and convince him to take the throne.

Als portray Helaena like a human and Mother, have her have a couple of scenes with Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor it would've been a great way to contrast her character pre and post B&C. While also humanizing the children and making it matter. Also on the topic of children if you're gonna have The Green and Black kids be friends, show the hatred growing on both sides.

Now for Rhaenys and Corlys have them be way more sensible, I mean why the fuck are they supporting Rhaenyra? In the books it makes sense but here they believe she killed their son! Also if they're gonna support her, make them especially Rhaenys more book-accurate. Also, why are they pitting Rhaenys against Rhaenyra? In the books she was RIDE AND DIE for Rhaenyra like she was the first to go to war, she was the strongest supporter of Rhaenyra's claim. Also don't have that fucking staring scene with Rhaenys killing people in King's Landing just to NOT kill The Greens, which she definitely should've and BookRhae would've shouted it loud and proud! Oh and make her Black haired Goddamnit!

I have much more complaints but this is just a rant bye!

[aenbyveryverygayperson]

OKAY SO

- Ekubo only survives because he met Mob through Reigen (Reigen almost got brainwashed, but he's covered in Mob's and Teruki's aura like supernatural cat hair and Ekubo was too weak to get past that, he followed Reigen to find the source of that power, Reigen let him because Reigen was a fan of Ghostbusters as a kid and thought Ekubo could be a mascot or smth like Slimer) Mob doesn't like that Ekubo follows him at first but it's better than the ghost following Teruki

- When Ritsu gets kidnapped? It goes pretty similar to canon at the beginning, except Mob isn't shy about using his powers At All, he's never been so mad or scared in his entire life, Teruki is helping because he has known Ritsu for 8 years and even if Ritsu's been avoidant of Teruki since The Incident Teruki still does care about him. Mob is barely stopping long enough to be attacked, he grabs the first higher up he sees and just makes the little reverse-barrier smaller and tighter every time they hesitate to answer 'left or right?' through the seemingly endless hallways. At one point he does get caught in the psychic delusion that his brother is dead, but that helps absolutely nothing, that one gets genuinely killed, Mob doesn't even notice. He's brought Ritsu (and the awakening lab but only because Ritsu could grab them quick enough) out of the building before Reigen even arrives. This doesn't help Ritsu's perception of Mob, seeing him tear through seasoned adult espers like wet tissue. Teruki feels nothing but vindication - the people that would attack and try to kidnap a eight year old, the people that took Ritsu, they're gone, they've been dealt with, all because of Mob. Teruki's emotional dependance on Mob grows three sizes that day

- Shou got the Fear Of Mob put into him that day, sadly thst doesn't keep him from poking the bear. Mob does get in on the plan sooner though! Mostly because Mob doesn't have a '???%' to take over when the goings get tough so he was cognizant enough to look for auras with his brother's aura on them after seeing his family burned alive instead of just any esper. Sadly he doesn't see Ritsu before he's already gone through the (solid concrete) building to stand directly on Shou's neck while asking why he did what he did while slowly increasing the gravity around Shou until he can't breath. He didn't die! Just got pretty asphyxiated before Ritsu pulled Mob off him. Ritsu's perspective of Mob doesn't get better At All with this but his perspective of Shou also gets worse

- The thing is Evil Mob isn't even that evil he just feels his emotions and sees his actions as justifiable defence

- Shou's dad fucking dies!!!! He dies alone and nukes half of seasoning!!!!! Shou doesn't know how to feel about his dad because he never fucking apologized!!!!!!!

- Mogami arc. Oh no. OKAY I HAVE FEELINGS ABT MOGAMI ARC SPECIFICALLY WHY DIDN'T MOGAMI USE HIS OWN TRAUMA TO HIS ADVANTAGE - firstly Teruki got Badly injured in the initial attack, but he refuses to go out to an ambulance because Teruki's fucking crazy on his own okay he's got Mob and that's it just Mob and Teru no one else because no one gets it, everyone but Mob is shallow and fake and not to be trusted but if Mob dies then Teruki will be alone so Teruki has to be there when Mob gets back because if Mob doesn't get back then Teruki cannot fathom moving on. Secondly in Mogamiland Ritsu isn't a stranger, he's Mob's brother still, but he's sick. Mob spends the six months being verbally and physically abused by his sick brother who's more angry at his condition than Mob but takes it out on him anyway. Mob spends six months trying to afford care on a student's wage, getting severely bullied at school by Asigiri, ignored by Teruki and then coming home to Ritsu calling everything a waste and then coughing up a lung. The snap is when Asigiri and her group follow him home and start fucking with Ritsu while he's too weak to sit up. Mogami's goal was to get Mob to actively try to kill 'people', and it worked. Ekubo came in a little too late for that, after Mogamiland, Mob doesn't trust himself around anyone but Teruki for a while

- THE TOXIC CODEPENDANT RELATIONSHIP DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN I LOVE THEM GAAA

I-

[interstate35south]

back on my bullshit (it’s been an hour)

thought that’s been clanking around my brain for a bit abt how the open ended information in dislyte events has the POTENTIAL to be great plot points if treated with just an OUNCE more of consideration

like i think about the event stories all the time (shocker) and what really gets me is just a specific pair of examples of “open ended” going wrong and right

lone star. if i’m being real, half of why i like it so much is nostalgia BUT bias aside, i think lone star was overall a good event, if a little simple compared to later events (but no surprise there). the thing is though, there’s this missed opportunity for SUCH a good parallel in the last act. following her parents’ -and later ray’s- deaths, anita does not waste ANY time, she was up and “i need to find the bastard who did this and put him in the ground” which, while real and valid, garners the equally real and valid response of “no, you’re like eleven, take it down a notch” from ollie. the thing is, that’s EXACTLY what ollie did. there’s no confirmed timeline on gray dust and whatnot (more house ramses lore pretty please) but based on the timeline of the shadow decree forming and drew and laura at the union, it’s safe to assume ollie was like 11-17 ish when his dad was killed. my point being, he was young, he was a kid, he probably had the exact same conversation with drew that he has with anita, except he’s now on the other side of it. the entire point of lone star (as i understood it) was that there may be evil in the world, but that makes it all the more necessary to rely on others and let them rely on you. ollie immediately protesting anita holding the EXACT same mentality that he had should’ve been some kind of realization, however momentary, that just maybe, he was setting himself up to fail by isolating himself in his pursuit of leon. but no. they just kinda like. move on?? anyways i think the main reason anita didn’t become ollie is bc laura was there (go laura!)

anyways, truth unveiled. to this day one of my favorite events, definitely one of the ones that could’ve stood to be 4 or 5 chapters. one of the things i loved so much about it though was that it unintentionally recontextualized basically, why li ling is the way he is. he was a leash kid off the leash until he met yun chuan, who instilled in him the idea of strength and moral responsibility, pretty much changing the course of his life (to the person on here who said mateo is li ling if he never met yun chuan, know that never leaves my head). anyways, he’s learned these important truths of life and his responsibility to other people and literally as SOON as he goes off on his own, BAM yun chuan arrested (vine boom), killed in jail (vine boom). for a crime that?? no one seemed to tell him?? like no wonder he has no trust in authority, it was the justice system’s responsibility to uncover the truth, but instead, an innocent man died for a lie. it’s interesting though, that yun chuan’s guidance was still so influential that it manifested in a li ling with a strong moral code regardless of rules. anyways i am BEGGING on my knees for more information abt the li family and li xiao bc like li xiao advancing in society for the ten years following the incident and then intentionally impeding the investigation continued to reinforce li ling’s idea of authority and justice backed by strength instead of general regulation

teehee those are my thoughts

[gentrychild]

Au where all might finds shigaraki on the street efore afo does.

Hehe, that's what happens in Anyone but I will write another AU for fun.

After the Evil Granny that I trust as far as far as I can throw her is all "Oh, I am sure a hero will help! Eventually!", an exhausted giant blond man holding several bags of groceries, wearing a cap, and generally looking like he had four hours of sleep in the whole week, appears and is "Well, maybe you could call the police to help the obviously traumatized barefoot child walking in the street? Or do you think the heroes know about problems thanks to the power of telepathy??? Because next time I saw, there wasn't a All Might-themed-bat signal anywhere in Japan!"

After a well deserved rant, Toshinori asked Tenko to tell him what happened, has a two seconds breakdown when he realizes the implications of his master's family being GONE except for Tenko, tells him that everything will be alright, gives him some candies and a HUG, and goes to work. Meanwhile, AFO is seething because All Might intercepted a perfectly good orphan but he is already making the arrangements to snatch Tenko as soon as he hit the foster system.

Meanwhile, when All Might asks whoever was his police liaison (it was 15 years ago so I doubt it was Tsukauchi) at the time to find a good family for Tenko, bursts out laughing and explains that not many foster families will want a child with an extremely dangerous quirk who just murdered his entire family (dog included) by accident. So All Might becomes his foster dad. He leaves him with Gran Torino when he is working, which means... pretty much all the time. If AFO was even more furious, he would spontaneously combust.

Tenko grows up loved by his Uncle Might and his Gran, helped by a very good therapist, and wants to become a hero because he wants to atone for some stuff. At some point, All Might ambushes find Endeavor and is "You have kids! I have one small human! What about they play together?" and before Endeavor can refuse, Rei accepts. Touya loathes having to babysit the kids (no matter how much Fuyumi and Tenko reminds him that he is also a kid) because he has to get his flames hotter thanks to the power of Hatred, like his internet friend, A41, explained to him. Only for Tenko to kinda graphically details him what happened when he fueled his quirk with the power of panic and destroyed his entire house. Touya goes "Oh" and does not set a hill on fire in this AU. At this point, AFO's fury at All Might could power half of the country.

A few years later, Tenko adopts as a kohai a problem magnet with a quirk named Hoard (definitely no link or relationship with All for One, it's definitely just a coincidence, just like the curls) so All Might is now uncle in law of the kid and loves him so I get both Dadmight and brother bonding between Tenko and Izuku. Also, I don't care who I have to age down or up but I want school shenanigans. Half of the League is in UA. Just a bunch of hellions who keeps getting in trouble and having adventures and Everything Is Fine.

+1. It's the AU where no one wants OFA. Toshinori tried to give him to Tenko who pointed out the sheer damage he can do without it and said "NOPE." He tried Touya who reminded him that he barely kept his fire from cremating him now and he didn't want to try after he got the murder-flame-go-BOOM quirk. Izuku took one look at the quirk and declared it haunted. Finally, poor Mirio accepts and almost dies thanks to the "Whoops, the strain will kill you unless you're quirkless or can use more than one quirk safely" rule and Izuku is "... I guess... that if there is... no one else... it's... what... a hero... would do..." while All Might is swearing left and right that OFA and that he don't bite and please, give it a chance. T_T

[cellsshapedlikestars]

Potentially one shot prompts

Secret romance with the bosses daughter

The Starks conspire to have Jon and Sansa share a room/bed

Jon gets a concussion and forgets he’s married to Sansa but hey this redheaded trauma nurse seems super sexy and amazing

Stark siblings hate JonSa and conspire to break them up but it backfired bc duh

Sansa works with rhaegar who keeps trying to set me up with his son Jaehyrs but she’s super uninterested cuz she has a crush on Jon

Hello, dear anon, I've been sitting on these prompts for a while now? I can't remember how long, but long enough I think. I read them again this morning while answering some other asks and an idea popped into my head.

