#only two episodes in and this season is ruining my life. i hope i die

[dyketennant]

it was affection that held us together.

[lovesosweeet]

better left unsaid // cth

chapter thirty seven

in which orion has leukemia, and calum doesn’t know.

calum hood x fem!oc

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november 10, 2018 san diego, california orion

Since finding out there’s no hope… I’ve had no hope. Everyone else has had to come to terms with my defeat. They all had shit to say to me, trying to convince me to at least read about the trials that Dr. Gupta suggested, but I didn’t want to. 

I don’t want to keep being poked and prodded and nauseous and aching constantly. I’d rather just be somewhat miserable at home as I inevitably wither away. I want to sleep in my own bed and stay out of the bleach scented hospital I’d spend more time in if I did a trial.

Everyone is trying to cheer me up. Macy and Emelia take turns coming down and staying with me during the day while my moms are at work. I tell them they don’t need to, but everyone insists I have someone with me all the time just in case something goes wrong. I feel bad because they have to drive at least two hours each way every time they come. Macy isn’t in school right now so she doesn’t really need to be in LA for anything, so she stays two days at a time, but Emelia is finishing out her semester and has a full load of classes.

They all say they’re just happy to spend time with me, which may be true, but I hate how much I’m ruining everyone’s lives. Emelia is even planning on spending her whole Thanksgiving break with me, rather than with her family in Seattle, and I feel horrible that her family won’t get to spend Thanksgiving with her.

Today is Macy’s day. We’ve been spending the days that she’s here watching the entirety of Gilmore Girls. We’re somehow still only on the third season. The episode we’re on is featuring Rory on a walk through a park that’s covered in orange and red fall foliage, which I’ve really not experienced much of in my life given where I live. 

“Cal and I always talked about going to New England in the fall sometime.”

Macy’s head snaps toward me. She looks shocked.

“What?” I ask.

“You haven’t talked about him, like, at all, since you broke up.”

“Yes I have!”

“You’ve tried to justify breaking up with him several times, but you haven’t said anything about him, really. Y’know?” 

“I have talked about him!” I’ve thought about him every hour of every day and have creeped on him via his fans on Twitter every single day and constantly check his Instagram to see if he’s posted anything. He’s still at the center of my life. 

“Orion, I spend so much time with you and have seen you stalking him on Twitter, but you have not truly said a word about him.” 

My cheeks flush as she mentions my Twitter activity.

“You’re allowed to miss him, you know.”

I look down at my hands, fiddling with the rings I’m wearing. I already feel my eyes watering. “I miss him so much, Mace.” 

Macy places a hand on my arm and squeezes it. “I’m 100% certain if you called him, he’d pick up.” 

I shake my head, feeling a few tears start to fall. “I can’t call him.”

She sighs. “You miss him. He misses you.”

“No, Macy, I can’t call him. I can’t.” 

“O, they’re on the Europe leg. You could go back to where it all started.” 

I shake my head again. “I’m terrified of having to see his face fall as I die. It’s going to hurt so bad.”

Macy hugs me then, wrapping her arms around me, but my hands stay on my lap, still twisting my rings around. “He wants to love you, Orion, he won’t see it as watching you die.” 

“I can’t do it. I can’t let him watch,” I say as I stand up. “I’m gonna go take a nap. I’m feeling kinda shitty today.”

I walk upstairs to my bedroom and collapse on the bed, sobs shaking my whole body. 

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[marvellousinternethideout]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

Season 2

Ep 10 - What's My Line (Part 2)

So, where were we, oh right, a new vampire slayer, Kendra.

Oh so that part is right there's supposed only one and now there is two(possibly two)

Oh snap, I forgot about angel, someone save this guy.

Yes Buffy back off, Kendra is hotter than you .

OHHHHH, buffy died, right, yeah, so that's why Kendra is here.

Finally, tell them where is angel.

Wait, wtf, someone kill this janitor. Oh cmon now spike, find other vampires to bother .

Oh yeah, Jesus I forgot that Cordelia let this monster inside. Run, RUN Cordelia and Xander.

Yes, Xander gets it, Time to Run.

Dont trust the janitor.

B: "I don't listen, I do things my way", Kendra: "No wonder you died". BITCH the way I chortled, Lmao Kendra, youre hilarious.

Gonna say, no matter how cringey, Drusilla's acting is damn God.

I love dorky Willow.

We are gonna meet OZ again now are we ?

Lmao Giles found his match.

Buffy, you can never have normal life.

Xander and Cordelia are gonna kiss now aren't they...

I love when they fight, the tension, the build up. The sex is gonna be absolutely epic.

Yesssssss OZ!!!

Willow: "Your hair is brown", Oz: "Yeah.. Sometimes". LMAOOO I love them so much.

Also, who says the first thing that your hair is brown, only our willow.

Oz is my spirit animal, "I am not work kind of person or any kind". I get you.

I love their interactions, they are so dorky and nerdy. My kinda people.

WTF, CMON NOW, AGAIN! Stop shooting.

OZ JUST JUMPED IN FRONT OF WILLOW. LET ME REPEAT. HE JUMPED IN FRONT OF BULLET FOR WILLOW. AKHDHDIJSNM MY HEART 😭😭😭. BYE.

Two women fighting, my bi-panic

"Damn that guy got a major neck in his days", LMAO Xander.

"but nobody messes with my boyfriend ", Damn buffy. See this is what I am talking about. The superior ship.

No offense or anything but Angel deserves whatever Drusilla is/will do to him for what he did to her.

Now they are flirting instead of fighting, how long before they fuck.

Angel stop riling them up.

Angel is bragging too much, bro spike is gonna fuck buffy so calm down buddy.

Is Angel gonna die or like die but not really? Like maybe they will complete the ritual and angel will lose his soul.

Buffy really is a would.

I kinda want the Drusilla to wake up again. I want them to complete the ritual.

Why is spike is funny and Kendra hot.

I love when women fight.

DAMN BUFFY.

Yesss Kendra kill them for ruining your fav shirt. Priorities.

Did they complete the ritual?.

Why am I disappointed that they saved the angel?

OH HEY, OZ.

I love when their interaction so much.

"You have the sweetest the smile I've ever seen" OZ MY GUY😭😭😭😭😭

Their interactions oh my God 💕💕😭

Xander and Cordelia are back at it again.

X: "It never happened", C: "Good", X: "Good"; they kisses again. Good going.

I hope we see Kendra again.

Drusilla is alive against isn't she... YESSSS!!!

YESS and carrying spike like a badass.

Alright, I loved this episode, especially the second half. The first half was a little slow and I was wondering if it would be able to match up to the last episode and alas it did.

The two hot women fighting bad guys, what more can you ask for. The ultimate dream. Angel, angel, angel, you deserve whatever Drusilla does/do to you. You've literally ruined everything for her, I am sorry but I am on her side. I mean buffy saved you because she loves you but like you would've deserved to die by her hands.

Oh my Drusilla is alive again. Lmao I am really excited for that. Like, if we're gonna support morally grey guys then were supporting woman turned villain too. It's fair. So yeah this is "I support Drusilla in whatever she will do to Angel" Club.

So they saved angel in the end, which was nice, kendra is gone now, hopefully I'll see her again.

Now, my Babies, my OTP Oz and Willow, bitch we finally have them, they're interacting, they're talking, they're laughing, they're becoming friends, yess bitch, I am here for it. Their interactions *Kill me*, they're so nerdy and so cute, soulmate type shit. I know how they end up which is bittersweet and I am gonna cry eventually but you know what i will live in denial and in my head they end up married. Thank you.

I guess, that's it, I am really excited for Drusilla.

See ya in next one, cheers 🥂.

[princess-of-morkva]

1. How did you find out about merlin?

Oh, i was reading a harry potter fic. Which was, by the way, not tagged as a crossover. Just somewhere in the middle we got introduced to a mysterious teacher who goes by the name Emrys and teaches kids wandless magic and is also kinda pretty (understatement). And then there is a whole subplot about Arthur's return and others also get reincarnated. And i liked it and went to read other fics by that author in merlin fandom. And then by other authors. And then i went and watched the show. By the way, it all happened on a russian fanfiction website and merlin fandom there is very small so i quickly ran out of fics..

2. Do you have a ship? If so, when did you start shipping them?

When i first got into merlin, i was still deeply in the closet. I refused to read any slash or femslash tagged fanfics. So i was limited to gen and straight ships. Which is how i became a part of small, three and a half people community of mergana fans on the aforementioned website. I even got new year congratulations from them, for two years, which was sweet, especially as only wrote one single mergana oneshot on there.

And then i returned to the fandom about two years later, out of the closet and ready to consume anything and everything and found a way to the endless ao3 well of ships. So now i happily ship merthur, of course, and also morgwen, but at the same time i'll die on the gwencelot hill, but in all honesty i'll read any ship as long as it's good writing. Ironically, i now only avoid mergana, the same ship that got me into the fandom in the first place. It just feels to weird, like shipping a lesbian and a gay man. I like their dynamic too much to go and ruin it with romance.

3. What’s your favorite episode/two-parter?

It's either "The Tears of Uther Pendragon" or "Beauty and the Beast". First one because of plot, and tension, and Morgana and everything that makes a good episode — and second one because Uther married a troll. And all that. I really like that troll.

4. What’s your favorite scene?

There are too many to count.

But i think the one in "The Sword in the Stone" part 2, with Arthur and Morgana in the throne room.

"I thought we were friends." "So did I."

and "Not so powerful now, my lady?"

The lighting. The angle. The acting is on top. The way Morgana's voice breaks a little on "so did i". The way they look at each other. Oh god.

5. What’s your favorite quote/interaction?

Again, too many to name or count, but i can name a few:

"Not so powerful now, my lady?" (i already named ot in previous answer, but it's just too good, i can hear it in my head with all exact intonations)

"I'll- leave you to your poetry then, my lord." (leon my beloved. he sounds so confused)

"The more brutal you are, the more enemies you create." (and isn't that ironic, morgana?)

"I grew up" and "He grew up"( by morgana and by merlin, in season 5. it's heartbreaking.)

more morgana quotes:

"-and you, Uther. You're going to hell."

"Sometimes you've got to do what you think is right, and damn the consequences."

"What're you going to do? Kill me?" "You don't think i can?" (merlin and morgana sword fighting scene in s3e2)

and than right after: "It doesn't have to be like this, Morgana. We can find another way." "There is no other way."

"Do you really hate me so much?" "You can not begin to know how much I hate you" (morgana in uther's prison cell)

"And killing things mends a broken heart?" (after sofia debacle)

"I just don't think that chopping someone's head of is a cause for a celebration."

aaaand "Don't worry, dear brother, I won't let you die alone. I'll stay and watch over you, till the wolves gorge on your carcass and bathe in your blood."

and now my sweetheart mordred: "Until then we go unmarked in death as in life."

and "Such hatred as yours can never triumph. I hope one day you will find the love and compassion that used to fill your heart."

also Queen Annis my beloved "You came to me in the name of Gorlois, but I fear you're more like Uther than you realise."

"No man, no matter how great, can know his destiny."

Aaaaaaaaand "IN A LAND, OF MYTH, AND A TIME OF MAGIC, THE DESTINY OF THE GREAT KINGDOM RESTS ON THE SHOULDERS OF A YOUNG BOY-" (i always chant it out loud every time i begin an episode. i replay it many times. people ask me to stop. sometimes, i just randomly say in the middle of a family dinner)

6. How do you feel about the ending?

I love it. It's perfect in the most unsatisfying and heartbreaking way. It's a tragedy, it's supposed to be like this. If not for the ending, we wouldn't have this wonderful fandom thriving after ten years. I wouldn't change a thing.

7. What’s your favorite headcanon in merlin?

That Arthur will not return for some great catastrophe. He will only return when Merlin finally lets him go and learns to live without him so that they can have a healthy relationship that is not overly codependent.

Also Merlin definitely becomes a surgeon at some point.

And also i have a headcanon that marriage between Arthur and Gwen was not a romantic partnership. They def loved each other, just not romantically. We need more qpr marriages in fandom.

Also i have a headcanon that Merlin never celebrates Christmas until Arthur's return because it's his death anniversary. Isn't that sad? But it's also sweet because he celebrates his first Christmas together with Arthur.

8. Do you have a favorite merlin fic?

Oooh i have some.

For Want of a Nail by 0hHeyThereBigBadWolf on ao3

People Think the Knights are Straight? by rcracer123 on ao3

Schwellenangst by BurntOreo on ao3

to the point of fear by Imagined on ao3

Spilled Ink, Spilled Blood by kyrakaryanne on ao3

Seeing White by The AsexualofSpades on ao3

When I Didn't Know The Answer, I Found It In Your Eyes by ironfamjam on ao3

and every single merlin fic written by SnufflesThePig ever

9. What is your personal head-canon after s5?

Ohh, well i already answered it in general headcanons question, but i'll elaborate on it here

I think Merlin returns to Camelot and probably stays there until Gwen dies. I also believe that Gwen maybe remarried, maybe not, but she definitely had children and had a happy life and was loved by the people and lifted the magic ban. Then, Merlin begun to travel around the world and became really good wtoth his magic and learnt many professions and languages and had many friends over the years all over the world. But he never forgets Arthur and his life in Camelot. He can change his age and appearances but mostly stays around 26.

Ohh and also Morgana must reincarnate at sone point. Multiple times.

And also Arthur reincarnates instead if walking out of the lake and grows up with his mother because she divorced Uther this time around.

10. What’s your favorite character?

Morgana is my favourite character to write. She's interesting and complicated and has a lot to unpack.

Arthur is my favourite character to read. Because i can't for the love of gods properly write him. I'm always dissatisfied with his characterisation. And it's hard to find good written Arthur, but when i do, it's my instant favourite. I love reading him suffer the most, and i love his character development and i love everything about him. Everything.

