#manifesting a happy ending for season 5

[camdrawsit]

It's October 5 2023, folks! Our Flag Means Death season 2 has just premiered and here I am celebrating/Dealing With Feelings by making some art. Found a lovely BTS photo of Taika Waititi that just asked to be a reference photo.

But yeah. Everything is fine. Good and normal. Like things are, after having seen those first three episodes. Soooo thank you, Jenkins & Co.

I'm perfectly fine.

All good.

…

EEEEEEEEEED ;____;

(Seriously though? Taika's acting in s2 is something else. So is everyone else's, really. Con O'Neill especially. All his scenes with Taika? Amazing.)

[kyouka-supremacy]

happy new year!! may 2024 be full of happiness and of success and of shin soukoku, especially the beast sskk! <3

Thank you so much Nyusa 🥺🥺💞💞💞 Right back at you!!!!! I hope the new year brings you as many exciting news as times of happines and sernity. I hope you will find many obscure movies that speak so much to your heart, they feel like they were shot exactly for you!!! And a sparkle of Chuuya content too (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ Please keep being your amazing self this year too!!!! (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+

[superseal76]

Farewell Manifest🥺

I’m not ready to say goodbye to this show🥺I have literally followed this show since Josh Dallas posted about it back in 2018. That’s five years of following this show. Live tweeting every episode until season 3 where they moved it to Thursdays at 8pm instead of Mondays at 10. I had to live tweet with the west coast instead. So inconvenient lol. Then when NBC gave up on a great show and cancelled it after an amazing finale that left me 😱🤯 so you can bet your bottom dollar that I hopped in the SaveManifest lifeboat. It was so amazing to see the fans rally and save this show🥰 and now here we are saying goodbye to the craziest but best show I’ve ever followed/watched✈️ so I bid you adieu Manifest and remember folks stay off ANY PLANE that is #828

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Five Fics Friday: July 19/24

Happy Friday everyone!! It's been a long week, so let's settle in cozily and check out these fics on the radar this week! Enjoy!

RECENT MFLs

Responsible Adults by J_Baillier (M, 16,279 w., 9 Ch. || Post-S4, Family, Illness, Suicide, Grieving John, Fatherhood, Injury, Psychological Trauma, Angst, Guilt, Substance Abuse, Major Character Death) – After the events at Musgrave Hall, those affected are trying, and struggling, to move on with their lives. And life is hardly going to stop throwing new challenges at them.

The Scientist's Method by spacemutineer (T, 26,607 w., 7 Ch. || ACD / Granada Holmes Canon || Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt / Comfort, Time Loop, Blood / Injury, Doctor John, Developing Relationship, BAMF John, Temporary Character Death, Guilt, Drug Use / Addiction, Grief / Mourning, Friendship / Love) – Sherlock Holmes has always known the world through the straightforward lenses of evidence, logic, and reasoning. But when Watson is caught in a tragic preventable disaster, his trusted clear lines of reality start to shift and blur, and the scientist detective begins to piece together a grand discovery far beyond even his exceptional imagination. Detection is a way of learning and science is a way of knowing, but as Sherlock Holmes is about to realise, love is a way of understanding.

Tango Between Broken Hearts by curlyjohnlock (E, 38,333+ w., 10/25 Ch. || WiP || Post S4, Slow Romance, Slow Burn, BAMF John, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Grief / Mourning, Angst with Happy Ending, Gaslighting, Possessive Behaviour, Unhealthy Relationships, Heartbreak, Flashbacks, POV Alternating, Bearded John, Depression, Drunk John, Hurt John / Sherlock, Denial of Feeling, Miscommunication, PTSD, Drug Addiction / Abuse, Family Drama / Secrets, Christmas, Cuddling / Snuggling, Hand Jobs, Protective Greg, Parenthood) – Fate brought Sherlock and John together, but a terrible incident tore them apart. A decade can feel like an eternity when you're forcibly separated from the person you've been desperately in love with. Now that fate is giving them a second chance, unpleasant memories resurface, and the heartbreak they both share is taking more than just time to heal. Will they be able to overcome the past, or will a higher power keep them forever apart?

RECENT LOKIUS BOOKMARKS

Moribund by sticks_and_souls (T, 2,884 w., 1 Ch. || LOKI SERIES || S2 Deleted Scene, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Time Slipping, First Kiss, Making Out, Kissing, Time Looping, Heavy Angst) – Everyone keeps talking about how in all the infinite replays that Loki did, he would have taken time to make out with Mobius. So I manifested a version of that (with just a wee sprinkling of angst).

only looking for a little peace by RunnyYolk (M, 57,051 w., 5 Ch. || LOKI SERIES || Season 1 Divergence, Alternating POV, Developing Relationship, The Void, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Loki Variants, Flashbacks, Protective Loki, Protective Mobius, Action/Adventure, Referenced Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, Betrayals, Reunions, Grief/Mourning, Trust Issues, Self-Hatred, Jötunn Loki, Catharsis, Touch Starvation, Mutual Pining, First Kiss, Affection, Implied Sex, Jealous Loki, Love Confessions, Crying, Emotional First Kiss, Emotional Love Making, Arguments Leads to Kiss, Hugs) – "Nothing in politics is 'quite' peaceful." "Well, I did no worse than any of the politicians opposite me, I can assure you." "No, that's true," Mobius concedes. "And you did great, really excelled at the game. You laid all the groundwork to be a very successful president. Maybe you would've turned that into more, after a while." "Perhaps." Part 5 of where the edge began

[elevensixteenpm]

As of EP 8, Miri has been with her papas for about 8 months now. I think EP 8 clearly already passed the timeline of the scene shown on EP 1 (when Kazuki got a call from the daycare telling him that Miri was sick). With that said, here are our little Miris!

