#regardless the adoption papers of the last episode

[licenselesswriter]

From November to June CH2

December 24, 2017

- You sounded worried on the phone, what happened? - Maya asks her best friend.

Riley looks at her, trying to find something different, but fails after a few minutes.

- Honey? You're being weirder than other days - Maya says and Riley just move her knee to the side poses her arms on her leg.

- Are you dating Lucas? - Riley asks out of nowhere.

- This again? - Maya asks back, tired of the same question.

- Well, it's my right to ask about my best friend private life - Riley defends herself.

- No - Maya corrects her - That's your way to tell me that you saw Lucas being friendly with me, and since you're both not dating, you immediately assume that I'm dating him - Maya explains.

- Which is? - Riley asks.

- False - Maya says and blocks any thought that her best friend mind was playing in her mind.

- Then why? - Riley asks this time.

- I don't have time for this - Maya says and runs from Riley to her kitchen.

- Why not?! - Riley asks, raising her voice from her room while she follows Maya to the kitchen.

- Because we are 17, we have something called, I don't know, college to worry about - Maya lies, avoiding the real reason why she didn't have the time to deal with her best friend drama.

- What are you talking about, we are in the age of living and being worried about this kind of drama - Riley tries to argue.

- Yeah, you might be right, but we've been discussing the same guy since we were 13 - Maya argues back - Don't you think it's exhausting? I think it's exhausting - Maya finally says, trying to get Riley off her back with all the "Lucas thing".

- Ok, one question and I will stop - Riley says.

Maya finally gives her proper attention and put down her spoon and the pint of ice cream - Ok, what's your question? - she asks.

- If I didn't go to the UK, why Lucas doesn't want to continue our relationship? - Riley asks nervous, like the 13-year-old Riley that she assure she left behind.

- My poor sad deer - Maya says and hugs her best friend - The answer for that is probably time and timing - she answers.

- Explain - Riley says laying her head on her best friend shoulder.

- You had two break-ups, and for almost a year you both decide to be only friends, maybe what you both had stopped making sense, if not for you, at least for him - Maya explains and Riley look at her surprised.

- When did you turn into Gandalf? - Riley asks.

- You said one question - Maya remembers her with a soft smile - Also, it was when Galadriel sends Gwaihir looking for me when I became The White - Maya says, surprising Riley - And you can't ever tell Farkle that I read the stupid books he recommended to me or people will never find your body - she adds.

- You are the best Christmas present I can ever ask for - Riley says and hugs her tightly.

- Stick with me kiddo, I'm the best you could ever get - Maya replies opening the chocolate pint and starting to eat.

After a few minutes of eating ice cream, they moved back to Riley's room and Riley put Clueless on Netflix.

After 50 minutes of the movie, Riley was snoring hard. Maya looks at her and giggle. She pulls her phone from her back pocket and records Riley snore - This is gonna be money someday - she softly says to herself. She grabs the remote and turns off the TV. She looks at her friend sleep and covers her with the quilt she gave her last Christmas - Merry Christmas Honey - Maya softly says and put a kiss on her best friend hair.

She closes the door of Riley's room from the outside and walks down, where she finds Topanga cooking.

- Should I expect you tonight? - Topanga asks Maya.

The blonde beauty just hugs her - Even when I'm in Love with your food, Shawn is already cooking for us tonight - she says, surprising the matriarch of the Matthews.

- Shawn Hunter? Cooking? - she asks. and Maya only nods - Wow, he really Loves you and your mother - she jokes and Maya laughs at it - But I know him, so just in case, I will make a bit more for you three - she says and Maya hugs her again.

- Have I ever told you how much I appreciate having you in my life? - Maya asks her and Topanga kiss her forehead in the most maternal ways she had.

- A lot of times sweetie, but I will never get bored to hear it - she answers with a smile on her face before softly and playfully slaps Maya ass - Now go, by now, Shawn must already burn your kitchen - she adds making herself and Maya laugh.

Maya walks to the coat hanger and grabs her coat, she waves goodbye to Topanga and walks out the Matthews residence.

She takes her time with her way home, enjoying the city, still free from any responsibility, still being able to hide her pregnancy, and sadly, the pressure takes the best of her, forcing her to stop for a second to cry in silence. For 7 exact minutes, she cried in silence and alone while the snow keeps covering New York until she felt how someone sits next to her.

- To be honest, I totally suggest to cry under better weather - Cory says and puts his hand on Maya's back, making her cry harder and hide her face on his chest. After several minutes, they both were silent, until Cory finally breaks it - Care to tell me what happened? If you don’t, I'm gonna worry, like way too much for Christmas - she says and Maya get away from him, cleaning the tears on her cheeks.

- Nothing really important Matthews, just a really bad case of a broken heart - she partially lies to him.

- Josh, right? - he says and Maya vaguely nods - Trust me, I would love to have you as my sister in law, but he made his choice - Cory says keep caressing Maya's back.

- Didn't say he can't choose, I'm just mad that I wasn't the one he chooses - she replies.

Cory smiled, recognizing the growth in his student - Correct answer Miss Hunter - he says and Maya just let a blurt of laughter escape her mouth.

- Yeah? What did I win? - she asks.

Cory just put his hand on her head and mess with her hair - Well, if I'm not soon with this at home, you're probably not gonna have me as a teacher when the break ends, so I can treat you a cup of tea in the coffee shop around the corner - he says getting up.

- The one you and your wife own? That's cheap, even for you Matthews - Maya says with a smirk on her face.

- That's the Maya I usually see - Cory replies with a smile on his face. They walk for a bit and get inside Topanga's - Let me guess, Cappuccino with lots of whipped cream? - Cory asks, Maya softly nods, and unconsciously put her hand on her belly - Nah, today I'm in the mood for some chamomile tea - Maya answers and Cory take the whipped cream and attempt to put it back in the fridge - Leave the cream Matthews - she says without even look at him.

Cory just obeys her.

15 minutes later, they both leave Topanga's, they didn't say anything to each other while they enjoy the hot beverages they had, and for some reason, Maya found it comforting.

Maya walks back to her place, and unlike popular belief, his house didn't smell like a burnt dinner.

She opens the front door and takes off her coat.

- Hey Kiddo - Shawn greets her while she cleans his hands with an oven towel.

- Hey Shawn - Maya greets back and put a kiss on his cheek - Mom? -she asks him.

- Went for the dessert - Shawn answers walking back into the kitchen - What did Riley want? - he asks, starting to smash the potatoes he had in a pot.

- Another Lucas Crisis - Maya replies walking into the kitchen - Anything I can do to help? - she asks.

Shawn smile - Yeah, can you pass me the butter, cream cheese and the half and half please - he says while he keeps mashing the potatoes.

Maya pick the ingredients from the fridge and surprised by his cooking skills can't avoid the obvious question - Remember the day I met you? - she asks.

Shawn nods and giggles a bit - Yeah, yeah, Christmas 2014, right? - he says and Maya smile for him remembering that day.

- That day you said you didn't get a lot of home cook meals - she says feeling how her mouth starts to water from the smell of the turkey.

- Yeah, what's with that? - Shawn asks and takes the cream cheese and the butter and start to mix them on low heat with the mashed potatoes.

- Seriously? - Maya says - How can you cook like this and not getting home cook meals every day? - she asks.

- You mistake my cooking skills with my laziness - Shawn explained - Why take all this time to cook for one person when you can survive on Quesadillas and Pepsi? - he asks back.

Maya looked at him a bit in shock - Sometimes it scares me how much alike we are - she answers.

They both stop for a second when they hear a set of keys unlock the door. Maya went to help her mother with the dessert when she was stopped by her voice.

- Thank you, Lucas - she says to the Texan boy.

- It's nothing, Mrs. Hunter - Lucas replies walking into the kitchen.

- “Back to you”? - Maya greets him surprised to see him there.

- “Back to you”? – Shawn asks her.

- It’s our thing now – Maya fastly answers, before putting her attention back on her Mother and Lucas.

- Hey Maya, Mr. Hunter - Lucas greets her and Shawn, putting the bags on the counter.

- What you're doing here “Back to you”? - Maya asks while her mother gives Lucas something wrapped and walks next to Shawn.

- Hey baby girl - Katy says and put a kiss on her daughter's hair and then walks to Shawn and put a kiss on his lips - That smells delicious Mr. Hunter - she says and Shawn smile.

- Anything fo' ma' wife - Shawn replies while Maya takes Lucas to the living room.

- So, what you're doing here? - she asks him again.

- Relax, just came to deliver something before my flight to Texas - he defends himself and gives Maya the gift that Katy previously give back to him.

- You don't need to do this - Maya says and pulls him from his shirt collar to get him really close - I get it, you care about me and what's inside me, but you don't need to do charity work with me - she adds.

Lucas let a long sigh, he was really tired of Maya being unable to trust anyone besides Riley - This is not charity, this is Patrick - he jokes. Maya just punch his shoulder with half of her strength, surprising him - Ok, bad moment to make a joke - he says putting a few feet between them - Anyways, not charity Maya, just friendship, if you don't believe me, ask Farkle, Riley, and Smackle - he listed their friends - They get presents too - he says and get close to her again - Also, this has nothing to be with that situation - he adds and takes a quick look at her belly.

- You need to go - Maya says and starts to push Lucas to the door.

- Ok, ok - he says and stops her - Mr. Hunter Mrs. Hunter, have a merry Christmas - he says leaving the Hunter family apartment.

More than 9 hours later, when all the food was over and presents starts to show, Maya, take a short trip to her room.

She's been grateful for having Shawn on her life, and she was more than open to put her talent to show it - Hey Shawn - Maya calls her adoptive Father from her room - Care to help me a bit? - she asks when she was carrying a wrapped paint.

- Yes, sorry - Shawn apologizes for not noticing the size of what she was carrying.

Shawn finally takes it to the living room and Maya stood in front of her gift.

- Well, this is one of my happiest memories, and I hope it's one of your happiest too - she says and steps away from the gift.

- Thanks, kiddo - Shawn says and fastly unwrapped the painting - My God - he says and covers his mouth with his hand, then he moves to the side and show the painting to his wife, who had the same reaction.

- Baby girl - Katy says looking at the painting that was a vivid painting of the first dance Katy and Shawn had as Husband and Wife.

Shawn gets up and hugs Maya, visibly moved - Thank you, this is the second-best gift you ever gave me - he says and Maya looks at him a bit confused.

- Really? What did I get you last Christmas that this can't top's it? - she asks.

Shawn laughs and Katy stood next to him, fastly being hugged by him - You let me go on a date with your Mother - he answers, making both women cry.

Around 30 minutes later, Maya went to bed, happy, knowing that no matter what happened, she can always count with Shawn. She fastly changes clothes and put on her nightgown and then she notices that Lucas gift was on her bed.

- Ok “Back to you”, let's see what you get me - she says and softly sits on her bed. She takes her time and delicately unwraps the paper on Lucas gift, only to see the very professional, and very expensive, painting palette she wanted for her birthday, also with a complete set of 24 oil paints. She smiles with pure joy and opens the box of oil paints and a note fall into the floor. She picked it up and recognize his handwriting "Keep painting, will help you with the stress" she reads in silence - Sap - she says before putting the sets on her desk.

[ibelieveinharrystyles]

Chapter Ten: We’ll Be A Fine Line

Here it is the final part of Ashley and Harry’s Story! Enjoy!!!

Christmas was a big thing for both the Hanson and Twist families, ever since that fateful day when a new tradition of joint Christmasses was coined, the two families had been intertwined. Not just by their mutual appreciation for the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, but the adoration between two members of their families, a bond that thanks to the trials and tribulations of life was stronger than it had ever been. At last there was no hostility, no aggression, just love.

Out of the kindness of his heart, Louis had offered to drive Ashley and both the little ones up to Holmes Chapel, normally Harry would, but having just come back from filming in America, his flight had taken him straight into Manchester three days prior, rather than Heathrow. Louis and Eleanor were travelling up to Doncaster anyway, so as far as he was concerned, a little detour wouldn’t be a problem. Christmas Eve was always the best bit, Daisy was finally old enough to appreciate the traditions that Ashley once loved as a child, thankfully the traffic wasn’t too bad after all. “How are those two getting on the back?” Louis asked Ashley from the driver’s seat.

“Daisy’s watching yet another episode of Care Bears on the iPad and Robbie’s spark out, I swear all he does is sleep.” Ashley sighed, admiring her two children who were sitting either side of her in the back of Louis’ car.

“Mummy, when can we get doggies like Brucie and Cliff?” Daisy asked, looking up at from her iPad, as the two dogs sat behind them in the back of the car.

“I think we’ll have to wait and see Dais.” Ashley replied, sharing a knowing look with Eleanor, as she had asked her a few weeks beforehand for recommendations on dog breeders. 

“We’re here!” Daisy clapped in excitement as Louis pulled up on Linda’s driveway.

“Thank you so much for driving us up you two, I owe you big time.” Ashley smiled.

“It’s not a problem darling, Harry wouldn’t have wanted you getting the train, especially with the two littlens.” Louis replied.

“I’m sure my mum will be more than happy for you both to stay for tea.” Ashley offered, unbuckling Robin and putting him in his pram, before helping Daisy out of the car.

“Thanks a lot love, but we should probably get back on the road before the traffic hits, have a lovely Christmas though.” Louis smiled.

“You too, thanks again.” Ashley pushed the pram up the driveway, Linda answering the door almost immediately.

“Hello my lovelies! Merry Christmas!” Linda smiled, greeting them all with warm hugs. “Let me grab your bags for you, Anne and Harry are in the kitchen eating mince pies, Gem and Michael are still on their way.” 

“Harry!” Daisy ran off into the kitchen to find him as Ashley took Robin, who had just stirred from a nap out of his pram.

She made her way into the kitchen, Anne had already met Robin, but this would be the first time Harry saw him, Harry looked up at Ashley from where Daisy was showing him her new dress, “Hello stranger.” Ashley smiled, holding Robin in her arms, “Do you want to meet your little boy?” Harry nodded, standing up to greet him, Ashley passed him over, allowing Harry to hold him close to his chest.

“Hello little man, how’s it going?” Harry asked, rocking him softly as Robin gazed up into his eyes, “You did it Ash, he’s so perfect.”

“No Harry, we did it.”

The smell of Linda’s wonderful homemade Christmas Eve pie and mash spread throughout the house. Michael and Gemma had arrived after a nightmare journey and everyone was finally sitting around the table ready to tuck into a delicious meal. “I just wanted to make a quick toast,” Linda announced, “the past few years have been interesting and difficult for us all, but we made it through the other side. Although we’ve lost people along the way, we’ve gained two new little sweethearts, our little princess daisy, and her beautiful brother, darling Robin, I’m so thankful to you for welcoming me and Ash as part of your family. While we’ve always felt so welcomed and loved in all the years of our friendship, the arrival of little Robbie has finally completed us all as one unit. So let’s raise a glass to chosen family.” Everyone clinked their glasses before proceeding to tuck into their dinner. 

“Thank you for having us Linda, this is beautiful as always.” Anne smiled.

“It’s delicious Linda.” Harry smiled.

After falling asleep in her old bedroom, Ash stirred from her nap to hear nothing but silence from the rest of the house, the nap was well deserved after the lengthy drive up from London. She made her way downstairs to see Harry sat on the sofa, Robin lying peacefully on his chest as he hummed along to the faint sound of Christmas music coming from the speaker on the mantelpiece. “Glad to see you two are getting to know each other, how has he been?” Ashley smiled.

“An absolute angel.” Harry replied as Ashley sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Where’s the others?” She whispered.

“They took Dais to see the Christmas lights in the village, the little man was getting grizzly so I thought he’d be better off staying here.” Harry explained.

“You’re an incredible dad,” Ashley smiled.

“Ash, I’ve literally known him for less than a day.” Harry chuckled.

“Yeah I know, but I’ve seen you with Daisy and I’ve seen you with our little Robin, and you’re incredible with them both.”

“Mummy it’s Christmas!” Daisy ran into Ashley’s bedroom, jumping up and down on her bed excitedly. Ashley wiped the sleep from her eyes, looking up to see Daisy, and Harry stood by the door holding Robin. “Harry came over to bring us a special Christmas breakfast!” Daisy exclaimed. 

“Merry Christmas,” Harry smiled, sitting on the bed beside Ashley, Robin dressed in a little baby grow covered in Christmas robins.

“Merry Christmas to you too.” Ashley replied, “Come here little man.” Ashley smiled, taking Robin from Harry. 

“Have you told Daisy yet?” Harry asked.

“Told me what?” Daisy interrupted, still jumping up and down on the bed.

“Well if you get dressed we’re going to take you to Nanny Anne’s house to get your first big present.” Ashley told her.

“Okay!” Daisy cried, jumping off the bed and scrambling to find her red dress and white tights. 

They eventually made it to Anne’s house, Daisy was beyond excited, Linda had Robin in her arms to allow Ashley and Harry to focus on Daisy and her present. They led her through the kitchen, both holding a hand each, “Now Daisy, you’ve got to be really quiet when we go into the conservatory,” Harry told her, he opened the door slowly and let Daisy in. “Merry Christmas Daisy.” He led her to the basket in the centre of the room, inside was a fluffy little caramel colour labradoodle puppy. 

“Is it mine?” Daisy asked.

“Yep, she’s your little puppy.” Ashley told her, picking the puppy up and holding her so Daisy could stroke her. “What do you want to call her Dais?” 

“She looks like honey, let’s call her Honey.” Daisy replied, transfixed on her new best friend.

“That’s beautiful Daisy, she’s going to love you.” Harry told her as he crouched beside her, wrapping her in a big hug.

“This is the best Christmas ever.” Daisy smiled.

Everyone else had arrived at Anne’s and they were finally all sitting around the table, tucking into their turkey. “I just wanted to say something,” Ashley said, “I know I’ve been a bit all over the place this year, I messed some of you around, some more than others. But having you all here means a lot to me, I’m so incredibly grateful that my children have such a loving family. I wanted to give you one of your presents early Harry, before we do the rest later, I know we’re not together, but if anything ever happened to me, I’d want to know my children were in safe hands, I’d want to know they had a loving home with a loving father. Which is why I got you this.” 

She handed him a white envelope, he opened it, pulling out several pieces of paper, he scanned over it, before seeing the words ‘adoption proceedings’, “Is this what I think it is?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, Matt hasn’t been an active part of Daisy’s life since her birth, and I spoke to your solicitor and he said it’s completely viable for you to be Daisy’s adoptive father.” Ashley explained.

“This is the best Christmas present you could’ve got me Ash, thank you so much.” He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

“I know it’s an unorthodox situation because we’re not together but it feels right.” Ashley told everyone.

