#like as a character I love Murray but if I knew him in real life I would have killed him

[grandwretch]

nah bc I feel like we give Murray way too much credit and underestimate how much Steve hates being told what to do. if Murray tried to sniff out steddie the way he did jancy, Steve's mean girl would jump out immediately.

"you are giving me relationship advice? I'll tell you what, next time I wanna know how to be a bald, alcoholic fuck who can't keep his noses out of children's love lives, I call you. Until then, maybe you should work on the crippling trust issues that stop you from having your own relationships instead of living vicariously through everyone else's."

and Eddie is in the background cheering him on the whole time

[whatiswhump]

Bucky Barnes, What am I Now

Part I

July 4, 2024.

After CAWS, Bucky is free and receives help from the character "The Nurse" (who is from this fic) to set up a quiet life in the English countryside. For years I've had this vision that Bucky is alone and at peace with his own little corner in the world. It is bitterly sweet for a short time though only to be tracked down by SHIELD... (I love a capture sorry!)

---

It hadn’t felt real for the first few months. That there were no masters…. 

…And what the Nurse had arranged for him. The cottage with a bit of land well out of the way in the English countryside. 

She said no would bother him here. She was devastatingly effective at everything she endeavored.

For the first few months the Soldier slept on the floor and often starved himself for days or weeks before going out for food. She had arranged an account with a modest income, a passport too. The kind of things easily sorted if you were in the right business. He could purchase the necessities with his trained ghost-like anonymity with ease if he chose to.

But when hunger made him too weak to think straight, he only went out to dig for roots or dandelion greens to eat raw. And when his coat and boots sprung holes and left him to the elements, he did nothing to remedy them, preferring inaction.

The first year he never even bothered to build a fire in the bricked hearth which the tired cottage was built around. No amount of cold or damp was sufficient cause to motivate him.

Self punishment might have played a role but so did sheer lack of inertia, if it was not strictly necessary to not perish, he could not bring himself to. He told himself it was to keep off the radar but logically knew that if Hydra was looking for him, fires in a cottage wouldn’t make a difference.

With logic aside however and fear held on fastly, that first year was spent mostly shivering on the damp floor of the old cottage, waiting for them to come, because they certainly would.

But after a year, the oddest thing happened. They didn't.

One day, in late spring when the wild and long overgrown brush around his dwelling was well on its way into greening and tangling itself for another year, he stepped outside and realized it was time to purchase a new pair of boots and jacket. 

He didn’t need the jacket that day, nor it would seem, for another week or two after, but it hung on a hook by the door for when he did. It was a comfort, he realized.

The next week he recognized there were roses along the garden wall that were being smothered by vines. He uncovered and trimmed the bushes and then some of the pervading fear in his chest loosened a bit too.

He didn’t notice right away but he started to build a routine.

He began sweeping out the cottage every morning with the windows open. He had seen attendants doing it in the lab around the scientists often. Then a walk through the fields, listening to the bird calls, taking mental notes on the flora and the weather.

In the afternoons, he began to cultivate the plants in his garden. Some vegetables and herbs planted from seeds, but mostly flowers. He found purpose in finding the existing flowers and then coaxing their ailing or overgrown plants back to life and bloom.

He had a “green thumb” as Murray, an old handler, had called it. The Soldier still remembered following his keeper around the base fence as the man pointed out the various wild flowers. He also remembered Murray’s bloodied skull after he was forcibly removed from office. 

None of those flowers he had seen here yet. That base must have been in a different country. How long now had Murray been dead? It was anyone's guess. A few handlers before Pierce, but definitely after Zola’s experiments had ended. He had a notebook now that he had begun writing these things down in, trying, often in vain it seemed like, to get his memories organized.

One afternoon, he was working on the bluebells under a gnarled pear tree in the corner of the garden when his mind regurgitated Murray’s voice as clear as day, “Most people go wrong with sunshine, they think all flowers like full sun. It’s much easier to kill than to grow though, but of course you’d know that Lazarus.”

The Soldier had paused where he was kneeled above the ground, glitching. Stuck in the memory with his handler convinced that in the next moment that one of the Strike boys would call out from their baseball game or Murray would tell him it was time to go back into base for another wipe.

But neither ever came. The Soldier just stayed there until it grew dark and the warm garden hummed with the residual heat of the day. When he at least moved and the plates on his arm clicked and whirred with him, he reminded himself with rounded shoulders, he was just broken.

But even though he was broken, he no longer wished he was dead every time he closed his eyes. 

He had diversions now. He could move so silently as to observe foxes with their cubs in the field, or sit and watch the blooms develop on a plant for an entire day if he chose. He didn’t have to kill anyone anymore. No more missions.

He also appreciated the solitude, no more fear or dread of the actions of others. He liked it so much he couldn’t imagine any situation in which he would be happier with someone else.

Until he was surprised.

It came up to him as he was washing his hands in the outside tap. He jumped, surprised by how quietly it approached, so unused to contact with anything living of its size.

It was emaciated and gray and wanted a drink of water. And most importantly it was decidedly unimpressed and unafraid of the Soldier.

He quickly understood what she was asking for and poured water into the trough. When she had her fill, she looked up to him as if to ask, now what is for dinner?

After that day, Cat never left. Soldier never thought to give her another name because he didn’t realize it was within his purview to name another living thing, he didn’t have a name himself after all. 

So she was Cat.

One day on his trip into town, he inexplicably stopped at the art supply shop. He wasn’t sure why. He had never tried to draw that he remembered, nor did he feel any keen desire to.

But when he saw the water color palette in the window, he felt certain it was important, that maybe he had bought one before. On a mission perhaps? He couldn’t imagine a situation where it could serve a tactical purpose. He felt like he needed to buy it however.

He did, along with some paper, two brushes and an HB pencil all of which were recommended by the patient lady. 

When he sat down with them all at home, they did not feel like his, which he was not surprised by. It wasn’t like when they’d give him a new gun and he could disassemble and reassemble it in seconds from innate muscle memory even if he had no actual memories of it.

So he wrapped the supplies up with a string and placed them in the pie cupboard. Unsettled by the unknown connection.

He didn’t exactly gain weight but he was no longer as gaunt as he had been and his days spent outdoors gave him a color he didn’t ever remember having. In the evenings if he didn’t write, he read books mostly. Cat’s favorite place was on his chest. 

The first time she settled there he had felt pinned and claustrophobic, quickly veering on panic. But not wanting to disturb his newfound friend and with the surprisingly pacifying effect of her purr, he soon grew to welcome her when she came to curl up.

It was the presence of his new friend that encouraged him to light the first fire on a chilly night.

***

He didn’t hear them. He still doesn’t know how. One moment it was him, Cat, and the dying embers of their evening fire, and the next moment, the door was flung open and there were twelve more people in the cottage.

His first thought was of Cat, they would surely put her down if she made a fuss. She yowled in annoyance at the sudden disturbance and, to his relief, took quick cover under the bed.

Their sight lasers were trained on him. Voices yelling while he remained frozen.

They were speaking english. All in tactical gear, night goggles, red lasers on their rifles. He had been on their side hundreds of times. He already knew he was not going to win.

Not that he was going to fight.

He had been found, they were going to catch him. Like they always did. Every time.

One in particular was speaking after the yelling died down, Head of Command. But the Soldier wasn’t able to listen. All of his senses other than touch were dulled as they grabbed him, tore him to the ground and then cuffed his wrists and ankles with something that were not regular bonds. They had read his file then.

On the ground he could see Cat cowering furiously in her hiding place. He wondered if she would be able to get into the crate of cat food on her own tomorrow when he was gone. He hoped they would leave the door open.

“Sergeant Barnes, Sergeant Barnes-”

“Forget it- maybe they messed up his programming and he doesn’t understand English anymore.”

“Alright, he’s cleared for transport then.”

Someone swiped his neck with something wet and cold. Then a prick. The Russians had liked sedating him for travel too. Keep him untethered and unable to pinpoint base locations. He kept watching Cat until he could feel his body betraying him and then the Soldier closed his eyes, only hoping he wouldn’t be there for whatever came next.

—

Steve stopped at the garden gate. It was old but someone had re-oiled the hinges. Beyond it was a tidy garden. Late summer blooms were dying and needed to be dead-headed soon. Had Bucky really been taking care of this place?

Shield agents were milling around the cottage when he stepped in.

“What’d he do, kill someone’s grandma to get this place?”

The other agent snorted, “All he needed were some doilies.”

The both became aware of Captain Rogers and went silent, likely silently cursing themselves for their comments.

“Captain Rogers… We are just finishing up here.”

“Did you find any weapons in your sweep?” Steve hated to ask but…

“Not unless you count garden shears sir, no.”

Steve nodded and left them in silence to gather their things and high tail it out. It was only when they were gone did he feel more free to look as well.

There wasn’t much. Tidy. One plate, one bowl, one set of silverware. No whiskey, no television, no things a normal man would have.

A few books… The Hobbit, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, White Fang. Interesting. 

Does he remember Brooklyn? Steve felt a twist in his chest at the thought.

He hesitated in front of the cabinet, already unlatched, already searched, his tactical side informed. There was not going to be anything of note, there was no reason to feel odd about looking a little more closely.

He wouldn't have even needed to if they had brought him in on the mission to begin with. The hell he raised when he found out what had happened.

... And the tears he dry sobbed when he got alone after they confirmed they captured him alive.

One finger pulled the old tin door open. Again, it didn't have much. Some dry goods, linens, cat food, and... was that an un touched set of art supplies?

Steve thought for the first time since he was a skinny kid in Brooklyn, he might be sick.

—

The Soldier doesn’t know what they gave him but it’s different from Zola’s finely tuned formulas. When he comes to on a plane, locked into a box, he feels muddled and confused. It’s freezing, he realizes he must be in the cargo hold. He is used to cold, he thinks.

It’s only when the door to the container he is in is open and there is someone with a syringe kneeling over him that he realizes just how out of it he is.

“Shhh- it’s alright.” The smell of antiseptic alcohol, “Yeah. This dose will keep him out until we reach the destination. His metabolism’s faster than I expected.”

The Soldier isn’t sure why he tried to reach up at the man to steady himself. He couldn’t anyway, his wrists and ankles were still restrained.

The man just pressed him back to the floor gently, “Don’t worry, you’re going to a good place. They will take care of you.”

—

He was no longer in a plane, he knew this. Everything else was unclear. The concrete room he was in was bare and similar to his Hydra holding cells except this one had a mirror. He was surprised they hadn’t wiped him yet. Why hadn’t they wiped him yet? Or more to the point, punished him?

They had changed him into a gown before he was conscious and done away with the ankle restraints. They didn’t think he was that dangerous then. Maybe they hadn’t gotten Pierce’s files then.

Pierce insisted on full restraints the first few decades while the Soldier was being wiped and reprogrammed to his standards. They were necessary for how many times the Soldier had tried to rip his throat out.

They were right though, he wouldn't try that now though. Pierce was dead, at least he thought. And he was tired. If he had to kill again he just hoped they wouldn’t make him be there for it.

The door to his cell opened then. First an armed guard filed in, then a man in a white coat with a second guard behind. The scientist. He appreciated the cruel familiarity.

“Sergeant Barnes, glad you’re finally with us. Trust me, Shield Agent Hall got a stern talking to from me for that dosing.”

The Soldier stared back blankly, he only responded when ordered and he did not remember the “Sergeant Barnes” alias.

“You were out for the first day and a half once you arrived. We’ll have to get some fluids in you now that you’re awake.”

The Soldier just stared from where he sat on the ground, his cuffed wrists limp in his lap.

“James, do you remember English? The team that rescued you weren’t sure if you understood them.”

Rescue?

The Soldier understood the question was directed at him but he was confused by the names and the direct questions.

“James?”

“How soon can we get a Russian interpreter in here?” The man looked at the mirror.

“I speak English.” The Soldier whispered. He didn’t want to make the new handlers mad. He didn’t want it to be hard anymore.

The scientist looked back at the Soldier, clearly a little surprised, “Oh well, well done,” He said genially, “Just a little slow to start it seems,” He smiled a bit at one of the guards, “James, do you know where you are?”

James… but he looked at him. Perhaps it's an alias from a forgotten mission the Americans had known him from. The scientist had mentioned Shield.

He shook his head, preferring that to his voice.

“You are in the United States of America at a special institution for those most unwell. A maximum security psychiatric hospital, the Redford Institute. You will be taken care of here.”

Another front? What was the purpose? Why didn’t they just wipe him already?

“Do you understand?”

“There was a cat… She will be hungry.” The Soldier looked at their feet.

“A cat?”

“Back-” He trailed off… his home? No he was foolish to ever think he could have that. He couldn’t call it that.

“Where you were found? Oh. Did you hurt it? Yeah, I can ask someone about that. They’ll take care of it.”

The Soldier wasn’t convinced. The man was speaking like one did to a child when you say a quick fib to get something bigger accomplished like bathtime or a meal finished.

“It's okay. I can tell you need some more time to settle in so perhaps we can discuss this again tomorrow. For now, I want you to go with the nice nurses for a shower.”

He must have still been groggy because there were two men in green lifting him by the arms rather suddenly before he even registered they had entered the room.

The Soldier was familiar with this. He let them drag him stumbling to a gleaming tiled room where they asked him to undress. When he didn’t, he allowed them to remove the gown and guide him underneath the showerhead.

The spray was freezing and only when one nurse tested it with his hand and recoiled in surprise, immediately guiding the Soldier back too, did he realize they didn’t mean to use it as a punishment.

