#robin's love life is not important and in terms of story neither is robin

[avengedcelery]

I think some people really need to understand this and I mean really understand but genuinely shows do not exist for the purpose of shipping fodder actually and stay with me now but neither do the relationships in the shows

[river-bottom-nightmare]

listening to a batfam playlist and i've been thinking.

in an honestly rare occurrence for such a high profile set of characters, and unlike most other batman-eque character archetypes, romance was never,,,,part of the Batman Story. sure there are writers that prioritize it, heaps of fanfic and fanart, and more recently a lot of promotion for giving bruce a partner, but if you look at bruce's story, from the moment he was created as a character to now, romance never really was a major point in his life and in his story.

the event that shattered bruce was the death of his parents, the slaughter of his family. and despite training with the league and meeting talia, despite his complicated relationship with selina, the one thing that helped bruce start to put himself back together again was dick. the fragile glass that was his soul had fractured into sharp edges when his parents died, and the only thing that smoothed the edges was bruce becoming a parent himself.

bruce's story is about losing his family, and then finding it again. not through meeting the love of his life and settling down with them, not even through the found family trope with the justice league (which i honestly would have enjoyed.) no, the "happy ending" to bruce wayne's story came when he adopted a kid, and then adopted ten more.

and this is,,,,sort of mirrored in his children?

i'm not downplaying how important kori and babs are to dick, because they really mean a lot to him. but both of them were his friends first. dick places a lot of emphasis on friendship, and the importance of platonic relationships. the titans are the reason dick is the man he is today, and dick recognizes that.

(it's honestly probably the reason you can ship him with anyone, and why every ship with him and one of his friends works so beautifully: every single one of his friendships is so close and fulfilling and mutually loving. and we've all been conditions to only think of romantic relationships that way. but dick's story, the found family he discovers with the titans, proves that platonic relationships are just as important. but also dick and wally are gay i'm sorry that's just how it is.)

we really don't get to see jason interacting with people much before outlaws. and i'll be completely honest, i haven't actually finished all of outlaws, neither the runs with roy and kori nor the runs with artemis and biz, so this is mostly going on what i've seen from the fandom. you can ship jason with any member of the outlaws the way you can with dick and the titans, but at the end of the day, they're his friends. he trusts them, he relies on them, he depends on them, and he simply enjoys their company.

with tim, it's a bit different. he was created as a mirror for every "normal" boy in america, so they can see themselves as robin too. and what does every supposed average teenage boy want? dc comics is quick to answer: a girlfriend. steph was created literally for the sole purpose of being tim's love interest. but as tim's character evolved, and as fans began influencing him, we wound up with young justice: literally one of the most close knit hero groups in dc, with the core four even more so.

i mean, yes, tim and kon are in love. but also, tim, cassie, bart, and conner are an unstoppable team made of perfectly complimentary chaotic energies. this is titans all over again: those platonic relationships made a huge impact on tim's life. i'd argue they meant more to him than steph.

cass and damian are more similar, in a sense. both of their important relationships were not based in friendship, but in family. bruce was absolutely pivotal in cass' life, and he was a wonderful guiding presence, reliable figure, and father to her. the same with damian and dick. for the two of them, parental figures were the thing that made them whole again, the thing that saved them from their prewritten destinies. eventually, that morphed into all types of familial relationships with the rest of the batfam.

anyway, i just think it's cool that romance has never been a priority for any batfam members, both in-universe and in meta terms.

or maybe this is me just having a soft spot for found family. who knows.

[lady-literature]

no point wishing on stars

aka the jasonette aladdin au literally no one asked for

This is a great big amalgamation of semi-canon miraculous, batman and a heavy dose of bastardized Aladdin but here we go-

The story goes like this:

Jason is our beloved street rat turned prince Boy Wonder and billionaire’s son (not that he’s gotten that far yet).

Marinette is Ladybug, is the Guardian, is our modern-day Jasmine. She’s next in line after Fu to lead the Order, which, I suppose, is like High Royalty for superheroes/magic users.

But before she can take her rightful place, she needs a partner by her side. It’s so stupid rule that says she, as a Ladybug, needs a Black Cat by her side in order to be properly balanced.

The only problem is, she doesn’t want one. Or, well. More accurately, it’s that she doesn’t like the ones offered to her, and she doesn’t quite like the idea of being tied to someone she barely knows, especially not at fourteen.

There have been many Black Cat candidates to cross her path but there has been only one she did not immediately veto. Adrien Agreste may be a Black Cat, but he cannot be hers. He will never be anything more than her dearest brother, and that is not what Creation needs.

Creation and Destruction—life and death—have a certain type of relationship. They are lovers, mated and married in every meaning of the word.

And, for as much as she loves and adores Adrien as her brother in her soul, they will never be like that. She will never want him the way she must should he take up Destruction.