“I think it’s a beautiful idea,” Anne smiled, “I know Linda will agree, we’re so proud of you both and we’re so grateful for you giving us two wonderful grandchildren.”

“That made his year Ash,” Gemma whispered to Ashley as they stood at the sink in Anne’s kitchen washing up the last of the dinner plates.

“I’m glad he was happy, it just felt right, even though we aren’t in a relationship he’s been the best father figure Daisy has ever had. When I think about the time I spent with Will, he didn’t love Daisy, he wanted me, Daisy was just an extra. But when it comes to Harry, he accepts that Daisy is part of the package, and he’s happy that she is.” Ashley replied, gazing through to the living room where Daisy and Harry were playing with Honey.

“You’re good for him Ash. You, Daisy and baby Robin keep his world spinning, I know you’ve been through a lot but it’s always going to be you. Regardless of who he’s with he’ll always pick you and the kids, because although he’s probably scared to admit it, he really does adore you.” Gemma told her.

“Mummy! It’s snowing!” Daisy ran into the kitchen screaming hysterically, Harry and Honey trailing behind her. 

Harry chased after her, managing to scoop her up in his arms, “Before we see the snow Dais, do you want to open some more presents?” Harry asked.

“Yes!” Daisy clapped excitedly as Harry bounced her up and down on his hip.

The two families lay flat out on the sofas in Anne’s living room, Daisy was curled up beside Anne, playing with Honey, and baby Robin was fast asleep on Harry’s chest. Ashley stood outside in the cold, flakes of snow dancing through the lengths of her hair. She stared up at the blanket of stars, one thing she loved about Holmes Chapel was how clear the sky was, unlike London, was how clear the sky remained each night. “I wondered where you got to,” She turned to see Harry joining her as they both leant against the fence of Anne garden terrace. 

“It’s a madhouse in there, I’m surprised Daisy still has so much energy.” Ashley remarked.

“Well at least she’ll sleep like an angel tonight.” Harry chuckled.

“Fingers crossed,” Ashley smiled, “I’ve had the loveliest day today, I’m really glad you’re home.”

“I am too, it was great working on another film, but nothing beats being here with you and the little ones.” Harry replied.

“Harry when we started this year together, I told you I wanted to take things one step at a time, because I was scared, I was scared of what would happen if I opened my heart again, I was scared of getting hurt, and I was scared of Daisy getting caught up in everything.” Ashley told him, “When really I was incomplete without you.” 

“Ash what are you trying to say?” Harry asked.

“I want us to try again, as a couple,” Ashley explained, “I know that this might be a bit sudden, but seeing your bond with Robin, and seeing the way you are with Daisy. It doesn’t end there either, you’ve done so much for me, you’ve been more of a rock for me than anyone ever has, I was just so naive I didn’t realise that even when you were half way across the world you were still right there by my side.” 

“Ash,” Harry whispered, taking hold of her hands, “I want nothing more than to be with you.” 

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Ashley kept her eyes on Harry’s, tracing delicate patterns across the skin of his knuckles as a smile beamed across her face. “That we always knew, but were too scared to say anything.” 

“I never felt the need to say it.” Harry’s gaze was intent, as a tentative grin appeared on his face. “But I love you.”

“Forever?” Ashley whispered.

“Always, my golden girl.”

[neuxue]

Hello hello. I just started watching The Untamed and found your blog and it's been a lot of fun because, somebody has already put my mental screaming into words so thank you for that! I'm kind of mentally stuck on the events of the Lotus Pavillion massacre tho and just had to get my thoughts out because I haven't seen this said anywhere yet? So,1- When JC and Sis are in mourning they leave everything so WWX. except he just got whipped and it would've taken him a month to heal. Soooo (1/2)

(2/2) yeah WWX in also in excruciating physical pain on top of emotional and mental and nobody notices or remembers that his back is shredded.

Oh man okay, so. On the one hand, you are not wrong. On the other hand... 

I’ve said this before, but something I like about this show is the approach it takes to letting everything go to shit, in that it’s often not any specific person’s fault so much as it is a whole bunch of people’s virtues and flaws and insecurities and intentions good or ill all snagging against each other.

Because my own interpretive lens tends to be biased towards... looking from every character’s perspective and optimising for maximum pain to maximum number of characters (dark ethics, show me the forbidden utilitarianism) rather than assigning blame to any specific one. 

So, with that lens in place, my take on this (and yours may be different!):

On no one noticing/remembering Wei Wuxian being in pain

I’m always here for the ‘how are you even standing’ trope and it may not be outright stated in the episode but Wei Wuxian has been whipped by magical lightning to the extent that it’s a believable claim to make that he won’t be able to walk for weeks. (Whether Yu Ziyuan exaggerates in an attempt to convince Wang Lingjiao to leave them alone is... a topic for another time, but either way it’s a pretty sure bet Wei Wuxian’s in agony). 

Thing is (and this, too, is its own kind of devastating), Wei Wuxian is not unaccustomed to ignoring, downplaying, and enduring extreme pain. And he has effectively conditioned everyone around him to go along with it. Maybe they don’t always completely believe him, but he’s just so good at drawing everyone into his pretense with him that I don’t think they always see the degree to which he’s hurting (or at least they know it’s futile to push it).

I also think it’s not unlikely that he’s experienced this specific pain before (and, if so, likely has practice in pushing through this exact experience, so that his siblings won’t worry, won’t feel guilty, won’t have to choose between him and their mother. Which would only hurt them if they knew, and really any way you spin it that family is a mess on so many levels, ow). 

Also, not insignificantly, adrenaline is one hell of a painkiller, while it lasts.

So he’s able to take pain that should have anyone else on their knees and just... put it aside, ignore it, push through it without a word. 

Enough so that Jiang Yanli (who wasn’t there and therefore actually doesn’t know what has happened) doesn’t realise. Enough so that Jiang Cheng (who was there, but is, I think, practised at not seeing or not thinking about certain things--another topic for another time, but Jiang Cheng has been hurt and shaped by this family just as much as Wei Wuxian has, though in different ways) doesn’t question Wei Wuxian standing up with a makeshift oar to try to bring them all back to their family.

It’s as if we’re seeing the damage of all three of them, with respect to the particular dysfunction of their family, playing out here. Wei Wuxian masking pain in order to protect (prioritise) his siblings. Jiang Cheng seeing the image he is presented, rather than dealing with the truth he fears. Jiang Yanli being set aside, shielded (overlooked). This feels like a pattern that has played out before, all of them playing their roles. Which, you know, hurts.

On everything being ‘left’ to Wei Wuxian

On paper, that is pretty much what happens. But I tend to read this as... all three siblings’ established characterisation, their existing dynamic, and the ways in which different people respond to crisis, panic, and grief.

Firstly, this is what Wei Wuxian does. He sacrifices himself at every opportunity to protect those around him (especially but by no means exclusively his siblings). 

That’s even more true now, with the last words of both his adoptive parents in his ears (‘protect them’), the reminder of what he has written into the very fabric of himself: that he owes them, that they are more important, that his only value is in his capability, and even that has value only when used to help others. That he is nothing and they are everything, and so the only acceptable option is to sacrifice himself in whatever way is necessary.

Which, you know, hurts. And we can put no small portion of the blame for that on his upbringing, and on the cultivation world as a whole for the way it regards reputation and bloodline and family and obligation and role.

But here’s the thing: there’s plenty of emotional damage to go around! Because Wei Wuxian does this, each time, unasked and unasking. He just... steps up quietly, ignores his own pain, and does what he feels is necessary--regardless of whether those he is doing this for would want that from him. 

(I’m not going to argue the ethics of that one way or the other because that’s not really my point here; my point is more just that he makes that choice unilaterally, and it hurts for all of them. Wei Wuxian because he has so deeply internalised the thought that he has to do this, and his siblings because they probably don’t want to see him hurt).

Finally, there’s the whole issue of how people cope in a crisis. No one in this scene is operating at 100% rational capacity. They’re shocked and hurt and grieving and terrified, and that combination makes for a kind of... not always tunnel vision, exactly, but snap decisions and narrowed focus and a kind of brutal triage: if it’s not immediately relevant and vital, it doesn’t register. So, the ability to think about what you say before you let the words out, the ability to hold back the urge to cry or lash out, the ability to look past yourself and register the suppressed signs of pain in your sibling--all of these are pretty much offline for the time being.

For Jiang Cheng, that manifests first as a frantic need to get back to his family; that takes priority, consumes him, in this state of panic and fear and the world crumbling around him, over anything and everything else. Later, that turns to anger because again he’s just not in a headspace to be able to process it further than that, to hold any of that back. 

For Jiang Yanli, it manifests as sadness, as grief, as reaching out to her brothers and trying to hold them close, but also as a fear of confrontation, of doing anything that could make this worse. Where Jiang Cheng’s desperation is get to my family, hers is keep my family together.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian defaults to his base state of There Must Be A Way Self-Sacrifice Can Solve This Problem. It’s... a heartbreaking kind of altruism, but in its way just as irrational and panic-driven as his siblings’ responses. This is what he does, so he throws himself into it without considering any other option, because he’s not in a place where he can. His desperation is that ingrained protect my family above myself. 

(Also, he’s very much a ‘throw yourself into the task at hand in order to keep the trauma at bay’ kind of person, so this is basically his coping mechanism, just as anger is Jiang Cheng’s). 

tl;dr: somewhere in there I had a point, and I think it’s basically ‘everyone in this sequence is hurting so much, and they’re all so raw and exposed, and falling into these deeply engrained patterns that hurt all of them and help none of them and yet it’s all they can do, because this is what their world has made them’.

[doof-doofblog]

"How Do You Sleep At Night?!"

Thursday 8th April 2021

Hello again folks! We're back with another episode in my attempt to catch up, of course there was not an episode on Friday evening due to the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip - but that does mean that Monday was given two episodes! (Feeling slightly stressed with the amount of episodes I need to catch up on!) Plus being back at the day job and trying to save for a house is proving a bit stressful - but I want to let you all know I am committed to sticking to this blog, I've been at it for over a year so why should I stop now?!

I'll try my very best to catch up through out the week, but my post may have to be posted late in the evening, just a heads up incase you guys think I'm not posting! Anyway, let's get right to it and focus on the matter at hand, I'm going to begin first with mentioning Bailey, it turns out that Bailey has actually won the competition she applied for with the school, but she hasn't had the heart to inform her family about the win, knowing they won't be able afford the cost of her going to her expedition.

Unfortunately, as Bailey and her Dad are out taking little Banjo out for a walk, Isaac happens to congratulate Bailey on her win, much to Mitch's surprise. As Mitch begins to question his daughter, she admits that the hotel would cost them £200 and £30 for the coach trip. Mitch tries his absolute best to persuade his daughter not to worry and informs her that he will find the money some how for her go to on her trip. But as Mitch walks away leaving Bailey alone with little Banjo, she happens to notice the flyer advertising Banjo as lost dog "Ziggy"!

As devastating as it is for her, Bailey knows that she has do to the right thing and give Banjo back to his rightful owner. She get's Bernie to help her contact the owner and they arrange to meet up in the park. Only Bernie makes up a story about finding him behind some bins - I don't know about you guys but the dog didn't seem happy to see it's owner, you'd think it would recognise it's owner by sense of smell?! Personally, I believe the dog is actually more happy living with the Taylor's, even the girl could tell that the dog had been looked after. It's then that Bailey admits that they've been looking after the dog for a couple of weeks but had no idea that he was a lost dog. As the girl takes her dog and walks away, without a second glance at Bernie, for a split second the dog looks back at Bailey and Bernie, and I don't know why but for some reason, I am hoping the dog will be reunited with the Taylor family again, I'd like to think that we haven't seen the last of this adorable pup!

--

The second thing I have to focus on is Sharon and the arrival of her long lost half-brother, Zack! It look as if after his very much unwelcoming arrival to the Square, Zack slept in his car overnight outside of Sharon's apartment, regardless of Sharon making it perfectly clear to him that she didn't want him around and instructed him to go home! As Zack gets out of his car he pleads for his sister just hear him out, he claims he's not here for anything and wants anything from her, he just simply wants to talk.

However, when Jay approaches acknowledging the look of Zack's car, Zack almost insults Jay, warning him not to touch his car. As much as innocent as the situation was, I think his insult to Jay was a bit uncalled for, and it also gives an insight to his character, even Sharon makes a comment to him about interreacting with the locals. But in an attempt to make it up to her, he suggests taking her for breakfast so they can at least sit down and get to know each other.

Things seem to go well it seems at first, they begin to discuss Gavin and how each of them spent their childhood, it seems that they have some kind bond when it comes to discussions about their biological Dad, even though Sharon was adopted, her memories of Gavin aren't necessarily nice ones, but neither are Zack's and unfortunately, Gavin did bring him up! It appears that they are actually getting along. But as Kheerat walks in, Sharon begins to apologise to him for missing their date, but even then Zack's attitude towards the locals still doesn't impress Sharon, especially when he claims to Kheerat that Sharon can do better than him. But whilst Sharon still tries to arrange a second date with Kheerat, Zack discreetly nicks a pair of keys from Sharon's handbag!!! Doesn't appear to be the doting new brother does he?!

Later as Sharon is alone sorting out things for the gym, Jean approaches her with a bunch of flowers as a way of an apology for causing damage to her gym equipment, but luckily Sharon gives her the good news that she was in fact insured for all the damages. As Jean breathes a sigh of relief she compliments how things are slowly coming together, but when she happens to mention Sharon getting along with brother and mentioning that she saw Zack entering her flat, Sharon is instantly on the march to find out what her brother is up to!

Clearly, Zack is looking for something, he pretty much turns her apartment upside down and he searches high and low for something. Also I have to mention how I never realised that Sharon is now staying in the apartment that Mick and Linda were briefly staying in before they returned to the Vic! It's almost like they've simply swapped properties! Eventually Sharon finds her brother searching deep in her wardrobes, calling out to him and claiming that she knows exactly what he's after. It turns out that Gavin left Sharon a box, but the funny thing is, he left Zack the key to open it - so maybe he wanted his two children to meet one day?! As they both agree that whatever lays inside the box they'll go halves on, with hope they open the old metal black box. Unfortunately all that it holds inside is papers and memories such as old birthday cards, Zack is clearly angered - was he hoping for something else? Was there something more he was hoping to get his hands on?!

As they come to terms with the fact there was nothing of value in the box, Zack begins to reminisce about his Dad, recalling about a time when he made him fairy cakes but his Dad showed no sense of pride and informed his son not to embarrass him again, Sharon begins to feel a sense of compassion for her brother. I guess it's fair to say they've never had it easy when it's come to their parents - biological or adoptive. She opens up to Zack, informing her about her son Dennis and admits that maybe it would be nice to have a brother around? It looks as if there's some mutual ground between them, could this be the start of a powerful sibling relationship?!

--

Meanwhile, it looks as if Kush is having deep concerns about Ruby bringing up his son, Arthur. Poor Arthur has been dragged from pillar to post, losing his Mum, moving out of his Nan's to live with his second Dad and Stepmum. As little Arthur kicks a football about on his own, Kush admits to Whitney that little Arthur has spoken about shouting accruing whilst he's been staying with Ruby and Martin. Of course Kush trusts Martin with his son, but his biggest concern is Ruby.

In an attempt to build bridges and maybe find out a bit more, Kush takes it upon himself to visit Ruby alone. I think he spoke to Ruby in a very adult and mature way, he didn't go in all guns blazing and acknowledged that it must be hard with having 3 children suddenly to look after, especially considering the loss they have both been through, it's expected that sometimes parenting can get the better of you. Parenting isn't easy, that's for sure. He does however voice his concerns for Arthur and whether he wants him to be around raised voices.

But as much as Kush is being polite and reasonable, Ruby seems to think that he's attacking her, personally, and if Martin was present he wouldn't be voicing his concerns to Ruby. But the fact is that Kush knows exactly what Ruby is capable of and states that he can fill Martin in if he was pushed far enough, but Ruby calls his bluff - knowing full well that he wouldn't, simply because of his son! Ooooo I know it's coming, but I can't wait for Ruby to get her comeuppance! What do you guys think?!

--

Lastly, Kat and Phil are still sneaking about, it looks as if Kat had actually spent the night at the Mitchell household. Even though she's cautious of being seen, Phil informs her that Ben and Callum are aware of their romance and are happy for them to be seeing each other. Kat seems surprised by this news, it seems that she is deeply concerned about what people would say if they were to find out. I think it's perfectly clear that both Phil and Kat aren't quite ready to go public yet.

But, if they were to go public, what would they be going public as? A couple?! Friends With Benefits? Who knows? As far as Kat is concerned, they haven't had "The chat" - and everyone knows what she means by that! Whether their fling is something casual or whether it's leading to something more serious? I mean, at first it probably was just a bit of fun, but it's seems to be escalating as time goes on. Does Kat maybe want more from Phil than just fun and a romp? Are there feelings slowly growing for each of them?!

Later on, as Kat is doing her shopping in the Minute Mart, she happens to overhear Phil on the phone booking a couple's holiday away, from the sound of it, it sounds very romantic, a sea view cabin in a glorious destination! Poor Kat, she instantly assumes that Phil is booking them an exotic get away and instantly grabs a bottle of sun lotion! As the day progresses, Kat eventually finds Phil alone in the Arches and shows off the sun lotion that she's bought, asking him to wipe some on her back. At first, Phil seems to think she's joking, but as it comes clear that Kat believes they're going on holiday together, Phil puts her straight claiming that the holiday he has booked is actually a honeymoon for Ben and Callum.

Poor Kat instantly feels completely humiliated. Is she wanting to actually enter a proper relationship with Phil or is she getting the feeling that this fling is going nowhere? Everyone knows that Phil isn't the romantic type, but of course he was doing a nice gesture his son on his fiancé. I guess it's fair to say that Phil and Kat don't want their relationship to become public, but they still want to be together - whether that means intimately, emotionally - it could mean everything. Phil actually admits that he actually does like Kat and in a attempt to make it up to her, he suggests they go for meal, just the two of them.

Kat smiles, admitting that he's not exactly Shakespeare, but she's happy to finally be going somewhere with Phil other than the bedroom. Later on in the evening as Kat and Phil go their separate ways, Kat opens her front door to find a bunch of flowers left on her wall, reading the tag on the flowers she realises they're from Phil, maybe there is a romantic side to him after all?! Only, as Whitney witnesses Kat laughing on the phone to an unknown male, gushing over the bunch of flowers, she approaches her claiming that while Kat appears to be enjoying herself, Kush's life is on the line, he's facing prison simply because of Kat! She can't seem to understand why Kat seems to have forgotten about Kush's sacrifice to save his family.  