Be warned, I wrote this all in one go in a very short amount of time, so ignore... you know, just any issues. Spelling, grammar, plot, characterization...

The prompt I have chosen for this is: Sansa works with Rhaegar, who keeps trying to set her up with his son Jaehaerys, but she's not interested because she has a crush on Jon.

..

..

There are a lot of pros to Sansa's job.

She loves the work, it pays better than she had expected to get straight out of college, and she really likes all her coworkers so far. She'd been a bit hesitant in joining such a large company, so sure that the atmosphere would be toxic and her boss cartoonishly evil. But Rhaeger Targaryen is no Miranda Priestly. Mostly Rhaegar just tells really bad jokes that she at first tried to laugh at, until she realized no one else did and so she stopped trying. Rhaeger didn't seem to notice (or care?), continuing to tell them and laughing at them himself. He's a little out of touch with reality, being – you know – a billionaire CEO, but otherwise he's not too bad.

Except that he keeps trying to set her up with his son.

I really think you and Jaehaerys would hit it off.

Sansa had politely declined.

She's never met Jaehaerys, but she has met Aegon, and no thank you. Aegon is.... well, again, he could be worse for a billionaire's son, but she would never be able to date him. First and foremost, he winks at her every time he leaves his dad's office. Her little desk isn't too far from Rhaegar's office and she gets that wink every single time. Second, he doesn't do anything. Sure, he has some generic title at the company, but she has never actually seen him do work. Occasionally he shows up at meetings, she guesses to fill some sort of quota, and spends the entire time on his phone, not paying attention and eating all the donuts. Sansa's family has money, but they've always stressed the importance of work.

So the fact that she has never once seen Jaehaerys does not bode well. She knows Rhaegar's other son (from a different woman, the scandal) works for the company, too, but she has never, not once, even caught a glimpse of him. He must be even lazier than Aegon.

(Rhaenys, however, is no slouch. Neither is Dany. Dany sort of terrifies her, actually. She could definitely qualify as a Miranda Priestly.)

Sansa might be scared of Dany, but Dany is actually the reason Sansa has a job here. She'd been hired on as a temp to help update the company's social media, and they'd liked her work so much, she'd been hired on full time as part of their new social media and marketing team. She's helping to drag Targaryen Inc out of the stone age, according to Dany. She's in charge of their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram presence and so far, she thinks she's really killing it. At least, no one has told her that she's not.

The door to Rhaegar's office opens and she looks up and her heart does that annoying little flutter when she sees him. He has to walk by her desk – everyone who comes to see Rhaegar does – and when he catches her looking, he gives her that same little half smile he always does.

“Hey Jon,” she calls when he gets close enough. “The boss having computer problems again?”

“Isn't he always?” Jon jokes and Sansa laughs maybe a bit too loud. Curse this dumb little schoolgirl crush she has on Jon the IT guy. It had started her first day here, when she'd needed help setting up her computer and accounts and logins. She'd tried doing it over the phone, but eventually Jon had sighed and said he'd just come up and help her in person. She's been a goner ever since.

He heads out towards the elevator and she tries not to stare at his ass on the way. Those jeans should be illegal, she thinks. They have to be against some sort of company dress code.

She almost squeals when a spray of water hits her.

“Down girl,” Myranda says, pointing her water spritzer in Sansa's direction – a threat.

“Stop doing that!” Sansa hisses, wiping droplets of water off her face. “I'm not one of your plants.”

Myranda likes to keep her little desk jungle property hydrated, and Sansa hears that spray bottle going at least twice a day. More, if Jon walks by – then the spray bottle is turned on her.

“You know, it's been a while since you've had computer trouble,” Myranda turns back to her computer and puts the bottle down.

“I don't know what you mean,” Sansa sniffs, knowing exactly what Myranda means. She will deny until her dying breath that she keeps messing things up on her computer on purpose, just to get Jon the hot IT guy up here.

Jon the hot IT guy with his tight jeans and his tight t-shirts and his glasses and that little bun that she wants to take out just to see what his hair looks like down...

“Don't make me spray you again,” Myranda sing-songs and it snaps her out of her daydreams.

Sansa does not respond to this.

…

“You really should let me set you up with Jaehaerys,” Rhaeger tells her one morning, after he had overheard her telling Mya about her absolutely disastrous date the night before.

Sansa tries very hard not to say something terrible because one – Rhaegar is her boss, two – she's already embarrassed enough that her boss overheard her complaining about her love life, and three – Rhaegar is her boss.

“That's really ok,” Sansa says diplomatically. “I wouldn't want to date someone within the company, you know what they say.”

She really is wary of dating someone she works with, though that isn't the real reason she doesn't want to date Jaehaerys.

(She would break this rule for Jon, though.)

“You two have so much in common!” Rhaegar cries, dramatic as always. “You both like that... computer stuff,” he waves his hands around, as if that indicates computer stuff.

Another point against Jaehaerys, Sansa thinks. Yes, she does social media marketing for a living, but her own personal social media is wildly different. Jaehaerys is probably one of those guys who posts nonstop shirtless selfies while drinking cocktails on some yacht. That's a hard no for her.

Maybe at one point in her life, she would've been into that sort of guy, but she's grown up and her tastes have changed. (Her problem, she knows, is that it's taken her too long to realize that her tastes have changed, and she keeps trying to date the same type of guys she dated in high school. It isn't working.)

“Think about it!” Rhaegar calls after her as she and Mya leave the break room.

…

“Here's the problem,” Jon mutters. “How did this even get deleted?”

He says it more to himself than to her, and Sansa ignores the pointed look from Myranda. “That's so weird,” she says, innocently of course. “You think I'd be better with computers, considering...”

Jon looks up at her and gives her that tentative half smile that sends her pulse fluttering. “That's alright, I don't mind getting calls from you. And hey, you saved me from having to walk Barbrey through how to send an email for the thousandth time. Sam got to take that call.” His smile turns into a full grin and she can't help but grin back at him.

“There, that's going to reinstall and then you should be good to go,” Jon stands from her chair. Sansa had been perched on the edge of her desk, watching, and she hops down and tries to smooth out her skirt.

“Thanks, again,” she says, so awkwardly that she somehow feels like she's thirteen again, trying to flirt with a cute boy in class. It doesn't help that even though he's very nice to her, he seems to hold himself at a distance, and she has come to the conclusion that he has absolutely no interest in her and finds her offputting. And then, just to really make things worse, she asks, “are you going to the Christmas party?”

“Sort of have to,” Jon shrugs and waves in the general direction of Rhaegar's office.

“Right,” she nods. She guesses that makes sense – Jon is the only IT guy she ever sees coming out of Rhaegar's office. He must be high up or something? It would make sense he'd have to go to the office Christmas party if he's the boss's go-to IT person.

When Jon is gone, she manages to dodge the spray of water that Myranda aims her way.

…

Oh, but he looks good in a suit.

Why couldn't he look terrible? Why does the universe hate her?

She'd spent so long picking out the perfect dress, but now that she's here, she's deeply regretting it. She feels ridiculous, though she knows she has no reason to. Her dress is not as scandalous as, say, Margaery's, and it's not as fancy as any of the Targaryen's. But still. Her dress sparkles in the light and she's convinced that instead of festive, she just looks like a golden disco ball.

She's a disco ball and Jon looks too good in a suit. It isn't fair.

“Just go talk to him,” Myranda nudges at her. “I swear, I cannot keep watching you make heart eyes at him. It's giving me hives.”

“Don't pressure her,” Mya argues. “I don't blame her for being cautious about getting involved with someone like that.”

Sansa's not quite sure what that means, she guesses Mya means someone as attractive as Jon?

She's about to thank Mya for the defense, when Mya continues, “plus, she's not giving him heart eyes, she's giving him fuck me eyes.”

“I am not!” she hisses at her two friends. Or, she thought they were friends.

“I think it's both,” Myranda muses. “Fuck me and then cuddle me eyes.”

“I hate you both,” Sansa says with as much dignity as she can muster and then walks away from them, towards the refreshment table. There, she grabs a glass of champagne (and tells herself this will be the only one. She's heard horror stories of the time Viserys got drunk at one of these holiday parties. Sansa didn't work here then and it was years ago, but everyone still laughs about it. She will not be that person).

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees someone come to stand next to her and her heart does that incredibly annoying flutter that it always does around Jon.

“You made it,” he says casually, and she turns just in time to catch him eyeing up her dress. His eyes snap back to her face, but... but he was definitely checking her out, right? Or maybe he was just so distracted by how obnoxiously sparkly her dress is.

“Look at you in a suit,” she teases, trying for casual. “I thought you only owned the one pair of jeans and black t-shirt.”

“I take offense to that,” he says, not sounding offended in the slightest. “You should see my closet, it's filled with all sorts of color.”

“Oh?”

“I've got greys,” he nods solemnly. “And dark blues. Even some dark greens.”

“A veritable rainbow,” she agrees, which makes him smile. She tries not to blurt out that she'd be very happy to come see his closet.

They're interrupted in the worst way – Rhaegar shows up and says, “ah! Sansa! I was just telling Egg that this was the night I set you up with Jaehaerys, and here you are!”

Sansa can feel a horrible, splotchy blush start to rise on her chest and make it's way up her throat and to her cheeks.

“I appreciate the offer, but-”

“Dad,” Jon sighs at the same time. “You have got to stop.”

For a moment the world tilts slightly off center and Sansa turns to look at Jon. “What?”

Jon winces and looks back at her and says, “you've already said no, I told him to stop bothering you about it.”

She can hear Rhaegar saying something about how great they'd be, but she can't... she doesn't...

“You're Jaehaerys?”

Confusion flits over Jon's face as he looks from her to Rhaegar. When she turns to Rhaegar, he looks just as confused. She knows she's confused.

“I don't go by it, obviously,” Jon grumbles.

“Nonsense,” Rhaegar frowns. “It's your name. It's a good, strong, family name.”

“He and my mom couldn't agree on a name,” Jon scratches at his beard like he's uncomfortable with the whole situation. “To this day she swears she only signed the birth certificate because she was high on pain meds at the time.”

“You're Jaehaerys,” she repeats, like an idiot.

“You didn't know?” Rhaegar asks.

How did she not know?

The clues had all been there – he's into computer stuff, Rhaegar had said. Getting involved with someone like that, Mya had said. The only IT person that ever goes into Rhaegar's office, and goes in often. How Rhaegar seemed to mention setting her up with Jaehaerys most often after a visit from Jon. Little pieces start to fall into place from the past six months and Sansa wants the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

“Look,” Jon sighs, “I'm sorry if he keeps... this is your place of work and you've been doing really well, don't let him scare you off. I told him it was probably some sort of harassment - you said no, that should-”

“Well, I would've said yes if I knew it was you!” she blurts out.