So yeah. Marinette has a problem. And yeah, she has some time to figure it out, but the Order is looking to have her figure it out sooner rather than later. Adrien is a good place holder for now, but if Marinette doesn’t choose a Black Cat by the time she’s twenty-one, Adrien will either have to do, or she forfeits her crown and the Ladybug miraculous (which she would never do, she loves her people and Tikki too much to ever do that).

(wait? Does this mean I made Adrien the human equivalent of Raja?… yes. Yes it does.)

And, to spice this up just a bit more, let’s say Hawkmoth is Jafar, yeah? This little shit is really trying to push his son to be the next Black Cat because he wants power what’s best for his son. So he be out here sabotaging potential Black Cats because he’s an asshole his son is the best candidate at the moment. He could give less than two shits about if Mari and Adrien actually like each other that way, he will shove his son at her until she has no choice but to choose him.

Anyway, so Mari leaves the temple one day. Which is fine, she’s not trapped there or anything, she can come and go as she pleases! (she may have to normally take someone with her and is currently ignoring that rule perhaps, but that’s besides the point!)

So she’s at a market in Gotham, strolling down the street, having a good time enjoying being around normal people, when she notices a boy getting into some trouble.

(I’ll give you three guesses as to who it is and the first two don’t count.)

Jason was stealing from market vendors because the hubbub of the street is distracting and nicking a few scraps here and there is practically child’s play. Only, he miscalculates.

One vendor was paying more attention than he thought.

Mari’s across the street and sees the whole thing. Sees the vendor grab Jason’s hand in a bruising grip and snarl in his face.

She’s in between the pair before she even realizes it, mouth already opening around some made-up story about ill-advised dares and how ‘it won’t happen again, sir’ and ‘here, I’ll pay for that right now, no harm done!’

Jason stares at her utterly baffled and, thankfully, silent until after she’d already grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

Only, she pulls him away down the wrong alley. (Look. Mari’s a real sweet-talker and knows how to smooth ruffled feathers, but she is hardly street smart.)

Jason swears, and it’s the first words she’s heard him speak, and then it’s him tugging her along. Up a fire escape and over the rooftops because Jason likes to think he’s tough, but there’s no way he’s picking a fight with five guys bigger than him and wearing masks.

He likes to keep his heart beating more than he wants to keep his pride unharmed thank you very much.

They end up on a rooftop, panting and like, seven blocks away. Marinette is now very lost and with a strange boy who she doesn’t know. He seems… nice, and she’s a good judge of character, but that doesn’t mean much when they’re still very much strangers.

But then the two just look at each other and suddenly they’re both laughing.

And that, my friends, is the start of a beautiful friendship.

***

During those first few months, she and Jason just seem to click.

Mari starts leaving the temple more and more to meet up with Jason, and on more than one occasion dragging behind her a picnic basket bigger than her. (it’s stupid to let one of her friends starve just because he’s too prideful to take her food. So she plans lots of picnics for them both, and pointedly ignores the way he eats and hoards most of the food she brings.)

He is her friend—though she would be lying if she said she didn’t like him a bit more than what one would consider friendly.

And Jason, who is funny and kind and made sharp by the life he’s been forced into, likes her right back. She is one of the few great parts of his life, a bright spot in the darkness he has called his world for so long, and there are few things he wouldn’t do for her.

It’s… scary—just a bit—how important she is to him.

He tries not to think about it too much.

And it doesn't really matter anyway, because she is good and bright and amazing and he is… there’s nothing he can give her in return. Nothing good, anyway.

She deserves someone better. Someone who could buy her things as pretty as her and take her nice places.

Someone who isn’t a street rat.

And then he learns she’s Ladybug, right up there with Wonder Woman and Robin and all the other amazing people set on saving the world, and he feels he got that much farther from her. How can he ever compare?

Jason doesn’t wish, because wishing is childish and he learned too young that shooting stars don’t exist and he’s come to terms with the fact that this is his life years ago, all right? He doesn't need the burden of hope to weigh him down now.

(but perhaps, deep down, tucked away in the corner of his heart, there might be a thought. Small and scared and aching, he might think, ‘if only I could be there with her, if only i could fly with her, maybe then I’d be enough’)

Six months after he meets Marinette, Jason comes across the Batmobile.

His first thought is, this can’t be real.

His second is, I could buy Mari a real birthday gift with this.

His third thought is less of a thought because he’s already got two tires off by that point and then suddenly Batman is there and Jason is swinging his tire iron.

This then leads—somehow—to him winding up at Wayne Manor with Bruce Wayne and then he learns about Batman and Robin and he gets to be Robin and-

(and what else is a Robin meant to do but fly?)