Quite an interesting episode, once again, a lot of different things happening at once, but I'm really excited to see what happens next! I'm going to try and catch up as much as I can this week, but I want to thank you all for being incredibly patient with me! It really means the world! Thank you for your on-going support and I'll be back again very soon! Enjoy the rest of your day! Love you all xXx

[vczxcxx]

Dwangela

When I watched the office I expect myself to fall in love with Pam/Jim dynamic but I fell in love with Dwight/ Angela dynamic.

I don’t know it’s just something in their chemistry, the slow-burn, the angst and the frustration made me root for them till the end. Kudos to Rainn Wilson and Angela Kinsey for playing them so well. I mean Angela is the complete opposite of Angela( if you listen to podcast of her and Jenna and interviews). With Rainn, he gives a bit of Dwight vibes but still different from him. Overall, Dwight and Angela is so different and the same time fits so well together. They are both miserable without each other but wouldn’t admit it. I am also a sucker for smol-tol couples. I mean Angela’s height barely reach Dwight’s shoulder and that’s with shoes.

Season 2- I presume that’s when their relationship starts? I love their little long glances here and there. And the sexual tension🔥kudos to Rainn and Angela for playing it so well. I really love the moment where Angela gave the bobble head to Dwight and you could see the genuine bliss from his face, and him asking Pam for gifts ideas is just so adorable. I love from here on you could see that Dwight is such an odd character with weird personalities but he treat Angela like a gentleman, respects her and clearly adore her. I also love how Angela is so supportive of her boyfriend especially the episode where Dwight was the best sales man.

Season 3- This season we get to see more of their relationship. I personally love the Christmas episode where Dwight was comforting Angela after the day she had: that little handholding again proves that Dwight is a loving and supportive boyfriend and also we got to hear their nickname to each other. I love how Dwight called her monkey and how Angela called him D so affectionately. I have a little theory of where the nickname derived from; maybe it’s like a code name for each other cause in a deleted scene in the episode where they go meet Jim in the convention, Dwight was calling Angela in front of Michael; and he was using her nickname. Or maybe when she was staying over, there was a high shelf that she could not reach so she climbed around since she did not want to ask for help, and Dwight was witnessing it quietly, thus decided to call her that. Of course, at first Angela would not agree to be call an animal but secretly she likes it because it’s their little secret. Then the convict episode, they decided to sit together as most of the episode prior to this episode you never seen them sitting together just glances here and there. I also liked Dwight’s iconic smirk, that lil smirk they he puts whenever it involves his lady friend. There are so many more that I love.

Season 4&5- for me these 2 season is filled with angst and made me feel sorry for Dwight. The first episode of season 4 started well with their secret gate away place with Angela asking Dwight to take care of sprinkles but Dwight has to mercy kill sprinkles: it’s cruel and inhuman, I understand and feel sad for Angela, it’s one of her first cat that she adopted and it meant a lot to her. She thought Dwight would understand but he went and kill her cat and the part where he wanted to compensate her with garbage; that was so cute but was hoping Dwight would understand that no cat will fill sprinkles gap but still the image of Dwight and the cat; just cute. I think they would gotten back together much faster if they communicate sooner. My heart breaks for both of them but my heart breaks more when Angela started to date Andy. Personally, they are the weirdest couple combination(even worse than jan/ Michael). Dwight proving that he could win against the computer is so Dwight if winning back your lady friend; and Angela not having any of it makes my heart ache for Dwight. And the part where Angela agrees on going out with him:( I just feel like Rainn did such a good job portraying. I feel like the whole season 4 is the phase where Dwight tried to move on but fail( again foreshadowing that they belong together). But they eventually got back together I guess during the episode where nobody was in the office except them. Again their sexual tension filled up the whole office and you can literally feel it( foreshadowing that they are going to get it on in the finale of season 4(?)) in season 5 we open with them getting it on in the warehouse( indication been going on since the summer). Now Cheating is bad and immoral, it would be better that would have communicate, and again I think it’s both their fault. I think Dwight was desperate in any means to be together with Angela because of how he loves her. His love for her burns with a passion so much that he would do anything just to be with her. And I feel like Angela was just meh just contemplating if she wants to take the risk( of being with the one she loves) or some one more safe and stable( Andy). She’s conflicted and at the same time has a lot of pride. Personally, at this point I hated how she handled the situation leading them on. During the duel episode I am kinda glad they both left her. I think at that point she realised how she should have thought it through with the men in her life; being greedy and holding on will make you lose both of them. And I guess they didn’t talk for the rest of the season after that. But we didn’t see Angela’s side of the relationship but it was disclosed in the deleted scenes with the volleyball episode where Dwight defended her; you can see that she has remorse and regret with what she did; clearly she still has feelings for him.

Season 6&7- with season 6, Dwight’s love for Angela is still there but this time he is more guarded and not as reckless as season 4-5 because this woman that he loves hurt him and he’s not sure if he’s willing to go through it again. The episode where he wanted a baby; he asked Angela of all the people indicate that he still thinks highly of her. Of course with how their dynamic is, they have a Contract to go with it; and Angela was hoping that Dwight would fall in love with her again in the baby making process. And Dwight got reluctant as they got through the baby making process. He feel more guarded and reluctant but Angela refused to let it go( her way of wanting to get back in any means(?)) so she found a loophole in the contract and wanted them to procreate for 5 more times expecting Dwight to fall in love with her again. Of course that didn’t work because Dwight seem uninterested to get back to her; so eventually she tries to move on with the senator. I think Dwight wanted to be more alert and not throw himself to love unguarded and with passion. I understand that from what he experienced he wanted to love more cautiously.

Season 8-season 8( we are nearly there), Angela is engaged to the senator. Still she cheated the senator with Dwight. Again they always seem to finds way to get back in any means. Again, Dwight is willing to let this affair happen because he still loves her but not like how he used to love her but regardless still love her so he decided to sleep with her. When Philip was born, you can see the elation in Dwight’s face and how he is certain the boy is his and how he still believed till the end of the season. I don’t understand why Angela still wanted kept the truth from him ( maybe to stretch out their relationship( writers idea?)) maybe of her pride and that she did not want to be an embarrassment?

Season 9- the season starts with the paternity test being negative dun dun dun. But I am still convince that Philip is his( as a Viewer anyway). And we get to the episode where the senator is revealed as being gay and Oscar is cheating with the senator. I love how the first person she seeks is Dwight and how Dwight misunderstand the situation😂. He still wants to help her despite everything, and comforted her. The end part of the episode just sends me when they ask tony about homosexuals. I think at this point you can see their relationship continues to heal and reconcile by means of being a proper friendship. I personally love it when during the Christmas episode, Dwight decided to just whip Oscar dying the bershnike part and he did a little glance to Angela . In 9x16, when they were both taking care of his aunt; I guess that is the only time we get to see glimpses on how Angela was when he was dating him( when she was staying over in the farm). And we could see Dwight’s love for her rekindle more; and with the timing and everything with the senator he jumped the opportunity by kissing her and declare that he wanted her back in her life, how they were meant together( that was the sweetest part). Interestingly the slaughter house turns them on😂. I love at this point Dwight put everything on the table and lay out his love for her, but as stubborn and prideful Angela is, she rejected him( i want to make more in-depth writing in this with the what ifs if Angela does swallow her pride and decided to get back to him). And we get to the few episode where Angela’s life when downhill when the senator reveal himself and also apparently cheated on Oscar; it takes a crisis in her life to become a better person like appreciating things around her, the thing she lost( I.e Dwight). I really love the part where Oscar and Angela supported each other, and the hand holding is just shows their evolved friendship. I also love the part where Angela pour her heart out infornt of Oscar. I think the Esther and Dwight dynamic; is a way that Dwight wanting to move on but can’t( with Esther being perfect on paper). Lastly the episode where Philip was in( he’s so cute and he’s look just like Dwight), the inner dilemma that he faces to propose to esther; and the speech that Jim gave to Dwight is just shows even they are frenemies they still have the utmost respect between them. The proposal scene is one of my fav scene in season 9. It’s just so them( I mean even with their last season ended with a car chase) it’s just so dramatic and them. I can imagine what Philip and their other kids would have to face with their parents. That was my finally moment, where I was like finally they admit their feelings🥺. I was literally cheering and screaming. I love the pure elation with Dwight’s face when Angela Said I love you; I always liked the little smile and the smiles where she’s around Dwight. She so beautiful when she smiles. The part with Philip is so I just was so happy. In the finale, the wedding is just so then weird but perfect. I wish they include the part where Dwight made Oscar the godfather.

Overall, I just love them so much; they were such a rollercoaster and I am glad they lived happily ever after with Schrute babies running around. They were also one of my otp who got together after a long time( most of my OTP didn’t make it :,(). I just wished we see more of it after the proposal scene with that 1 year time skip and personally I think we would see more of their relationship if they got back together in 9x16. Really bravo to Angela and Rainn for playing them so well.

[authoratmidnight]

So due to watching far to many episodes of Unsolved Mysteries and being a sucker for all the reunion stories, I’ve had a thought.

Yusaku finally decides to try and search for his family, if only to find answers to who he is and where he came from, after all his last name had to come from somewhere.

So he starts digging, fully aware he may not like what he finds, provided he can find something. He just needs to know, are they alive, are they dead (does he have *any* living relatives) did they ever want him, did they not want him? Was he given up or abandoned?

Yusaku wants answers regardless. If it turns out they are alive and they did want him then he would like to reunite, if they’re deceased he’d at least like to track down where they’ve been laid to rest to pay his respects. If they didn’t want him, well he’ll drop it then.

So he starts digging and researching, going only off his last name and what records the orphanage can share with him.

Eventually, he tracks down a name. A woman’s name.

His mother’s name.

Unfortunately, trying to track down information about her legally brings up very little. Esp since the records he tracks down are sealed and confidential.

But this is Yusaku. He’s bent and broken laws for less.

So the illegal route it is.

Inside the sealed records he finds part of the story.

One is his mother’s signature on the papers, signing away her rights as his mother and giving him up.

The second is his birth certificate. Where she’s listed as being only 16. Barely older than Yusaku.

Now Yusaku wants to find her, to get the whole story. After all, if they have her on record it means she didn’t just go abandon him. She may have wanted him after all.

So he digs and digs and searches, trying to find her.

Eventually (after Ryoken and Shoichi step in and insist on helping just so Yusaku doesn’t work himself to exhaustion) he does locate her, married and living, surprisingly, not to far from Den City(which is why it took so long b/c Fujiki was her maiden name).

So since dropping by unannounced would be a bit alarming, he calls her up first. And nearly breaks down crying when he hears her voice. She’s skeptical at first but they talk and talk (and frankly it’s the longest phone conversation Yusaku’s ever had) eventually she does realize that yes this is HER Yusaku, her baby boy, and the whole truth comes out.

Yusaku was unexpected, after all she was only a teen, still in highschool. And her parents were not at all pleased and forced her to give him up for adoption not long after he was born. And then her family moved, hoping to get her away from her ‘bad influence’ of a boyfriend. Except they ended up finding each other in the end and getting married so that clearly did not work.

They did try to look for Yusaku, except in a case of sick irony they came by the orphanage right in the middle of the Lost Incident. So the orphanage just kinda, shrugged, they didn’t know where he was aside from ‘not there’.

And when he was rescued it was a very hectic time and they ended up never getting contacted and Yusaku was shuttled around and ended up at another orphanage/children’s home until he aged out/became an emancipated minor.

So they do eventually meet face to face and it’s immediately clear that YEAH these are his parents, he has his mother’s hair and his father’s eyes and it’s a very mushy, emotional reunion. Everyone cries, Yusaku especially.

He does introduce them to everyone, after delicately explaining about the Lost Incident and what happened to him when he was six. (Ai is ofc the last one introduced to them b/c oh boy that takes a lot of explaining)

[gemder]

a bubbline wip, featuring a dissociative episode by our fave punk rock vamp. set shortly after Stakes.

She doesn't know how long she's been hovering over the couch like this, with her gaze trained on the bumps and dips on the ceiling and her bass planted in her arms. How many times has she sung that old song, so old and resilient it survived the death and rebirth of the world (and the both of hers twice over, now) just by hiding in the corner of her mind she doesn't like to visit? She can't see the sun or moon rise through the entrance to her hideaway from this part of the house, and the cave-imposed darkness tells her nothing of the time or how much of it has passed.

She doesn't dare budge from her spot. She's been turned twice now; she knows from experience that any sudden action, anything to startle her base thought process, could spark that bloodlust from last time. That was some ugly biz, if she remembers correctly. It's been a while, but something like an uncontrollable urge to drain the lifeforce of every living creature within 30 miles sticks to you. She's just going to have to wait it out, until the itch in the back of her throat dies down and she doesn't worry it'll become an insatiable burning for hot blood, no matter how long it takes.

Marceline has had an excessive amount of time to learn how to be alone; 1003 years, in fact. So why does it never get any easier? Why does being left never hurt any less? Why does she seem to be so completely destined for eternal loneliness? What asshat decided she deserved to spend the entirety of her neverending life without a single constant presence?

Mom went out with promises of keeping safe and finding food and I love you so much, sweetie, that alone is strong enough to bring me back to you. It took two weeks before little Marcy came to the conclusion that her mom wasn't coming back with food or supplies, or even returning empty handed. Simon let a stupid magical crown take over every single cell of his brain and wrote a bunch of scattered letters about it while it happened instead of, you know, telling the frightened 7 year old she was going to be left soon. Dad just up and left to go back to running the Nightosphere after a few weeks, with nary a parting word nor any notice. Her post-apocalyptic comrades had no choice but to flee from an otherwise inevitable extinction. Bonnie had to go and grow up, and in the process decide that her 900-something year old girlfriend wasn't mature enough.

(She checked that old, busted up camper as often as she could over the following months. There was never another life in that thing after she hopped down the little steps and let the screen door slam back with the carelessness of a 6 year old.)

(She found a decomposed corpse months later that just happened to be wearing some torn up rags that looked like her mom’s old sweater and jeans. It must have just been a coincidence, though; there were a lot of recently dead back then, and even more moth-eaten sweaters in the world.)

(“I’m trying to save you, but who's going to save me?” ‘I don't know, old man, maybe you could have saved yourself? You could have not purposely used the magical relic that was making you go bananas?’ If a 7 year old could make it through the apocalypse without magic then so could a fully grown man.)

(He left her to survive on her own in the name of being executive manager of hell and he still wonders why she wants nothing to do with him, why she used to have such a hard time so much as calling him “dad” when he’s never been anything like what she was lead to believe dads were supposed to be like.)

(She’s 1000 years old, how in the name of the nightosphere could she not be mature enough?)

(Over the years she’s replaced the world “hell” with “Nightosphere” the same way the being once referred to as “God,” back when even she was young, is now called by their proper name of Glob. The Nightosphere really is hell, so it fits.)

(Sometimes she takes the time to think about how she's the heir apparent to the actual, literal, real life hell, and how she's one of the oldest beings around these days, maybe the oldest to still really be sane, but still a messed up teen.)

(She doesn't know how old she was when she was turned; years and months and all that are hard to keep track of when the species that invented it is all but extinct. Is she old enough to drive? Probably. She does and can regardless, because screw the old ways. Old enough to drink, smoke, vote? Debatable. The point is that she’s 1000 years old but actually, like, 18. What the fuck.)

She drifts, both mentally and physically. She's had plenty of time and isolation to ponder the Big Things about life and the world and why and how things happened the way they did, and what it means. She will have an abundance of opportunities in the future to think about these things, too. Some day she'll reflect on this part of her life in the far away, nostalgia-filtered sepia tones she currently thinks of her childhood and adolescence. She'll remember when Finn and Jake were the heroes of Ooo, when Simon used to chase after princesses who will have long since passed, when she couldn't get over her ex-girlfriend who happened to be sentient candy. It will be distant and she will miss it terribly, the same way she misses her mother, and Simon when he was Simon, and fries in a long-abandoned diner. But it will be a wound long since closed and numbed, like the deep scar she got on her calf sometime in her early teens that still exists today, preserved in her immortality and a sentimentality that prevented her from insta-healing it away, sting and blood long gone.

She has forever to reminisce, but only right now to live in the present. She makes mental patterns in the bumps on the ceiling, and slowly loses grip on her body. She is a million miles upwards, where the sky holds no oxygen and the stars are still pinpricks in a sea of indigo construction paper. Like a kid poking holes in the top of a jar of lightning bugs, equipped with a fork and enthusiasm at being able to destroy something for the sake of encapturing something else. She is, at the same time, hovering above her uncomfortably hard couch. One of her hands slips from its place atop her bass, and Shwabl licks it from his spot next to her on the dusty carpet.

She doesn't hear the knock at the door. She is right there, but she is centuries back and in a different part of the continent entirely. She doesn't hear Bonnie getting increasingly agitated, trying and failing not to raise her voice at her through the door. She doesn't notice when Bonnie lets herself in regardless of Marceline’s lack of response, or when Shwabl jumps up to attention at the guest.

It's the “Marceline, what -” that breaks her dissociative spell. That tone of exasperation in that particular voice is a very familiar one, especially within the last decade. She comes to to find that there are fresh tears in the corner of one eye and the words to a song as old as her youth on her lips.

“Oh, hey Bombòn. How goes it girl?” Marceline has had a millennium to convince the world that she's chill and totally not a big mess, and it shows in the lilt to her voice that screams ‘I'm just chillin’’ and not ‘I've been dissociating and crying and probably singing for who-knows-how-long and I'm really messed up’. She still doesn't dare move from her spot, because moving around could still trigger what she's trying to wait out.

“It's been three weeks, Marcy. Three weeks, and all that heavy biz, and no one's heard from you since. Doesn't that seem even a little bit irresponsible to you? Didn't you think people would worry? Or even wonder ‘hey, what happened to that girl who saved all our butts and got revampified?’”

“Dude, I've just been chilling. You know how it is; jams, games, pets, it keeps a girl busy. It’s cool. Ice cold, in fact.”

Bonnie sighs. Marceline has heard that sigh a million and three times over by now, and she's learned to like that particular sound from the pink girl; it's the one thing about herself that she can't manage to sweeten to the point of oversaturation, until it (like the rest of her) is practically dripping sugar. Marceline likes to deal with the authentic rather than the idealized versions of people, because the latter rarely ever means anything good is coming her way.

(She rationalizes that the Ice King component of Simon, while not idealized, is not authentic in the least; the products of full humans getting mixed up with magic seldom are. The authentic Simon Petrikov is the one who found a 6 year old girl in the ruins of a suburban New Mexico town and still had enough selflessness in the aftermath of the apocalypse to comfort her and take care of her.)

The sigh doesn't lead to the reprimanding the vampire expects. Instead, she watches as Bonnie leans down in her peripheral vision to pet Shwabl, expression focused intently on the dog. She's doing that same schooled neutrality shit she used to do during those globawful trade meetings - the ones Marcy used to steal her away from the go gallivanting through the rock candy mines.

