#lost babbies just trying to do the right thing and be loved even though they are unknowingly ruining everything

[willoryn]

Tragic, complex characters who are in way over their head just trying to do what they think is the right thing to make everyone happy even though they are unknowingly doing the opposite?

That's the good shit

[kendrixtermina]

Further reactions to "The book of lost tales":

I appreciate that Idril canonically wears armor and does swordfighting.

I feel like I can actually imagine adult!Idril much better now like in armor and with open hair, distraught but ready to fight while babby Earendil does not yet realize the danger...

My first thought is that Earendil was probably cute in that baby chainmail. My second thought is OUCH, Idril and Tuor always made sure their growing baby had fitting chainmail cause they felt the apocalypse might get them at any moment. Imagine that, imagine them having the baby armor fitted every year or so :(

Its fun how much of the basic structure already exists but most of what you'd consider the main characters doesn't exist or is scattered across various minor roles The only Prince anywhere in sight is Turgon - Except for Team Doriath, theyre all accounted for. I suppose Maeglin is kinda there in name only with vaguely the same role & motivation, but looks personality and background all did a 180 since. Luthien is still pretty much "princesd classic" at this point, not quite the fearless go-getter from the final version - markedly this version tells Beren that she doesnt want to wander in the wilderness with him whereas the final one says she doesnt care and its Beren still wants to get the shiny so as not to ask this of her and also for his honor.

I mean in the finished version Id consider the 3rd and 4th gen royals to be the main characters (well, alobgside Team Doriath and the varioud human heroes) and theyre hardly here. Imagine the silm with no Finrod!

Feanor had no affiliation with the royal family whatsoever, and is also generally less super. He's just the guy who won the jewelsmithing competition, not the inventor of the whole discipline. Still seems to have been envisionad as a respected member of the community who gets called to the palace for crisis meetings and is listened to when he stsrts giving speeches. From the first he already has the backstory of going off the deep end (or at least growing disillusioned with Valinor) after a family member is killed by Melkor and theyre still the first to die, but its just some other rando unrelated to the royals

The situation regarding the humans is different - instead of Melkor leaking their existence, its Manwe who explains that the other continents were supposed to be for them eventually. So Feanor goes off on a tirade about weak puny mortals comes off as a more of a jerk unlike in the final version where Melkor barely knew about the humans and described them to the Noldor as a threat. On the other hand in this one, also very much unlike in the finished product, Melkor dupes even Manwe into being unfair to the elves as a whole. In this the final version is a definite improvement, both Feanor and the Valar come off as a lot more sympathetic and though still deceived he's partially right in some things at least, so you have more of a genuine tragedy rather than a simple feud

There is something to the idea of Commoner!Feanor tho. I guess some of this survived in his nomadic explorer lifestyle and how both his wife and mother (who arent mentioned here) eventually were the ones to get that background of being not especially pretty ladies who are not from the nobility but got renown, respect and acclaim for their unique talent and contribution to society, with each having invented things and Nerdanel also being renowed for her wisdom. Hes sort of an odysseus-like Figure in that sense. I suppose later developements necesitated that Maedhros & co. have an army not just a band of thieves, which means they needed to be nobles/lords. That said this being a society where artisans are very respected and half the lords have scholarly/artistic pursuits going, the gap was probably not as big to begin with as it might have been in say, medieval England. Esoecially since Nerdanel's father had been given special honor by one of the local deities and that the social order might have been a very recent thing in Miriel's time. One might speculate that the first generation of Lords started out as warriors during the great journey, or perhaps just Finwe's friend group.

Also found that bit intetesting where the Valar have to deal with the remaining political tensions and effects of Melkor's lies on the remaining population in Valinor... - i guess with the change of framing device it was less likely for news of something like this to reach Beleriand. That, or the existence of Finarfin and his repentance made this go smoother this over in later cannon

Turgon's go-down-with-the-ship moment reaaly got to me. Im half tempted to write a fic where his wife, siblings and dad glomp him on arrival in Mandos. I dont care that none of them exists yet in this continuity i want Turgon to get hugs

I love all the additional Detail that got compressed out in the shift from fairytale-ish to pseudohistoric style especially all the various Valinor magic insofofar as it is compatible with the final version - particularly love the idea of the connection between the lamps and the trees that is now integrated into my headcanon forever

Its actually explained what the doors of night are

If I had not already read unfinished tales or volumes X to XII where this is also apparent, this is where I would say: Ah so the Valar were supposed to be flawed characters. Manwe has an actual arc; by the time he sends Gandalf he finally "got" it. I think in the published silm the little arcs of Ulmo and Manwe are mostly just lost in compression/ less apparent when only some of the relevant scenes got in but not all

It occurred to me way too late that the "BG" chars are the most consistent because theyre at the start and most stories are written from beginning to end. Finwe doesnt get a dedicated paragraph of explicit description until HoME X but my takeaway was that he's described pretty much like I always imagined him anyways/ same vibe I always got from him... charismatic, thoughtful, enthusiastic, sanguine temperament, brave in a pinch but at times lets his judgement be clouded by personal sentiment (though that last bit is more apparent/salient as a character flaw once he became the father of a certain Problem Child) ...i guess this would be a result of jrrt having had a consistent idea of him in his head for a long time.

This means Finwe's still alive at the time of the exodus which is just fun to see/interesting to know... Interestingly he sort of gets what later would be Finarfin's part of ineffectually telling everxone to please chill and think it over first while Feanor simply shouts louder (which is consistent with his actions before the sword incident in later canon where he initially spoke out against the suspiciozs regarding the Valar) - but its not exactly the same, he's more active than Finarfin later in that when "chillax" availed nothing he said that then at least they should talk with the other Kings and Manwe to leave with their blessing and get help leaving (This seems like it would have been the clusterfuck preventing million dollar suggestion in the universe where Feanor is related to him and values him) but when even that falls on death ears he decides that he "would not be parted from his people" and went to run the preparations. I find it interesting that the motivation is sentiment/attachment (even phrased as "he would not be parted from [his people]" same words/ expression as is later used for the formenos situation), not explicitly obligation as it later is for Fingolfin (who had promised to follow Feanor and didnt want to leave his subjects at the mercy of Feanor's recklessness )

Speaking of problem children. It seems the sons of Feanor were the Kaworu Nagisa of the Silmarillion in that originally all they do is show up at some point and kill Dior as an episodic villain-of-the-week. And then, it seems their role got bigger in each continuity/rewrite... probably has something to do with the Silmarils ending up in the title later making it in the sense their story that ends and begins with them. They have zero characterization beyond "fierce and wild" at this point, though in what teetsy bits there is we already have the idea that Maedhros is the leader and Curufin is the smart one/shemer/sweet-talker, though not the bit where Maedhros (or Maglor, or anyone really) is "the nice one". Which I guess explains why "Maglor" sounds like such a stereotypical villain name.

"The Ruin of Doriath" was purportedly the patchworkiest bit of the finished product, but I never noticed and it actually left quite an impression of me upon first reading, the visual of Melian sitting there with Thingol's corpse in her arms contemplating everything thinking back to how they met... she had the knowledge to warn him not to doom himself but couldnt get him to understand it because he doesnt see the world as she does.... After reading this though I wish there was a 'dynamic' rendition that combined all the best bits like, youd have to adapt it to the later canon's rendition of the dwarves, have Nargothrond exist etc. But i mean that just makes Finrod another dead/doomed relative of Thingol's whom bling cannot truly replace, like Luthien and Turin. In the Silmarillion you could easily read it as just an "honoured guest treatment" but here and in unfinished tales I get the impression that Thingol actually did see Turin as a son.

Already you see the idea of trying to make the stories all interconnected but there is less than there will be (the human heroes aren't related yet and there is basically no Nargothrond, which is later a common thread for many of the stories - a prototype shows up in the 'Tale of Turambar' tho complete with half baked prototypes of Orodreth and Finduillas

O boi im not even through yet

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

Mission Turn It Up In The Club (It’s The Avengers)

Loki x Reader Avengers The Office AU (Slowwwwww Burn)

ONE SHOT

Warnings: fluff, dirty brains, drunk babbies, cutest allies, shocked fathers, confused jocks.

Series Summary: Living in the Avengers facility post-apocalypse in a better timeline   Tony Stark has decided to capture every moment by pulling The Office on the Avengers. All of housemates are pretty used to the idea except for you, who had just come here to finish her degree, and the newest member- Loki.

One Shot: When Thor indirectly challenges you- a complete noob with zero knowledge of espionage- to go on a relatively easy mission and get some intel, you accept it, never really ready for what's about to happen. And the camera crew records it all.

Word Count: Never underestimate the power of your inner voice because boy does it make you feel amazing about yourself sometimes!

Written for @captain-kelli 500 Fam Writing Challenge. Thank you so much for letting me participate! I picked the Quote (not a dialogue) : There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

You come with your shades over your eyes and a yoghurt smoothie in your hand, and sit down on the chair in the recording room, adjusting your 'noice and toit' t-shirt before looking in the direction of the equipment. Clearing your throat and shifting back in the chair- going as back as you possibly can- you nod at Javier and get ready for the camera to roll, never taking off the shades.

You: *sighs* *rests face on your palm* *in a coarse incomprehensible voice* It all star- *tries to clear the coarseness of the throat* ahem ahem *makes bleching noises before groaning* *stops* *sighs* Hmm...where were we? *looks straight past the camera at Javier with half-open lips* Right...right. *looks back at the camera* *lips still half-open* It all started yesterday when a stupid b**** tried to become over smart.

Twenty-Four Hours Earlier

Everyone sat in the lounge of the Avengers Compound reading the reports that had just come in from Fury about a cartel trying to traffic alien wreckage- mostly weapons- to the black market. That 'everyone' excluded you, your adopted dog Zuko, and a very unamused and unbothered Loki sitting on the raised platform by the french windows with a copy of Sapiens and your favourite mug filled with hot tea.

The camera zoomed in on you concentrated on writing something on your laptop; so engrossed you were that you never noticed when Clint quietly gorged on your choco-chip cookies and drank your orange juice.

"But we only have to gather intel from a couple of guys meeting in the city today?"

Thor- who was finally at an Avengers meet after getting things in order for his Asgardians somewhere in Norway in their 'new Asgard'- pshd at the tablet in his hands and chuckled.

"Gather intel. Is that the human way to say drink some beer with these filthy humans and let them talk everything about their plan?"

"Damn right," everyone around him muttered.

"So easy even Y/N could do it," he chortled, catching your ears and a long sigh from the God sitting by the window enjoying the sun.

"Woah, now," Tony interjected, slapping Thor's shoulder with the back of his hand, "don't give her any ideas."

You narrowed your eyes at Tony. "I'm sure if Thor says I can do it-"

"Thor also said none of you ladies can process Asgardian mead," Clint added, buried in the sofa next to you, his tablet acting as a shield against the warm early afternoon sun.

Flashback to a party at the compound

Sam wobbled, trying to stand with the support of the bar while Clint kept muttering ‘I think I can see inside you guys. Like, really see.’ Bruce was being consoled by Thor in one corner. “The big guy hates me, Thor. He doesn’t-he doesn’t love me at aaaalllllll.” Scott and Bucky tried to wager who pin the donkey. The former didn’t even get to hold the tail in his hand. While all this mayhem unfurled, Natasha and Wanda sat by the bar recording everything on their phone while sipping their third Asgardian mead cocktail. “We should do this more often,” Natasha had suggested at one point during at night.

"I don’t get how you can't process it after the first buzz," Natasha called out from the dining table, never looking away from her tablet but still smiling.

"I'll sit this one out," Thor declared, sitting next to you, "I'm sure the Black Widow or Wanda can handle that."

You looked at him with an unwavering gaze for quite some time, making Thor uncomfortable after a certain point. Loki, who had caught you through the whole shebang, had a soft smile creeping on his face on watching you make his brother so uncomfortable.

"Wow," you finally spoke, letting your head move with the exclamation, "you are such a jock, aren't you?"

"A what?"

Loki: *smirks**snickers**snickers turn into uncontrollable laughter**continues laughing**stops midway with a serious look to shout* FINALLY!

"You don't want to go because there won't be any fighting and show of power," you state, turning yourself towards him, "and having conversations with guys seems too boring. Mostly because of your hate for bad guys. You know they won't give you answers straight away if you ask them politely, which I know you hate. So the next step is- 'why can't we just beat the shit out of them after they gave up on my offer to tell everything like good boys?'."

Thor: *crinkled brows* ...we can't? *looks behind the camera* why can't we? 

Tony and Steve stood next to each other- former's brows creased, latter's raised, both in a bit of admiration shock- taking in your breakdown. Finally, Steve leaned a little towards Tony to whisper, "did she just profile Thor?"

"Oh, yeah," Tony answered on the same wavelength before Steve could even finish his question, "she definitely did." He concluded with a smile filled with soft pride.

 "You know what, I'll take it," you casually declared to the lounge while leaning on the coffee table next to you. "Take what?" Steve asked, wanting to find out more of whatever was coming from your mouth. "The challenge," you shrugged, "I'll take up the part of getting some men to blabber about the locations. And while I'm at it, I'll get them to tell me about their boss' headquarters as well. Hmm?"

"Of course, you will," Tony chuckled softly in a trance for one second and furrowed his brows in confusion the next. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me," you announced in his direction before going back to whatever it is you were so busy doing on your laptop, leaving Tony to let his mouth open in displeasure.

"Young lady, you're not going anywhere near those sons of bitches."

Steve looked at the camera with a raised brow.

Steve: You know that moment when you see one of your best friends do everything reckless in this goddamn world, wanting you to curse him with having to once step in your shoes and see what it's like to keep him in check? *smiles with satisfaction* This is one of those days when you see it coming true. When God finally heard your prayers and sends that very friend's kid to make every one of your wishes come true. *nods* *gets serious* Though I'm against putting Y/N in danger. *shakes head* Would never let her do something as reckless as her biological father. *smirks* But damn it feels good.

 Tony: *narrows eyes at the camera* Is that what Captain Star-spangled underwear thinks? *Nods* Hm. *clicks tongue* Well, that day isn't far when I fund research led by Bruce to make super babies with Steve's *makes air quotes* super semen and make him go through the fate of a father and the burdens that come with it.

*Silence*

*camera pans out to show a very pregnant and a very weirded out Pepper sitting next to him with her head resting in her palm as she hears her husband talk*

Pepper: *looks into the void* *inhales* Or you could just make him the mentor for the young heroes in the compound and watch him struggle to get them in line. *shrugs* Better yet, let him be in charge of showing Loki the ropes.

Tony: *still silent* *looks into his void* *blinks* *tilts his head* *looks back at the camera* *smirks* Pepper?

Pepper: Hmm?

Tony: *turns to face her* Have I told you how much I admire your genius?

Pepper: *making circles on Tony's arm* *whispers suggestively* You have but I won't mind you saying it again.

Tony: Well, you are genius, darling. A genius with the power to create countries and throw dictators off their high horses.

Pepper: *raises her head from her palm with a glint in her eyes* *softly announces* Anthony Stark, we're going to your office and you won't stop saying all of it till I tell you to.

Tony: *feels a visible shudder go down his spine as Pepper gets up and walks away* Y-yes ma'am. *looks at the camera with a hint of disbelief*

Pepper: *from outside the room* Now!

*Tony rushes out*

.

The Confidential Club

The camera went from black to a few neon lights flickering in the distance. A heavy base song faded in when everything started coming into focus.

Don't get sick

Don't get strep

Don't get bronchitis

Aye

A soothing glow of blue lit up the walls, which the camera did a slow three-sixty, through which two figures- both tall, one slender and the other jacked up- walked in a sexy slo-mo as the club started another track.

So this money shit, yeah it's been on my mind

Fuck ya possy bitch

I'ma pop off a tonne with the tummy miss

Yea this how I slum I'm bout' to see some tits

Yea ya mummy is fine

Aye

The boys walked into the neon-grazed club glowing with a hue of red, their freshly shampooed hair bouncing with every step till these two stopped right when they entered the floor, scanning the club and the club doing the same to them, but with lost breaths, increased temperatures and some very dirty thoughts and very dirty moans.

I'm a good boy I don't hit no licks yeah

I'm a bad boy flexing with some chicks yuh

I'm a weird boy smokin' on some Brits yuh

Who dat boi

I'm that boy yuh

The slo-mo continued, recording every pair of eyes that turned to get a look at the brothers whose presence was electrifying the entire building. Ladies forgot their drinks and men, men forgot their dates and- with a swift internal jolt- their toxic masculinity and the genderless seemed to have found Gods in the club tonight.

We them bad boy come give baby kiss

We just dropped it now

Now the swallow kiss

Have to beg these ladies try to do the splits

Tryna get the boy to do the coochie little

People moved as if these Gods were gravity, walking under those flickering club lights and smoked room, hands trying to get a touch, eyes wanting to get just one sweet stare, legs wanting to get a little brush, the heat pooling inside them looking for just a little satisfaction.

Yea I'm Neo watch me on the Matrix

All these sussy boy I just implore I do not play with

Baby (Baby) sure you're crazy

Boy that gave me 8 bars and some new restraint

Who that boi

I'm that boi yuh

The blond locks seemed to find suggestive fingers in them, while some other stray ones roamed on Thor's chest. Loki watched his brother being surrounded with the crowd of thirsty thots, his face dripping with pure displeasure, letting the camera catch it frame by frame, with brilliant tilts, doing it till Loki was looking right at the lens.

Who that boi

I'm that boi yuh

Another camera standing a little further recorded Javier on his knees trying to catch Loki's displeasure and piercing eyes- at anyone who even suggested that they wanted to touch him- before he looked at Javier. "What are you doing?" Loki judged Javiers' slow camera tilts.

Javier raised his index finger for a few moments, still recording those sour expressions before giving a thumbs up, getting up and walking towards the crowd that had surrounded a quite flattered Thor.

With an eye roll in his brother's direction, Loki turned to find the other camera looking at him, quite possibly directing him somewhere else because the next moment he was looking away. The camera turned in the same direction to show- behind the crowd of mellow, drunk and horny people- you laughing with your head tilted backwards, sitting with a group of men he had seen in the report when he was forced by Thor to come on this stupid so-called mission with him.

You sat between four men, enthusiastically narrating something to your small audience with wide eyes and wildly moving arms, entertaining the viewers with intention known to them and these green eyes who could see right through every one of those scums.

The camera- swivelling between you and Loki- caught him walking towards you only to be stopped by a pale hand- carrying beautifully manicured nails in blood-red- landing on his chest.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Natasha suggested to the God with a bare hint of a smile on her lips.

Loki looked down at the Black Widow dressed in a body-hugging black dress. "Oh, I wasn't going to stop her from having some fun, I assure you," he implored.

Natasha brought her hand forward for Loki to take the earpiece in her hand. "She's got this. But you're welcome to listen in on the conversation," Natasha offered.

"My brother can fill in for me considering Y/N is already doing his job," he mentioned, pointing towards the crowd taking selfies with a giddy Thor making girls swoon all around him.

"Hot molten chocolate cake!" came a voice from the earpiece, loud enough for Loki sensitive ears and the recorders in all the devices to catch before the God could walk away.

"That's the safe word," Natasha declared into the earpiece, before turning to look at the table where you were.

"I really should go," you colourfully begged the man who had his hand wrapped around your arm, never letting go, "my girls must be waiting for me."

"Call your girls," the man holding you said, "we can all party in the private room upstairs."

"Call my girls?" you said a little louder as if asking Natasha what to do.

"On it." Loki heard another voice come through the comms, making Natasha's tensed back go straight.

"It's okay, Y/N," she confirmed into your earpiece, "go ahead. Tell them the girls can't wait."

The camera caught Natasha turning with a smirk that sent a cold shiver over the glowing dance floor, making Loki mirror that smirk, looking forward to it all.

The enthusiasm in Natasha's face was disturbed by some invisible ripple. "Where's Thor?"

 Other Side of the Club

Javier's camera showed the blond God sitting at the bar with at least twenty ladies huddled with him, handing him drinks.

"Now this one," a petite little girl stated, handing him a tall glass of Long Island Iced Tea. Thor happily took the glass, had a decent sip, gulped it down, furrowed his brows and smacked his lips.

"No," he finally declared, earning a cheer from the girls. "Not laced!" they shouted before handing him another girl's drink.