“God! That’s freezing! He didn’t even react! Let’s wait till it warms up some more. I’m sorry, normally it doesn’t come out like that-”

The Soldier just stared straight ahead. Bad things came from interacting with techs.

He remained the same when they cut his hair off, shearing off the inches in dramatic sheafs.

“I feel like it’s those videos you see of groomers shaving matted dogs-”

“Cut it out- he’s not matted- Anyway, he can hear you.”

And when they put him back in the cell, he swallowed their cupful of pills and turned away from the food that came soon after. Unable to entertain anything that wasn't a direct command or action.

Hopefully they would wipe him soon.

---

To be continued.

[foreverautumn89]

Cali pt 4

Jonathan's entire storyline in S4 was about: -taking care of Will Mike and El and how he would give up everything in his life for his family.

-Even his scenes about Nancy showed this. A big part of his character was always having to choose between having his own life [Nancy is usually the symbolism for it] vs being there for his family. -grieving Hopper's death [the closest thing he had to a real father because his real one was abusive and Hopper was THE ONLY PERSON THERE FOR HIM during Will's disappearance/death. Who comforted him during that? Hopper. No one else.]. This makes sense because Hopper and Jonathan were close. Hopper was the ONLY person there for Jonathan after Will's death.

-How he finally made a friend of his own [Argyle. Not Nancy or his brothers friends but like someone else] and the importance of this: Long story short: Jonathan doesn't normally open up to people and trust them. He doesn't let anyone new into his life and its always been a big problem. He even liked Nancy for how long but never intended to ask her out or go out with her because he has trust issues and hes still traumatized by his parents marriage. Relationships of any kind aren't good to him. He's been let down and abused and disappointed by everyone who was supposed to care about him so of course hes not in a hurry to let someone in and feel like hes getting his heart ripped out again when they inevitably leave him. Murray even goes over how Jonathan avoided getting together with Nancy because of his trust issues. He has trust issues because of his abusive father and always being bullied and having a hard time understanding/connecting to people.

So Jonathan finally opening up to someone new in his life and trusting them showed A LOT of character growth.

I forgot in the other post another thing showing his character development: He doesn't have to use a camera anymore to understand people/feel connected to them. He is doing it this season without the camera.

El and Jonathan- yes the writers messed up by not having them hug at times that they should have and no scenes with them interacting really [but this is more them pushing Jonahtan to the background and Jonathan is only allowed like 5 minutes screentime a season so they didn't have time for this apparentally, but MOST OF THE TIME Jonathan was taking the action of rescuing his little sister nad there was enough moments of Jonatha mentioning how he really felt about her: 'She's our sister' 'She's my sister'. And the majority of the season was all about him going through hell and getting shot at ext ext all so that he could save El from her abusers.

And this is a big deal in Season 4. El's storyline was all about her feeling like she didn't matter because she didn't have her powers anymore. That she was a nobody. That she wasn't a super hero anymore. That Mike didn't love her. That no one would care about her without her powers.

Jonathan's storyline: Trying to distract members of the goverment so they could go sneak out and rescue El. Getting shot at while protecting the boys. Going through all these shenaigaans and driving across states day and night and mystery solving to find where they were hiding El so they could rescue her and prove to her that she was loved.

And when Jnathan and the others rolled up in a pizza van in the middle of different factions of the goverment having a battle, El knew that she was wrong and that she was loved.

They didn't know El had her powers back yet. The woman told them it would takes weeks/months for that to happen. They went to rescue her because they loved and cared about her without her powers.

And yes the writers could have wrapped that up in one episode, jonathan and them driving to rescue El, BUT then we wouldn't have time to see El's storyline about Vecna and the longer it took for Jonathan and them to find her and rescue her and the more BS they had to go through to do it: Showed how much Will and Jonathan loved their little sister. It wasn't easy for them to save her. It was rough but they never gave up trying to find her and save her. The fact that it wasn't easily resolved shows how much they cared.

People got a problem with Jonathan being like every other character on this show. Jonathan is just taking it easy living life doing his own thing at the beginning of the season--and somehow that makes him a bad person. Is Nancy a bad person cause she doesn't know whats going on with Mike? No. Is Steve a bad person cause hes pulling away from Dustin? No. But Jonathan living his life and trying to cope with his own problems for once somehow makes him evil.

For Jonathan he had an abusive father and Hopper was like the father he never had him so losing Hopper would have devastated him as much as it did El.

Jonathan is evil for smoking weed this season- Says the fanbase that worships Eddie Munson. It's not the Eddie worship I'm attacking its the fact that when Eddie or Steve smoke weed it's the most awesome thing of all time and 'they're so cool', but when Jonathan and Argyle smoke weed they're evil and compared to a child abuser [Lonnie] WHAT? Explain it to me cause the math ain't mathing.

Also, Eddie sells drugs and is about to sell Chrissy Special K which is the really bad stuff. Weed is nothing compared to that. Not even close. But Eddie is still adored, while Jonathan is a monster. Explain it to me becaause this isn't making any sense.

Why is Eddie smoking weed and selling a really bad drug to someone awesome, but when Jonathan just smokes weed hes 'like Lonnie' a child abuser?

And them constantly talking about Jonathan getting high in the beginning of the season like it was this huge deal and he was wronging everyone by doing it:

Yeah how DARE Jonathan try to cope with all his abuse over the years and try to relax a little and take care of himself for once.

How dare he grieve after he just lost Hopper the closest thing he had to a father figure.

even the nancy part of Jonathan's stryline was about him choosing his family and wanting to be there for them. Giving up his needs and wants for theirs. And the anti-jonathan ppl still ignore that and not only that but they use it to make him out to be the villain again. 'Why does Jonathan assume Nancy would give up her hopes and dreams to be with him hes so sexist'. Why is that him being sexist as it was something Nancy could possibly do because SHE IS IN LOVE WITH HIM for one thing. and another how is it sexist for him to show that he FEARS that this might happen. because he doesn't want that future for nancy. He wants nancy to live out her hopes and dreams and wants her to put them before being with him/he wants nancy to put her own happiness before his happiness. But somehow he is the villain once again. It's amazing how the fans flip it all the time.

[takemealivelh]

SHAKES (MV) - Luke Hemmings

I've been putting off writing this because the music video woke so many feelings in me that i'm scared to watch it again. but here i am! ready to do this essay

Starting that it's very Lost in Translation (2003) but set in the 70s is everything i could've asked for. favorite decade aesthetics, amazing movie. and i love that luke is giving nods to not only bill murray's character but also scarlett johansson's. the elevator scene is so beautiful, especially when he does that little awkward dance(?) while the camera captures the scene in front of it.

Not only this song is incredibly crafted, but the music video really surpassed my expectations. it's the best that he could've given us. you can see the effort and attention to detail and also the way it portrays loneliness makes my heart hurt. because i've been in that place. feeling like everything's so dull. feeling so empty and longing for something that you can't get. in luke's case, it's his inner child. in mine, it's the yearning for the times that i feel good.

anyway

the music video is devastating. top 3 moments

luke taking off his makeup while the song sings i wanna go out in my sleep now so i don't feel no pain. like, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? i want to cry. taking off a mask, feeling really desperate but also hopeless and too tired to function.

the final shot zooming out of the window and then the car sounds in the background when the song ends. like??? we just had this beautiful intimate experience with the production of the song and suddenly real life comes and the pain is even worse. heart aches.

not really a moment but the makeup and the clothes are AMAZING. it's very nostalgic but also modern if that makes any sense?

IN CONCLUSION

I knew luke would feed us, but i also didn't expect to be this blown away by a music video. feeling so fucking seen. when he said he hopes people can relate to it? MY MAN, I DO. the city tends to move on all the same.

i saw this post where someone pointed out when luke said he was going to therapy. and even though i'm incredibly devastated by the mv, it also works. i'm too in therapy and when you're doing a lot of stuff and there's pressure to succeed, you feel like this -again, my case. like, a shell of a ghost. feeling so much inside you're numb. and we see him fidgeting at times, which i interpret as this urge to feel normal again, hope that you look normal -not like you're life feels so exhausting.

HONORABLE MENTION

The coloring of this!!!!! very gloomy, it works perfectly

i don't know. what are your thoughts?

[ncisfranchise-source]

For its tribute to the late David McCallum and his character, Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, NCIS pulled off quite the surprise: the return of Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo.

It was kept under wraps, besides those who needed to know, and the scene allowed for the show to honor Ducky and reunite Tony with close friends Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen, who co-wrote the episode). It, of course, included a new nickname for McGee (McHurry).

When TV Insider caught up with Murray — lots of fun stuff to come from this chat, but here’s the start! —we asked him about filming that as well as the upcoming Tony and Ziva spinoff with Weatherly and Cote de Pablo.

Michael Weatherly just returned for that fantastic tribute to Ducky and David McCallum, and that episode made me cry. It was so good.

Sean Murray: That was a really good one. And Dietzen helped pen that one. He was one of the writers on that, which absolutely, if anyone should be doing that, it should be him.

Talk about filming that tribute episode as a whole and then also working with Michael again because I loved that little bit at the end.

That was fun, wasn’t it? Yeah, Michael and I and Brian knew we were doing that and obviously some other people, but that was one we kept under wraps for a while. We wanted that to be a good surprise, and hopefully, I think that was. It was a really well-done episode, but it was a hard episode to get through, just having worked with David for 20 years, and it was kind of a mixture of saying goodbye in real life and saying goodbye on camera. It was a tough thing. But I hope we paid a good tribute to the Ducky character, and I know David would’ve been happy with it, I really think, especially with Brian having penned so much of it. And during the episode, we got to see a lot of great scenes that David did, and I think it was good.

And I think that ending moment was just the perfect right amount of old school NCIS levity that you needed. There was just a touch of it. It was a really special thing with Tony coming in and passing the bow tie off to Palmer. I always loved the relationship that Tony and Jimmy have, too, which is funny. He always calls him Autopsy Gremlin, which, anytime Tony nicknames you, it is a term of endearment as far as he goes.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

But that was a lot of fun to do, and we actually did a lot of different versions of that last scene. The main parts we had down, but as far as once Michael and I would start doing our thing towards the end and go into the elevator, every time we did it, we were talking about something different. They would just let us ad lib—usually with Michael and I, it’s kind of an old fun thing that we do, and they let us do that. Michael is so terrific about that stuff. I know him so well. We’ve got a shorthand, and it’s fun to do. So it was kind of two-headed thing for me. It was a hard episode to get through, it was a special episode to get through, and then having that moment with Weatherly at the end kind of was just a little cherry on top.

I always loved the Tony and McGee relationship throughout the years, starting off where they were and then seeing how that relationship grew.

Absolutely. And that was something that Michael and I were aware of and we really worked on. We were paired up early when I was in Season 1, but I remember us doing some stuff and him going completely off book and basically doing this wild Bill Murray impression from Caddyshack and the whole thing that he was doing. They printed this shot and said, okay, moving on. I just remember going and sitting in the cast chairs with Michael, and Michael turning to me and he goes, “I think I may get fired. I think I may get fired for what I just did.” [Laughs] Because none of it was in the actual script. And then we got word back that they really liked it and to do more of it. So that was kind of a fun thing. And I don’t want to make it sound like everything Michael and I did was not in the script. Of course that’s not the case, but we kind of added and extrapolated onto that stuff and had a lot of fun, and a lot of that made the show in that first decade.

So having Michael back, I mean, Michael is a lifelong friend. I talk to him all the time. Actually, most of the people that have come through the show I’m very, very close with. But Michael is the guy I’ve been extremely close with and I’ve stayed in touch. We talk at least every month or two. And just knowing that this was going to happen was really cool. And we had talked about just, it’s wild because he hadn’t been here in 10 years, and as soon as he stepped on the stage as Tony doing his thing, it was like it warped me right back to the old Tony-McGee stuff. It just reminded me how much fun it was.

And now there’s the upcoming Tony and Ziva spinoff.

What do they call it? Tiva!

Do you think there’s a chance of you popping up on there or them showing up on NCIS in connection to that? To see Tony, McGee, and Ziva together again would be great.

Yeah, it’s very possible, I’ll say that. Especially inside of our franchise, as I’m sure you could guess. And yeah, we like to have fun with some of that stuff, and it’s all in the family, so we’ll see what happens.

[vino---delectable]

Ok ok..... I've thought this through long and hard and came to one conclusion

Vincent Nigel-Murray

There are also a few characters I thought of comparing which led me to my conclusions (we'll start with Zack Addy) the only problem I'd have with Zack is his intelligence.. I think the difference in IQ levels would cause a problem with him getting impatient with me, or feels he shouldn't share something with me because 'I just couldn't understand' , there's also his difficulty socially which could be a problem as a couple... Now, Vincent is socially awkward, and undoubtedly smarter than me... But he's the level of socially awkward that I understand and relate to. And he doesn't seem the type to let his job or intelligence get in the way of personal relationships... I honestly think he'd prefer to have someone who doesn't understand what he does... Not to feel smarter about himself.. But to have someone to go out, have fun, share a laugh, a drink, go see a movie, just geek out and relax a bit.