“What kind of sweet tunes have you whipped up, then? Lay it on me girl.”

Marceline lets her face adopt a smirk - the expression has become a reflexive habit after centuries of being a bitter undead loner - even as something in her stomach drops. Bonnie rarely asks about her music because she knows so much of it is personal, and that which isn't is vulgar or morbid and prone to being shared regardless, not to mention the fact that Bonnie’s interests definitely don't lie in the arts, or punk rock music, or most of the uglier parts of Marceline.

“You know my latest album is the epitome of personal mush, Bons. It's so personal I'd have to kill you if you heard any of it. But, I do have a new demo about a fisherman.”

Bonnibel definitely wants something out of her; she has that smile she reserves for Cinnamon Bun and Finn when he's going on about dumb 13 year old boy things, the one that's polite and reservedly encouraging, the one that Marcy has always found to be condescending although it always looks as sweet as its wearer who is literally made out of candy, almost as sweet as the girl’s public persona.

The thing about being 1000 years old and also a teenage girl is that you spend forever being a socially-minded person on some level or another, because back in the day that's how girls were socialized to be - social-driven creatures who cared more about what Allyson wore on Tuesday or what Theresa said about Serena in math class than anything practical. So Marceline has had a long time to notice the tells and ticks of the select few she surrounds herself with often enough to care about. PB smiles like her kindergarten teacher used to on particularly trying days when she thinks the people she's with are idiots but can't call them out for it. Her eyebrows droop when she's so tired that sheer willpower will no longer keep them up. She plays with her hands when she's nervous. She used to chew on her hair when she was younger and in the process of creating her kingdom, when stress was a new feeling she hadn't yet made a feedback loop out of.

This is totally, completely because of the sexist socialization of the old world, and nothing else. Totally not because they dated for a good chunk of time, or because one or the other might, maybe be having rose-coloured thoughts about the other again.

“Everyone and their granny has heard that one, Marcy. If you've had all this time to do nothing but groove and game then I wanna hear some tunes! Don't be a butt about it.” She's trying to gode the older girl, but Marceline is itching to get out of this particular conversation. Somewhere in her cursed, mostly re-dried blood she knows this is a test.

“I don't bust into your lab and start interrogating you about your experiments - can you just lay off, man?” she says it more harshly than she had meant to, but being yanked back to reality and immediately questioned over every move will do that to a person. “Tell me what's been going on in Candyland. You finally get all the earwax off of your junk?”

“You know if you did ask about my science experiments I would be happy to tell you all about them - well, the ones that aren't classified. It's called caring, Marce, it's a thing that friends do.”

A tense silence follows as Marceline thinks of something biting (but not petty!) to throw back at her.

“And yeah, actually, I did. The dingus left a huge mess but there's nothing my purple cleaner can't get rid of.”

Bonnie can't leave a single box unticked, can she?

“Glob, that stuff is nasty. The fumes make me gag, and I don't even need to breathe!”

The princess raises a brow at her. The queen furrows both of hers in frustration and fixes her gaze back on the bumps on the ceiling. When she was younger she used to make images out of the dips and dots in the kindergarten room ceiling; the RV’s was smoothed and didn't allow that particular part of her imagination to play around.

“And I think the expression you're looking for is sharing is caring, Bubs. It's a thing they used to say waaaaaaaay back in the day whenever the old people got tired of little kids fighting over toys.”

*******

this was gonna be a longfic feat. mutual pining by our fave disaster gays and more references to marcy’s life pre- and during the apocalypse bc i have a lot of feelings about Stakes. might come back to it, who knows!!!

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 32

[Tephi]: Finally.

Last time: Ed set extreme debt repayment terms, Kimblee gave a gift, and Scar dabbled in facelifting. Onwards!

The search for Shao May continues, although all the Elrics have found so far are little black and white pugs, not pandas. Meanwhile their quarry is with the person they’re actually trying to find for lessons, grabbing supplies for the road trip north. Episode 32 - “The Fuhrer’s Son” Ooh! An episode around the Fuhrer’s kid? We’ve seen a him a few times when Bradley’s with his family, I’m down for an episode that explains how this all works. We know that he’s adopted, but not why the Fuhrer’s gone and gotten married as well. All just a cover to pose as human? At the train station once more, Conductor’s sending off an East City train. May runs through the crowds, slowing down by some MPs who are discussing Scar. Meaning she’s distracted and bumps into someone, dropping her groceries and Shao. Whoops. Nothing to see here, officers? ...uh… So we aren’t actually supposed to buy this disguise, right? I mean, I’m fairly certain that’s a dude in a paper-thin disguise as an old lady. Keeping track of the Xing princess? If so, for who?

Wow, for a princess in a faraway land May is really free with her information, saying that she’s transferring to a North-bound train. Then again, she decided Yoki was a person of good repute. Disguised Old Lady notes… whoops. Apparently she actually is a lady, seemed confused at such an odd cat following May. Later that night, down in the sewers, a cloaked figure is supporting another. Wait, Scar is here? Then who was the cloaked figure that May guided onto the train? I’d thought that it was Marcoh still recovering from his Hand of Rearrangement, but for some reason they’re down here in the sewers and not on the outbound train. How do they expect to get to the North, then? Cops are chasing the duo with flashlights and guns, until the duo becomes just Scar pulling a Creepy Clown at them. Rockslide, and escape through the dust. Later, coppers! In Central Kimblee’s going over the case files, noting that the Scar Sightings are trending towards the West. Buddy, I get leaving a false trail, but how far are you going to go before turning right? Kimblee’s on the case now, takes his entourage of Blue Shirts to a large marble building… and passes an old lady with a cane and shawl on the stairs. Once at the train station could be brushed off as odd, but seeing her here now? Old Lady, what are you up to? Kimblee even picks up on it despite this being his first interaction, calls her suspicious but then turns back to pursuing Scar. Methinks you’re going to regret that later. A church bell is ringing on a clear day, we’re UUUUUGH we’re at Maes Hughes’ grave. Stop reminding me of his fridging, show. Roy is paying his respects as YOU. Ok, who is Old Lady? She shambles up and makes small talk with her, do you… … … WHAT GENERAL GRUMMAN?!

Wow, just… wow. Ok, back to serius biznis. I know that it’s difficult, Roy, but keep it together. Dude may be eccentric, but he is a General. You called him for a reason. The Elrics are taking a break from the fruitless panda search to look up Alkahestry in the library. Oop, back to the Colonel and the General. Grumman’s been updated on Central being controlled by the Goths, and his minions scattered/held hostage. Grumman talks about how he himself was asked about his opinions on immortal soldiers, when he dismissed the idea as ridiculous he found himself transferred to the East. On the plus side it means he was free from the Goth’s corruption, but unfortunately it’s left him off to the side cleaning up messes. Even the small successes he’s earned, like pacifying the Liore riots, were undone when Central forces were deployed to replace his own. And here he is, so close to retirement welp he’s dead. Nice knowing you, ya kooky general. Alright, so the General’s in on the plan. But more immediately important to our heroes, he recognises the panda sketch that Roy is carrying. Quick, to the library! No luck for the Elric brothers, in all the library they can’t find anything about Alkahestry. Guess they’ll have to head to Xing- HE RETURNS! ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY ARMSTRONG!

Towering over the bookshelf, he easily pushes them aside to reach the shocked Ed, then shushes him for being loud in a library. Never change, man. Well, I dunno if I’d have send The Mighty Armstrong to ‘quietly’ tell Ed about his target moving North, but you gotta use the tools at hand. Ed’s got a path now, time to- A letter of introduction? For ‘her’? Someone past North Command, at a spooky looking black wall-

-an officer nicknamed “The Northern Wall of Briggs” Major-General… … … … Major-General Armstrong Tank-Lady is Major-General Armstrong … … YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS Move over mid-ep character cards, I no longer care about Mrs. (?) Grumman or even the Fuhrer’s adopted kid Selim Bradley. You think that you can tell me that there is another Armstrong in this setting, who’s basically in charge of the Night’s Watch?! Fudge that, push those nobodies aside and get moving north!

Wait The new Armstrong… how is she related to our current version? She didn’t look old enough to be his mother, and sharing the same name… Tephi. Tephi. So help me, if you knew that we would be getting to a sister of The Mighty Armstrong and didn’t make me watch this show faster- Screw it. Calling it now, I need to see The Powerful Armstrong as soon as possible. I am now updating at least twice a week, Wednesdays for sure and whenever I can fit an episode in elsewhere. I need this character! Ok, freakout is mostly over. Moving on! Scar and Marcoh are still heading the wrong way, although as they’re on a bridge over a bunch of train tracks I think I know their plan now. MPs are catching up Scar and now-obviously Yoki, the two are cornered on the bridge… just as a train whistle blows! Now, as long as the cops just stand there and don’t try to move forward and restrain you, this should work. Oh yeah, smoke from the train! That’ll help, the cops just stand uselessly as the train passes and the two fugitives are obscured, and are shocked to see them gone after the train passes. A+ job fellas, I’m sure your boss will be happy with your performance. Wait, train for West City? Why? Don’t you need to go north?

Poor Al is still pouring over the books for any hint on Alkahestry, remarking May’s use of long-range transmutation. Huh, so Alkahestry differs in being more capable of medical uses and in ranged abilities? I wonder if Alchemy has any advantages over it? Sudden shorts? Ah, it’s you. The kids who I was initially excited to learn more about but now view only as an obstacle from The Powerful Armstrong. Go on, shoo! Ok, fine. I’ll give you points for recognizing Al as the Fullmetal Alchemist’s brother, not Fullmetal himself. But as exciting as it is to meet a Main Character, watch the volume; this is a library after all. Selim/Fuhrer Jr. asks about all the books Al has piled around, Al wishwashes about researching medical techniques when Ed runs up, yelling about heading out of town. Aw, Selim’s a fan of Ed, too! Doesn’t know enough to not call Ed short, though. Ed is angry rrright up until Selim’s Secret Service put guns up to his head. What, you two didn’t know this was the Fuhrer’s kid? Awkward… No, scratch that, this is awkward. Getting invited to the Bradley household for tea? How did that happen? I get that Selim is a fan of the Elric Brothers, but still… smalltalk has turned to Selim talking about learning Alchemy and working with his father. Ouch. They can’t know what Bradley is really up to, of course, but it’s hard reconciling what we know with this little family, a son in awe of his father and a mother wistfully remembering their first date. Um. Papa Bradley’s home. And he is NOT happy to see the Elrics. He’s already been established as their enemy, holding the threat of harming Winry against them. To walk into his own home and see those two sitting across from his wife and kid? Simple cover or something more, he’s clearly taking that as a threat.

The awkwardness increases! Ed struggles to reconcile this peaceful little family with the truth, and Bradley makes a veiled reference to Ed’s own family before heading back to work (Selim pouting at the briefness of the visit), with Riza following behind Eventually Ed and Al make their goodbyes, promising Selim that they’ll visit again later. I wonder, will that be before they at best arrest or at worst kill his adoptive father, or after? Regardless, time to move on. North! Scar and Yoki are still hanging out in their train car, as Kimblee’s goon squad searches others. Kimblee looks over the map, notes the rocky mountains. Train slowing down at curves, with a person who can change the ground for a safer landing? They jumped off way before West City, and Kimblee sees something to the north that makes him grin. North, north, north, everywhere we look people are heading north. Let’s get there already! Post-credits scene! Ed and Al are on the train, looks like Ed’s added some winter padding to his regular red coat outfit. The brothers remark that it might be neat to see some snow, they never got much back home. Weak midwest winter weather, am I right?

[m00nslippers]

just because the batboys dont see themselves as siblings all the time doesnt mean they don't all have the same (adopted) father. at any one point in time, at least 2 of the boys have considered each other brothers

Just because you have a piece of paper that says something, that doesn’t mean the feelings are automatic. A document that claims them as ‘siblings’ doesn’t automatically give them a sibling bond, you have to earn that with actual sibling interaction, and until very recently in the canon, Jason did not have that with any of the other Robins. Jason also outright said he was ‘no one’s son’ in Under The Red Hood so at the time he pretty much rejected Bruce as his father, even if the history and feelings were still there. So calling them brothers in any capacity until very recently is just a technicality as far as I’m concerned. But for some people that’s a big important technicality so, okay let’s dissect this argument.

I think it’s a little silly that I actually have to discuss this, but let me ask you the question, ‘why is incest wrong?’  because actual incest is definitely wrong in my opinion but there are real reasons for why it’s wrong, and I’ll tell you why. It’s not just because a religious text or two said so. I like to think we’re beyond blindly following ancient texts to designate who is allowed to have a relationship with who. As far as I see it, there’s two main reasons why incest is bad:

1. Genetic issues with children. Basically if you’re blood-related and you have a kid, that kid has a substantial likelihood to develop a genetic disease just because of how gene inheritance and expression works. Incest relationships that produce children are bad for the gene pool and humanity as a species. Inbreeding is how we got dog breeds that can’t survive giving birth naturally or have a 90% chance of having spine issues and early deaths. It’s objectively bad.

2. Potential for abuse and difficulty in identifying abuse. Basically when you are raised together in the way siblings are, especially with one being older and in a position of power over the younger, there is a huge potential for the elder sibling especially to manipulate or abuse the other, possibly without even realizing what they are doing. Siblings are already supposed to and most likely will care for and love each other, and especially if you are young it would be difficult to tell if any romantic love between the two is because both parties want it or because one feels as if they have to, to maintain the sibling relationship or please the other whom they care about. It just gets really muddy, and difficult to navigate, and it’s hard to tell if the feelings are real or gas-lighting on someone’s end, so at least until both people are adults, it’s really just a situation that should be avoided to make sure everyone stays and feels safe. Avoiding a situation that has a high possibility of abuse is objectively a good thing. 

If you can think of another reason incest is wrong besides “yuck! I don’t want to think of my sibling like that!” then I’m all ears. But that being said, do any of these things apply to the batboys?

Well 1 is a non-issue because they aren’t blood-related and it’s mlm so they aren’t in a child-baring relationship. 2 could be an issue with DickDami or Dick Tim since they do have a decent amount of sibling-like interaction, but if the relationship happens when they are both adults I think it pretty much avoids the problems of number 2. But in the case of JayDick or JayTim is think it is a complete non-issue because they don’t have any relationship at all when growing up and they are all pretty much adults anyways by the time they meet again.

So as far as I can see it, the issues of incest are completely irrelevant to most batcest relationships. Can you wave around a piece of paper that says they are adoptive siblings and therefor their relationship is unlawful in a couple of states in the USA? Yeah, I guess you can, but that’s more a ‘follow the letter of the law rather than the spirit’, type issue. Culture/tradition in the past has said that a lot of things were wrong that if you looked at it objectively you’d see there wasn’t really a logical reason behind it. For a long time relationships between the same sex were seen as wrong but when it comes down to it most of the ‘reasons’ boiled down to “It’s different from what I’m used to so I don’t like it, also some religious person told me it was wrong” (By the way, I’m not against religion here, just against blindly following it and ignoring logic/reality and how certain practices can hurt people.)

Now since we are on the subject, let me just plug something that actually colors my feelings on this issue. When I was pretty young I used to watch a show called House M.D. and there is a particular episode of this show that relates to this subject and really kind of stuck with me when I watched it.

for those who don’t know, House M.D. was a very interesting show where a cynical asshole genius doctor and his crew of put-upon other genius doctors would solve medical mysteries ins a sort of Sherlock Holmes manner (the similarities between the name House and Holmes was intentional on the show’s part). A patient would come into their hospital with a complaint or sickness that no one else could figure out, they would dramatically spiral toward death as the crew clamored to figure out the cause and eventually House, being a genius, would diagnose the patient at the last second as save the day–but he was still a jerk so he was never happy.

In one particular episode, the wife in a young couple came into the ER. She was black and her husband was white, they’d run away and eloped, and been disowned by their families because they were a mixed race couple. But they didn’t care because they were deeply in love and had been there for each other since they were teens because they lived right next door to each other. So she is really sick with something and of course everyone scrambles to figure out what the problem is to save her and the whole time her husband is there for her and being loving and wonderful, refusing to leave her side.

Because that’s how this show works, there is a dramatic reveal that isn’t really relevant that is actually some genetic issue or something. But since their relationship was such a focal point of their situation, House had gleaned enough information about them to realize a disturbing truth–the loving husband and wife who were each other’s only support had been half-siblings all along and didn’t even realize it. The man’s father had an affair with the girl’s mother and they’d both hid it. It hadn’t been obvious because on the surface level they appeared to be different races, but they both had a rare color of green eyes. Their parents weren’t against the couple because it was interracial, but because it was incestuous, but hadn’t told either of them. The husband had to be tested for the same genetic issue as the wife and both were devastated at this realization. We don’t see what the couple decide to do, whether they break off their relationship or continue it. But either way, their feelings were real, their husband and wife relationship was real, and being genetically siblings didn’t change that. Neither of them did anything wrong, they just didn’t grow up as siblings, didn’t realize they were supposed to see each other as siblings.

Now, look. I know this is a fictional story, but it illustrates something that is true to life–sibling relationships are something you have to build. They aren’t automatic, they aren’t genetic, they don’t just happen as soon as you have a piece of paper that says you are siblings. And romantic relationships are something that occur between people who are compatible, regardless of technicalities in law or culture that those involved may or may not be aware of at the time. Judging people or relationships and having expectations about people and relationships based on arbitrary rules and technicalities like ‘technically they are brothers because Bruce adopted Jason and then later he adopted Tim after Jason was dead’  is dumb. It’s meaningless. It really just has no bearing on anything. In most states it’s not even illegal because making an issue of it is based on arbitrary, archaic rules. If someone can give me a solid reason why JayDick or JayTim is wrong or bad, then maybe I’ll change my opinion, (but I still wouldn’t be against people writing it because even messed up and really unhealthy relationships can be weirdly cathartic or interesting to read/write and also do happen in real life–PEOPLE CAN WRITE WHAT THEY WANT EVEN IF ITS ‘WRONG’ THEY DON’T HAVE TO JUSTIFY IT TO YOU OR MEET SOME MEASURING STICK OF MORALITY) but personally I just don’t see why it’s a problem for anyone.

[freshlyjuicedbeetles]

Baby Blues for Baby Blue

Very minor lime content.

TAG LIST (based on who interacted with my tag list post. If you were added by mistake or not added at all, please let me know!)