.

Upstairs

The camera stuck to the corners as it followed the men violating your private space, their arms around you, walking in front of and behind you, leaving no space whatsoever to look for any signs of the cavalry.

"Woah, guys, how about you go in and I'll go look for my sisters-"

"Oh, no," the one with a stubble and a nice jawline declared, "you're coming with us and your friends can follow. Come on, let's get some more alcohol in you!"

"Haha, yeah!" you pretended to cheer, stepping inside the room behind the guy with a ponytail, who stood in the middle of the living room like a statue for a good second.

"What the hell is this?" He announced more than he asked, pointing to Anna- the camera girl- sitting at the other end of the room, recording the entrance.

"Oh," you exclaimed in realisation, making all four men turn towards you, never noticing the door be closed by another figure in the room, "that's my camera gal. She follows me everywhere. My dad kinda got into this idea of making a documentary out of our lives so one of them is always around me except for when I'm studying or in the bathroom. But I have seen them recording me once or twice when I was in the librar-"

"Shut up!" The jawline guy roared, taking out a gun from his back, "Shut the f*** up! Rory, I told you she was a student. She'll fetch a good price on the market."

You wanted to be frightened by that gun but the camera caught you more in offended disbelief than in fearful shock. "Excuse me? How old do you think I am? Just because I'm studying, you little-minded bitch?! Learning has no age limit, you arrogant paedophiles!"

"Oh well," Jaw-guy shrugged, taking off his jacket, "you're no use to the bosses then. Looks like we'll have to make use of you. And your pretty friend there can record us doing it." He grinned, both at you and then at the camera.

Ponytails looked at you with a wrinkled forehead. "Something's wrong," he stated, taking a step close to you.

"What do you mean?" The guy in the brown leather jacket asked.

"Look at her," he answered, pointing towards you, "she isn't even sweating right now."

You looked at Ponytails with furrowed brows. "You've set the temperature quite low, dude. I'm practically shivering in here."

"That's actually true," Jacket acknowledged, nodding at you.

"No, you dumb fuckers! She isn't scared!"

Jaw had a moment of realisation at Pony's words, taking hurried steps towards you, grabbing you by your throat and pushing you into the wall behind you.

"Oh my Gaahd," you tried to exclaim through whatever air was able to pass through your lungs, as you felt your hand automatically go grab the one that was causing you pain.

"Who are you?" Jaw hissed through his teeth close to your face. "Who do you work for?"

Your brows lifted. An aching moan left your lungs. You took in a little gulp of air. "I never thought this is how it goes down."

"That's because you picked the wrong men to mess with, darlin'."

Your raised brows crinkled at Jaw's statement. "What?"

You: Oh, I was thinking about the horny wave I got when he tried to choke me. *stretches the corner of her mouth in embarrassment* Yeah, turns out not the first thought that should come to your mind when someone's trying to kill you. But on the bright side I discovered a kink so *does a thumb up with both hands with a big grin.*

"But we haven't even started messing with you boys yet."

The camera swirled from your agitated, flushed face to the doorway leading to the bedroom, catching a very disinterested Wanda leaning on the wall as she checked out her nails.

"Wow," you choked, "were you always this hot, Wanda?"

"Who the fuck is this? Who the fuck are you?" Ponytails pointed his gun at the Scarlet Witch in haste, bringing forth a plasmic red spark in between her fingers, which, with a little twist, made the man point his gun at his buddy.

Another camera entered through the door to catch Jaw pulling you away from the wall to hold you in a lock with his gun pointed to your head. "One wrong move and I blow her brains out, bitch."

"One wrong move and I'll be doing the same to you, bitch."

Natasha stood behind Jaw with a gun. "Let go of her before my friend and I paint these walls with your insides."

Jaw cursed her under his breath, taking a few moments before releasing you. You quickly walked to a safer corner of the room, next to the fireplace, breathing with ease now.

"Y/N," she called out, "you okay, sweetie?"

"Uhh...just a little light-headed. Otherwise, I'm good," you responded, finding yourself lowering your voice, "though I wish someone else was choking me right now." You looked at the camera and narrowed your eyes. "Don't you judge me," you criticised in a whisper at it, feeling yourself tilt to one side, losing your balance, already fearing to hit the floor before being caught by strong hands.

"Oh," you sang while the camera panned out from you and those pale hands to show Loki very gracefully breaking your fall, "Hey, handsome!"

Loki didn't even blink as he tried to bring you back on your feet. "Drinking on a mission? Really? I thought you were better than this."

"Ugh," you bleched at him, "shush! I was in my form with those gin shots, okay. These whiney thirsty boys were blabbering the moment I sat down. Let's see your brother pull that off-wait. Why are you here?"

The two of you were oblivious to the fight going in the background being recorded by the other camera; the Black Widow breaking bones like twigs while the Scarlet Witch was making them vomit on their fears.

"Oh, I wanted to see what petty excuse do you humans use to enjoy and forget this pathetic world-"

The camera panned in on you while someone outside the frame screamed and was thrown into a wall. You smiled with pure emotion in your eyes while looking at Loki.

"You didn't know we were here, did you?" you asked with that smile still stuck on your face.

"No."

"Thor dragged you here, didn't he?"

"I came here by my own accord."

"What did he blackmail you with this time?"

"...I wasn't blackmailed! No one can blackmail m-"

Loki: Tony said he'd block my access to his library. *clenches his teeth* That old rusty metalhead.

"Fine if you don't wanna tell me. I'm just glad you came," you pointed, patting him on his chest, completely missing the knife flying towards you being blocked by his reflexes- nothing having been displaced but for his arm.

"Wow," you gasped, letting your hand touch his chest again, "what do you have under there? Rocks? How the heck is your chest so hard?"

"I'm a frost giant darling," he asserted, twirling the knife in his hand before throwing it forward without looking, landing right on Leather Jacket's hand about to pull the trigger and shoot Wanda.

"And I'm a human. What's your point? Why are your boobies so hard and mine so squishy? Look!"

You took his hand to make him feel your chest. "Okay," he cut you short before you could forcibly make him grope you.

"You are clearly running on alcohol right now."

You snorted. "No, dummy. I'm standing. Are you sure you're not the drunk one?"

Loki looked at the camera.

.

"I'm sorry," you whined.

The camera caught your figure partially as you hid behind Loki in the compound elevator while Wanda and Natasha stood on either side.

"Don't worry," Natasha reiterated, "we'll take care of it. Just don't tell Tony about the..." she waved her hand in the air like it meant something to you.

The ding announced your arrival to the lounge. Elevator doors opened to see Tony standing at the entrance with crossed arms, his eyes boring straight into everyone in front of him, not even bothering to blink.

Behind him Scott and Bucky sat on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and Home Alone on the big screen, their eyes and ears focused on all of you rather than the movie.

An everlasting moment of silence passed and you managed to get a look of those eyes of judgement over Loki's shoulder before quickly curling back into your hiding spot.

"Where were you?"

The room didn't even have time to register the chill when you heard Natasha speaking. "Wanda and I were out shopping. I don't know about these two," she announced with her hands raised, walking out while mouthing 'sorry' at your face that had just experienced third-tier betrayal.

"I suggest you come out from behind Aro here," Tony digressed, "he's not gonna hide you for the rest of your life."

Loki took a step out of the elevator, getting a little closer to Stark, towering him just a little, his hands resting in his pockets. Stark was visibly hating the suave play from the God.

You were stuck there for a few more seconds before stepping beside Loki, letting the camera capture the wide eyes, a gasp of shattering shock and the fumes dissipating to give place to something new.

Panning in on you, the camera caught the bruise growing on your cheek, the size of a pear.

"Y/N-" Stark had barely begun to address his horror when Loki cut him short.

"She’s fine, Stark. Just a little-"

"Who did this?!"

That erupting gaze was meant for you to answer the question and so the entire surrounding went silent for you to answer him. Even Home Alone was muted to hear what you had to say for this bruise.

"Mr Stark, I can explain." Your voice was a quarter of what it was half an hour ago, barely coming out in front of your father. "Please don't be mad. And please keep an open mind about it."

None of you could gather what rushed into Tony's mind because the next thing you knew, he felt himself shift back a little. Curse words flew under his breath as his hands tried to run over the tensed muscles in his face.

"Oh, my G-is this some sort of new...new thing you kids are into?"

Now it was your turn to be confused. "What?"

You: *cringe* Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Get it out of my head! Ew!!

"N-No! I-what?! Nooooooo!" you stressed at the word as much as possible. The God stood there seemingly trying to make sense of this conversation.

"Loki and I were out on a date. We were karaoke-ing and I was dancing on the bar counter when I slipped and hit myself."

Loki did not miss even a second to look at the camera with pursed lips.

Loki: That's not what happened.

 Flashback to the club

You forced Loki on the dancefloor while Natasha took care of the goons.

"Come on, show me your mooooves, Loki," you shouted over the music before giddily jumping and taking a step back, colliding with a guy.

"Oh, I'm so-"

"What the f***!" The pasty blond guy cursed at you before looking at Loki. "Take care of your bitch, asshole."

Before Loki could take a stance between the two of you, he felt your hand block him, your eyes glowing at that rude stranger.

"Who the f*** are you calling, asshole, you dried pulp-less raisin!"

The guy twisted his jaw before stepping very close to you.

Loki- clearly uncomfortable by the distance- tried to pull you towards him and away from that pathetic excuse of a human

"Alright," the God announced, "you better watch-"

The camera caught the full-blown emotion of offence on Loki's face as you swatted his hands away.

"I called. Your boyfriend. An asshole. You c***."

Loki blinked in a sense of amusement at the audacity of that man, the ripples of tensed muscles under his black t-shirt quite visible for the ones who watched.

"At least I can take a pounding unlike your ego, you smelly ballsack," you spat back. "Now walk away before I bring a mirror and show you what a real asshole looks like." The infant rage that Loki was carrying in his entire body suddenly screeched to a halt as he looked at the back of your head with shocked confusion. "What kind of insult was that?"

The pasty guy was fuming now. Your words clearly rubbing him the wrong way.

"Oh, what happened?" you sang in a sarcasm filled tone. "Did your boring comebacks turn flaccid? Just like your virgin d-"

He pushed you back. "Shut the fuck up before I make you shut up."

Loki body stood as a shield- only behind you- wanting to go ahead and do something to that guy but you were not giving him a chance to do so.

You gasped. "The audacity of this bitch!" And pushed him back. "What're gonna do, fight me?"

No one saw it coming. The punch landed on your face within seconds, pushing your back into Loki's chest, the latter having to grab you to stop you from falling.

"Okay, that's it," Loki pulled you up, his eyes on fire glaring right at the man with the intention to kill. And as his luck for the night would have it, you used him as a support to gather a bit potential, scream "Son of a-" while charging at the guy. By now the rest of the ladies on the dancefloor had witnessed enough to come to your aid and beat the living hell out of that man. Pure, chaotic energy spreading over the floor that reflected in the pleasant amusement in Loki's eyes.

"By the Norns," Loki whispered, looking at the scene unfolding in front of him before looking at the camera, "remind me never to get on Y/N's bad side."

The pasty guy screamed out of the frame, making Loki turn at him with a layer of disappointment.

"Oh, you asked for it," he shouted at the man screaming for help before being swallowed whole by the river of women.

 You: *sighs* Of course, I can't tell Mr Stark I got punched while defending your honour.

Loki: *giggle snorts*

You: *turns to look at him* what?

Loki: You're right. I can see him never believing that.

You: *nodding in agreement* right?

Loki: Because he would cut my head off the day he does. *stops smiling*

You: Aw! I won't let him, buddy.

Loki: Oh, I doubt it. He is still in shock about the whole 'date' thing.

The camera flips to the lounge showing Stark sitting in between Scott and Bucky, looking in the distance- still in shock- while those two munched on their popcorns from the popcorn bowl kept in Tony's lap.

"Nah." he finally says out of the blue, almost making Scott jump, "Y/N can't date Loki? I'm sure she's just pulling my leg for not letting her go on that stupid interrogation mission."

Scott and Bucky exchanged glances before nodding and patting him on the back, resuming their movie with a 'sure buddy'.

You: *sheepishly* Yeah, I think we broke him.

Loki: At least he's behaving like he's supposed to, unlike my brother in such situations.

You: Huh...*nods* *furrows brows* speaking of Thor...where is he?

Loki:

You:

 The Club-a-Dub-Dub

The camera captured a face covered by flickering neon pink shades looking down at a laptop in those big hands while glowing neon party necklaces adorned his neck.

"All right let's do this," Thor stated in all seriousness, using a pink tic-tac to pull his hair up above his ear. The camera zoomed out a little to show him looking at a laptop placed in front of him on a pedestal.

"We are gathered here for a task that is too important for this world to be left to another time. A task so huge that my heart feels both burdened and honoured to be able to put it to fruition. A task so pure in its being that anyone who stands up against it in this club shall face my wrath. But not before I try to make them change their mind with love. Rosa and Gina, I ask you to step forward and be the blessed lot of this sacred ceremony."

The slow panning out of the frame showed two beautiful women step forward and face each other with pure smiles.

"By the power vested in me by becomeaminister.com, I am honoured to announce you wife and wife. You may now kiss."

An uproar of elated excitement filled the club just as Thor finished; the brides kissing and their friends celebrating. Everyone toasted to the newlywed couple before someone shouted to do the cha-cha slide.

The next thing you know, Thor and the rest of the people in the house were sliding left and right.

"THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!" Thor shouted with the jumps and twists, "I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER WHY I'D COME HERE!!"

[trackinghallownest]

-slides into your dms- tell me about your vessel ocs!!!! Whose your favorite. Everyone has a favorite even if they don't like to admit it! And is it ok if I draw them interacting with my vessel ocs?

HHfngfh gh i’m,,, thank you for this ask i’m dying,, i will absolutely go off if you dont mind me taking this chance!! ft doodles!! because i can!! and you absolutely can draw them with yours i will probably cry and definitely draw interactions back udfkfhvdf;;

some of this i may have mentioned in other posts but i cant for the life of me keep track of what ive put here compared to the discord so! i’m just going to fact dump! and put under a cut so i don’t completely fill peoples’ dashes shkfd

first is gonna be spindle since. i love them. theyre probably my favourite. and also the first i made. theyre just babie

they really are just babey,,

kind of accidentally an endless source of lifeblood which is a long story but its not.. very fun. to be constantly covered in plants. by adulthood most of their torso and one of their limbs is almost completely replaced/encased in plant matter

they take this pretty well actually. even if it gets a lot harder to move

for a vessel they grew up to full size much quicker than others of their kind, likely due to the lifeblood’s properties, but really nobody has much of a clue. didnt have time to get used to their size and still has VERY bad spatial awareness

broke their horn tip by smacking it on a low ceiling hkfdnfbdmvdf

plants bursting out of their shell and eye have pretty badly damaged it, and they can’t see out of the broken eye

theyre trying their hardest!! always!! they can’t move around very well and sometimes get lonely sitting at home in dirtmouth but they’re friendly to just about anybody and have so much love to give

seriously they dont even eat but they like to make sure they have food and drink at home in case anyone drops in and needs it

they’ve never been able to fight, and shy away from violence or combat in all forms

very scared of the dark and carries a lantern with them at all times, usually around their neck

discharges excess lifeblood into soil and grows a garden from it - keeps it from overtaking their body any further, and it’s something to do

not the best at communicating since a wood arm makes signing stiff and tricky, but they’re not much of a talker (signer?) anyway

then we have scratch n thimble who are kinda twins but not really. yeah those are matching scarves they are Bros (sibs??)

scratch FIGHTS THINGS and USES A REAL BIG NAIL

the biggest of all my vessel ocs, just in general. a big and strong friend

made it to the palace but got tossed for starting to care too much and takin a blow for another sibling. saved thimble from dying down there too and they were absolutely inseparable since

really just the embodiment of the ‘you befriended x! x would now die for you’ meme not gonna lie

has almost literally died for Multiple siblings n friends before but they wouldn’t let them. which is, a good thing

too reckless for their own good especially in their younger years but thankfully mellows out quite a bit by adulthood

tries to keep up a strong stoic front but also doesnt hesitate to abandon it if needed. theyre big soft really (they wont admit it tho)

has The Biggest soft spot for kids do not let them tell you otherwise

fought for the sake of it in the colosseum for many years before Stuff And Things involving yet another vessel happened and they kinda trashed the place and never went back

their nail is about as big and heavy as their entire body and they’re surprisingly good at using it for something so unwieldy. could probably crush most bugs just by virtue of it being So Damn Big

spends a lot of time when grown at the howling cliffs keeping an eye on those travelling into the kingdom, and deterring those with malicious intent

they got that eye wound from their sibling… it was technically an accident. they still don’t talk about it though

contrary to their twin thimble is the smallest vessel (as a babby at least - they do end up standing taller than spin and ruth when fully grown)

they have the very unfortunate problem of their shade having fused with void tendrils from the abyss sea as a babby

as such their shade is very violent and kinda has a habit of literally bursting out their shell and lashing out at anything around them under stress

eventually they get a handle on it and learn to control the literally overflowing void inside them but until then their entire life is pretty much a big clusterfuck of trying not to kill people, which they hate

they’re very timid and shy and cling to familiar figures (especially scratch) probably too much, but strike out on their own much more growing up 

theyre very strong and capable, moreso than most magic users, but you wouldn’t guess it. the only time they’d even consider showing it is in another’s defense

uses void tendrils like extra limbs. very functional! can hold many things (or offer many hugs) at once. may be slightly slimy though.

their cloak is very long and would probably benefit from being trimmed shorter but they absolutely refuse to let anyone touch it. its kinda grimy at this point and they trip a lot but don’t do anything about it

friends with a bunch of mossflies they picked up in the gardens! they all have names

can communicate with other void-creatures by sharing some of their own void! this was discovered entirely by accident but very useful, if awkward to explain

sure they’re kinda timid and like being on their lonesome, but they’re also very level-headed and friendly, and get along very well with low-energy quieter sorts of people especially

ruth is a small vessel rn/as far as i’ve worked out a timeline for! i know what they look like big but as far as the content on this blog currently goes theyre just .. smal

actual infant. hadnt actually been wandering out of the abyss that long before being dragged up to the colosseum to fight for sport

really doesnt have much of a clue how to act at first, other than ‘stab things before they stab you’

their name comes from ‘ruthless’, a nickname they got in the colosseum because they literally did not (appear to) give two shits whether they lived or died in battle. they’d just come back, anyway

scratch was the one that found them flinging a nail around and immediately went ‘oh thats a baby. this is bad, actually’

for the first short while of freedom scratch is the only one they’ll let even get close to them, and pretty much clings to them relentlessly. not a moments rest

they were actually pretty badly infected by the time they were broken out but theyre better now (another long story)

doesn’t have a natural cloak - it was ripped out and never grew back in. they make do though! their ‘new’ one was made from part of scratch’s that they ripped off and fixed together. they love it more than anything

once they actually figured out not everyone was out to kill them they stopped fighting back, and became a lot more curious and lively in general

still has a very warped and guarded sense of trust, however

kinda iffy around weapons and reacts badly to confrontation but does eventually learn to fight again (just.. in a better way)

pretty short even when grown, and going by height alone is the shortest when they’re all big

likes picking up pretty trinkets and things and carrying them around. has a few tied to their horns (as well as many pockets)

i have just now decided that spite counts as well! they dont actually survive to adulthood in any timeline i have currently (sorry spite) so big spite is entirely a theoretical but theyre fun to draw so

now spite? spite wins the babiest baby award

has one single braincell that bounces around their shell like a windows screensaver

their name indicates they are capable of feeling any negative emotion or hatred which is entirely untrue. by the time this was figured out they already wouldn’t answer to anything else

absolutely no sense of self-preservation or common sense. they are, in most regards, a very cute and very stupid dog

got lost on their way out of the abyss the first time around, ended up in the lighthouse and met friend mori!! was almost caught but eventually smuggled out and away

spent a lot of the time on the run in city of tears with said friend who was pretty much presumed dead by then. got taken in by a family, enjoyed themselves for a while

…but were eventually caught and thrown right back into the abyss along with mori killing them both for real this time. unfortunately.

cut to MANY years later and oops! their shade fused with the corpse and for some ungodly reason theyre both alive. time for the worst buddy comedy ever ft. literal pile of goop and body parts

spite does not seem to know nor care that theyre dead however

mostly happy to sit up there on mori’s shell and nap for hours at a time or fiddle with literally anything in reach. give them a cool rock and they’ll be entertained for hours. they are but a simple creacher

they do actually eventually learn to use a nail but who’s idea was it to give a child a sword. seriously i just wanna talk

[coramatus]

So my brain’s been in overdrive as of late in terms of Lego Movie AUs and it’s come up with something like “what if human/no-meta au where Rex just ditched Emmet to suffer the same way he did in Undaar?”