“Ha!” Rhaegar nearly shouts, grin on his face as he punches Jon in the arm. “I knew it!”

“Wait, you would've?” Jon asks, ignoring his father.

Sansa can feel the heat in her face as she shrugs and nods. “I thought Jaehaerys was like...” she can't help when she looks over at where Aegon is standing, hitting on Margaery.

“There's a reason I didn't suggest you date Aegon,” Rhaegar says with an exaggerated roll of his eyes, as if he's pointing out the obvious. “Now Jaehaerys, here...”

“Dad,” Jon sighs. “I'd like to talk to Sansa alone, could you go?”

Rhaegar manages to look both deeply offended and highly pleased at the same time. But he doesn't argue and leaves them alone.

“I really didn't know it was you,” Sansa murmurs, looking down at her champagne glass instead of him.

“I thought you weren't interested,” Jon clears his throat and she can see him fidget awkwardly with his watch, like he just needs something to do with his hands.

“I thought you weren't interested,” she looks up at him then, remembering all the times he'd seemed to hold back around her and it hits her that it's because he thought she turned him down. Through his dad, sure, but still. “Did you... did you ask Rhaegar to ask me?”

“No,” Jon laughs. “He did that all on his own. Though he may have gotten the idea because...” he trails off with a grimace, but she waits him out, staring at him until he continues, “I may have talked about you after I helped set up your accounts. A lot. Rhaegar might be... eccentric, but he isn't stupid.”

No, Sansa does know that. For all his dumb jokes and disconnect from the real world, there's still a reason Targaryen Inc has been at the top of it's game for decades.

“Well,” Sansa says slowly, hopefully, “if Jaehaerys wanted to ask me out himself, I'm sure I'd say yes.”

There's a smile on Jon's face now, and not that hesitant little half smile he usually wears around her. “Sansa,” he starts, and she hums out an acknowledgment, trying to keep her own smile at bay. “Would you like to go out with me sometime?”

“Oh, I don't normally date coworkers,” she says, and tries not to laugh when his face falls, “but I think I can make an exception for you.”

Jon's smile could light up the room, she thinks.

“I have one request,” he says. “Just don't call me Jaehaerys?”

[mohluskiepedard]

Rating ATLA Characters literally only from what I’ve seen in fandom

or: posts that probably shouldn’t be on my writeblr except I don’t have a sideblog

the context here is it’s half midnight and I have never seen ATLA except I have opinions now apparently so here we go whoop de do- 

I’m also not actually rating them like numerically that’s too much work i’m just stating opinions I know I’m a fraud

AANG

- A child?  - A son?  - he is Baby. but also. he has had It Rough  - would make the updog joke - has unspeakable power or smth and everyone says he’s better than the Korra girl who comes after him but honestly tastes like sexism to me - doesn’t kill people because he’s like twelve, right? he’s like twelve so he refuses to kill people - I stan honestly - less twelve year olds should kill people - Some people say his name WRONG and they are BAD but i don’t actually know what the right way or the wrong way is so. have fun w that yall - lived in peace unTIL THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED 

KATARA

- She is also like twelve???  - Is everyone here twelve - Cortana?? Katana?? Catbug??  - She has good hair, - Her mother is dead??? her mother is dead n she has a brother but she cares about her mother being dead WAY more than him (or apparently the entire fandom??) - Badass - She seems soft. good. sweet - she’s a water breather or whatever??? her brother is NOT but he is a meme - I love her 

SOKKA

- NGL looks like a fuckboy  - The meme brother! does not do the water things, but he has an aXe???  - dates BAMF lady - ngl until I talked to my ATLA watching friend I thought he canonically dated Zuko  - kinda mad he doesn’t - I haven’t actually seen anything about him except like. in zuko ship posts and also Suki appreciation posts - joined the white lotus not-a-cult by accident???  - dark ATLA tumblr show me more Sokka posts - is his name prounounced the same way as Soccer or isn’t it I need to know - HIS FIRST GIRLFRIEND TURNED INTO THE MOON - (AND THAT’S ROUGH, BUDDY) - He and Suki are a good ship, but also, Sokka Has Two Hands

SUKI

- the BAMF herself - she says STOP in that photo but also to sexism - Rlly all I see of her in fanon is abt her teaching Sokka to drink his respect women juice and I appreciate her doing that but also it’s sad she never gets talked about outside of what she did for a man - I hope she has other badass moments w/o him it would suck if she didn’t - she is NOT the girlfriend who turned into the moon, she is the one who didn’t - I don’t know much else about her ATLA Fandom y’all should appreciate her more

ZUKO

- Look at him... my son... - He has a good redemption arc - he and his sister are evil lesbian and redeemed gay guy??? - has a straight canon ship but should’ve been with Sokka this boy is gay - I Want To Protect Him - That’s literally it - he has a cool uncle and his dad sucks  - people ship him with Katara and I Do Not Get It that’s his sister in law except not really - “We don’t trust Zuko’s change of heart” [the next day] “so Zuko is my closest friend now,”  - His dad was like “fuck up the avatar to prove your worth to me” and Aang was like “counter argument you already have worth and we should fuck up your dad” and I think that’s beautiful - he becomes the fire man and he’s very good at it - Zuko for President 2020 - in the words of myself, half an hour ago: “ I was like "that kid with the burn on his face seems like a sad but then happy mlm who needs found family" and I was RIGHT” - took too long to find a happy picture of him :( Zuko rights NOW please - His mother’s story got compared to an OC of mine and all I can say is oh no and they deserve better based on that alone - I have had Zuko for five minutes but if anything else happens to him I will kill everyone in this throne room and then myself

TOPH

- She is badass but like also will murder you while laughing maniacally? - for some reason reminds me of Nott from Critical Role, another show I Have Not Seen - Is blind but gets more out of making jokes abt being blind than she would from being able to see - “Sight is just a cheap tactic to make weak benders stronger!!!” - Literally the opposite of Aang and has killed many people?? - She Can Tell When You’re Lying. But I do not know how and Am simply mildly threatened by this - Therapist: Toph’s ability to know if you’re lying isn’t real and can’t hurt you. Toph’s ability to know if I’m lying:  - She and Zuko.... buddies???  - if not they should be - tiny sad boy needs friends like toph

AZULA

- Evil Lesbian Culture - [BDG Voice] You committed a war crime! Oopsie! - took be gay do crime too literally - her and Zuko have accurate sibling writin except instead of “you ever want to murder your sibling for breathing in the same space as you,” being a Joke Azula took it seriously - okay but with a name like azula she should be the blue bender this ANNOYS me she should NOT be red bender - AZULa  - AZUL - IT MEANS BLUE - She was half of y’alls gay awakenings and it SHOWS - Should have maybe been redeemed too??? Jury is out no one knows - Was she gay for Ty Lee or wasn’t she I can’t tell how much of that Audio is a joke - IS SHE ALSO TWELVE??? IS EVERYONE HERE TWELVE?? IS THIS TWELVE YEAR OLD COMITTING ATROCITIES? 

UNCLE IROH

- A Good Man - Finally, Some Good Fucking [Adult Figures]  - he has the tea. literally and figuratively - Ozai is like “and I will permanently disfigure my son and throw him out” and Iroh is like “What The Fuck, Ozai,” thus voicing the entire audience’s thoughts - Literally the only adult in this that I trust - I? I love him. this is all I have to say. my love for him is unending. Some1 protect this man from all harm   - he’s Zuko’s uncle (and also Azula ig) but he does not seem related to Ozai. is it just a theme in this family that one sibling is chill and one sibling commits horrendous atrocities against your fellow human beings or  - something happened to his son???? :((((( I Don’t Want Him To Have Suffered Like This

OZAI

- A BAD MAN - Uh Oh (stinky)  - THE WORST OF THE MEN  - I do not like him - Bastard man. nasty. committed war crimes and then went “but what if - get this - i also abused my son,”  - I would like him to Not Be Like This - by Like This I mean present and alive  - :/ 

TY LEE

- She’s NOT the There Is No War In Ba Sing Se lady and I don’t know why i thought she WAS but until I looked up her photo I thought that was her  - She looks like a sweetheart tho - I hope nothing bad happens to her????  - talks about auras??? or smth??? let her vibe - She would talk animatedly to me about warrior cats if she was in my year seven class and I was sat alone and I would understand none of it but appreciate her anyway - if azula bullies her I’ll be :( at Azula and Azula will not care because she has Mommy Issues and therefore is slightly unhinged - She seems like that one kid with no trauma vibing at the edge of [every other kid having trauma] and not really getting it but trying her best - Is she also twelve?????? She maybe looks twelve

CABBAGE MAN 

- HIS CABBAGES - fulfills my favourite trope: ordinary person repeatedly has life disrupted by the inconveniences of relying on actual children to save the world - probably has a campaign post canon for letting trained adults fix the worlds’ problems in the future - or sets up the Very First Cabbage Insurance Company - look at him. he loves his cabbages so much. you go you funky lil cabbage man

ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES MOMO

- LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO GOOD - small. fluffy. big ears - Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty: his Momoness - a Good Boy...

APPA

- he looks so soft... - he can fly but he just does it by??? vibing through the air?? motionless??? iconic - I saw that one post about mishearing it as Abba and thinking he was Aang’s dad and he looks like he would be a good stand in dad ngl - he’s so LORGE - a chonky boy - love him

that is everyone I have heard of it and if I left someone out it’s a sign that y’all should talk about em more bc I have no clue they exist put more ATLA On my Dash ig I’ll do Legend of Korra ig maybe apparently that one has canon wlw and i love me some canon wlw

[stanielman]

Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab

- oh I wish Jonathan was here to get in on the teen fun

- Someone looks like they could be an open target for the mind Flayer with all the attaching those bats did. Let’s get that son of a bitch back in here

- THE WOODS! ARE WE GOING BACK TO S1 GATE?!! PLEASE SAY YES!!!!

- Owens is right dude

- “The door is always open”?? She’s tried to escape twice and you haven’t let her

- “I have guns in my bedroom” I love her

- Uh it’s been like twenty minutes since we last saw Will and Mike. How are they doing??

- I better not see people shipping Hopper and this Russian

- I just missed whatever Hopper’s revelation was and I don’t really want to rewind and figure out what it was

- Someone to fill in the gaps?! Like Kali….nah probably not

- Oh it’s not a real life one

- SERIOUSLY WHERE IS THE CALI GANG? Watch them get two fricken scenes in this final episode

- I thought the air in the upside down was toxic (except for Will Byers) but they’re all just fine and not even trying

- Don’t tell me that Eddie has a crush on Steve. Wait a minute. Am I dreaming??