I love Mordred the way i would love my baby. I want to cuddle him and give him a happy ending and also the world. And i want others to acknowledge his cuteness.

But Aithusa is my favourite baby.

Merlin questions to do when you’re bored

1. How did you find out about merlin?

2. Do you have a ship? If so, when did you start shipping them?

3. What’s your favorite episode/two-parter?

4. What’s your favorite scene?

5. What’s your favorite quote/interaction? (ex | merlin: “how long have you been training to be a prat, my lord?” | arthur: “i love poetry” merlin: 😀)

6. How do you feel about the ending? 😉

7. What’s your favorite headcanon in merlin?

8. Do you have a favorite merlin fic? Please share 😍

9. What is your personal head-canon after s5? (Ex: arthur dies and merlin waits for 1500 years | the roundtable lives | merlin becomes court-sorcerer)

10. What’s your favorite character?

That’s all!! Tell me if you want more!! Answer in the reblogs!! Or comment!! Or anywhere!!

[hansolmates]

me time (m)

summary; the first time virgin!mc meets her mans (but she doesn’t know it yet) pairing; jungkook x virgin!mc genre/warnings; fluff, college!au, boarding house!au, based on the virgin!oc discourse, female masturbation (thanks to the pretty bridgertons), a lil sad and longing at the end w/c; 1.3k a/n; y’all really brought manhater!mc and virgin!mc to life! this couldn’t be done without all of your fabulous input and support. obviously the virginverse is freeform at this point—think of this more as a prequel for these two. set in freshman year of college, when they’re just acquaintances. (do you guys think of cher from clueless when u think virgin!mc? very outgoing n’cute but also very innocent?) anyway, happy valentine’s day i hope you and your boo (whether digital or in-person) get your me/we time💖

Your wooden lap desk is toppled to the side. Good thing the space between the mattress and floor is small, your pink monstera-shaped rug softening the blow when your water bottle, pencils and laptop fall to the floor. In the back of your head you know everything is fine because the last episode of Bridgerton is still playing, an orchestral version of Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next continuing on as if nothing’s astray. 

Yet you’re nothing but astray, forgotten about the episode and writhing against your too-small twin as you let yourself cum for the umpeeth time. 

You’ve lost track at this point (how couldn't you? Bridgerton is hot) but from the way your hair mats to your face like a second skin and your pussy feels spent and battered, it’s been awhile. This should be your new Valentine’s Day tradition, fucking yourself until you pass out on your vibrator. 

“Ah, ah fu—uck, yyyes!” 

The sheets are sopping. The grey cotton fabric does nothing to hide your juices that seep from your bare cunt to the mattress. Flinging your silicone toy to the side, you pull your hair up and out of your face. 

Water, you need water. Maybe a cup of green tea with a dollop of honey. Sugar always helps the immediate low after a good couple of rounds. 

However, you’ll never get used to the feeling of cleaning up yourself. The feeling that you’ve done something completely lewd all on your own, no one to assure you the things you’re doing are weird. It’s okay though. You love to be alone, it takes a lot for you to feel lonely. 

You slip on a pair of dolphin-cut shorts, too tiny that they are drowned beneath your emerald green slip dress. Quickly opening the door to your room, you’re met with absolute silence. White walls containing empty rooms and a living room without a soul. Just like you’re expecting in a college boardhouse on Valentine’s Day. 

What you’re not expecting however, is Jeon Jungkook staring at you the second you crack your door open. 

“If you’re screaming that loud, your partner must be doing a good job.” 

Jungkook lives on the other side of the boarding house, therefore you’ve never really interacted with him. Excluding the landlord there’s only five other tenants, a group large enough that you’ve never had to have one-on-one with him. 

You really didn’t think anyone would be in the house on Valentine’s, especially Jungkook. He’s an absolute cutie pie, even though you don’t know anything about him. The only thing you really know is that his sparkly brown eyes are to die for, they remind you of coffee milk tea, a craving you only indulge in at the end of finals season. 

To your surprise, Jungkook looks like he hasn’t gone out all weekend. Him, single? As if! Yet you can’t justify any reasoning behind him being home if did have a girlfriend or boyfriend. His dark hair is fluffy and freshly showered, and you can’t ignore the smell of linens from his soft sweats and long navy hoodie. 

Normally, you’d be quiet during Me Time. You’ve perfected the art, stuffing your mouth with your pillow or playing action movies to muffle out the sound. You thought you were in the clear. The thought of Jungkook overhearing you turns you on a little, makes the dampness between your panties even more evident, but you keep that self-indulgent secret to yourself. 

“Oh, well,” you curl your lips in a smirk, closing the door behind you so he doesn’t see that your room is actually very much devoid of life, “she’s very powerful.” 

She, meaning your favorite vibrator in your entire world. It has ten settings and a heating mechanism. More importantly, it’s rechargeable. You don’t know how you’d survive freshman year otherwise. 

“Okay, TMI,” despite the fact Jungkook’s blushing he’s chuckling, holding a hand out for you in the narrow hallway, “after you.” 

You quickly slip past him, walking into the shared kitchenette. Bare feet slapping against the hardwood, your eyes immediately gravitate toward the upper cabinet. Jungkook is following you, presumably to get his own late night snack. When you lift your arms to reach your mug, you feel a little bit of cool air brush against the uppers of your thighs. It’s a nightgown, a pretty satin slip  that falls over your curves and leaves much to the imagination. A couple more centimeters to get your mug and you’ll be definitely flashing Jungkook. 

“Um,” you practically hear the twisted face he’s making. 

“Sorry—I’m sorry!” you blurt, waving your fingers to catch the handle of your mug, “I’m really not trying to flash you—please don’t fill a harassment report! I just can’t reach my mug.” 

“No, that’s my mug.” 

“What, no! I’ve been drinking from this mug all year!” 

“You’ve been drinking from my mug?” Jungkook is affronted, walking past you to easily grab the mug you’ve been struggling to reach for the past minute. He flexes the bottom part of the mug in your face, where his initials are painted in black. “This is my mug, my parents put my handprint on it when I was a year old.”  

It’s then you notice on the lower shelf, there’s an identical mug. This mug has been buried all the way in the back, dust collecting on the rim. It also has a baby handprint on it, although upon closer inspection it’s smaller and in a more faded shade of black. That’s your mug. 

“Oh, Jungkook,” you feel your heart fall all the way to your ass, feeling guilty, “I’m so sorry. I’ve washed it and everything, if it makes you feel any better.” 

He frowns, holding the white porcelain between his hands. A litany of ideas run through your brain. Is he disgusted by using the same mug as you? Have you potentially ruined a prized family treasure? 

Thrusting the mug into your chest he says, “Make me a hot chocolate and we’re even.” 

You smile a little, eager to please. You quickly get to work, simmering the pan with warm milk and melting chopped chocolate. You rinse your mug with some hot water, letting it sit next to his awaiting mug. For a bit of flair you add a capful of vanilla extract, all while Jungkook watches you with mild awe. The smell of sweet late night confections fill the kitchen, a fitting theme for a Valentine’s night. 

“You’re not burning the milk,” Jungkook murmurs more to himself than you, watching as you pour the hot chocolate in cups without spilling a drop. 

Jungkook is known to burn things in the house. The only thing he doesn’t burn is ramen, and that’s purely due to survival skills. 

“What can I say, I’m an expert,” you wink, handing him his mug and you holding yours. 

With matching mugs, the two of you take your first sips of the melty beverage. You lean against the stove facing him, while he faces you against the marble island. Jungkook smiles and a bit of cocoa touches his petal pink lips. He says it’s perfect and you smile into your cup, absolutely swelling with pride. 

Jungkook’s probably working on his photos. He always says his editing bug is itchy at night. While in passing you’ve said you’d love to see his work, however that gesture of kindness never really amounted to anything. Maybe tonight’s the night. You like art, you’d love to be a little more educated with it. Just as you’re about to ask and strike up some conversation, Jungkook beats you to it. 

“Well, hope you and your partner have a good Valentine’s,” Jungkook holds his cup in salute, walking back into his room, “just keep it down.” 

Oh well. You sigh to yourself, letting Jungkook walk away without a fight or a retort. After all, it was you who implied you were sneaking in a bed partner tonight. Sinking your eyes into the brown liquid, you fall into a lull. The creamy liquid swirls in your grasp, making your muddied reflection ripple away. 

You love to be alone, but it takes someone like Jeon Jungkook to remind you that life gets a little lonely. 

[myhumanweakness]

I don’t want to be a huge asshole, but...

There are a lot of people trying to find a modicum of positivity in the finale. It’s not about this Destiel-Bibro war that’s happened over the years, it’s not about Cas, it’s not about any of the superficial drama. This finale was the weirdest mixture of OOC and in character writing I have ever seen. 

Things that are in character: 

The brothers put each other first. They are each other’s safe place and stability. Up until the very end. Sam respected Dean’s wishes, stayed with him in his last moments, and let him go gracefully. Sam even went on and had a full life so Dean’s sacrifices weren’t in vain. 

For Dean, Heaven wasn’t perfect without Sam there. And he had this huge sense of relief and happiness when Sam arrived. 

Jack deconstructed the walls of Heaven so that it was a vast place where everyone could be together. They weren’t living out their “best memories” anymore. They were creating new memories eternally with each other. And Bobby recognizing that Jack is like Dean’s son by saying, “That boy of yours...” 

Cas helped build the Heaven that he always dreamed of. Cas always had such a high standard for Heaven, and it always fell short. He helped Jack build a home that was warm and comforting and beautiful and open and loving and true. Everything Cas stood for. 

Bobby, the man Dean adopted as his father, was there to share a beer with him (just like Dean shared with his dad in his childhood). And Bobby was happy and confirmed that Dean is in a Heaven he deserves. 

Sam mourning Dean’s death for the rest of his life, but also living his life to honor Dean. Classic Sam. 

Dean using his last moments to tell Sam how much he loves him and how proud he is. Sam deserved to hear that because we all know Sam looked at Dean as a parental figure. 

Things that are OOC:

Sam not marrying Eileen. The show created this HUGE story arc around Sam and Eileen and their real love and connection. And then they shoot this finale and couldn’t even get an actress that looked like Eileen to stand it the blurry background. Like, I don’t care what you say, it’s NOT open to interpretation. Sam did not end up with Eileen. All of you people who are Sam stans, who say you want your character to be happy and live a full life should be livid. Sam ending up with Eileen wouldn’t have canceled out the fact that Dean was/is his number one person. Dean gave his blessing for Eileen, and he loved her and welcomed her into their lives because he knew Sam loved her and had a genuine connection with her. Having them together would not have ruined the ending in any way. Sam still could have ended up with Dean on that bridge. 

That woman with the blonde/light brown hair is NOT Eileen. They couldn’t even get an actress with dark brown hair to keep hope alive that they ended up together. Absolutely awful. 

Dean just accepting Cas’ death and not even talking about it, other than to say, “Yeah I think about em’ too.” I don’t care if you don’t believe in Destiel or that the love was reciprocated. Dean EXCLUSIVELY said multiple times that Cas is a member of their family and a brother to the boys. He said the words, “YOU”RE MY BEST FRIEND.” I’m not saying Dean should have scarified himself to go pull Cas out of the Empty (because we had 40 minutes to wrap up 15 years). But the fact that Dean was like: I’m gonna eat some pie and just not acknowledge any feelings or thoughts and act like nothing ever happened is SO OOC. If your best friend died tragically, you’d have something to say about it or act like you had something to say about it. And that’s not to say I wanted Dean to be miserable and hurting. I’m happy he got a dog and found some normalcy. But they lost SO many people, and he’s just walking around cool as a cucumber? When every other season/episode where they lost someone important to Dean he was a mess. And I’m not just talking about Cas- we all obviously know how Dean behaved when Cas died/was missing/Lucifer was controlling him. But even when Jo and Ellen died. Even when Mary died. Even when Bobby died. Even when John died. Even when Crowley died. Even when Jack died, Dean was shown hurting. Suddenly everything is cool and normal there’s no pain or anything? The fuck? A brief moment of acknowledgement. That’s all it needed.

I will never forgive the writers for ending Dean’s story that way. A rusty nail impaling him (probably in his pulmonary arteries/aorta based on the angle) on some random hunt after he finally exhaled the episode before and said, “We’re finally free.” He sacrificed his ENTIRE childhood and life for his brother and the world and so many other people, and he didn't even get to enjoy being a human on the Earth and living a life for more than a week. What! Dean was always a character filled with tragedy, and yeah, maybe he did have to die. You can make that argument. But like that?! AND. AND! Sam held a funeral for Dean and DIDN’T INVITE ANYONE! What!!! No one was there to toast to Dean and share their memories and give him the send-off he deserved. Sam just burned his body alone. Never. That would have NEVER happened. Sam loved Dean SO much and looked up to him and thought the world of him. Dean was his big brother who was fearless and strong and the best hunter on this Earth (and probably every other planet), and he didn’t celebrate his life in the end? 

Cas not showing up in Heaven is absolutely insane. INSANE. It doesn’t matter what you think of their relationship, the show has proven that Cas is important to Dean (even if you think Cas is way at the bottom of the list, he’s on it!). Dean’s ideal retirement/endgame was him, Sam, and Cas on a beach, drinking cocktails, with hula girls. That was the future Dean wanted for him and his family. And you’re telling me that Cas helped Jack build the best version of Heaven possible, and the minute Dean Winchester arrived Cas wasn’t there to greet him. Even just to say “Hello, Dean.” Even call Dean’s phone and say, “Welcome home.” Cas would have been the one greeting Dean in Heaven, with Bobby. Requited or not, it’s canon that Cas is in love with Dean. You don’t just ignore the opportunity to see the person you’re in love with. And... and! Even if Cas didn’t greet Dean in Heaven immediately, he would have appeared in the Impala during the drive. He would have met the brothers on the bridge to welcome them both home. Cas loved Sam too. He would have been there. The three boys together again. Team Free Will!  