Miri, who just turned 4 because this happened in December:

And Miri, who is about to turn 5 in about 3 months:

It's like watching my child grow up! I'm glad she's growing up healthy and happy with her Kazuki-Papa and Rei-Papa. Now that I'm looking at these screenshots, Miri did look so much more like a baby when we first met her. I'm not going to be surprised if the season ends with her birthday, or her 1-year anniversary with her Papas (Christmas!). Yes, this is me manifesting that their little family will be fine until the end.

[turkeycalamitybff]

on my stranger things bullshit again anyway

Holly being a major character this time???? I’ve got SO many things to say about that. Because she’s been foreshadowed to understand more than she’s letting on this ENTIRE TIME. Like I’ve seen no one talk about this but Holly def knows more than she’s letting on. And we’ve been shown that for so long. Look at season three episode seven “The Bite” around 2:50. When the other Wheelers are on the Ferris wheel Holly sees the trees moving, (the mindflayer) and comments on it. Like!!!! She has been in so many background scenes commenting to Karen about things from the upside down. And in season one she is the first one to see the “messages” from Will and the pressing on the wall. Will and Holly are TOTALLY connected. I was genuinely confused when she didn’t get a bigger role in season four but now it makes sense.

Will is what started the series but Holly will end it. And the Duffers legit said that they were paralleling season one (going back to those groups) so wouldn’t it make sense for ANOTHER CHILD CONNECTED TO MIKE WHEELER (who has been intimately connected to the plot each season I feel like) to go missing??? This is the WHEELERS season and no one can convince me otherwise. It’s all about learning that it’s good to be different. It’s about the WHEELER family learning that.

and it helps Karen get involved! Because in all the scenes Holly shows Karen something she could’ve just seen it herself. Holly was, objectively, a character that didn’t have to exist before now. But she does BECAUSE SHE IS CONNECTED TO THE UPSIDE DOWN. My guess is that she is heavily paralleled to Will this season (the title of chapter two one of the biggest examples) and is going to be the main catalyst and I for one am HERE FOR IT.

Will is the main character this season but the Wheelers are the ones who create the plot.

in general the Wheelers have always seemed to be huge. When the Cali gang gets back it would make sense for El to be at the front, correct? Or will? But no, Mike the one “leading the charge” it looks like. He really is the heart. When his sister goes missing?? Oh it’s over for Vecna.

also manifesting a scene after Holly goes missing for Mike to have a mental breakdown about the similarities to when Will was missing and Wills like so confused??? Like Dustin and Lucas see it too and they tell Will about how insane he went and Wills just. Shocked.

also manifesting a scene for the party (or everyone) where they find out what happened at the quarry with Troy in season one bc that was so built up? (Scene where hopper says that for someone to jump off was a death sentence) and then NOTHING happened and I need it to be addressed. Like maybe something similar happens and Dustin comments on it, and everyone finds out?? Just in general I can see how losing his younger sister could lead to Mike nearly committing suicide (that boy is SO depressed, Jesus) also I know this probably actually means nothing but I’ve always thought Holly was getting a bigger role since I saw the episode title “Holly, Jolly” like idk? It always seemed so weird to me and I always thought “oh hollys going to get bigger” and she never did? Also idk the episode title is just plain weird. Like I understand it’s like a play on the Christmas lights and ironic cause no one is happy but what always gets me is the comma. Like I would’ve thought they would’ve named it “Holly Jolly” which in my opinion makes more sense and is more continuos. Plus it wouldn’t bring Holly to mind as much and wouldn’t foreshadow her being part of it. BUT MAYBE they are going to parallel that episode and I won’t be crazy but who knows even. This last paragraph is me ranting.

tl;dr Holly and the Wheelers have been foreshadowed since season one to play a bigger role and to be connected to the upside down and we’re gonna see it in st 5.

[yallemagne]

Fucking stupid notes app lost all my notes on this season I’m going to burn Apple to the ground. 

Episode 1 &2: The Phalanx Covenant

Chuck is so fuckin’ obsessed with fixing Sabretooth that the Phalanx saw that and impersonated Sabretooth to trigger the man’s saviour complex oh my god. 

Warlock!!! I love Warlock!!

Sinister: "THEY TOOK MY RESEARCH!! MY MUTANT TEST SUBJECTS!! MY SAMPLES!!" Beast: "Sinister, people are dying." Sinister: "ALL MY NOTES ON MORPH!!!" Beast: "You're making it so hard not to throw you to the Phalanx."

"Your friends cost me an arm and a leg." Who the fuck are you??

They visit Muir Island and NO ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MORPH?? Bullshit.

(I'm headcanoning that Morph and Proteus ditched the island to get burgers and avoided getting assimilated. Because they're my silly little pumpkins, that's why.)

Every time Sinister shows up on screen I get angry iopjgerjio and he's here the whole time. The only positive contribution he's had to the mission was throwing Moira off the plane, lol.

Magneto's grown a beard in the interim to communicate he's lost to depression. Saying fuck it to existence until they tell him the Phalanx got Pietro awww.

"Did you lose your humanity when you were assimilated by the Phalanx?" lol yeah. "Or did you have any to begin with?" oh lol you right you right.

They need to stop doing this shit to Wolverine. My poor boy and his metal bones.