- Ah no he’s just a wing man trying to ruin Jancy

- What is this toy Holly has? Is she an iPad kid

- WHATS UNDER LUCAS’ BED?!! WHAT KIND OF FCKING PORN DOES HE LOOK AT 😭😭

- Yes Dr Pepper the superior soda thank you Karen Wheeler

- Oh thank goodness they tied this back to the Mind Flayer. Thank you guys so much

- *me scrolling through the episode to see if Mike and Will are in the rest. They aren’t. And I got lots of spoilers*

- Oh shit time has stopped. That explains the clocks!!

- Oh wait I can’t. They did Not make a full episode without Mike and Will. That is not okay. Like not because “Aw they’re my favorite characters” but because they are two of the most central characters. Will IS literally THE central character until they threw him away. And Mike has been the protagonist this entire time, being right up with Joyce and Hopper with the mystery solving. Like is this not messed up to anyone else? I am so glad that they are giving other characters a chance to be in the spotlight and be the heroes and solve the mystery, but does that have to be at the cost of taking away your other characters? Let’s grab Jonathan and Mike, title cast members since season one and now they’re replaced by season two additions like Steve or Max. We have Will who was made a title cast member in season two now being replaced by season three additions like Erica and Robin. I just don’t understand what his show is racing towards. If your characters don’t seem compelling enough to take on different evils, if your storylines aren’t interesting enough that they can be left out of HOUR AND A HALF LONG EPISODES then maybe you need to do a few rewrites before piling more on top to cover it up

- I’m so angry

- Ah it’s a lite brite

- Oh so Will doesn’t have any powers? Got it.

- You can’t play “tender, emotional music” whenever will and mike look at each other AND when jopper reunite. You see what you’re doing here, right?!

- HES NUMBER ONE

- LETS GO OKAY WE’RE BACK

- So wait did El not do shit?!

- Wait fucking tell me right now this is Henry Creel

- Oh shit Nancy’s gone

- ^^kidding. remember how I said I was spoiled? Yeah she gets taken by Vecna

- Oh yeah this is some Stephen King shit. Torture the woman with blood!!

- I want this to be Henry Creel so bad. Taken over by the evil that terrorized his family and then killing others the same way his mother and sister died

- Like it all has to be connected to Vecna, their deaths look the same. And it was super weird that Henry Creel was individually commented on with his dad saying he was “sensitive” and then never talking about him seeing anything weird. And then he didn’t die the same way as the rest of them, he slipped into a coma and then “died” OR WAS KIDNAPPED

- Like what if Henry Creel is Vecna though too. He did that to his family

- I want everything if I’m right. And by everything I mean for Will to come out NOW

- WAIT AM I RIGHT?!!!!

- I AM ARENT I!!!!!!!

- oh my gosh my mind

- thx duffers <3

- No way he’s Spider-Man

- Oh El way to ruin everything. You TRANSPORTED HIM

- And opened the gate uh oh spaghettio

- You’re going to tell me it’s still fucking tattooed there

- No

- Man that’s it. Wow.

- I didn’t see Will or Mike in the goddamn teaser what world is this that they’re so unimportant

[constellaj]

16

Please talk more about your reboot!

16: If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

okay so how i would re-do CANON is completely different from how i would talk abt a reboot so im gonna touch on a couple things in both contexts! the reason for the difference is canon rewrites imply i can go back in time and introduce dp fresh and new, before anyone knows what it is; but for a reboot, id be working with an audience that has a better understanding of the source material, so i dont need to spend as much time explaining, but i also need to keep everything recognizable

Valerie

REWRITE: i would def make it more danny's fault that her dad lost his job, like danny was intentionally being reckless and shattered some security stuff, and he has a whole mini lesson about learning to not just run in guns blazing. i would probably remove the dating stuff with her and danny (and tuckers crush) too, I think them wanting to be good friends is good enough for freshman year

REBOOT: the fandom already knows valerie exists, so i would actually skip the whole shades-of-gray introductory episode and have her be present as the huntress from day 1-- probably even before danny got his powers. cujo is also HER dog, and her backstory-- we'd find out in like, season 1, that a natural ghost portal (maybe one wulf opened) ripped open on her dog and killed him, and since then shes had a vendetta against ghosts cause of how reckless they are and their disregard for life-- of course, cujo isnt actually dead. cujo is a halfa. a puby halfa. anyway instead of a hoverboard she actually rides cujo around cause he can fly and its big and epic. valerie has BEEN amity parks ghost-eradicating superhero for at least a year (tho shes been in the shadows abt it) and her hatred towards danny actually just becomes really petty, like them flying next to each other chasing skulker just going "I got this. no I got this. no I got this" and they just get in each others' way and its a mutual grudge.

BOTH: i am NOT keeping in vlad giving her the suit to watch danny under any circumstances. it was only utilized half assedly in canon (when vlad couldve just had an invisible duplicate watching him instead) anyway, and I dont have any reason to keep it in a reboot either. instead i want her tech to be a combination of half-stolen and half-gerryrigged stuff and she slowly slowly learns how to build her own.

I also dont want anyone knowing her secret identity, except maybe her dad, and sam or tucker. i think it works better if danny isnt privy to this magic info

Freakshow

REWRITE: i would honestly just remove him. the episodes hes in arent particularly interesting, theyre just generic "we need a plot about x" filler and he's not compelling enough a character (at least in writing) to carry a better plot that another antagonist couldnt. i'm serious

REBOOT: unfortunately in a reboot he's gonna have to pop up somewhere or else ppl will be like "where IS HE" so I'm going to stick with running some kind of ghost circus, maybe a few occult things, but cut out a lot of the spooky magical knowledge and mcguffin stuff. maybe i could make him like, someone from vlad/jack/maddies college who always felt pushed around by them and so he has a vendetta? and theyd be the only reason he even learned abt ghosts in the first place. idk in either way I want to force him into being irredeemable but also include LYDIA (the tattoo girl ghost) way more-- I want to give her an arc that ends in her tossing freakshow aside and running off to be a ghost vigilante.

BOTH: dear god the infinity gauntlet is stupid that needs to GO AWAY. especially for the reboot cause it would exist in a post-mcu world and way too many people would complain about it

Vlad

REWRITE: amp him up to a far more sinister and villainous character. the crushing on maddie isnt enough, I want to show him on-screen performing experiments on ghosts and himself, dismissing everyone else cause he thinks hes smarter than them. i want him to be actively sabotaging the fentons at every turn. i would also clarify that he doesnt actually want danny as a son, but as a trophy-- a line where danny says something along the lines of "you don't want a son. you want a slave". i want to make him a character who wants to destroy the entire planet and put it in the ghost zone so he can be the true ghost king and i want to make this all evident from day one. if i'm writing a series villain you can bet i'm going to write a GOOD one. less petty drama here and more actual stakes.

REBOOT: it seems silly but sense with reboot we have the benefit of hindsight and recognizing that vlad wasn't a big series villain, theres no way i'd actually go back and write him to be such. for starters, of course, theres the fact that anything he does would really be an exaggerated part of the original, and it would bore an audience to see the same story again-- theres also the fact that it doesnt seem right to take a character who was treated as a joke half the time and suddenly make them big and important. no, instead for my reboot i want to lean into the petty gay uncle vibe. he had a crush on jack and now just casually insults him. he moves mansions every now and again by just haunting the family who lives in the one he wants, and taking over-- i mean, who is gonna believe that an actual ghost haunted you. he dislikes danny not because he has some concept of 'evil' and 'good' but bc danny is just too damn active. of course he actually does care about danny and his safety deep down, it's just on the surface they have very conflicting motivations-- not to mention that danny has been raised on legends from his parents of the villainous Wisconsin Ghost, who has to be stopped at all costs.

BOTH: i want jack and maddie to KNOW he's a half ghost and to actively be hunting him down for it, maybe bc they think hes possessed, or been a ghost tricking them this whole time, or the victim of a tragic lab accident who needs to be put to rest, etc. whatever the case it will give vlad actual tangible reason to despise them and genuinely suspect they dont have dannys best interests at heart. i think it would be neat if vlad was cynical and every time danny hit him with the "I'll expose us both. at least theyll still love ME" vlad could be like in the back of his head "oh god theyre going to kill this child"

Dani

REWRITE: cut her out. we don't need her character at all. maybe replace her with a more ominous shadow duplicate / clone that actually looks like danny himself and doesnt really have a name? you could probably combine her and dark dans characters for their arcs

REBOOT: instead of a clone from vlad, she's a guys in white creation using some of dannys dna after he was captured (and vlad broke him out bc he was like "ugh i guess i have to save this child")

BOTH: vlad actually cares abt her (duh), shes nonbinary (double duh), she gets the funny dissolve into goo powers

i had more i thought i was gonna write but this post is already very long and also im running out of coherency for this LUL

[laufire]

(CW for mentions of csa)

A lot of Commonly Accepted (Often Through Uncritical Repetition) Wisdom in fandom leaves me baffled, when not straight up ticked off, but one that's been on my mind lately, that never fails to bring a scrunched up expression to my face, is the idea that Bela Talbot's backstory was some last minute add-on to her character.

You might argue that the reveal was rushed since the writers caved in and killed her off against their original plan (or at the very least, earlier than). Or that using abuse is a trite way to raise sympathy for an antagonistic character. You could even say that some of the finer details might’ve not been set in stone until they sat down to write her exist, although that one is dubious. But I’m never really going to buy that Bela’s backstory hadn’t been already planned, likely in big part.

The reason why is Season Three Episode Six, “Red Sky At Morning”, Bela’s second episode, co-written by Eric Kripke himself. As all episodes with Bela were, may I add; which means he had a hand in crafting her story from the beginning, as creator, director, and writer.

There Dean, a character that has been shown as sharp and intuitive (although his success rate ain’t that great when it comes to Bela, admittedly xD), immediately pegs her as someone with Issues TM, asking “how did she get like this”. He even taunts her by referencing her father, showing off his talent to hit where it hurts by asking if he “didn’t give her enough hugs”, ‘cause he’s classy like that. This visibly affects Bela, changing her demeanor in their conversation, from more playful to defensive. Hell, I remember during my first watch in real time this moment, especially paired with the rest of the episode, was when I first thought it was possible she came from an abusive family.

Because, c’mon. This whole episode is about parricide. The monster of the week is a ghost who haunts those that “spilled their own family’s blood”. We get two other examples: a woman whose accidental car crash killed her cousin, and two brothers who killed their father for the inheritance. Clearly, the ghost doesn’t have a narrow criteria when it comes to means or culpability -which makes sense given his particular story: he was tried for treason and his brother, the captain of the ship, issued the sentence.

And just as we find out this information... Bela sees the ghost ship that foretells her death. This, paired with the insinuations about an unsavvory past and her discomfort at the mention of her father, aren’t a wealth of information, but they start to paint a picture. We now know for a fact that Bela caused the death of at least one relative (mom and dad); that she wouldn’t have needed to do it directly (she made a crossroads deal); and that she might’ve had a sympathetic motive (her father sexually abused her and her mother turned a blind eye).