I love Cas, and I know a lot of Cas stans feel buried and betrayed and hurt over the show doing a “is he there or isn’t he?” thing. And that is completely valid. I can’t even express to you how sorry I am that so many of us in the fandom are hurting. But I know this show. And this show has always made it clear that it was/is always about two brothers. Fine. But Dean Winchester, the most caring and loving human in the entire universe, deserved better. I am so sick to my stomach that Dean’s whole life was him convinced that there was only one way for his story to end and it was him dying tragically. For years he never let himself even entertain the thought of living a life because he 1) didn’t think he deserved that or was worth it 2) it just wasn’t in the cards. We watched Dean grow so much, SO MUCH, that we finally saw him talking about the future and having hope for the future. And yeah, maybe he wouldn’t get the future he talked about with the retirement on the beach, but he would have lived long enough to experience life outside of just “playing whack-a-mole” and being God’s favorite story and puppet. Dean didn’t even get to enjoy his freedom and humanity. They took a character that they purposefully pushed through so many stages of character development to attain hope and faith and self-worth and promise, and killed him. 

What the fuck!

[low-budget-korra]

Comments on Euphoria s02e07

-This is how the play started? Damn Im both scare and excited. Look at this stage production, it's a school play or a Broadway show? Gosh everything in theater it's so dramatic, I love it.

I feel like the play version of the characters would bully me so bad in high school lmao

-Look at the acting. They are stage acting in a tv series, that's awesome. The back and forth between the stage scenes and actual flashbacks, are top tier

Not the Lexi mom loving her portrayal and just everything, she is not a regular mom, she is a cool mom

-Why I am Lexi?I also do live in imaginary scenarios that are better than my life. And her with weed is me in my everyday

-That Rue and GIA conversation was heartbreaking, anyone who lost a love one go through that, the memories fading away as the time goes until we are left with only a few precious ones.

Rue scene with her mom too was gold. She really need to had that conversation with Rue, she also had to take care of Gia

-Cassie making loud and clear her daddy issues and her scene with Nate is so good cuz he was literally molding her to be something the wanted, which aint healthy. All her scenes with Nate are red flags. That ain't love Cassie.

-Not Jules and Rue relationship being ruined because of Eliott. I really hope his character leave the show and don't appear next season. S1 Lexi and Fez with little screentime was so much better, yes they didn't had backstory or much development but they also we're better written, they did pretend to be something they weren't. They didn't stick Lexi in Maddy arc just for the sake of it per example

-Maddy using the Rihanna quote about confidence. Fake it until you make it Gosh they really were besties besties, Cassie and Maddy. Poor Maddy, I knew she was be more heatbreaked than pissed.

Sydney better be nominated for awards for this, she is killing it every episode

-oh I thought they had forgotten that Kat was a camgirl back in season 1. But I didn't get why that scene was place the way it was. Makes no sense other than randomly remember us that Kat arc in season 1

-That scene with Nate seeing Maddy and Jules was scary. But that one with Cal and him will give me nightmares. And it was a nice callback from Nate character arc from s1

-Where I can find a Samantha? I hope they don't get rid of Maddy character after this season like they did with McKay's. This show needs her

But until now there's no reason from the erotic vibe of Maddy and Samantha interactions(specially the first one). Like until now Samantha is "chill" she didn't pull anything, didn't make a move or something and it seems that she may not be back for season 3

-Go Ethan! pretty sure Nate will wanna kill him ans Lexi for this. Or maybe Cassie will, damn she looks like she is about to murder someone. And from the preview, I'm scary. It seems she will fight Lexi and them Kat and Maddy will intervene

-Everytime the show goes to Fez scenes I feel like I was about to pass out, I was so fucking nervous. And from looking from the preview I think it may have two police calls, one for Fez and other for the school because of the fight it will have there. Fezco was screaming with his face facing the ground so it may be because he was being arrested or that something happened with Ash, and I'm really hoping is the first one because there's ways to have him in the show even if he got arrested in the finale but I can't see Ash dies and how dark Fezco will become after see him die.

[jaimetheexplorer]

McWexler obituary

It took me the whole day to put my thoughts in order about this episode (my Kettlemans theory did NOT age well!).

Overall, if it had to end with them parting ways, they definitely went about it the right way: their relationship means so much to each other, and there is still so much love there. No backstabbing, betrayals, or resentment. I can go back and rewatch the entire show without what happened in this episode cheapening or ruining their bond or any of their meaningful moments through the seasons. I do take issue with the statement that apart they’re “ok” (Kim, maybe; Jimmy, not so much) and together they are “poison” (at times, yes; but they also bring out the best in each other, their relationship is based on more than just scams - they had a decade long relationship BEFORE their first scam - and even their scams have sometimes done good - see Acker keeping his home, or Kim’s client taking the deal over a risky trial). But I get it that in a break-up scene, the negatives are going to be emphasized over the positives.

But, overall, I think my main feeling was to be rather underwhelmed, considering this was meant to be the resolution of 6 seasons of buildup to the “Where is Kim in BrBa/What finally turns Jimmy into full Saul?” questions. Kim dying or leaving were basically the two most common options. And while predictable isn’t always bad (and, again, as far as breakups go, this was very good; everyone expected Kim to leave him because he went too far, but she left because SHE went too far), and it was consistent with who we have been shown Kim to be as a person (caught in the duality between her thrill for scams and her guilt and morals), I was hoping for… I don’t know… something a bit more creative. The main thing that attracted me to this show was that every time you thought you knew what Kim would do (i.e., fall into the normal “moral compass” trope for the “bad boy”) they would surprise me by turning it on its head, and having her do the opposite. So when we saw her confront Cheryl Hamlin, I was hopeful for a second that that would be it; the moment you think Kim will crumble under guilt, she becomes Mrs Goodman instead (not that I wanted her to get rid of the guilt entirely; again, I love the duality of Kim). So having this end with a sort of confirmation of the trope (Kim leaves her conscience says it's too much), wasn't as exciting to me as the alternative.

More than anything, though, I think the biggest problem I have with this is that it feels so rushed. Which is so unusual for a show that usually takes a season to get through a couple of months, and takes its time to let things develop organically. We barely got to see any of the thought process or ways in which Jimmy and Kim handled the aftermath of Howard’s death and their trauma (most of it happened off screen). On top of that, I am meant to believe that Kim would decide to leave the most important relationship of her life within 48 hours of them being willing to die and kill for each other? And, as if that weren’t enough, DISBAR herself just like that? I just feel like this should have required a bit more mulling over on her part. Granted, she’s known to make sudden decisions (like leaving S&C), but this was not about leaving a job, it was about taking her entire life and burning it to the ground. Unless they are planning to treat this as a knee-jerk, PTSD reaction to everything that went down, with Kim literally imploding only to later realize just what it is she has done, it would have been more believable to explore the complexities of that fallout over a longer period of time. Stretch it out over a couple of episodes, spanning a few months, exploring the ways in which Jimmy and Kim try to move on: perhaps Jimmy becomes manic to compensate and support Kim through her trauma, while Kim is eaten up by guilt and self-loathing; maybe indeed they buy the house and try so hard but fail to return to normal. I just find it hard to believe that Kim wouldn’t have at least tried to hold on, especially since she risked losing Jimmy 48 hours prior.

But, it is what it is. And, regardless of the above, overall this will probably end up being one of my favorite shows of all time, if not even my favorite. I am so happy that after my experience with GoT I can watch something end in a way I didn’t particularly want or agree with, but appreciate it nonetheless because it’s not due to bad writing but personal preference. I am also happy that it showed me I can be invested in a fictional relationship again, and that it can end in tragedy without crapping all over everything that made it so good and special to me. I’ve had the time of my life watching these two together, and that wasn’t retroactively ruined by the ending.

P.S. I know the show isn't over yet and I'm talking as if it is. I guess since Kim/McWexler were my main draw to the show, in a sense it sort of feels like the end, for me. I don't expect to see much of Kim in the next episode(s) and I don't know that I believe she'll reunite with Gene in the future. I'm trying to keep my expectations to zero. I feel like unless we spend a good amount of time showing Jimmy/Gene and Kim working through their trauma and growing while apart (which we probably won't in 4 episodes), coming back together isn't going to add anything new to where we left them. But I hope to be pleasantly surprised! I was so off with my latest theory that I'd love to be proven wrong about this one.

[starring-movies]

The Haunting of Bly Manor: Episode Analysis

Episode 8 - The Romance of Certain Old Clothes

Episode 8 is the penultimate episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor. This episode, as well as Episode 5, are some of the absolute standout episodes of the season and in this one we are given the origin story of who The Lady of the Lake was.

We find out that “towards the middle of the 17th century” the current owner of Bly Manor at that time had died, and he left his two daughters as his heirs to the estate. His daughters were Viola and Perdita, and Perdita was five years younger than her sister. It’s an interesting detail that in Latin, ‘perdita’ means ruined, wasted or lost. In accordance with the meaning of her name, Perdita’s life is completely wasted and lost to Viola.

In life - Perdita lost her husband to Viola (Arthur was first interested in her but Viola presented herself as the lady of the manor so that he would marry her instead), she lost most of her life to caring for Viola when she became sick with “the lung” and she literally lost her life to Viola when Viola strangled her.

In death - Perdita gets lost as a ghost when her face and memories all fade.

An amazing detail; is that when Viola and Perdita are mingling with the various suitors, no one in this scene actually opens their mouth when it looks like they’re speaking to another person. Everyone makes the physical gestures towards one another which you make when you speak to someone (like one person leaning in to be heard and the other leaning in to listen), but no one’s mouth actually opens in speech. This small detail, as well as the whole episode being in black and white, helps to immerse us into the fairytale or gothic romance-like tone of the episode.

After Viola marries Arthur, they have a child together. We discover that the origin of the phrase “it is you, it is me, it is us”, which is used to invite a ghost into a person, was first said by Viola to her baby daughter.

It’s not made completely clear, but it’s straight after Viola notices Perdita and Arthur looking at one another that “her suspicion began as small”, but also when “the tickle in her lungs” began. This may just be a coincidence, but if it’s not, then it’s strongly suggested to us that Viola’s illness stemmed from the jealousy and suspicion that planted itself within her - like an almost ‘Dorian Grey-style’ physical manifestation of the jealousy that infected her heart.

When the doctor’s treatments for Viola’s illness don’t work and her condition starts to look more terminal, Arthur calls the vicar to her bedside to preform an absolution rite. Out of sheer stubborn wilfulness Viola refuses to repeat the rites, saying to the vicar for him to “tell your god, that I do not go”. Arthur tries to covnince her to repeat the rites by telling her “it is not about your body any longer, my love. It is your soul we must treat. It is your soul I worry for”. Again it’s not made explicitly clear, but it’s strongly suggested that Viola doesn’t die peacefullly and her soul is imprisoned in the chest of clothes because she didn’t say the rites and so her soul was not properly treated before dying.

As Older Jamie is telling the story, she says that “then five times around the sun, and all is different”, as this was when Viola found Perdita dancing with Arthur and started to treat Perdita awfully. In Episode 9 Older Jamie also says that “five years would pass, and there was peace” for her and Dani, before Viola started to take over Dani’s body. It seems that Viola was given “five times around the sun” before she started to see the connection between Perdita and Arthur growing stronger and when all became different; and so Dani and Jamie were given “five years” of peace before Viola reared her head and made everything different for them.

We also see a similarity being drawn between Viola and Peter. Viola is still hanging onto her life and refusing to die and Perdita says to her that “you should think of her, Vi. Think of Isabel. What will she be left with, what memories of you will she carry? Will it be this? This version of you? Because Viola, with love, let it be anything else”. It’s clear that Viola obviously does love her daughter but at the same time, by refusing to let go, she’s acting somewhat selfishly. Perdita is right when she says that Isabel will not carry any fond memories of her mother, but only a vision of her slowly wasting away in a “living death”. In the same way, Peter does love Rebecca but his decision to drown her was a completely selfish one, only thinking about his own loneliness and what he wanted.

We then see that Viola’s soul has been trapped in the chest which she locked her clothes in. While trapped in the chest she repeats a constant cycle of “sleeping, waking, walking” as she waits to see her daughter who will open the chest when she is of age. However when Perdita is the one who opens Viola’s chest, Viola strangles her as revenge for being killed by her and for her opening the chest that was supposed to be guarded until Isabel could open it. When Viola sees Arthur’s reaction to finding Perdita’s dead body, she doesn’t see “the changes wrought of time” but she sees “only his sadness”. This is heartbreaking for Viola, to see the man who was once her husband lamenting the loss of her sister.

Thinking that Viola’s chest was cursed, Arthur throws it into the lake so that Isabel would not succumb to the same curse that killed Perdita. It is this “absolute abandonment”, this “final insult”, which breaks Viola’s heart completely, and it’s from the anguish she feels and “stubbornness alone” which stops her “being pulled towards some other place, some realm beyond”. This stubbornness that Viola had, and because she ignored the pull from the “realm beyond”, meant that “she instead made her own gravity, gravity of will”.

We find out that The Lady of the Lake’s journey through Bly Manor started when her chest was thrown into the lake. The trip that Viola makes is in the hope that she would one day find her daughter. She walks to her old bedroom in the hope that she will find her daughter but then when she doesn’t find her, she remembers that she died and that her daughter had left her. This remembering would break her heart after every single trip, and so she would sleep to forget what had happened and then would wake back up having forgotten. It is also revealed to us that most of the other ghosts which we see in the manor are people who got in the way of her path, the most tragic of whom was the Doll Face Ghost, who was a little boy that she mistook for her daughter and drowned.