Well I ended up with Desertpunk!Emmet and a de-aged Rex so take this as you will:

Basically Rex shoves Emmet into an escape pod and jettisons his past self off to Undaar while he slips away to bring hell on the heads of his once friends. Just like before, Lucy and the others have no way to find Emmet, but this time by god do they try. It takes four years of searching and blatant sabotage attempts by Rex, but they eventually catch a signal beacon out further than they've ever been.

And that's how they find desert wanderer Emmet, older, wearier, but still firmly Emmet, as he absolutely refused to stoop to Rex’s level. It was a hard 4 years and Emmet did his damnedest to survive, constantly trying to boost a signal beacon until it could be picked up and living off of poisonous sand worms as his only source of food and water on a planet lit in eternal twilight. He has absolutely no idea how long its been. But it’s enough know that when he sees his friends again, he starts crying and hugs them desperately.

When he’s finally found, Emmet is close to skeletal, tiny scars littering his face and body from bad sandstorm encounters. He’s draped in a patched and frayed canvas cloak, his clothes little more than rags and pockets filled with machine parts. His face is covered in a long scarf, though one of his eyes is covered in a loose bandage, sealed shut from a nasty eye infection (he suspects the eye itself still works). He’s surprisingly clean shaven and his hair cut short and jagged, a clear act of defiance to not echo Rex whatsoever. He keeps a weird set of goggles meant for a three-eyed alien, repurposed to wear in sandstorms. Always in his hands is an odd metal staff/harpoon he made for hunting, which he has a hard time letting go of. Unfortunately, he's also partly forgotten how to talk, not helped by his voice being reduced to a raspy whisper after a bad poisoning. But he's still his sweet, loving self and is far more tactile, soaking in as much physical contact as he can. And he is startlingly relentless in his positivity. When they ask him how he stayed sane, stayed himself, Emmet just smiles and whispers he did it because he knew it would make ‘him’ mad.

And he made absolutely certain that he could never become Rex, mainly by actually learning how to regulate his emotions and figuring out the whole ‘deal with frustration in a productive way’ by himself. Because he could bitch and moan and lose his temper all he wanted, but shit still won't get done. So he kind of starts disregarding his anger, tucking it away until there's an appropriate time to use it.

Any time he felt close to losing hope, he’d remember that horrible sneer on Rex’s face right before he jettisoned him. And by god did he want to wipe that smug look off his face with the most spiteful optimism he can muster. He ends up weaponizing 'kill them with kindness' to incomprehensible levels. (“I’M GONNA HUG AND KISS THAT GUY ON BOTH CHEEKS AND TELL HIM I FORGIVE HIM BECAUSE I LOVE HIM! HE’S GONNA BE SO PISSED!!”)

But things are still hard since Emmet has to relearn how to be around people and was clearly traumatized by the isolation, needing almost 24/7 physical contact lest he break down crying.

Not too long after Emmet returns home, he’s still adjusting to enclosed spaces and having to talk when the Systarians offer him something that could help ease the transition: An orb encasing a rare magical time spell that could rewind the clock on his life, making it so that the years he was lost never happened to him, physically and mentally. Emmet is hesitant about it, not really sure if he wants to do something so drastic, but the Systarians reassure him that even if he decides against it, they’ll understand. They just wanted to give him more options moving forwards and if he doesn’t need it, they’ll be happy to take it back and recalibrate it for someone else. Though uncertain, Emmet chooses to keep the spell on the off chance he changes his mind.

Of course, Emmet’s return doesn’t go unnoticed by a certain someone...

When returning from a day of therapy, Emmet is only half-surprised to find Rex already in his room waiting for him.

And Rex is pissed.

His ploy didn't work. Years! Wasted!! All of this in the hopes that Emmet would crack, but no! He was too stupid to!

Emmet just rasps he refused to give up, which was a lot easier when he realized what the simplest way to push Rex’s buttons was. With his warmest, happiest smile, Emmet just tells Rex: “I forgive you.”

The enraged scream Rex makes barely sounds human as he moves in to kill Emmet, knife in hand. But Emmet doesn't go down easy, raising his staff/harpoon up in defense and drive Rex away with it’s reach. Their fighting destroys a good portion of the room sending things flying, including knocking  the little spell orb loose. Emmet grabs it, but then Rex has him in a choke hold and is about to jam his knife straight into Emmet's throat.

So Emmet smashes the spell orb in Rex's face.

Rex has no idea what this is, but then magical lines and symbols spread over his body, lighting him up in a magical glow. Emmet gets released and he can only watch as Rex begins panicking because he can feel the spell affecting him, “What did you do to me?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME???” Rex starts looking younger and younger, his angular face turning soft, adult hairs falling away as he screams at Emmet, his eyes wide with horror even as the lines around it fade, “What is this?! What the fuck is this???!!! You can't do this! I am your future! I am everything you’re supposed to be! This isn't supposed to happen, why is this happening?! I c- I can’t… why? Why?? WHY???!!!”

Emmet tries to calm Rex down, but Rex is watching himself as his cheeks turn soft and rounded, the last of his jawline eroding away, his clothes sliding loose and baggy off his shrinking frame, his gloves and boots easily sliding off, his hands and feet missing all sign of wear, now unblemished, soft, and small. The years keep melting away as his mind fails him, his breath hitching as he sobs uncontrollably, his voice turning to a high-pitched childish wail. He feels everything slipping away from him, the world now looming terrifyingly large around him. He’s lost and confused and scared out of his mind, “Wh-Wh-why c-can't I remember?! I-I-I’m s-sup-supposed to… I-I want my mommy… no-! no... please... I-I… d-don’t wanna die…”

Then strong arms wrap around him and he hears a man shushing him, telling him it's OK, he's safe, he's going to be OK, it's going to be OK.

And the little boy, too confused and frightened, just whimpers his last hiccuping sobs as his eyelids grow heavy and slip shut, everything fading away to nothing soon after.

Emmet is left holding an unconscious six-year-old, horrified at what he's done. He didn't think the spell would work like this, he thought it'd only go back before he became Rex, but apparently just how far wasn't specified. He breaks down sobbing against the boy’s still body, begging Rex to come back, he’s so sorry, please just come back…

Lucy and everyone are just as baffled when they burst in on the scene and even more so when Emmet tells them what happened. While they run diagnostics on the boy that was Rex, Emmet is consumed with guilt. He never meant for this. Does this mean Rex doesn't exist anymore?? Is the boy just a young Emmet now?? He’s so sorry, he wouldn’t have done it if he knew. Emmet can’t stop crying. He forgave Rex, he was always going to, but now it doesn’t matter because he killed Rex completely.

Lucy reassures him this is probably for the best. Rex wasn’t willing to change, wouldn't compromise, not after how Emmet so thoroughly defied him. At least this way, Rex gets a clean start again.

Emmet goes stiff and grabs Lucy, insisting Rex can't go into foster care again, it nearly broke them the first time and he's not going to let it happen to him again. Lucy calms him down and says that's fine, but what? Are they going to take care of him? Everybody in the room turns to them just as Emmet says with his desert stubbornness, "If I have to, then of course."

How well do these idiots do raising a babby Rex/Emmet? Well that’s probably for a second part, because uh.... Rex isn't quite done yet...

[heartofsnark]

MC Has Pet Rats (Headcanons)

Note: This was a kofi commission from @enchantedbythebidders she has her own rat babbies, whom I adore with all my heart and soul, almost as much as I adore her. 

Some people might think that Eisuke would be the type to not like rats, like he’d think they’re dirty animals. But the truth is he treats it like any other animal, IE, they dismiss him and he’s now desperate for them to love him. The most he seems to get from any of them is just a little sniff of his fingers. So, what’s Eisuke to do? Throw money at them. MC is left sighing as he gets the biggest bougiest possible cage for her precious rat babies. Oh, and it doesn’t fit in her dorm, guess MC and the rats will just always have to stay in the penthouse with him, he totally didn’t know and expect that. However, the cage doesn’t seem to impress them. How about a hammock made from pure silk for them to relax in. The hammock is appreciated, he is not. Time for the fanciest of treats? One of them pees on him, MC tells him that’s not bad, but he’s not convinced. After months of trials and tribulations Eisuke is trying to get them to play with some new expensive toy he bought them, MC turns to get something, and hears a small almost gasp of excitement from Eisuke. He’s looking at the shyest of MC’s rats, a small fawn baby, he swears it licked him. 

Soryu, sweet boy, is beyond terrified. Not of rats themselves or anything like that. He’s scared of hurting them, small animals worry him for that reason alone. He just feels like they’re so fragile and he’s so big that he’ll somehow hold them too tight, what if they end up on the floor and he accidentally steps on them, he’d never forgive himself. That being said, like most animals, the rats adore him. The first couple times he’s interacting with them are hilarious. They’re climbing all over him, licking his face and ears, while he’s just tense and scared to move. MC has to show him how to hold them and play with them, reassure him constantly that he’s not hurting them, before he slowly starts to feel more comfortable with them. Eventually, it’s normal for him to just be relaxing and reading a book, while they climb all over him and he gives them pets and scratches. 

Baba loves anything MC loves, he’ll adore them and dote on them. He’ll happily let them climb on him and give him kisses, he’ll pet them and snuggle with them. They seem to have an affinity for climbing up under his hat. He coos over them and gives them just as many pet names as he gives his MC, to the point they can hardly keep up with which one he’s referring to at any point. Baba swears he knows, but MC isn’t too sure about that. And MC definitely did not get a little jealous when they heard him calling one of their rat’s ‘pretty lady’ since that’s their nickname, god damn it. One day MC comes in to see Baba in the kitchen cooking up something, they get excited thinking he might be making cookies or something for them to share. Then Baba tells them it’s gourmet homemade rat treats. They’re definitely not jealous of their rats. 

Ota being the gremlin he is, isn’t as right away into and okay with the rats. He might tease MC about being weird, though he’s not outright mean or anything. He doesn’t understand really why someone would want pet rats, or any pet that isn’t a dog to be completely honest. He doesn’t pay much mind to them at first, doesn’t really play with them, but doesn’t hate them at first. He occasionally gets annoyed when he’s trying to sketch or paint and they’re suddenly a rat in his ear. He gets more loving with them, especially when he learns they act similarly to dogs. They lick, they ask for tummy rubs, MC just has tiny dogs. Tiny Koros. 

Mamoru isn’t a huge animal guy, he doesn’t hate animals, but he doesn’t love them or get excited over them. They’re there, much like Mamoru, just there. He’ll call them brats when they nibble him or lick him suddenly, but he’ll mostly just give them pets when they find there way over to him. The bidders will give him some shit about how they’re surprised he didn’t already have rats from the way he keeps his apartment, assholes. There are also some concerns that he’ll roll over on them in his sleep. But, honestly, it just ends up with him snoring with MC’s pet rats snuggled on his chest. 

Rhion is so excited, he loves them right away. He wants to pet and snuggle them, he’s asking MC to show him how to play with them, what treats they like, what toys do they love most.  Both MC and Rhion are a little nervous to introduce Cheshire to the rats, just due to the association of cats eating rodents. However, Cheshire, being the fat lazy baby, she is, gives no fucks about the rats. They can climb on her, lick her, snuggle her, anything, and she’s completely content. The worse she’ll do is swat at them playfully or flick her tail at them. Also, if it’s safe, he’s jumping to put cute little costumes on them. Even if it’s just a hat. He has a Dormouse to go along with his Cheshire Cat. Maybe they can get a rabbit next?

Luke is more of a cat guy than a rat guy, but hey, cute little animals are cute little animals. He gets that soft excited look on his face when he sees them. Given he’s the tallest of the bidders, they all love climbing up to the top of his head. He makes some mentions of lab rats from medical school and how delicate their bones are, which sets off some alarm bells for MC, but she knows he would never fathom hurting them. It’s just Luke being, well, Luke. They like to climb up and lick his cheeks and ears while he reads medical textbooks. 

Shuichi being the uptight kind of prudish dude, he is, might be a little off put by the rats at first There’s just that association with rats being dirty and grungy. He also can generally be a little awkward with animals, he prefers cactuses. Animals can be generally kind of chaotic and hard to predict. That being said, he comes around, seeing that they’re cute and clean. He starts to see them as something to take responsibility for and look after, like both his cactus and kind of how he sees his MC at times. Plus, rats are supposed to be highly intelligent, which he learned while doing some research on them. After that, he tries to teach them a few tricks, but the results are lackluster. They’d rather snuggle and give kisses. He’s very careful with making sure they don’t get poked on his cactus or get lost in the room. He could do without them peeing on him and some of his things, but MC doesn’t miss the soft smile he has when they grab at his fingers and give him kisses. 

Hikaru, tsundere boy, he’s the kind of guy who insults pets but in that loving way. He gets nibbled and says MC’s rats are as big of a dummy as they are, but there’s no hint of actual malice in his voice. He’ll smile soft and call them stinky or stupid. He leaves the caring for them to MC, not completely sure of what to do in that regard, he’ll focus on playing with them instead. When he’s hacking into something, he has to go to a room away from them, so they won’t climb on his keyboard and mess with what he’s doing. There was a day when one of them peed on his laptop and managed to make him lose all the data he had saved for a job he was doing for Eisuke, who wasn’t impressed with rat pee as an excuse. He learned his lesson. 

~Did you like this set of headcanons? Wanna request something similar? Just wanna support me? Consider buying me a Ko-Fi!~

[adamarinayu]

Now that we're on this hiatus, do you mind telling us what you thought of each episode?

Okay, I know I’m super late to answer this but here I am! I’m not gonna go too in depth on them, but I do want to talk about them.

Treasure of the Found Lamp!

This one was amusing, and I absolutely love what they did with Djinn. I’m so so so glad they changed his name, too, as “Dijon” always bothered me, even as a kid. Also, the story of the lamp was very heartwarming! And seeing Selene again was fun, especially as she had to run around and we find out she’s a terrible liar lol (so she definitely had nothing to do with Della’s disappearance, I think we can all finally put that theory to rest).

The wild goose chase aspect was funny, coming from both sides, and I still think the actress on Ma Beagle’s TV looked vaguely like a character from PKNA so. But Djinn did not pull punches and them Beagles at least got hurt XD

Also. It kinda has a “the greatest treasure is family” vibe to it.

The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck!

As someone who loves Scrooge and loves Goldie, but is indifferent to Scroldie… I still loved this episode. It was great! It was also absolutely hilarious. And Gyro’s time traveling was amazing. Especially Scrooge’s sudden moment of realization when Gyro returned lol.

Louie’s gonna befriend Goldie! That makes me excited. I bet they’re gonna teach each other things that we haven’t even thought of (ie Louie values his family, while Goldie doesn’t even have a family. Maybe Goldie will officially join the Duck-McDuck family not through her strange but obviously antagonistically-romantic relationship with Scrooge, but through her friendship with and tutelage of Louie? Maybe he’s the one who shows her the importance of family and offers her a place in their family… it doesn’t mean giving up adventure, it just means always having somewhere she can call home, and people she can trust and rely on!).

I’m iffy about Jeeves’ redesign, and also his somewhat betrayal of Rockerduck, but I’ve never been like a hardcore fan of the two of them so it was easy for me to move on. I am curious, though, just how they’re gonna come back… guess Gyro’s not quite done with time travel shenanigans.

The only real gripe I have is Sheriff Marshal Cabrera. DON’T GET ME WRONG, I absolutely loved him. He’s a beautiful babby boy. But at the same time, he’s literally just. Fenton. I know he’s like. Fenton’s great grandfather (or maybe uncle, idk) or something. There should absolutely be similarities yes, but it felt like someone had taken the characters and placed them in an old west setting. That being said, I do love him, I just wish he’d been slightly more his own character. Like, maybe a little more like a mix of M’Ma and Fenton! Idk.

The 87 Cent Solution!

…….. You really want to know?

Okay, the episode was good. It was funny, and I enjoyed seeing Glomgold’s timestop shenanigans.

But the funeral scene? That wasn’t cool. I saw the “not really dead” twist coming, I think we all did, but no one thought to tell Donald? Donald thought that, so soon after finally making amends with his uncle, he had lost him for good.

And I get it. It’s meant to be a gag. It’s supposed to be funny. But it kinda really soured the rest of the episode for me. I hate to say that too, because it was a good and funny episode… I just… I can’t believe they did that to Donald. :(

The Golden Spear!

AGONY. Agony is how I feel about this one. Della made friends with the Lunarians! Actual friends! And then Penny made a bad choice, and Lunaris… damn you, Lunaris, you traitor.

All the things Della listed off, wanting to do with her kids and brother and uncle… they’re things the others have already done without her. That hit me in the feels.

AND THEN DONALD- AGH, I CAN’T EVEN. Poor Donald. He’s so stressed and his family loves him so much and just wanted him to have some peace. But alas, it was not to be. And now the fandom cries.

… Even if he really shouldn’t have climbed into that rocket but y’know. He didn’t MEAN to press buttons….

Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!

Della reunites with her boys and no one realizes Donald is gone. And we see Della trying to be a mom, and kinda failing miserably. But she’s trying, and she’s learning!

ALSO THEIR WOULD-BE NAMES HFBVSHKFCS

It really put to rest one of my biggest fears, that all of the triplets would accept her immediately (Louie showed serious hesitation through the entire episode, definitely coming from his place of insecurity that Dewey and Huey don’t share) and she’d be super-mom. She makes mistakes, and it’s acknowledged that she seems to be trying to be one of them rather than be their mother. It does feel awkward at times, and alien, like the boys are trying so hard to think she’s doing great when she’s really causing harm, but in the end when it comes down to it she’d do anything to protect them, and gives them the choice of letting her into their life. She doesn’t try and force her way in (as she kinda did at first, but came to realize this isn’t easy for them either).

Right now she feels kinda more like a cool aunt than a mom, but she’ll learn.

Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!

IS LUDWIG’S CONSCIOUS TRAPPED IN THE VAULT?! HE REACTED TO AND INTERACTED WITH THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE.

Anyway Scrooge and Glomgold’s parts were absolutely A+ hilarious. Della and Dewey bonding, they’re so much alike, but we see Dewey’s insecurity flare up- how he wants to impress Della, feeling like he has to earn her love. Even though she’s already loved them for ten years, even without ever knowing what they looked like.

Della has a moment of realization here, too. She looks down and realizes Dewey is in a dangerous situation. She realizes that Dewey is in danger. She questions if they’re doing something crazy, clearly thinking maybe we shouldn’t be doing this, but when Dewey quotes her “I’m your son, I can do anything!” she instead chooses to encourage him, not wanting to discourage him and possibly cause him to fall.

And then of course, her “exit strategy” thing. I honestly kinda feel like it’s a bit of an ass pull, but it at least makes a little sense. When you’re being hunted by a monster on the moon, you always want to have an escape route planned. Scrooge sees that, even if she’s the same ol’ Della she was before, she’s still changed. Ten years still changes you.

Friendship Hates Magic!

New Girl! New Girl! Violet’s pretty cool. At first she comes off as one of those “um, actually” people, but since I’m one of those “um, actually” people it’s pretty whatever to me lol. And Lena’s back! I’m super excited about that.

Lena gets a little jealous-possessive but who can blame her, Webby’s one of the few people who have always believed in her. And Webby spent so much time we never knew about trying to find ways to bring Lena back, to the point that it’s like clockwork.

The whole “being tormented by her own mind” thing was actually frightening in a way, and I’m just glad it all turned out alright. And now Webby isn’t just a fourth triplet, she’s the central member of her own trio. It’s great!

The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!

Admittedly another plotline to be seen from far away. A good episode full of secondhand embarrassment, but dang Huey’s LUNGS.