It’s too good to be true. Wishes don’t come true and good things don’t happen to him unless their name be Marinette but… but Jason’s here and it’s not a dream. He’s no prince but, well… he thinks this might just be as close as you can get.

And, okay. He really does try with the whole secrecy thing, because he can understand why that’s important but, I mean… it’s Marinette, who is Ladybug. There really was never any chance of Jason keeping that particular secret, Batman or no Batman.

And about,,, two years pass like this ig. Mari is almost seventeen now, and Jason turned seventeen recently and the pair are getting closer and closer every day. They’re toeing the line of ‘more than friends’ but neither have really taken that next step. 

The pressure is on Mari from the Order because she’s getting older and as much as she likes Jason, knows him but he isn’t a good candidate for Destruction and Mari must think of her people first.

Jason doesn’t get to be hers to keep and that aches but what else is she meant to do? She cannot—does not—want to change him in any way. So they stay, in their strange little limbo, with neither making a move.

And then, the unthinkable happens.

Hawkmoth hears of the boy finally, and is, obviously, furious.

He doesn't care if this boy can be a Cat or not, he’s going to ruin all his plans. So, there’s only one solution. He needs to get rid of him.

(i’ll give you three guesses as to how and the first two don’t count!)

Robin—Jason—dies, and Marinette feels when he does. She doesn’t know why or what happened, but the moment he leaves the world her blood turns cold and she feels sick.

Jason hasn’t even looked at the ring and already Marinette could feel the thread that had begun to tie them together. When she hears of his death—when she learns that he’s gone—Marinette shatters.

She shatters and cries and the world tips just a little, with the force of her sorrow, with the agony of her screams.

(justice is blind, yes, but is she deaf? Can she deny the sobbing of such a being as Creation herself? Can she stand, unfeeling, before the agony she has wrought?)

Marinette does not bring Jason back to life… but she has done something close. Has opened the possibility. Is, perhaps, the reason that six months later he screams and claws and drags himself from his own grave.

He is wrong wrong wrong, but he is also alive.

The league finds him, as they must. And Talia throws him into the pits, as she must. And Jason is reborn, screaming and angry and violent, as he must.

Marinette had known, Before, that Jason would not be a good match for the ring. He was tough and wild and willing to get his hands dirty if that’s what it took, but that was not what his core was. He was familiar with the rust and decay of back alley streets, but that wasn’t where he belonged. He would throw a punch but he didn’t relish the blood on his knuckles after a fight.

Jason was surrounded by destruction, but that’s not what he was.

Now… now the destruction he spent so long dancing with has slipped through the cracks in his mind left behind by the explosion. It ripped through his skin and slithered through into his veins until it settled in his heart like an overly smug cat.

Death and Destruction are inside him, woven in his ribcage and fusing with his blood, pumping pumping pumping its deadly rhythm and Jason is helpless to deny it’s tune.

Jason is a being of Destruction through circumstance rather than design, but make no mistake, that does not make him less.

(in fact, it may even make him more. To be remade from one’s own destruction is a powerful thing, and to be remade into Destruction? Well. There are few things more… miraculous.)

And we all know the next part of the story right?

Marinette mourns and grows and lives.

Jason rages and learns and plans. He’s come far from that street rat of a boy, and farther still from Marinette's petite oiseau.

But, two years after he comes back, when he ventures back to Gotham for revenge, Marinette takes one look at this angry, violent man calling himself Red Hood and she knows. He’s too familiar, even as he stands before her, more changed than she ever thought possible.

She meets the Red Hood when he comes for the new Robin, sweet little Tim who Marinette had grown to like despite herself. (He is not Jason, and never will be, but the boy was too shy and clever and earnest for her to have remained cold to him just because he wore the same colors once worn by the man she loved.)

She loves Tim in the same way she loves Adrien, simply and wholly and uncomplicated.

And then she is there when Jason comes for him.

Their reunion is not the stuff of fairy tales. It is not the beginning of happily ever after or true love.

Their reunion is a punch in the gut because it doesn't matter that he’s alive—except it does, because Mari has never known she could be so happy and so shattered at the same time—she is farther from him than she’d ever imagined she could be.

She reaches out for him, voice cracking around his name—because who else could this familiar stranger be?—and something in her shatters all over again when he flinches back from her touch.

“No,” he says, and it is a million things at once. He sends one last glare to Tim, who is still behind her, and then he’s gone.

***

Jason tries to avoid her.

Marinette allows this for a whole month before the whispers in the streets and the stories Tim comes back to her with, become too much.

She knows he is angry and out for revenge and building an empire out of the criminals that infest their city, but she doesn’t care. He was gone for two whole years and Marinette is tired of not seeing him-hearing him-touching him.

She has missed him like an ache in her chest and she doesn't care if he hates her or is furious with her, she just wants to see him. She needs to reassure herself that he’s alive, that he’s real.