@sweet-or-sarcastic // @anavrp // @sophiecooper18 // @random-emerald-thoughts // @benjimators // @marvelousavengfulslytherin // @littlevirago // @evielovesfood // @dianenguyenbjh // @brianaisontheinterwebs // @saultnpeppah // @poisonivy123 // @dragonrider167 // @dangerouswxmen // @galevwide

I think we’ve all figured out that Drakken is not a real doctor in any sense of the word. I think he did complete a bachelor’s degree but dropped out of a Ph.D. program at M.I.S.T since it is so specialized like post-graduate work. He probably knows everything he needs to, just doesn’t have the accreditations. I think Drakken is the kind of guy who if he wants to learn how to do something, he does and doesn’t stick to one area. He probably has a STEM bachelor’s degree. As for his projects in the lab, in my mind, GJ lets him do whatever he wants, as long as they can use whatever it is. That’s kinda the catch to his and Shego’s new life; they have to work for GJ. I’d say his interest in fields of science varies which is why GJ allows him anything he wants since he is a genius, but robotics is probably his favorite.

 GJ had given Drakken his own lab with all the equipment he could ever dream of (though they were always low on parafilm). His lab had its own building just outside of the city, but still under constant surveillance from GJ and many of his foes like Senor Senior Sr. and Duff Killigan. Drakken and Shego were still shaky on where their allegiance between good and evil laid. Drakken took the chance to work for GJ because of the near unlimited scientific opportunities. Did he want to study alien protozoa from Mars and the next day build a robot? He totally could.  Shego was just there for Drakken. Eventually, they settled on malicious compliance. They did things their own way. Drakken loved putting Dr. Director’s office supplies in agar. Of course, Jell-O would work so much better, but that was all he usually had on hand.

And he had dozens of lab techs, assistants and attendants to do the grunt work, divided up for each scientific field Drakken dabbled in. He really did not like writing things down or pipetting.

Shego was just starting her morning security rounds with checking all the cameras and entrances for suspicious activity. A couple of raccoons were very interested the garbage last night, a young lab tech was hotboxing in his car at three in the morning and Baker from engineering forgot his key card again, but no Montalban-esque old men or kilted golfers. Cousin Eddie did search the garbage around two in the morning and left with an old monitor but Shego was not concerned.

She stood up to check the entrances and exits for tampering and took a few steps. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. Her vision greyed, and the room spun.

“Shego?” A lab attendant named Kristen who worked in genetics, a pipette in hand asked, concerned.

Shego’s eyes rolled back and she began to crumple to the tile floor.

Kristen launched herself out of her seat, catching Shego before she could hit her head. Other lab workers raced to the scene.

“Should we get Dr. Lipsky?”

“Did she hit her head?”

“Should we call 911?”

Shego’s eyes slowly opened and saw several distressed faces of Drakken’s lab lackeys.

“I’m fine. Jesus, have you never seen someone faint before?” She snapped, sitting up, pulling herself away from Kristen with a glare. She didn’t even let Drakken get that close to her at times.

“Shego, maybe you should get checked out.”

“I’m fine. I’ve just been sick lately. It’s just dehydration or something.” She replied, standing up on shaky legs. “Now get back to work! You’re not paid to stand around!” She exclaimed.

The group broke off, splintering into their workstations, muttering to themselves.

“I bet she’s pregnant. She’s puked nearly every day since last week.” An attendant whispered to a tech as they walked off.

Normally, Shego would have had their hide for such gossip, but the idea shook Shego to her core because it could true. She was sick, her period was late, she was constantly tired.

“Fuck.” She said to herself.

She was not ready for this. It was happening too fast! She never wanted kids until she met Drakken, but her mother’s instinct wasn’t particularly strong regardless. Having Athena around gave her taste of motherhood and she wasn’t happy. It bothered her more than she cared to admit that Athena had been ‘adopted’ by the Possibles.

Shego didn’t feel comfortable in her skin anymore like she was wearing the wrong size shirt. She felt like she had the word PREGNANT written in giant red letters on her forehead and I FUCKED MY BOSS taped on her back. Yeah, she had a beautiful diamond ring on her finger, but he was still her boss. For a freaking doofus, he was good in bed.

What was she going to wear? They certainly don’t make super suits in maternity sizes. She hated to admit it, but she was protective of Drew. Partially because she loved him, partially because it was her job. She didn’t trust anyone else to do her job as well as she could. It wasn’t just that she wanted to protect him from outside forces, no, it was from himself too. Last time she left him to his own devices, he nearly blew himself up and was borderline diabetic from eating crap on the go. Could either of them be at least be okay parents?

Shego couldn’t stand the uncertainty, she had to know for sure. She wasn’t doing this alone either. No, she was bringing that blue idiot who did this to her along for the ride.

She burst through the doors of Drakken’s office like a force of nature, startling him.

“Ever hear of knocking!?” Drakken exclaimed, holding his chest in fright. “I could have had a heart attack! What do you want? I’m waiting for The Dyad Institute to call me back!”

“I think I’m pregnant,” Shego said, her voice somewhere between panic and rage.

Drakken accidentally snapped a pen in half, blue ink rupturing all over his bare hand and desk. “Are you serious?”

Shego shrugged, not sure how to answer. She was serious that she thought she was pregnant.

Drakken stood and bounded towards his wife. He laughed as he spun her around.

“This is incredible!” He exclaimed, happily, cupping her cheek, smearing a bit of ink on pale skin.

“Really? Because I’m petrified!” Shego barked.

The doctor’s eyes narrowed, “Why are you even surprised? It’s not like we’re a celibate couple! We consciously decided to stop trying to not get pregnant.”

“Coming from the guy who doesn’t have another being growing inside of you!” She yelled, punching him in the stomach.

Drakken oofed and hunched over in pain.

“And I didn’t think it happen so quickly!” Shego added.

“Well, go take a test.” Drakken replied, slowly straightening up, his voice still strained, “I can handle things around here until you get back.”

“No!” Shego hollered, “I don’t want people to know!” A big pregnant belly did not work with her image.

“Then I can do a blood test.”

“A blood test!? You!?” Shego hollered, “You’re not a medical doctor,” She spat. “I don’t even think you’re a doctor in general!”

“It’s the most discreet way, Steph…, just you and me.”

“Fine. Where do you want me?”

“Stay here. I’ll get everything.”

Drakken hurried around the lab grabbing the necessary instruments, trying to look inconspicuous for Shego’s sake.

“Anybody know where all the paper clips went?” He asked as he hid a sterile packed butterfly syringe in the pocket of his lab coat.

The scientists shook their heads slowly. The ones who did not see Shego’s episode wondered why their head of lab was looking for office supplies in medical storage. The rest had an idea of what was happening and Drakken’s more than usual unusual behavior only made it more noticeable. Meanwhile, Shego shut the blinds on all interior and exterior facing windows of Drakken’s office.

“Took you long enough!” Shego scowled. In reality, he had only been away for at most three minutes.

“Go sit down,” Drakken instructed pointing to two leather chairs in front of his desk.

Shego sat and he took the empty one next to her, laying out his sterile field.

Her bodysuit was nearly skin tight and did not allow her to roll up her sleeves. Instead, she had to unzip it enough to pull her arms out. The leather material pooled uselessly around her waist as she sat there with the black tank top she wore underneath exposed.

Drakken busied about getting the equipment he needed. He tied a rubber tourniquet just above the crook of her arm and prepared the sterile butterfly syringe.

“How do you know how to draw blood?” Shego asked as he cleaned her arm with an alcohol wipe.

“I figured it out when I was working on the Vascular Visibility Project.” He replied, more focused on her veins as he rubbed her arm, trying to coax one into view. He found a plump vein and was able to draw enough blood for testing.

“How long will it take?” Shego asked as she held a cotton ball to arm.

“Not long,” Drakken replied as he set up the necessary equipment on his desk to read the results, cables going back and forth from the equipment to his computer.

Her hormone levels appeared on the screen. There it was, elevated human chorionic gonadotropin levels. She was pregnant. Drakken had to compose himself for a moment as tears of joy stung his eyes. He never thought he’d be a father and once he met Shego, he wanted to be. He wanted someone to pass his knowledge down to. God, he missed Athena.

“Well?” Shego said, craning her neck to see the monitor.

“We better start picking out names.” The doctor grinned.

“No, no. Oh no, no, no. Run it again, you must have screwed up somewhere.”

Drakken ran to his wife’s side “Stephanie, you need to calm down.” He urged, holding her hands in his own.

Shego started to shake, tears falling from her eyes. “Drew, I’m radioactive, from the comet. Who knows if this kid will be okay?”

Drakken’s thick brow furrowed in confusion, “What? No, you’re not. Who told you that? I’ve tested your DNA…. There weren’t any mutations or deletions.”

“You tested me?!” Shego screeched, feeling violated and ripped her hands away from his.

“Yeah…. I wasn’t going to hire you if you were radioactive. You’d be a liability to me.” He replied as a matter-of-factly. “Why are you so afraid?”

“I’m not a good person, Drew! I’m mean, I’m selfish…”

“But we had Athena…” Drakken interjected before she could put herself down too much.

“Athena was a robot! With preprogrammed memories that we just turned on one day and if my mind serves me, we were pretty crappy to her!” Shego was now sobbing.

“But you’re also brave and loyal. If anyone waited until they were perfect to have kids, humanity would have gone extinct eons ago.” Drakken took some tissue from a desk drawer. He gently moved Shego’s hair out of the way and dabbed her tears, “We’ll take this one day, one step at a time together, just like everything else we’ve done together. And if anyone says anything, I just use them as a science experiment,” Drakken said, a maniacal glint in his eyes which Shego loved.

“Promise?” Shego asked, feeling only an iota better about the situation.

“Promise. We’ll get through this together and our family will thrive!  We’ve conquered so much worse together.” Undeniable love shined in his eyes.

Shego managed a small smile. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad; not great but not terrible either.

[wellesleyunderground]

WU Reviews: Mindhunter Season 2 Episodes 3 & 4 reviewed by Ariana Zarate '11 (@arianazarate89) and Leah Way '13 (@leahway)

Ariana and Leah have combined forces to give WU readers an in-depth review of Mindhunter Season 2, which you can now binge watch on Netflix. If you want to watch the show and then read their recaps, we are posting episode-by-episode reviews on WU. This show is creepy and disturbing, so be forewarned that they may spoil some weird moments for you. But if that’s your thing, dive into the bizarre and wonderful world of Mindhunter!

Episode 3

While Season 1 centered more around Ford and his life away from work, Season 2 is devoted more to Tench and Dr. Wendy Carr (the third member of their taskforce). At the end of Episode 2, we learn that there was a body found at one of Tench’s wife’s real estate listings. Nancy, Tench’s wife, is completely devastated and falls into a panic. We learn that the murder is a particularly disturbing one - a toddler was found tied to a cross, dead. 

Meanwhile in Atlanta, Georgia, Ford is meeting up with Agent Jim Barney to interview two convicted killers: William “Junior” Pierce and William Henry Hance. What follows next during these two interviews is a humbling experience for Ford, who is so used to being able to seamlessly get into his subjects’ heads. Ford’s interrogation techniques are highly intellectual - Pierce and Hance are not. Ford’s usual techniques prove ineffective. Barney saves the day by realizing an overtly intellectual, jargon-laden approach isn’t going to work. Interviews done, Ford checks into his hotel and meets Tanya, which sets off the chain of events for Season 2. Tanya learns Ford is an FBI agent and immediately offers to escort him to his room. Clearly with something on her mind, she leaves only to come back and invite Ford to the best meal in Atlanta. Ford, thinking he was just asked out on a date, quickly showers and freshens up, eager for the date. Much to his surprise, she takes him to a closed restaurant to meet four mothers whose boys have gone missing or have been killed. She begs him to help but the mothers are unimpressed with his age and are jaded about the police or the FBI being able to help. Ford promises to help as much as possible, not yet realizing just how hard it will actually be. Ford and Barney talk to some members of law enforcement familiar with the string of kidnappings and murders but they are unhelpful, saying that Atlanta simply has a high murder rate so nothing is really out of the ordinary and that the real perpetrator is poverty. Soon it is time for Ford to return to Quantico. Dr. Carr has an eye for bartender Kay and she asks her out, in an awkward manner but hey, it was the 80’s and it was hard for gay folks. Get it Wendy! Meanwhile the BTK is somehow confident enough to be sketching women in bondage in public IN THE LIBRARY with headphones on. Like man, you’re just asking to get caught - do that shit in private or I don’t know, maybe leave the headphones off so you can hear people approaching.  

Episode 4

The Atlanta Child Murders have taken a hold of Ford and he tries to persuade the taskforce to make this their next case, putting off their scheduled interviews. None of the team is on-board but new Assistant Director Ted Gunn, who is looking for a way to make this taskforce cutting-edge, is very much interested. A recent report that a child was kidnapped and taken across state lines gives them the excuse to involve the FBI so Gunn sends Ford and Tench to Atlanta, much to Dr. Carr’s chagrin. A frustrated Agent Smith (the fourth and last member of the behavioral taskforce, shunned by the team after he reveals unedited audio to FBI leadership behind everyone’s backs) tells Dr. Carr they should do the interviews themselves. After all, he says, they were the ones that did the background research on the interviewees. Dr.Carr agrees. The interview with Dr. Carr, Smith, and Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. is one of our favorite scenes. It is painful for Smith but a laugh for the audience. Clearly Smith is the guy whose experience exclusively comes from books and papers - this serves him none when face-to-face with a convicted killer. Henley dances circles around the ill-prepared Smith while Dr. Carr side-eyes the whole time before finally taking the reins of the interview. She opts to go off-script…the very tactic she criticized Ford for using. Dr. Carr loosens Henley’s lips by telling her own similar story where she was in a submissive/dominant relationship with an older woman she later left because she was too controlling. 

And can we just all take a moment of silence for the oblivious Smith, who later asks Dr. Carr how she was able to “make up” a story on the fly to relate to Henley. Dr. Carr does not respond. Boy is clueless. #haroldtheyarelesbians

Speaking of gay things - Dr.Carr and Kay go to a bowling alley for their date. Immediately, the contrast is visible in how they dress. Dr. Carr is in a stiff pencil skirt, pretty much what she wears for work every day and, based on what we see the rest of the season, possibly the only type of clothing she owns. Kay is in tight jeans and a t-shirt/vest combo, the uniform of lesbians everywhere. The date goes well but things get tricky when Wendy trips over her words and insinuates that Kay’s job as a bartender is only a temporary thing and she might want to do something “better”. Regardless, Kay is understanding, and they have a fine rest of the night. Meanwhile in Atlanta, Ford is also tripping up with racial relations. Boy genius tells the Atlanta Commissioner (a Black man) that the perpetrator they are looking for for the murder of Black boys is a Black man. Looking at the Commissioner’s face, it is obvious that this is exactly what he did NOT want to hear. The Black community is pointing fingers at the KKK and extremists, which certainly makes sense, but Ford is myopically focused on following the young data that shows serial killers tend to stay within their own race. Due to Ford’s faux pas, the Commissioner declares the kidnapping a hoax, thus nullifying the FBI’s need to be involved. He sends Ford packing back to Quantico.

Tench, back in Virginia early after having been summoned by a frantic Nancy, is about to hear a bombshell. Nancy reveals that their adopted son, Brian (who might have autism but is unconfirmed in the show), confessed to being inside the house at the time of the murder. And what’s more, putting the body on the cross was his idea. Unfortunately, the confession came out when the agent was present, so… yeah it’s gonna be a tough season for the Tench family and the family of the deceased toddler.

[the-lupine-sojourner]

Takara Yamada’s Hero Academia, Season 1 Episode 3 [Eijiro Kirishima/OC] [Female!Aizawa/Hizashi]

Just a warning, this might be the longest chapter yet. Just because I tried to fill in gaps between the last episode and the entrance exam ten months later, as Takara wasn’t involved with Izuku’s training. 

Takara Bio link: Here

Prologue : Here

Episode 1 link: Here

Epsiode 2 link: Here Anyway, hope you all enjoy! 

Quick taglist: @dailyojiromashirao, as usual. I love you, sweetie! Also, I’d like to tag @elite-guard-hardygal bc they are the SWEETEST ever and I really loved talking to them! If anyone else wants in on the taglist, please just let me know! 

For now, let’s get to the story!

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

The next few days, Kāsan and Otōsan didn’t let me out of their sight at all. That meant I did homework at Otōsan’s radio station until Kāsan picked me up, and I hardly saw Toshin-Oji at all. They were both mad I let myself get wrapped up in a villain attack without a license and even a plan beyond backing Izuku up. I was also featured on the news as a ‘brave young woman’ and ‘a real hero’, even being recognized on the street, which was always weird.

Regardless of how heroic my actions were, my parents said during one of their multiple lectures, it was reckless and could have gone badly. I’d accepted their words and explained that I’d just wanted to help my friend, but it didn’t help. By the time half a week had gone by, we’d all sat down and talked it out. I’d promised not to involve myself in any more heroics and they agreed to ease up a bit.

Now, I sat with Toshin-Oji and hummed as I wrote in definitions on a worksheet. “So...your parents were mad?” He asks. “About the sludge villain situation?” I nod glumly.

“Yeah, but at me, not you. They wouldn’t let me out of their sight!” I sigh and put the paper aside for the moment. “They didn’t like that I ran into such a dangerous situation head-first without thinking it through too much. They do appreciate my heroic attitude and willingness to help, though.” I muse.

“Well, they were worried you’d gotten hurt.” Toshinori points out. “As your adopted parents, they’re in charge of you. They must’ve been terrified when they heard what happened and were most likely keeping you in their sights because they wanted to keep you safe.” I blink. I hadn’t thought of it like that.

“Oh…”

“Takara, it’s very admirable to want to be a hero, but you have to understand that, right now, there are a lot of situations you aren’t prepared for. While helping those who need it is what a hero does, you also have to consider your limits.” Toshinori eleborates. “Most likely, that’s what worried your parents so much; they were afraid you’d gotten involved in a situation beyond your limits.” I squirm. He was talking like Kāsan and Otōsan had.

“Yes, sir.” I mumble. He ruffles my hair.

“That being said, the way you handled yourself and your Quirk was outstanding!” He cheers. “I saw you ready to attack, but you held back, knowing it was illegal. That was smart thinking, finding what else you could do, instead.” I giggle.

“Thanks, Toshin-Oji.” I reply. He then stands.

“Now, I’m making rice and sausage for dinner. You like Yum-Yum sauce?” I nod eagerly.

“Yeah!” He laughs and begins making the rice.

“Alright. I’m gonna give you the recipe. It’s up to you to make it, okay?” I nod.

“Yessir!” I cheer and set to work. Toshin-Oji turned on Dad’s radio show, and I caught Dad replying to a few callers wanting his opinion on the villain situation I’d been involved in. It was still a hot topic, even half a week later, mainly because the city hadn’t seen any incidents like it since. And the fact that it was my Dad’s radio show and his daughter been involved in a dangerous situation.