Another one is Finnick Odair.... He is by far my favorite character in the hunger games... I fell in love with his flirtatious remarks and his small humour, he seems like a total sweetheart who would stay loyal to his partner. But I think the fact that he is made to prostitute himself would get to my head, like, of course I know it isn't his fault, but, knowing myself it would bother me... I don't think that would be much of an issue though. I do believe though, that his traumatic past would cause some problems, because I visualize him as being the suck it up buttercup type if person, which makes it hard to open up to anyone.. And knowing myself who is a natural therapist at heart (not in practice) I couldn't handle it well. And Vincent already has that flirtatious side that I adore which is shown in his first episode. Which is a win because he is this lovable dork who flirts, I mean, c'mon.

Another one is of the Austen men, Henry Tilney (I already knew Darcy would be out of the picture for obvious reasons, so I just went with him) now if this post would have been about Austen men, or men of period dramas or classic literature love interests, I would hands down go with him... But it isn't so there you go... Mr. Tilney is such a lovable character with his love for reading and knowledge for muslin, he's so cool... But, he just doesn't do it for me the way Vincent does... Henry seems like the perfect man, which I think is my issue, he's too perfect... He wants to do things,he'd buy a house for you, Buy you flowers, go places, risk his family for you... I mean, come on, can't this guy have flaws!!!! I love him, don't get me wrong... But Vincent and his spouting out random trivia at random times, is just my level of imperfection, because the opposite of perfection is what suits me best

So yeah... No hate... I'm not analyzing who's the best character or anything... Just who would fit me in real life, that's ALL.

Okay, dearest followers, be honest.

Which one of your fictional crushes do you truly believe that you could pull irl? Realistically. Taking all factors into account. Whether you were in their universe or not, up to you. But be HONEST.

[vino---delectable]

I have never told any of you this before.. But I used to actually have a crush on someone I knew irl named Vincent which I'm sure was a coincidence btw, but then again it wasn't... Vincent (Nigel-Murray) is just about everything I expected Vincent (dufus boy) to be.. But one was a bully to me and I was sorta blind to that then ig

Anyway, it's a good thing that they share the same name because I've always had let go problems over that time in my life. It was almost as if my phase with like gaining 20 crushes in the course of a week was a way of taking my mind off of it.

But with them sharing the same name, then I'd have to face it.. Y'know, face the chance of my parents thinking I like vnm bc of that boy.. Face me thinking I did it bc of that boy.

But then I started looking at them both as people (well, person and character.. Hard to tell the difference for me these days) and this real person that I knew.. Used to think I was in love with *barf* didn't shine a candle to Vino!

And lately I have been letting go of him.. I'm able to talk about dufus boy in front of my parents and joke about how funny of a teenager I was.

So yeah, Vincent Nigel-Murray is a keeper

Thanks for listening to my epiphany! Have a cookie 🍪

[litcityblues]

Doctor Whoquest Part 9: My Favorite Tennant Season (Maybe)

Martha Jones might be one of my favorite companions of the Nu-Who Era. It's just a damn shame that Freema Agyeman only did one season in the role- but at the same time, that was kind of a genius move on her part, because it leaves you wanting more. She also is studying to be a Doctor and has a big and complicated family she has to deal with ultimately, in the wake of the Master's Year of Dominion Over Earth- which she and her family are amongst the few to remember it happening, she steps away to help them process and deal with the very real trauma of that. It feels like the right choice for her. It feels like a solid way to end the run. It makes sense for the character.

But damn it, I liked her. I wanted to see more of her and if there's ever a chance for them to bring her back in any fashion, I would be totally for it.

She also might have the best debut episode of any companion in Nu-Who. Don't get me wrong The Ponds and 11 rock The Eleventh Hour- that remains my choice for best Doctor debut, but in terms of best companion debut, it's hard to top her first episode, 'Smith and Jones.' The music for this series is absolutely incredible as well-- Murray Gold absolutely was eating his Wheaties here. The I guess, 'Smith and Jones' theme that sort of pops up throughout the series is one of my all-time favorites of the Nu-Who run. (11 has good music as well-- really captures the sense of urgency/epic moments that he has going on, but this perfectly complements the overall series.)

Three Episodes I Liked

'Smith and Jones': Seriously, the best companion debut episode in all of Nu-Who. Not a moment is wasted, the writing is taut and to the point. We meet Martha, we meet her family and its associated drama, we see her going to work to be a Doctor, and then, bam, it starts raining upside down and she's scooped up along with her entire hospital and taken to the Moon where the Judoon (our first time meeting these folks) shake down the place looking for a fugitive which they eventually find. The brilliant part of this episode is when she bumps into the Doctor on the way to work, but then meets him as a patient in the Hospital and seems confused when he doesn't recognize her-- the episode brings that tiny moment full circle at the end when he demonstrates that the TARDIS is, in fact, a time machine and goes and takes off his tie at the start of the episode for her. Just fantastic stuff.

'Human Nature'/'The Family of Blood': Excellent two-part episode where the Doctor has to go undercover to escape the Family of Blood that wants his life force so they won't die. He lands in 1913 and makes himself fully human intending to hide until they die out and gives Martha a list of instructions to follow. Eventually, they catch up with him and the Doctor is brought back-- but doesn't want to go because has has fallen in love with the nurse, Joan. They share a vision of what their life would be like together and the Doctor offers to let her travel in the TARDIS with them, but she refuses. He then gives The Family of Blood exactly what they want.

'Blink': Y'all knew this was going to be on here, right? The debut of The Weeping Angels with Sally Sparrow on the case while the Doctor and Martha are trapped in 1969. Absolute banger of an episode that introduced a shiny new villain and dialed up the creepy to boot.

Two Episodes I Didn't Like

'Gridlock': I get it. The final appearance of the Face of Boe was always going to happen at some point and I can appreciate the importance of the season-long arc here, but... New New York, I love you, but you're bringing me down. It was kind of 'meh' for me.

'Daleks In Manhattan'/'Evolution of the Daleks': Ah, the inevitable appearance of the Daleks. They try something dastardly and new that is immediately foiled by the Doctor and they escape again until next season when they do it all over again. Maybe this makes me a bad Doctor Who fan, but I'm thoroughly uninterested in the Daleks at this point.'

One Episode To Consider:

'The Sound of Drums'/'Last of the Time Lords': John Simm as The Master works really well and they've done a good job throughout Nu-Who casting The Master. This was an epic way to end the season, but it's leaving the Jones family and a few others with memories of a year that gets erased by the end of the episode- a year where the human population is devastated and forced into slavery and there's a lot of trauma to unpack there. It's fascinating to think about-- what did Martha do for that entire year? How did it change her? How did it change her family? And she gets to keep the memories of all that? So many interesting things to consider about this episode.

Overall: Solid, excellent stuff. The Martha Jones season might be my favorite Tennant Season and she ranks right up there as one of my favorite companions. There are more good to excellent episodes in this season than not-so-good lackluster episodes in this season and you really feel that Tennant is inhabiting the role and making it his own at this point.

My Grade: 9/10

[chiisana-sukima]

The thing about spn is over and over for 15 years it asked the ethical question "is it a character flaw to want to escape your abusive family?", and over and over for 15 years it looked us all dead in the eye and answered "yes".

Along with all the anger, there actually is a lot of moving personal history and good analysis in the tags, and I especially wanted to peer review two sets of tags:

From @deanwinchestergenderenvy:

And from @wendibird:

I think @deanwinchestergenderenvy is right that it is textually there that Sam tries to distance himself from his family background and the way he was raised. It's especially obvious at the beginning, but you can see it to some extent throughout the show (e.g. Lebanon, where without John's death, Sam becomes Lawyer Bill Gates, but also in things as minor but imo clearly class-coded as the brothers' needling each other about salad vs hamburgers or dad rock vs podcasts about the protestant reformation). And I do also think spn often presents Sam's distancing himself from his roots as a moral failing, and that for a shorthand to describe that (alleged) failing, classism is as good a word as any.

@wendibird is not the only one who mentioned the crab bucket metaphor, and I think it's on point. Is Sam classist to attempt to escape the bucket if the other crabs don't (or at least vigorously, if not always 100% convincingly, claim not to) want to leave?

Spn's class analysis sucks. The vibes, for many of us who grew up poor/lower working class in the US, are impeccable. They remind us so, so much of home. Ngl the nostalgia for early-years!Dean's life specifically is so powerful for me it sometimes makes me cry. But its actually not awesome-like-Superman to work for shit (or no) wages in unsafe conditions to benefit people living in homes you'll never be able to afford with lives so divorced from yours you'll only ever be able to imagine them as fiction. You're just being exploited. And its actually not classist to be heartbroken your loved ones are dying like flies of preventable causes around you or to wish your life expectancy was at least the shitty national norm or that you had a job whose benefits included insurance. We all deserve to escape poverty and systemic (and family) abuse together.

Any analysis of whether Sam is classist or not in the end comes back to Stanford and his attempt to escape hunting and his family inheritance of violence and abject poverty. Fans who feel angry about him dissing Dean's EMF meter or sitting on the hood of Dean's car complaining about Dean hustling to support them both; yeah I hear ya'. Sam's being kind of a douche there. But his desperate prison break just failed and cost him the life of yet another loved one, and he's grappling with the fact that he's not gonna make it--he's not gonna get out, and Dean's right there, telling him this objectively awful marginalized life is wonderful. He just lost the biggest, most devastating argument of his life. Of course he's pissy about it.

For any of y'all who want a somewhat better class analysis of a real life equivalent of Sam and Dean's childhood, I can't recommend Liz Murray's Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard enough (no link because I don't want to give tumblr grounds to deactivate me, but its available pirated if you can't afford it). I actually hated that book with all my heart lol. I hated how triggering it was and how she found some things shocking that seemed normal to me, and how deeply the author felt like a class traitor to me and how bullshit I knew that feeling was. But I still recommend it as an antidote to spn, because wanting out is okay. It's normal and fair and just.

Please don't fight with each other in the tags.

[faedawayyy]

ALL GENERATIONS OF CARMICHAELS aesthetics here. 

GRANDPARENTS.

hank carmichael (- grandfather of the family, grew up in a wealthy family in london & gained control of his family’s multimillion dollar film company by killing his older brother, who was supposed to take it over.    sylvia carmichael - the daughter of a widowed russian man. she moved to london at 16 to model and was cast in several films from hank’s studio before they met and married.  

PARENTS/AUNTS/UNCLES. 

edwin carmichael - (eldest son) a very successful real estate agent, he came out as gay when he was 14 and was bullied a lot but has refused to not be proud. theatre enthusiast and married jonah when he was 45 & adopted ruby from italy as a baby. 

james carmichael - (second eldest son) an ambitious visionary, a creative and worked with hank from the age of 15 on the film studio. it’s always been his passion but he also got greedy later in life and dabbled in a lot of crime which got out of hand.  jonathan carmichael - (youngest son - written by synn) so how I imagine Jonathan is that he is very strict with Theo, and has held him to the standard of “why can’t you be more like Anastasia and Leo?”  I always imagined he was a bit jealous James was head of the company, and really wanted to be it too. However, I feel like he’s doing what he can to keep a “my life is going exactly how I imagined it” façade, and won’t really voice his frustrations other than with Theo and his wife behind closed doors (important to note this doesn’t mean any form of physical abuse. Only verbal). I feel like he’s kinda excited that Theo is coming around to more acting because it’s closer to what he wanted for him, but he won’t admit to it ofc  hes a bit salty with Theo for not wanting to marry Margaret even though that’s what HE wanted, like with brody and Disney and Kendall and mason. elizabeth carmichael - (oldest daughter) she got married incredibly young to the man hank pushed her towards and it was toxic from the get-go. when she fell pregnant, he left her and she spent all of her twenties as a single parent raising marcus. she’s now the cool rich aunt. 

cynthia billings - (youngest child) also married the man she was pushed towards - an owner of a successful restaurant chain - and it worked out like a fairytale. they live in lilac heights. cynthia is a complete disney adult and proud, basically a big kid. 