That scene offers some more tidbits of information about her past that seem too in tune with 3x15 to be coincidental, and that absolutely break my heart: Bela’s “You wouldn’t understand. No one did.“ and “I’ll just do what I’ve always done. I’ll deal with it myself”. See, I always thought Bela must’ve told people, when she was a kid. That she reached out for help not just to her mother, but to everyone around her that she thought could’ve help: teachers, maybe even law enforcement; adults that should’ve being worthy of that trust and protected her. Except no one did (and the fact that her family seemed to be not only very rich but influential paints a very bleak picture that surely contributed to her cynic view of the world). So she took matters in her own hands, and sold her soul for ten years of relative safety and freedom from her abusers.

To tie it all up, her final scene in that episode offers some more moments that again, are very in line with her backstory. We see how she treats relationships as transactionals: she pays ten grand to the Winchesters for saving her life, like she paid with her soul. Dean, again, draws attention to her likely messed up past by calling her damaged, and she replies that “takes one to know one”. Terrible childhood, ammirite. The show wasn’t been subtle here: it’s telling us Bela has a terrible past, like the Winchesters do, but of a different kind that has resulted in a different kind of person. So yeah, I think all the facts were hinted at back in 3x06.

We could go even futher back and point out 3x03, Bela’s introduction. One of the very first things she says in the show, during her first face to face with Dean (a character that just condemned his soul to Hell), is “We’re all going to Hell, Dean. Might as well enjoy the ride”. Sure, it could be an incredibly fortuitous coincidence; as a writer, I’ve had those and they’re damn great. But it seems VERY lucky, and more likely to be a case of the kind premeditated, well-placed foreshadowing that Kripke excels at.

So, okay. I’ve established why I think Bela’s backstory wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. But why is there a notable narrative in fandom that it IS?

First thing first, I want to get something out of the way: you don’t have to like it even if it was planned ahead. I understand it’s a very thorny subject, and to make matters worse, it’s inherently tied to her death. You might even be fine with the what, but not with how it was dealt with (although personally, I appreciate that neither the abuse nor her death were shown onscreen. In fact, the worse violence we see Bela on the receiving end of in her run is Dean’s threats and manhandling, which seems like a very purposeful choice ngl. Even Gordon freaking Walker was gentler lmao).

But I do disagree with some extended fandom opinions on the topic, and I guess that’s what the post is about. For one, I don’t see how the show “condemned” or morally judged Bela in this scenario. If anything, they clearly wanted to make her sympathetic, AND they showed Dean as being in the wrong by robbing him of information. Dean’s opinion on Bela couldn’t count for shit, for once, because he didn’t have the full picture; because Bela had deemed him UNWORTHY of the full picture, and thus anything he had to say on her couldn’t be taken at face value (except this is Supernatural, so I guess this was a little too much to ask of some people?). I think saying that just because Bela died and went to Hell as a consequence of her deal, IN THE SAME SEASON the same happened to our co-lead, because the writers deemed her evil and irredeemable is simplistic at best, and the audience projecting their own feelings (or being unable to see past Dean’s) onto the writing.

All that said, to go back to the initial point of all of this xD: WHY does fandom seem to insist on viewing this narrative choice as some cheap last minute addition?

There might not be one explanation that fits all, but I have a few ideas. One is that, if this wasn’t planned for and hinted at from early on, some people might feel as if this “absolves” them of their previous (and disgustingly hateful and misoginistic) reactions to Bela. Others will see this as absolving Dean, and maybe even Sam to a lesser extent, for not helping her and for being callous towards her; if her tragic backstory was this artificial, rushed choice made by Those Writers, then Dean wasn’t responsible for reprehensible attitudes towards someone who deserved his compassion (and it can’t be denied that this fandom loves absolving Dean of responsibility lmao). And a lot people are probably only repeating what they've heard from others as the accepted narrative, especially those that didn't even watch all of s3 if at all (Castiel is my fave too, but seriously, s1-3 are worth it).

It’s like they’re creating this imaginary separation between Bela pre-reveal, and Bela post-reveal, to make the situation easier to themselves. See, Bela pre-reveal was this annoying bitch who inconvenienced and embarrassed our leads (not to mention dared have chemistry with them), and thus deserved to be punished for it; or, if we’re going with more modern fandom sensibilities, she can be made to fit into the shallow #GirlBoss mold, with a side of “Secretly A Lesbian And Therefore Not A Romantic Threat” flavour -the current preferred method to make controversial female characters more palatable.

The reveal throws a wrench into this narrative. “Bitch who deserves her comeuppance” is a hard sell when you’re talking about a character who survived csa. And a shallow #GirlBoss reading doesn’t work if you have to acknowledge that Bela was one of, if not the most tragic characters in the entire run of Supernatural.

She spent over half her life at the mercy of her abuser(s), hurt by those who should’ve loved her and protected her most. The rest of her life was extremely lonely, with seemingly only a cat as company, and a surface-level freedom that hid under the sentence that loomed over her head. She died without a single friend, or a simple show of kindness and compassion, without anyone bothering to fight for her. And then she ended up tortured for who knows how long until she became one of her torturers.

All of that is extremely difficult to digest. And when things are hard to swallow, people do as people do, and they try to simplify them. So, sure. Bela’s reveal wasn’t ever hinted at, it’s completely removed from her character and the person we met, and is not even worth trying to fit into the narrative. Sounds easy.

[serendipitous-magic]

Luke and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad 72 Hours

Imagine you’re a 19 year old working on a farm, and one day you buy some new animals from traveling merchants to help out around the farm - let’s say a goat and an ostrich. You’re cleaning them and getting them ready to work when you notice that the goat has a message tied around its neck. It sounds like the message might be intended for the kooky old guy who lives by himself out in the wilderness. You’ve met the guy a few times, you might even consider him a friend, but he’s mostly a mystery. You ask your uncle if he knows anything about it, but first he denies any knowledge and then he says the intended recipient of the message knew your dead father, and then he abruptly tells you to forget all about it.

Okay, weird???

That night, the goat runs away. The ostrich is freaking out about it. You go after it with the ostrich the next morning and find it making its way towards the old hermit’s house, but you’re attacked by a local gang and knocked tf out. When you wake up, the old hermit is there, and he takes you back to his place and drops the bomb on you that apparently your dead dad wasn’t who your family told you he was?? Apparently he wasn’t a navigator on a fishing boat, he was a pilot and a samurai warrior, and he was fucking murked by his samurai buddy??? And while that earth-shattering revelation is still fresh in your mind, Hermit Dude reads the rest of the Goat Message. Apparently it’s from a princess, and she’s asking Hermit Dude for help in a massive civil war that’s been going on. She says this goat is a Very Important Goat, and it’s carrying information that’s essential to the war effort that could restore prosperity to the entire world.

Hermit Dude then immediately sits back, looks you in the eye and without preamble says, “You’re going to have to learn how to be a samurai warrior if you’re gonna come with me to the big city and help this chick and save the war effort.” And you’re like “??? learn?? to be a samurai?? Big city?? What in the frick frack paddywack are you babbling about? Listen dude I got shit to do, I can’t just go off on this wild goat chase. But look, if it means so much to you I’ll give you a lift to the nearest town so you can go on your own.”

But on the way to town, you come across those traveling merchants you bought the goat and ostrich from - all dead, their caravan trashed. “This wasn’t the gang,” Hermit Dude says, “The government did this, and made it look like it was gang activity. They were looking for your Goat Message.” You race back home, only to find the smoldering remains of your farm, and the charred skeletons of your family laid out on the doorstep.

With nothing to do, nowhere else to call home, and a newfound revenge-driven fury in your chest, you return to Hermit Dude and say, “Make me a samurai like my apparently-murdered father, yo-yo master Hermit Dude. I’ll go help the war effort with you like the princess asked.”

So you all head off to this shady-ass small town run by crime lords. The government is already there, looking for the goat, and Hermit Dude hypnotizes these two military guys like it’s no big deal, sooooo apparently he can just do that? Okay, neat, neat, neat. Hermit Dude then chops somebody’s fucking arm off right in front of you in a bar fight (what the fuck), and long story short you end up selling your car so you can hitch a clandestine ride to the Big City in this fast-talking cowboy’s RV, which looks like it’s held together with spit and duct tape. Cowboy Guy’s best friend is this 7-foot-tall dude with so much hair and beard that he could probably hide weapons in it. The military arrives and you barely make it out of the parking garage, and you end up in a fucking car chase before you make it to the highway and get the hell outta dodge.

BUT THEN you finally arrive at the Big City, and it’s gone. There’s nothing there, just the ruined wasteland of nuclear rubble where the government dropped the bomb (which by the way was JUST invented). And as far as you know that’s??? Never happened before?? So, that’s terrifying. (Also keep in mind your home was razed and your family was brutally murdered like less than 24 hours ago so THAT’S still fresh.)

There’s one little government truck that sees you and takes off. Cowboy is like “Let’s shoot their tires out before they go report to somebody,” but there isn’t anybody around to report to. EXCEPT FOR THE CITY-SIZED BATTLE STATION ON WHEELS THAT ABDUCTS YOU, RV AND ALL. What the fuck is this? Since when did this exist??? They pull the RV into their parking garage, but you hide under the floor panels, surprise-attack some soldiers and steal their uniforms. You sneak into a control room, hoping to shut down the station’s power and escape, but while Hermit Dude goes to cut some power cords, you notice some records lying around. And, hey, what’s this? The princess that wrote the Goat Message? She’s here on Massive Battle Station? SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED??? Well, of course you can’t let that happen! Cowboy is grumpy about it but you manage to convince him.

Using your military disguises, you manage to find and save the princess from her cell, almost get crushed to death in a trash compactor while escaping from the prison section, and arrive back at the parking garage pursued by hordes of soldiers - only to witness Hermit Dude, your only remaining link to your home and your old life, get sliced in actual half right in front of you. 

There’s another one for Trauma Bingo!

(P.S. you’ve also now killed several government soldiers in your escape. You’ve now killed people. You’re a killer.)

You manage to escape in the Duct Tape RV with Cowboy, Beard, Princess, Ostrich and Goat, but you’re followed by some government cars. You climb up on the roof to engage in an at-speed shootout with them, because after the last 36 hours, this is the least weird thing you’ve done. Firefight with government forces? Yeah, sure, what the hell. No big deal, honestly.

So now not only are you family-less and homeless, but you’re DEFINITELY on some sort of government list of known criminals. Guess there’s no going back now; you’re part of the rebels whether you want to be or not! Thankfully you’ve still got that grief-driven justice quest going on, doubly compounded by witnessing the murder of your mentor.

The RV makes it to the secret base where the rebels have been hiding. The Very Important Goat is finally delivered, and it coughs up plans for the gigantic battle station. So far, so good. Except, curses! The government tracked you here! Looks like the fight happens now. Game on, jackass government. Game on. “That’s impossible!” cries one pilot, to which you reply, “Nah, I basically did it all the time back home.” You sign up to fight: a pilot, like your dead samurai dad. 