I love Gandra’s design and personality. It’s pretty durn great. I love it! I just have one gripe. Warning, this is a bit of a rant.

Why can’t we let characters be feminine? By this I mean traditionally feminine. Dresses, makeup, shopping, high heels, giggling, soft and compassion and gentle and things I’m not, pinks and lilacs, etc. Yes, Webby’s favourite colour is pink and she likes glitter and wears skirts, she is pretty feminine. But she’s the only one, besides Roxanne Featherby (Featherly? I don’t remember, and that’s only arguably because of her clothes), to be even slightly feminine, and even then it can be argued she’s not all that traditionally feminine because, well… she’s the bruiser of the group. Which there’s absolutely nothing wrong with! A feminine bruiser absolutely works, and I love it, but looking at it from certain angles…

Most of the (non-villain) females, besides Webby, show next to no traditionally feminine qualities- Goldie is the closest, when she dresses up for special events or for schemes. Which I don’t mind, per se, I don’t have many traditionally feminine qualities either, but you’d think at least a few would. The original Gandra Dee, who I am glad they changed mind you, was very feminine; she wore her hair long, wore dresses, enjoyed makeup and manicures, etc. She was traditionally feminine, AND smart. (even if I never liked how they drew her face (the eyes and beak look weird imho, DT17 pulled it off better), and I felt like she left much to be desired *cough*…)

There is nothing wrong with having traditionally feminine characters. There is nothing wrong with having characters who enjoy dressing up, or putting on makeup, or shopping, etc. The problem with traditionally feminine characters comes in when it’s done for sex appeal, or you have a woman running from dinosaurs in 6 inch heels (yeah I’m calling that out) or there’s a feminine character there only to be dragged on by the others for their feminine characteristics.

Anyway, rant about that over. I still love what they did with Gandra, but I’m just noticing this trend where female characters aren’t being allowed to like traditionally feminine things. Yeah, there are absolutely a lot of girls who don’t, but there’s probably an equal amount who do! And there’s nothing wrong with showing a competent, traditionally feminine character. :/

The Duck Knight Returns!

DARKWING DUCK DARKWING DUCK DARKWING DUCK NEGADUCK AAAAAAAA

Need I say more?

Okay, Launchpad is a sweetheart and let’s be honest, we knew the moment we saw him that the other guy at the signing was Drake Mallard.

I love that they kept the “Darkwing Duck inspires Drake Mallard to become Darkwing Duck” aspect of DW’s origin story, while twisting it around so that time travel and paradoxes don’t occur. Also! We still get Jim Cummings as Negaduck, while also getting a new VA for Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck- someone who does a pretty good job at sounding like them, too. So now Negaduck, who is no longer Darkwing/Drake Mallard from an alternate universe, has his own distinguishable voice!

… And I still think Negs is gonna have an unhealthy obsession with Launchpad, thanks to the “my fan” comment. I figure that’s how we’ll get Nega Launchpad, but who knows! There’s so many possibilities!

Anyway Gosalyn, yesterday please. Gimme.

[teslascribbles]

hi :D you cant escape me (/lh) so care to tell us anything about the plot of this story, if you have one? the characters sound SO cool :) (/gen /pos) -nagi anon ^^ (PS if you don't have one then i demand random trivia abt each oc)

uhhhhh i honest to god don't have a story yet per se ;u; in my defense though, i care way more about developing my characters than any sort of plot;; but yes here's some trivia!

you've already heard a bit about reiji, so i'm giving his spot to hideki <3 hideki works as a piercer in the same tattoo shop as mikoto, while working on a master's degree in design and helping out with his parents' restaurant. he's 188 cm, his natural hair color is brown, and his father's mother was russian. he became friends with reiji in middle school pretty much by accident - he once went up to reiji and was like "um. you know that no one thinks you're cool, right?" he wasn't even trying to be mean, that was just his way of asking reiji why he was doing the chuunibyou thing.

hikaru <3 my beloved <3 is basically pangender and is okay with any pronouns! he loves lolita fashion, especially classic lolita, and her favorite brand is mary magdalene, but alas! they're 182 cm and have really broad shoulders so it's hard to find pieces that fit without alterations ;n; also hikaru and subaru have been together for 4 years <3 and when i eventually come up with a story for all this, i refuse to have any weird relationship drama about them being partners and bandmates. like, i just won't do it. i don't care how realistic it is, i despise relationship drama and wouldn't touch it with a 40-foot pole.

mikoto and subaru are childhood friends/neighbors who went to the same elementary, middle, and high schools (albeit 2 years apart). mikoto used to be a hella delinquent, largely because he was trans and didn't really know how to process his dysphoria as a wee lil babby (also lbr mikoto's kinda dumb bless him). he was like "wearing a dress makes me mad >:( and boys make me mad by just existing >:((( im gonna fight somebody" i haven't decided on mikoto's deadname and tbqh i'm probably not gonna give him one lol what's the point of giving a character a name that no one's supposed to use?

subaru is...Odd (tm). he's a good person, mostly; just weird. he's got anger issues and uses his drumming (and fucking lmao) to vent. i haven't decided why he's so angry yet, but i have decided that i am NOT gonna let him be abusive 😤😤😤 y'all can pry hikaru's happiness and safety from my cold, dead hands (y'all being me i guess)

finally, about 7-DAZE as a whole: i guess they count as visual kei because of the elaborate makeup, costumes and "characters" that each member plays on stage, but their sound is pretty much power metal with some symphonic and orchestral elements thrown in for good measure - if nightwish was played by dragonforce, or really just look up "the lost elysion" by xandria (except with tenor vocals lmfaoooo though reiji does have a decent falsetto and might be able to pull off those high notes with some practice)

thank you so much for letting me gush about my babies even more! <3

[enigmaticgale]

houshin engi 100 questions

ariana linked me this and as we all i know i physically cannot shut up about this series ever, so here we go

endgame spoilers below!! if anyone actually cares, lol

1. What is your name? inigo montoya. you kill my father. prepare to die. NO i’m yarrow but i can’t imagine anyone who reads this won’t already know that

2. When did you get into Houshin Engi? january 2012! so.... much later than everyone else i’ve met who’s already into it. i’m babby 3. Did you read it in Weekly Jump magazine? Or the tankoubons? Or both? i read the snoopycool scanlations on mangapark dot com. that probably wasn’t the original website but fuck if i can remember what it was 4. Do you own all 23 volumes? yeah, four times over lol. 5. Do you own Houshin Taizen? hell yeah 6. Do you have the special Houshin Taizen that came with Akamaru Jump? i hate that i know this is a thing now because i won’t rest until i add it to my collection  7.Do you want a Houshin Taizen 2 to come out? yeah put birthdays in it this time fujiryu you hack 8. Did you watch the anime? i’ve seen it twice but only remember one watch lol. i’ve seen the sub and i’ve probably watched the first two episodes 5 times in the dub trying to watch the whole series through. no dice. oh this is about the old anime. i’m only part of the way through the new one because my adhd kicks my ass daily

9. Did you tape record it? man when were these questions written lol. i don’t even know how old i was when the anime aired in the states. did it even air in the states 10. Give your honest opinion on the last episode. hey studio deen? what the fuck? the fuck was that? you bastards? 11. Do you own mp3s of the opening and ending songs? sure do!

12. Do you buy the soundtrack albums? i got both. and then the 2 character song cds. and then 3 of 4 drama cds 13. If you answered ‘yes’ to #12, what is your favourIte track? MAN that’s tough?? probably... chi-kou-go-itsu because when taikoubou is like “IKITERU” in the chorus i’m like. god it won’t let me upload an image here this website is BROKEN. i’m that one gif of that black woman crying and nodding and then she wipes away her tear

14. What Houshin Engi merchandise do you own? what don’t i own. i need to update that album actually 15. Have you ever bought any of the Senkaiden games? yeah i got both.  16. If you answered ‘yes’ to #15, which ones have you bought? i’ve considered buying a wonderswan so i can play them because god knows where the rom i found is but i can’t read jp for shit 18. Could you name all the characters in Houshin Engi? not off the top of my head in a list but if you showed me a picture there’s a 98% chance i’d be able to tell you who they are 19. Favourite male character(s)? youzen and taikoubou... my first fave was roushi. i also like fugen and shinkouhyou and kouyuuken “who’s kouyuuken” haha. he’s the longhaired shisei. yes yes, my tastes

20. Favourite female character(s)? yuukyou is my DORTOR, i love ryuuktisu and kibi too! also seiba.  21. Which is your favourite Taikoubou outfit? i don’t really have a preference! though if you made me pick it would probably be his first one. baby outfit

22. Your opinion on Youzen’s outfit during the fight against Jyoka? i’m emo over him wearing his daddy’s paopei but that’s more of necessity than of sentimentality huh 23. Your opinion on Fugen’s shoulder-revealing shirt? how does it stay ON!!!! 24. Have you ever imitated Dakki’s speech pattern? i’m a guy 25. If you could transform like Youzen, who would you turn into and what would you do? GOD DJESUS.... i’d make myself a foot taller. and also have blue hair. and cure my damn dysphoria . please i want this transformation ability so bad lol

26. Which act/chapter is your favourite? i love the whole manga but the sennin war arc gunches me the hardest 27. Which anime episode is your favourite? bold of you to assume that i remember enough about the anime to differentiate what happened in which episode 28. Which volume cover is your favourite? that’s hard!!!! ummm...... volume one. i like taikoubou 29. Which title — be it volume title, chapter title, or episode title — is your favourite? bold of you to assume i remember episode or volume titles. as for chapter title... there are a lot of great ones but one that always stood out to me is “Chuuoh, Son of Heaven”. idk why. i just like that aesthetic i guess. son of heaven

OH i also really like 141 and 142 which are “ A Blinding Light, A Deafening Silence, And Then...” “An Eternal Happiness” ^___T sennin war arc 30. Have you ever cried while reading Houshin Engi? bunchuu’s death gets me every time though my definition of “cry” is probably a bit. loose. my very first reread though, i had to get up from my computer and stop reading because i physically couldn’t see. musta been a day 31. Do you still buy the calendars? STOP TELLING ME ABOUT MERCH I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BECAUSE NOW I’LL HAVE TO BUY IT  32. If you answered ‘yes’ to #31, do you keep the old ones up? FUCKA YOU. yeah i’d display them somehow 33. What is your favourite quote, and who said it? “I learned the greatest courage is telling people my weakness. So I don't want to run anymore: not from you, not from myself!” by youzen. i also really like the line youzen has in the tournament arc where he says there’s no way he can lose because he has the powers of everyone he’s met but the quote i actually listed is more Feelsy 34. Do you have a favourite romantic pairing? hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa youbou. 35. Say anything you want about that favourite pairing? bold of you to expect coherency from me 36. Why are you into that pairing? nnMMBBmbmbbbb god i’m. gay. the tl;dr is i relate a lot to youzen and i love taikoubou a lot so it’s like self insert without the self insert lol. i’m really laying myself bare here in full sincerity 37. Have you thought of a perfect song for that pairing? What song, and by whom? yeah i gotta.... whole gotdamn playlist. please listen to it 38. Which houshined character do you want resurrected? here’s my postgame fic where everyone gets resurrected eventually. yes even all the rando youkai  39. Which character made you think “I’m glad s/he wasn’t houshined!”? probably..... youzen? or nataku. anyone who has a brush with death and then Wasn’t. 40. Which of the Konron 12 would you like to be scouted by? gyokutei!!!!!! 41. What are your reasons? *points at him* dad 42. Suupuushan, Kokutenko, Kokukirin. Who would you want to ride? kokutenko!!!! luv cat

43. Do you have any friends who like Houshin Engi? yeah!!! and i only had to bully a few of them into reading it. shocker 44. Who’s your favourite Jyuttenkun? kinkou seiba!!!  45. Did you like “Ennui Academy”? i want fujiryu to give me a full length ennui academy manga. this is only half a joke 46. What’s your favourite non-romantic pairing? BBBbbbb hmmm. i love yuukyou and her two dads and i also love youzen and gyokutei.... i’m suckerpunched by found family daily 47. Which do you like better; the Dakki Sisters or the Beautiful Sisters (Venus and Co.)? the dakki sisters  48. Do you want Roushi’s suit? depends on what i have to do to get it lol. but yeah i’m all about that lazy life 49. Name one paopei you want. i’m going to say all of them on account of being greedy and also bad at making decisions

50. What would you use it for? oh fuck. can’t make me go into work if i’m wrapped in rikukonhan’s void, right 51. Who is the strongest character, in your opinion? fukki if he’s got backup, jyoka if not 52. What is your reason? *points to the final volume* Observe 53. Which character makes you go, “I’ll never forgive him/her!!”? outenkun. basard 54. What colour do you like on Taikoubou’s hair? brown!!! my fave eye colour on him is green!! that wasn’t part of the question but i think that’s the cutest and best colour combo!!!!!! you can’t change my mind!!!!

i think fukki has black hair and blue/grey eyes. 55. Name a master-disciple combo you like. again, youzen and gyokutei suckerpunch me 58. Which is your favourite splash page? probably the very first one in chapter 1 cause i get all nostalgia over it. weh 59. Taikoubou + Outenkun = Fukki. Did you easily accept this fact? i wish i could tell you anything that i thought when i first read the manga but all my impressions are lost to time. i wish other people would remember that outenkun is a key part of the fukki equation and stop just treating him as taikoubou in a funny outfit lol. they’re different people, even if they’re similar....  60. Did the entrance of Fukki affect your opinion on Houshin Engi? again, i wish i could tell you, but 61. Do you think of Taikoubou, Fukki, and Outenkun as three separate people?

YES, AND YOU SHOULD TOO

62. Where on Taikoubou’s body do you think Outenkun’s paopei’s mark appeared? .....people talked about this? 63. Who would you want to be houshined by? dakki. if i have to die i want her to kill me, sexily. sorry for making you read those words 64. Who would do you want to houshin? outenkun but he’s off limits. ...i think anyone else i’d want to houshin already done and did it so 65. Which of Dakki’s many outfits is your favourite? bold of you to assume i keep track of them 66. Is Venus scary? no, she’s very cute!! shame on you!! 67. Which paopei made you go, “That’s terrible!!”? ay. uh. keiseigenjou is pretty spooky what with the “dakki uses this to mind control hundreds of thousands of people at once” 68. What is the colour of Chibi Youzen’s horns? dark dark brown imo 69. What cup size is Dakki? WHY AREY OU ASKING ME THIS-- oh it’s question 69. haha nice 70. Who’s your favourite Colourful Trio sennin? probably taiitsu! 71. Your opinion on the brand new sennin world? luv horai.... new home 72. What is Fukki’s hair colour in act 201? ....there was talk about this??  73. Ask yourself a question concerning Houshin Engi. can you ever stop fucking thinking about this manga 74. Your response to that question? no lol!!!!!  75. In your opinion, is Nentou in love with his half sister? in a completely innocent and platonic way, you fucking freaks! 76. Did the Sennin World War leave a deep mark on your heart? FUCK YEAH IT HURTS 77. Do you own any Houshin Engi doujinshis? oh yeah we got soup 78. Kichiku, hentai, yaoi, shounen-ai, general. Which doujinshi genre do you have the most of? shounen ai probably. i am, gay 79. Do you make Houshin Engi doujins? i would if i could, probably 80. If you answered ‘yes’ to #79, do you make doujins about couples? i would if i could!!  81. If you answered ‘yes’ to #79, the amount of Houshin Engi doujinshi circles is decreasing, but do you intend to continue yours? man what audience was this intended for 82. Who’s the easiest character to draw? youzen because he’s all i ever draw 83. Who’s the hardest character to draw? anyone who isn’t youzen 84. Have you ever done Houshin Engi cosplay? i wanted to cosplay roushi in high school but predictably never went through with the idea

85. If you answered ‘yes’ to #84, who have you cosplayed? man a lot of these could really be combined into one question huh 86. Does your website mainly have Houshin Engi in it? yeah cause it’s all i ever fucking think about 87. Is there a Houshin Engi fan you can’t forgive? Who and why? :) 88. What is Hanyoutai Youzen’s colour scheme? wh.... white hair, gold eyes, ???? hell if i know. bold of you to assume fujiryu would ever give a character a consistent colour scheme 89. If Nataku were to give you a ride, where would you want to go? nataku take me to court so i can get my legal name changed. idk?!? does this mean like in the sennin world?? anywhere Scenic

90. Which of Choukei’s outfits is the best? i’m longhairluvr69 but i think he looks cuter in his later outfit.... maybe if he’d kept his long hair and put it up in a bun?

91. Say anything about the most memorable scene in Houshin Engi. bold of you to assume i have a working memory 92. What do you think of the ending to Houshin Engi? I’M SAD. it’s a very satisfying ending though. 93. Have you imagined what happens after the series’ end? i got six years worth of headcanons for it, coming soon to a theatre near you 94. If you answered ‘yes’ to #93, give more detail. NO I’M TIRED. just read my fic 

95. Have you read Parallel World Houshin Engi? what, Another Story? yeah i’ve read it. 96. Do you own “Dramatic Irony”? yeah! milk junkie sure was a story, wasn’t it. 97. The series has ended, but is your love for the series still going strong? i will be on my deathbed still talking about this manga 98. Do you really think Fukki has nothing left to do in the end? well, he’s finished everything he Needs to do, but there’s a whole wide world left for him to explore!  99. Say anything you want about Fujiryuu. fujiryu i AM coming to japan and we WILL duel in an arby’s parking lot at 3am. there will only be one survivor

full seriousness i am alive and happy today because of fujiryu so if i ever do meet him irl i’d probably just start crying lol. 100. Any last words? read houshin engi!!!!