Of course, despite Mom advising against it (villains might try to hurt her to get to us, she said), Dad couldn’t resist telling people for long that he and his wife had adopted me and as such I was sometimes brought up on the show.

“Well, listeners, I’ll say this; my little girl showed amazing initiative, but could have easily gotten hurt, and the boy would have likely been injured, too. Luckily, she was able to defend herself and the boy as best she could and the situation didn’t get out of hand, but it scares me to think what might’ve happened if All Might hadn’t been there.” I blush. It was reassuring that, once Dad had calmed down, he was proud of what I’d done, despite being terrified of the unknowns. I knew Mom felt the same way, deep down.

“You best believe that little girl will be a great hero one day.” The caller muses. Dad chuckles.

“I couldn’t disagree there, my friend. She’ll be one of the best. Now, unfortunately, we’re out of time, but call again sometime, okay?” Dad replies and the man thanks Dad before hanging up. The next few callers are actually commenting on All Might’s punch changing the weather briefly. After all, there’s only so many times Dad can essentially repeat himself before he stops answering that type of question. I frown.

“Did you really change the weather?” I ask. Toshin-Oji chuckles.

“Yeah. My smash swirled the clouds closer and somehow that made it rain for a few seconds.” He explains. I grin.

“That’s so cool!” I cheer. He grins.

“Thank you.” A comfortable silence settled over us as I resumed making the sauce. Soon enough, we were seated and eating.

“...Mom said you were going to be teaching at UA.” I note, to resume conversation. Toshin-Oji nods as he finishes his bite.

“Yes. I can’t spend as much time as All Might anymore, and this is as good a way as any to ease out of the spotlight somewhat.” I nod.

“I’d say so.”

“Speaking of UA, are you going to take the entrance exam in February?” He asks. I nod.

“Yup! I’m graduating middle school this year, and Mom and Dad both work there now, so it’ll be easier for everyone.” Toshin-Oji smiles.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you don’t want to, I’m sure they’d let you go to a different- -” I shook my head. Shinso didn’t say much, to anyone, but I liked to think we were growing closer as this last year of middle school progressed. And, as his friend, I had to be there to support him and make sure he didn’t have to put up with the ‘brainwashing villain’ thing anymore.

“No!” I interject. “I want to go to UA. There are a lot of kids from my class that are going to try out for the top school. My friend, Shinso, wants so badly to be a hero, but he’s always treated like a villain because he can brainwash people. I feel really bad because there’s not much I can do to change their minds. They always think he’s got me under his spell or something, so I want to be there to encourage him and help him prove to the world that he can be an awesome hero. And it’s where Mom, Dad, and you went, so it’s gotta be the best, right?” He chuckles.

“You sound like that young man.” He says. “Young Midoriya’s always rambling about wanting to be a hero and wanting to make it to the top.” I raise a brow.

“You’ve talked to him?” I ask. Toshin-Oji nods.

“I’ve come up with a plan to help him get in shape for my Quirk before the entrance exam, actually.” My eyes go wide.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I admire the kid’s spirit and ideals. He’ll make a great successor.” I smile. I’d given it some thought and I’ve decided I don’t care about the spotlight. If I got it, great. If not, too bad. As such, I wouldn’t be a good successor for him.

Whatever gave Toshin-Oji that amazing power, I didn’t want to ruin it. It deserved the spotlight, so let Izuku have it.

“So, how are you getting him ready?” I ask.

“He’s cleaning Dagoba Municipal Park.” I nearly choke on the bite of food in my mouth.

“Wait, what?!” I’d passed it numerous times and it was just a gross pile of trash now.

“Yeah. He’s a hard-worker. He can do it. I planned out a routine for him and everything. He’ll be done by the exam.” I suddenly realize that I need to start practicing myself. Maybe get better with earth before February. Yeah. That’s it! I’d practice in my spare time and try to get a lot better so I can fight even without water. Of course, I should look up hand-to-hand routines, too. Never know what’ll be on the exam. “Hey, Takara!” Toshin-Oi cries, drawing me back to reality.

“Yes?”

“You gonna finish your food?” I nod, resuming my meal.

“Yeah.” I’d go to Dagoba and maybe help Izuku a little. Not much, but whatever I can do, I’ll do. Maybe I’ll try to freshen up the sand or something, make it look like it used to. I had to get used to bigger formations, anyway, if I stood a chance at UA. Determined, I finished my food, helped clean up, and wrote in the last few definitions before the time Dad was picking me up. Then, I got in an hour or so of TV time with Toshin-Oji before Dad rang the doorbell continuously. I sprang up and all but wrenched the door open to make it stop.

“Hey there, Tik-Tak!” I roll my eyes at the nickname, but leap into his arms.

“Hi, dad!” I squeal, letting him kiss my cheeks repeatedly before returning a single one to his cheek. “How was work?” He chuckles, putting me down and ruffling my hair as we walk into the apartment.

“What? You didn’t turn on the radio?” He asks with mock hurt

“Of course I did! We didn’t catch all of your show, though.” I reply.

“That’s alright.” Dad replies. I hug him again.

“I did hear the part about the sludge villain.” I murmur. “Thanks, dad.” He hugs me back, scooping me up and plopping me in his lap when he sits down.

“I meant every word, Tik-Tak.” He then looks at Toshin-Oji. “Sorry about not letting you see her.” He apologizes meekly. “We felt it best not to let her out of our sight til we cooled down a bit.” Toshin-Oji smiles, hands up.

“I respect that. It was probably best, really. I sometimes can’t help getting involved in things I probably shouldn’t.”

“Yeah. I do the same thing sometimes.” Dad replies, bouncing me slightly. “It’s just that Shota and I panicked a little when we saw our kid on the news, in the middle of a fire and a villain situation. Can’t tell yah how relieved we were when you showed up.” Toshin-Oji smiles, putting a hand on the back of his neck.

“I should’ve leapt into action the moment I arrived, but I hesitated. The kids didn’t.” I sigh.

“All I did was put out some of the fire and try to protect Izuku.” I point out. “I probably could’ve done more. I might’ve even been able to get the hostage out, if I’d used my Quirk on the villain.” Dad wraps me in a hug.

“And that would’ve gotten you, and most likely us, in serious trouble, young lady.” I knew that, but it didn’t make it any better. “That’s why I’m so proud that you restrained yourself to the legal limits on what you could do, Takara.” He says genuinely. “But you have to understand; as your parents, when we saw you in danger, your mother and I were so afraid we’d be too late and something would happen to you.” I nod meekly, not up to a verbal response. He then goes to stand and I get off his lap quickly. “But enough about that; it’s your mom’s debut anniversary and I cut the show a little short so I’d be able to surprise her with dinner and a nice cat-themed chocolate cake for afterwards. She’ll be back in two hours. You up for it, Tik-Tak?” I grin, nodding with determination.

“Let’s do it!” We wave goodbye to Toshin-Oji and Dad drives home as fast, but still safe, as possible.

=#=#=#=#=

The door opening is our cue. We know better than to jump out at her, so we sit on the couch (using the sound of the TV as cover) and pretend we’ve been there as she approaches. “Hi, Kāsan!” I cheer.

“Hi, Musume.” She replies happily as I get up to hug her. “You father behave himself?” She teases, knowing we can be a little crazy around the house sometimes without supervision. I nod.

“Yeah. I kept him in line.” She smiles as Dad walks over, playing it as cool as ever. All that’s left is to suggest dinner and head into the kitchen. We hadn’t done much decorating, just a hand-made ‘Happy Debut Anniversary’ banner, but still we turned off the lights.

“Oi!” He protests with mock offense. “I resemble that remark, thank you very much, young lady!” He drops the facade and grins at Mom, kissing her soundly in greeting. “Have a good patrol, Tsuma?” He asks, hugging her. It was a pet name he’s been calling her for years now.

“I did, Otto.” She replies, smiling. Dad nods, slowly ending the hug.

“Well, hope you’re hungry, cus Tik-Tak and I are about to eat the house.” He cries, clutching his stomach over-dramatically. Mom tsks at him as she walks toward the kitchen. Dad winks at me and we follow.

“You’re so over dramatic, love.” She scolds fondly, shaking her head. He grins.

“I know, but you love me.” He wraps his arm around her shoulders and pecks her temple.

“I do- -wait..” She takes in the banner for a split second before Dad spins her around.

“Happy debut anniversary!” Dad exclaims, plopping her down. She genuinely laughs, a rare treat.

“You’re amazing, Otto!” She says, kissing him again. “You remembered the day of my debut.”

“Of course! It’s also the day I knew I was in love with you for real. You took that gang out single-handedly before I got there!” I hug Mom as she tries (fails) to hold back her emotions, snuggling into Dad’s chest.

“It’s also the day you proposed after just a month of dating.” She adds, chuckling. I’d heard the story before and grin every time. They were too cute!

“Well, when you know, you know!” Dad protests happily. “I knew I wanted to marry you and, for some reason, you said yes!”

“I said ‘fine, Hizashi’ because your screaming had nearly deafened me and I wanted you to stop talking. I then played along with the wedding cus it seemed easier than refusing at the time.” It was Mom’s ultimate tease, but Dad knew she was teasing, so it was a bit of a draw. Still, she liked to poke him with that every once in a while.

“Well, it was spur of the moment, but then you said ‘fine’ and I was in too deep to pull out, so I rolled with it.” He replies petulantly. It was his usual response. They then laugh and ladle out soba. I grabbed a bowl and two rice balls and we ate in comfortable silence while watching some movie on the TV, Dad nuzzling against Mom and Mom reciprocating.

All in all, a perfect evening.

=#=#=#=#=

“You’re up early, Musume. Where are you going?” Mom asks two days later, sipping her before-work coffee. I grin.

“Running!” I reply.

“Really?”

“Yeah! I wanna start getting in shape for the entrance exam.” I explain. She smiles.

“Alright then. Don’t go more than thirty minutes, alright? You need to get your body used to exercise.” I nod, tying my shoes.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Turns out, running is no joke! When I get back, Mom and Dad were gone and I am shaking and almost regretting starting this. Maybe thirty minutes was a little much for just starting out. But that’s the price I’m willing to pay to be ready to knock everyone’s socks off at the entrance exam! 

I go through some stretches and drink chocolate milk as suggested and let my breath catch up with me before I go to the garden. I then do some more stretching while making different formations like rods, blocks, and walls. Keeping them maintained while stretching, I hope, will end up making me better at multitasking in a fight. I had no idea what was waiting on the exam, but I knew I wanted to be ready.

Unfortunately, I felt a draw on my energy pretty quickly, but doggedly kept trying.

=#=#=#=#=

After ten months of exhausting training, as well as trying to get a handle on my earth Quirk, it was the morning of the exam. Of course, Mom and Dad were able to drive me. I walked with them, knees shaking as I stepped through the gate. “It’s so...big!” I breathe in awe.

“And you’ll be a student, after today, Tik-Tak.” Dad replies, clapping my back with a solid ‘thunk’ and ruffling my hair. I chuckle.

“That’s provided I pass the exam.” I point out. Dad waves absently.

“It’s a piece of cake, really. You just gotta beat some bots. That’s it!” I pale.

“Oh…”

“Kara, you’ll do fine.” Mom assures me. It was rare she used her nickname for me, so I can’t help smiling.

“Right!” I had to start thinking positively, or I’d never get through this! I happen to spot my school’s group and jog over, waving goodbye to my parents. One of the teachers and kind of an aunt of mine, Nemuri, or Midnight, was passing out test cards to everyone with numbers for assigned seats and the battle center we were going to. I happened to be in A. I look over and notice Shinso. I walk over as we head into the testing hall to take the written exam. “Hey.”

“Hey. Good luck, yeah?” I nod. 

“Yeah!” We find our seats and within minutes, we begin. It was harder than I thought, but I had a decent grasp of the material discussed and finished soon enough. Ectoplasm, another teacher here, was using his multiplying Quirk to proctor the test. I passed my answer sheet to him when I was finished and waited at my desk. Shinso was done minutes later and we smile at each other and I try to think of formations that could help in the physical exam coming up. When Ectoplasm dismisses us, we head as he directed to an auditorium and find our seats.

“What’s up UA candidates?” Dad calls as upbeat music plays in the background. I smile. He was going full-on DJ mode. I wonder where Mom is. “Thanks for tunin’ in to me, your school DJ!” The lights around the outside of the ring came on and Dad was revealed. “C’mon and lemme hear yah!” I was too embarrassed to start a response, and no one else did, so echoing silence filled the room. “Keeping it mellow, I see.” Dad chuckles. I feel bad for him, a little. “That’s fine. Let me get straight to the main show.” Maybe if he acted more like a teacher and less like a radio host, he’d get more of a response, but I suppose it’s also just Dad’s personality. He was too hyper for nervous students. “Let’s talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down, okay? Are you ready?!” He calls in a sing-song voice and I nearly reply, but catch myself. I’d single myself out if I did. People weren’t likely to join me and I can hear Izuku going geek-mode at Dad and smile. “Like your application says, today you rockin’ boys and girls will be conducting ten-minute mock battles against faux villains in super suburban settings! After I drop the mic here, you’ll head to your specified battle centers, sound good?” Still no response. “Okay?” He presses. Finally, I roll my eyes. If someone didn’t reply soon, he’d go nuts.

“Got it!” I call back. Dad beams up at me.

“Thanks, listener friend!” I was grateful he didn’t go further as he gets back to explaining. “Okay, okay, let’s check out yer targets!” On-screen, pixelated models appear for each type of robot, with labels ‘1P’, ‘2P’, or 3P’ on them. “There are three types of faux villains in every battle center. You’ll gain points depending on the level of difficulty, so choose wisely. Your goal in this trial is to use your Quirk to raise your score by shredding these villains like a mid-song guitar solo. Buuut, check it!” He continues, pointing a finger into the crowd to emphasize his point, shaking it back and forth. “Let’s make sure we’re keeping things heroic; attacking fellow candidates is a UA no-no, yah dig?” About five rows in front of me, a student stands up.

“Excuse me, sir, but I have a question.” He calls. A single bulb is turned on to illuminate a young man with black-blue hair (undercut barely visible from the angle I saw him from) and tan school uniform on.

“Hit me!” Dad replies eagerly.

“On the print-out, you’ve listed 4 types of villains, not 3.” I roll my eyes as the guy points out what he means on the sheet. Great. A stick-in-the-mud perfectionist. “All due respect, but if this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful.” I bite my lip, irritated. I’m sure Dad would have explained that other type of robot soon enough, if this guy had been patient. However, Dad listens attentively, nonplussed at the insult to his workplace. “We are exemplary students, and we expect the best from Japan’s most notable school. A mistake like this won’t do.” He then turns and points behind him to Izuku. “Additionally, you with the unkempt hair; you’ve been muttering this entire time. Stop that.” He demands tersely. Izuku looks mortified and Shinso has to put his foot on mine to stop me rising. “If you can’t bother to take this seriously, then leave. You’re distracting the rest of us.” Izuku claps his hands to his mouth and offers an embarrassed, muffled ‘sorry’ as the student then turns back to Dad to hear his reply.

“Alright, alright, Examinee number 7111.” Dad replies, waving his hands up and down as if to calm the student down, then gives him a thumbs up. “Thanks for calling in with your request.” On-screen, the final robot appears with the label ‘0P’ above it. “The fourth villain type is worth 0 points, so that guy’s just an obstacle we’ll be throwing in your way. There’s one in every battle center, kind of a hurdle for you to avoid. It’s not that it can’t be beat, but there’s...kinda no point.” I don’t think Dad’s saying everything there is about that robot, but keep my mouth shut. “I recommend my listeners try to avoid it and stay focused on the ones topping the charts!” The student bows.

“Thank you very much. Please, continue.” He says, sitting down again to a few murmurs about this new development. Dad raises his arms and silence falls.

“That’s all I got for you today, so I’ll sign off with a little present; a sample of our school motto. As General Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down, ‘A true hero is one who overcomes life’s misfortunes’. Now that’s a tasty soundbyte. You ready to go beyond?” I can’t help the hype I feel at the prospect of testing myself in the battle center as Dad finishes with a ‘let’s hear a Plus Ultra!’. I can’t help shouting it out and, surprisingly, a few others join in. “Good luck out there!” With that, Dad steps off the stage. We stand and make our way out of the auditorium.

This was it. Just a short bus ride, and the physical exam would begin! My knees shake so bad, I might end up knocking them together.

How would I do? What would I do?!

[tomeandflickcorner]

OUAT Episode Analysis- Is this Henry Mills?

Woo boy, this episode.  This one was…something else.  While I don’t condone drinking irresponsibly, I really think episodes like this are the reason why alcohol was invented.

We pretty much pick up where the last episode left off, with Lucy finding out her parents’ kiss didn’t trigger a curse-breaking True Love’s Kiss.  She immediately runs off to tell Regina about this.  Regina is initially shocked that there was an attempt to break the curse on account of Henry’s poisoning, so Lucy has to fill her in on how Facilier was able to cure Henry’s poisoning through a combination of voodoo magic and the Glass Slipper.  Unfortunately, this is when Gothel pops up in order to be her usual nasty self.  She informs the pair that the reason why Henry and Jacinda/Parallel Ella’s kiss didn’t break the curse is because Henry no longer believes in fairy tales and happy endings.  Which is a really strange obstacle for them to come up with.  Especially since the last episode clearly showed that Henry was very open to the possibility that the curse was real and Lucy was his daughter.  Now you’re telling me that the Truest Believer no longer believes?  Apparently so, because Gothel states that the belief of an adult is less potent than the belief of a child, and Adult Henry has experienced too much pain in his life to believe as strongly as he did in his youth. (Yeah, as if Young Henry had never experienced more than his fair share of emotional pain and loss.)  Once she’s done gloating, she turns to leave, but not before informing Regina of the ritual that is being performed at this very moment- the one that will wipe all of humanity off the face of the Earth once and for all.  She offers Regina a place among her and the other witches in the Coven of Eight, since Regina had been the one who had been blackmailed into helping cast the new Dark Curse.  Regina, however, refuses.  Instead, she decides to help Lucy in getting Henry reacquainted with his belief again.