SIGNIFICANT OTHERS

patricia carmichael - (wife of james) she never wanted to marry james in the beginning but her dad, who was the governor of new hampshire at the time, knew hank and thought it was a brilliant idea. she’s artistic, passive, quiet, idealistic and the calm to james’ bold and abrupt nature. she grew to love him and lived most of her life in his shadow. 

jonah carmichael >> edwin’s husband  agatha carmichael >> jonathan’s husband laurence billings >> cynthia’s huband 

THE GRANDCHILDREN - age order/the characters in the same block are around the same age (oldest/middles/youngest) 

theodore carmichael (?) - (jonathan’s son, played by synn)  denver billings (29) - (oldest son of cynthia) - went through college and trained to be a doctor before deciding against it & travelling the world, a backpacker, owns a camper van, homosexaul, responsible. (sam claflin)  anastasia carmichael (28) - (oldest of james, played by zoë) - driven and intelligent, business-minded and has a great eye for fashion. never wants to disappoint her parent or grandparents but has recently divorced her husband, ryden banks. (elsa hosk) iris billings (27) - (second oldest of cynthia) - worked as a fashion journalist in los angeles for the longest time & was constantly made to feel less than because of her body and size. at 26, she threw in the towel and ditched city life for the east coast. she now lives in her grandparents hamptons holiday home and is starting a fresh. (nicola coughlan)  leonardo carmichael (27) - (second oldest of james, played by katie) - leo’s the oldest son of james and often put on a pedestal because of it. he was raised to be an all-rounder and has the typical mindset of a carmichael man. however, unlike his younger brother, he often fails to meet the extra expectations on his love life and avoids settling with the girl his parents want for him. (chad michael murray)  marcus carmichael (27) - (son of elizabeth) - elizabeth’s child. despite their money, he grew up seeing the heartache and crap his dad put her through and became hardened through that. he also did a lot of underhand and shady jobs for james, landing him in jai once or twice. (bill skarsgaard)  hayley billings (26) - (third oldest of cynthia) - hayley started living with a boyfriend none of her family approved of when she was 16. he was 42. she dropped out of school and worked at his bar in london, cutting of the rest of the family when they objected. her boyfriend - shocker - turned out to be a piece of shit and majorly abusive. 10 years later, she’s escaped him and has plucked up the courage to move back home and is reconnecting with the family. (victoria pendretti)  mason carmichael (26)  - (third oldest of james) - mason’s artistic and on the more introverted side of the family. even though he’s praised in his own way, he’s always felt like he needs to be more like brody and leo. his love life is definitely in the spotlight just as much as his projects. (austin butler)  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- brody carmichael (25) - (fourth oldest of james) - the product of being raised on “masculinity”. in high school, he was a sports star, he’s always been a charmer and never learned how to lose. people would call him a mini-leo but it quickly became clear who the real favourite was when he made his relationship with disney official. despite the aggressive drinking problem, it’s been hard for any of his siblings to impress their parents quite as much. (zac efron)  marie billings (24) - (fourth oldest of cynthia) - her mothers daughter, a lover of fantasy, magic and romance and never wants to grow up. she works as a primary school teacher & adores it. yet, she struggles to actually date/branch out like most do. her expectations and daydreams of romance are more fulfilling than the real thing to her. (sophie turner/saorise ronan)  ruby rosini (23) - (edwin’s daughter, played by nadine)   miles carmichael (22) - (second youngest of james) - cynical, sarcastic and the self-proclaimed black sheep of the family. miles is massively introverted and the least enthusiastic about any family gathering. last year he found out he isn’t james’ biological son and has felt disconnected ever since. (hero finneas-tifin) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------betty billings (21) - (fifth oldest of cynthia) - betty simply hates the idea of having to work. she’s dramatic and extroverted and the family’s kim kardashian. she has star quality, for sure and a ton of charisma. she’s a shop-a-holic and people struggle to get her to do anything else. (olivia holt)  bella carmichael (19) - (youngest of james, played by nadine) - bella is the youngest child of james and has burnt out. after being thrown into ballet, sports, tutoring and every other class you can imagine from the age of 4, she’s done with teachers and being an over-achiever. bella hasn’t been herself since her dad’s “death” but is very good at hiding it to the point where everyone thinks she’s doing amazing. (anna bruevla/katherine newton/elle fanning)  hadley billings (18) (twin, youngest of cynthia) - hadley is the oldest of the billings twins by five minutes. he’s vegan and an animal lover and very interested in politics. he is an anti-carmichael man in the sense that he shows more than anger, saddness and horniness in his emotional range. very gentle and arguably the nicest cousin. (ross lynch)  freddy billings (18) (twin, youngest of cynthia) - freddy is the youngest and also the brightest of the bunch by far, to the point where an IQ test dubbed him a genius at just 7. he was put into all sorts of competitions and given all kinds of scholarships. but because teachers and adults love him so much, he’s also a little shit, the definition of a class clown. he doesn’t work hard to achieve, he just does and that’s what annoys people the most. (romeo beckham) 

[lcdrarry]

LCDrarry 2020 Master List

Dear lovely Participants, Creators, Alpha and Beta Readers, Commentors, Cheerleaders, Readers and Fans of our fest,

Our 2nd installment of LCDrarry is coming to an end, and we'd like to thank you all for taking part in our little fest, for creating so many amazing new Drarry works for us all to enjoy, for commenting on your favourite creations, for sharing and recommending the LCDrarry gems with your friends and blog followers, and for making this fest another amazing experience for us mods.

We hope we could bring you some joy and diversion in these trying times and send you lots of love, strength and perseverance wherever you are :*

Under the cut, you can find out who created what ;D The works are listed in the order they posted during the fest.

Happy reading & squeeing & don’t forget to follow your favourite creators!

~Your LCDrarry Mods Tami @celilasart​ and Suzi @erin-riwen​

PS: Reblogs are very much appreciated <3

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Love, Actually, is All Around

Prompt: #180 | "Love, Actually" - 2003 - Richard Curtis Author: punk_rock_yuppie Word Count: 9,975 words Rating: Teen and Up Warnings: Wizarding Politics, Discriminiation, Slight power imbalance

Summary: It's Christmastime, and Harry has just started as the new Minister of Magic. It just so happens that Draco happens to work in his office as well, a holdover from Kingsley's tenure. Naturally, love is in the air.

Read "Love, Actually, is All Around" now on AO3.

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Drarry on Ice

Prompt: #150 | '"Yuuri!!! On Ice" - 2016 - Series Artist: RunningOutsideTheLines Art Medium: Traditional Art Rating: General Warnings: none

Summary: Harry and Draco find love on the ice. I love Yuuri on Ice and Harry and Draco seem like such a perfect fit for Victor and Yuuri. I'll leave it up to your imagination as far as which is which. This image is from the final scene when the two of them do a exhibition skate together.

View "Drarry on Ice" now on AO3.

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Boats, but Not the Ocean

Prompt: #203 | "Groundhog Day" - 1993 - Harold Ramis Author: p1013 Word Count: 15,551 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Very minor mention of suicide, some mild horror

Summary: If Draco ever gets his hands on this Bill Murray character, he's going to kill him.

Read "Boats, but Not the Ocean" now on AO3.

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When I Put My Eyes On You

Prompt: #193 | "The Way He Looks" - 2014 - Daniel Ribeiro Author: Zzzara Word Count: 31,155 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary: When a hero defeats a villain, there's supposed to be a happily-ever-after... but when did anything ever happen to Harry Potter the way it was supposed to? Having sacrificed himself to the greater good, Harry is left alone in the darkness, blindly groping for the shreds of the life he knew. When the enemies meet, how is the story supposed to go, once they learn there's more to it than the eye can see? A story of pain, hope and things we discover, once we stop looking for them with our eyes.

Read "When I Put My Eyes On You" now on AO3.

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Spellbound

Prompt: #113 | "Overboard" - 1987 - Garry Marshall Author: mortenavida Word Count: 15,878 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: Amnesiac Draco Malfoy, Widowed Harry Potter, past Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Dub-Con due to Amnesia (Only Kissing)

Summary: It’s been years since Harry left with Ginny to get away from the bad memories of war. The small town of Elk Cove, Oregon, had been a perfect place to raise their children. Now widowed, Harry works hard to make sure his children never want for anything. When an old rival steps into his life, everything changes and Harry finds the perfect opportunity to get back at Malfoy for everything the Slytherin did to him -- if he doesn’t regret falling for him first.

Read "Spellbound" now on AO3.

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Of Labcoats and Animagi

Prompt: #97 | "Queer Eye" - 2017 - Series Author: meandminniemcg Word Count: 10,868 words Rating: Mature Warnings: mention of past abuse, panic attack (tw at beginning of chapter, can be skipped)

Summary: Fashion icon Draco? That's long past. After the war, he never bought any new clothes and lives in his labcoats. When he doesn't feel confident enough to meet his pen friend Prongs in real life, Luna decides to stage an intervention with a little help from the Fab Five.

Read "Of Labcoats and Animagi" now on AO3.

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Title of Their Sex Tape

Prompt: #112 | "Brooklyn Nine Nine" - 2013 - Series Author: Cibee Word Count: 12,428 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: None

Summary: What are the Wizarding world's most elite law enforcers doing when they aren't catching criminals? It seems Auror Malfoy is often caught throwing food into Auror Potter's mouth when he's mid-yawn. This story isn't about Draco throwing food at Harry. What it does have is: Undercover! Heists! Draco pining for Harry! Harry being oblivious, but also can't help noticing how good Draco smells! Banters and jokes! That's about it.

Read "Title of Their Sex Tape" now on AO3.

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Harry Potter and the Beast

Prompt: #204 | "Beauty and the Beast" - 1991 - Gary Trousdale Author/Artist: Miakagrewup Word Count/Art Medium: 5,655 words/31 illustrated pages Rating: General Warnings: None

Summary: Arrogant prince Draco is cursed to live as a terrifying beast until he finds true love. This fairy tale consists of 31 fully illustrated pages.

Read "Harry Potter and the Beast" now on AO3.

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So Open Up My Eyes, Tell Me I'm Alive

Prompt: #191 | "Secret Garden" - 1993 - Agnieszka Holland Author: mycucumbereyes Word Count: 12,865 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: trauma, canon typical violence, homophobia, use of f-g/f----t, mention of suicidal thoughts, character with a disability

Summary: When Draco Malfoy comes to live at Godric’s Hollow, he finds it full of secrets. One night he hears the sound of crying…

Read "So Open Up My Eyes, Tell Me I'm Alive" now on AO3.

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i demand to dig my own grave

Prompt: #10 | "Psych" - 2006 - Series Author: M0stlyVoid Word Count: 20,836 words Rating: Mature Warnings: None

Summary: Draco finds himself in hot water with the Aurors, and in a burst of panicked inspiration manages to wiggle out of it by claiming to be a Seer. There's just one little problem– Senior Auror Harry Potter, the Prat Who Lived, who's known him for a decade, knows full well Draco doesn't have a single psychic bone in his body and seems determined to pull him up for it. Now, the Department is demanding he help them solve cases, Potter's looming over his shoulder at every turn, and worst of all, he hasn't had a shag in weeks because of all this bother. What's a pseudo-Seer to do?

Read "i demand to dig my own grave" now on AO3.

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As You Wish

Prompt: #37 | "The Princess Bride" - 1987 - Rob Reiner Author: Pineau_noir Word Count: 21,917 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: Canon-typical (Harry Potter and The Princess Bride) violence, mention of suicide, canon-typical character death

Summary: Draco was raised on a farm in the small country of Witshire; his favourite pastimes were flying on his broom and tormenting the hired farm boy. Though his name was Harry, Draco never called him that. On Harry's forehead there was a scar shaped like a lightning bolt, so Draco called him Scarhead. Nothing gave Draco as much pleasure as ordering Harry around.

Or a story about fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, True Love, and miracles.

Read "As You Wish" now on AO3.

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Queer Eye for the Drarry Guys

Prompt: #97 | "Queer Eye"- 2017 - Series Author: blowfish_diaries Word Count: 18,201 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: none

Summary: Teddy's dads are great! Really! They just need a little push from five *fabulous* gays to get them to see what's right in front of them.

Read "Queer Eye for the Drarry Guys" now on AO3.

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Casecation

Prompt: #112 | "Brooklyn Nine Nine" - 2013 - Series Author: Mfingenius Word Count: 4,293 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: AU, canon-typical discussion of heavy topics, discussion of mpreg

Summary: "Draco Malfoy, I swear to God-” Hermione snaps under her breath, causing Draco to laugh lowly as he ducks under a hanging plant pot. “Draco Potter, ‘Mione,” Harry murmurs with a helpless grin; they’re not really supposed to be speaking – they're walking through the halls of Antonin Dolohov’s beach house, on their way to arrest him – but Harry can’t help marking the difference, even a year after they got married. “Be quiet,�� Ginny says, rolling her eyes. “If he hears us and escapes-” Draco signals at them, and they all steel themselves for when he throws the door of the bedroom open. “Shit!”

Read "Casecation" now on AO3.

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Don't Blink!

Prompt: #179 | "Dr Who" - 2007 - Series Author/Artist: Gnarf Art Medium: Digital art Rating: General Warnings: None

Summary: Harry had always had exceptionally bad timing. It's not different this time.

Read "Don't Blink!" now on AO3.

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A Demon and an Angel Visit the Ritz

Prompt: #167 | “Good Omens” - 2019 - Series Artist: ravenclawkward Art Medium: Digital Oil Painting Rating: General Warnings: None

Summary: Harry the demon and Draco the angel just finished saving the world. They've earned their celebration, wouldn't you say?

Read "A Demon and an Angel Visit the Ritz" now on AO3.

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Change on the Horizon

Prompt: #57 | "Shameless (US)" - 2011 - Series Author: static_abyss Word Count: 118,645 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Character with depression, mentions of not wanting to exist and lethargy, though no actual suicide or mentions of suicide. Unhealthy coping mechanisms, specifically not taking prescribed medication for depression. Internalized homophobia, and general homophobia from parental figures, though there is a happy ending. Casual relationships.

Summary: A canon AU drarry fic based on the relationship between Mickey and Ian from Shameless. A story about the aftereffects of the Second Wizarding War and how Draco and Harry come together and break apart over and over. How maybe, somewhere along the way, they find a way to live with themselves.

Read "Change on the Horizon" now on AO3.

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The Thrill of the Chase Moves in Mysterious Ways

Prompt: #192 | "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" - 2012 - Series Author: VeelaWings Word Count: 32,569 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Heavy Drinking, Smoking Cigars, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Minor Character Death, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Kidnapping, Non-Graphic Violence, Gun Violence, Poisoning

Summary:

“Do you have a personal interest in this case, Malfoy?” Harry asked, arms crossed and blocking the view of the body behind him.

“Not at all.” Draco smiled sweetly, cuddled into the side of tonight’s date. “Although I did briefly own that painting until it proved to be stolen.” He helpfully pointed to the Renaissance portrait a few metres to their left.

“Why is it always so complicated with you?”

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Some people might argue that Draco didn’t have very good ideas. That was a lie. Draco had fantastic ideas, however, due to mankind having free will, the planning and execution of those ideas didn’t always pan out in his favor.