Why was a 19 year old civilian with some bush-plane experience (??) allowed to sign up to fly a fighter plane? We’ll never know.

Also, the goat comes on the plane with you.

Cowboy collects his payment and takes off, which you’re not happy about, but at least you’re reunited with your BFF from back home. So at least you have one single connection to home left.

Until he dies. RIP.

You try blowing up the Enormous Battle Station the normal way, but the disembodied spirit of Hermit Dude appears in your head and tells you to use your Magical Samurai Powers. You do, and succeed in blowing up the Big-Ass Battle Station just as Cowboy arrives again to take out the Big Baddie who killed Hermit Dude. The Traveling Nuke Factory is destroyed, the evil government has taken a big blow, and you get a shiny medal in a ceremony with your new friends.

So, let’s recap. In the last, oh, 2.5 days or so, you’ve gone from living your everyday life to seeing everything you know and love destroyed, to becoming a traitor to the evil government and a rebel, to fighting in (and winning) an intense military battle thanks to your fledgling Magic Powers, to now being the poster child of the rebellion.

You need therapy.

But at least the goat’s okay.

[mittensmorgul]

Since the finale aired, I’ve been yammering on about how it would’ve only worked as a finale to s2, and now that I’m actually rewatching s2, I stand by that even more staunchly. The finale doesn’t work in a post-s2 supernatural universe.

This is the version of Dean we saw in the finale-- the one whose only mission in life was to Save Sammy, to help him get his revenge and allow him to go out and live a Normal Safe Life pretending that hunting and monsters don’t exist. The one who just wanted some pie, to drive his car, and had no real connections beyond Sam in the world outside of Bobby. Even Dean’s characterization in the finale is this far younger Dean who’d never allowed himself to crack open and truly understand love. It would take me years to plow through everything I’ve ever written about him as a character and his long struggle to emotional maturity we saw evolve over the next 13 years beyond this episode, but the tl;dr will always be “this s2 Dean is the same as the Dean in the finale.”

The goal of s2 was saving SAM from his “destiny,” too. In this era of the show, Dean didn’t have a “destiny” the same way Sam did. The ONLY thing that mattered was freeing Sam from “becoming evil,” and being manipulated into terrible things. What Dean wanted, what he was “destined” for by the narrative was irrelevant, because all of his choices and emotional burdens were tied only to saving Sam. To freeing Sam so he could safely return to his “normal life.” Go back to college, have a family and the white picket fence life.

This was before Dean truly began fighting for HIMSELF. Which only really and truly began after he sells his soul to resurrect Sam. That’s when Dean truly begins fighting for himself. Sure, he’s angry with John during s2 for trading his own life for Dean’s, for putting the burden of “if you can’t save Sam, you’ll have to kill him” on his shoulders with his dying breath, but Dean is still fighting against John’s authority and the complicated tangle of feelings of his own childhood and not actually coming to terms with his own wants and needs and wishes out beyond that yet. He’s still unwittingly confronting the “destiny” John had set up for him, and hasn’t moved beyond that yet. It’s only trading his soul for Sam’s that finally brings Dean into the cosmic narrative that will fuel his introspection and personal growth for the rest of the series.

And out beyond that point, his entire character arc explodes into orbit.

Dean’s entire character arc in s3 is confronting this very basic fact: he doesn’t deserve to have been sacrificed just to save Sam. He doesn’t deserve that burden, and he does deserve to live. This is the realization he comes to before eventually being dragged to Hell and then rescued by an angel, who literally tells him, “you don’t think you deserve to be saved” in the aftermath of that. From that point on, we have TWELVE SEASONS of Dean struggling with what he “deserves” versus what is “fate” and “destiny” and eventually confronting what he WANTS if he truly could choose his own destiny.

Plus, out beyond that point, he has Cas. And nothing changes Dean, pushes him to grow and understand himself, and accept himself-- all of himself, from the good to the horrific-- than the pure and unflinching acceptance of Castiel. Cas never looked at him and said “you are evil,” or “you are worthless.” (well, they’ve both said some pretty awful stuff to each other over the years, but there was either brainwashing or other deeper issues pushing those things on them, and they have ALWAYS eventually come back to one another, and the awful stuff was dealt with). Point is, Dean and Cas both began running these parallel arcs of duty versus desire, and for Dean, the duty was always framed around “taking care of Sam” versus pursuing any sort of ambition or goals for himself. They would fight for this for most of the rest of the series, until eventually the goal for ALL of them would be about discovering what they would want for themselves.

The show explicitly dealt with this, repeatedly, over later seasons, asking all of the characters the big questions: is this what you would choose for yourself? What WOULD you choose for yourself if you could?

And then they made the narrative of the final season, of the final Big Bad, the fact that they had NEVER had real freedom, and that their entire lives (and the entire history of not only this universe but every parallel universe) had been Chuck’s Puppet Theater, and true free will had been a lie all this time. Pushing all of the characters to confront their own choices and understand what about who they were as people was separate from what Chuck pushed them into choosing and doing all these years. The main thing that Dean (and also Cas, and to the extent she was included in the narrative this was Eileen’s issue as well) were being pushed to come to terms with what really was real, and were their feelings and choices their own or imposed on them for the furtherance of Chuck’s story.

At the end of the road, finally free and out from under Chuck’s control, they knew what was real. For Sam and Eileen, they had chosen each other. Cas had chosen Dean, but Dean hadn’t yet had a chance to reply, but anyone with two eyes and a brain knows what he would’ve said in return. It’s what Cas stopped him from saying even back in Purgatory in 15.09. And yet, for some reason Sam and Dean forgot all of that, as if none of it had ever even really happened at all, and we went right back to who they were right after they finally defeated the YED, before we even knew Azazel had a name, let alone the fact that the ultimate boogeyman of their entire lives to that point had been nothing more than a fanatic pawn in a much larger destiny for both of them.

The end of s2 was the last time Dean sacrificing himself so Sam could have a normal life, where Dean really felt there was nothing more for himself than fulfilling his father’s orders to save Sammy, even feels remotely plausible. It’s the last time we can feel like Dean might find peace and contentment in a Heaven where John is nearby to be proud of him, and where Dean would actually feel like that validation was even relevant to his own life.

And that finally brings me back to s2, where that was actually addressed through John’s self-sacrifice to save Dean, to serve Dean up to the narrative and provide a stage for this self-transformative journey INTO being a version of John himself. Only... Dean DOESN’T choose that. He fights to save Sam at all costs, even when it seems clear that the right answer would probably be to KILL Sam instead. When not only the ghost of John Winchester plaguing Dean’s mind would make him doubt his own drive to save his brother, but the John Winchester Insert Character of s2-- Gordon Walker-- basically put Dean’s own doubts out there in plain words in 2.10:

GORDON: I'm surprised at you, Dean. Getting all emotional. I'd heard you were more of a professional than this. Look, let's say you were cruising around in that car of yours and, uh, you had little Hitler riding shotgun, right? Back when he was just some goofy, crappy artist. But you knew what he was going to turn into someday. You'd take him out, no questions, am I right?

DEAN: That's not Sam.

GORDON: Yes it is. You just can't see it yet. Dean, it's his destiny. Look, I'm sympathetic. He's your brother, you love the guy. This has got to hurt like hell for you. But here's the thing. It would wreck him. But your dad? If it really came right down to it, he would have had the stones to do the right thing here. But you're telling me you're not the man he is?

This, the episode where Dean finally confesses John’s final orders to Sam, where Dean has decided that saving Sam is all that matters, even when circumstance and everyone else is practically screaming at him that this could all be over if only he gave in-- be it his own self-sacrifice OR killing Sam. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, the universe doesn’t care (and neither does Chuck... especially at this point... and the proof of that is Sam’s s15 nightmares where one of Chuck’s alternate universe endings for Sam and Dean was Sam actually going Darkside on demon blood and killing Dean... any iteration of the old drama, Chuck has explored all potential endings-- oh, except the ending where TFW gets to just be happy and live... that’s the one ending they never get and the only one they deserved in the end).

also from 2.10... loads of chat about “destiny” and one of Dean’s first “we should just lay all this shit down and take a vacation” moments when he suggests they go to Amsterdam and enjoy some of the not-coffee-coffee-shops, which Sam counters by doubling down on the fact that Dean has a destiny in all this as much as Sam does:

SAM: Well, come on, dude, you're a hunter. I mean, it's what you were meant to do.

DEAN: Ah, I wasn't meant to do anything, I don't believe in that destiny crap.

SAM: You mean you don't believe in my destiny.

DEAN: Yeah, whatever.

SAM: Look, Dean, I've tried running before. I mean, I ran all the way to California and look what happened. You can't run from this. And you can't protect me.

DEAN: I can try.

And that’s it, right there. This is the “neither of you can try for a normal life outside of the other while the other is still alive.” This is Sam pinning a destiny to Dean that’s just as inescapable within Chuck’s narrative as Sam’s demon blood and psychic powers. 

This is the core essence of Chuck’s story about them. The sibling dynamic that Chuck failed to free himself from, and that Sam and Dean failed to free themselves from after Chuck’s demise in 15.19.

Destiny. One must die so the other can live.

And considering the next 13 seasons of the show and the long and emotionally grueling character arcs Sam and Dean proceed through where they truly confront the core of who they are as people-- as individuals outside of their duty and destiny-- the finale ceases to make any sense outside of Chuck’s narrative for them. If 15.20 really happened exactly as we saw it on screen, then Chuck still won.

And they had to loop Sam and Dean all the way back to where they were emotionally at the end of s2 in order to make it seem plausible. Which, for those of us who actually care about what they endured after s2, makes the finale entirely implausible as a whole.

[shijiujun]

Hope everyone is partying (by yourself, spiritually, or with people, all are totally fine) well into the Christmas weekend! I am back with even more recs (I’ll prolly give it a rest at the 10th one sorry for the spam guys)! This one I just finished a few days ago, because CHINA BOOKSTORE PUBLISHED THIS ON CHRISTMAS WITH MANY GOODIES!! And I was like oh cute long-hair dude, let me read this.

Anyway this is a fengshui + supernatural + body-switching type of novel, with a heavy focus on fengshui! I don’t know if everyone knows what fengshui is (I will prolly do a list for Chinese New Year) and I am no expert, but it’s basically like Chinese geomancy where you can calculate a person’s fate, wealth, marriage suitability etc. with things in an individual’s environment. 

So a lot of Chinese people, for example businessmen when they have new offices or when couples renovate their homes, they may get a feng shui master to arrange furniture and add crystals or talismans or whatever to increase wealth/prosperity/happiness or harmonize bad energy etc., just an example. When you want to check the compatibility of yourself and your SO, some people do go to the fengshui master and calculate their 八字 (day, hour, time they were born + other things) to see when is an auspicious day to marry etc. 