As such, Regina and Lucy spend most of the episode trying to restore Henry’s belief by reawakening his true memories.  Their first attempt involves Regina trying to brew up a new wake-up potion.  As she starts to work on this potion, Rumpelstiltskin slinks in, apparently with his tail between his legs.  Naturally, Regina is not at all pleased to see him, as she hasn’t forgiven him for stealing the vial of Anastasia’s magic from her and essentially wasting it.  But Rumpelstiltskin states he’s here with a peace offering.  Taking advantage of the fact that people in Hyperion Heights still think he’s Detective Weaver, he obtained a sample of Parallel Hansel’s blood from the city morgue and managed to extract trace amounts of the memory potion Facilier had used to wake Parallel Hansel up.  Regina, pretty rightfully so, questions Rumpelstiltskin over why he’s willing to help out now, considering he’d knowingly chosen his dagger over Henry’s life the day before.  In response to that, Rumpelstiltskin states that he never meant to hurt Henry, and he’s starting to accept the fact that he might never be able to join Belle in the afterlife, so he might as well try and help the only family he has left.  To be honest, I find that explanation a bit eye-rolling.  First off all, it doesn’t really matter if he hadn’t meant to harm Henry and endanger the possibly of him being cured of the poison.  Because that’s exactly what he did.  It’s a bit like someone causing a car crash that ended up killing someone.  You might not have meant for someone to die, but they did regardless.  As for the bit about him rejoining Belle?  I’m sorry, but did anyone really believe it was even possible for Rumpelstiltskin to get into whatever this show calls Heaven at this point?  Even his attempts at behaving himself this season was simply him trying to earn some brownie points.  It wasn’t done because he simply wanted to do the right thing.  He was only in it for the reward.  At the same time, I guess this could be interpreted as an indication that he’s finally gotten the point and is actually making a genuine effort at making amends for his past actions.  But given this man’s track record, I’m going to need to see if he can keep this new attitude up for an extended period of time before I actually believe he won’t eventually go back to his old ways of only caring about himself.

However, when Regina stops by Henry’s apartment and tries to spike his drink with her new wake-up potion, nothing happens.  Henry is still convinced he’s an ordinary Uber driver, planning to treat Jacinda and Lucy to a mini vacation on Bainbridge Island, that island Jacinda tried to run away to back in 7x01.  Regina is shocked that the potion didn’t work, but she doesn’t give up, trying to encourage him to believe, reminding him of how much he wanted to believe just the day before.  She does so by calling attention to the whole murder wall he’d put together, as well as pointing out the discovery of the Glass Slipper.  But Henry basically rolls his eyes, stating that he’s decided to stop trying to pretend to be something he’s not and just accept reality, etc.

Going back to the drawing board, Regina and Lucy once again put their heads together on trying to come up with a way to convince Henry of the truth and help him wake up.  And you know, I have to admit I’m a bit amused by the irony of this whole situation.  Back in S1, Regina was the one going out of her way to discourage Henry from believing in the curse and preventing it from being broken.  Now here she is, doing the exact opposite.  How times have changed.  Anyway, her and Lucy’s brainstorming session leads to Regina remembering how Emma’s memories returned at the end of S1 when she touched the original Storybook.  They theorize that if Henry also touches the Storybook, his memories will also return.   The problem is, Lucy has no idea what Steppunzel did with it when she died.  Regina, however, has an idea.  She recalls her vault back in the Storybrooke Cemetery and how she kept most of her secrets hidden there.  Regina suspects that Steppunzel had arranged for the original Storybook to be buried with her.  Her suspicions turn out to be well-founded, but…. basically, this means that Regina went grave digging in broad daylight, and nobody saw her and tried to interfere. Sure, Gothel’s ritual was causing a pretty nasty rainstorm that might have been making the civilians want to stay inside, but there must have been people driving to work, the movies, the store etc.  You’re telling me nobody noticed a random woman digging up a grave in the pouring rain?

Regardless, Regina is able to recover the original Storybook, and Lucy manages to get Henry to come to the bar so they can get him to touch the book.  But Henry still isn’t swayed by the sight of the Storybook.  And when he decides to humor Regina and Lucy by touching the book, nothing happens.  Thus crushes Lucy and she runs off in tears.  In desperation, Regina once again shows Henry the photograph of her with Little Boy Henry, also telling him about the adoption papers she tracked down that stated a Regina Mills adopted a boy named Henry Mills.  However, that still isn’t enough to convince Henry, and he challenges Regina by asking her where Snow, Charming and Emma are if the stories in the Storybook are true.  

And this is when Regina finally gives us the in-show explanation for the absence of the original Nevengers throughout this season.  Turns out, when Gothel cast the new Dark Curse, it didn’t just send them all into Hyperion Heights.  It also sent them back in time.

Yeah, throughout this episode, we’d been seeing a sequence with Young Henry, at key moments during his senior year of high school.  Turns out he’d been questioning his place in the world during that entire year. Regina had been expecting him to attend college in Storybrooke (because Storybrooke has a college now), but Young Henry isn’t exactly on board with that.  His issue is that he’s the only kid in town  who wasn’t born in the Enchanted Forest, and that Storybrooke was the only home he’s ever known (apart from the time he lived in New York during the Lost Year, which they don’t acknowledge).  As such, he’d like the chance to stretch his wings a bit and ends up applying to multiple colleges outside of the town.  Regina initially seems to be hesitant in regards to the possibility that Henry might choose to leave Storybrooke to attend college, but she eventually comes around, stating that she knows she’ll have to one day let Henry go.  (Isn’t that the same lesson Regina ends up dealing with in 7x06?  Then again, this IS Regina we’re talking about here.  She does have a history of needing to learn the same lesson more than once before it sinks in.)

Somehow, despite the fact that he’s skipped school countless times during the course of six seasons, Young Henry gets acceptance letters from all the out-of-town colleges he applied to. Something that greatly pleases Regina. (On a side note, one might think that Emma should have been involved in the discussion of Henry’s college selection, but at the same time, I realize the reason why they couldn’t show her participation in all of this.)  However, Young Henry is still not satisfied.  Because he’s realized that his adventures in Neverland, Camelot, Isaac’s AU World, etc. will set him apart from everyone else at those other colleges. He can hardly tell anyone about all of that, so now he feels that attending a college outside of Storybrooke would mean he’d have to spend his college years pretending to be someone he’s not.  So now, Young Henry has no idea what he’s supposed to do.  And Regina admits she can’t give him any answers, as only he could decide what to do.

And basically, that whole sequence of Young Henry trying to figure out what path he’s going to take once he’s done with his senior year of high school and the events of this season…. has been happening at the same exact time.  Okay.  Hey, remember the Wizard of Oz arc?  When they made it abundantly clear that time travel was considered to be completely impossible, and how extraordinary it was that Zelena was attempting to attempt it? And the only reason why her spell ended up working was mostly because Zelena was a magical protégé that managed to be the only one who figured out the secret?  Well, apparently, that’s a walk in the park now.  While I suppose the same could be said about realm-jumping and magic beans, I do have to point out that it was implied that Anton did manage to somewhat salvage his bean field after it was destroyed at the end of S2.  Considering how he and Ruby managed to produce a magic bean during the Wizard of Oz arc, that is.  And Emma also mentioned him in a deleted scene during the Frozen arc.  So it’s probably safe to say the bean field was at least partially viable.  And there’s the matter that Killian Prime managed to obtain a bean in the S6 finale and never got the chance to use it.  Perhaps they ended up planting that bean to produce more fertile bean plants.  So it’s entirely possible that Storybrooke has a healthy supply of magic beans stored up by now.  This, on the other hand?  How is time travel so easy to achieve now?  Are we simply supposed to chalk this up to the fact that this new time-traveling Dark Curse combo came from Parallel Enchanted Forest, and how it’s basically a ‘new world, new rules’ sort of deal?

What really puzzles me is what’s supposed to happen when this curse breaks and everyone can go home  If all of this is actually happening before Young Henry even left on his soul-searching quest,  Adult Henry and his new family can’t exactly just stroll into town after his younger self leaves.  If he did that, then Emma, Killian Prime and Regina would therefore already know what was going to happen during this particular season.  Meaning Killian Prime would have known that Wish Killian was going to try to take his place when he and Regina answered Adult Henry’s SOS.  Not to mention how Regina should have already known that Drizella would misuse the magical lessons she taught her, and how the Coven of Eight would poison Henry to force her to help cast the new Dark Curse.  So therefore, when this whole thing is done, Adult Henry and company would have to travel forward in time before returning to Storybrooke and reuniting with the rest of the family.  Seeing them trying to work their way around this one should be interesting.

Anyway, despite Regina’s best attempts, Henry still refuses to believe.  She ends up theorizing that it’s because he subconsciously blames himself for not being able to protect Parallel Ella and Lucy in the Parallel Enchanted Forest.  All this time, Regina had thought that the pain Henry was feeling over not being able to save his family had been because the curse had implanted false memories into his head, which has led him to believe his wife and daughter were killed in a fire.  But now, Regina realizes the pain Henry had been feeling from that was real, and a residue of the pain Henry felt from not being able to save Parallel Ella and Lucy from the curse.  She once again begs Henry to see that his real family is right in front of him. But to no avail, as Henry won’t accept what Regina is telling him.

A short time later, Henry, despite the fact that she had a considerable amount of a head start, manages to reach Jacinda and Sabine’s place at the same time as Lucy did.  Lucy angrily starts shouting at Henry, stating that he just doesn’t want to believe, and that she wishes he hadn’t grown up, because his insistence at being an adult is preventing him from believing. The exasperated Henry then notices that Regina had slipped the adoption papers into his bag without his knowledge. Initially, he rolls his eyes a bit, but then I guess he decides that it wouldn’t hurt to try and call the phone number listed on the adoption papers.

To his utter shock, when he dials the number, the person that answers the phone is himself, at age 18.  The moment he hears Young Henry’s voice, BAM! All of Adult Henry’s memories come flooding back to him in a flash, resulting in him remembering everything. Well, this is one bizarre way for someone’s memory to get jogged, but apparently, even with his cursed memories, Adult Henry had remembered this phone call his younger self had received before heading off to his high school graduation party.  Because that’s what day it is back in Storybrooke- the day of Young Henry’s graduation party.

Adult Henry is still mystified by this conversation he’s having with his younger self.  But because he remembers how the conversation went on Young Henry’s end, he ends up giving his younger self the same advice he got back then. About how home isn’t about a place, but the people who are in it.  He then tells Young Henry to not overlook the small graduation present that fell behind his dresser.  That present turns out to be a magic bean.  I didn’t quite catch the name on the gift tag, but I THINK it said it was from Anton/Tiny.  Which would make sense, given the contents of the present

So, it turns out that Young Henry got the idea to go on this whole soul-searching quest from his older self. That’s something else.  But in any event, Adult Henty now remembers everything. And when Lucy emerges from her room again, Henry enthusiastically embraces her, finally recognizing her as his daughter.  But before he could properly explain things to Lucy, Henry decides to head back out to find Regina, as he now remembers she’s his adoptive mother.  By the time he locates her, however, she’s already gotten into a brawl with Gothel.  And because the curse hasn’t been broken yet, Regina can only defend herself against Gothel’s magic with a broken stick.  As such, she pretty much get her butt kicked and ends up getting knocked out.  Long story short, Henry ends up breaking the curse with a Regal Believer TLK.  Which I admittedly find a bit eyerolling, but at the same time, I guess it kinda makes sense. After all, Regina cast this new Dark Curse to try and save Henry’s life from the poison, so it’s a logical conclusion to have it be a Regal Believer TLK that breaks the curse.

Meanwhile, in Subplot B, Tilly has joined the other witches in casting the spell that will permanently wipe out mankind.  And because Rogers is tied up, he can only watch.  Right away, we see that this spell is actually draining the witches of their energy, and when their strength has been completely drained, they will intently transform into tree saplings.   So, does this mean that this spell to destroy the human race is actually killing the witches?  Doesn’t this kinda defeat the purpose of what they’re doing?  Last episode stated that they’re trying to commit genocide of the humans so the Land Without Magic will be restored to its original magical state. The way it was before the Mean Girls and their pals massacred the Tree Nymphs.  But if the spell that will accomplish that task will only end up killing them, why even bother, since their deaths will mean there would be nobody left to enjoy the newly restored magical realm?

Confusing motivations aside, Rogers soon manages to break free of his bonds, no doubt subconsciously tapping into the skills he obtained as Wish Killian by temporally removing his prosthetic hand. I did appreciate that part, as it’s the first time we really were able to get a good look at Roger’s modern-day prosthetic appendage.  The moment he’s free, Rogers tries to get to Tilly and get her to stop.  But it turns out that, the moment the ritual began, Tilly fell into some kind of hive-mentality trance and Rogers is therefore unable to get through to her. When Rogers tries to pull her away from the ritualistic circle, he instantly recoils in pain, as a result of the curse upon his heart re-activating in the presence of magic. Unsure of what’s going on, and realizing he might need some help in snapping Tilly out of it, Rogers hurries off to gather some reinforcements.

He ends up approaching Rumpelstiltskin on the matter.  Who finally levels with the man about how magic is real and he’s actually cursed into believing he’s somebody else.  After everything he’s seen, Rogers admits he has to believe what he’s being told.  So he asks for Rumpelstiltskin’s help in saving Tilly.  The two men end up approaching Margot, telling her that Tilly is having one of her bad days and might need Margot to help her get through it. Margot readily agrees to help when she learns Tilly is in trouble.  The three of them travel down to the bowels of the theater, where they find that only Tilly and three other witches have yet to change into tree saplings. Meaning the ritual is almost complete. Margot is a bit taken aback by what she sees, especially when the three remaining witches also transform into tree saplings before her eyes.  But she manages to keep her head in the game, focusing on Tilly and the need to help her. Unfortunately, Tilly is too wired into the hive-mind trance by this point, and not even Margot’s words can get through to her, and she magically throws Margot back before shrinking her, Rogers and Rumpelstiltskin down, thereby preventing them from doing anything to help her snap out of her trance.

But this is when the Regal Believer TLK occurs.  And with her memories restored, Alice is able to come to her senses, leading to a rather sweet Curious Archer reunion, and for Wish Killian to recognize Rumpelstiltskin. Across, town, Parallel Ella and Tiana also wake up, and immediately confront Facilier.  There was a subplot when Sabine started to worry about Drew/Naveen, who still hadn’t shown up for work.  When they found a tarot card in a backpack Drew/Naveen left in the back of Sabine’s truck, which Lucy identified as belonging to Mr. Samdi/Facilier, they went to confront him, only to find that Facilier had somehow managed to get Naveen out of police custody and was holding him prisoner in his broom closet. And when Jacinda and Sabine showed up to confront him, Facilier manages to force the two women into the broom closet with Naveen by using a voodoo doll to incapacitate Sabine.  When the curse breaks and everyone wakes up, Parallel Ella and Tiana immediately try to face off against the witch doctor.  But he teleports away before they can apprehend him. And while Tiana reunites with Naveen, apologizing for taking so long to save him from Facilier, Parallel Ella hurries off to locate her family.

However, there’s still the matter of Gothel, who is not going down without a fight.  And she’s quick to point out that, even with Regina’s magic being restored, it’s not enough to stop her.  That’s when Rumpelstiltskin, Wish Killian, Alice and Robyn arrive on the scene, with Rumpelstiltskin pointing out that Alice’s magic might be enough to take Gothel down.  Alice, on the other hand, has her doubts that she’s strong enough to defeat Gothel. But Wish Killian encourages his daughter, telling her that she’s twice as strong as Gothel.  To further boost her confidence, he braves the pain of the curse upon his heart to stand at her side, grasping her hand.  Interesting that he’s not getting thrown backward by this contact, but I guess the bit about magic working differently in the Land Without Magic still holds up.  And instead of being propelled backwards, Wish Killian simply feels intense pain from being near Alice.  While Robyn isn’t marked by the same curse that’s causing Wish Killian harm, she likewise voices her belief in the strength of Alice’s magic, stating that she’s right there with her, too.

This display of solidarity apparently is enough to rattle Gothel’s confidence, for she starts to resort to her tactic of telling Alice that her allegiance should be to her mother.  But Alice once again states that she doesn’t consider Gothel to be her mother, and that she’ll never be like her.  Because she won’t let herself be ruined the way Gothel was, and will choose love instead of hate.  With those words, the two fire off magical blasts at one another, with Alice ultimately coming out on top.  As such, Gothel gets magically transformed into a tree.  Which effectively kills her for good.  For an idea of how I was reacting to this moment, check out Phelan Porteous’ review of House of Wax and fast-forward to the reaction montage to Paris Hilton’s character dying, starting at the 12:05 mark.

So Gothel is finally dead. (Hallelujah).  And with a voice-over from Young Henry talking about hope, home, family and so on playing over the scene, we watch Adult Henry properly reuniting with Parallel Ella and Lucy.  While in the background, Alice and Robyn watch in silence as Wish Killian is tended to by a team of medics.  Because him standing near Alice for so long agitated his cursed heart to the point when he needed medical attention 

As for Rumpelstiltskin, he slips away to revisit the evidence room he maintained during his time as Detective Weaver. It turns out he’s going there to revisit the scrapbook Belle had put together during their globe-trotting adventure that was briefly depicted back in 7x04.  He was going to try and take a moment to apologize to her because he’d given up on the hope that he’d earn enough brownie points to be allowed to reunite with her in the afterlife.  But when he opens the safe to take out the scrapbook, he finds it’s missing.  Right away, he realizes that it was taken by Facilier.  So he goes off to confront the witch doctor.  But it turns out, I guess, that Rumpelstiltskin’s magic just isn’t what it used to be, because his attempt at placing Facilier into a Force Choke Hold lacks its usual potency.  Or something like that.

But then, with no warning whatsoever, Facilier falls over dead. And guess who killed him.  Wish Rumpelstiltskin.  That’s right, everyone.  We’re now dealing with both Rumpelstiltskin Prime and Wish Rumpelstiltskin. At the same time.

Okay.  So…. that just happened.  And it looks like Wish Rumpelstiltskin will be the final Big Bad of the series.  Where do I begin?  Now, while I am hoping that this means that Regina will finally have to fully acknowledge the fact that she killed real people when she murdered Wish Snowing and therefore left Wish Henry completely alone, I am really peeved that they’re making Wish Rumpelstiltskin the final Big Bad. This is a complete and total rehash of that whole Split-Queen story arc they forced down our throats in S6.  Back then, they decided to go the whole Jekyll and Hyde route with Regina because they felt the best way for Regina to fully ‘redeem’ herself was by giving her an evil twin and pinning all the bad things Regina ever did on her ‘evil side,’ as if the Evil Queen was a completely separate entity. Now, they’re doing the same crap with Rumpelstiltskin.  Because it’s really looking as if they’re going to have him achieve full redemption status by defeating an alternate version of himself.  Sometimes, I’m really astounded that these are the same people who wrote Killian’s Prime redemption arc.  Because Killian Prime was the only core villain in this show who actually had to work to redeem himself and earn forgiveness from himself and others.  But with Regina and Rumpelstiltskin?  Nope, we’ll just have them fight and defeat an ‘evil twin’ version of themselves, and then they’ll be in the clear.   It’s really frustrating.  Especially when you remember both Regina and Rumpelstiltskin were the ones that were constantly flip-flopping back and forth between hero and villain.  The narrative had them saying they were redeemed, but they just kept on doing the same crap they always did.  As if the writers couldn’t make up their minds over whether they wanted these two characters to be full-on Ultimate Big Bad or a redeemed hero.  And it appears that, in both cases, they just gave up and decided to just do both, with a ‘good’ version of the character fighting an ‘evil’ version of the character.  Therefore allowing the writers to have their cake and eat it, too.  I don’t think I’ve ever been this disappointed in the writing for this show than I have at this moment.