(Or — Draco solves crimes that don’t technically belong to him and Harry tries not to fall in love. Co-Starring: Hermione, High Heels, and Hiccups along the way. #dat 1920s lyfe)

Read "The Thrill of the Chase Moves in Mysterious Ways” now on AO3.

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Burn Your Life Down (but look back to me)

Prompt: #202 | Casablanca - 1942 - Michael Curtiz Author: Triggerlil Word Count: 35,910 words Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Warnings: Alternate Universe - World War II, Film Noir, Self-Medication, Alcohol, Infidelity (not between Harry and Draco), Smoking, Mention of Slavery and Human Trafficking

Summary:

It's been years since destiny walked into an apartment on Rue Azais, and Harry is over it. Really, he is. He has Blaise, he has his work, and if necessary, he still has his memories. But with the onset of WWII, the foundations of his life are crumbling, and suddenly a certain blond man is walking back into his life, asking Harry to make important, and dangerous, choices.

Read “Burn Your Life Down (but look back to me)” now on AO3.

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Super Rich Kids

Prompt: #24 | "The Bling Ring" - 2013 - Sofia Coppola Author: Thusspoketrish Word Count: 81,000 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Thriller, Murder, Dark Humour, Angst, Depression, Nihilism, Existenialism, Jealousy, Hurt/Comfort, Gaslighting, Very Brief Instance of Suicidal Ideation, Immorality, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence (not between Harry and Draco), Abusive Drug Use, Manipulative Behaviour, Heterosexual Sex, Threesomes, Candaulism, Possible Infidelity Due to Unclear Relationship Status (please read the tags on AO3 carefully, this list is not exhaustive)

Summary:

Draco Malfoy has become disillusioned by the glitz and glamour of the scandalous lives of the Post-Second Wizarding War Pureblood Elite. Enter: one existential crisis, one group of cynical friends, and several terrible, terrible decisions.

Read “Super Rich Kids” now on AO3.

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We Built This Right

Prompt: #48 | "Yuri on ice" - 2016 - Series Author: remy_writes5 Word Count: 15,344 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Homophobic Language, Anxiety, Strained Relationship with Parents

Summary:

At last year's Grand Prix Final, Harry had an accident that left him with a lightning scar on his forehead, a concussion and a twisted ankle. Now everyone is waiting to see if his career is over - including former rival, Draco Malfoy.

Read "We Built This Right” now on AO3.

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[lesbianrobin]

What are your thoughts on stancy in S2? More specifically the Halloween party scene?

Alright, so. St*ncy overall is... a very rough part of S2. To this day, I can’t understand why the fuck they chose to handle it the way they did. The whole thing makes Nancy look bad, it makes Jonathan look kind of bad too, and it absolutely beats Steve to an emotional pulp. This post is going to be so long I’m so sorry dklnckn...

It’s canon that Nancy wanted Jonathan the entire time that she was dating Steve. Almost a full year! Steve is planning his future around Nancy, talking about how he wouldn’t mind not going to college if it meant he could be around for her senior year. It’s clear that Steve thinks he and Nancy are in it for the long haul, which is reasonable considering that they’ve 1. Been together for a year and 2. Fought a monster together. Steve loves her, and he thinks that she loves him too. 

He goes to dinner with Barb’s parents for her every week, even though he doesn’t know them and barely knew Barb, even though he’s incredibly uncomfortable, but he does it to support her. When she has a rough moment in the library because of her grief, he pulls her into a private space, reminds her that talking about it in public could literally get them killed, holds her and comforts her, and then basically tells her that he knows it’s stupid to go to a Halloween party and act like normal teenagers when they know what they know, but it’s all they really can do, and he thinks they might as well try to be normal. He’s not belittling her feelings. He’s not ignoring her trauma. He’s just focused on making sure they don’t attract government attention and on trying to enjoy their lives as best as they can. 

Now, the party comes in. Nancy is being kinda shitty to Steve before she gets drunk. Billy and some other guys come up to Steve and start insulting him about the whole “King Steve” thing and how he’s a loser now, and Nancy just... walks away. She doesn’t even try to pull Steve away, tell them to knock it off, anything. Steve’s getting bullied, and she just leaves. Fine, whatever. Steve’s a big boy, she doesn’t have to try and fight his battles. Then he follows her over to the punch bowl, realizes that she’s chugging that shit like it’s going out of style, and he’s like “Hey, slow down.” Nancy, still sober, says something along the lines of (can’t remember exact words) “You wanted to get drunk like stupid teenagers!” before chugging down her cup of punch. 

This is why I brought up the dinners with Barb’s parents. Steve’s been doing this thing for Nancy every single week for a year. He’s kind to Barb’s parents, he does his best to make conversation and be polite, even when Nancy isn’t around. Then, he asks her to go to one party with him (that she wanted to go to as well, indicated by the fact that she enthusiastically pleaded with Jonathan to come and the fact that she and Steve had been working on their costumes for a long time). She responds by throwing his words back in his face, intentionally getting drunk at least partially to spite him. What the fuck?

Nancy’s grieving. She’s a teenager. She feels guilty about Barb’s death and blames Steve for it as well as herself, and she tries to suppress these feelings until she just can’t anymore. I understand that. All of this stuff honestly makes for an interesting plot! However, it falls apart the second she goes off with Jonathan, and it stops being the story of a girl struggling with complex survivor’s guilt and starts being the story of a girl who dated a boy she never loved for a full year while harboring feelings for someone else.

Steve and Nancy have an argument outside of the gym. He’s bitchy, tells her to go ask her other boyfriend what happened last night, and asks her to prove that she didn’t mean their love was “bullshit” by telling him she loves him. She can’t say it, and he tells her that she thinks she’s bullshit. Did they break up? I personally think it’s a bad argument and not a breakup, seeing as nobody actually said “we’re over” or anything, but you could argue that Nancy interpreted it as a breakup if you’d like to be charitable. However, I’m pretty sure that later on at Murray’s, Nancy and Jonathan refer to Steve as her boyfriend, so... Nancy cheats on Steve. Perhaps the cheating would be understandable as a result of her suppressed trauma and emotions surrounding Barb and Steve and everything, a moment of weakness, EXCEPT for the fact that she confirmed to Jonathan the night before that she waited for him and has essentially liked him the entire time. That, in my opinion, pushes it from “mistake made as a result of heightened emotions after a bad fight” to “opportunity taken that she’s wanted for a long time.” It’s a fucked-up writing decision that makes Nancy and Jonathan both look bad, as not only do they both know Nancy has a boyfriend, they also both literally owe said boyfriend their lives, and they still choose to sleep together.

The whole “thing” with J*ncy is shared trauma, right? They have the matching scars. Shared trauma, that’s “the real shit” according to Murray. But... what trauma do they share, exactly, that isn’t also shared by Steve? Steve was just as much “as fault” for Barb’s death as Nancy (of course neither of them were remotely responsible, but they were both there and they both had sex while Barb was dying out back in the pool, so). Steve fought the Demogorgon with them. Steve actually stood in front of both of them and held the Demogorgon off, protecting them! Is the “shared trauma” meant to be losing someone to the Upside Down? Will survived, but even if you do count him as a “loss,” then Joyce, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin all share that trauma, too. 

None of that really even matters, because the concept of shared trauma as the basis of a relationship is a mess that the show literally dismantles themselves in the form of, you guessed it, St*ncy!

Steve and Nancy both know about the Upside Down. Steve and Nancy both ignorantly had sex as Barb died, and now have to live with that knowledge. Nancy lost her best friend, and Steve has to wake up and go to sleep right next to the place Barb died every single day. They both fought the Demogorgon. They were both told by the government that they absolutely cannot tell anyone about what happened, and they will most likely be killed if they do. This shared trauma is what makes Nancy lash out at Steve, it’s what makes her get wasted, it’s what makes her blame him for Barb’s death, and it’s presumably what prevents her from loving him even though she clearly wants to (why else stay with him for a year?). So why should we, the viewers, accept that J*ncy’s shared trauma will provide the basis for a healthy relationship when the very same thing caused St*ncy to crumble?

So Nancy and Jonathan sleep together. They come back, Steve can tell what happened, and he says that it’s fine. I think that we’re supposed to take this as character development, or something? When he first thinks that Nancy has cheated on him with Jonathan, he responds by publicly shaming them and insulting Jonathan, but now, when Nancy ACTUALLY cheats on him, he takes it lying down, says that it’s fine when it clearly isn’t, and... this is a good thing?

We already know Steve is a better person now. We knew it back in S1, when he cleaned off the movie theater sign, went to Jonathan’s house to apologize, and then literally risked his own life to save Nancy and Jonathan! We knew it when he went to dinner at the Hollands’ with Nancy. We knew it when he ignored Billy’s jabs during basketball and at the party and let the insults roll off his back instead of allowing himself to be goaded into a fight. We knew it when he went to Nancy’s house with flowers to apologize, when he helped Dustin look for Dart, when he fought off the Demodogs, etc, etc.

I’m getting off topic, but my point is that St*ncy is a mess in S2 for a lot of reasons, but the way it ends is the worst part. Steve, for whom infidelity is a big fucking deal due to his parents’ strained relationship as a result of his own father’s cheating, gets cheated on by Nancy. Nancy never properly apologizes to him. They never really talk about it. Steve says it’s fine, his heart is broken, and Nancy and Jonathan are happily in love and never have to own up to the fact that their relationship began as infidelity.

The whole S2 St*ncy narrative essentially functions to grind Steve’s heart into the dirt while making Nancy and Jonathan, protagonists who we are presumably intended to like and root for, seem like terrible people. I have so many more thoughts about St*ncy, but most of those are already up in some other posts, so this is it, I guess! Thanks for asking!

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Reviews: The Phantom and the Sorceress

Ducktales returns! The Phantom Blot returns to animation after too damn long with a neat backstory, an infnity guantlet and a hate boner for anything magic related. And since Lena is magic related she’s forced to go to her worst enemy and local close up magician Magica De Spell for help. Also Gladstone is here because we missed him and for no other reason. But we missed him so it’s okay. Friendship Is Magic, under the cut. 

Woo-ooo! We’re back! Months later and in a new room, with new things to be depressed about because this year is groundhog day and everyone is bill murray, which isn’t as fun as it should be, Ducktales is finally back on screens and in my heart. And my galbladder.. he really likes ducktales.  But yeah with the recent cancelation of the venture bros, it’s nice to get it’s spirtual littlte brother back just a few weeks later to help fill the void, and while a comparison to it now I know frank’s a fan and noticed the simlarties between rusty and gyro thanks to a tumblr post, the same post for both things inf act, I might just do that one day. But tha’ts not what your here, for , iv’e had to rewrite this intro enough times, Pitter Patter, let’s get at er. 

This episodes opens with Scrooge sitting down for his morning tea when the kids pop out of the tv and hte bored way he figures it out is really hilarious. David Tennat is really good at selling just how Scrooge has both seen it all and has the deductive skills of Barbra Gordon. What eveyrone syaing “Of batman” gets old after a while and she’s just as smart as he is, especially as oracle. Point is it’s a good bit. As he correclty guesses the kids were playing Legends of Nerverquest or whatever that game Huey and Della played last season is called, one of them wished it was real, presumibly Dewey, and Lena’s magic accidently made it happen.  And since it’s her first spotlight episode of the season, and possibly only one since this season is kind of packed, it’s time to talk about Lena! Admitely I PLANNED to do at least her first episode and her two season 2 episodes before this, but life got in the way so here we are. Lena.. is easily one of my faviortes, the number of weblena chats have made that clear. She’sd got a compelling arc, the show tackles abuse well in her narrative, and she and webby have really sweet chemstiry. Plus she brought us Violet and i’ll always be greatful for that and she’s voiced by Kimiko Glenn in her first major voice acting role so that helps too. SHe’s a great addition to the cast and the canon. Same, as the previous comment made obvious, goes for Violet, and the three togther have a great dynamic and i’ts nice to finally see an episode with JUST the three of them post “Friendship Hates Magic.”. 

But yeah Lena’s magic’s been going haywire and I do feel the setups abit rushed.. hilarious but rushed. While Night on Kilmotor hill did establish her magic can run wild, it was also vauge if it was because of her, or it was because magica was messing with her head. IT’s still a plausable setup since we haven’t really SEEN her use her magic or have any intrest and doing so and she’s only done so either while working for magica, to undo something magica did, or to give her sister a mace so she could literally go midevil on some alien ass, it just feels a bit abrubt. And while Night on Kilmotor hill also set up a problem we hadn’t seen on screen, it felt like it gave us more time to ease into it and Lena’s issues, and made it clear SOMETHING was up instead of just telling us that. The rest of hte episode is still good i’ve just seen the show be way better at setup than this. 