Through this we are also presented the idea of the danger of becoming blindsided by anguish and stubbornness. Viola began her journey through the manor with the purpose of finding her daughter, but then as time went on and she forgot more and more, the journey just started to become a ritual, something repeatedly done mindlessly and with no purpose. Through this repeated ritual, she completely loses the purpose for which she once did this, and as a result takes the life of an innocent boy because she could only remember that she was searching for a child and so she thought that this must be the child whom she sought. Viola allows anger and grief from love to seethe inside her, and eventually it takes over her completely, leaving only that anger in control of the shell of her body.

As well as this, we find out that the reason that all the ghosts have lost their faces is due to a side effect of forgetting. As each of the ghosts gradually forget who they once were, this gets physically shown on their face. It is a visual representation of memories fading as the details slowly get lost and then they are eventually lost completely.

You can read my previous The Haunting of Bly Manor posts here:-

Episode 1 - The Great Good Place

Episode 2 - The Pupil

Episode 3 - The Two Faces, Part One

Episode 4 - The Way It Came

Episode 5 - The Altar of the Dead

Episode 6 - The Jolly Corner

Episode 7 - The Two Faces, Part Two

——————————————————————————

[whentheynameyoujoy]

Yup, Sure Was a Finale

I had an epiphany. The reason why I never re-watched the final two parts of Sozin’s Comet even though I’ve popped in episodes at random many times over the years isn’t that I can’t bear the sadness of seeing one of the best, most engaging narratives out there come to an end.

It’s simply that the finale isn’t all that good.

Some honorable mentions of what was enjoyable.

(+) This

Just this.

(+) The Church of Zutara has another convert

“Are you sure they don’t get together?” Hubster, 2020

(+) The tragedy of Azula

And the fact that it’s acknowledged as such. I hope Zuko will do his best to get her help and have a relationship with her…

(+) Sokka being a big bro

And the whole airship sequence in general. It’s wonderfully paced and plotted, with moments of humor, real stakes, Toph being both badass and a scared crying kid, Sokka strategizing and protecting, Suki saving the day, and non-benders being instrumental in thwarting the bad guy firebender’s plans. Would be shame if Bryke never portrayed them this capable ever again…

And now for the main course.

(-) Blink and its over

The wrap-up feels too quick (hashtag Needs More ROtK-style False Endings). A part of this is due to how fast the story goes from the thick of the action to hastily tying up a bunch of loose ends, but the larger issue is how Book 3’s uneven pacing comes home to roost. After spending half a season on filler episodes that at best subtly flesh out established characters while dancing around a huge lionturtle-shaped hole, and at worst contradict the theme of “no one is born bad” with “you’re a hot mess because your great-grandfathers didn’t get along too well”, the frantic “go go go” rush of the second half screeches to a halt with “they won and everyone was happy because now the right people have power and it will be all good from now on yup nothing more to deal with baiiiii”.

Yes, I know, it’s a kids’ show. But goddamn, this particular kids’ show has proven so many times it can do better than the expected tropiness. Showing the characters in their roles as builders of a new world was the least that could have been done.

Oh well!

(-) Ursa

We’ll never know. There will never be a story that delves into this. Yup. Shall forever remain but an intriguing mystery. Is good, though. Mystery is better than a story where Ursa shares her son’s penchant for forgetfulness. Imagine how embarrassing that would be. Speaking of which…

(-) What does Mai see in this jerkbender?

Look, I like to harp a lot on the mess of inconsistent writing that’s Mai but let’s unpack this scene from her perspective, shall we?

Zuko forgot about her! It totally slipped his mind that the one person who prioritized the safety of his dumb ass was rotting in the worst prison in the Fire Nation—because of him! And she was rotting there long enough after the final Agni Kai for the news of Zuko’s upcoming coronation to spread and her uncle to feel sufficiently secure to release her. But then the coronation scene is attended by every single member of Gaang & Friends that was imprisoned?

So what this tells me is that either a) the invasion force had the ability to break themselves out the whole time and for some reason decided not to exercise it until after the war was over, b) Zuko forgot about them as well and no one thought to remind him there were prisons full of POWs until Mai arrived, or, and that’s even better, c) Zuko took care to free every single resistance fighter while making sure Mai would be the one to stay behind bars.

Never thought I’d say this but Mai? Honey? You deserve so much better.

(-) “What does Katara want?”

Asked no one in the writers’ room ever, apparently.

This is not so much anti Cataang as anti romance stories that pay attention to the needs, opinions, and wants of only one partner in general. Over the previous 60 episodes, Katara actively expressed romantic interest in Aang exactly, wait for it,

Once.

And it got retconned out of relevance by the following two interactions where the possibility of a romantic relationship came up, making the Headband dance pretty easy to reclassify as just one of those examples where Aang “teaches” Katara to have fun (as if one of the main obstacles to her having fun wasn’t him constantly fooling around and offloading his duties). And because the writers not only didn’t succeed in portraying Katara’s internal state of mind, but also failed to root her reluctance to pursue a relationship in outside circumstances that could change, her sudden state of unconfused once Aang steps into the spotlight has a single canonical explanation that as much as approaches coherency.

The fact is, though, that trying to interpret canon Cataang from a Watsonian perspective is an exercise in foolishness. Because there is no Watsonian justification for the ship and never has been. Bryke simply conceived of Katara as nothing but a tropey prize for Aang, never saw her as anything beyond that, and were perfectly happy to go on and immortalize her as a passive broodmare for the rest of her life.

And I fully intend to die mad about it.

(-) Iroh dips

OK, it’s been long apparent that the show doesn’t intend to do anything about Iroh’s complicity in AzulOzai’s regime in any meaningful way, and that his sole motivation for doing anything whatsoever is Zuko whom he views as a replacement son which is supposed to be good for some reason. But the finale has him abandon even that, and instead turns him full-on YOLO, idgaf anymore. It really throws Iroh’s supposed love for Zuko into doubt when his last act in the entire show is to take a half-educated 16-year old with no political savvy or an heir to secure a dynastic continuity and plomp him on the throne of a war-mongering imperialist regime where the entirety of the militarist and ruling class is guaranteed to fight him tooth and nail for power.

(I sure hope Mai’s ready to start popping out babies by tea-time otherwise the whole country is fukd in about a week)

Christ, how hard would it be to have Iroh keep the throne warm for a few years while Zuko is getting ready to succeed him? Not only would it make the whole FN reformation bit quite likelier to occur, it would require Iroh’s hedonistic ass to actually sacrifice something for once. And not having Zuko ascend to power, instead spending some time bettering and educating himself first, would be a wonderful message that no matter what you endured and overcame, you never stop growing. A kids’ show, remember?

(-) The conquering of Ba Sing Se

Gee, I feel so blessed to have my attention diverted from battlefields which actually matter to an old dude vanity project I would have been perfectly happy to assume resolved itself off-screen.

The White Lotus in general just bugs me. I was fine with the individual characters and their overall passivity when they were portrayed as lone dissenters living under circumstances where it wasn’t really possible for any single person to mount a meaningful resistance. But as members of a far-reaching shadowy organization that’s left the real fight to a bunch of kids for 59 episodes straight and didn’t turn up until a perfect opportunity presented itself to take control of the largest city in the world and bask in the spotlight?

Yeah, no.

Similarly to the lionturtle-ex-machina, the White Lotus represents a huge missed opportunity for a season-long storytelling. Here’s just a brief list of what they could have been doing throughout Book 3:

orchestrating a Fire Nation uprising;

gathering those directly persecuted by AzulOzai’s regime to help Zuko keep his hold on power once he’s crowned;

establishing themselves as a viable alternative to Ozai;

sabotaging Fire Nation’s war efforts from the inside;

countering Fire Nation propaganda (Asha Greyjoy’s pinecones, anyone?);

running a supply network to alleviate the suffering of Earth Kingdom citizens.

Instead, they sit on their asses until the time comes to claim personal glory.

You know what, good on Bryke for making me conclude that in comparison, the Freedom Fighters were perfectly unproblematic, actually.

(-) Fire Lord Dead-by-Dawn

Yes, a kids’ show, I know! But ffs, this is the same kids’ show that came up with Long Feng and portrayed courtly intrigue, kingly puppets, secret police, spy networks, and information wars. Was it really too much of me to expect something other than “enlightened despot solves everything”? Especially if said enlightened despot has persisting anger issues, no personal support system, no base of followers, and no political experience whatsoever?

If Zuko’s actually serious about regaining the Fire Nation’s honor (i.e. by dismantling the country’s military machine, decolonizing the Earth Kingdom, paying reparations to everyone and their lemur, and funding any and all cultural restoration projects Aang and the SWT come up with), then there is no way, no way in the universe that he doesn’t face a civil war, deposing, and execution within a month.

One reason why his future as a Fire Lord seems rather bleak is that little’s been shown about the actual subjects of AzulOzai’s regime. While we get a vague reassurance that “no Toph, they’re not born bad” (le shockings), they largely remain a voiceless uniform mass of brainwashed clapping seals. What is their view on the Fire Nation’s crimes? Do they associate their condition with their country’s war-mongering? How will they react when Zuko starts dismantling the country piece by piece to rebuild it, bringing it to economic ruin? What will they do when noble Ozai loyalists come out of the woodwork and begin rounding them up under the banner of “Make the Fire Nation Great Again?”

I have no idea, and Zuko doesn’t either because he’s unironically more qualified to rule the Earth Kingdom than his own people.

You know what would have been better? Fire Lord Iroh, White Lotus pulling the strings to maintain the regime, and Crown Prince/People’s Champion Zuko travelling the Fire Nation with Aang and an army of tutors to promote the new boss, only to realize that absolute monarchy is kinda crap for the people he’s one day supposed to rule and gaining their support by ceding some power to them.

I’d laser holes into my TV due to how much I’d enjoy watching that.

(-) All hail Avatar Rock

Literally and metaphorically. Aang doesn’t sacrifice anything, gets everything, and the clever solution of going about getting said everything is handed to him on a silver platter, requiring no active participation on his part whatsoever.

He doesn’t work to unblock his chakras, spiritually or physically.

He only speaks to his past lives to get a pat on the back and a bow-tied solution he could mindlessly follow.

Energy-bending doesn’t require any sacrifice from him, leaves no lasting marks, and only serves for the narrative to praise him as the rare individual that’s unbendable and thus so very very special.

The most infuriating thing is, however, that Aang is clearly shown as being able to beat Ozai without either the Avatar state, or energy-bending.

And he chooses not to. From this moment on, Aang no longer fights to save the world. He fights to preserve his beliefs, going directly against the instructions of his past lives and effectively reneging on his duties as the Avatar.

Again.

It’s not like you can’t portray Aang’s faithfulness to his spiritual beliefs as the key to beating Ozai and saving the world. But that’s not what the show did. There is no link between Aang sparing Ozai and securing a better future, quite to the contrary—Ozai’s survival ends up being a massive problem for the continuation of Zuko’s rule, and consequently a threat to the world at large. His survival benefits Aang and no one else.

Aang’s spiritual purity and his status as a savior of the world are allowed to coexist only due to a deliberate stroke of a writer’s pen.

And I hate it.

Welp, nothing to do about it now except to bury myself up to my tits in fix-it fics I guess.

[kaypeace21]

Will’s fear of clowns

*Ps -not mine. this is a submission from an anon. tw: for s.a. It’s an interesting submission. ANON-please make a tumblr account already . I’m begging you XD

Hi! It’s me, Lonnie Meth Anon. Back with more depressing thoughts about Lonnie!

I just read your post on Jonathan’s ab*se at the hands of Lonnie, and I second it all. It breaks my heart. But it also got me thinking deeper about Will’s fear of clowns. I think you’re right that part of the horror for Will is that the clown attacks in bed. The bed is, obviously, like you say, a common site for s*xual assault. (Doesn’t El’s picture of “three legged Brenner” also have a bed in it? In a picture with not much else?) The fact that Will needed Joyce to sleep with him for a week suggests he was specifically feeling unsafe in bed, or at night. 

But maybe it’s not just the location of the attack in Poltergeist that Will found so harrowing. Maybe it’s the combination of that location with the fact of a clown being the attacker. 

I think Lonnie might have dressed up as a clown for Will’s birthday one year, and something happened. 

In this instance, I don’t think Joyce would know what happened. I think the incident in her mind would be something like “Lonnie dressed up and Will was scared of the costume”. She might even have thought it was cute. Just a typical little kid fear of something mundane. When she teases him about Poltergeist, she doesn’t actually say the movie was the START of his fear of clowns. Just that he was afraid of that particular clown. The general fear of clowns could have been an older one, going back to when Will was even younger.

Maybe Will even liked clowns, before whatever happened with Lonnie turned them into a source of fear for him. Will has a lion plushie (lions are commonly found in the circus) and the circus seems like the kind of vibrant, colorful environment full of outcast, that a young gay kid would really enjoy. If Will did like circuses and Lonnie poisoned that for him, that’s just another reason to hate Lonnie. But it definitely seems possible. 

Lonnie is a deadbeat dad in general, but we’ve seen before that he’s capable of faking the “family man” act in front of Joyce and their neighbors. We’ve also seen that even though he treats Will horribly, he would also try and keep Will on his side with father son bonding activities, like baseball. And Will’s birthday is one of the few occasions Lonnie makes a half-assed kind of effort, even when there’s nothing directly in it for him. He sends that card, even though it’s late. Maybe Joyce made called him up and made him send it, but she always seemed happy to keep Lonnie out of the picture. She didn’t even want to involve him when Will went missing. And we know Jonathan would never try and facilitate more interactions between Lonnie and Will. So it seems like Lonnie did this of his own accord, when he realized he’d missed the day. Kind of weird. And it’s classic abuser behavior, to make contact on an anniversary date, reminding you they exist and you can’t escape them. Reminding you to keep quiet. Or hoping you’ll miss them, remember the “good times” when they made an effort, and let them back into your life. (Ugh.)