[bizarrebird]

Guys. Guys. Guys. It’s the first Spike episode. He’s here. My shitty boy is here. Full disclosure, Spike is and always has been my favorite character and I do in fact ship Spuffy (yes I am fully aware of the fact that it becomes terrible in season 6 and believe me, I’ll talk about that when we get there. It’s bad, Spike is bad, the writing is bad, and I hate all of it) but this is not gonna become all Spuffy all the time, I promise. Even this one, no, this liveblog is about appreciating my mom Joyce Summers

So without further ado Season 2, Episode 3: School Hard

We start in Snyder’s office where he’s in full lecture mode to Buffy and random girl (Sheila) about how they’re both super troublesome because Sheila stabbed a teacher with pruning shears (hardcore but what the fuck) and Buffy burned down a gym*. Synder tells them that Parent-Teacher night is coming up and, to avoid expulsion, they’re in charge of setting it up and if they do well, he will tell their parents they aren’t complete gremlins. Buffy clearly wants to toe the line and Sheila doesn’t give a crap and runs off to make out with someone who she calls ‘meatboy’ (I have questions Sheila) Xander and Willow show up for playful banter and discuss the situation and then Xander jinxes everything cause he’s a fuck

And now we cut to the bEST FUCKING ENTRANCE EVER as a car mows down the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign, blaring music and outsteps my shit boy in all his duster wearing, bleach blonde, vampire glory. There he is. That motherfucker. Spike. And here we mark where the show really gets good** before we go to OPENING CREDITS

After the credits we see some generic vamps and the anointed babby talking about who’s gonna step up now that the Master’s gone. I guess there’s an evil power vacuum or something going on? but no one wants the gig cause Buffy will make whoever steps up dust. Random Vampire says he’ll kill her cause some vampire holiday is coming up that gives them more power, so it’s the perfect time to strike. He’s all speechifying and bragging when Spike (my sweet shitlord) cuts him off and calls him on his shit, cause Spike’s the guy you call when someone needs a dick slapped out of their mouth

Spike starts talking to the baby, saying he knows about the slayer problem and he can help cause he’s already killed two before (one of them who’s coat he’s wearing right now) But he trails off when Drusilla walks in, looking all dainty and lovely and he drops the vamp face case he’s gotta go be soft with her. We get the idea pretty quick that Dru isn’t all there and Spike makes mention of the fact that she’s weak for some reason (I think it’s explained later, but I can’t remember the exact details off the top of my head rn) Spike and Dru do their sweet, but creepy weird thing and he announces they’re moving in and that he’ll deal with Buffy as long as the baby keeps his goons in line

Now we go to Buffy and Joyce in the old Summers abode. Mama Joyce has apparently not been told by Buffy that parent-teacher night is happening and they have some serious talks about Buffy’s previous issues and how moving was hard on both of them. The scene closes out with Buffy being clearly iffy on her feelings about not telling her mom the truth about the slaying stuff and then we go back to high school and prep for parent-teacher night. Buffy (in adorable overalls) works on decorations with Willow and Xander’s there too I guess, and they decide to go to the Bronze because Angel, which means she has a million things to balance and here come Giles and Jenny with one more thing to add to the pile: super vampire night

Giles is... kind of a dick about things, saying slaying has to come first, but Willow and Xander volunteer to help to try to lighten the load. And here comes Giles with the Watcher’s shittiest rule that the slayer must fight alone because reasons???? (no like what the fuck, it’s the shittiest rule and clearly that hasn’t helped all the previous slayers not die, fuck the watcher’s council honestly) Synder shows up and notices Sheila isn’t there. Buffy covers for her just in time for a clearly hungover Sheila to show up and ask Buffy about the burning down a building thing (cause Joss just really loves sucking his own creative dick)

And we go to the Bronze where Buffy’s trying to study and party simultaneously and that’s going about as well as you’d expect. Buffy’s hoping Angel will show up, but so far nothing, so she agrees to dance with Xander as we see Spike looming in the back of the club. He talks one of his lackeys into attacking a random club goer and then loudly announces someone’s being attacked so he can watch Buffy in action (and he doesn’t have heart eyes yet, but like... you know he’s into it) Xander manages to not be a useless slug boy and goes and grabs Buffy a stake from her purse so she can kill rando vamp. Spike then slow claps (cause yes, even my baby is a tool) and says he’s gonna come after her on Saturday when the vamps get all super charged and slinks away

Next we see Sheila leaving the club with two random guys, who get yanked away off camera and then SURPRISE SPIKE RIGHT BEHIND HER. He flirts and it’s creepy and we know it’s not gonna end well. Cut to the library with the Scoobies trying to research Spike and coming up empty. Luckily Angel shows up then and he knows what’s up with Spike although Buffy’s a little more interested in why he didn’t show up earlier. But then just as people are asking Angel about Spike, Angel just leaves cause drama and he’s an asshole

There’s dramatic music and some chanting as we move to Drusilla being creepy with some dolls. Spike tries to talk her into eating because she’s weak (something something mob in Prague), but Dru just wants to be weird and tells Spike he has to get the other vamps to trust him more. He agrees, on the condition that she eat Sheila. The scene cuts before we see what happens and we find the Scoobies prepping for parent-teacher night and super vamp throwdown

Parent-teacher night begins and Buffy’s big plan is to just stop Snyder from getting anywhere near Joyce (fair, he’s a disgusting lizard man) Buffy is stressing as Cordy approaches and tells her her mom is super hot (not in those exact words, but listen Cordelia is bi and she’s a queen) Joyce mentions that she’s having a strangely difficult time actually talking to any of Buffy’s teachers, how strange. This of course is wen Snyder finally catches up with her and asks to speak to her in his office. insert scare chord here

Meanwhile in the library, Giles finds a book talking about Spike and his old moniker ‘William the Bloody’ and that he has killed two slayers, so he means business. Back with Buffy we see Snyder and Joyce return and clearly Mama Summers isn’t happy with whatever he told her (idk what the fuck he even would tell her, Buffy has don’t nothing wrong ever in her life and the lizard man is just mad that he can’t ever hope to be as pretty as her) As Synder’s turning off the lights on parent-teacher night the school windows get smashed as like a dozen vampires burst through cause Spike got tired of waiting and decided to  say fuck it and attack early. Great idea there. I love this guy, but he’s an idiot

Buffy leaps into action and gets her mom and most other people to safety. Cordelia and Willow get attacked by a vamp, but Willow saves Cordy and the two of them stumble into a supply closet to have their shared gay awakenings (okay listen it would be a good ship, I swear) Buffy tries to get everyone into the library, but vampires cut them off and she has to herd them into a different room. The power goes out and one of Spike’s lackeys says they lost the slayer. Annoyed, Spike murders a random teacher/parent and decides if he wants something done right, he has to do it himself

Giles apparently has a secret way out through the library and sends Xander (after some whining) to go get Angel cause he knows Spike somehow. Back in the classroom Snyder’s a little shit and wants to bust out the windows to run, but Buffy tells him not to and starts giving orders before making to head into the vents. Joyce tries to stop her, but Buffy goes anyway (mooooom, all the other kids get to fight demons) Spike’s wandering the halls being creepy and passes right by Cordelia and Willow’s hiding place. Cordy starts panicking, so Willow gets all up close and personal to put a hand over her mouth (hey Willow, you know another way you could keep her quiet wink wink nudge nudge IT’S REAL GAY IN THAT CLOSET LISTEN)

In the library, Giles is about to bust out to go help Buffy (who has to work alone now, huh? Look I’m glad he’s being less shitty now, but I’m still holding that line against him, that was garbage) But the air vent above him opens and surprise ceiling Buffy is here now. She insists she’s gonna handle all the vamps, just like Giles told her too, and she has to do it alone, just like Giles told her too (HMM PERCHANCE A PATTERN IS HAPPENING HERE) And she tells Giles that he’s gotta get her mom and the others out in case she doesn’t make it back

Back in the classroom, Snyder’s being a dipshit and Joyce is telling him not to and being a proud mama saying they should listen to what Buffy says. Snyder’s a fuck stick and convinces another guy to go out the window anyway (guess how that’s gonna go) Out in the hall, Spike finds a fireaxe (that they just... have in a school??? really???? no one thinks this is a safety hazard???? okaaaay) and in three two one--the guy Snyder sends through the window gets munched on. Who could have guessed. Joyce quickly shuts the window and is a big enough person not to say ‘I told you so’ even though it’s totally warranted

Xander gets there with Angel, who goes all vamp mode and pretends he caught Xander. Meanwhile Cordy and Willow are still in that closet, sitting real close cause they’re totes gay. Buffy’s still in the ceiling, which Spike has picked up on and he starts trying to force her out. She pops out right on top of the vamp trying to get at Joyce and the others and stakes the shit out of him. Joyce, who is also a queen, tells Buffy to save herself, but Buffy says nah. Surprise Sheila from nowhere, who Buffy tells to go hide, but she grabs a fireaxe and follows Buffy to ‘help’

In another hallway, Spike’s still jabbing the ceiling fishing for Buffy when Angel shows up all vamp face. Spike calls him ‘Angelus’ (huh wonder what that’s about) They hug and that’s not a bro hug cause these fellas are bi (Joss can deny it all he wants, but they are. We all know it, say they’re bi Joss, say it you coward***) They shoot the shit, clearly showing they go waaaaay back. Angel’s putting on a decent act, which Xander apparently falls for cause he is instantly down to believe any guy who’s into Buffy**** is super evil, and he offers to let Spike snack on him

Meanwhile, Buffy’s about to do some slaying, but we see Sheila behind her all vamped out, not surprising, but kinda sad. Giles sees her through the window and yells warning her to look out. Buffy ducks and stakes the first vamp, but lets Sheila get away. With the way clear, she has Giles get her mom and the others out and, despite Joyce trying to get her to come along, Buffy doesn’t go. There’s more vamps to slay

Back with our totally hetero boys who are about to share a tasty Xander snack, Spike asks Angel why he hasn’t killed Buffy and he says seeing her kill the master made him play good vamp. Spike goes with it for two seconds and then punches out Angel, cause he knows he’s full of shit and starts getting really upset and emotional, you know the way a totally straight dude would when his totally straight friend bro betrays him. He moves in for the kill, but Angel and Xander book it out the door. Before Spike can follow, he hears a Buffy sound that draws his attention

Spike brags a little about the last slayer he killed begging for her life, but says he doesn’t think Buffy will do that (correct, he knows a tough lady when he sees one and he respects that) He then says that he’ll make it quick and try not to let it hurt when he kills her and sounds weirdly genuine about it, not that Buffy pays that much attention, cause she’s soooo not impressed with him. They fight and it’s super hot. Meanwhile outside, Xander’s getting his ass kicked and Angel saves him as Giles gets the civilians out, but Mama Summers stops cause Buffy still isn’t there and she has to protect her baby

Spike manages to get the upper hand, but then FIREAXE TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD AND JOYCE TO THE FUCKING RESCUE with a “You get the hell away from my daughter”

Joyce telling bitches to back off her daughter before it was cool, I love her so, so much

Spike runs off cause two powerful Summers ladies is waaaaay too much for him to handle. Joyce and Buffy hug and it’s wonderful and everything is good (wonder how long that will last, fuck you Joss) Snyder’s shown talking to the cops, who seem to know something’s up with the situation, syaing they’re going to tell the press the “usual story” and cover the vamp attack as gang violence, showing people in town aren’t quite as out of the loop as they’ve seemed. Giles and Jenny talk and flirt and that’s cute. We see Angel and Xander talking about the situation before, Angel makes excuses, and Xander whines

Buffy and Joyce walk together and Joyce is so proud and I’m gonna cry. Oh also, Cordelia and Willow are still in the closet and really, they should just make out already to pass the time

We go back to the anointed bab’s hideout where Spike’s complaining about this slayer having family and friends makes her harder to deal with (HUH WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT WATCHER’S COUNCIL HOW FUCKING INTERESTING) Dru reassures him before he goes to talk to the anointed one, who grumps at him for not killing Buffy. Spike makes it two words into an apology before changing his tune and putting the baby vamp into a cage, which he lifts into the light of the sun to burn him up, officially making him and Dru the new big bads in town

FINAL THOUGHTS: Good episode, my son is here now and we’re onto more personal conflicts, which is very much a good thing. Also Joyce was a shining star here and I love her.

For the record I’m gonna skip Inca Mummy Girl and Reptile Boy cause you couldn’t pay me enough to watch that first episode suck Xander’s dick, and the second one is very meh filler and Cordelia’s already been captured twice this season and I’m kinda tired of that.

So next up is Season 2, Episode 6: Halloween

*Ooookay so this probably confuses some people, and for good reason. See we don’t see Buffy burn down a gym ever in the show. This is because it was supposed to happen in the preceding Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. To those of you who have seen that movie (I’m so, so sorry) that probably doesn’t make this make any more sense because no gyms burned down there. This is because the gym burned down in Joss Whedon’s original script for said movie, but it never made it to the film because the movie was a fucking trainwreck and you can literally see the point where he started to lose any creative control. However, that doesn’t stop Joss from thinking that scrip was god’s gift to cinema and will insist on referencing it and treating it as canon despite, you know, it never being more than just a script

**I don’t mean just because of Spike, though he does play a part in it. See, this is the turning point away from the more generic doomsday villains like the Master, who was vaguely threatening, but kind of a nothing entity, and go for more personal villains and overarching plots, which is really what makes the show special. Spike, Drusilla and *SPOILERS* later Angelus were the first villains who really made things super personal for Buffy and the Scoobies, giving the conflicts new depth and intrigue. Not that the show was bad before this, but this episode really marks where it starts Growing the Beard as tropers would say

***For the record, this is not shipping goggles talking. This is due to the fact that, in later seasons of Buffy and Angel, the Spike/Angel dynamic is played up a lot. There is very clear if not romantic, at least sensual and sexual subtext here, culminating with Spike’s line in season 5 of Angel “Angel and I were never intimate, well, except that one time” indicating that there is some kind of sexual history there. Joss Whedon has also vagued in interviews saying (paraphrasing cause I don’t remember the exact words) “they’re open minded guys, y’know they’ve been together for so long, something must’ve happened there” However, he won’t say they or any other characters are bi cause Joss Whedon doesn’t think bisexuals exist, despite the fact that he has written several bisexual characters whether he will admit it or not

****Any guy except Riley, who, when we get there, Xander’s never gonna shut up about how great he is and how really Buffy is the one that doesn’t deserve Riley cause of that cool thing Xander does where his mouth moves, but Joss Whedon talks

[toddsfall]

Let’s talk about Star Wars

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS (don’t say I didn’t warn you)

first off, the entire cast looked like a DELICIOUS SNACC PACK if you were attracted to any of them before and are wondering if they have somehow become more attractive the answer is yes. Yes they have. 

Rose is awesome, I love her (even though I have Thoughts about her storyline, more on that later) and if I see one more racist motherfucker on Twitter try to bend themselves over backwards trying to justify calling her ‘the worst character ever in SW’, ‘unattractive and fat’, ‘the worst part of the movie’ I am personally pulling the plug on the internet. Same goes for anyone trying to hate on Finn, y’all are really transparent and IT’S FUCKING GROSS. YOU RACIST ASSHOLES.

Hmm so anyway, I have a lot of thoughts and most of them will be rambly so come along this ride with me friends (I swear I’ll try to make clear & concise points)

Okay so I want to go right off the bat say that I have loved Star Wars since I was a wee babbie so I’m? going to? love it? always? so yeah, I know I’m biased (but honestly who isn’t? everyone reviewing the movie has their own biases attached to it sooo deal with it) 

The movie starts off with several action sequences which immediately pull us into the story, they got my heart racing from minute one and I was here for it. Also, I got goosebumps the minute I saw Leia/Carrie’s face and I stayed pretty emotional throughout the entirety of the movie. I think they gave her the respect she deserved, her legacy really shined through in every single one of her scenes (and her scenes were among the most memorable in the movie imo)

I loved how much the movie focused on characters. This was a story about people; 

how they can fuck up and fall off their pedestal (Luke); 

try their hardest and still fail someone (Leia and Han failed Ben, it’s sad but it’s true); 

how they can overcome their past and choose the light over and over (Rey was the main focus but Finn and Rose were definitely part of this theme as well); 

how they can feel completely abandoned and isolated and  become completely unhinged, unable to overcome their past and become completely bitter (Kylo Ren/Ben, listen I am not trying to sound like I approve of his actions but I really like how the movie delved into HOW people can become ‘the villain’ in a story, it was an unflinching take on how someone can have very legitimate reasons for becoming the way they am and it still in the end not justifying their actions at all. Idk, other people probably have a take different take on this but I for one found it kind of refreshing). 

This movie really delved into how heroes are people too, everyone fucks up. Everyone. Even the best among us. And we don’t all handle it so well (aka Luke completely abandoning everyone he’s ever loved to die, you could argue that was a pretty egocentric move and maybe that seems out of character - ask yourself if you’ll be the same person you’re now in 30 years now, especially if the current political climate keeps matching the pretty horrifying ones in sw- but it shows how disillusioned he’d become). 

However, in the end it felt to me like hope was still there. All these people, who have lost so much and who have fucked up in various ways (Finn wanting to abandon the rebellion, Poe leading them into a defeat, Leia failing her son, Rey possibly considering joining Kylo?/the darkness, Luke see above) still choose to stand up for what’s right. I know people thought the ending was a bit too cheesy (and I will come back to how choosing this ending will probably end up costing them later) but I loved it. I don’t know about you guys, but movies don’t always have to choose the dark route to end up good for me? Like, sometimes I just want to be entertained and escape into another world where it’s possible for heroes to be flawed but ultimately still good? maybe just me though.

So that’s what I loved most about the movie. Some of my fave scenes: (and I’m sure I’m forgetting some?)

I loved Kylo and Rey’s scenes (because heyyy they have similar experiences and yet are polar opposites, their dynamic has really grown on me! I don’t want them to end up together romantically but their climax will probably be the most interesting villain/hero confrontation in a while - that’s just my opinion thooo-) the scene in the rain, the hand touching and the fight in Snoke’s room were so emotionally charged I liveee

As I said, I loved Leia’s scenes (especially with Poe, god I wish we’d get more of that dynamic but :((( ) the scene with Luke at the end, not gonna lie that one got to me (I mean, it was going to be emotional bc of Carrie anyway but the weight of those last scenes, honest to god chills)

the scene where Admiral Holdo flies into the command ship was fucking MAGNIFICENT seriously, the silence? the visuals? fuck.

I want to go into a really detailed analysis of how the use of old motifs and themes from previous movies in the score carried a lot of the emotional weight forward, but I’d have to watch/listen to the movie again to fully carry that out with the respect it deserves so maybe another time. Just mentioning it because it’s still one of my favorite star wars things (and I know it’s said so many times before but you know what? the music is so good, it should still be mentioned in every single review. don’t do john williams dirty like this) it’s very subtle at times, but I swear I heard some of Darth Vader’s iconic march come through in Luke’s score in this movie? very interesting!! pls let me geek out over music internet I’m begging you

I already mentioned Snoke’s throne room but the moment you see Kylo deciding to kill him is glorious too (props to Adam Driver, seriously you can hate Kylo and I totally understand but attacking the actor - especially when it’s based on his looks, which most of you are wrong about jsyk I don’t make the rules, it’s just science his eyes look like a baby deer?? - is so unnecessary please don’t stoop to the level of those dudebros on twitter attacking rose? like, Kylo has enough bad deeds on his resumé it’s okay you can attack him for that, you don’t need to drag his looks into it so annyyywaay sorry for that tangent it just irks me)

BB8 being the reason while basically any of the resistance is still alive is so fucking funny I’m sorry if you hate it I love my dumb orange cat robot (the reunion with Poe? cleansed my entire soul)

Finn towering over Phasma and spitting out ‘rebel scum’ is Good and should not be forgotten also, speaking of good acting? the way John conveys the inner conflict Finn is going through so subtly is probably going to go unnoticed BUT IT IS GOOD AND I’M GOING TO SHOUT AT Y’ALL ABOUT HOW MUCH HE 5AND DAISY° HAVE GROWN TILL YOU GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULLS

if we’re talking about Iconique scenes, the man licking the ground and saying ‘Salt’ was fucakfmlkdj so funny I can’t explain how fucking funny that was 

I’m not going to dwell too much on what I didn’t like because I believe there is such a thing as analyzing something to death and I don’t want to do that (besides, it’s really not hard to find criticism for this movie. People really out there comparing it to the Phantom Menace? Lies. Y’all really hate this movie huh? Too bad, I was thoroughly entertained and I loved it  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

I feel like most of my problems with the movie could have been solved with some changes to the plot. The critiques I agree with are

 the pacing was weird (how long was Rey on that island? it didn’t seem to be that much longer than the entire plot and subplots of the rebels trying to escape the ship, but that was at most like 20 hours sooo) 

the plot was pretty straightforward: conflict-resolution, conflict-resolution, conflict-resolution. I would have liked to have seen this shaken up a bit. The movie could still have focused on characters with higher stakes, more unresolved issues, messier plots. It was a bit too neat. I saw most of the ‘twists’ coming (e.g. kylo killing snoke, boy they really layed it on thick there) except for: leia charging in and shooting poe (heyoo that’s cinema baby), luke actually still being on the island (and something else but I’m completely blanking rn!)

 I think that’s why people don’t like the ending, it’s too neatly wrapped up in a bow (ignoring the fact that there are like 10 rebels left now? that’s seems like uuuh a problem) And while I like it from an emotional resolution point of view, I think the the movie could have done with more tension at the end. More tension, to keep you on the edge of your seat, wanting to immediately see the next movie. that was its biggest flaw imo

and finally - fair warning: I’m conflicted about this- Rose and Finn’s plot. Hooo boy, okay. So, I wanna say that I love them as characters but.. I don’t really want them to get together? idk remove all forced romance from your plot, writers. It will really help unclutter your stories I swear. (that said, I wouldn’t mind them in a relationship as long as it’s not to create tension with rey? or like any love triangle at all. Please leave that garbage at the door). Aside from that, I know people think their plot was the worst of the movie and I don’t think that. However, I think they could have done more with it. Shown more conflict! let Finn be the spark (and he is!! fight me!!) but also conflicted about joining the rebellion. Let Rose be completely torn up about her sister and let her be bitter dammit! They could have used more obstacles, their plot seemed mostly resolved by a deus ex machina (aside from Finn fighting Phasma - who I’m kind of wishing he didn’t kill cause I can sense she has sooo much more in her, honestly Hux is 100 times more boring, you have gwendoline RIGHT THERE FUCKERS USE HER) I didn’t mind the exposition of the filthy rich people planet (YESSS EAT THE RICH STAR WARS PLS SHIT ON THEM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN) but it just lacked.. spark. I hope their plot turns out to be important for the next movie, otherwise it was sadly something that could have been much greater (and it’s really uncomfortable to introduce two main poc characters and then basically have them contribute nothing to the main plot, hmm okay star wars I’m watching you)

I can’t/don’t have the energy to address everyone’s issues, but mostly I don’t agree with people being mad about characters (I think it’s clear I like the direction they’ve taken with most of them), the humour is a bit disneyfied but I really didn’t mind (it’s clear as day some of those cutesy aliens were in there for the money, money, money but like.. it be like that sometimes), I honestly don’t care about Snoke so I wasn’t disappointed his backstory was not a part of this, Rey NOT being a part of the great history before her is important to me (can’t believe I didn’t mention it with my favorite scenes, really regretting that salt guy now) even if they try to backpedal on it later that moment was beautiful in the movie (my space daughter isn’t important in the grand scheme of things but she so iiiiiis!!). All in all, I really liked it. It’s not my favorite movie (not even my favorite star wars movie) but it was damn entertaining! Here’s to hoping that the next movie will be the opposite of this very tight, contained movie. Give me the intergalactic class revolution I deserve (seriously, I hope that’s what Rose and Finn’s adventure was planting? might be idle hope, and I’m trying to keep my expectations low but it would be pretty cool right?)