But yeah Lena’s magic keeps runing their fun and she feels bad about it, while Scrooge ends up putting his foot and spats in his mouth by voicing his hatred of magic, with all his nephews giving him a “Grandpa no look” and Webby glaring at him.. and whiel I didn’t realize it while watching it.. whiel sh’es given him a disaporving look, the equilvent of shooting bambi in the face emtoinally, she’s only been THIS angry with him one other time.. and it was the time he said “Your not family”. Thankfully this time he’s not in defnstive arrogant bastard mode, so he meekly walks it back to exclude her and she shrugs it off: She hates magic too. And really.. it’s not hard to see WHY given that most times it’s enterted her life, it’s nearly got everyone she loves killed, and that the only spellcaster she knows personally is the absuive aunt whose gaslighted her on multiple occasions, most recently to try and renslave her.  Thankfully before Webby can make an old man bleed for his insesntivity, Della reveals some magical creature is there and Scrooge, while annoyed it’s more magic, is happy for another adventure and invites everyone along. And I jsut love that he dosen’t even show the slightest hesitation bringing Violet and Lena along. As far as he’s concerned probably their family too, maybe not as much as Webby but their still welcome. I mean granted i’m sure della and donald had an awkard conversation with Ty and Indy over all this to make sure it was cool, but still, it’s a nice gesture on his part and show’s his personality: He really dosen’t care who comes along as long as they can pull their weight and share his love for adventure, their welcome.  It’s also nice ot see him and Lena interact since the two really haven’t since the shadow war: Sure he’s been in the same room with her twice, btu they haven’t really spoken. Though my honest guess is they could’ve genuinely meant for Scrooge to adopt her into the family.. but when coming up with Violet found her family adopting her and them becoming sisters to be a better idea and went with that. And to be fair it is, and not just for  shipping purposes, I just wish we got some closure on that line, but i’m also aware the show has a LOT of ground to cover each season, so I understand it probably got squeezed out by all the other stuff going on and don’t really sweat it since we got something better anyway, her getting two gay dads and a sister, it just felt worth talking about.  And in universe.. I feel he didn’t simply because he didn’t either know she was back or have a chance to, though i’m also damn certain, at least in my own headcanon, he helped those men formally adopt her. I mean he owns most of the city, and they probably also had to make Lena legally exist in the first place since I doubt Magica bothered to put her on any offical records that weren’t signed in blood and written on paper made of avian flesh, which given SCrooge’s experince is probably not the first time he had to get a person into official records who came into being by way of magic or some other weirdness. 

Anyways, Lena opts out of the adventure because she’s worried about it going haywire and Webby opts out out of sympathy and while Violet is clearly keen to go, she gladly does so for her sister.. though this just makes Lena feel worse since now her girlfriend and her sister are missing out on stuff because of her, and suggests just going to sleep before she whoopsie daisy magics them to death.  The girls end up woken from their sleep however by a bang at the door. It’s Gladstone!

Yup it’s time to talk about another character I haven’t talked about yet. Gladstone is easily one of the show’s best overhauls. See in the comics while Gladstone is just as lucky and lazy.. he’s also just.. 

Okay i’m amazed it’s taken this long for me to refrence jean ralphio in one of these reviews but i’m glad it was for this.  Back on topic, while I know Gladstone in the comics has his fans, and is softend a bit in european comics, but in most stories i’ve read with him he’s an insufferably arrogant dick. Even BEFORE getting his luck, his first apperance, which I own in trade and read earlier this year, has him trying to take Donald’s house and kick him and the nephews out on the street over a drunken wager to take a polar dive, which Donald fials because life hates him and he’s a coward. Thankfully Daisy rushed in and saved the day because she’s great sometimes ,and turned things on him wiht his own drunken crap, but still, it says something when your first apperance is trying to force three ten year olds and your own cousin out into the cold. 

He .. did not get any better once his super luck came into play. Instead he just flautned it all the time and tried to constnatly win Daisy over from donald.. which had varying sucess based on how much of a shallow dick she was being that story, and in general was just unplesant. He really only works for me in comic in those aformetioned softer times: when a writer makes his luck ruin his love life or add actual depth instead of him just being the raincloud on donal’ds parade. The original ducktales and the going quackers game are the only places I can think of he showed up otherwise, prototype in the old disney shorts nonwithstanding, and Ducktales Classic made him a nice guy from what i’ve heard. Thankfully frank and crew knew exactly what to do to adapt him perfectly: He still retains some aspects from the comics: Donald and Scrooge still hate him, Donald for Gladstone always winning and always having it easy while Donald.. is donald and thus utterly miserable half the time and on fire the other half, and Scrooge because he’s a lazy asshole who gets whatever he wants with the least effort, which didn’t change. What did change was his attitude. While he still is proud of getting whatever he wants in life with no effort and being “the best at getting something for nothing” he dosen’t lord it over everyone else. Sure he’s proud of it but he dosen’t rub Donald’s nose in how much better off he is on purpose, and genuinely loves his family, something I really coudln’t say about most versions of comic Gladstone. While he’s self serving he’s perfectly happy to share his luck with whoever else: He can always get more money whenever he needs it because of course he will. The other factor helping is , as with this entire reboot, the voice acting, in this case the marvelous Paul F Thompkins of Bojack and so much other stuff fame, who really sells the “Sleazy vegas layabout” vibe this series gives him, updating his old aristocratic asshole vibe to something more fun to watch and really being a treat anytime gladstone comes up. Gladstone singing in season 2 was entirely something Paul Improvised during his first apperance they made sure to use eventually. He’s a delight any time he shows up and a total 180 from his utterly agrviating original version. 

As for why he’s here.. said luck. is gone. After being hit by some weird energy, Gladstone suddenly, since he didn’t see it hit him, finds himself living normally: going to a restraunt offers no free meal for being 100th custmoer or anything, his wallet dosen’t magically have 20 dollars in it, and the atm gives him 20 dollars.. which would seem normal except it’s actually usually a sack of rubys.  Naturally Gladstone having coasted his entire life on his magical luck, has no idea how to function as a normal human being and is utterly hilarious as he breaks down. Admitely he’s not the biggest part of the plot, he’s mostly here for comic relief and COULD have been eaisly cut.. but he’s so hilarious and seeing him utterly fail at being a normal person and whine about things as simple as walking or going up stairs is just groovy.  As for what weird magical bolt took it, Violet being violet figures it out quick: The Phantom Blot! For those unfamiliar, he’s a charcter from the mickey mouse comics, though I know him from one episode of house and mouse that adapted those comics that I need to read more of, a master schemer and old school villian par excellence and Mickey’s greatest foe. I was ecastic to see him come here and in the capable hands of Giancarlo Espisto. While I haven’t watched brekaing bad i’ve heard nothing but good thigns and he does his best with what little he’s given. But here instead of a master schemer he’s an infamous magic theif and is obviously the one who drained gladstone.. and unforutntely for scrooge the boys and presumibly everyone else... we see him in action using his fancy infnity guantlet esque magic draining gauntlet to drain the portal they took. Ruh Roh.  It gets worse when he mistakes Lena for magica, and charges after her, though Webby is able to hold him off with the axe she grabbed on the way to the door earlier, and damages his gauntlet. he retreats.. but it’s obvious he’ll be back and both Webby and Violet come to the conclusion Lena needs to grasp her magic in order to survive.. and both have the same unfortunate relization: They only know one person who can do it and Lena, once she realizes what hteir thinking, wnats nothing to do with her, and neither do they. But they have no options: they have to go to magica.  So they journey to her house on Dagobah, with Gladstone tagging along because they need a wacky comedic sidekick to help lighten the mood what with the serious, grim hunter wanting to murder a teenage girl inf nront of her tweenage girlfriend and kid sister, and their only resort being going back to her abuser for help.  Magica however isn’t all that helpful at first. Being Magica her first move is to make a grab for the Amulet to get her power back, which her running crew thwart quickly but naturally Lena still wants nothing to do with her and Magica just insults her for not using magic and because she’s a terrible person. SHe does however end up changing her tune when she hears the blot’s involved. She whisks them inside while we get a cutaway to FOWL headquarters where blot is working on his guantlet more on him in a minute.  We soon get the Blot’s backstory which is actually really inttresting and invovled even if it’s not a lot like who he is in the comcis or house of mouse: A long ass time ago before meddling kids got in her way, Magica took over a small vililage with the threat of destroying it and eveyrone in it outright unless they gave her tributes.. and when those got boring she just did it anyway. Problem was, as happens a lot when evil sorecerers calously destroy hometowns, one of them survivied. It’s even lampshaded by Magica as she points out Blot wasn’t the first. The problem was.. he was persitant. The blot never gave up, coming up with better tech to fight her magic each time and coming back stronger and likely more determined. I like this verson: While he’s not the bwahahah mastermindk, he’s still an utter threat, a force with an unyielding hatred and a burning mission to take out the target of his hate and anything like her. He reminds me a lot of toffee from star vs but if htey actually gave his backstory on screen. A meancing, somehwat quite, or mostly silent in the blot’s case, immortal menace who’s deterimiend to wipe out those who wronged him and anything related to them and has warped from what was once probably a decen tperson into a human engine of destruction with one goal and one goal only. He’s a good enoguh villian for the episode, I just hope if he comes back they give him better lines. his dialouge is really what dosen’t work for me as whiel his backstory and aura of meance work, Giancarlo is given nothing to work with line wise. He dosen’t need to be a chatty cathy or anything, just give him one or too really cool lines. Sometimes tha’ts all you need. Watch how the pros do it. 

I do like this verison, I jsut think they could do more, but given the show has a good track record for only getting better with their villians with every use, I have no worries about that and he’s still a cool enough threat. I also wish we got more of fowl or why he’s working with them. just a small scene with one of them was all I asked, because we’ve barely gotten fowl this season. It’s really one of the season’s only real problems so far: 8 episodes in and while FOWL agents have shown up twice, adn one of the episodes did advance that plot by showing off heron and steelbeak, we really haven’t seen any progress on their plans to both take the missing mysteries or kill the Clan McDuck. HOpefully this changes as we go and again, it dosen’t ditract from the episode itself, jsut the season as a whole.  Anyways, Lena is still relucntant because Magica is terrible and keeps slipping in how much she wants to take the amulet every five minutes. I love the show and catherine tate’s take on magica: just as hammy and nuts as before but when she does have magic, she’s the utter threat she was before too times ten.  But yeah while Lena’s relunctant.. neither of htem really has a choice> Magica needs her amulet secure to get her magic back, and Lena needs to not die. So they relucntantly agree to work together among more hilarous sniping.  Cue a training montage set to a hell of an 80′s tune. The show really has a good habit of making good incdental music to use in bits like this. Lena trains, uses gladstone as the training dummy, and it’s funny as it is creative and we even get some karate kids bit and the obvious star wars refrences. Meanwhile the blot approaches ever closer..  We also find out something important from Magica as she chastises Lena for having fun with her friends while training after Lena uses blue magic instead of purple: Turns out much like spellcasters in say owl house or my little pony each caster has a specific color to their magic, a Colur of magic if you will. Magica’s, and lena using hers is purple while the blue magic we’ve seen from her is her own powered by friendship and love. It’s a nice advancement of what we’ve seen so far: We’ve seen her magic powered by webby is stronger than her other stuff, and we’ve seen it come out during times their bond, or in the case of kilmotor hill her bond with everyone, is strongest. We knew something was diffrent with the magics and it’s now given a though and clearly well thought out explination why: Magica’s magic is hers and Lena was just borrowing it.. the blue stuff is hers and hers alone.  Magica does try to get her to master it by having one of her friends shoot her.. Webby of course strongly objects so Violet takes it up since it is for study after all and her sister can take a hit. Lena also wonders how she can even do magic without the amulet, but as Magica makes clear, and as I outlined above, the amulet is just help. The blue magic is her. Lena fails to use it though to deflect in time.. and to make matters worse the blot shows up after plopping gladstone down and wants to kill them  both.  We then get easily the best laugh of the episode.. as Magica tries stage magic and the blot wonders what the hell he’s looknig at. I mean this is his mortal enemy, the monster who killed everyone he’d ever known or loved... pulling out a bunch of colored rags and asking him to pick a card. It’s amazing. Lena attacks from the side and Webby and Violet quickly asist, with Magica joining in to use the rope to bind him and Lena’s magic kicking in, turning the rope into chain and summoning a snake.. but in a show of badassery the blot easily shrugs it off: he absorbs the magic, escapes and knocks them around while Webby asks the snake for help.. can she speak snake? She hopes so. 

Then things get dire as The Blot starts absorbing the magic.. and killing lena as she starts to fade away. Magica of course can’t even feign dispaointment in anything but loosing her magic. And that’s also something I really love here: The show makes no attempt to make magica better or turn around because it just isn’t who she is and even if she did after all the abuse she did, Lena would have zero reason to forgive her. It’s nice that they DON’T try redemeing her or shoing a brighter side: she’s a bad person, a worse caregiver and they only came to her because they had no choice. 