And, it seems, the universe is on her side in this. In her chest, nestled there in the space next to her heart, there is what she can only describe as a compass, pointing to wherever Jason is like he’s her own personal north star.

The first few times, she’s yelled at or ran off. Or he runs off. Either way, for a while, the only moments she’s close to him are short and aching.

But she doesn’t let him run for long, and she doesn’t let him scare her off as she knows he’s trying to do.

Marinette had always been the more stubborn of the two.

Eventually, like a feral cat learning safety (like a hurt, scared animal relearning love), Jason lets her get close. He lets her in, lets her get close again.

The first time she sees him, without helmet or mask, she flings herself at him. Arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist, clutching him like her life depends on it. He takes her weight automatically, hand beneath her thighs while the other wraps around her back just as tightly. (he longs for touch, she has relearned, but he is also so frightened of it. She will have to be brave for them both)

The second time she sees his face bare once more, he is still thrumming with energy from a fight, is still high on the feeling of broken bones and blood on his knuckles. The force in his chest, the clawing and raging thing settled just off-center of the very core of him, pulls him toward her and Marinette meets him halfway, her own bright, ruthless force like a magnet in her chest.

They meet in a clash of hands on skin and lips anywhere they’ll land.

It is the first time they fall into bed together.

It will not be the last.

Now, you may be thinking, ‘Lady! This isn’t very Aladdin at all!’ and to that I tell you: I fucking warned you. What part of bastardized-Aladdin didn’t you get?

Also, shh. This is my favorite part!

So Mari is in her own personal little honeymoon stage, right? She practically could not be happier because Jason is alive and he’s hers and, even if he’s more violent and a crime boss, he’s stopped attacking his family at least. Which is good, because Mari really didn’t like the sad look Tim wore every time he brought up Jason.

And, oh yeah. Through a combination of her own detective work and Tikki, little Mari realizes that Jason is her Black Cat. Is the only person her Black Cat could be, not because of destiny—though that had helped—but because of coincidence and the bond the pair forged themselves.  

So Mari is, obviously, on cloud nine at the moment and she tells Adrien and Fu who are ecstatic for her, and announcements are going to be made the second Mari tells Jason and what could possibly go wrong?

Well, a lot of things really but the first thing is that, basically, Mari is asking Jason to marry her. Just a bit. And while they both know, in that nebulous way they always have, that they love each other, neither of them have ever actually said it.

And also, they aren’t really dating right now either. Mari’s been too busy trying to just get near Jason again that she hasn’t much been paying attention to normal relationship things like dates or labels.

So when she brings it up Jason is… well, caught off guard is likely an understatement. Which then makes Mari realize what exactly she’s just done and- shit. She’s ruined everything and Jason is going to run away again and the compass in her chest is just going to be a reminder of what she can’t have and-

Jason, who only moments before was terrified and in danger of bolting—because this is a lot and magic-marrying Mari comes with responsibilities and rules and a thousand strings he doesn't know what to do with—now stops and stares at her, babbling and so obviously panicked and something in him abruptly settles.

She starts pacing and he grabs her hand when she passes by close enough, reeling her into his body. She comes easily even in her frazzled state and the vicious clawing thing in his chest sighs contentedly.

“Why?” he asks, and it is a million things at once. Why him, why now, why, why, why?

There are a million ways she could answer, but the easiest? The most important answer is simply this: “Because I love you.”

His breath shudders in his chest at her words and her hands raise to settle on his cheek and the back of his neck, a protection of one of the most vulnerable parts of him, and he leans into her touch like a man starved.

Gods, Jason has loved her for years.

He loved her Before and he loved her in the pits, when all he had was the hate they kept stuffing in his chest, and he loves her now. She is his sun and he will spin around her for the rest of his life. But when it all comes down to it, one simple fact doesn’t change:

“I don’t deserve your love.”

Her hands press harder into his skin, like she can force him to understand through touch alone. “If everyone only got the love they deserved no one would be truly loved,” she counters.

“You would,” he says, quick and quiet and honest. Her breath hitches and he watches her eyes go wide. The hands he has on her hips tighten at the emotions he finds there.

“Oh,” she whispers, already pulling him down to meet her. “Oh you stupid, beautiful man.”

And then they’re kissing and- and it is not the first time they’ve done this, but there is something very different about this one.

They’re kissing, and this time, it feels very much like coming home.

***

And, perhaps, that is not the end.

Because there is still one wish left. 

Because Jafar-Hawkmoth is still there, and he’s still murderous, and there a very real chance he’s going to ruin the wedding somehow.

Because there is never truly an end to a story, it just simply stops being told.

But none of that really matters. Our princess and her dearest street rat are together at last, and together they’ll get through whatever happens after the story stops being told.

They’ve always had a thing for impossible odds after all.