I love that Cyclops is so trigger-happy. He does not tolerate Sinister's presence one bit. "Including Sinister! WHERE IS HE?!” With Sinister in the back, skittering away like a fucking roach.

Episode 3 & 4: Storm Front

I hate this creep. Keep your hands off her, Arkon, put a damn shirt on.

Storm: “That cube is causing the bad weather just get rid of it.” Arkon: “NO! I need it.” Wow, wonder who the obvious villain is. They had to take so many braincells from Storm to force this romance. 

EDIT EDIT! I forgot this bullet point! One of the extras is voiced by Morph's voice actor, I can tell from the screams. Morph cameo!

Episode 5: The Fifth Horseman

I hate this new animation style. I was less harsh on it in my previous writeup, but like nah, this style sucks. They yassified Beast, he just has a dude’s face, I hate it. And they gave Jubilee a new haircut and I highly suspect the reasoning is that they didn't think she looked Girl enough.

Cortez shows up and I hate him! Big shocker. 

This episode wasn’t very good. 

Episode 6: Jubilee’s Fairytale Theatre

Jubilee is so responsible!!! Such a good older sibling-type. Also I love how everyone is reinterpreted in her story, it’s funny. Like Gambit’s accent is ten times thicker. 

Longshot cameo! And? Jubilee's foster parents?

There was a rat?? That turned into a guy?? Morph?? We never see them again so I have no clue, but I’m just gonna say Morph cameo. 

Oh no Magneto kinda slays.

The repeated line of Jubilee being able to get out of tight spots is a bit overdone… and then MAGNETO says it and we’re so back bc that’s so fucking funny.

Episode 7: Old Soldiers

You’re never gonna get me on board, show. I’m never gonna believe that Wolverine didn’t have bone claws. It’s stupider if he didn’t have the bone claws. 

(I have been informed that the bone claws are a retcon. Most based retcon ever because, what, you're telling me that just happened on accident?? bc the adamantium claws certainly weren't by design in the show, they were just like "huh, that's weird, didn't expect that". Like what, was Logan just reminiscing in the tube, thinking "if only I had those knuckle knives from that one mission" and fucking manifested claws to break out??? anyway)

Happy that this episode didn’t end with Wolverine swapping spit with that woman. They’re finally showing restraint. But maybe it should have ended with him swapping spit with the Cap. Just saying.

Episode 8: Hidden Agendas

Again: the new art style and designs are objectively worse, the anatomy is all over the place, Sam looks BIZARRE and I know that wasn’t the intent. Like he's not supposed to look like an alien but he does.

ROGUE CALLING HERSELF LEBEAU!!! "I'm taking a vacation from you." *cosplays as his wife* C'mon now, Rogue, make it official.

Love that Sam DIDN’T fall for the shitty creep claiming the X-Men are terrorists, AND he broke out before they could get him with sleeping gas. Dodging shitty clichés left and right.

Episode 9: Descent

Essex: "Would you say humans have escaped the influence of natural selection? And that we as humans should seize our fate and pursue the next stage in evolution?" Darwin: "That's not at all what I'm saying. That sounds very stupid. Next question."

I'm a bit disappointed... So doing research for my fic (yes I'm self-promoting, I'm a whore), I found that Rebecca was the one to call Essex "sinister" after finding out about his experiments... Here it's just kinda said off-hand by Dr. Xavier. It takes the power from the title.

Episode 10: Graduation Day

I really don't get Gyrich's bullshit here. "You defend mutants... YOU must be a mutant!!" Uh yeah, dude. Duh. If they're trying to establish that Charles has been a closeted mutant this whole time, they did a poor job, because nothing in previous episodes ever implied that he was hiding his mutation. I'm choosing to just interpret this as Gyrich being impossibly dumb, thinking he's worked out some mutant conspiracy, meanwhile, he's the last one to come across this very public knowledge about the Professor.

MOOOOORPH!!!!

Logan telling Scott to tell Jean what to do... dog, no one likes a chauvinist.

"Hey, it's a big island, bub. What, are you on the yearbook staff or something?"

"After what they did to Xavier, why do you still fight me?" << revealing his motivation

"Wait, I just realized something. How much do you love Charles Xavier?" "How dare you ask me such a question? He was my only equal. I owe him my life." "What would you do if you knew you were the only one on Earth who could save his life?" "DO NOT PLAY GAMES WITH ME!"

"Wouldn't he do it for you?" YOOOO "Though beware... If he should pass away while connected to you the psychic stress may destroy you, as well." YOOOOOOOOO

"Hello, Magnus. Surely, you have more pressing business to attend to than nursing an old friend." "Nothing more important."

Folks I am EATING this episode. Picture me at dinner with my mother frantically explaining to her that they invented gay marriage. And divorce.

"Morph, it's nice to see you home." YESS IT IS.

Xavier's speech to everyone on the team :,0 watch how hard I can cry.

"Were I your father, I would tell you that no truer son could ever be." Watch tears shoot from my eyes with the destructive power of Scott's eye blasts.

Honestly... so this is a plot twist for me, that they always knew Xavier was alive... I feel a little cheated?? It does ruin the impact of the goodbyes at least a little. If Lilandra had saved Xavier's life in secret or if it was uncertain that the Shi'ar could save him, so there's some plausible deniability, that would make more sense to me. Why do they treat it like he actually died in '97? Why do they enact his will? Couldn't they just say "screw off Magneto, you know Charles isn't actually dead, also you're a fucking criminal, so there's that"?

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

So that's over, huh? I guess y'all'll see me when I watch some other X-Men show. The only issue is that my enjoyment will be severely impaired by Morph not appearing.