But as the magic’s absorbed magica does tell her to find the source of the power and we get a great scene: She first thinks of all the abuse magica’s done to her and it’s a harrowing montage to watch. But webby, breaks through that, since that obviouslyf ails and reminds her of where HER magic comes from: Her and webby. and we get an adorable,a nd shiptastic montage as we see more clips from past episodes.. but this time we see their adorable fistbump from “Beagle BOy Birthday Massacre”, their hug from “Jaw$!” and Lena’s return to the world and hug with her lady and future sister from “Friendship hates magic”. IT’s her friends, her sister and the love of her life who are her real source of power, and her magic connects to htem as lena ccccchanges.  And I mean entirely, her outfit changes and she gets these.. weird bright blue eyes. Like I like the rest of her outfits, a white and blue attire to show her change with a badass cape, looks like a superhero so naturally I love it.. her eyes just look really off. Like when Milo Muprhy’s law tried to give characters colored irses. Because no one else in ducktales has them it just loosk.. weird.. Otherwise though I like it. We then get a beam struggle, but with adde dhelp from her friends and her new power, Lena eventually beats the blot, as her sheer power overloads the guantlet and sends him running. However in the confusion the amulet was lost.. and Magica gets it back. Lena whollops her easily, pointing out her magic’s purpose is to protect the world from people like her. It’s a nice development too: Lena realizes MAGIC isn’t inherently evil... it’s how it’s used. Star Vs could’ve maybe taken this lesson, but regardless, it’s a nice bit of character development realizing that magic is a part of her IS Her, and she shoudln’t have to give up something in her nature because of her abuser. Magica, while repowered, is force dto lookf or her staff while Lena gladly floats team magic home. Also with the guantlet broken gladstone is back, as a rain of 20 dolalr bills he uses as tissues confims, and the portal returns, and with Lena you know, havin ga whole superhero outfit, glowing blue eyes and her hair streak now blue, they know something clearly happend and the episode just kind of ends. Still a good one.  Final Thoughts: This was a good one as I just said. While I had my nitpicks here and there as I also said, Lena’s strong character, and the game performances of Espisito, Thompkins, and Tate really add to our usual trlo, and as I mentioned before it’s nice ot see team magic get their own episode now their a full team. IT’s just a good romp and a good way back. I”ve made my complaints clear but their drowned out by good jokes, good character stuff, and good worldbuilding that makes this an utter thrill and a great one to come back to and i’tll also be intresting to see where Lena goes from here.  But wherever she goes she’ll have webby. They can be whot hey are, independent together, if theyt ry. And yes that’s my shiping song for htem and yes I have one. 

Quick bit before I go I dind’t get to, Gladstone flirts with magica when she lands in his arms, a little something for the shippers and a nice gesture on frakn’s part. Whle she rejects him and he dumps her in the sludge with a shrug. I mean.. their probably going to bang at some point. Gladstone’s powers mean he’ll likely find her when sh’es super horny and more than willing, and he’ll be like “eh why not boobs”. I mean I thought about this: I figure his powers allow him to find a willing partner, any gender or none at all I see him as pansexual, who happens to probablyb e loaded and diseased free, whenever he happens to be into it who naturallyw orks out perfectly because if he gets money whenever he wants it, why not sex? It’s not even a concious thing as we’ve seen things just work out for him so of course he probably gets laid, and as we see here it’s only if the other person consets. Good for him. Hope to see him again sooner. I want to see more of him and della interacting and see what she thinks of him. Freshe eys andall that. 

But yeah this was great to come back to. If you liked this i’ve reviewed the rest of the season up to this point and will be reviewing each episdoe every monday till they stop again, so keep an eye out for that.  You can check the tabs on my blogs for more reviews, come back this weekend for regular loud house coverag,e follow for more reviews or shoot me a pm if you’d like to comission me to do an episode. For just 5 bucks i’ll review any episode of any animated show of your choosing, and as i’ve only covered one season 2 episode of ducktales, there’s over 40 left ot choose from if you have any you want to hear my thoughts on. Until then stay safe, quack hard, and Go Team Venture! Play us out Steg .. and Co. 

[jonny-byerss]

Why Jancy Is Endgame

So, recently, I’ve seen quite a bit of Jancy hate which I literally don’t understand, because how can you look at Jancy and think “Wow, I hate them”...like, it genuinely baffles me that people don’t ship Jancy, like how? They have SO MUCH CHEMISTRY it’s unreal. In all three seasons, it’s evident that there’s something more between them than just “monster hunting partners”. So, recently, I have been asking multiple people including my irl friends why they think Jancy is endgame and this is what I’ve come up with.

1.) The Duffers Aren’t Dumb

Even though quite a bit of people are disappointed with the way they’ve taken their writing, you have to admit one thing: they aren’t dumb. They’ve been setting Jancy up to be canon since S1, and fans have been rooting for them to get together since S1. It’s not until Steve’s turn-around that people started hating on Jancy.

Jancy is definitely more popular than Stancy for sure. To a majority of fans, even if Jancy isn’t their favorite Stranger Things ship, they still at least ship it. And, with the exception of hardcore Steve stans, most people who like Steve as a character admit that Jonathan and Nancy fit better together than Steve and Nancy ever did. We know the Duffers like to give in to what a majority of fans want, and Jancy seems to be what a majority of fans want.

There’s 3 core ships that the Duffers have been building up since S1. Those are Jopper, Jancy, and Mileven. It’s obvious in S1 that these ships are going to become canon eventually, and they’re also the three core ships of the show that people love. They also tend to focus on these three relationships quite a bit in their writing, with the majority of major relationship moments being with these three ships, especially Mileven. It’s obvious they want us to root for these ships.

The main point I’m trying to make is the Duffers have been setting Jancy up to be canon since S1. They have shown us many moments in all three seasons that show us just how much chemistry Jancy has. From the bed scene in S1, to the hallway scene in S2, they’re obviously trying to show us that Jancy is meant to get together.

Not only that, but Jancy was ACTUALLY supposed to be canon in S1. I don’t know how many people know this, but Steve was supposed to die in S1, and Jancy was supposed to get together. The writers liked Joe Keery so they decided they needed to find a way to keep him on the show. It’s clear to me that the writers themselves are rooting for Jancy, which means that they want us to root for Jancy too.

I’m not here to say how the Duffers should write the next seasons, and I myself don’t know what happens in the future seasons, but I do see the clues that the Duffers have given us since S1 and I also believe that the Duffers know what they’re doing. They know what the majority of fans want and it’s clear to me that they want us to root for Jancy, so obviously they’re gonna keep them together.

2.) THAT Ending Scene In S3

A lot of people that say “Jancy has no chemistry” clearly have not seen their last scene in S3. To me, that scene is a promise. A promise to each other and to us that Jancy is in it for each other.

In this scene, you can see that they are so painfully in love. They don’t want to leave each other. You can tell it breaks both of their hearts that they have to separate for a bit.

I could do a whole analysis of this scene, and I just might do that later, but to me, what they’re saying to each other is “We’ve been through so much together, why can’t we go through a little more?”

Sure, long-distance would be harder in the 80s, but I do believe that their love is strong enough to last. They clearly both love each other very much. And there’s always phone calls and letters and visiting each other on breaks.

When thinking of the LDRs that the Byers move caused, lots of people think of Mileven, but Jancy is actually way more likely to be endgame than Mileven at this point. We don’t know what happens in future seasons or if the Byers eventually move back, but we do know that Jonathan and Nancy are seniors in high school and almost 18. Mike and Eleven are barely starting high school and have more time to be apart than Jancy does. Once Jancy graduates, they can do whatever they want. Sure, one could say that Jonathan might feel an obligation to stay with his family, but we also know that he has an ambition for NYU. We have no idea what Nancy wants. I can honestly see her go to college for journalism or something similar. What’s to stop her from going to NYU or somewhere in NY with Jonathan?

We don’t know what the Duffers have in store for Jancy’s future, but I trust that they can give Jancy the perfect ending they deserve. That scene in S3 has so much underlying meaning to it, like the fact that the song that play in the background during it is called “You’re a Fighter”. I have a whole different thing planned on analyzing that scene, and I’ll post that later, but basically, with that scene, to me, the Duffers are trying to say “They’re in this for each other. They’re so in love that they’re going to make it work”

3) They are the most mature relationship on the show

I’ve seen quite a few people say that the argument they had in S3 is “proof they are incompatible” but that is simply not true. In fact, if anything, it shows how they are exactly the opposite. Here’s why.

So, every couple fights. It’s the ability to work through a fight and come out stronger and more understanding that shows just how committed a couple is to each other. Jonathan and Nancy are a prime example of this.

Jonathan and Nancy come from different backgrounds. This argument of “I’m poor” and “People are being sexist towards me” is a very adult argument. I mean, most teenage couples you see have fights about jealousy-type crap. Jancy’s fight is a fight that adults would have. That’s why I believe they are a very mature couple.

Not only that, but the key thing to remember is that they both admitted that they felt bad for what they said and apologized, reaffirming their commitment to each other. This is a fight that they can grow from as a result. Because they apologized and acknowledged their wrong-doings, they have a better foundation for understanding each other in the future and they can grow as a couple. This can also give them a perspective on life that maybe they didn’t think about before.

Honestly, Jancy has been through a lot crap together so they kind of have to be mature. Plus, Jonathan himself had to grow up faster than most children, which gives him a perspective on life that he most likely passed on to Nancy.

This is why I believe Jancy is the most mature couple. Instead of letting their fight get the best of them, they acknowledged their wrong-doings and became more understanding of each other as a result. It takes real maturity to do something like that.

The reason I compare them to the other couples is because, look at Mileven’s fight in S3. It seems sort of childish compared to Jancy’s. And Lumax has broken up 5 times apparently. And Jopper, gosh, they have a lot of issues to work out. Jancy seems to have effectively worked out their differences and become stronger as a result.

Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) himself said that when he first read the S3 script, he thought that Jancy seemed like a married couple, which I think says a lot about their relationship. They are so mature and comfortable with each other like that. He also said this, which basically sums up what I said, here:

4) They are more than just “shared trauma”

I’ve seen a lot of people criticize Jancy by saying stuff like “Shared trauma isn’t a good foundation for a relationship”, but I’m about to prove why that’s bullcrap, because Jancy is more than their shared trauma.

So, shared trauma seems to be what the writers like to point out about their relationship. In the ending scene in S3, Jonathan tells Nancy “We’ve got shared trauma”. He is referring to what Murray said to them in S2 when he was telling them why they should get together. Just because “shared trauma” is what Murray emphasized, doesn’t mean it’s their only foundation.

I’d quickly like to point out though, that shared trauma is actually a real life relationship trope and there are real-life couples founded on this. But, I’d also like to point out that Jancy’s trauma isn’t just any trauma. They didn’t just fight in Vietnam together or something, like it’s not every day your loved one gets kidnapped by an otherworldly demon.

I think the main emphasis that the show is focusing on when they say “shared trauma” is the scars. I mean, when Jonathan said that line in S3, he was touching Nancy’s scar that he shares with her. They are the only two people with those matching scars. Those scars are something that unites them and reminds them of the past they share.

Their “trauma” isn’t just how they met either. I mean, they obviously knew each other before the events of S1. Their brothers are best friends. I’m not saying they were friends or anything, but they were definitely acquaintances.

Their trauma is how they grew closer. I mean, before their first traumatic experience, they seemed to be getting on each other’s nerves a bit. It’s not until Nancy almost became Demogorgon lunch that they started realizing they could trust each other. After that, they realized they worked well together and they may or may not have fallen in love.

Also, let’s not forget all the flirting they did before their traumatic experience. The darkroom, even the target practice scene.

I think the key thing to remember with their trauma though is that, because they both went through similar experiences, they understand each other in that way. I mean, part of Stancy breaking up was because Steve didn’t realize the trauma she was going through and didn’t understand fully how to help her. Jonathan understood in a way what she was feeling because he went through something similar.

And yeah, shared trauma might not be a good foundation, because obviously there’s other things to consider in a relationship, but if there’s anything S3 showed us it’s that Jancy knows how to communicate and work through their problems, so clearly that’s not an issue for them.

5) The love triangle is done

I’ve seen some online articles that say things like “Now that Jonathan is gone, Nancy will go back with Steve”. I’ve even heard people say “Nancy will go with Robin”. Both of those are bullcrap.

First of all, Stancy’s arc is finished. S2 showed us how incompatible they were by showing how Steve hasn’t been a good support system for Nancy and showing that Nancy no longer loved Steve. Nancy obviously felt something more for Jonathan, who could support her in a better way than Steve could, because Jonathan had similar experiences. After they broke up, they were done. And when Jonathan and Nancy kissed the love triangle was over. It was solved.

I think most of the fans can agree that they are glad the love triangle was solved, that way Nancy’s story can be about more than just boys. It would be stupid for the Duffers to bring it back and it would ruin every ounce of character development that Steve and Nancy have gone through. And I am confident that the Duffers aren’t stupid.

Part of Steve’s S2 arc is getting over Nancy and accepting that she no longer loves him and even finding a friend in Dustin. Part of Nancy’s arc in S2 was realizing she should embrace that girl she was for a week in November 1983. She gets justice for Barb and even embraces her feelings for the school outcast. Nancy and Steve can still be friends, and even Jonathan and Steve, but that’s it. Nothing more. It’s been decided that Nancy doesn’t love Steve, she loves Jonathan. Even if Jonathan is far away, it’s possible to love him from a distance.

And about Robin and Nancy, it’s also highly unlikely. Again, I think most fans are tired of Nancy’s love life and love triangle and are glad it’s over. Adding Robin to the mix would make it even more complicated.

First of all, it’s not canon that Nancy is bisexual. The only canon LGBT character is Robin. It is implied that Will may be as well, but nothing has been confirmed.

I can see Robin and Nancy being good friends, but Robin did call her a priss in S3 and also, it’s like an unspoken rule in best-friendship that you don’t date their exes. Robin and Steve are best friends. This would break that rule.

I do know, based on leaked photos, Nancy and Robin most likely work together (maybe even with Steve) in S4. I believe, however, that the relationship is fully platonic. It would be nice for Nancy to have a friend that’s a girl after her loss of Barb, and Robin is a good person and would be a great friend for Nancy. I also believe, however, that Nancy is 100% dedicated to Jonathan (based on the last scene in S3) and will only be working with Robin (and maybe Steve) because they know something that would be useful.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is: Nancy’s love life arc has ended. It’s been decided that Nancy doesn’t love Steve and he can’t give her what she wants. And I think most Ronance shippers are just trolls, tbh. No one seems really serious about any Nancy and Robin relationship that’s anything more than platonic.