[rise-my-angel]

Hi! I really liked your take on Hopper's character. You're incredibly insightful and I'm genuinely in awe because you REALLY hit the nail on the head and are absolutely right about his character. Can I ask what your takes were on Will's character in season 4 (apparently the Duffer brothers completely forgot Will's birthday 😒) and the whole Nancy and Steve thing happening again?? I'd love to hear your thoughts!! Thank you Mimi!! You've got so much depth and I love the way you think/ view things. 💜💜

This is so sweet, i just remembered really liking how Hopper started off as a man adrift, a cop lost after tradgey trope, but didnt have to turn into a confident gun slinger to get out of it. Instead he learned to trust other peoples instincts and support them, and learned how to be okay with being a father again and then being so confused as to why he was suddenly that gun slinging loud mouth in season 3.

Will though? I dont think the duffer brothers knew where to take his character after season 2. Will that whole season his fascinating, he grapples with being back in the real world while fighting these incidents of feeling like hes been pulled back to the upside down. Only to lose himself in a creature beyond his comprehension, like that scene where they are trying to burn it out of him as the mind flayer uses will to desperately manipulate them into stopping is such a great piece of acting that we never see again in his character

Season 3 Will actually had potential to really elabotate on the concept that Will has felt left behind. He lost so much to The Upside Down that he really needed an arc that helped him learn that he can never get those stolen years back, but that he can find new purpose in the life that has been gifted to him. And in season 4, I wish they just did more with Will and El. I get the importance of Mike to both of them, but Els story starts heavily with struggling of the loss of her dad.

Will, is the only one there who can even remotely relate to her struggles and I with there was more focus on Will doing to El what Johnathon did for him, support her in a way that doesnt just calm her upset, but helps her start to feel like she has a family in him. Will would relate to her more then his own family at this point and I wish they let him form into an older brother, finally coming to terms with his own past and using it to guide someone else out of a dark place like he once was in. Instead of just playing this weirdly passive role of just going along with the groups choices.

Also I know why theyre doing the Stancy angle. They spent a lot of time on the Nancy and Jonathon arc, only to find that the fans really didnt get hype the way they wanted. The fans liking that kind of storyline, instead were invested in Steve. His growth, his friendship with Robin, how he stood on his owm without anyone else.

Hinting at Stancy puts an interest in Nancys storyline back to align with a character who the fans are invested in. Its why neither her or Jonathon mention the other once the plot starts. They want you to forget how much time they spent trying to invest you into that relationship, and force their female teenage lead into a storyline with the other popular character in her age group, regardless that theyve established that they not only are NOT compatible or good for eachother but that theyve never even hinted at still liking the other.

Steve didnt run a car into Billys car to protect Nancy only to get out and share a moment of romantic awe and care, no he did it beacuse he would do it for any of them. If they want to explore Nancy maybe regretting her decision for the first time ehen her and Jonathon finally have a real conflict thats one thing, but Steve has moved on. Let him move on he doesnt like Nancy anymore.

[365days365movies]

May 9, 2021: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) (Recap: Part Two)

So, this is an adaptation of Pinocchio, right?

I mean...yeah, it definitely is. It’s a story about an artificial boy, brought to life and given to a parent to raise, learning lessons about humanity all along the way. Hell, they use the Collodi story as an element of the plot, so there’s no way it isn’t an adaptation of the original story. Here, I’ll break it down.

First, he’s given life by Hobby, who represents both his creator and the one who gives the artificial boy life. In other words, he’s a portmanteau of two characters: the Blue Fairy and Geppetto. The latter created him, while the former gives him life. Really, I’d argue that he’s more of the Blue Fairy.

So, who’s Geppetto? Obviously, Monica. She’s the (semi) loving parent that ACTUALLY makes David her son...literally. Remember the Winter Soldier awakening sequence? Monica is a flawed parent who obviously doesn’t quite know how to care for the little artificial boy, similar to how Geppetto is normally portrayed. And, like him, she never gets to teach her new son about the world before releasing him into it.

Of course, Geppetto didn’t physically abandon Pinocchio in the woods, but whatever. At least this Pinocchio’s been left with his Jiminy Cricket. Unlike the traditional version, though, this one is fuzzy.

Teddy, the stuffed bear supertoy, is clearly meant to be Jiminy Cricket, the conscience meant to guide David along his way, and along his journey. He subtly guides David, giving him advice that he sometimes ignores. And, given that David probably wasn’t built with a conscience, it makes sense to give him an internal one. Speaking of, let’s talk about David, because this simile might actually be more important than one would think in understanding this film.

David, of course, is creepy as FUCK. He’s trying hard to be a real boy that his mother can accept, but he’s so goddamn creepy. And initially, I thought that this might just be bad acting or direction. But then, I walked away for a little bit, and I realized something: what if that’s on purpose? Because here’s the thing: David isn’t real. And neither is Pinocchio, but with Pinocchio, you KNOW that.