[trisabelle]

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 92 truths about you. At the end choose 25 an arbitrary number of people to be tagged. I was tagged by the amazing @canitellusmthin !! I love ya, you diamond in the rough (tumblr. tumblr is the rough)

LAST:

Last Drink: Water!

Last Phone Call: My Dad calling to ask if we needed any groceries.

Last Text Message: To my sister asking if she remembered the wifi password. Unless you count IM's in general, in which case, saying goodnight to my bf and gf!!

Last Song You Listened To: Memory by Koethe Koethe, while I was dressing this morning. Well, afternoon..

Last Time I Cried: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I am a babby but I rarely cry and tend to try to forget about t if I do.

HAVE YOU EVER:

Dated Someone Twice: Nope

Been Cheated On: No

Kissed Someone and Regretted It: Only ever kissed one person, didn't regret it even if we didn't work out together.

Lost Someone Special: For a while a friend dropped off the internet for about a month after being really suicidal.. thought she died but she came back. That was years ago though

Been Depressed: I'm depress in this binch 25/7 my dudes

Been Drunk and Thrown Up: Never been drunk, never drank alcohol ever and don't want to

IN THE PAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

Made a New Friend: Ye!

Fallen Out of Love: No

Laughed Until You Cried: YUP. Memes do that to me. Also, that video of two hamsters with a hamster wheel on its side, and they keep spinning it until it whips them around and they just keep going until they're at lightspeed

Met Someone Who Changed You: The people that come to mind; Jay, Liz, and the two who I plan to spend my life with, Matt and Lizzy!!!!! 💖💖💖

Found Out Someone Was Talking About You: This.. is very vague.. yes..????

GENERAL:

How many people on tumblr do you know in real life?: A few I've met in real life when I went to visit a girlfriend at the time down in California.

Do you have any pets?: A Doge (Steve), a Doogler (Molly), and a recently adopted fishy!! His name is Gillbert.

Do you want to change your name?: Nop!! I'm super happy with my name. Mostly because Tris isn't really gender specific and I like that

What time did you wake up this morning?: "Morning" hahahhahhahahahahahhahahah

What were you doing last night?: Just reading once I was in bed. Before that I was getting FO4 modded and talking to the bae's

Name something you cannot wait for: LIFE IS STRANGE: BEFORE THE STORM - EPISODE 3 HELL IS EMPTY

Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: My great-granddad. He died a while back but I remember him. He built a bunch of stuff for my Thomas the tank engine sets. Also my middle name was after him

What’s getting on your nerves rn?: i,m tired

Blood type: ye

Nickname: Tris

Relationship status: In a closed triangle!! I know my trigonometry from an intimate perspective c;

Zodiac sign: Sagittarius. Did I spell it right

Pronouns: He/him, but idfc honestly. I have a feeling they're he/him just because I'm so used to it, even tho I totally identify as a boy

Favorite tv show: Sense8. The beautiful masterpiece collision between scifi, drama, and an expression of just what humanity is

College: Not yet!! Should he doing some college courses starting January

Hair colour: Black!! Or rly rly rly dark brown. Used to be chestnut brown but maybe I'm just crazy

Long or short: Hair? Or height? I have longish hair for a boy, it's not far past my shoulders and hella curly. Once I get the courage it'll be in a lil ponytail. And height, I'm 5"6' or however you write it. Five foot six. I wanna be smol™

Do you have a crush on someone: Ye. On my Big Frog and Giant Frog

What do you like about yourself: (awkward laugh) haha yeah totally

FIRSTS:

First surgery: Colonoscopy. Sorry if tmi, but it's true. I've had a few

First piercing: NOPE

First best friend: Jonas. We stopped talking soon after starting high school but he was in a car crash recently and almost died, and we've started talking a bit again

First sport you joined: Soccer. Never sported again

First vacation: Not sure.. earliest I remember is a trip not too far away to a vacation house with the extended family.

First pair of sneakers: Idfk.. I never cared about shoes. Just let them be plain and comfy

Eating: Right now? Nothing

Drinking: I was drinking water a minute ago

I’m about to: sleeeeeeeeeeep

Listening to: The menu theme from Before the Storm

Want kids: Ye!!! I've never seen myself doing anything other than adopting tho, even though I'm not dedicated to that idea.

Get married: YE. The idea of being proposed to???????? (Hand slamming button meme)

Career: Um

WHICH IS BETTER:

Lips or eyes: Eyes. I love them lips but EYESSSS

Hugs or kisses: BITCH DONT DO THIS TO ME. I CAN HAVE BOTH!!!!!!

Shorter or taller: I wanna be the short one!!!!!! PLEASEEEEE

Older or younger: I don't care! (Lowkey lying)

Romantic or spontaneous: Why.. why not both.. These don't conflict..

Sensitive or loud: Sensitive I guess?

Hook up or relationship: BINCH I WANT DEM FEELS NOT JUST FUCKS

Troublemaker or hesitant: What.

HAVE YOU EVER:

Kissed a stranger: Nope. Only kissed 1 person ever

Drank hard liquor: Never even drank once

Lost glasses/contacts: don't have either

Sex on first date: Only really had like two dates, and she was no sex before marriage (which I totally respect and honestly I wasn't ready anyways)

Broken someone’s heart: Quite possibly.. I seem to cause a lot of negative emotions for the people around me..

Been arrested: Lol. I'm a goodie two shoes, a law abiding citizen,

Turned someone down: Ye. We're still in contact, I'm hoping they're doing well and I didn't let them down.. they deserve happiness!

Fallen for a friend: Nope

DO YOU BELIEVE:

In yourself: No I'm a myth

Love at first sight: While I believe in attraction at first sight, and that may lead to true love, there's no way to instantly know for sure they're your soulmate. But don't ignore that instinct, our hearts are smarter than us in these things.

Heaven: No. I've never believed in anything required blind faith, but honestly, I have so much respect for those that do. That's a lot of strength to believe despite the struggle

Santa Claus: I certainly believe some nut changed their legal name to Santa for shits and giggles.

Yay!!! All done and it only took me ~40 mins when I should be ASLEEP. I'm egg. But it's my birthday, I can do what I want!! Happy 20th to me c:

I tag a reasonable amount of people, not 25: @wastedhearts @raggedymancomegetme @richard-vs-marty @the-pretty-kitten @sheikahstone @dipper-the-destructor @feathersandstripes @gayerthanthefourthofjuly @crabbieapple @brokenheartsbleedtheblues @notyouraveragebl0g @moonlit-battlefield @starrchild @runekitten @mbesham @cocoa-n-donuts

Don't do this if you don't want to!! And if you do but weren't tagged feel free!!! c:

[spockandawe]

So, I think we need to talk about Terminus. Because there is some interesting stuff going on there. And after LL06, I was upset and confused and wanted to figure out what was going on, and I tripped over some fascinating things along the way. Behind a cut for spoilers and length.

I’m so sad about this, guys. I wanted to adore Terminus so bad. I still kind of do love him, like I love Prowl or Getaway. But I’ve been assuming that he’s a good boy, and… I’m pretty sure he is not that thing.

The picture we’ve gotten of Terminus thus far (filtered mostly through Megatron’s fond/affectionate/admiring point of view) is of an intelligent, resourceful mentor who was able to help him channel his thoughts into his publications, and then get those publications distributed even from their shitty mining outpost. Terminus gave him the guidance he needed to find his footing. I really, really wanted to adore him as much as Megatron does.

But let’s take away those affection goggles. Terminus is used to being able to steer Megatron. He proofreads(/edits, I’m sure) his writing, and he controls distribution. The time we see him sitting (lying) with Megatron, while his legs are gone, that’s some quietly powerful stuff. We see the injustice the miners are dealing with, his insistence on the importance of Megatron’s work, the intense amounts of future potential babby Megatron is working with. But how about we take a quick look at the things he’s doing and saying.

Okay, Megatron is writing. He’s a good writer, he has a talent for it, and it seems to be work he finds rewarding. Terminus is telling him that no, if that’s not enough, then you, PERSONALLY, must do more. You may have to force the issue, and you may have to use your fists.

Megatron, in the innocent flower of his youth, is kinda distressed by this. He’s upset at the idea of him personally wading into a fight, but Terminus turns the conversation away from directly discussing violence. He uses Megatron’s own words to emphasize how important it is for someone to work against the injustice at the heart of a system. And this is all being framed as Megatron’s job, mind, not a duty where he volunteered, knowing the full scope of what he was signing up for.

Let’s just look at that quote one more time.

“Never back down. Never compromise. Never bend. The moment you try to accommodate a rival set of interests, you subordinate your own.”

Like… wow, dude.

In the context of this conversation, this moment kind of rolls past without being lingered over, kind of like the Pharma-feeling-guilty tidbit in the Tyrest arc. We’ve just seen Terminus with a busted body, where it’s not worth it to save him, so he’s been left to starve to death. And we’re headed right into the reveal that he’s been menaced by people who want to stop Megatron from writing. Plus he delivers the line very calmly and quietly, and he’s been speaking about righting injustices.

But dang is that an impressively bitter line.

This isn’t as intense as the last panel. But Megatron tries to call attention back to the group, and power resting with the collective, and Terminus is like nope, one Supreme Leader, you’ll be able to see after you force people to accept it.

And the contrast between needing someone to rally behind and needing someone to hold that leadership position forever is interesting. Because Megatron’s three questions to the senate were: ‘In whose interests do you exercise your powers? To whom are you held accountable? And how can we get rid of you?’ There are ways to answer that within Terminus’s paradigm, but not really in any way that’s reassuring that abuses of power won’t occur. After the war ended, Optimus ditched his name and peaced out into space, specifically trying to avoid this exact problem. And this is still sheltered, innocent, young Megatron. This isn’t setting up a healthy, fair future government structure, as is.

So the scene wraps up in a much less directly pushy way. But when Megatron suggests that maybe he should take a little break from writing to protect Terminus, Terminus shoots that right down. It’s still pretty pushy, even if it’s more subtle than before. Not only should Megatron keep writing, he should write more. And that writing makes him a leader, like Terminus said before. So just, y’know, keep that stuff in mind. About forcing the issue and using your fists and being a figurehead.

But that statement, that the people are hungry and Megatron needs to feed them… This is pretty classic imagery, fairly commonplace. However, consider it in the context of how Terminus isn’t getting repaired and his rations are getting withheld, and Megatron is going on dangerously short rations to help keep him alive. This is a sucker punch right to the heart, and I have a hard time believing Terminus wasn’t aware of that incredibly direct parallel. Look what you’re doing for me. Are you saying you’d do less for all of Cybertron?

Terminus’s active influence ends there, because he poofs off into the sunset, and Megatron is just left to remember what Terminus taught him. And to feel intensely guilty that in the last few minutes before evacuation, he gathered the datapads with his writing instead of looking for the missing Terminus.

Anyways, smash cut to four million and something years later.

We’ve got the first edition of Megatron’s big manifesto being dedicated to Terminus, though that was removed in all subsequent editions, because Terminus taught him ‘not to get attached.’ Given the emotions in that scene up above, maybe this is just because the pain and guilt there made him reluctant to open himself up to that happening again. But… this is honestly fairly in line with the philosophy Terminus was trying to convince him was right.

Look at how Megatron generally behaves during the war, in phase one and early phase two. I tend to refer to him as cult leader Megatron to differentiate him from present Megatron, because the differences are huge. Now, check out all those things Terminus was telling Megatron were necessary. Use your brain and your fists. Take the lead personally. Be a figurehead. The collective doesn’t matter as much as the person sitting pretty in a position of ultimate power, and be prepared to sit there alone.

And more than anything else, consider how he was told to never back down, compromise, or bend.

Terminus was legit out of the picture, as an independent, active force. But when you look at his philosophy and look at the behavior of classic warlord-flavor Megatron, Terminus’s fingerprints are all over the way Megatron carries himself.

The comic has memories and truth and manipulation as some of its major, major themes. Mnemosurgery means these come up pretty regularly, but manipulation comes up in other ways too, like with attempted blackmail, Rodimus being pressured to bring Overlord along for the ride (and Chromedome being recruited to work with him), Trailcutter’s drinking problem being derailed with a brute force permanent reactivation of his FIM chip, all kinds of flavors. Especially Getaway, right now.

In the pre-trial part of the comic, Megatron makes it very clear that he has an extremely negative reaction to the idea of anyone going into his brain, even if they claim they only have the most benign intentions. He’s also just generally pretty resistant about being influenced by… anybody. He does what he wants, and doesn’t afraid of anything. It shows through in general, even once he starts developing in a positive direction, like with how high-handed he is with permanently reactivating Trailcutter’s FIM chip. But it shows up more explicitly at times, like in phase one where Starscream tries to ask why they’re farting around one stupid alien city when they should be winning an intergalactic war. Even when Starscream makes an appeal about the ideals under which the Decepticons were formed, Megatron completely ignores those words. He just… does whatever the heck he wants.

Now, it’s not clear how much of that is due to what Terminus taught him versus the trauma from the almost-lobotomy and the rest of that day. But it’s very much in line with the things we see Terminus telling him about never bending or compromising. That’s almost the last thing Terminus ever tells him before he disappears, and it’s very much in line with how we see Megatron acting during the war proper. Even once he’s on the Lost Light and starts to really become a part of the crew, he’s just not a person who seems very concerned with what other people think he ought to do.

But then at the end of MTMTE 55, Megatron is a stressed-out mess, who was planning to die and was only barely persuaded away from that when Rodimus teleported in to rescue him. He’s just broken the vow of pacifism he’d been trying to take up, he’s on a planet that’s a massive reminder of his past mistakes, and he’s fighting the DJD, another reminder of his past mistakes. Then he watches his old, old friend die. He decides to peace out, and even threatens Ratchet in the heat of the moment, when Ratchet is trying to talk him down.

But then Terminus pops up, and Megatron just immediately snaps out of it. He drops the cannon, drops the idea that he’s going to leave, all of it. He goes straight to Terminus and immediately embraces him, which is a gesture of intimacy unlike anything we’ve seen from him in the comic. He’s been affectionate with Ravage, giving him scritches, but in the holiday comic he even says specifically that he doesn’t do hugs.

And his very, very first words to Terminus are about how he ‘lost his way’. He’s vulnerable, he’s taking comfort in someone, he’s telling his old mentor, who used to teach and guide him, he lost his way. It’s hard to say whether he completely falls into orbit around Terminus with the way the comic POV cuts away from them, but at that incredibly low moment, he recenters himself on Terminus. No matter how hard Megatron is to influence, Terminus has this old leftover backdoor into his trust, and the way Megatron reacts to him here is unlike we’ve seen him react to anyone else. Megatron is used to letting Terminus guide him, even if he’s been operating without that active guidance for millions of years.

Now, the overarching narrative of this comic keeps coming back around to manipulation, betrayal, and lies. A lot of this comes back around to Rodimus, with the way Prowl manipulated him into taking Overlord on board, the way Drift took the fall for Overlord to protect him, the vote of no confidence after he owns up to Overlord. Plus there’s always Getaway and his… everything.

This goes all the way back into phase one and the spotlight issues about his history with Dealer. We don’t see much of the fallout directly, but it really sounds like Rodimus took the loss of his team hard, and that has to hurt even more once he learns that it happened because someone he trusted betrayed him. And then we see it playing very, very directly into the story right now, with how furious Rodimus is over Getaway. I don’t know if we’ve ever seen him this angry, and it’s kind of alarming. Which makes it pretty painful to read  the way issue six ends with him thinking that after the Dying Of The Light, after everything they’ve been through, Megatron has betrayed them all.

Now, Megatron being resistant to manipulation is something that I already discussed. But Megatron himself can be pretty darn manipulative. He plots, he’s always planning, he’s always assessing the situation and working out strategies to get what he wants. And frequently that involves getting people to do certain things. I don’t know if this is even all conscious. He’s charismatic enough, he’s an icon in his own right, and he’s a large, intimidating person. But it’s definitely sometimes conscious. We see the way he provokes Optimus towards the end of phase one, getting him to lash out. We see him needling Starscream in spotlight: megatron until he finally lashes out. And we see him prodding and provoking Rodimus in quieter ways after he joins the crew.

I’m sure this is a combination of deliberate action and longstanding bad habits. But as he spends more time on the Lost Light, you see that start to fade. He’s more respectful of others, you see him expressing his doubt over everything he’s done and seeking ways to better himself. He’s less dismissive of everyone and more understanding. And even though he’s always been so resistant to outside influence, by the time we hit the Dying Of The Light, he’s willing to defer to Rodimus as a leader instead of just prodding him into making the decisions that Megatron wants, because Megatron always knows best.

He calls Rodimus and Ultra Magnus his conscience, which really says that he recognizes some of his own bad habits he’s learned over the years, and is trying to compensate for them. By the time issue six ends, he’s preaching peace through empathy, which is an incredibly striking change from his earlier philosophy. Instead of tyranny and ordering people to do what you decide is best, he’s advocating compassion and trying to understand other people’s needs.

The flip side of manipulation and betrayal is the idea of trust, especially building trust, and repairing relationships once that trust has been betrayed. We see this trust building between Cyclonus and… everyone, really, but especially Whirl and Tailgate. We see the way Nautica is so upset by the reveal that Brainstorm has been lying, we see the aftermath of Rodimus revealing to the crew that he was responsible for Overlord, and we see Drift and Rodimus reuniting, and the way Drift is hurt by the way Rodimus never came back for him after the truth was revealed about Overlord. We see the effort that goes into it

Nobody trusted Megatron at first. Which makes complete sense. The gradual buildup of trust has been slow, but it’s such an important part of his development. Instead of being that lone figurehead Terminus told him to be (the authoritarian figurehead that he ultimately became), he learns to back away from that position and respect other people as people.

And gradually they start to accept him. For most of the crew, it’s more that they just tolerate him. Because they have to. But the environment he’s in is enough that he tells Velocity that he’s never been so happy in his life. In particular, his relationships with Ultra Magnus and Rodimus in season two go from being persistently antagonistic to being cooperative and friendly, with teasing that’s teasing instead of just conversational jabs at each other.

There are similar slow-burn trust-building relationships in the comic, like with Cyclonus, or with Drift and Ratchet. But the effect it has on Megatron is incredibly striking. This time when he’s never been so happy in his life, this is the same time where he’s feeling more guilt over his past than he ever has before. This is when he dents his own head with how much it affects him when he’s hit with the guilt gun. If the inside of Megatron’s head is about guilt, he’s drinking what he thinks is poison for every meal, and he’s making drastic moves like refusing to fight in any way, but he’s still this happy (and just look at the softness of that smile, coming from Megatron, oh my gosh), that happiness almost has to revolve around the relationships, and trust, that he’s built since coming aboard.

Now, consider how much time it took to build even an uneasy trust between Megatron and anyone from the Lost Light. Consider his trust in Ravage. And then just take a look at how easily he yields into Terminus. It’s a shame Ravage died, because I’d love to see how Megatron would react to Ravage and Terminus disagreeing over something. That trust with Terminus was built when Megatron was young and inexperienced, and I have a hard time believing someone could earn that much trust from him over anything at this point in time. The conversations they have are short, which is a shame. But the only time we see anything even close to this open from Megatron is when he’s talking to the distant past version of Optimus.