———————

And I think that about sums up why I believe Jancy is endgame. Jonathan and Nancy clearly love and care for each other very much as shown in all three seasons. Plus, there’s the fact that THEIR ACTORS ARE LITERALLY DATING IN REAL LIFE! (Seriously both Jancy and Natarlie are relationship goals).

I am extremely confident that even if Jancy does break up at some point, it won’t be for long and they’ll somehow find their way back to each other because they are soulmates. That is a guarantee. I have full confidence that the Duffers can give their relationship the perfect ending they deserve. I’d like to hear your guys’ feedback (please try to keep negativity away). Do you believe Jancy is endgame?

And here’s proof that Jancy loves each other:

[let-the-dream-begin]

A Place to Belong Chapter 28: Withering

Chapter 27

Read on AO3

September 14th, 1749

Jenny had indeed been pregnant. She was about six-and-a-half months along now.

But she was far too thin.

The potato crop was doing just fine, it always did. The famine touched them, of course, but so far it hadn’t directly affected Lallybroch apart from being unable to obtain certain fruits or vegetables. This year, however, that had all changed.

The barley wouldn’t ripen. It had apparently been overwatered and there was no saving it. No barley meant no whisky, which meant no direct income, nothing to trade with. Every scrap of food became precious; there wasn’t enough to feed the animals. Pigs and goats were going hungry, and the only option was to slaughter them before they lost all the meat on their bones and became useless when they wasted away. And even once they’d reached that point, there wasn’t much meat to be had.

The potatoes kept them alive. Even the turnips in Jenny’s garden had failed this year, so that starchy vegetable was all they had left. Even the game from Fergus’s traps were scarce of late. The grain harvest was not much better off than the barley, so bread and bannocks were a rare commodity for the first time ever.

Claire was terrified.

Janet and Michael always seemed to be hungry, and Jenny always seemed to be trying to feed them, but more often than not, there was nothing coming out of her to give them. She was not eating enough to produce milk. Claire knew her body could still produce some milk from the way her breasts occasionally still leaked at Brianna's cries, but it had been so long since her body had needed to nourish her child, she, too, was useless. The goats were hardly producing any milk, being as starved as they were.

And Jenny was much too thin.

Claire had never seen a gaunt pregnant woman in her life. And now that she had, she wished she could burn it out of her memory.

She noticed it for the first time during supper one night. They were eating potato stew -- again -- and Claire watched as Jenny emptied some of the contents of her bowl into Jamie’s, then Maggie’s, then Kitty’s, hardly leaving any for herself. Claire paused her own eating to really look at Jenny, wondering how long she’d been doing that. She noticed then that her arms were much smaller than she remembered them being, her cheekbones much sharper, her eyes more sunken in. Her pallor was gray.

How did I miss this?

Claire had declared at once that she did not feel well, and had foisted her stew upon Jenny and excused herself.

“Make sure she finishes that,” she’d whispered to Ian. He vowed he would.

Claire made sure from that night on to sneak just that little bit of extra stew into Jenny’s bowl, leaving less for herself. She noticed eventually that Ian was doing the same.

But even with the extra helpings, Jenny was hardly eating enough food for one, let alone two.

Claire was terrified.

Maggie started knocking on Claire’s door almost nightly, whimpering, horrible, sad little noises.

“My tummy hurts, Auntie.”

“Please heal me, Auntie.”

Claire gave her peppermint tea and held her by the fire until she fell into a fitful sleep, and Claire wept.

Peppermint tea was all well and good, but there was no real cure for hunger.

In late September, Fergus put his foot down. He knew there was a gun being hidden somewhere on the grounds, and he demanded to be told where it was so he could shoot some game with it.

“The traps are useless! We need to hunt, Uncle!”

They’d argued for a long while, and Ian and Jenny had almost won out, until Maggie wandered up to Claire and asked for more peppermint for her tummy.

That was enough for them to allow it.

He and Rabbie left for two days, returning with a small doe and a basket of fish. It kept them afloat for a few more weeks.

Then, on December second, the Redcoats came back.

Even they, high and mighty as they were, were apparently not immune to famine.

“Good afternoon, Master Murray,” The Captain greeted from atop his horse. For a moment, Claire was terrified they’d found out about Fergus’s hunting trip with a firearm, but it was soon abundantly clear why they were here.

“Many of our men are going hungry as we speak. Game has been scarce of late. We are requiring all farms near the patrol to offer rations.”

Jenny went paler than she already was.

“Captain, I’m sure ye know we are all loyal subjects to His Majesty,” Ian began carefully. “And if we had anything to spare, ye ken that we would. But, ye see — ”

“I’m quite aware that it’s been a difficult harvest. You are not the only farmers to have said so.” He dismounted and stood tall in front of Ian. “Unfortunately, we are not in a position to argue. Our men are starving.”

“Sir...my children are starving.” Ian gestured helplessly behind him to Jenny in the garden, Jamie and Maggie hiding behind her skirts. Claire stood near with bated breath.

“A pity indeed,” The Captain said flippantly. “Though I’m afraid you aren’t in a position to argue either.”

“How d’ye mean?”

“Come now, we’ve visited with you lot quite a bit, haven’t we? Surely you must realize you’re in a bit of hot water, what with Mistress Fraser as suspicious a character as she is. And you...suspiciously the wrong pegleg that night. Astonishing, isn’t it?”

“Sir...I dinna ken what ye mean about my wife’s cousin, and the matter about the grave robbing was resolved — ”

“Was it indeed?” He cocked his head, narrowing his eyes. “Funny that you see it that way.”

That was when it all clicked in Claire’s head.

Perhaps the men were starving; it was more than likely. But they couldn’t possibly have been nearly as destitute as they were claiming, couldn’t be so lacking in supplies that taking from Lallybroch was a necessity.

He knew they were hiding things, keeping secrets. And he was using that knowledge to taunt them, holding their starvation over their heads.

It’s a fucking game to him.

He intended to take from the Murrays because he wanted to, and because he could.

“Two bags of grain, and three bags of potato, Master Murray,” The Captain said, stepping toward him. “Now.”

Claire saw red as she watched Fergus and Rabbie load their wagon with the requested supplies. She very much thought that Fergus would launch himself at them any minute, and she prayed fervently in her head that he would do no such thing.

“No!” someone suddenly cried, their voice much smaller and nearer than Fergus’s.

“Jamie, no — ” Jenny tried to grab for him, but he slipped past her, dashing out of the garden and straight toward the Captain.

“Ye canna take it!” He stood his ground, dodging Ian’s attempts to swipe at him. “My Mam is gonnae have a bairn, and she needs to eat! Ye canna take our food!”

“Is that so, young man?” The Captain peered down at him over the bridge of his nose.

“Aye!”

“You know who that is, don’t you, Captain?” One of the others piped up. “That’s the future Laird of this land.”

“Is it, indeed?” The Captain sneered. “I suppose we ought to listen to what he has to say, then.”

“Aye! Ye should!” Jamie gave an indignant stomp of his foot.

Before anyone could blink, the butt of his gun collided with Jamie’s little head, and he collapsed in the dirt. Jenny shrieked inhumanly, a sound Claire hadn’t even thought her capable of. Claire’s stomach lurched, and she rushed to his side, turning his head over to check for bleeding.

Jenny suddenly cried out again, and Claire looked up to see her staring in horror between her feet.

Her waters have broken.

Ian got to her as fast as he could, catching her in his arms, holding her up.

“The midwife, Fergus. Quickly,” Ian called, and Fergus was off like a shot toward the stable.

“Quite the eventful day for the Murrays.” The Captain chuckled, watching as Ian helped Jenny inside. 

Maggie was wailing, tears streaming down her red cheeks. Claire gathered Jamie in her arms, cradling him to her chest, and struggled to stand. Her chin jutted out, her eyes burning hatefully into the Captain.

“I’ll leave you to it, then, Mistress Elizabeth.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. He mounted his horse, and the other men took their positions in the wagon. “My best wishes to the child on its way.”

Claire did not watch them go; she turned on her heel, cradling Jamie, and rushed into the house. 

“It’s alright, darling, come inside,” she crooned to Maggie as she crossed over the threshold. “I’m going to make him all better. Don’t worry.”

Laura was standing in the parlor frozen in fear, and Claire beckoned her to retrieve a cold compress for Jamie’s head. She laid him down on the sofa and checked his pulse, his pupils. There was no bleeding, thank God. They were likely looking at bruising or a concussion in the worst case.

“Maggie, love,” Claire said gently, taking her into her arms. “I promise everything will be alright. Can you do me a favor, since you’re such a big girl?”

“Aye, Auntie,” she sputtered.

“Can you go and check on all the babies? Kitty, Brianna, the twins? I think they need you very much right now.”

“Aye, Auntie. I can.” She sniffled and rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes, putting on a brave face.

“That’s my brave wee lass.” Claire kissed her cheek. “Go on, now. It’ll be alright.”

A ragged cry suddenly echoed through the house, coming from the Laird’s room. Maggie looked back at Claire fretfully.

“It’s alright. It’s just the same as when Michael and Janet were born. Remember? It hurts a little. Don’t worry.”

Maggie nodded before turning back to the stairs and trudging up them. Jamie suddenly groaned, and Claire turned back to him.

“Jamie?” Claire said, stroking his hair away from his face. “Can you hear me, darling?”

“Aye,” he said groggily. “My head hurts.”

“I know, love. It’s alright, I’m here. Can you see? Is anything blurry?”

“No...but it hurts.”

“Alright, it’s alright. Laura is coming back with something cold to put where it hurts. It will make you feel better.”

Jenny cried out again, and Jamie’s eyes popped open despite their previous lethargy.

“Mam? Is it the bairn?”

“Yes, she’s having the baby a bit early. Don’t worry. Babies come early all the time. They’ll be just fine.”

Laura returned just then with a bucket of cold water, and it was a struggle to keep the little boy still long enough to keep the wet rag on his head.

“Jamie, you mustn’t ever directly address a Redcoat again, do you understand me?” Claire said firmly, yet softly as she pressed the rag into his head.

“But Mam needs the food.”

“I know, darling. But you could get hurt a lot worse next time. And we all need you. Lallybroch needs you.” She stroked his cheek, her throat tightening. “Your uncle left you this land; It was the last thing he ever did. And you need to honor that by being smart, and brave. And being brave doesn’t always mean getting into trouble like that. Do you understand?”

He looked very thoughtful for a moment, an expression that combated oddly with his youthful face. “Aye. I understand, Auntie.”

“Good boy.” Jenny cried out again, and Claire’s stomach flipped. “Alright, can you hold this for me, Jamie?” He nodded, and took her place holding the cold compress on his head. “Laura will stay with you while I see to your mother. Alright?”

“Aye, Auntie.”

Claire pressed a quick kiss to his forehead, sliding past Laura as she settled beside Jamie with the bucket of water. Claire hurried up the stairs and into the Laird’s room.

“Claire!” Jenny choked out her name before she could even cross the threshold. “Is he alright?”

“He’s fine, Jenny.” Claire sat down on the edge of the bed and clasped Jenny’s hand between hers. “He’s awake, and he’s got a cold compress on his head. He’ll be fine.”

Jenny nodded tearfully, biting down on her lip. “Christ, I’d never been so scairt in all my life.”

Claire squeezed her hand. “I know. It’s alright now. They’re gone, and everyone is safe.”

“Go to him, Ian,” Jenny said. “Claire’s got me, now. Tell him I’m alright.”

Ian pressed a kiss to the top of Jenny’s head before departing. Mrs. Donnelly was flitting about, adjusting pillows and the fire, and filling pitchers and bowls with water.

“It’s alright, isn’t it?” Jenny said fretfully. “That it’s so early?”

“It should be,” Claire answered. “It’s very common for babies to come earlier and earlier the more you have. In fact, he should even come out in no time, considering how many times you’ve given birth.”

“Aye, ye’ve said that before,” Jenny said, nodding. “Ye’d better be right, or I may throttle ye.”

[scandinavianfairytale]

First/Current Celebrity Crush

I was tagged by the amazing @artemisausten to post my first and current celebrity crush. I had to think long and hard to remember my first celebrity crush, because most of my childhood crushes were on boys from my classes or cartoon characters. 

First - Chad Michael Murray 

I was around 10 when my cousin let me watch A Cinderella Story with her. She is 8 years older than me, so she was ~adult~ and knew how to download the movies along with subtitles. And in my eyes she was always so cool (she still is) and I wanted to do everything that she did (still do 🤭) & she was so nice that she let me hang out with her. 

Anyway Chad Michal Murray was in that movie and I was in love instantly 💙

Oh my...he is so gorgeous 😍

Current - Chris Evans

Honestly he wasn’t that far behind Chad Michael Murray 🤭 And yeah...not much of a surprise, right? 🤭

I just can’t with him...I mean look at him?! How is he real?! 😍💙

He looks good even with long hair - which is not something I usually go for....

And he is 40 YEARS OLD (almost) 😶 Like seriously, how?? 😮

Okay...I’ll stop now 🤭😍

OK now this really is the end. So I’m in the process of buying an apartment and a friend of mine sent me this picture with a tag: “I found the perfect stool for your future kitchen.” 

I died. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Again, I’m not sure about the tagging thing, so I’m just going to dump everything on @boydhoebrook​ 🤭 (sorry, no pressure - this is just meant for fun & if you will have the will and time) 😊

Thank you again, @artemisausten​ for the tag, this was fun 😁 & sorry it took me this long to respond, my job was a bit too much these past few weeks and personal life was kinda a bitch...😊