[lemotmo]

Unfortunately, probably so

Q. He's been on set. They're just not showing him there yet. You're out of your mind if you think he's not there.

Q. Honest thoughts: is he going to be in season 8 or no?

A. I don't believe he has been on set yet, anon. I do think he will be there but it's pretty obvious that he hasn't been there yet. Perhaps you can check the fake Twitter account for his exact whereabouts. Second anon, yes I believe he will be around for at least most of 8a. I don't think we will see that much of him but I think he'll be around. I don't trust Tim at all to not play with that dynamic a bit. He has said several times in the past that he hasn't defined Buddie yet because he likes the idea of relationship drama. If the plan is actually Buddie, I don't think he will be able to resist using Tommy to create some drama. Once he puts Buck/Eddie together that is it relationship wise, that is their endgame so drama for them, at least in the way Tim talks about things, will have to be manufactured in other ways. I love a lot of things about Tim but I don't trust him at all to not use Tommy to build up the drama pre Buddie. Especially if they did bring in Lone Star writers. They just write completely differently tone wise. I absolutely loathe the idea because it will be virtually unbearable around here throughout that entire process, and it's possible, given the behavior that Tim became aware of, that he changed direction a bit, but I still don't trust him to get there in the best way. It's just too easy of a route to take. There have been a few people who managed to figure out that the cameo videos came to a stop around the same time they started writing for the season. So along with whatever conversation took place, I'm sure Lou got his final episode count and just decided to go ahead and walk away from them. So while I think his return will still only be a handful of episodes I think it's going to be a rough handful of episodes. If I get canon Buddie out of the drama I don't care how we get there, but I know lots of people do so I want to try and prepare myself now. And once it becomes apparent that Tommy is just drama in the lead up to Buddie his people are going to become downright unbearable. I'm very excited about lots of things but I just want to get his part over with.

For the record, anon, I'm praying like crazy that I'm wrong. I want to be wrong. I want to be wrong so badly.

Thank you Nonny!

Yeah, I also expect Lou there for a few more scenes. It'll suck to find out that he's on set. Not because of him specifically, because it will give the storyline a fitting ending on screen and it might be interesting to watch it play out for Buck as a character. (Even though I agree that, if Tim really wanted to, he could make Buddie happen without the Tommy factor involved.)

But because of the reaction of a certain subset of the fandom. The loud Tommy stans will be proclaiming that Lou is there as a main now and he's going to ask Buck to marry him or something unhinged like that. And then when they realise, during season 8, that BT's relationship isn't going to last very long, they'll throw a loud tantrum like a bunch of 5 year olds who don't get a sweet before dinner.

I'm just over all of that nonsense.

What this fandom needs right now is some peace without a very loud minority trying to harsh our buzz.

Also, to be honest... I don't care how they make Buddie canon either. I've been here for 6 seasons now. I'm tired. The time is now. However they do it, I'll just be happy about it, no matter how it happens.

And finally, I'm also manifesting that Ali (and me as well) is wrong. Very very wrong indeed. Sorry my dear. :)

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[cross-my-heartt]

Nitpicking episode four (affectionately so)

I know this may be controversial but sometimes we nitpick things out of love and that is very much the case for me here.

I love so much about episode four and much of it has already been talked about but I would still tweak some things to make it perfect because I'm an incorrigible Crosshair girlie and I'll both dissect and cherish every moment he's in the limelight while it still lasts.

Anyway without further ado

1.) Crosshair's recklessness. I love me a trigger happy sniper but my man would never come so close to decking that imperial officer.

By all means that should have been Omega. Crosshair's motto has always been playing it safe (the thematic manifestation of dispatching danger from a safe distance). The point of him staying with the Empire is that despite the drawbacks and the Empire's moral corruption, they would have been 'safer' there.

Crosshair is willing to tolerate a lot if it's in the name of safety and the only times he's downright reckless is when he's pushed to the brink (killing Nolan, escaping Tantiss). Omega on the other hand has already shown that she has a lower tolerance for injustice. Her standing up to Hemlock earlier in the season was a reminder of that and it would have been more consistent to make her the one nearly provoked into a confrontation here.

So I would have had him holding her back here seeing as assessing danger and realizing the benefit of laying low is something Crosshair should be better at between the two of them.

2.) Huge missed opportunity to make Crosshair and Omega cooperate during the gambling scene. It was fun to see them bump heads but I would have loved to see more of them cooperating in creative ways, like Crosshair using reflections to see the officer's hand and helping Omega cheat the game.

Otherwise I would have made it a game of Dejarik. Because we have context for her being good at that while we haven't seen her play much sabacc so far. It's kind of like saying that if you're good at chess you're automatically good at poker.

3.) This could just be me but that moment where it seemed like Crosshair was about to let Omega go after Batcher alone felt off for his character. Crosshair lives to fight for a cause and I'm pretty sure it's been established that Omega is that cause now.

The best explanation I can think of is that he was bluffing and I can completely see him doing that in an attempt to change her mind. If it were me I would have made it look more like a dropped bluff and less like a 'this could have gone either way situation'.

4.) Would have loved to see them resolve the escape situation a bit more creatively too. I'm not a fan of the all the creature moments (don't love them in the new Vader run either) and a cute little team up between these two, combining their shooting abilities and using stealth and the terrain in their favor would have been cool to see. And just imagine Crosshair caving in at the very end, agreeing to let the animals go anyway after Omega has puppy eyed him into doing it.

Ten out of ten would have lived for that.