Okay now. Let’s remember what Megatron said to Rung.

If Terminus taught Megatron not to get attached, this is… different. Now, there is that ambiguity of how much Terminus explicitly taught him versus how Megatron dealt with the trauma of his terrible horrible no good very bad day.

But then if you look at Terminus’s quote about never bending, never compromising—Those don’t sound like how you ought to be treating a friend. Terminus doesn’t even tell him not to compromise his ideals, he tells Megatron not to compromise his interests. That’s pretty extreme. And then take into account the things Terminus said about a lone figurehead being necessary, one who sits alone. The text doesn’t lay everything out, but the implication I’m taking away from his words is that he doesn’t think Megatron should get attached to people, or at least that interpersonal relationships need to have a hierarchy that places Megatron at the top.

Which is kind of odd, given the way he and Megatron play off each other.

If you take as a basic premise that Terminus outright told Megatron ‘don’t get attached to people,’ then how does that flavor what we see on the page. It says don’t get attached to anyone… except me. Don’t bend to the will of other people…. even though this is a conversation where I’m telling you to do things you don’t want to do. You need to be the lone figurehead, the single ultimate leader…….. but still you need to do these things I’m telling you to do.

On its own, I never even noticed those contradictions. Megatron here is young and inexperienced, he doesn’t want to fight or lead, he’s more comfortable in the land of philosophy than in taking direct real life action. It makes sense that his mentor would be nudging him to grow and expand his comfort zone.

But then why does Terminus still keep acting similarly once Megatron has four million years of wartime leader experience behind him?

Megatron and Terminus are sitting in a massive field of the death flowers, Megatron has been explaining the war, and given his recent development, has almost definitely been very frank about how much death and destruction he’s been responsible for. Like… the war destroyed their entire planet for a while there, never even mind Cybertronian and alien casualties. Or the MTOs and their horrifyingly short expected lifespan. Even if Megatron only bears partial responsibility, he’s still responsible for a LOT.

Terminus’s response is immediately about how he’s sure Megatron is being too hard on himself. Um. About that. Well— This is a difficult conversation to field, and an incredibly huge scope to process. It’s understandable that he’d make some kind of comforting/reassuring response. And then the next two things he says are about gosh, look at you giving orders, and how he can’t wait to see Megatron TAKING CHARGE. Again, in the moment, not suspicious. But it’s really starting to play into a thematic whole.

And when you’re looking at the page with suspicious eyes, it even starts with him telling Megatron how to feel, and reminding him of wow, you remember when we were MINERS? And stuck in that dangerous mine? Remember what our life was like back then? And again, on its own, this looks incredibly innocuous. It feels like overreacting to mistrust this. But it’s really in line with the quiet way he tries to steer Megatron.

In the next issue, Terminus gets excited again about how good Megatron is at command and fights (even If Megatron himself is not directly fighting). Like before, it feels so overblown to get hung up on this panel as something suspicious, but it keeps adding up to a consistent whole.

But here’s where I start feeling a little less guilty about that suspicion. Terminus knows that their war is over. Megatron did the war leader thing, Megatron ditched the war leader thing. The personal cause Terminus was trying to get him to fight for, the cause that Terminus was so bitter over (only a day or two ago by his awareness), that’s been resolved. Terminus never got to watch it unfold, and he didn’t get to win. He’s heard that Megatron was that authoritarian leader, but Megatron didn’t get to win the war and seize full control like Terminus had been urging him to do.

And would you just look at that, here’s another Cybertron with another clearly oppressed class just begging to be led and saved. Compassion is the easiest motive to read into Terminus here. It’s natural. It’s what’s the reader has been nudged to feel. That’s how I read it the first time through.

Consider, why does Terminus want to stay here? Their universe isn’t perfect, but functionism has been solidly obliterated. Nobody’s being pushed into the mines. Paying for medical services doesn’t seem to be an issue as far as the medics we’ve seen. There’s social space for noncombatants to exist. There’s this group of friendly mechs here who seem glad to have him, including his old adoring mentee, who was so overwhelmed and happy to see him miraculously alive again. Why does he want to leave that? Even if Megatron didn’t win the war, the oppressive social structures that were screwing them over are gone. Why does he want to go to this war-torn, fascist mess of a planet, where those old enemies have been getting more entrenched, more powerful, and more oppressive? Compassion is one answer, sure. But are we sure he doesn’t want to just… win?

Terminus decides for himself to stay. Which is his right. And it’s understandable. And it’s understandable that if he’s staying, he’d try to get Megatron to stay with him. But it’s sure interesting that he watches Megatron and Rodimus squabble over Rodimus not trusting Megatron’s intentions. And then the moment Terminus and Megatron are alone again, Terminus is leaning on Megatron hard to stay here with him.

It’s all those old urgings again. Megatron led, Megatron fought. He’s done that for four million years. But the way Terminus talks to him here is just like when Megatron was young and inexperienced and reluctant to be a figurehead. Sure, this could be habit, Terminus hasn’t had long to adjust to the massive time skip. But again, Terminus told Megatron to never bend. To never bend for anyone. Except Terminus, apparently. Because when Megatron has just pledged his loyalty to the group leaving (right in front of Terminus), and while Megatron is saying no multiple times, Terminus is sure pushing hard that Megatron is the ONLY person who could lead and save these people.

And this is after Megatron and Terminus had a private, intimate conversation about how Megatron done fucked up, and when Megatron has been drowning in remorse and the awareness of how much he has to atone for. Terminus continues to tell him that no, never mind your trial, screw justice, you know what’s best more than they do. We know what’s best. You’re above justice.

Before, Terminus told Megatron about how important it was that he be the figurehead, the lone figurehead, placed above everyone else. He told him to never compromise in favor of someone else’s interests. He never took that back. He argued when Megatron told him that power needed to lie with the collective. And again here, he’s talking about Megatron being so very special that he’s the only one who could possibly lead. But the moment Megatron says he can’t keep putting himself first, Terminus pivots smoothly to noooo no no, this isn’t about you, this is about the masses!

Guys, Terminus is kinda super sketchy.

He’s talking about how justice is less important than Megatron’s skills. Megatron published a treatise that talked specifically about how the government needs to be held accountable, but Terminus is telling him that he’s too important to be held accountable. He’s trying to pull Megatron away from the faith he just, just pledged to Rodimus and Ultra Magnus. Terminus tells him that pledge Megatron values means nothing compared to what Terminus thinks he should value.

Megatron digs in his heels here and refuses to break that trust, just before the conversation is cut short, but. Dang. Seriously, it’s not the easiest thing to notice given the action movie pace of the Cybertron plot right now, but Terminus is being incredibly sketchy.

In the context of before, this pings me like an indirect ultimatum that Terminus is trying to lay down for Megatron. He knows their relationship, and he knows how much Megatron trusts him. He knows Megatron is used to being guided by him. This more self-assured, confident Megatron is new to him, but because of the way he disappeared, that mentor/mentee connection never went away, it just hibernated. Before, Megatron was going on starvation rations to keep Terminus alive. Is he really, really going to leave Terminus now?

Well, yes. He pledges faith again, and though Rodimus has been so on edge, even though he’s reacted in some really alarming ways that seem to tie back to trust and betrayal (like how he’s been burned with Getaway and Dealer), even then, Rodimus agrees to trust him. Megatron calls Rodimus captain. An overt gesture of respect for Rodimus and his authority, and an implicit deferral to that authority. Him learning to respect Rodimus as a leader was a slow-burn part of his development, but Megatron’s trust (and the way he shows it) is an intense, heavy thing. Rodimus is reluctant, but still decides to take him at his word.

Annnnd the moment they’re alone, there goes Terminus again, trying to lean on him to change his mind. He just saw Megatron make that promise to Rodimus, and he knows how serious Megatron was. But still, let’s have one more little nudge to break faith. Megatron doesn’t just dig in his heels here, he pushes back, and I’m very glad about that.

But when they have to go to a different teleporter, Terminus has an opportunity. Maybe Roller could have lied about the coordinates. But what have we seen to suggest he would do that? He seems like a nice, friendly guy. But we have seen a certain someone leaning harder and harder on Megatron that no, seriously, you need to ditch those guys and stay here with me.

Oooh, yeah, they gave you a second chance, that’s definitely how this happened~

Nice immediate spin on the situation to make Megatron feel like he should be grateful to stay here. The way he’s been insisting he doesn’t want to do. Terminus wants him to stay. The others totally want him to stay (yeah, even though Rodimus was so angry about the possibility of Megatron bailing on them). If so many other people want him to stay, shouldn’t Megatron… bend? :)

It kills me how urgent Megatron is in trying to find them, and how dismayed he looks in that last panel. He didn’t want them to leave without him, and he knows how generous they’ve already been with him, and he wanted to leave too. I’m reluctant to put too much weight on comic illustration microexpressions, but the way Terminus has that half-smile thing going on… I don’t like it.

But Megatron gets to return to his philosophical roots! Doing it right this time! Pacifist reform, peace through empathy! And he even gets to reconnect with Optimus and have a second chance to do that right too. Even if Terminus lied to get him here, this is a really happy ending, right?

NO!

Your mileage may vary, but one of the big narrative themes in this story has been… history. It comes through in a lot of ways, but one of the most common ways we see it is the idea that painful memories are hard to deal with, but they’re necessary and important. We see it with Tailgate rewriting the past so it hurts less. We see it with Chromedome for himself and for Rewind. Skids is told that the memories that are blocked off are going to be incredibly painful, but he keeps chasing after it, because it’s part of him.

And a lot of Megatron’s character development involves coming to terms with everything he did in the past. He’s aware, in a clinical sense. But as the comic follows him starting to treat people as people, it also follows him gradually becoming aware of the impact of that history. It’s what lets him connect on a personal level… but it’s also closely tied to how intensely he starts regretting the entire war. But those personal connections seem to be an integral part of what makes him so happy that he tells Velocity he’s never been happier.

He’s willing to face justice. He’s delayed his trial, but he’s never tried to escape it altogether. He could have done that during his trial under Optimus, when there was a flat-out rescue attempt. I’m sure he and Ravage could have easily peaced out at some point if he really wanted to. Here, Terminus offers him a nice, appealing escape, and he still insists he wants to face justice and atone.

So in what way is it a happy ending for him to land in a universe where none of that history happened to anyone except him? He came out of the history just fine, and ah, here we go, we’re in a place where those people dead because of you never existed. Nobody here knows anything about his past, except Terminus. I seriously doubt he’s going to publicize it. Even if people believed the ridiculous story, on a world that’s so inexperienced at war, why on earth would they trust him as a pacifist philosopher? No, now he’s free to redo everything and never face justice, because nobody is here to hold him accountable for that past. He can be the messiah he tried to be before, but this time he’s got it RIGHT, so nothing will go wrong. Just like he was so sure he had it RIGHT last time.

Oh, and would you look at that, he even gets to have a second chance with Optimus! Isn’t that wonderful. In their universe, things got so poisonous they had a jolly conversation about how many times they’ve almost killed each other, and then Megatron talks about how mmmm, he sure loves killing for the sake of killing, all to provoke Optimus into torturing him. He says that he didn’t think he meant it sincerely when he said it, but after saying the words, he realized he believed it. No, that’s all gone now. You can just pretend those memories don’t exist. This Optimus doesn’t have them, so it’s all good.

Rewind II had difficulty reconciling a relationship with Chromedome I, and that’s after only maybe like… two years of being quantum duplicate not-spouses. They had millions of years of history that they still shared, but Rewind still struggled with it. I would say that this Megatron and Optimus have four million years of divergence, but that isn’t even properly true. Megatron never existed here. His works influenced Optimus, back in the day, even apart from the effect of their toxic interplay once the war took off. This Optimus is a very, very different person from the one he knows. Honestly, I can see a lot of character ways this Optimus could even be a functionist enforcer. It was Megatron who originally nudged him out of his comfortable government-supporting groove.

And even if Optimus’s personality is fairly stable across universes, even if he feels like the same person, Megatron is going into this new relationship (platonic or not) with four million years of baggage and expectations. What an… incredibly intense weight to load onto that relationship. Is Megatron telling Optimus about his past? No? Well that’s four million years of lying by omission, that’s a nice honest start to things. Or is Megatron telling Optimus about everything? Look at how inexperienced these Cybertronians are with violence. Even if Megatron can get Optimus to believe him, how appalling is the full history going to be to him? The scale of the atrocities Megatron ordered, condoned, and carried out— Even for the characters who lived the war, Getaway says that it’s so much that you stop being able to process it. How is an unhardened, un-war-like Optimus going to feel about that? Thank you for telling me, I am taking this in stride, now how about we make out a little?

In TAAO, Starscream just cornered Blast Off into making a very difficult decision. He manages to box things in so that it’s a choice between ‘let the person you love destroy himself’ and ‘lie to him to keep him in line, and live a happy, romantic life together.’ Two shitty options, but of course Blast Off chooses the less shitty one, even though he knows he’s agreeing to live a lie, manipulating the person he loves so much. He chooses it, but he feels awful about it, because he knows what a dishonest foundation he’s just laid for their relationship, and he knows that he’s poisoned the trust between them. The narrative doesn’t expect me to be happy for him.

I’m not happy for Blast Off. So I’m not going to be happy for Megatron.

I’ll be sad for him, but if you’re going to value trust and honesty, this isn’t a happy situation.

Another huge theme in the narrative is that history can’t be rewritten. We see Tailgate abandoning the lies he told to prop himself up. We see Brainstorm fighting so hard to go back in time and fix things, and he doesn’t succeed. We see Chromedome rewriting Prowl’s memory to remove blackmail material, and whatever that is, I assume it isn’t going to be gone from the story forever. This isn’t literally rewriting history, but if it’s framed as a complete do-over for Megatron, it’s nearly the same thing. Megatron was willing to die as part of his atonement at the end of Dying Of The Light. He tells Tarn that he’s drowning under the weight of his past, and at the end, he only reluctantly lets Rodimus save him.

If he was that miserable then, I don’t think being the adored, beloved savior of Cybertron is going to be more than a temporary patch. It isn’t a long-term solution for the things he’s been struggling to deal with. And he didn’t choose this. He had the choice forced on him.

Terminus shamelessly exploited the trust Megatron had in him. He leans on Megatron harder and harder to get Megatron to do what Terminus wants. And then when that fails, he outright lies. All this while Megatron is very, very clear about what he wants and why. Terminus shoves himself in the way of Megatron’s new positive relationships, and sabotages that trust that’s been so slowly built up.

Megatron is upset to be left behind, but Rodimus is furious. And he blames Megatron. I was worried about him even before this, but this made it so much worse. Rodimus isn’t just angry for the sake of angry, he has that history with Dealer that made him shy away from leadership roles for ages. He’s still hurting bad over Getaway. And now he thinks that here we go, a third time someone has shamelessly exploited him. And he wasn’t going to trust Megatron. Megatron promised. And then immediately broke that promise (as far as Rodimus knows). Rodimus says that he’s heart over head, every time. Which has its value, for sure. But that has to make it so much more painful when someone he trusts abuses that trust.

In TAAO, at least when Blast Off was manipulated into making a shitty choice, he was aware of the manipulation. He knows the character of what Starscream is doing to him. It doesn’t get him out of the situation, but at least he knows what’s happening. Terminus is manipulating Megatron ~for his own good.~ No matter what Megatron says he wants, Terminus knows better. So why doesn’t he just… slip in there and quietly undermine everything you’re trying to do and sabotage some personal relationships you value. And then pretend like he didn’t do anything about this, nope. And the idea that it’s for Megatron’s own good… This is about what Terminus wants. His first appearance makes it clear that he’s very bitter and very ruthless. He was actively working to push Megatron into the ‘right’ decisions then, and he’s doing it now. It isn’t a happy ending that he succeeded in keeping Megatron from doing right by the people who put their trust in him.

Two frivolous little things. One, Terminus as a name. According to the wiki, “Terminus was the name of the Roman god of boundaries, with the motto ‘Concedo nulli’ - ‘Yield no ground.’” Innocuous enough on its own. But plenty telling given what we see of him here. He’s unyielding, but over what, exactly? He tells Megatron not to bend for anyone and then spends lots of time trying to get Megatron to bend for him. I think Terminus is unyielding over what Terminus wants, and like I said, he is a… very bitter man, and he has a major fixation on strong, authoritarian leadership.

And two, look at the contrast between these covers.

Melancholy and quiet, private introspection on the left. And high-energy action, no time to think, being pulled in against your will on the right. Both of these covers are gorgeous, of course. But I know which one makes me feel like it’s positive in a character sense. Kind of like it’s better to make your own difficult, painful choices than to be dragged in a direction you tried to resist.

Anyways, if I was meant to feel decent about the ending of this comic, it would have been really easy. It would have BARELY taken a change at all. There’s a post by @sunderedstar that summed it up well, but basically just… don’t have the lie. Have Megatron trying to keep faith, have Terminus supporting him while he tries to keep faith. Have him rushing to the new teleporter coordinates, but he’s just, just too slow. He and Rodimus reach out for each other, but the teleporter activates, and they only barely miss each other.

It would be bittersweet. But it would be better for Rodimus, knowing that Megatron didn’t lie to him, that Megatron didn’t use him. Megatron tried to keep his promise. And Megatron would know that they didn’t abandon him. Even if it’s framed as a gift of another chance, it’s still going against the difficult decision he made to face justice for his actions. He didn’t ask for another chance, and he resisted attempts to nudge him into taking one on his own. He’d know he wasn’t lied to, that nobody was trying to block him from doing the right thing. And honestly, the parallel to the climax of Dying Of The Light is so strong, I’m kind of shocked they didn’t go for this anyways. All I can take away from this is that the point was that Terminus blatantly lied to Megatron. And even if he’d say it was for Megatron’s own good, that isn’t a very happy ending.

In issue 28, when he’s talking to Rung, Megatron says that his life has been a series of decisions made in confined spaces. It’s in that same scene that we hear Terminus’s name for the first time. And now, Terminus has fenced him in again, against his will. The increasing pressure we see him exert on Megatron is uncomfortable enough, but it’s ultimately an outright lie that fences Megatron in here, and a lie that’s designed specifically to slip around Megatron’s explicit ‘no’. That isn’t a happy ending. It isn’t even bittersweet, just tragic. Terminus wins and everyone else loses. This isn’t happy, and I can’t and won’t be happy over it.

[niklii]

Another Round

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.  (Thanks @augmentedampharos ! And yay for body positivity. Your “tmi” answer to that question made me smile haha.) 

LAST

Drink: milk with some concentrated coffee Mio. Also water cos I have a slight headache

Phone call: Trying! To! Make! A! Damn! Gynecologist! Appointment!!! I need a new health care clinic. :( For this one you can only make appts one day in advance and they always run out.. Gonna try again at 9:00. 

Text message: My friend at work texted me “Kanchan wants to know if you can get her some mustard”  lol

Song you listened to: Some random song on the radio. 

Time you cried: Watching “War for the Planet of the Apes” last Sunday! haha

HAVE YOU

Dated someone twice: um.. not sure how to answer this. I’ve only been in one relationship and there were no official breaks. 

Kissed someone and regretted it: yes! not my boyfriend though 

Been cheated on: ehm.. sorta? but no? some weird stuff happened in middle school and also last year but at the same time, we had agreed to some open relationship type stuff.. it just came out of nowhere and i didn’t find out about it til later. 

Lost someone special: Yes :( Johnny (DJ Nackt) in the Oakland fire last November, and my piano teacher from cancer last January. But no one in my family or anyone I have been extremely close with yet. 

Been depressed: Yes but never longer for a day. 

Gotten drunk and thrown up: nope!! this one I’m proud of. Never threw up from drugs or alcohol, only food poisoning and the flu... 

Made new friends: yes :) (s/o to @augmentedampharos for rekindling our friendship) 

Fallen out of love: from time to time but it never lasted. 

Laughed until you cried: yes!

Found out someone was talking about you: probably? i try not to remember ;) 

Met someone who changed you: hell yeah

Found out who your friends are: sure ? 

Kissed someone from your Facebook list: my boyfriend! also a few people from when we played Spin the Bottle during Vice haha. And a couple others.. 

Kissed a stranger: only if you count Vice, but even then, they weren’t a total stranger. I just didn’t know them that well. 