My ex-editor really believes in feng shui masters because hers really predicted a year that her husband got into hugeee trouble like almost to the day itself apparently. And she always wear an accessory with a snake on it because the master said

Written by the same author (Xi Zi Xu) who wrote Kaleidoscope of Death!

- Part of Min’s ‘Why You Should Read’ Series -

Summary:

This book is set in the normal, regular, law-abiding modern city world where fengshui is heavily believed in, and skilled masters can see spirits, bad energies. Where dogs can be reincarnated as humans, and there are demonic pets that humans can keep, and paper dolls can come to life basically.

Zhou Jia Yu is a government office worker who dies in a car accident one day, and wakes up in the body of another Zhou Jia Yu - a handsome man whose name is the same as his. He’s brought back by this spirit bird in his head called Ji Ba (pun not intended), who says that Zhou Jia Yu is fated to save Lin Zhu Shui, the young, blind fengshui master who has caught him.

Unfortunately, this second Zhou Jia Yu is a con-artist who has cheated the money of several families via fraudulent fengshui schemes, and his scams have led to the death of several children in the process. Legendary fengshui master Lin Zhu Shui and his disciples have caught/imprisoned this Zhou Jia Yu, not knowing that original conman Zhou Jia Yu has died (and therefore his soul is gone), leaving good citizen Zhou Jia Yu in the body of a conman.

Lin Zhu Shui intends to kill conman Zhou Jia Yu (not really kill, kill but probably will do something to his soul, considering there are laws against murder you know) when good citizen Zhou Jia Yu wakes up in this body, but because he has come back from the dead, his body and soul is considered an extremely yin (cold) body, which allows him to attract more bad spirits and energy, giving him an extraordinary, gifted ability to excel in the fengshui line. Of course, being the master that he is, Lin Zhu Shui also realizes that this Zhou Jia Yu (and his soul, in particular) is not the one he caught, and as he has an extremely yang (hot) body, the both of them are compatible with each other. Lin Zhuo Shui realizes that he can train Zho Jia Yu and then takes him on as his disciple.

Cue Zhou Jia Yu being tossed into a dangerous fengshui competition as he figures out just what Ji Ba wants him to do about Lin Zhu Shui. In the meanwhile, he falls in love with amazingly handsome, cool and aloof Lin Zhu Shui (who threatens to murder him if he doesn’t come out first in the competition), who keeps him warm when he gets unbearably cold due to his body condition. They also have to deal with an evil person working behind the scenes, and how Zhou Jia Yu eventually returns back into his own body at the end.

Read:

Novel (Online) | Novel (Print) - Dec 2020 Print | Novel Translations 

Characters:

1. 周嘉鱼 Zhou Jia Yu (third from right) - A really cute government office worker whose soul was pulled into a conman’s body, who has the same name as he, when he got into a car accident. Has an extremely yin (cold) body which attracts spirits (good and bad), and allows him to see, smell or hear them more clearly than everyone else except for Lin Zhu Shui. He cooks extremely well too and is considered a treasure in the household by Lin Zhu Shui’s other disciples because none of them can cook for shit. They don’t initially know that this Zhou Jia Yu is not conman Zhou Jia Yu, although they suspect it, and once they fall in love with his cooking no one doubts him anymore HAHAHA.

He gets a feng shui tattoo personally done by Lin Zhu Shui who already knows that his soul was switched, a tattoo which is supposed to help him in feng shui matters. Gets a paper doll son halfway through the story, who he calls Xiao Zhi (little paper), which calls him Dad (and calls Lin Zhu Shui Big Dad - da baba) ;-; It’s the cutest shit ever.

There’s a mystical creature in the back of his head that speaks to him and helps him out on certain feng shui things, and helps him to explain what he’s seeing, but aside from telling Jia Yu that he’s supposed to save Lin Zhu Shui, the mystical bird thing is unable to tell him anything else. Within a few weeks of him waking up in this body, he’s sent by Lin Zhu Shui on an international feng shui competition without having any sort of basic knowledge, only innate talent, much to his panic XD As Lin Zhu Shui continues to protect him, teach him and tease/smile at him, Jia Yu, who is certified gay af, falls totally in love with the seemingly aloof and strict feng shui master.

They probably would have continued like this if not for Jia Yu’s body deteriorating because his body is technically not his and not compatible with his soul, and Lin Zhu Shui tries to find a way to save him, after seeing the future where Jia Yu’s body is rotting as he dies slowly over months and begging Lin Zhu Shui to kill him and let him die.

2. 林逐水 Lin Zhu Shui (third from left, right next to Jia Yu) - Long-haired, wears changshan perpetually and is blind, but can see more clearly than most people. He knows where everyone’s positions are exactly, and can see spirits etc. very well despite being blind. Considered a genius of the feng shui world and is the patriarch of one of the big feng shui families in the world - the Lin family. He’s a master at drawing talismans, carving crystals/gems and feng shui tattooing.

He’s so well-known that everyone wants to be his disciple, everyone wants to get a talisman/crystal/tattoo from him, everyone wants him to come and look at their houses, but he can’t be bothered with most people. He’s also super handsome? So a lot of girls (and guys) are always drooling over him.

He has an extremely yang (hot) body, which is supposed to naturally help to repel spirits and what not, but because of this he suffers a lot in the summer. His body condition is very rare and when he was younger, others said he would not live past 18 years old, and his parents gave up their lives to change his fate so he would survive. The feng shui master also predicted that Lin Zhu Shui would experience another calamity when he was 30 (thereabout), and that year, thankfully he has Jia Yu as his entire house caught on fire in the summer while he was in it (and cooling talismans and the house item placements meant to keep the house entirely cool in the summer were no longer working). Jia Yu helped him to cool down with his incredibly yin body.

Knows right off the bat that this is a different Jia Yu, and starts teaching him as one of his disciples. Can only eat the food hat Jia Yu cooks because his yin qualities transfer to the food he cooks as well, and Lin Zhu Shui usually cannot eat anything else that’s cooked outside. Gives Jia Yu a carved jade pendant he made himself that’s apparently worth thousands of dollars to keep him safe, and is a dumbass when it comes to confessing to Jia Yu hahahaha (although he’s successful at the end!)

3. 沈一穷 Shen Yi Qiong (second from right, dark skin tone) - Lin Zhu Shui’s youngest disciple and also Jia Yu’s best friend, technically. Brash but smart, and is always thirsting openly after his shifu Lin Zhu Shui, it’s hilarious! He’s a little jealous in the beginning because his shifu is showering Jia Yu with so much attention when he’s only been around for a week etc., but quickly gets used to it and supports Jia Yu. Jia Yu always makes fun of his tanned skin, then makes fun of his singlehood HAHA, while Shen Yi Qiong provides emotional support to Jia Yu, and by emotional support I mean when Jia Yu asks him what will happen to him if he loses the feng shui competition, Shen Yi Qiong pats him on the shoulder and asks him to choose a vase/pot pattern (like a ceramic pot where you put cremated ashes) = shifu will kill him if he loses the competition, so gets Jia Yu to choose a pot he likes so Shen Yi Qiong can help him put his ashes in HAHAHAHA. He is the last one to find a significant other, but the one he finds is like a legendary mystical creature who half deceives him into promising to marry him and then keeps chasing after Shen Yi Qiong so he can marry him XD

4. 林珏 Lin Jue (first from left) - Lin Zhu Shui’s cousin but technically his older sister because she brought him up after his parents died. Spends most of the novel being sad about her past lover who died because of an illness, and is wooed a few years later by a legendary golden dragon.

5. 小纸 Xiao Zhi (that little cute white thing on top of Jia Yu’s head) - A paper doll who’s given to Jia Yu after he helps out at the paper doll village/tribe, and grows up with Jia Yu and Lin Zhu Shui taking care of him. Is the cutest little shit ever, can speak, and calls Jia Yu ‘baba’ and Lin Zhu Shui ‘da baba’ i.e. dad and big dad. Very strong, and can protect Jia Yu very well.

Other Things I Like in the Novel:

Jia Yu basically goes to the feng shui competition and destroys everyone else because he’s just gifted in this aspect - When he wakes up, and in the days leading up to the competition, he doesn’t have a cellphone (Lin Zhu Shui and his disciples live in a remote part of town, a traditional-type house, one with nature) and after he wins the competition, other people want his phone number to contact him and he’s too embarrassed to say that he’s basically too poor to have a phone after rising from the dead, so he bluffs everyone and says “My shifu says that handphone signals and radiation will interfere with advanced feng shui readings so I don’t have one” and LITERALLY half of the feng shui training population gets rid of their phones on that day, gullible af

Everytime Jia Yu runs cold, he has to drink some of Lin Zhu Shui’s blood mixed with water/milk, and the man’s yang blood warms him up immediately

Jia Yu has to deal with four of Lin Zhu Shui’s disciples, all who are really suspicious of him because they think he’s the conman, and Jia Yu doesn’t realize they already know it’s not him until they defend him in front of other people, and he’s so touched

Shen Yi Qiong gets his marriage fortune told during one of the cases by accident. He asks when he’ll get married, and the thing replies “Seven Three” AND HE’S SO DEPRESSED BECAUSE he thinks that it means he’ll only get married when he’s 73. It’s a source of jokes between him, his other shixiongs and Jia Yu, but then towards the end he realizes what it means - His supposed match, a legendary mystical male weasel who’s 73 years old XD

Jia Yu keeps thirsting after Lin Zhu Shui, fully aware that he’s very gay himself, and he’s confessed to while he’s stuck in the haze of a high fever, so he thinks it’s a dream. Lin Zhu Shui doesn’t realize he forgot/thinks it’s a dream and is pissed that he’s rejected HAHAHA and then Lin Jue reminds him to not be a dumbass and confess properly, and so he does so again in an empty amusement park, after summoning evil spirits so they can fly in the air and make a heart shape just for Jia Yu while they’re on the ferris wheel XDDDD

[arashikitten]

Imagine an au where Danny doesn’t know that Valerie is the Red Huntress when he starts dating her. He has no clue that his gf spends half her time hunting him, and Valerie has no idea that her boyfriend spends half his time as Phantom. Both of them desperately want to tell the other, want to be able to trust each other with that information, but Valerie is afraid that Danny will get hurt by a malevolent ghost wanting to use him against her (she has no clue that Danny fights ghosts on the regular), and Danny is terrified that she will hate him for being the ghost that effectively ruined her life (she still rants about Phantom and how much she blames him for getting her father fired. Danny feels very guilty about the entire thing.)

Then, the Dan thing happens. Danny discovers that Valerie is the Red Huntress from her future self, and he is DEVASTATED. He had to witness his family and friends almost die, discovered that his human half is killed by a violent mixture of his ghost half and Plasmius in the future, discovered that he turns evil and kills EVERYONE in that same future, and on top of all that, his girlfriend is the Red Huntress. His girlfriend, who he adores and loves and who snorts when she laughs, who can judo flip Dash without a second thought (and has, on one occasion), who is smart and funny and sarcastic and listens to him when he starts ranting about the stars and space with genuine interest...