So, anyway, back to my theory. Young Will likes circuses, and the Byers family are poor, so they can’t afford to take him to one, or throw him a party at an ice cream parlor or a bowling alley, like other kids. It makes sense that they would have a party at home instead, and that the family themselves might dress up. We know Joyce made Will’s Ghostbusters costume in season two, and a clown is a pretty easy costume. Most of it is just make up. It’s possible the whole thing was Joyce’s idea, and she made the costume, and Lonnie just went along with it to look like a good dad in her eyes. 

Remember how we see Bob (Will’s new father figure) dressing up in costume for Halloween? Joyce loves it. This is a thing good dads do, to have fun with their kids. That’s also the same episode we see Will scared by a guy in a clown costume, and Jonathan is hyper-protective of him that night. School is okay, but he doesn’t want him trick or treating. (Like he knows that school is a safe environment, but in other contexts, costumes and parties might be a trigger for Will.) Jonathan is convinced to leave Will and “let him have fun” and what happens? The clown attacks. Later that night Jonathan goes to a costume party himself, where he finds Nancy upset and takes her safely home.  Maybe this is how Will’s birthday party ended - with Jonathan finding Will upset, and trying to comfort him. The whole night could be playing out like a parallel to that birthday party, from Jonathan’s perspective. 

What actually happened with Will and Lonnie is up for debate. It’s possible there was a s*xual assault, and that’s why the clown scene in Poltergeist was such a trigger for Will. Or maybe Lonnie thought circuses weren’t “manly” enough for his son to like, and actively tried to scare Will, so he wouldn’t like them anymore. It’s hard to know. Something would have happened though, and probably something pretty formative, because the fear of clowns lasts a long time. 

Something else interesting is that when Mr Clarke is talking about the Upside Down in season one, he uses the metaphor of the flea and the acrobat. Acrobats are a main act in the circus, and, well … fleas. Flea circuses. That’s a thing. Maybe it’s a hint that the trauma that created the Upside Down was circus / clown - related?

Kali, El, and their gang wear clown masks too, when they’re going to confront their childhood trauma, and the child-like Alexei is surrounded by clowns when he is killed at the fair. 

Clowns are just so associated with birthday parties and little kids, that it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me they’re Will’s biggest fear. Especially as the show keeps dropping hints about Lonnie and Will’s birthday. It feels like there’s more to the story. I have a horrible feeling SOMETHING happened. 

RESPONE (kaypeace):

I think it’s very possible-that maybe he did dress as a clown for Will’s birthday and something happened. We have alexi (paralleled to Will) playing carnival games with kids. Then he's attacked by the Lonnie-look alike : and alexi looks at his wound then stares at all the clowns laughing around him. Joyce and Murray find Alexi bleeding/dy*ng next to a clown statue. As joyce looks in horror and Murray says to her, he was “only gone for a second” (which sounds like something you’d say in relation to a kid you were supposed to watch-running off ). We also had sarah at age 7 die while wearing a gown with clowns on it (Will: it was a 7 the demogorgan it got me). Death of innocence symbolism? Hopper also describes his depression as a cave- he goes through the carnival ride where it mentions a "cave of horrors", which had decor of a tiger and a clown painting. So yeah... whatever happened probably isn't good. So- there may be some symbolism there in relation to Will’s past. Not only because (like I and you have mentioned before) Lonnie is highly associated with birthdays. And canonically we know he mentally scarred jonathan on his b-day. But also, s4’s ‘victor creel’ may be an easteregg to the xmen character victor creed- who had a tradition of tra*matizing family members specifically on their bdays

As another alternative:I could also totally see Lonnie “ruining” circuses for Will because it’s not “manly” to him. Like how Jonathan liked thumper the rabbit-from the film bambi. in the film, Thumper is bambi’s bff, and the hunters are the bad guys who k*ll Bambi’s mother and terrorize all the wildlife. SO yeah- making Jonathan become a hunter, and k*ll a rabbit ,despite this fact, is really messed up. And shows Lonnie has already tried to ‘ruin’ things the boys like. By mentally scarring them in one way or another…

I also mentioned how Will’s bday could even be a trigger for jonathan in a diff post.

if the s4 bts calender hinting it’ll be near Will’s bday and easter it could be relevant to Jonathan.we know in s1 el has tra*matic flashbacks when seeing certain things- coke, closet, cat, etc. And Will in s2 has his ‘anniversary effect’ where memories flood back based on the time of year.But like … Easter has bunnies - could seeing rabbits jog stuff up for Jonathan? El seeing a cat made her have a flashback of brenner trying to make her kill a cat. Would Jonathan seeing like Easter bunny decor jog up a flashback of lonnie making him kill a rabbit? (It happened on his bday too). So Will’s b day being around easter would only fuel that memory. (heck even popped balloons may trigger gunshot symbolism idk). And then for Will there is clowns that could be a tr*gger at a party.

The flea and the acrobat analogy (in relation to Will and circuses is very interesting) and could be foreshadowing- it’s even a title for an episode so I feel like it’s narratively an important hint to …something. similar to a s1 ep being called “the bathtub”.  Also, Will was compared to a circus flea- which were placed in an enclosed space, where heat was applied as they jumped  and tried to escape the increasing temperatures as they burned .Which could relate to my theory about Will having a se*zure due his body overheating due to Lonnie injecting him with m*th.

 If Will’s bday is in s4- I feel like Lonnie will come back in some capacity (flashback or literally). The ‘sorry, I forgot you b day’ card from Lonnie in s2, in Lonnie’s shed Joyce mentioning Will’s b day, the rainbow ‘happy birthday cup’ placed next to Will at Mike’s -while Will explains the supernatural, Lonnie already tra*matizing Jonathan on his bday, etc…

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Took You Long Enough | Charlie Gillespie

Requested by @faithiebrock01​: Can you make one where Charlie and I are best friends (who secretly like each other, but are super oblivious and everyone around us can see it) on set of JATP and we end up having to do my car crash scene where get in the car accident (because in the show I die a few weeks after they do in the show, but I did in the accident also make that my character knew them before). When the scene ends with me in the hospital bed slowly dying, Charlie runs off looking sad. He then won't come out of his trailer for anyone until I get there saying "I'll handle it" to the crew member who was previously trying. I go in lay with him on his bed and ask him what's wrong then he says "it seemed so real" while crying and I calm him down then we end up confessing love for each other and then falling asleep cuddling. My name: y/n My nicknames: sweetheart, sweetie, love, Princess, queen, angel, nugget (Or whatever you can think of.)

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x female!reader

Warnings: Hospital scene, mention of a car crash, fluff 

Words: 2043

A/N: This was cute to write! I worked on it during an online class so I’m sorry if there’s any mistakes in there! Hope you like it!! :) 

Four years. Four years I’ve known Charlie Gillespie. Four years of us being best friends and only now we’re colleagues too. The both of us had booked Julie and the Phantoms a couple of months ago, and we’re now spending time together every day on set. It’s also been four years of me having the biggest crush on Charlie, but I will not tell him that. It’s just going to ruin our friendship and the dynamic in our friend group on set. The cast and crew have gotten close during the process of the bootcamp and filming. They constantly tease Charlie and me for having such a close relationship and that we should just date already. Charlie had laughed it off, and so I started to do it too. “Ready to go?” Charlie asks when he picks me up from my trailer before filming. I’d just gotten back from hair and makeup, and I was rehearsing my lines in the trailer to make sure I’ve gotten it down perfectly. “Yes! Let’s go.” He links his arm in mine as we walk off, letting the silence wrap around us in comfort. “What other scenes do you have today?” I ask, wanting to occupy my mind with something other than his skin touching mine. “I got some with the boys and Madi, and tonight, we’re doing the hot dog scene.” I pout, remembering that’s the scene where he’s going to die. Fake die. But still. It’s kind of sad. “Cool,” I respond with a smile, “Was going to ask you if you wanted to go grab dinner tonight, but I guess your hotdogs are dinner.” He snickers, and I can’t help but laugh too, hiding the fact my heart is racing. To me, his laugh is the most beautiful sound in the world. “Yeah, I doubt that’s a great idea,” he replies, “But I’d love to grab lunch? What time are you on break?” I bring my schedule in front of me in my mind, trying to remember it. “I think around two? Depending on how long the hospital scene will take.” Charlie nods his head, clearly thinking about how to make it work for us to eat lunch together. “I think we’re going to do the hospital scene too, so when we wrap that, we might be able to go?” “Yeah, sounds good!” I reply and let go off his arm as we reach the other boys and Kenny, ready for the first couple scenes of the day. “We’re going to do the Now or Never scene first,” Kenny tells the boys, to which they nod. “Y/N, you can watch from the side where their best-friend-slash-manager would be.” I nod my head curtly, telling him I understand his orders. “Give it your all, Rockstar,” I say to Charlie and bump my fist against his shoulder. He simply smiles at me, that perfect, award-winning smile that makes me go weak in the knees before I head off to my spot at the side of the stage. The four boys on stage are drenched in fake sweat at the start, and then rock out so hard on the first take, real sweat starts dripping down their faces. Charlie’s hair’s sticking to his forehead and his muscles gleam and glisten with sweat. I hope the camera won’t catch me drooling over my best friend’s hotness. Charlie himself catches my eye every now and then, his mouth curling up into a smirk. “Charlie,” Kenny starts after the third take, “Can you stop looking at Y/N, please?” My cheeks heat up when Owen, Jeremy and Taylor chuckle. “I know she’s your best friend, but Luke is focused on the soundcheck, yeah?” Charlie nods his head, and I swear I saw him blushing too. “Yes, Kenny. Sorry, Kenny.” Jeremy and Owen glance at each other, exchanging a knowing look. They’ve asked me multiple times if something’s going on between Charlie and me, but I told them there wasn’t until one night, I was crying about how much I loved him, and Owen and Jeremy were there to comfort me without judgement. Now, they don’t stop teasing me relentlessly. I know I’m going to get even more teasing comments about it later. I’m not ready for that.

Once the scene’s done, the boys and I get to catering to get a snack before heading back to set for the next scenes. The ones where I die. How fun. To say I’m nervous is an understatement. I know it’s all fake and I’m not actually going to be in a car accident, but it’s still scary. The ladies from costume and makeup get me ready for the hospital scene, taping fake wires on my arms and putting one in my nose as well while I’m covered in fake bruises and band-aids. “Ready, Y/N?” Kenny asks, and I nod my head. “If the tubes ever get annoying, just tell us and we’ll take a break, okay?” I nod again and Kenny steps away and behind the camera. Charlie’s there too, watching and being the greatest moral support puppy I could ever ask for. “Season one, episode one, scene three, take one,” Jaime says, working the clapperboard, and then Kenny yells “Action!” I lie entirely still on the uncomfortable hospital bed, breathing ever so subtly, and then holding my breath a second before the loud monotone beep sounds and doctors come rushing in. “And cut!” I open my eyes to find Charlie, and when I do, I catch him walking away with his head down. My eyebrows furrow, and I want to ask someone to go and check up on him, but the makeup team has already swarmed me to touch up the makeup a little. After a few more takes, Kenny tells us we’re all good and lets us go. Once the tubes are taken out of my nose and stripped away from my arms, I hop off the bed and go to find Charlie. Michel and Soyon An are in front of his trailer, knocking on the door and yelling his name. “What’s going on?” I ask Soyon An. “I’m not sure. He just ran off set with tears in his eyes and hasn’t come out of his trailer, but we need him for a fitting for tomorrow.” Worry sets in the pit of my stomach. Why would he run off crying after watching the scene I just taped? “I’ll handle it,” I tell them with a smile. The two people from the crew I’d grown closest to, offer me a smile in return and walk off. I take a deep breath before knocking on the door softly. “Char?” Ever so carefully, I open the door to his trailer and step inside the darkened room. I almost think he’s not even in here when a sob comes from the left-hand side of the trailer. “Hey,” I coo and sit down on the edge of the bed beside his curled up body. “What’s wrong?” “It just all seemed so real…” he whispers, and sniffles. “Why, thank you,” I joke, but Charlie’s sob makes me realize this is serious. “Hey, Char… Pumpkin…” My hand reaches out for his shoulder and start circling my thumb across his bare skin. “Sit up for a second, please?” He obeys my whispers and sits upwards, so I can scoot in next to him. He rests his head on my lap, sniffles taking over. “Why did you get so upset over a scene, Pumpkin? You know that’s my job?” “I know that, Angel,” my stomach flutters at the nickname, “I just…” He sits up and turns to face me, crossing his legs, “I couldn’t help thinking ‘what if something really happens to her?’, I couldn’t stop imagining losing you and it felt terrible. I don’t ever want to live without you, Angel…” He reaches for my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles. I can feel the tears dropping down to my skin. It breaks my heart in a thousand pieces seeing him this broken. “You’re my best friend.” Right, the friendzone. We’re still here. “I know, Pumpkin… I can’t even imagine my life without you,” I tell him honestly. “But nothing’s ever going to happen to me. Or you. You’re going to have to do a lot more to get rid of me, Char.” He chuckles lightly. I reach up to wipe his tears away with my thumbs, cupping his cheeks, and then resting my hands there as we stare at each other. The tiny beam of sunlight from the small window lights up his face enough for me to see the sparkles in his eyes. “I don’t know if this is going to change anything, Angel, but I have to tell you,” he whispers, bringing his hands up to take my wrists and removing my hands from his face. “I trust us enough for not ruining anything between us.” I furrow my eyebrows, worried about his sudden serious behavior. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’ve been in love with you since the first day I met you.” My breath hitches in my throat, and I wish I could say something, but my brain is not functioning correctly right now. “I never dared to say anything because I was scared something would change between us and you wouldn’t feel the same and it would make things awkward. I was scared to lose what we already have. You’re my best friend, but I am so desperately in love with you that it’s kind of embarrassing and kind of distracting me from my work, like you saw during that first scene today. I am so desperately in love with you, Y/N Y/L/N and I don’t ever want to lose you.” He looks at me with hope in his eyes. I still can’t say anything. Too much in shock over his confession. “I understand if you don’t feel the same, Angel. I just… We can forget I said anything tomorrow and just go back to—” I finally manage to move and grab his face in my hands, bringing him closer to meet me halfway for a kiss. He’s a little startled at first, but then melts into the kiss and kisses me back. “I’ve been so embarrassingly in love with you for years and I never dared to say anything either,” I tell him, his face lighting up even more. “I cried one night blabbing about how much I love you and Jere and Oh had to comfort me for hours. It’s been so painful but I’m so happy you—” he cuts me off by pressing his lips on mine again in another kiss. “Were you asking me out on a date earlier when you wanted to grab dinner together?” he asks as though the memory from this morning just flooded into his mind. “What?! No!” I reply but can’t help blushing either. Charlie raises his eyebrow at me. “Yeah, fine. It was a pathetic attempt,” I roll my eyes with an amused smile on my face. Charlie laughs whole-heartedly before leaning in to peck my lips once, twice, three times. The fourth time he captures my lips with his, it’s a deeper, more passionate kiss than the ones before. The both of us are too wrapped up into the kiss, we don’t even notice Charlie’s trailer door opening until loud cheers startle us to break apart. Jeremy and Owen are stood in the trailer, cheering and exchanging high-fives in elation. “Finally!” Owen shouts, throwing his fist up in the air. “Bro, this took you long enough.” “Yeah, I know,” Charlie replies with a smile tugging at his lips. “At least now this girl won’t come crying to us again about how much she loves you,” Jeremy exclaims, patting my head as if I’m a child. The four of us laugh, and I look at Charlie, who gives me the most tender smile. “So… When’s the wedding?” The two of us scoff, and then order the two to get out of the trailer to give us some time alone, which they give us gladly. I’ve been waiting for this moment for years, and now that it’s here, it’s more than I ever imagined.