Drank hard liquor: sure ? 

Lost glasses/contact lenses: if i did, it was ages ago. 

Turned someone down: yeah but only a couple of times ? 

Sex on the first date: no!!! I was 12 on our first date. NOT READY

Broken someone’s heart: um I’m sure my bf has said this at one point. but he also broke my heart once or twice. we have since recovered (i think)

Had your heart broken: yep but I got over it

Been arrested: no lol

Cried when someone died: yes.. even with friends of friends. it’s too much. 

Fallen for a friend: yes! but i got over it (for now..)

Kissed on the first date: haha sure. It was the first time Andrew and I saw each other since we met! Not a date and my dad was there because I was 12 but it was a sweet little smooch when I came down from climbing a tree. 

GENERAL

List 3 favorite colors: blue, orange, pink ? (how did that happen??)

How many Facebook friends do you know in real life: probably 80% of them? Maybe 90%? No idea, I’ve never counted! 

Do you have any pets: no I don’t unless you count Andrew!! lmao 

Do you want to change your name: meh 

What time did you wake up: 7:00 but I was sooooo tired. not a good day to wake up at 7. :( 

What were you watching at midnight last night: my own dreams 

Name something you can’t wait for: swimming before the summer ends!! GO AWAY IUD SPOTTING

When was the last time you saw your mom: In June, when my cousin graduated high school 

What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: lose that belly of mine. But I wish I didn’t want it so much. :( I wish I could be happy with myself. 

What are you listening to right now: the sound of my own typing cos no one else is in the office yet... 

Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Most Likely

Something that is getting on your nerves right now: This little headache I woke up with. probably was from the heat last night.

Most visited website: facebook T_T 

Mole/s: there’s a huge one right by my nether-regions.. i should get it looked at soon. 

Mark/s: tons of little dots on my arms and chest that aren’t qualified to be birthmarks or moles. also one on my head.. i should get it looked at. 

Childhood dream: being a rockstar B-) i’ve always wanted to sing 

Do you have a crush on someone: only my significant other right now! 

What do you like about yourself: I like the shape of my arms + hands + feet! although my boyfriend refused to call my feet sexy. I think they would be sexy feet if you were into that sort of thing. lmao 

if we’re talking non-physical stuff i also like my compassion and tendency to emote my feelings. I like feeling feelings. 

Piercings: only one ear for now, my other ear ate the piercing.. it was a weird day. I need to get it done again. THIS IS WHY I DIDNT BOTHER UNTIL I WAS 22. 

Blood type: I think when I donated I found out I was A+! like my high school grades ;) lmao 

Nickname: Nikki or H2O.. my bestie also called me Cole-Man.. I liked that one. 

Relationship status: practically married

Zodiac: taurus

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Favorite TV show: X-Files right now but also I am loving GLOW and Orange is the New Black. And Community. And Girls has a special place in my heart.. love that show to death.  You can’t make me choose!! 

Tattoos: i kind of want one but also.. i don’t like pain. 

Right or left hand: right

Surgery: only for a tooth implant

Hair dyed in different color: i used blue dye on part of my hair a couple times in college.. i want to do something like that again but also idk what my work would think. i guess i should ask. it’s not like we have the most formal environment 

Sport: tennis (rn). also Lindy Hop Dancing! I’m on a roll. 

Vacation: Iceland PLZ

Pair of trainers: I’m guessing they mean sneakers? So.. Vans for now. But also Docs and Converse 

Current and all-time best friend: Andrew and Woky are kind of tied. But Woky understands me more so sometimes she wins. But Andrew has my life devotion haha. 

Eye color: blue but sometimes they look grey

Favorite movie: blah Idk! I really love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. and Amelie and some Wes Anderson movies.. 

WHICH IS BETTER?

Hugs or kisses: idk why but i love our hugs more! i feel like he MEANS IT. i guess i got worn down by kisses. 

Lips or eyes: eyes

Shorter or taller: I used to wish I was short so I could hide in more places when playing Hide-and-Seek. And also I wish my partner could pick me up all romantic-like.  But now I’m grateful I can reach things on shelves.

Nice arms or stomach: I’m a sucker for arms and hands

Sensitive or loud: sensitive

Hook up or relationship: relationship

Troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

Yourself: usually but I need to more.. I don’t went it comes to work (Mudd RUINED ME)

Miracles: maybe? 

Love at first sight: lust at first sight yes, love no. (stole that from Wendy)

Santa Claus: it’s a lie!! But I loved the idea growing up. yay presents

Thanks again Wendy for giving me something fun to do before I get real work done. xDD 

I tag.. @minikvelp @unfuckthereallife @ursaladarling @lumbercop @darkfire454 @brainshock-alpha @lightning-babe @eternal-flame-babby @mabonqueen And anyone else who likes these kinds of things!! 

[serenagaywaterford]

6) a flip of the dime. The nasty parts were always there, but he concealed/controlled them. Maybe bc said parts wouldn't exactly make him endearing to others? Anyhow, your interpretation makes him quite the interesting antagonist/villain, so I'm rolling with it, lol. /// There was another thing that was bugging me about S2: the baby's name. Obviously, Serena chose Nic(h)ole as a "fuck you" to Fred. But June in the finale? Of course, she stuck to it for Nick's sake, but also bc she recognized

7) Serena’s selfless (well, if you can call it that) act. Thoughts on this? /// As for your older responses, I forgot to describe what an epiphany it was for me to realize the significance of Serena’s use of the word “rape” for the first time. The anger I felt after 2x10 blinded me to the VERY OBVIOUS connection between her realization in 2x10 and her outburst in 2x11. (Silly me!) Imagine how much more intense that fight would have been if they included the marital rape. I remember a writer

8) that June didn’t kill Serena, bc she actually felt sorry for her in that episode. (Ngl, June’s kindness baffles me at times.) I knew that she wasn’t gonna do it of course, but it was 50/50 whether I wanted her to shoot them or not. /// Something I have not addressed so far is how lukewarm I found their explanation for June getting away with all the shit she does. Well, she’s no Janine (who loses an eye) or Emily (who gets mutilated), but still. Like you said, Serena and Fred might get away

9) get away with a lot more bc of their privilege, but June? Hm. // I’ll start quoting later (or maaaybe tomorrow).

———–

I always thought that was a really weird sort of thing for June to do. And it seems to be entirely because of Serena? Like, it was Holly, Holly, Holly. Even when she was talking to Nick. Then she has the exchange with Serena, and suddenly she adopts Serena’s supreme dickmove of a babyname? 

And I LIKED Holly. It meant something. Nichole (I HATE THAT SPELLING SFM LMAO) means nothing to June? Can you imagine the convo: 

“Mommy, why am I called Nichole?”

“Well, baby, you see, your Daddy’s name is Nick, so the lady that stole you decided to name you after him to eternally piss off her husband who she clearly hates and wanted him to be reminded that he’s impotent every time he looks at you.”

Like, on the one hand, Serena is fucking brilliant and it just shows the extent of her hatred for Fred. But then it’s kinda shitty to use a child as a pawn in that.

Then again, maybe there’s another reason Serena chose that name? I know there’s like a whole history about St. Nicholas and his role as a patron saint of childless couples, or something. (I can’t recall exactly rn). And there was something about St. Nicolette and babies. (Which is where the names Nicole and Collette come from.) Something like she raised a dead baby back to life. So, I guess, at a stretch perhaps that was her inspiration? I doubt it, knowing Serena. LOL.

It’s really curious June’s decision though. Despite EVERYTHING Serena’s done, June just wipes it clean and names her fucking baby after Serena’s choice? Maybe she was trying to retain the memory of Nick for Nichole? I dunno. And not only that, but she seemed 100% genuine when she said that farewell blessing and held Serena’s hand (again). 

I dunno, June’s own preoccupation with Serena is something I don’t truly understand but she clearly thinks there’s some odd connection or something. It’s funny cos I was reading a review about S2 and June’s choices in the finale, and her constant support of Serena despite ALL the reasons not to, and lemme see if I can find it… 

 Nah. I can’t. Anyway, it was something about how we all know June’s going back for Hannah, but this writer thought June was also going back for Serena.

I’m not convinced about that tbh, but I can see the argument cos June is strangely protective and compassionate towards Serena considering. I just have a sinking feeling that the show is gonna play that “Oops, Serena is evil again!! SHE WAY MAD JUNE GIVE BABBY AWAY trolololol!!!!” and make her despicable in order to get Nicole back. If that is the case, I’m gonna roll my eyes right outta my head. I have no issue with Serena having regrets, tbh. I think that’s pretty understandable and expected. But having Serena go hogwild with abuse and using Fred’s power to get back at June or something is just going to fucking piss me off cos like, c’mon my dudes, been there, done that. Over and over already. It’s the 3rd season and either you’re gonna put this bitch on a mild redemption arc or you’re gonna make her a full-on villain. Make up your minds. The will-she, won’t-she thing is old by now.

I dunno that was a random OT rant.

Also, TRUTH! Serena’s use of the word “rape” was important. Like, part of me is like DUH how did you JUST figure that out?! And, honestly I feel like the marital rape is sort of necessary for Serena’s epiphany to get recognised. I think, Serena is just wilfully ignorant enough to not truly consider the Ceremony rape. I honestly do not think she totally understood what she was suggesting with the 2x10 rape. (Serena really does lack forethought for like…all of her actions. That’s sorta her whole problem.) I think she thought it would be just like a sort of unsanctioned ceremony. But by the end she did seem to recognise what it truly was. And having her raped by Fred in the previous episode would have really helped with that. (Then again, it’s really hard to understand how a woman who was just raped turns around and basically suggests it. And this person is supposed to be not Satan. A pure evil woman sure. But Serena’s not meant to be that.)

I think Yvonne’s delivery of the line was interesting too. Part of it was like, “HOly shit it was rape” and part of it was like, “ha! you’re a monster!! you did that!” Like she had no culpability in it. I want to know if Serena has realised that ALL ceremonies are RAPE yet. I wonder if she’s got there. I’m not totally convinced she has. But… I dunno.

Oh! I hadn’t read that about June’s reasoning! That’s interesting. I mean, it fits with June overall but it’s a very odd thing. Like, to be holding a gun trained on the couple that literally held you down and raped you not 24 hours earlier… and feel SORRY for the woman (whereas the general population’s consensus is that Serena is even worse than Fred for doing that to another woman)? I went and watched it after reading your message I didn’t really see that on June’s face. (But that’s really neither here nor there since editing, directing, etc. all differs from what the writers/showrunners had in mind and those are the guys doing the interviews!)  I take that back! I watched it again and I can deffo see that if that’s what they were going for. Totally missed it and likely wouldn’t have picked up on it if not for this convo.

That said, I totally see June reasoning it out that way. For some strange reason, whether it’s Stockholm Syndrome or whatever, June seems to have a blindspot/softspot for Serena and she seems to have unlimited Get Out Of Jail Free cards for her. Like, c’mon, she literally held her down to be brutally raped, and at this point it seems like Serena could murder June and June’s ghost would just be like, “Hey youuuuu, wanna be my bestie in overthrowing the patriarchy?” (Okay, I’m not at all complaining cos I love their dynamic and I ship them soooooo… lol. On a personal level, it works very well for me and my crackshippy fantasies. I choose to believe June honestly sees something nobody else does and believes in Serena’s capacity for redemption–WHICH IS INSANE. But hey. I love it.)

So, for June to feel sorry for Serena, even after everything really does fit when you think about it. And also when you think about book!June’s attitude towards true power being in forgiveness.

I remember sitting around watching the ep the first time and thinking “I don’t want June to shoot them and be a killer” but also, “WHY ISN’T SHE SHOOTING THE FUCKING PLACE UP! DOES SHE NOT WANT TO ESCAPE????” And I was sitting there with the wifey and she was like, “She can’t. What if she misses? Then you’ve got 2 incredibly angry people chasing you.” And I was like… “Uh. Reload? Shoot them as they’re coming up the stairs.”

Because I have never fired a gun in my life so to me it seems really easy lmao. But to me, I didn’t even care about her shooting Serena but I did have an inkling she didn’t want to shoot Serena with the amount she paused. That would have been a perfect shot with teh type of ammo to take out –or at least injure– two people at once. I was like, “You gotta kill Fred and Serena is pretty useless then. It’s not like they have mobile phones! You can then choose to leave Serena to die there lol, or hostage her. And steal the car. You could get pretty far since nobody knows that Fred/Serena are even there.” To me, rationally, it didnt’ make sense not to shoot them. But… emotionally, obvs, I knew she wouldn’t cos a)the series would like… end rather abruptly lol, and b) that’s just not June.

AND yeah, June getting away with all her bullshit is insane in comparison. Janine literally lost an eye for backtalking once at the Red Centre! June has, well, done so much more and just kind skates away from ALL serious punishment. (Well, living with Fred and Serena is a pretty awful punishment in general.) And, sure part of it was cos she was preggers but … how Aunt Lydia/Fred/Serena/TPTB trust this crazy Handmaid not to KEEP breaking the rules is insane. I feel like nobody would trust her to just be a docile little thing after running away for 92 days. Not even Pervy Freddo. Despite all his creeptastic fetishes, he’d be like, “OMG she is way too high maintenance. i just don’t have the patience. give me that baby so i can shut my annoying wife up and then get me another more docile babyslave to play Scrabble and shave!” The plot armour is strong in this one!

Anyway! I got a bit carried away there…

[catamight]

Tag Game!

Tagged by @ rubynovare - First tagging experience, because I is hermit.

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

LAST…

Drink: UM. ...Oolong ‘Mousse’ Bubble Tea?? Hard to describe; amazing to taste.

Phone call: My folks

Text message: My SO

Song you listened to: Mystery - Indigo Girls

Time you cried: Honestly, I started crying in an argument when I couldn’t find the words to explain my frustration. Trying to make someone understand that people should care about each other, but with facts? Hard times.

HAVE YOU…

Dated someone twice: Nope! 

Kissed someone and regretted it: As of this moment, nope. 

Been cheated on: Nooooooope.

Lost someone special: Yes. No thestrals for me though, so for that I’m thankful.

Been depressed: I’ve ... Unsure. Nothing clinical. I’ve had bad periods, but I don’t count that as ‘real’ depression I guess. It’s hardly anything like many of my friends have experienced. I HAVE BEEN SAD?? It’s not depression though.

Gotten drunk and thrown up: Ayup. Though I don’t have hangovers. I just go straight from drunk to hugging a toilet while still drunk but also sick. 

Made new friends: YEAH?? WHICH IS ALWAYS COOL.

Fallen out of love: Nope.

Laughed until you cried: A few times actually. :D

Found out someone was talking about you: Yep! Never pleasant, but when I found out why they were snide about me, it’s almost always about something so dumb I can’t even get mad.

Met someone who changed you: Everyone I ever meet changes me. Not being deep; I’m pretty literal about that. o 3 o

Found out who your friends are: Usually - but never to 100%. Frankly I find that normal; people should always be able to surprise you (hopefully in a good way, but really it just means you shouldn’t underestimate anyone).

Kissed someone from your Facebook list: Just one. ;3

Kissed a stranger: Nah bro. Been tempted once.

Drank hard liquor: hahahahahAHHAHAHA yeah I have.

Lost glasses/contact lenses: Contact lenses. ONCE. Never. Again.

Turned someone down: Mmnnnnnnooo I suffer from perpetual obliviousness in regards to flirting/attraction from other people. I really apologize to people about that. is2g it’s not cold shoulder, it’s just disbelief.

Sex on the first date: Nuh brah.

Broken someone’s heart: ....unsure. Probably not? 

Had your heart broken: I feel like I’m more prepared to break hearts than have mine broken. If there’s any breaking going on, I’m usually aware of a problem before it gets to the hard part of talking it out.

Been arrested: Thank god no.

Cried when someone died: Yes. For brief, powerful sessions around no one else.

Fallen for a friend: nnnnn....nope. Not yet. 

Kissed on the first date: Third date. ...No. Fourth date. XD I’m not that adventurous and would rather get to know a person first.

GENERAL

List 3 favorite colors: um. gonna go with fav color combos --> mint green/pink; black/blood red; purple/light blue

How many Facebook friends do you know in real life: Pretty much all of them!

Do you have any pets: Nope! Allergic to cats and I can’t afford time/money/renovations to properly house the dog I really want. But I play with other people’s pets all the time. :3

Do you want to change your name: I frikken lOVE my name. It’s a Dune reference and shows off my deep nerd heritage. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

What time did you wake up: 7:30am exactly. I can no longer sleep late. Unless I was up to like 5am or something ridiculous.

What were you watching at midnight last night: Rick & Morty!

Name something you can’t wait for: ....PAX??? Probably??? I mean. I never like waiting for my favorite events; but I’ll wait forever to buy a favorite game. I’m so lost as to how to answer this one. XD

When was the last time you saw your mom: This last thursday!

What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: Banish my procrastination whenever I feel like it.

What are you listening to right now: The dulcet tones of the Game Grumps playing Sonic Boom. Boy that game is broken. 

Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I know two people with a name that could have Tom as a nickname, but neither go by that. So no?

Something that is getting on your nerves right now: Nothing.

Most visited website: Archive of Our Own, Tumblr, 

Mole/s: Total of three.

Mark/s: Chicken pox scar on my tummi; birthmark on my upper right arm; faintest of dark tint to my left forearm from when I tipped boiling water onto myself as a babby (mom spent hours scrubbing dead skin off of burned skin and she said I didn’t scream once, for which I’m impressed NOW because I’m pretty sure these days I’d be a huge painful mess)

Childhood dream: President

Do you have a crush on someone: ....does my SO count???

What do you like about yourself: I appreciate my empathy.

Piercings: One ear!

Blood type: O+

Nickname: Pi (by a bunch of kids I was teaching over the course of several summers); otherwise my name’s short enough there’s no need for a nickname.

Relationship status: *gestures to various mentions to an SO throughout this quiz* = w =;/

Zodiac: Western Zodiac—Pisces, Chinese Zodiac—Earth Dragon

Pronouns: She/her/herself

Favorite TV show: Brooklyn 99/Hannibal (I’m so over the map)/Yuri!!! on Ice/BNHA

Tattoos: Skin is clear. I want a white tattoo someday tho.

Right or left hand: Right handed

Surgery: Oral surgery for my wisdom teeth, and for getting ear tubs put in when I was a little (constant ear infections suuuuuck)

Hair dyed in different color: It’s dyed THREE different colors guys. I’m a damn aurora and I love it :DDD

Sport: Kayaking or Rowing/Skiing/Tennis/Boating(???)/Hiking/Swimming!

Vacation: Last one I took was to Canada! 

Pair of trainers: ...British trainers, or ... or people trainers..??

Current and all-time best friend name: YES. ALSO NO NAME FOR U INTERNET.

Eye color: Black/Brown (really frikken dark)

Favorite movie: ....uh. oh god. UM. OH NO. DDD: I CAN’T CHOOSE. I will say that you all should watch The Fall, Jacob’s Ladder, The Mummy, Deadpool, Lake Mungo, Silence of the Lambs, Sauna, Emperor’s New Groove, Last Action Hero, and any Miyazaki film every made. Seeing as this is Tumblr, I’m probably just preaching to the choir.

WHICH IS BETTER?

Hugs or kisses: Kisses are nice but hugs are BETTER

Lips or eyes: Eyes. <333

Shorter or taller: I like both for different reasons

Nice arms or stomach: ....n/a?? Mostly because my eyes are more focused on faces and hair and overall stature.

Sensitive or loud: Sensitive

Hook up or relationship: Relationship; I like to build that shit. 

Troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant (though I have been tempted)

DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

Yourself: More than I used to, less than I hope. 

Miracles: Kinda. I like karma a lot. It eases a lot of pain to know that shit always comes back to bite bad behavior in the end (even if it takes a while)

Love at first sight: Nooooooooooope.

Santa Claus: Lawl, when I was a kid I knew my parents got me stuff, not Santa, but I always liked the idea of a guy who took the time to give kids gifts all over the world. I’m an optimist like that.

Tagging: ...@solosvejs @mattheal @kimthreerings (because I don’t know enough people on here very well so it’s just kind of a crapshoot you guys don’t have to okay? okay thanks bye *falls into a ditch*)