Is the same person who screams insults at him from her hoverboard as he flies over the town. The same person who hates Phantom with more burning passion than even his parents, who fires at him with the intent to destroy. And for some reason, that hurts him even more than when his parents fire at him, hurts even more than when he hears his parents talking about dissecting him “molecule by molecule” as he eats his dinner.

Meanwhile, Valerie begins to notice how stressed and nervous Danny is getting. Yeah, he’s a nervous person, but never on the level he is now. He’s always fidgeting, always looking for exits to a room or building, always alert and vigilant. He’s always on the verge of a panic attack, and whenever her... side job comes up in conversation, he flinches slightly and starts shaking. And whenever Valerie tries to help, tries to comfort him, he only gets worse, verging on a panic attack or hyperventilating. It starts to put a strain on their relationship, and neither of them know what to do.

Until one day, Danny breaks down and tells her. He’s been so nervous, so scared that once she knows the truth, that she’ll hate him for it, and the fear and suspense has been driving him insane, because what if she finds out? What if she tells everyone and they hate me for it? So Danny tells her, because all that he has is Sam, Tucker and Jazz (Vlad does not count and he never will), and that used to be all he needed, but ever since he found out about Dan and the CAT and how he killed so many people, too many in that timeline, (how he may as well have killed his own friends and family, it was his fault his fault-) he’s constantly been on the verge of a breakdown, and that tiny, almost nonexistent web of support just isn’t enough anymore.

So he tells her everything. He tells her about the portal, about how he turned it on, how the subsequent blast and shock killed him, but not completely. He tells her about him being a Halfa, about phantom. Tells her about his decision to become Phantom, to start fighting the ghosts that make their way into the human world to cause havoc, because no one else could or would do so without destroying them. Tells her about Pariah Dark, how the fight almost killed him.

He tells her about Dan, about that horrible, horrible future, and how terrifying it is, knowing that he could still turn into that horrible, twisted version of himself.

And at first, Valerie is PISSED. How could he, how could he lie to her like this, about something this massive? How could he lead her on, knowing full well that he was the reason that her father lost his job, that he was the reason the A-listers kicked her from their group. She’s about five seconds from pulling out her suit, or her ecto-gun, and firing at him...

When she pauses. Because right now, Danny doesn’t look like the cocky, confident, annoying half ghost that Valerie has come to despise. No, right now, Danny looks like a normal kid who has to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and then some, who has to deal with being hated by ghosts for being human and hated by humans for being a ghost, who has to deal with the knowledge that one wrong move could turn him into a monster capable of destroying the planet.

Has to live with the fear of his parents discovering who he is, what he is, and hating him for it.

And Valerie has done the same thing, except this was arguably worse, because how many times had Danny gone out of his way to save her at his own expense? How many times has Danny been hurt, badly hurt, by one of her own weapons?

And she sees Danny shaking, looking at her with wide, scared blue eyes, and they look so much like Phantoms, and Valerie realizes that behind all the death puns and bravado, Danny is a scared, traumatized highschool kid, who got dealt a heavy hand, and now has to deal with just about everyone he knows and cares about either fearing him or attempting to kill him.

So she leans down and hugs him, even as he starts crying, because it’s so much, too much, to know that Valerie doesn’t hate him, that she at least doesn’t completely hate him. And they’re both apologizing through their tears, Danny for what happened with her dad and Cujo and lying to her, and Valerie for the whole Red Huntress/trying to kill him as Phantom thing.

They stay like that for a long time.

[british-bombs]

( TO BEAT THE DEVIL ) An introduction.

FORMAT: teleplay / novel

GENRE: horror, coming of age

LOGLINE: An interning demon drives a pair of twins cursed with obedience and honesty to kill their cult leader.

THEMES: Trauma, sexual abuse, domestic violence, victim blaming (particularly self blame), peer pressure, redemption, internalized homophobia, and religion.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual abuse, violence, domestic and otherwise, manipulation, and death

EXTENDED SUMMARY, CHARACTERS, EXCERPT AND NOTES:

Carmine can taste it. They're hiding something. Humans have such a silly smell about them, turns an overwhelming shade of sweet when they've made a demonic deal. All four of these children have. He just can't figure out what, and more importantly: why.

It keeps him on the surface longer than he should be. Long enough that Lilith sees it fit to send him a fucking trainee? And if that wasn't insult enough, the trainees one of the eternal teenage know-it-alls.

He's already got four annoying toddlers to trail, and now there's one tugging his hand in the new generation's approach to soul-catching like Carmine isn't one of the best employees they've had since the turn of the century.

And somehow, to make it all worse, the trainee is good at it. And if Carmine wants to keep his spot at the top of the food chain, he's going to have to get the soul of that dumb bitch who's running the joint.

But, of course, the kid gets him murdered??? And then has the nerve to figure out how what those toddlers managed to stick their syrupy, grubby little hands in. What gives?

But two can play at that game. If he can't get the dead guy's, then he can have the next best thing.

Jesse has lived just under seventeen years, but he's ready to check out. Or he was. But of course, some selfish bastard had to come along and say you can't ever act on those thoughts again! Don't think like that!

And then the hole kept getting deeper.

Six feet deep, to be exact. He's got blood on his hands and no matter how fucking good it felt to cut off the air supply to the God who stole his innocence, it's probably not going to feel very good to watch his mom suffer through a highly publicized trial with headlines like CHILD MURDERS HIGH PROFILE BENEFACTOR!!!

Oh. Well. Billy did say if he really got in that deep, he could always strike up a deal. His soul, everything wrapped up in a nice little bow, sweet as Easter Sunday. But until then? Yeah, he's content to live in a stupid fucking Sherlock Holmes novel.

CHARACTERS:

JESSE NIX: A soon-to-be seventeen-year-old saddled with the curse of obedience. Unlike miss-lucky-Ella-Enchanted, he wasn't told to give away his mommy's locket. No-siree. He was told to give away his virginity. In his opinion, the only appropriate payback is a life. Maybe, one day, if he really snaps, he'll dig up Pastor Dallin's corpse and chop his dick off. Really stick it to the man. If he doesn't go to prison first, anyway. (spotify playlist)

NANCY NIX: Also a soon-to-be-seventeen-year-old, though saddled with the curse of honesty. It's really not so bad. That is, until she stumbles across the sight of her dearest little brother covered in blood for no reason he can push through his metal braces. She refuses to believe he did it on purpose. If only she could convince the cops without sounding like a nutjob. (spotify playlist)

BEVERLY PINES: A seventeen-year-old cursed to feel the pain of those around her. It makes for some fun family dinners with a sadistic mom and a missing dad. Distance nulls pain, but she can't ever seem to make it past state lines before her mom gets wise and breaks one of her ribs. Oh, well. She's got a bone to pick with psychos like her mom. Apparently, Pastor Dallin was one of them. She doesn't think she could stomach the pain of killing someone, so next best thing, right? (spotify playlist)

CLARICE ANDERMANN: Also a seventeen-year-old cursed to be constantly in motion. It's honestly not that bad. She's Yale bound! Perks of having endless energy for everything to cheerleading to debate contests, though she can't imagine her heart's going to keep up like this. It's already hanging on by a thread. That thread is named Beverly Pines and like hell she's letting it go to prison for nothing. (spotify playlist)

BILLY: An annoying fuck trapped in a seventeen-year-old's body. No curses. The opposite, in fact - blessed with a silver tongue and a keen sense of deduction. It takes him all of two hours to put together (almost) everything about Jesse Nix. He just didn't think he could push the repressed little fuck to murder that quick. (All the more power to him, though. Prison always makes people desperate and paranoid, AKA: an easy mark.) (spotify playlist)

MAVIS EVANGELISTA: Former housewife turned grieving widow turned revered prophet. If she got a little help from someone downstairs, then who's to know? They love her all the same. Now, she really, really wants to see how far she can push them all. (spotify playlist)

CARMINE: Just a helpful guy, passing through. Really doesn't need anything, just a little pledge, is all! And then? Then, you can have everything you want, fame, money, power, love. The sky is your limit. The water's fine! (Ignore the piranhas, they'll wait till you're dead to eat your face, just a little bit.) (spotify playlist)

NOTES:

- all of these characters have equal importance within the story.

- personal tag system for story stuff is '#tbtd' and character tags are just first name (ex: '#jesse')

- this is kind of really fucked up. the only reason i wrote it was cause i was thinking damn ella enchanted really is NOT fucked up enough. like i don't think the author of ella enchanted went dark enough. a locket? that's it? a bitch move. i'm taking it to straight murder and sexual abuse

- jesse transgender, no character straight except evil people

- i'm not entirely sure how tag lists work but i think i get the gist of them?? idk if you want rb or ask or something </3

EXCERPT:

There were moments, where she was reminded just how different this voice was, how violent.

She had found Lynette, making off with her makeup that she’d spent her own allowance on. Mavis doted on her and, from what she’d seen of other families, everyone else looked upon their little siblings with contempt, despising the burden they dragged along with their existence.

But Mavis adored Lyn. When she'd been born, her mother had come home with a tiny thing bundled in pink fleece. Mavis had taken to Lyn on sight, thinking Lynette’s headband adorned with a baby blue bow was the universe’s way of telling her happy birthday! as reparations for the ones her mother had missed while she was enduring her week long stay at the hospital.

But that mindset was a disease, one that had finally caught up with her. Had Lynette not become her burden? She was nineteen, busting her back day and night so Lynette wouldn’t have to, that she might avoid the life that Mavis had lived in those blissful six years where it was her and her alone.

Had her mother not tampered down her birthday celebrations since Lynette’s was so very close and they couldn’t afford double anyway? Had Lynette not deprived her of the teenage experiences she heard her classmates speak of, going out and tasting alcohol for the first time while Mavis followed a ten year old Lynette house to house so she could complain of a stomach ache after she’d devoured all the candy on the walk back home?

And now this! Stealing her few precious items, the few things she bothered to save up for, few things she bothered to keep hidden. For what? It wasn’t as though she was ever going to have the courage to ask a peer of her’s out. She was a thief.

One Mavis had made the mistake of taking care of. She should’ve embraced those stirrings of resentment, should’ve left Lynette to her own devices since Lynette didn’t appreciate anything, or even half of what Mavis afforded her. She should’ve left her out in the cold that Christmas. How could anyone have known? It wasn’t as though corpses could talk--

She had let Lyn take off with the whole case, as if to remind herself when she woke up the next morning what she had considered, how vile the thought was.

Lyn had never done anything unforgivable to Mavis. Mavis didn’t suppose she ever could. It was no fault of Lyn’s she didn’t understand what it was like to live with their father. How could she? It was a topic off limits to Lyn by both Mavis and their mother. After all, a child born blind doesn’t know until it’s pointed out to them.

And yet, she found guilt hard to summon. She did, but the speed at which it came, the strength, made her uneasy. What had happened to the girl she was? Lyn had been her world. What had changed?

Then, dully, that other voice, entirely of its own volition, said You did.