Taglist: @hannahhistorian92 @marinettepotterandplagg​ @thequirkybookaholic @parkeret @lukeys-giggle @gingerxarmy @lovesanimals 

[newbeginningsforever]

UPDATED: An Extremely Thorough Analysis of Episode 9 - Adrian’s Story

@espanholina​ asked me to rewatch the show and re-evaluate what really happened between Takka, Sumi, and Adrian. This is about the sex/non-con scenes in Episode 9. 

UPDATED: My theory here is confirmed to be correct by the director, Sam Deats. He said this in a Twitter post. 

(On a completely unprofessional and inappropriate note, doesn’t Adrian look just positively glorious in orgasm? Wow...)

**TRIGGER WARNING FOR NON-CON/SEX AND SPOILERS**

(Rewatching Season 3)

Let me preface this by saying that I am a bisexual person and I have experienced both consensual sex and non-consensual sexual situations (with men and women) in my life. I’m also the same age as Adrian would be and I have the same personality type. Okay, analysis time… 

These are my opinions about what Adrian is thinking and feeling during the controversial sexual scene:

First, let’s look at the meaning of rape in terms of deception (which is the only type of rape that might apply here): “Rape by deception is a situation in which the perpetrator obtains the victim's agreement to engage in sexual intercourse or other sex acts, but gains it by deception or false statements or actions.” To be honest, I had no idea this is technically rape until today. It means tricking someone into sex, basically, even if they want to have sex. So basically, Adrian is giving consent, but because he was deceived in order to give consent, it is a form of rape. That being rape by deception. This is very interesting. A lot of characters in TV shows are rapists then if you really think about it. For some examples: Chandler and Joey from Friends would both be rapists because they assume false identities and use fake names to sleep with women, Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul would also be a rapist because of deceptions in order to get sex, Don from Mad Men, etc. Really, if we think about the story, their deception started long before the sex scene and continued throughout because they came to murder him and just used sex as a ploy to get him in a vulnerable position. They knew Adrian is extremely lonely (and horny, oops sorry) and used that to their advantage. I think they knew Adrian would consent and that’s why they came up with the plan.

Detailed scene analysis: Adrian can’t sleep. When Takka and Sumi enter, he looks a little surprised and concerned. He asks what is wrong. Sumi and Takka conceal their blades and consecrated handcuffs behind their backs and drop them on both sides of the bed out of view of the camera. Alucard doesn’t notice. When they put their hands on his chest and say “You’ve been so alone,” he visibly blushes. I didn’t actually notice that until the second time. I rewatched this part a lot to try and gauge his emotion - in my opinion, it’s pleasant surprise and mild shock. He looks possibly hopeful and unsure about what is happening. 

When Sumi says that it’s time for his reward, Adrian’s eyes quiver and he breathes shakily, his mouth agape when they push him down onto the bed. When Sumi kisses him, and he’s shocked at first, but then he reciprocates. He’s still shocked afterward, clear by his expression and wide eyes. When Takka strokes his cheek and leans closer, Adrian actually rises up to kiss Takka. Adrian initiated the kiss with Takka and he pulls him closer right away - there is clearly (uninformed) consent and initiation at this point on Alucard’s side for Takka. I don’t understand why Adrian would actually lift himself up and initiate the kiss with Takka if he didn’t want anything sexual/romantic to happen. If someone has a different opinion about that please let me know what you are thinking.

Is it possible he simply wanted to please? I mean, that’s possible, but Takka and Sumi came into the room by saying that “it’s time for his reward”. If he didn’t want to be doing this, would he really be initiating a kiss with Takka and pulling him in close? I don’t think so. I think Adrian is definitely bisexual and I think this was his first kiss with a man (maybe with anyone). I definitely think he’s a virgin because he’s so young and so socially isolated. Throughout this scene, Alucard’s (uniformed) consent is up to interpretation because he never stops them or protests, and yet we cannot know what he is thinking at all. The expressions of ecstasy and agony/discomfort are almost the same for many people, so it’s hard to say. Also, it’s safe to say that Alucard’s not experienced with sex or with anyone being close to him, so he could be consenting and shocked/nervous at the same time. I think Adrian is so desperate for affection, sex, and love that even though he might not feel entirely comfortable, he still wants it to continue. He wants friends, he wants to be fucked and cared for like most of us do. It seems, in the next scene clip, that Adrian is holding Takka’s waist while Takka does something - not really sure what, probably gives him a handjob. Sumi takes off his nightgown and Takka gives him a kiss. Adrian’s eyes widen in response. Sumi kisses him while topless, and his eyes are still wide with his eyebrows drawn up. This could be shock or possibly discomfort, more likely shock. When Sumi comes closer, his eyes return to normal and we see him grab Sumi’s ass and pull her towards him. Then, Adrian kisses her neck and fondles her naked breast. So, he seemed shocked at first, but then definitely consenting (by manipulation of course). I think the shock here is probably because of three things: he didn’t expect this sudden three-way sex, he’s a virgin, and he didn’t think that two people would want to have sex with him. Most people think he’s a monster, after all. He pulled her closer and initiated this foreplay, so I think he did want to do this (of course, I’m not in his head, so I can’t say for sure - this is just my best guess). I think his loneliness, horniness, and affection for his new friends is trumping any discomfort. That’s my opinion based on his personality and life story.

Adrian, Takka, and Sumi are naked together. Adrian has his arm wrapped around both of them. Adrian kisses Sumi while Takka kisses his neck and gives him a handjob. Takka kisses down Adrian’s stomach down to his cock. The camera pans to Adrian’s face and he’s hard to read. He basically is blushing, but otherwise emotionless, and then he cries suddenly. (The first time I 100% thought that this was because he felt amazing, and he was so grateful and contented to finally be receiving the pleasure and affection he deserves - I still think that might be the case here) 

UPDATE: I was right, and his crying is confirmed by the director to be tears of joy.

I watched it a couple of times. It’s certianly possible that he’s uncomfortable/scared/afraid/freaked out, but I still would guess that he’s crying because it’s feeling really amazing and healing for him. Having sex for the first time (if not all the time) is very emotional for us INTJs (Adrian and my personality type) because we rarely let ourselves be vulnerable around others. We’re not used to being close or connected to other people, and we are often lonely, so sex can be totally overwhelming for us. It can also be a weapon used against us (like it is here) because we are usually so lonely and longing for affection. I think Adrian is taking what he can get. I definitely think he wants this here, but that’s up to debate.

Next clip: It looks like Takka and Sumi are taking turns going down on Adrian (giving him head). He is shaking visibly and his expression is strained. Now, I’ll be honest this doesn’t seem out of place in a sex scene, especially for the first time. (TMI= The first time someone went down on me I think I had a similar expression - it’s kinda nervewracking to be so vulnerable. Also, having two people go down on you at once? That’s got to be nervewracking, hence the shaking) Takka kisses down Adrian’s inner thigh and goes down. He seems to be rimming Adrian (licking his asshole) in the next scene, while Sumi gives him a handjob. Their expressions are starting to get progressively creepier. But Adrian is too caught up in pleasure to notice, I think. Adrian seems absolutely overwhelmed with pleasure in the next shot, breathing heavily - I think he’s about to orgasm. Takka lifts Adrian’s leg up, presumably so he can penetrate Adrian. He seems to enter Adrian in the next shot, but it’s off-screen. Sumi gets on top of him and pins down his arms, possibly having intercourse with him at this point. It’s not very clear. Anyway, they’re having sex/raping him.

Final clip: Adrian is gasping, flushed, and coming down off his orgasm. Takka nods to Sumi that it’s time to kill Adrian. Adrian looks to see what they are doing but it’s too late. It takes him a moment to understand that they’re trying to murder him. (I’m going to cry again, oh my sweet Adrian! I’m so sorry baby you didn’t deserve this at all) 

They betray him. Adrian closes his eyes so he doesn’t have to see them die. He turns away.

Adrian whispers finally, “I never lied to you.”

\\author’s side note\\ YOU ABSOLUTE ASSHOLES I HATE YOU SO MUCH YOU FUCKING BITCHES HE TRUSTED YOU AND YOU ARE RUINING HIS LIFE YOU DICKS HE DIDNT DESERVE THAT GO BURN IN HELL AND TAKE DRACULA AND LISAS PLACE YOU FUCKERS.

So, anyway, my final opinion is that Adrian is giving consent, but it is not informed consent (because Takka and Sumi are deceiving him), and therefore, it is rape. If you want the specific term it’s rape by deception. They lied about being his friends and allies, so they deceived his trust, given that their true intention was to murder him. 

{Sam Deats has confirmed this theory on Twitter. Thanks to all of you who supported me on this.}

He deserved better.

[queenofspades6]

More Than Partners- The Mandalorian x reader

Tython

Chapter 13 of More than Partners

Summary: You and the Mandalorian go to Tython to find Grogu’s path, unfortunately, that doesn’t end well.

Warnings: Spoilers from The Mandalorian Episode 14 Season 2. Fluff and a bit angst. Mando is sweet

AN: This week has been very tough for me, I broke up with my boyfriend and my dog had a dangerous surgery. Rough week! The Mandalorian series has been a way for me to relax and try to look towards the future. What I am trying to do when I write I hope you’ll all enjoy this chapter! Next one will be very very very interesting... with a lot of drama... and maybe some smut? If you all want it. Enjoy!! And let me know in the comments how you found this chapter! If you could reblog please do it, Tumblr is being weird and hiding some of my posts.

———

<- Chapter 12 - Chapter 14 ->

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“I need to tell you something, Mando.”

He tilted his helmet in wonder, waiting for your answer.

“I am not a Jedi anymore.”

“Alright.”The Mandalorian replied, nodding to you.

“Did you understand what I said, Mando?”

He acquiesced; his gaze focused on the Razor Crest’s dashboard.

“You are not a Jedi anymore, and?”

“Why aren’t you angry? Why aren’t you reacting?”You shouted, eyebrows raised in confusion, and your hands on your hips.

The Mandalorian stood up and approached you. He caressed your shoulder in a comforting gesture with his gloved hand.

“Because it doesn’t matter. Jedi, Mandalorian, Togruta, Twi’lek or Yodu species. It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s Yoda.”You interrupted, still deeply anxious.

Seeing no relief on your face, Mando sighed.

“Y/N. I don’t care if you are a Jedi or not. I didn’t save you and the Child because of your abilities.”

“So why did you save me? Grogu is just a child, and I can understand why you saved him, but why did you save me too? Why did you spare me death? I was going to die in that warehouse. I didn’t know you, and yet you saved me, Din.”You whispered his name, staring at his helmet.

“There are things we can’t explain, Y/N. We can’t explain the Force, but it’s here. I knew I needed to save you; it was instinct. Jedi or not, I would have saved you.”

You tried to hide a tear threatening to flow on your cheeks, yet Mando noticed it. Slowly, he embraced you with his arms with an incredible carefulness, doing his best not to hurt you with the beskar.

“I know you are fighting with yourself these times, Y/N. It won’t be easy, but you’ll succeed, and you’ll always have a home here, with me. Even if we don’t have the Child anymore.”

You smiled and put your arms around the Mandalorian’s neck, caressing the fabric of his cape. To your great surprise, you felt skin at the beginning of his spine. Between his cape and his heavy helmet, you could sense his warm and tanned skin. You traced the skin with your fingers, making Mando shivered under your unexpected touch. You fondled the skin again, your eyes closed, focusing on that intimate contact between two tortured souls.

Mando didn’t move, his eyes were closed, trying to save your soft touch in his memory forever. Oh God, how much he wanted to kiss you right now.

“Din.”You murmured in his ear.