5.) The tremor. Where is it?? Why aren't we seeing more of it??? This really should be a bigger deal, I really need it to be a bigger deal. Yes, we see him miss a lot of shots but I need more.

6.) Reunion. This is the hardest for me to criticize because it does make for some great drama and a great cliffhanger but I'm more for putting character before entertainment.

The only way I see them making dagger eyes at someone they were ride or die determined to rescue not too long ago is if they still suspect Crosshair of setting up some kind of trap. Which is a bit of a reach this far into the plot.

Character wise it just isn't a logical decision for me.

But yeah, I suppose it all depends on where they take this scene from here. Let me know what you think.

[satashiiwrites]

From Scorched Earth A Phoenix Rises

happy sunday morning.

Title: From Scorched Earth A Phoenix Rises

Fandom: 911, Hawaii 5-0

Pairings: Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams

Tags/warnings: (eventual) explicit sex, canon divergence from end of season 7, character bashing (Tommy Kinard, Helena Diaz), child abuse, canon typical violence, sentinel/guide AU, spirit animals, anchors, BuckTommy breakup (this fic is very not friendly to Tommy Kinard), first time, Bad Diaz Parents.

Summary: An anchor, however fragile, can keep even an offline sentinel from manifesting as long as it is maintained. When his anchor is removed, Eddie Diaz enters a deep zone.  Can Buck, a long unattached guide, save his best friend from slipping away?

El Paso, Texas, 1995. 

“Mom, I still don’t feel so good,” Eddie says as he tugs on Mom’s skirt and stumbles into the kitchen. He feels tired, achy, and too hot, but he had a bad dream about the firebird and the blue dragon going away. They’d told him they’d always watch over him, but he woke up looking for them and couldn’t find them. 

“Oh honey, that’s just the medicine kicking in. Do you want some more juice?”

“No!” Eddie shakes his head briskly. He doesn’t want to throw up again. 

“Maybe you need more medicine? The doctor said you might need a second dose,” Mom says, bending down to look him in the eye. She has a slight frown on her face, and Eddie doesn’t like this look. This is the look Mom gets when she’s about to be mean to someone while pretending to be nice. 

“I’m getting better,” Eddie insists despite feeling the room begin to sway around him. 

“We’ll do a second dose,” Mom says, already straightening to get the dark bottle out of the cupboard above the sink that’s too high for Eddie to reach. 

“I don’t want it,” Eddie protests, wanting to cry.

“This will make you feel better, honey. Just you see.”

The bitter taste makes him gag, but Mom doesn’t let him spit it out. Over his sniffles, there’s a fading cry of the firebird screaming in warning.  

He doesn’t see his firebird or her friend, the blue serpent dragon, again until many years later. 

Read Chapter 1 here on AO3.

[mad-aims]

Hi Aims💖 For the Good Omens Themed Asks:

hot chocolate Queen South Downs Cottage?

Aww thank you Mari! 🥰

Sorry this took a while, I’m an idiot who doesn’t check their inbox.

Hot Chocolate: So my favourite comfort food/drink…. Hmmm…. 🤔 Food would be those potato smiley faces and my favourite comfort drink would be a proper cup of tea with milk and sugar.

Queen: My top 5 favourite bands/artists are… Queen (strangely enough), David Bowie, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco and Fleetwood Mac.

South Downs Cottage: My ideal happy ending would be… Aziraphale and Crowley finally managing to help fix Heaven and Hell for good (or bad in Hell’s case), and then officially retiring as representatives of their respective companies; still keeping their powers and immortality. I want them to finally tell each other the “L” word, have that lovely kiss that they deserve, get married and move into their cottage in the South Downs. It will start and end in a garden. The ending garden will be theirs, we’ll see Crowley out in the garden working the land and Aziraphale sat reading, drinking tea in the shade. I want it to end with them, both arms around each other, Crowley covered in dirt and sweat from the garden, Aziraphale all cosy in his little old man clothes and them just gazing lovingly at their world (each other). Then they turn and look out at their garden and the camera pans out and their garden is hugeeeeeee and goes on for miles! The End. Then the credits sequence shows images of them getting up to shenanigans with other characters we’ve seen through the series as the theme tune plays. Then hopefully there’s an end of credits scene where it’s just them in the cottage and they are sat in their living room, holding hands, having a bit of banter as the screen fades to black.

Yeah I wrote a lot. Basically a South Downs ending and a little bit more hopefully? 🙏🙏🙏

Manifesting Season 3!! 😇😈

Thanks @sabotage-on-mercury 💛

Ask subjects are here if anyone else wants to ask:

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

KATHERINA MINOLA (THE TAMING OF THE SHREW) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) We had to read this for English my senior year. I got so mad at the way she’s treated. She’s the titular “shrew” of the play. She has to be married off before her younger sister can get married, because that makes sense.

Then the most dogshit man imaginable comes along, and everybody thinks they’re perfect. He literally gaslights her and denies her food and water.

Fuck Petruchio and Katherine Minola deserved better!

2.) Literally the whole play is about how she is so awful that the main guy needs to change her entire personality, which he does as a challenge not because he likes her, and then proceeds to her abuse her for the rest of the play. Yet, he is portrayed as the hero, not a villain and she is shown to have “improved” at the end. People will say, oh it’s open to interpretation, it can be played different ways, it’s satire, but i don’t find abuse funny and there is a distinct lack of commentary in the play to count as satire imo. Taming of the Shrew is a tragedy not a comedy, I will die on this hill. Kate deserves better!