Pinocchio is, after all, a puppet. And that point is obvious visually, both in the basically flawless Disney film, and in the original book. But David is, after all, played by an ACTUAL real boy, and therefore appears real to the audience. So, how to make him appear artificial? By emphasizing the fact that David’s behavior and actions are not natural. They are programmed and artificial. And so, when the journey begins, David hasn’t yet learned to be a real boy. And therefore, he isn’t yet real. And now, of course, he’s on the journey not only to become a real boy, but also to earn that chance. Just like Pinocchio.

But we’re only one-third through this film, and a LOT more happens in the story of Pinocchio. I’m not suggesting that this movie perfectly follows the book or Disney film by any means, but it’s definitely following some of its structure. And if Pinocchio is known for anything, it’s known for its most iconic villains and adversaries. I’m talking these guys:

And I’m...looking forward to seeing how these guys are adapted? Wait, wait, wait, hold on...I railed HARD against Act One (which you can read right here), whose writing and plot I still think were poorly thought out. But, after this mental recontextualization...am I actually enjoying this movie?

Shit, maybe. Thinking about it in these terms actually helps. OK, Kubrick, Spielberg...hit me with your best shot.

Recap (2/3)

With Act Two, enter Gigolo Joe (Jude Law). Yes. Really.

Gigolo Joe is a “lover Mecha”, a model built specifically for sexual gratification. Joe’s an interesting case, as he’s obviously built to be quite seductive, in a physical and a sensual manner. He’s been hired by a woman trying to get away from her abusive husband, and proceeds to woo her with sweet nothings, easing her discomfort with the idea of sleeping with a Mecha. And I’m gonna be honest: Joe is a CHARMING motherfucker, smooth and slick as a robot ought to be, with the ability to change his appearance and voice to please his customers.

And as I’m watching him, trying to figure out if he’s the Fox or the Cat, or both combined, he’s suddenly framed for murder by the jealous husband of one of his clients! Shit! Understanding exactly how fucked he is, he takes the necessary precautions and removes his identification chip. I’m not entirely sure who he is, but I’m interested in revisiting that plot, that’s for sure.

David, meanwhile, is wandering around in the woods, where he comes up with the idea to find the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio, who will surely turn him into a real boy. But while wandering through the woods, what does he find but another group of robots like himself, scavenging from parts that’ve been dumped in the woods. And the CGI here is absolutely fantastic looking, as the robots outfit themselves with technology.

Also stumbling upon this display is Joe, on the run. But as they all appear in the same place, the moon suddenly rises. And it’s gorgeous.

This is not the Moon, but a gorgeous hot-air balloon from something called the Flesh Fair. With men on the ground on specialized motorcycles called “Hounds”, and with an eye-in-the-sky belonging to commander Lord Johnson-Johnson (Brendan Gleeson). He and his men hunt down Mecha to take them to the Flesh Fair, where robots are destroyed for the sport of human observers.

They chase down and capture all of the robots assembled, including David, Joe, and THIS spectacular special effect.

Yeah, holy shit, that’s amazing.

Anyway, it’s here that David loses his conscience, as Teddy falls out, only to be brought to the Flesh Fair and taken as a lost toy, placed in the lost-and-found. And, now that we’re here, it’s time we acknowledge what this appears to be: Stromboli’s Circus.

Given the fact that the “puppet show” is clearly replaced by the abuse and destruction of robots (including one weirdly resembling and voiced by Chris fucking Rock of all people), and that it has a ringmaster in the form of Johnson-Johnson, this is definitely meant to be a replacement for Stromboli’s puppet show. Albeit, one colored by anti-Mecha racism, but whatever.

A little girl wanders up to the cage where David’s kept, and confuses him for a human child. She goes to her father, who’s astonished by the existence of a robot child, and he goes to Johnson-Johnson, who gives not a single shit, and brings him up to be destroyed with the rest in the flesh fair. Dude REALLY doesn’t like robots. David, understandably scared, has his Damage Avoidance System kick in, and he grabs onto Gigolo Joe for safety, dragging him along to their deaths.

As he’s about to be melted by concentrated acid in front of a crowd (all of whom are affected by seeing a child be melted, robot or not), David cries out in fear. This leads to the audience STRAIGHT-UP REBELLING, as they refuse to believe that David is anything but human. He immediately takes off, alongside Gigolo Joe and Teddy.

We head back to Cybertronics, where it’s revealed that David is actually a facsimile for Hobby’s departed son. Which is...weird. Real talk, this is extraordinarily odd, and Hobby clearly has some massive issues he needs to figure out. In the forest, Hobby and Joe get to know each other. He recommends getting to Rouge City to find the Blue Fairy, whose location they will ask for from a “Dr. Know”, as there is nothing he doesn’t.