You heard his heavy breath, even if he had his helmet on. You smiled, took his hand and planted a chaste kiss on his fingers.

“Come on. We need to go to Tython.”

Still lost in your touch, Mando nodded. You could made him speechless so easily. With only a word. Only a touch. Only a moan.

***

And here it was. Tython. The Force was strong on this planet. Were you slowly getting back your powers? All you could see through the ship’s windows was rocks and rocks everywhere, and on the top of a mount, there was a circle, a smaller stone on the middle surrounded by huge and dominating rocks.

“Mando? How are we going to reach the circle?”You asked

The bounty hunter chuckled.

“There is a Way.”

Wide-eyed, a little smile appeared on the corner of your lips.

“Was it a joke, Mando?”

He didn’t reply, and you grinned.

***

You didn’t think when the Mandalorian had told you he had found a way to reach the circular ruins, he was going to take you and Grogu there with his jetpack. The whole time you screamed, hiding your face on Mando’s armor and your hands holding firmly his torso.

“Mando, you are crazy!”You shouted, fearing for your life.

You knew the Mandalorian was probably smirking behind his heavy helmet of his, making fun of you.

Slowly, the bounty hunter landed on the circular ruins, his hand still on your hip.

“Never again!”You screamed.

“We need to get back to the ship after you know?”

“You’ll be the death of me, Mandalorian.”

He chuckled and stared at the Child with an assured look.

“I guess, this is it.”He declared, Grogu cooing in his arms.

You took the Child in your arms, patting his little head in a comforting gesture and put him on the small stone surrounded by the immense rocks.

Mando was getting impatient, trying to look for something that could help the Child choose his path.

“There is a ship coming.”The Mandalorian suddenly said, his fists clenched.

“I know that ship.”You murmured, a confused look on your face.

Mando and you tried to reason the Child and make him go with you, though, Grogu was sitting like a rock, and when the Mandalorian tried to reach him, you screamed. He was thrown few meters away from the stones by the Force.

“Y/N, stay here with Grogu. I am going to protect both of you.”

“No! Mando, you can’t! Please! He is…”

It was too late. The Mandalorian was nowhere to be seen.

What did Boba Fett want?

“Oh shit.”You shouted.”The armor! Damn, I should have known!”

“Mando! Mando! Din, please come back!”

No reply.

“Grogu, come on! Please, answer me! We can’t let him die! Come on.”

Still nothing.

A ship crossed the sky. Again.

Why did everyone come to visit you? You hadn’t sent any invitations.

“Mando!”

“Time to go! We have company.”

“Are you alright?”You asked.

“Later. Y/N.

“Come on, kid. We need to go!”

The Mandalorian got repulsed back again. Grogu was in trance and he didn’t hear anything than the Force.

“Stormtroopers.”

Mando rushed to the kid’s side, but he was sent by a shock of energy.

“Mando, stop. We can’t wake him!”

“Okay. I am gonna protect you both. Y/N, stay here.”

“I won’t! Boba Fett and some stormtroopers are here. I won’t let you go alone.”

Seeing you standing on your position, Mando shrugged and let you accompany him. You both hiked towards the group of stormtroopers gathered around Boba Fett and to your greatest surprise, Fennec Shand.

Noticing your presence, she winked at you and did a military salute.

The Mandalorian took care of the stormtroopers with only a button on his wrist.

“Okay. Let’s move in.”Mando declared.

“Y/N. I didn’t think I would see you again.”

You were startled to hear Boba Fett’s voice after so long. He had grown so much.

“Me neither.”You replied, iniatiating your lightsaber and slicing two stormtroopers.

“It’s her, isn’t it? The one always with the Mandalorian?”Boba Fett declared, addressed to Fennec Shand.

She nodded, and you looked between them awkwardly.

Mando talked with Fennec while shooting more and more stormtroopers, and you felt a bit jealous. It was complicated with you and the Mandalorian. You weren’t a Jedi anymore, but he was still a Mandalorian.

With your lightsaber, you killed a few stormtroopers and, just at your side, you discovered Boba Fett with his armor on. It was a shock for you. You hadn’t seen him in his armor for years.

“Back to the ship! Go! Go!” A stormtrooper shouted, gesturing to the others to climb on the ship quickly.

In a quick motion, Boba took care of the two ships of stormtroopers in the sky.

“Nice shot.”Mando said.

“I was aiming at the other one.”

You laughed awkwardly, and Fennec Shand stared at you. You had the strange impression you were nothing compared to these people. You were always different, but today, it was as if you were a stranger in your own home.

An energy blast shot down from the sky, destroying on the same occasion the Razor Crest.

“No!”You vociferated.

The Mandalorian rushed forwards. You knew this ship meant everything to him. And it had become your home too. And it was suddenly gone with only an energy blast. Only a second to destroy everything you and Mando had built together with the Child.

“Mando.”

You put a hand on his shoulder, he took it in his hands and held it firmly, not caring about Fennec’staring gaze on both of you.

“The kid!”Mando screamed.

“Oh no! It was a diversion. They wanted the Child all along. No! No! No!”

You, the Mandalorian and Fennec ran towards the circular ruins. You ran as fast as you could, praying to arrive before the Darktroopers.

Just when you arrived, the Darktroopers were flying away with the Child in one trooper’s arms.

The bounty hunter and Fennec were talking, trying to find a way to save Grogu, but you couldn’t react. You felt your knees weaken, and you fell on the ground, tears flowing on your cheeks.

You had lost the Child and your home. Everything was gone in a day. Why couldn’t it be easy, you questioned yourself. Why is it always complicated when it comes to me?

You only heard “They’re back” before drifting to the darkness.

(Time skip brought by Hayden Christensen coming back for a Star Wars Series.)

“Y/N. Y/N. Wake up.”

“Hmm. Din. I had a nightmare. We had lost the Child and the Razor Crest and-“

“Y/N. It wasn’t a nightmare.”Mando replied, scratching his neck in guilt and embarrassment.

“No. No it can’t be true. We can’t- We-“

“Shh. Shhh. I am here, Y/N. We’re going to get him back, I promise.”He whispered in your ear in front of Fennec’s curious gaze.

“But… What are we going to do now? We don’t have a ship and Grogu is gone.”

“Hey. Look at me, Y/N.”

You looked up and found the Mandalorian’s visor directed at you.

“We are going to get back Grogu, fight Moff Gideon, and then, Grogu will choose his path and we’ll make a family.”He murmured, caressing your cheek with his gloved hand.

“I am a burden for you. You should let me stay here.”

“I won’t. If you stay, I stay. If you fall, I fall. Wherever you go, I go.”He declared, putting one of your locks of hair behind your ear.

“Are you sure?”You questioned, smiling a bit and letting a tear run on your face.

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

You smiled.

“I can’t live without you, Mando.”You muttered, staring intensely at the ground.

“Me neither.”

The Mandalorian passed his hands around your neck in a loving embrace. It wasn’t to comfort you, but to reassure him. Even if he didn’t show his sadness, the only thing left he had was you. His ship, the only thing he loved for as long as he could remember was gone forever. The Child wasn’t here anymore. But you were here. You held Mando in your arms firmly, not daring to let go.

“Hmm. Lovebirds, I don’t want to disturb you, but the Child needs rescue and we need to find where they hold him.”Fennec Shand declared, clearing her throat.

“You are going with us?”You asked us, eyebrows raised in wonder.

“Yes. Boba is also going with us. We’re going to help you save the Child.”

You acquiesced.

“Come on. There is someone we need to see.”The bounty hunter commanded in an authoritative tone.

*****

“Cara Dune. Marshal of the New Republic. I heard rumors you were gone legit.”Mando exclaimed, a smile on his lips.

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

She stared at both of you and grinned.

“What?”You asked.

“You two, huh? Things are official now, I see.”

You looked up, a discreet and shy smile adorning your face.

“I need your help.”The bounty hunter announced, hands on his hips.

“Name it.”

“We need you to locate someone in the prison registry. Ex-Imperial sharpshooter, last name Mayfeld.”

You let the Mandalorian talk with Cara while inspecting her little office.

“We lost the Child, Cara.”You proclaimed.

You looked at her in the eyes, and instantly, you knew, she was going to break every rule to help you and the Mandalorian free Grogu. No matter the cost.

———

Taglist: @lol-who-am-i @kiaralein @kryttlebee @hoodedbirdie @eyeliveinabook @horsesandwolvesaremyanimals @mitamixer @fleurdemiel145 @kneeldowntoyouralpha @pinkninja190 @esoltis280 @over300books @sad-anxious-girl @jedi-dreea @katialvi @lover1307

⬇️ Chapter 14 ⬇️

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

The beauty in the choice that is Glimmadora

Season 1, episode 2, roughly 18 odd minutes into the runtime, with Theymore in ruins and Glimmer and Adora having a moment that defines them both as people. Aka, the /exact/ moment I fell head-first into Glimmadora hell. And keep falling

First of all, because of how Adora says 'Glimmer'- softly, disbelieving, just the tiny bit hopeful- and then for what they both say next.

Adora- "Glimmer..? What are you doing? Why did you save me?"

Glimmer- "We need you. We need She-Ra. *brings out the sword* I should have given this back to you in the ruin. *Adora stares* You could have saved us in there and I knew that... but I was stupid, *starts crying* and a jerk, and I almost got us killed and I'm sorry!"

Adora- "You're not any of those things. I'm the Horde soldier! How do you know you can trust me now?"

Glimmer- "... I don't. But I hope I can. I feel like, maybe, you're here to help us. *holds out the sword*"

Adora- *slowly reaches out* *sees a Horde bot closing in on her and a magically exhausted Glimmer, who just spent some of her last magic saving Adora* *reaches for the sword again, hesitates*

Adora- *grabs the sword and puts herself between the charging Horde bot and Glimmer*

This right here? This is beautiful.

And here is why i think so

I'm a sucker for moments when characters make their own choices. When things line up and they stand on a crossroads, all the power of which way the story swings resting in their hands...

I'm even more of a sucker for two characters, both given that power of choice, picking the path they feel is right for them, and that also leads them to each other.

After two episodes of build up, showing why they believe what they believe, how that pits them against each other, and how it also opens the door to them realizing they actually share a common goal- protecting people- there is a pause. A gap of open space. Glimmer and Adora are given room to make their decisions, and there is no outside push that forces them together. Actually, THEY are the ones who have to push towards each other, in SPITE of everything.

The sword doesn't glow or start magically tugging itself towards Adora, the new She-Ra, prompting Glimmer to give in and bring it to her. Bow doesn't nudge her into going after Adora. He's shocked when she suggests it! Even rebuts by pointing out that Adora had just (seemingly) sold them out to the Horde!

It's Glimmer's choice, and hers alone, to go find Adora.

Apologizing for being a jerk also wasn't required, she could have given her the sword without that. But she wanted to say sorry. She felt bad about what she'd done. She wanted to own up to her mistakes, and do it in front of someone who she was not long ago calling a 'monster'.

Leading up to this, it was Adora's choice to try stopping the Horde's attack on Theymore. Her choice to leave the Horde, even if it meant losing everything she had, everything she'd ever known- Her best friend (who she asked to come with her, and who's choice to stay she accepted. Who she apologized to, because it was hard to go, but she had to), her promotion, her home, her idea of who she was and how the world worked, all of the certainty in her life. In the face of seeing innocent unarmed people fleeing in front of the Horde's crushing tanks, Adora gave it all up, without know what, if anything she would find to replace it with.

She wasn't part of the Rebellion yet. She didn't have the sword.

The narrative could have made her a Rebel first. It could have had her accepted in Bright Moon and be given a place there. It could have had Glimmer give her the sword before confronting Catra. Adora could have been safely herded into her new life outside the Horde. A better life, with security and power and no fear of Shadow Weaver hurting her best and only friend and then putting the responsibility of that pain on her. Faced with that choice, would it even be much of a choice at all?

Adora doesn't get that though. She has no certainty, no sword, no acceptance. Even after doing her She-Ra thing and driving off the Horde, she panics, asking what she's going to do now she's gone against the Horde. She doesn't even know where she will go, afterwards. She doesn't know if she will have a place outside the one she just threw away. And she still left.

And when she talks to Glimmer, she didn't have to reassure Glimmer that she wasn't a jerk or stupid of "any of those things". That was just something she wanted to say, right then, to the girl who took her prisoner. To the girl who took a Horde soldier prisoner. To the girl who didn't leave her to die in the collapsing ruin, and came for her again, saved her from being dragged back to the Horde as a traitor.

She wanted Glimmer to know that she, Adora, didn't think any of those bad things about her. Didn't blame her for being furious at someone from an army that is destroying her home, or think she was stupid for not trusting a Horde soldier with a powerful weapon.

Adora didn't have to ask how Glimmer can trust her now. She wanted to know the answer, herself. She was a Horde soldier. She understood what that meant, now, and she didn't want to be that anymore. But what had she done so far, to earn Glimmer's trust?

Glimmer could have said platitudes to that, could have smoothed it over with The Power Of Friendship or maybe just Well You Haven't Killed Or Betrayed Us Yet When You Had The Chance, or even, I'm Out Of Options And The Magical Sword Likes You So Destiny Maybe.

She doesn't say any of that. It might be easier for Adora to hear, but it's not true. To the girl who is suddenly questioning her whole life and everything she was ever told, Glimmer says the truth instead.

It's not what Adora's done so far that's convinced Glimmer. It's what Glimmer thinks Adora wants to do from now on. That's what Glimmer is putting her trust in. Adora's own choices, not the ones that were made for her.

And what does Adora do? The very first thing she does, when Glimmer hands her an incredibly powerful magical sword?

She protects Glimmer. She uses the sword, to protect. To defend. That is her choice.

That's what Glimmer saw in her, the hope she found. That's what she put the Rebellion on the line for, risked ruin by handing the sword over to someone who still has the Horde symbol on their back. There was who Adora had been, up to this point. And then there was who she wanted to be.