3.) The title isn’t joking, ya’ll. She literally gets broken like a rebellious feral animal and it’s treated as a happy ending.

CORDELIA CHASE (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL THE SERIES) (CW: Pregnancy)

1.) (downs an entire bottle of vodka and slams it back on the table) SO. CORDY. Cordy started off as a supporting character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At the start she was your typical high school mean girl character, but as the show went on we got to see more depth to her character: her insecurities, her courage, her capacity for incredible acts of kindness. Then after the third season she moved into the show’s spin off, Angel, where from the beginning she was basically the show’s secondary protagonist. Her and Angel were the two mainstays of the show’s main cast, she gets the most episodes centered on her out of all the characters aside from Angel (and yes, I’ve checked), and we really got to see her grow from a very shallow and self-centered and kind of mean person to a true hero who was prepared to give up any chance at a normal life to fight the good fight while still never losing the basic core of her character. There were some… questionable moments like the episode where she gets mystically pregnant with demon babies and things got a bit iffy like halfway through season 3 where the writers seemed to run out of ideas for what to do with her outside of sticking her in this romance drama/love triangle situation with the main character but overall, pretty good stuff right? THEN SEASON 4 HAPPENED. In season 4 she gets stripped of literally all agency and spends pretty much the entire season possessed by an evil higher power, and while possessed she sleeps with Angel’s teenage son (who BY THE WAY she had helped raise as a baby before he got speed-grown-up into a teenager it was a whole thing don’t worry about it) and gets pregnant with like. the physical manifestation of the higher power that’s possessing her. it’s about as bad and stupid as it sounds and also is like the third time cordy’s got mystically pregnant in this show and like the fourth mystical pregnancy storyline overall (you will be hearing more on that note in other submissions I’m so sorry). after giving birth she goes into a coma, in which she remains for the rest of season 4 and the first half of season 5. SPEAKING OF WHICH DON’T THINK SEASON 5 IS GETTING OFF SCOT FREE HERE. yeah so in season 5 the show just FULLY starts trying to erase cordy’s existence. she gets mentioned ONCE in the first episode and then never again until halfway through the season where she wakes up, helps out Angel for a bit and encourages him in his fight against evil, and then goes quietly into that good night and dies so it can be all sad and tragic. I’d call it the worst fridging of all time but even THAT feels generous because the whole point of fridging is killing off a female character so a man can be sad, and after Cordy dies basically no one’s even sad about it because the show immediately goes back to pretending she never existed. she is not mentioned ONCE in the two episodes after she dies. in the whole stretch of time between her death and the end of the season she gets mentioned exactly four times. again, I counted. anyway the fun twist to all of this is that all of this happened because the actress who played cordy got pregnant before season 4 and joss whedon was so pissed off about this affecting his plans for the show that he decided to completely fuck over her character and then fire her and write her out of the show. so cordy’s a victim of both writing AND real life misogyny!! good times!!

2.) OH SO MANY THINGS they menaced by giving her terrible hair cuts, making her seem like she’d get together with the guy she loves (and who loves her back) but instead she was killed and when she was brought back, she got possessed by an evil entity who used her body to give birth to itself. afterwards she was in a long coma and died. her character was so throughoutly assassinated

3.) She got demonically pregnant TWICE - there was this real sense of a womb/ability to get pregnant as like, a place for evil to get in. She got positioned as femme fatale and evil mother. The actress basically got fired for being pregnant, and when she agreed to come back for a single final episode she specifically said they could do anything but kill off the character. Guess what happened

[stalltherain]

Manifest finale spoilers. I'm about to rant.

What the f-ck was that ending?

It might as well have all been a dream. Other than Mick meeting Zeke, a few people disappearing, and Saanvi's cancer treatment coming out soon enough to treat Cal, nothing is different than if the show had never happened.

I'd have preferred the characters find happiness in their shitty world. Or heck, even all of them dying in their shitty world to sacrifice themselves for people they love (that would have required a different setup from the beginning of s4 so that we saw the people that the passengers loved).

This ending reminds me of the dilemma in scifi where a character has to chose to live in a happy fake world or a tough & gritty real world. The show writers chose the happy fake. I'd have preferred to see the real world.

I was optimistic for this season and really had hope this show was going to be better than previous shows about explaining the mystery. Of all the theories of how it would go, resetting back to the plane not crashing was the most boring one & what I really hoped wouldn't happen. I guess it's a satisfying-ish ending if you had low expectations.

I just thought we'd actually get some answers, and was also disappointed by all but one of the character's endings. Since the show chose to ignore the mystery and focus on character stories, I'm going to address my issues with those.

TJ lost Olive, but immediately seems to forget her because another cute girl shows up.

Mick ends her relationship with Jared, because he wants kids and she doesn't, but how did that never come up for them in conversation before. Took my opinion of both of them down a bit. Then, 5 seconds after Jared got dumped by the woman he wanted to marry, he's already flirting with another woman. Took my opinion of Jarod about as low as it can get. Shame because I had actually liked him.

The Cal, Olive, and Grace we knew are all gone. Never going to even exist. They're basically fake versions of themselves now. Grace is reset back to season 1, which means she's the annoying version I wanted Ben to dump. Also, how is Ben going to explain that he had sex with someone on the plane? Season 1 Grace would not be open to the whole "hey, we went to another world or whatever" story. She didn't believe anything Ben said about it until she saw it affecting Cal. There's no way she believes his story if she hears it led to him sleeping with someone else. Unless Ben plans to lie to his wife, she's leaving him soon. If he does keep it a secret that he slept with Cal's doctor, that just means she'll leave a little later. Keeping that secret will destroy their relationship. It was a really terrible writing choice to have Ben and Saanvi hook up and then just go back to their previous partners like nothing changed. I think they're great together, but I'd have preferred nothing happen if that was how it ended.