Also, Jude Law’s giving a fuckin’ soliloquy about robot prostitution right now, and I’m not gonna lie to you; I can dig it. It’s a Queen Mab speech about gettin’ down on that robodick, and it’s actually quite entertaining. And with that, we not only head to Rouge City, but we also discover who Joe is meant to represent. If Rogue City is Pleasure Island (and it OBVIOUSLY is), Gigolo Joe is meant to be both the Fox (AKA Honest John, AKA J. Worthington Foulfellow), AND Lampwick. Neat! Anyway, Rouge City...

...is not even a little subtle, goddamn. It’s literally a sex-island. And yet, once there, David is introduced to Dr. Know (Robin Williams), a kiosk where you pay for information, which makes me appreciate Wikipedia so goddamn much. To the good Doctor, they ask for the location of the Blue Fairy. And by accurately using keywords (a skill under-appreciated in Google Searches), they get an eerie reading of Hobby’s book, beginning with a Yeats poem.

With this information, they discover that Hobby (and the secret to David becoming a real boy) is at the end of the world, in a place called “Man-hattan”. David is filled with new determination, but Gigolo isn’t quite sure if this is real. David fights back, saying that his mother loves him and that the Blue Fairy must become real. But Joe insists that she likely did not love him, and simply liked how she made him feel. And while David refuses this idea outright...he’s almost certainly correct.

They go outside, and Joe is about to be taken away by the police, presumably for that murdered woman. However, the helicopter they came in is taken by David, who plans to use it to get to Manhattan. Joe escapes and joins him, and the two head to Manhattan.

End Act Two. See you in Act Three!

[jemelle]

these are ties that bind (8/8)

fandom: criminal minds

rating: t

(chapter) word count: 1,465

story masterlist / all writing

you can also find this story on ao3!

summary: emily and hotch must pretend to be in a long-term relationship in order to foster carrie. shenanigans and serious conversations alike ensue. this chapter: two years later, a perfect summer evening.

a/n: when I started this fic in march, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. eight months and 50(!) pages later, here we are, and it has been such a pleasure to get to tell this story. thank you so much to everyone who has given tattb a chance. i’m endlessly grateful for your likes, reblogs, and especially your kind words.

this final chapter is lovingly dedicated to my sibling for beta-ing, to @ssa-lesbian​ for being there since day 1, and to @robins-gf​ for endlessly hyping this fic <3

epilogue.

The string lights Emily had hung made the backyard look like something out of a fairytale. The guests mingled together, drinking homemade punch and eating food from the grill Aaron was carefully tending.

It was a warm evening in August, a few days before Carrie’s eighteenth birthday. The air was humid and the occasional mosquito buzzed around the edges of the party. From the kitchen window, Emily could see Penelope and Spencer swaying slightly to the music while JJ and Morgan fought over a football that had appeared seemingly out of thin air. Rossi sat in a deck chair, watching the proceedings with an amused look on his face, while Will sat beside him, cradling Henry in his arms. Even Jordan was here, making conversation with Aaron as he slid burgers into buns.

True to Emily’s prediction, Penelope had been the first to figure them out. She swore she’d never tell how she connected the dots, but Emily suspected that Penelope regularly checked in on all of them in less than legal ways. Once Penelope knew, their cover was all but blown, so Hotch had convened an all-team meeting to break the news.

He and Emily had told them the story straight, so to speak. The team understood that they weren’t really in love, but neither Emily nor Aaron felt that coming out was necessary for the story. Emily had come out the next year anyway, telling everyone as they sat around a crowded booth in the same bar where she had first told JJ. Aaron, for his part, he had reassured Emily that he was content with just being out to her.

Two years later, Emily thought that they were doing pretty well. Not every day was easy, of course. Sometimes Aaron snapped and Emily swore and Carrie sulked and Jack sobbed, but those days were few and far between. More often, there were sad days, because nothing would ever really heal what had happened to Carrie. On sad days Emily or Aaron begged off work, watching terrible movies with Carrie until she had cried herself out.

Every year, the three of them flew out to Denver to visit Carrie’s family. The old lady who ran the florist nearest to the cemetery knew when to expect them by now, and Emily’s perfunctory refusal to accept the flowers she insisted on providing free of charge had become something of a routine. Carrie liked to visit the cemetery alone, and she often sat there for hours, seemingly lost in thought. After she was finished, she and Emily and Aaron would go visit her old friends, the ones who had turned up for her when she had expected to be most alone.

There was always a little part of Emily that was scared Carrie would leave them. She would decide that Denver was still her real home, or that she wanted to live closer to her aunt and uncle in Phoenix. Emily had long since promised herself that she would support Carrie in whatever she wanted to do, but that wouldn’t lessen the sting. Nothing like that had ever come to pass, but in less than a month, Carrie would be heading off to college. 