A Horde soldier who didn't want to hurt people, argued with Glimmer not because she thought that hurting others was justified, but because she didn't want to believe the Horde HAD hurt people. A Horde soldier who didn't scoff at the people of Theymore for being weak or unguarded or try to take advantage of these trusting people- the opposite, in fact. Adora was enthralled. Awed. When she realized this was the place the Horde would be attacking, she couldn't believe it. She wanted it be a mistake. She listened, finally, when Glimmer showed her that it wasn't.

And faced with Glimmer and the sword, the terrifying leap from her old life into some new unknown, Adora looks at Glimmer's choices for guidance. "I'm the Horde soldier!" she says, "How do you know you can trust me now?"

How does Glimmer know she's doing the right thing? How can Glimmer be sure?

Glimmer isn't sure. She says as much. She's making the choice anyway.

How does Adora know she's also making the right choice? How can she be sure?

She can't be.

She can only see what Glimmer did, confronted with the same risk, and decide if that's an example she wants to follow. If this girl, angry and pained, brave and protective, imperfect and trying, strong enough to look at her own mistakes and apologize for them- is this someone Adora wants to see in herself? Is THIS who she wants to be like? At the cost of everything else? With no guarantees how it will end for her?

Yes. She decides it is.

She takes the jump with Glimmer. She follows this strange, rebel princess into the unknown.

And in that moment, they aren't strangers anymore.

It's so wonderful, even re-watching it for the millionth time- The dialogue, the voice acting, the emotional and narrative payoff from everything that had been shown before. Everything Glimmer has lost (her father, her relationship with her mother, her own sense of worth tied up in a war she keeps losing). Everything Adora stands to lose (her home, her self worth so tied up in the captains rank she's been trained for. Her childhood friend, her enemy now)

The pressure that was on both Glimmer and Adora to stay the way they were- (Through Angella, and even a little from Bow, through Shadow Weaver and Catra) (Even Light Hope and the sword only confuses things, the simple question of where Adora came from suddenly getting tied up in mystery and treason, the answer that was supposed to give her a sense of belonging threatening to isolate her instead)- that pressure to walk away is very real. Don't take that risk. Don't make that jump. It frightening and hard. You might be wrong.

Don't reach out to each other, don't change, don't meet each other there, in that terrifying middle ground.

And THEN, their decisions to both say 'fuck it' and do what they thought was right instead. Even if they weren't sure what would happen next.

If it might let them help others more than they have so far, save the rebellion, protect the people who really need protecting, well then, for Glimmer and Adora, that made it worth it, to do the right thing. To be the people they both really want to be.

Which, in the end, meant being a lot like each other, at their core.

I love that.

There is nothing in a story more powerful to me, than when a choice like this is made. When it feels earned, and meaningful. When it grows out of the story that had been unfolding up till then, and changes the way it will end.

When it's two women making that change, that choice, together? I'll never get enough of that.

And the intimacy. My god.

After being so open, honest, raw, it's not surprising when Glimmer and Adora come together in the aftermath. Enemies one episode ago, fire forged friends now, them holding onto each other feels right, by the episode's end. Physically reaching out, mirroring and confirming what they both had already done. Especially how gentle Glimmer is with Adora's moment of panic, how she reaches out to calm her, reassures her she DOES have a place, and friends. The moment when she offers her hand to help Adora stand again, and Adora looks up, smiles at her before taking it...

the CATHARSIS of seeing THESE TWO ENEMIES TURNED ????? TURNED FRIENDS HOLDING ONTO EACH OTHER, LETTING EACH OTHER BE SO CLOSE- AND THAT GLIMMER IS SUPPORTING ADORA IN THIS MOMENT EVEN THOUGH SHE HERSELF IS FRESH OUT OF MAGIC AND IS FEELING IT, BUT SHE KNOWS WHAT ADORA JUST WENT THROUGH BECAUSE THEY WENT THROUGH IT TOGETHER, IT- IT- IT'S-

Yeah. my little wlw heart didn't stand a chance. i will be smitten forever with these two, from the force of a couple of episodes and some vERY nicely handled writing

..

..... also, the way Adora helps a fainting Glimmer and props her up against a rock, but with her hands just resting on Glimmer for a moment like...

i've stared at this screencap for a long time, ngl

[one-boring-person]

Hey!!!how are you?

Can i have some Rambo Headcanons??

Maybe the old rambo moving nextdoor to a young(24), farmer? (They/them pls), and maybe eventually him developing a crush or Wanting to protect them since they’re always so nice and caring towards him?

Thank you!!(these are for my birthday lmao, im a complete and total rambo simp. And i feel old rambo would really enjoy calming down and helping around with someone who loves him)

You have no idea how badly I've been wanting to write these as soon as I read the request! It's so wholesome, so I hope I've done it justice! And happy birthday! I hope you like these 😊(also I'm good, thanks for asking!)

John Rambo (Rambo IV/V) x younger!reader headcannons.

Warnings: mention of PTSD, vague injury detail.

A/n: I'm sorry if this is not as expected, I'm still getting to grips with writing headcannons 😅

Masterlist

The ranch had been in a state of disrepair when John first got there, walls thinning, paint peeling, buildings empty and soulless. He hadn't expected things to be as they were when he left, all those years ago, but the evident lack of care surprised him.

The house had been empty, which he eventually figured out was die to the fact his father had passed a good few years prior, and hadn't left anyone in charge of the ranch.

This meant that everything was as it was when he left, photographs hanging awkwardly on the walls, dusty furniture shoved out of the way.

Naturally, the rest of the ranch was also in pretty poor condition: the stables were practically overrun with weeds and foul smelling hay, one lone horse still nosing weakly at the empty water bucket on the floor. Taking pity on the animal, and feeling a need to help it, John took it out onto the field, which is where he first saw them.

Across from his father's ranch was another, smaller one, where horses and cattle grazed in the fields, a single car parked up beside the main house, which was in a much better condition than his own newfound home. In one of the fields, running around with a young foal, was who he assumed to be a ranchhand.

For a moment or so, he had stood and watched as the figure ran in circles with the youthful horse in tow, admiring their seemingly high spirits - he hadn't felt high-spirited in years.

After he'd helped the old horse from the stables out (cleaning out a stall, feeding it with feed he found in a storeroom), John had gone back to the house, almost forgetting the figure across the field, intending to head to sleep.

A couple of days passed after that, before he saw them again, though this time, they also saw him.

He'd started work on the house, having collected what he needed from a nearby town, and was sat on the roof of the main building as the sun glared down at him. Taking a brief pause from his work, he'd looked up and seen them in the field again, this time astride a larger horse.

They were racing around again, until the rider noticed they were being watched, at which point they slowed to a halt and looked around, quickly spotting John on the roof. From that distance, he couldn't tell what their expression was, but they raised a hand after a moment or so, waving up at him. Hesitantly, he had waved back.

Later that day, when he'd been sat on his father's old rocking chair on the veranda, taking another break, John had noticed someone coming up the road towards him. Standing out of instinct, John soon realised it was someone astride a horse, the rider carefully trotting up the drive, their face becoming clearer the nearer they came.

Still cautious of people, John had acted somewhat guarded as the person rode up to him, a broad smile on their work-weathered youthful face. In their hand, they carried a small box, which they cradled awkwardly on their thighs.

Approaching him, they'd tipped their hat, a battered Stetson, and greeted him, introducing themself as (Y/n), the owner of the ranch next to his. They'd spoken cheerfully, as if unaffected by the hardships of life, which they may well be. That's what John thought anyway, until they openly and happily told him about the passing of their parents, four years ago. The ranch had been left to them, leaving them in charge of the business.

Their first encounter had been somewhat awkward, but it didn't seem to bother (Y/n), and they left after ten minutes or so with a genial smile at him, stating that they'd be happy to help if he ever needed it. They also left behind the box, which John soon discovered was filled to the brim with cookies, a food he hadn't eaten for decades. Trying one, he soon rediscovered a love for them he didn't remember he had.

In the following weeks, John managed to fix up the house, getting it ready to live in properly, with some very brief help from his neighbour. They'd been round earlier in one week, dropping off another box of cookies, and had offered him access to their tools, which they brought round soon after.

After this, John felt it was only right that he invited them round for drinks as thanks, something that still made him somewhat uneasy. Somehow, he did feel reassured when they happily agreed and turned up the following Sunday, the two of them sitting in comfortable quiet on the veranda, sometimes talking, other times staying silent.

This became a regular occurrence.

Every week, (Y/n) would go to John's, or vice-versa, the latter soon learning to trust them and enjoy their company, finding himself in a better mood than he had been in in a long time. Their openness to talk or listen (even if he said very little) comforted him, allowing him to forget the nightmarish things going through his head near-daily.

After three months, (Y/n) had started coming round much more often, many times just appearing in the middle of the day to help out with whatever task needed doing, unafraid of doing dirty work. They later told him it was because they enjoyed his company far too much, and often actively sought it out: they made it clear that his quiet, brooding nature was an attractive quality about him that reassured them.

It didn't take long for them to become close, the two seemingly working at a different wavelength to the rest of the world, one that only existed between their small ranches.

They helped John procure his first horses, lending him one of their own to help build up the numbers. The differences between each ranch soon became blurred, the fence running through the middle of their respective fields eventually disappearing as they merged their ranches together, continuing with business individually with the help of the other's land.

John had long since accepted, within himself, that he would not find someone to spend the rest of his life with, not after Sarah. It was a sad truth, but one he had to live with.

That all changed when he suddenly realised he had fallen for his neighbour, the one person he now trusted and cared for more than anyone in the world.

He'd realised this when their face first started appearing in his nightmares, after a close accident that nearly resulted in catastrophe. (Y/n) had fallen from the roof of the stables, thankfully landing on a stack of stray hay which softened the impact, leaving them in severe amounts of pain for two days. Their face became part of the repertoire in his head, nightmares about their death soon plaguing him even further, as he finally acknowledged the newfound love he felt for them.

Because that's what it was: love.

It couldn't be anything less, he was too damaged to have heedless fancies, and his emotions were far too strong towards them. Since he'd moved in, (Y/n) had always been there, acting as a friend he never had, steadily working their way into his life, bettering it in ways he never would've thought another person could, supporting him through the episodes of flashbacks he was now prone to having. They had showed him love and care he hadnt experienced from anyone else. He valued them highly, prioritising them over himself, and he knew he was heavily attracted to them, but he told himself "no", don't ruin the friendship.

They didn't make it easy to repress the urges. No, they only managed to win him over more and more with their caring, loving attitude, though their youth managed to awaken some form of paternal instinct John never knew he had. He felt the need to protect them at all times, and he would do his best to uphold this, but he knew his feelings were getting too strong.

Somehow, he managed to miss all the loving glances, and little tells (Y/n) inadvertently laid down before him, the rancher have g developed similar feelings for him, though they'd never admit it to John, knowing how human interaction like that could be upsetting for him.

Eventually, it had taken a beautiful evening, with the sun spilling its last bloody rays on the dry landscape as the two sipped beer from bottles on the veranda, for them to finally admit to each other how they felt.

It just happened: one minute, they were leaning in to replace their bottles on the table, the next, their lips are just touching, breaths mingling as they struggle to do rain themselves. (Y/n) had finally leaned in, pressing their lips against his, pulling back almost as quickly as they moved in, a horrified, embarrassed expression on their face.

They'd apologised instantly, terrified that they'd screwed up their relationship, rambling and cursing until John had recovered and kissed them again, cupping their face in his hand as he pulled them closer. It had been too long for him, and the touch was just incredible, goosebumps rising along his spine as he poured all of his love and care into the kiss, pressing as close as possible.

Somehow, (Y/n) had ended up in his lap, head on his chest as he cradled them, relishing in the feeling of having a solid, supple body against his own after so long, and one that means him no harm, too. They knew where they both stood, and it kickstarted a close relationship.

(Y/n) moved in with him after their second foaling season together, where he'd seen their parental instincts kick in, particularly when they'd then worked to socialise the foals by playing with them. The memory would always stick with John: something about the carefree youth in their face as they ran around with the frolicking horses reminded him of the good in his life.

Life was good, everything was going mostly well.

Naturally, there were some days when he'd relapse, having particularly bad episodes that would be harrowing on both him and (Y/n), though they were always there to help him through it. Their soft words of love and worry would easily permeate the cloud of despair, and had break down in their arms, enjoying the sensation of being held.

They often held each other. Even if it was just a quick hug, or an embrace from behind as one pressed up against the other's back, touch became a large factor in their relationship - John relished it after the more callous touch he had grown used to.

Kisses, too, became a large way of showing their affection. Little ones here and there between jobs, deep passionate kisses up against the wall of the house, or sloppy making out on the shared seat on the veranda, it all counted for their love, and they thoroughly enjoyed partaking in them.

(Y/n) was always there, even when Gabrielle and Maria joined them. They were there when Gabrielle died, and they were there to avenge her death, choosing to go out with the man they loved.

Both of them liked to cook, even if John's meals were a little...plain...so they often spent hours in the kitchen with each other, fooling around with whatever they could, John's face alight with more smiles and grins than he thinks it's ever been.

They went riding together, finding solace in each other's company on their many trails through their land, the horses often coming home tired after so long of being out.

Sometimes, John got self-conscious about his age in comparison with their's, thinking he is too old for them. Everytime this happened, (Y/n) would reassure him that they love him for who he is and doesn't care if he's not as young as he used to be, it never would matter.

Marriage was never really a thing they considered. John never had much time for the state anymore, so why get them involved in their relationship?

They considered themselves married, and wore rings to show it, but it was never a legal affair. Nevertheless, the union had always been a happy one, and John could honestly say that he had been wrong about himself: he had found love.