The one thing I really wanted was for Saanvi to realize that she deserves better than the person who kept rejecting her over and over, but nope. Zero growth. I felt so bad for her and feel like from what we know of Alex, she'll go right back to her family soon. Or maybe Saanvi will get enough self esteem to get angry at how Alex treated her (both by not taking the flight and by how she repeatedly rejected her in the real world).

Vance is back to being kind of a jerk who knows none of them. I suppose I'm glad he has his family back, but his character development was meaningless. I'd rather have seem him get his family back in the real world.

The only ending that didn't suck was Mick found Zeke based on what he told her in the real world. I personally wasn't attached to Mick with either guy, so I wasn't expecting her ending to be the most satisfying. At least one story we watched ended up having meaning.

After so many shows have ended disappointingly, I just really wanted one to stick the landing. (pun not intended, but I'm keeping it) This ending was a major (pun also not intended, but I'm also keeping it) bummer.

I don't know how go wrap this up, so I'm just going to drop this. In five years or less, Ben and Grace are definitely split. So are Saanvi and Alex. Hey, maybe Benvi will get back together then. Lol.

[thefauxsport]

Ok, so, here is the long awaited breakdown of the Danny Amendola story. I'm going to call this....

Friends Don't Let Friends Date... Danny Amendola

Maybe we turn this into a series about other athletes?

Anyways, here we go (this is long because I'm legit transcribing what's going on in this podcast and I probably shouldn't, but this is how I take notes!)

First off, I am relistening to the Barely Filtered Podcast with Aurora Culpo and Kristen Louelle Gaffney. Olivia was on their show that came out 5/24/2023 where she spoke at length about a previous "abusive" relationship. She never specifically names Danny Amendola as the culprit, but Kristen gives it away very early on in the episode.

For the uninitiated, Kristen is married to a guy named Tyler Gaffney, who at one time, was a bench warmer on the Pats. That's how Olivia and Kristen know each other. Tyler went to Stanford, that's how he knows CMC. They set the two up after she ended things with Amendola for the last time.

Now, the first question she gets about the topic is Kristen saying that she knows Olivia spoke on her show about being in an abusive relationship and how she has grown so much since they met. Kristen asked how she got out of that part of her life.

Olivia said it was challenging, and said that in hindsight she was addicted. She was in a cycle, and she couldn't break it. She said as it went on her self esteem plummeted and she became a shell of herself. "When someone beats you down so much, mentally, and then you become susceptible to that treatment and it doesn't stop. You get addicted to the highs because the highs are so good and the lows are so low and you know you're not supposed to be in it. But you hold out hope for those small positive moments."

She said she had to work at it a lot, to love herself enough to get out. "Very, very, very, very bad situation". She recalled being in a hotel room, praying on her hands and knees for clarity, and that was the moment she knew she was done. She said is was praying to her family that passed on for help in figuring out what to do, and something clicked and she was done. She said she blocked this person and never saw him again.

Then Aurora tells a crazy story. This was the part of the podcast that really stuck out to me. She was telling the story about how she had just given birth to her kid, I think the second one, and Olivia was with Christian, but they were still pretty new. They were going to go visit her, so she asked them to pick up some diapers on their way. They had just started dating. She bumped into Danny while at the store. Olivia interjects at this part and goes, "we think he was following me".

Apparently, Danny bumped into a diaper laden Christian. She said it must have been nuts because her ex also played football, but arguably not as well as Christian. So to imagine this guy bumping into his ex girlfriend's new boyfriend who is better than you and he just goes "hey. uh, you had a good season" and CMC just said "yea" and that he was going to go check out.

The next part of the podcast goes into how CMC helped get her out of rock bottom. Aurora said part of it is not manifesting the same relationship. She then asked how she could find happiness with a normal guy after the drama train that was Danny. Olivia admits to having some PTSD, and said she's afraid to talk about this person because he's scary. She said she struggled at the beginning and would cry because she didn't like who she was coming out of that relationship. She said she was scared Christian could be capable of that, but that was because she wasn't whole after escaping that relationship. She also admits to not being super confident in her relationship, but she can acknowledge that. He has his read receipts on and his location on.

Apparently, she'd wait up at night because Danny would be out there cheating on her "with tons of people" and she'd just be sitting there waiting for him to get home. "It's hard to be naive and think that everybody is going to have your back when you go through something like that because you really do figure out that wow, people are really capable of horrible things".

Aurora said that some guys would view the location on and read receipts on as being a red flag in girls. She said that people shouldn't apologize for needing some things and that Christian realized she was asking this of him not because of him but because of the trauma she had. Not sure I agree totally, but to each their own.

Apparently, Christian researched the cycle of abuse (which he probably already knew because if you listen to his mom's podcast, his grandfather was an abusive drunk).

This is when she mentions Danny being abusive. She said it's easy for people to question why you didn't leave when he broke her things, or when he was scary and threatening and "horrible things that I am not going to get into".

Never ask a surviver of DV this question, ya'll.

Also don't like that she takes blame for staying there, but I digress.

Aurora said part of her problem was Olivia would send her some of the things Danny would say about her to ask her if it was true. Belittling her and her career. "These are the guys, they want the hot bikini model on the internet, but they don't want you posting hot bikini pictures on the internet."