Look, I get that Gothel was defeated in this episode.  And they needed to come up with something to do with the remaining two episodes.  And it would probably have been a bit boring to have two episodes focused solely on aftermath stuff. But they could have dedicated the next episode with them working on a way to cure Wish Killian’s cursed heart and allowing him and Alice to properly be together at last.  Also, hello, there was still the matter of Facilier.  I don’t think they ever really explained what his motivation was, or what he was even doing.  Like why he was after the Dark One’s dagger in the first place.  Or why he was trying to force Naveen to spy on Sabine/Tiana.  Not to mention his quasi-romance with Regina.  We could have spent an episode exploring all of that.  But instead, he gets unceremoniously killed off to make room for Wish Rumpelstiltskin.  It’s even more frustrating when you take note of the pattern going on here.  This is pretty similar to the subplot with Merlin. There was quite a bit more they could have done with him.  Such as what his plan would have been to separate Emma from the Darkness if Killian hadn’t received his mortal injury from Excalibur.  It was pretty much established that destroying the Darkness with Excalibur’s blade required a life sacrifice.  So was he originally planning on having the Nevengers kill him to free Emma from the Darkness?  And why did he apparently have a mansion in Storybrooke when he was trapped inside a tree and therefore never set foot inside the town?  Also, Lancelot and Guinevere.  What happened to them after Arthur died?  Did they ever reunite?  The fact that all three of these storylines that were abandoned before they could be fully resolved involved POC?  That kinda makes it even worse.  I really wonder.  For them to just kill off these Black characters when there was still so much potential left to their storylines, or at least throw them down the wayside; do A&E realize how this might come across?  Either they’re completely oblivious or there’s a serious racial issue going on in the writer’s room.  Honestly, I’m not sure which option is worse.

Either way, we’re down to the final two episodes. So… it’s all down the wire, now.

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[stevedonnellyfaith-blog]

Prayers, Blessings and Miracles (Post 49) 8-6-14

                        Over the last several years I have begun to appreciate how important an active prayer life is to anyone who is seeking the Kingdom of God.  As I grew up, prayer was not something I thought about much or practiced at all. Maybe if there had been a superhero that just prayed a whole bunch I would have understood the value of prayer in my youth.  I guess if faced with an hour-glassed activated 30 foot buzz saw blade descending towards his abdomen, Batman had in one episode, prayed a Hail Mary and received deliverance; I would have definitely added prayer to my repertoire and joined the Catholic Church much earlier in life.  Instead Batman relied on his utility belt to extricate himself from difficult situations, knock the snot out of the Joker, the Riddler and the Penguin in time for a dolorous perp walk and the final credits.  After my marriage I did discover many biblical superheroes like Moses, Daniel and Jesus’ sidekick Peter – I had read more comic books than scripture even through college.  Also as a Catholic I discovered the prayerful example of many wonderful saints, who would have made pretty poor action heroes come to think of it.  They are forever getting chopped in half, beheaded and burned at the stake.

Prayer was always difficult for me in adolescences because I was looking for results that were immediate, exact and accompanied by a fanfare of celestial music.  It seemed as if my life was an endless series of unavoidable hurdles: footballs dropped, math tests flubbed and college rejections. When I did pray it was usually to perform well on a Latin test for which I hadn’t studied or for something else that I would have squandered had God provided me.  Because I wasn’t mature enough to ask for the right things, I didn’t perceive any positive result from my infrequent bouts of emergency praying. And it was not as if there wasn’t plenty to pray for in my life.  In high school I had friends all around me engaged in really self-destructive activities. I had a football teammate who left school for cancer treatment.  Also my grandfather waged and lost a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s.   I don’t remember praying in any of those situations.  Maybe I said a few locker room prayers with my teammates before football games, but that was about it.

I guess I suspected that because of my many sins, my prayers would end up in God’s discard pile. Besides, prayer would have distracted me from clearing my endless series of unavoidable personal hurdles.  In the end, I got married and ended the steeplechase. Within a month of our wedding my young wife was very sick, then hospitalized and finally coded in my presence. God had replaced my hurdles with a brick wall too high to vault or climb.  I needed Him to help me.  I prayed with Pam’s family and mine.  Pam’s dangerous pregnancy became routine and we had a first child several months later.

I then began to understand that my prayers worked better when they were joined with the prayers of other people.  I was providing a single strand of prayer that runs parallel with prayers provided by others, or in some cases with hundreds of other people. (Baby Gianna Lawrence comes to mind.)  Our earthly parallel prayer strands are woven with many others originating from the rest of the Body of Christ that resides in heaven.  The grace that results from the interlocking prayers of a group of individuals is always more powerful and effective than a prayer by any individual. Truly when Jesus told his disciples that they would work greater miracles than His, Jesus knew that one day the world would be populated by billions of Christians capable of achieving virtually anything with cooperative praying.

That said, miraculous healing is not always achieved even by extensive prayer efforts, otherwise Pope John Paul II would still be alive and suffering with us.  In some cases, the faith and belief of the person praying is not strong enough to achieve the desired outcome.  Don’t expect to rattle off a quick Hail Mary and win a Power Ball drawing.  In other cases God’s perfect plan may run counter to whatever we are praying for. With regard to Pam’s illness, for instance, there were certainly enough people praying for Pam sufficiently hard to achieve a total cure or for her tumor to remain dormant for many years.  The cure didn’t happen, but I believe something was achieved.  It is impossible for fervent prayers not to release grace resulting in powerful good in this world.  Like a blind night watchman, I am unable account for where all the valuable grace disappeared to.  Yet I am confident that all the prayers went to good use.  I expect we discover what our prayers actually achieved once we cross the veil.  Regardless, I am as sure that prayer always releases grace as I am that gravity will take my pen to the floor should it roll off my desk as I type.  

Throughout the New Testament and even through private revelation, Jesus guarantees us that our prayers are effective and benefit the Body of Christ.  We are assured that prayers work, but because they don’t always work as expected we sometimes lose faith.  For instance, I prayed that baby Gianna would be born 100% healthy without any physical deformities.  While my particular prayer for her, was not answered by the script I wrote, that does not mean that my prayer was ineffective.  It is possible that God recognized that although my prayer looked beneficial from my imperfect human perspective, He had a different and better plan for Gianna and her family.  It is also possible that God recognized that a secondary motive of my prayer was to discredit her doctors, who I thought were giving her family bad advice.  There is no biblical precedent for Jesus assisting anyone in “sticking it to the man,” but an imperfect Christian can always hope for a first time.  

In general, a few simple rules for intercessory prayer will yield decent results.  God best answers prayers when the intentions are formulated less specifically and from pure motives.  Caveats in our prayers like, “if it is Your will,” ensure we acknowledge that God has omniscience and that we may be praying for something that seems good but is actually bad because of our imperfect perspective.  While it is OK to pray for anything that is not sinful, God is unlikely to grant miraculous cures that deny Atheists their freedom to disbelieve.  For instance, if Nicholas’ testicular cancer were to be instantaneously cured, several of my Facebook friends would argue that his healing was a natural occurrence, an actuarial outlier or a placebo effect.  Their freedom to disbelieve would be protected.  On the other hand, if Pam’s earthly body was suddenly reconstituted from the ashes in her family burial plot in Maryland such that she returned triumphantly to order her favorite Orange Dream Machine at the Slaten Ranch Jamba Juice, it would be very challenging for the rationalists to rationalize an explanation for her presence that didn’t involve God.

Miracles then are very real, but usually understated.  Julie Figueroa and Pat Trent were physically healed as many others have been, but without media fanfare.  The image on the tilma in Mexico City is unexplained but also off the radar for secularists.  Consecrated hosts bleed and statues of Mary cry, but never on network television. The sun danced in Fatima, Portugal before tens of thousands of witnesses and made the papers – and then the journalists went on to other stories. Miracles strengthen the belief of believers and seekers while they trouble the doubters not at all.  Their freedom to accept or reject God is not infringed.  Agnostics can choose to believe in Christ or make themselves a bologna and peanut butter sandwich, adopt Dialectical Materialism or surf the web to see what Snookie is up to.  God does not force their belief.

As for me, I choose to pray and to believe in blessings and miracles.  I sought proof of God for many years in books but met Him instead in a time and place of His choosing.  In my view, once you have met God, it becomes a natural obligation to pray, take part in Reconciliation, attend Mass and even sing hymns.  Thankfully, not all obligations are as onerous as singing. Prayer can be especially joyful when your prayers are answered so pray often and persistently.  Consider praying for Gianna and you will experience the joy of seeing her smiling or resting in her parent’s arms at Mass some time.

[keyofjetwolf]

Are you still watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine? Have you completed the first season? What have been your thoughts on it (regardless if you have completed it)?

I am! At the moment, it’s my wind-down-before-bed thing. I just watched another couple last night, in fact. I’m currently oonnn *checking* … I’m halfway through 2x10: “Sanctuary”.

So yes, I finished the first season. I’m really enjoying the show, but I find I’m definitely enjoying some aspects more than others.

LIKE OKAY SO I LOVE KIRA

I loooooooove Kira. If the episode is about her, I’m 10000x more interested. I’m so into her development, as a resistance fighter and now trying to transition into this new world. Her fierce love of her planet and people, and how that clashes sometimes with her morals, and how she has to struggle to make all these pieces fit AND SOMETIMES SHE JUST FUCKING CAN’T. UGH, she’s fascinating and complicated and wants so badly for the world to be black and white but she can’t stop seeing how it’s not.

I LOVE HER SO MUCH

She’s really the anchor holding me to the show in a personal way. In an overall sense, I’m really enjoying how it IS such a complicated situation. There aren’t clear answers to a lot of the problems that come up. Like I just watched one (I’m completely not paying attention to titles, I apologize) where a Cardassian war orphan had been adopted by Bajoran parents, and the boy’s natural father learned he was still alive and wanted him back, but the boy hated Cardassians (and himself) for the war atrocities and didn’t want to go, and the whole thing was really just political machinations for Gul Dukat anyway and like JESUS WEPT WHAT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO I DON’T KNOW. And that’s more the norm for DS9, it seems. TOS tended to pretty damned clear cut in its ideas of right and wrong (and when it wasn’t, that was a huge moral quandary for Kirk to very visibly mull over). TNG would sometimes skirt the grey, but for the most part, there was a “right” path, and Picard would follow it.

Shit’s not that simple in DS9, where they’re sitting on the edge of this tumultuous border. It’s like a plate spinner trying to keep everything going with the whole thing threatening to tumble into chaos at any second. I really appreciate (now, not so much when I was younger) that more complex take on things. It definitely widens the Star Trek universe for the better.

Mostly, I just wish I liked the characters more. As we saw, I am all about Kira. I’m really enjoying Odo as well, particularly now the series doesn’t feel like it’s trying so hard to push him at me, something I was struggling with in the first several episodes. I just the other night watched the one that’s the “Who shot Quark for the list of names?” episode that’s peppered with flashbacks mostly between Kira and Odo, and LOVED it. When it ends with her asking if he can still trust her, and just silence from him and cut to black and HRRN SO GOOD.

Most of the other characters though just aren’t clicking with me. I really, really want to like Sisko, but the actor’s portrayal is still coming off so wooden and awkward to me. And it only gets worse when he’s having a moment where he’s supposed to be happy and relaxed for a change. I’m still holding out hope that he’ll connect better for me, because I love the character on paper.

I WANT TO LOVE DAX. I keep trying, but again, there’s something in the performance that keeps getting in the way. Particularly her relationship with Sisko, I WANT TO BE ALL ABOUT THAT, but the lack of any real chemistry between them pulls me out of every single moment. Her scenes with Kira also come across far too stilted for me to really sink in and enjoy them, but they DO at least have good chemistry, so there’s something there that gives me hope.

Maybe it’s directors or something. I WANT THIS TO WORK BETTER

Quark and Odo’s relationship is very up my alley, but it’s a little heavy-handed sometimes, so I’m not as into it I might be otherwise. I’m also not sure what I want them to DO with Quark, but I hope they do it, because again, I’m having trouble really getting into him as much as I feel I could. Maybe it’s an overabundance of attention right now. Kind of like Data for me in TNG, where I like the character but could do with about 50% less of him constantly.

I REALLY DON’T LIKE ROM AND THAT PROBABLY DOESN’T HELP EITHER

I’m so painfully meh on O’Brien. You could remove him from the show entirely and I’m not sure I’d even notice. I’D LOVE MORE KEIKO THOUGH

And Bashir continues to aggravate the ever loving piss out of me, making me bitter he ruined my Trek Doctor streak.

But it’s a testament to the show that I’m enjoying it so much when I AM struggling so hard with most of the characters.

RIDE OR DIE FOR KIRA NERYS THOUGH

THAT’S OKAY I’LL LOVE YOU ANYWAY

[thebookimaginarium]

Tagged :)

I was tagged by @just-things-i-like-mostly Thank you!!!

What would you name your future kids? I havent yet decided whether I will have a child. “A child,” because it will be just one. I know for sure that I'd like to adopt or at least foster so they'll already have names and I won't have to make that choice. But for my own, if I have a girl, I love long names with unisex nicknames. Like Charlotte/Charlie or Henrietta/Henry. If it's a boy, I like just standard Biblical names spelled the traditional way like Matthew, Jonathan, Elijah, Luke, etc.. I'm not religious or anything, but I love “simple” names for boys.

Do you miss anyone? My extended family in Bulgaria. I actually went back last year and that was the first time I saw them in twelve years which was quite emotional and amazing. I actually get to go back again in a few months and I can't wait!

What are you looking forward to? Getting out of my dead-end job with a crazy boss and going to graduate school. I miss being in an academic environment and learning about things that interest me.

Is it hard of you to get over someone? No, I'm awful that way, really. I move on from people very easily.

What was your life like last year? Most of it was great. I travelled to Europe by myself for the first time. I made a lot of new friends and got a hobby (makeup - I'm obsessed). But then the US election cycle and the election itself happened and I've been on the edge of a nervous breakdown ever since.

What is your life like this year? I don't know. I feel like I'm on the cusp of slipping back into one of my depressive episodes which usually lasts for months and that worries me because I get angry and helpless and I take it out on the people around me which is shitty. It's a combination of my dead-end job with the crazy boss and my constant state of existential crisis, and the fact that America seems to be going to shit very quickly an people are somehow okay with it.  

Have you ever cried because you were so annoyed? Annoyed? Not really. But angry? Yes, relatively recently, actually. Queue memory of me finding out my dad, who is a genuinely kind-hearted and caring person, voted for Trump despite everything I’d said pre-election.

Who did you last see in person? My parents.

Are you listening to music right now? Yes, always.

Does it have anything to do with what you’re doing right now? Not in the least. I'm listening to the Moana soundtrack (which is glorious, btw) on repeat, and before writing this, I was coloring in my adult coloring book with glittery gel pens, which sounds more fun than it actually is. I found that regardless of whether I am calm or agitated, I do not have the patience for it.

Personality description. I adapt to any situation easily, have no problems making friends, and don’t dwell on negative things. Like, I legitimately forget if something unpleasant happens. All this makes me great at customer service, and I don't know how I feel about that. Most people would say I am really friendly and nice, but I’m actually kind of bitchy and rude in my head. I only share this less-than-pleasant side of my personality with my family because I know they will love me no matter what. Even though I excel at social situations, I do prefer to be alone. I could spend weeks without talking to anyone, just reading and writing and listening to music. I am easily angered, but I don’t show it and when someone really disappoints or betrays me, I move on from that person permanently and put it all behind me. (Wow, writing this makes me realize I am the least forgiving person ever.) I am very open-minded about inclusivity and acceptance and lean heavily toward liberal on many social issues. However, I can be very unpleasant if you share ultra-conservative and/or oppressive opinions with me. I will argue and/or yell at you and judge you forever, which is probably unfair and hypocritical because everyone is entitled to his or her opinions and beliefs and are probably a good person in many other ways, but I just can’t anymore. In conclusion, I am actually a horrible person who is great at presenting herself in a positive light in social situations. 

Have you ever been to New York City? Yes, multiple times.

Birthday and age? January 29

Are your crushes mainly girls or guys? Guys, but I don't do the crush thing anymore.

Favorite quote? Book Quote: "Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper." Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Honestly, this entire books is so beautifully written, that I could’ve picked out any sentence, but I particularly love the ending.)

Inspirational Quote: “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Benjamin Franklin (This was actually my yearbook quote in high school and I still love it so many years later.) 

Fun Quote: “We drink so much Goose we’re turning into geese.” From “Comin’ in Hot” by Hollywood Undead. (I think it is so stupidly clever that I cannot get over it.)

Something you want to learn? French, once and for all. I've been struggling with it on and off throughout high school and  college and now with Rosetta Stone and it just won't go through my thick skull.

Favorite subject in school? English and Math in grades 1-12. But in college I loved Psychology, Philosophy, History, Literature, and Creative Writing.

Relationship status? Single

Favorite book(s)? How do I even begin to answer this question?  The Harry Potter series, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Book Thief, The Great Gatsby, The Night Circus, Anna and the French Kiss, Jack Reacher series, The Hunger Games trilogy, Memoirs of a Geisha, Slammed, Maybe Someday, Jellicoe Road, Fathers and Sons, Anna Karenina, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Artemis Fowel series, and many, many more. These are just the ones I keep rereading every so often.

Favorite fictional character? This is a difficult question because it’s never just the characters. I love the books and the story and how the characters interact with each other, more so than just loving them separately. But to name a few, who I guess fall under this category: Hermione Granger, Atticus Finch, Haymitch Abernathy, Elizabeth Bennet, Sirius Black, Jack Reacher.   

Favorite fictional couple? I find it impossible to ship just one couple. How do people do it?Draco/Hermione, Sirius/Hermione, Snape/Hermione, Zuko/Katara, Damon/Elena, Dimitri/Rose, Valek/Yelena, Levi/Mikasa, Jim/Pam and others I can’t think of right at this moment.  

Something I’m talented at. Writing and reading. I’ve been honing both skills for a very long time though. How could I be talented at reading, you ask? I read 300 page books in 3-4 hours and remember every detail and nuance. 

I tag: @ash-castle, @calebski, @murmurous-haunt, @shadu-kiam , and @synoir (I can’t believe all of you wonderful people follow me?! I don’t understand why, but thank you!!! <3)