Olivia talks about the cycle again and reminds Aurora to not get into it too deeply again.

They (Aurora and their friends) started to try and gather evidence of all the times he was cheating by looking at photos and spotting his hand or his bracelet in girls photos and figure out when he was with other girls. They didn't want to go to Olivia with half evidence, and Olivia admits she saw some of it on her own. And apparently, people started to get annoyed because they would tell her what he was doing and she'd ask for advice and then ignore it all. Said that sometimes you might be done but the person in the relationship needs to get there on their own.

I think I'm getting a sty, which is annoying me at this point. So is the reference to Marianne Williamson. Quack.

Now they move onto social media and stuff and a lot more surface level stuff.

I'm gonna end this here, because I'm pretty sure this was all they talked about on him. BUT, I feel like she also touched on it on the Not Skinny pod, so I may relisten to that this week and if there's more to add I'll add to it!

Drop the next name you want me to delve into.

[mistywitcher]

oh sweet lord that last episode has rendered me deceased. i am dead. i cannot FUNCTION

what a show. and what a way to end the first season! as a hardcore insane percy jackson stan till i die, here’s my thoughts if you would like them:

FIRST OF ALL. the whole show: loved it. very little to critique in my opinion! i know not everyone is happy with everything, but personally i think it’s one of the best adaptations i’ve ever seen. it’s mostly faithful to the books, and the changes that were made i think were improvements and made a lot of sense.

rick wrote the first percy jackson book so long ago, this show felt like his way of being able to go back and change bits and edit the story to something that’s even better. that’s how i see the show!

LETS TALK CAST: it was fuckin perfection okay, i will fight anyone on this point. walker as percy has changed my fuckin life. his little emotional eyes in every single scene, showing so much depth to all of the dialogue, and giving the best vibes. the humour, the desperation, the self sacrifice. he is PERCY and i am so incredibly in love.

as for annabeth and grover, PERFECTION ALSO. leah slayed annabeth so hard, the little eye brow quirks, the way she was able to portray annabeth as extremely smart and logical, but not heartless, and certainly not cold. she brought such a warmth to the character and i am obsessed.

aryan as grover is just chefs kiss. from the satyr walk, to the one liners, to the uneasiness and resilience grover has, aryan has it down. i just loved him and I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THE HIM FLOURISH IN THE (hopeful) NEXT SEASON!

the whole cast was amazing. i loved all the choices. it all just felt so right. from the cast, to the set, to the fights, to the cgi. i’m just in love okay.

LUKE AT THE END HAD ME BAWLING. the tears in his eyes, the way he begged percy to join the cause, the hurt when he sees annabeth. FUCK ME I NEED A MOMENT OKAY.

the parallels that are being set up throughout the show for luke and percy are wonderful, i cannot wait to see how it continues. i thought it was just so cohesive and the characters feel so real.

i love how they have set it up for the next season! it’s like it’s ready to go, it’s RIGHT THERE and i want it it so bad so LETS GET MANIFESTING FOR ALL 5 SEASONS FRIENDS ITS TIME!!!

and i have to mention my love of percy/annabeth or percabeth. it’s not the whole point of the story i know, but it is something that is very special to me. i love my little sea boy and clever girlie together, and this show has set them up so beautifully. it’s given them time to have a friendship, to build trust, but also the little looks they give eachother, the pining that we can see will eventually build. IT MAKES MY FUCKIN HEART SING OKAY walker and leah slayed too hard on that front. they understood the assignment.

i could go on about this show and percy jackson in general forever. but i shall end this here because i feel like i need to go cry for a few hours lol.

in conclusion, and this will sound dramatic but i mean every word of this. this show fucking saved me right now. percy jackson is so incredibly important to me, it’s my biggest special interest, it’s shaped me for a decade, it’s my comfort, it’s my everything. i’m currently dealing with a tumour in my head at 22, and my mental health and life is crumbling around me, but this show and percy jackson and rick riordan has kept me here for the last 7 weeks and previously years before that. i owe my life to rick riordan. i will never be able to express my love for this enough.

okay okay, i’m done. see you later once i’ve rewatched the series 4374 times and have memorised every fucking word.

[ca-suffit]

wait that sam quote refers to when he was parenting claudia though — he mentions lestat being the strict parent and how he was trying to protect louis and claudia, so obviously he’s thinking more along the lines of in eps 4&5 before shit hit the fan and he stopped caring (seemingly) about claudia. like by all accounts they were happy throughout her teenage years. they definitely hadn’t experienced as much in their vampire lives by that point, they were so much younger than lestat? I’m confused because that quote clearly isn’t a reflection on the total events of the first two seasons but more so re: lestat’s initial motivations and attempts to protect louis and claudia that eventually manifested as controlling and abusive behaviour

saying louis and claudia hadn't suffered as vampires through season 1, even if ur cutting off at 1x5, still means they dealt with stuff like lestat parading his white woman lover through louis' business (where he knows louis can't do anything about it, even as a vampire) and having a big tantrum where he shows off threatening vampiric abilities when he saw louis get with someone himself for one moment. taunting claudia when she killed charlie and forcing her to watch his body burn. those are still things they're suffering under another vampire and not human society otherwise and that's not even all of them.

sam is a grown ass man who has lived these things more than we have. it's so much easier to just admit he says dumb shit sometimes than do all this. this is a lot weirder tbh. like what's the point in making all these excuses of where u assume the cut off of what he's talking about is and this and that. he overly defends things from lestat's perspective, that's the truth. he's free to do that too but he's gonna end up saying stupid shit and we don't need to coddle him about it.