Emily knew that Carrie’s parents had emphasized the importance of college, and that she had been fighting with them about it the night they had died. When she first came to live with them, Carrie had wanted to re-join all the activities her parents had encouraged. It had taken time and a lot of therapy, but eventually she had realized that straying from her parent’s wishes wasn’t a betrayal, not when what they had wanted most was for her and Danny to be happy. 

When the time came for Carrie to apply to college, Emily and Aaron made sure she understood that they would be proud of her no matter where she went. In the end, Carrie had chosen the University of Virginia, promising to make the two-hour journey home often. Still, it would be strange to not have her around every day. Emily had gotten used to her snark and sincerity, the way she cut right to the truth every time.

Tonight, Carrie was standing in a corner, Haley by her side, both of them watching over Jack. Emily and Haley would never be the best of friends, but they had long since formed a truce, recognizing that they both wanted the best for their strange little family. Haley loved Jack, that much was obvious, and she treated Carrie like the big sister Jack had never had. She was happy to take them both when cases ran long, though Emily secretly suspected that was because Carrie was able to calm down Jack better than anyone.

Leaving the house, Emily made her way over to the snack table, setting down the bowl of pretzels she had been carrying. When she looked up, Haley was motioning her over, gesturing at her empty cup and then Jack in turn. As Emily reached their corner of the yard, Haley headed off to refill her drink, leaving Emily and Carrie to monitor Jack.

Without warning, Emily was overcome by a wave of emotion. This life still felt like a dream sometimes. Past Emily would never have believed that this was where her life would end up. After Italy, she had been so angry, and after Declan, so resigned. In her lowest moments, she had told herself that she would never deserve a family. Emily knew now that she had been wrong, that she deserved to love and be loved. She also knew how exceptionally lucky she was to have found this family.

“I love you, you know that?” Emily said, keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the party. If she looked at Carrie, there was a good chance she would cry. If anything could ruin the joyful mood of this evening, that would be it, even if the tears came only from a place of happiness.

“I know,” Carrie said, no trace of sarcasm in her voice. She took a slow sip out of the cup in her hand. In her periphery, Emily saw a single tear fall down Carrie’s cheek. “I know.”

When Haley came back, new drink in hand, neither Emily nor Carrie had looked at each other. She gave them a strange look before striking up a conversation with Carrie about what she wanted to study in college.

Emily bid them adieu and headed towards Aaron, the adoption papers burning a hole in her back pocket. They had applied for them months ago, but the envelope had only arrived a few days ago. Emily had snatched the letter from the mail as soon as it arrived, hiding it among her paperwork. The plan was to give them to Carrie on her birthday and let her make a decision about what she wanted. 

Unlike the thought of Carrie leaving, this decision didn’t feel Emily with dread. No matter what she chose, Carrie would always have them to come home to. 

She reached Aaron as he was finishing up making dinner, flipping the last of the burgers and sliding them into perfectly toasted buns. At his call, the guests flocked to the table, Spencer and Penelope almost tripping over each other in their haste to get food. After grabbing a plate, they dispersed once more, leaving only Emily and Aaron by the grill. 

A few months ago, JJ had asked Emily if she and Aaron would stay married after Carrie turned eighteen. Until JJ had asked, Emily hadn’t considered the possibility they wouldn’t, which she supposed was answer enough. That thought process would have been unthinkable two years ago, when begrudging respect was the only thing keeping them together.

They stood next to each other as they ate, watching the future they had built together. The lines around Aaron’s eyes were softer now than they had been two years ago, and he smiled more, though he was still tough-as-nails Hotch when he needed to be. At the end of a long day, or a tough case, the thing Emily looked forward to most was his companionship. He would sit with her at the kitchen table, or rope Carrie and Jack into a game of pictionary, somehow always anticipating what she needed. When she woke up thrashing, he was there, and when he couldn’t sleep, she sat up with him until his breathing evened.

Emily finished eating, setting her plate on the table behind her and wiping her hands on a paper napkin. Aaron mimicked her, then refilled his cup from the nearby punchbowl.

As he turned to her, Emily raised her own cup, bumping it against Aaron’s before taking a drink, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips. “So,” she said. “How about that divorce?”

tags: @robins-gf, @catgrantknows, @lizziechase, @blakes-dictionxry

[paralleljulieverse]

Following our recent posts marking the 60th anniversary of the wedding of Julie Andrews and Tony Walton, here we shine a brief spotlight on how the newlyweds were covered by the media in the early years of their marriage. Their May 1959 wedding was a definite high-water mark of media exposure for Julie and Tony but public interest didn’t end once they’d walked down the aisle. Newspapers and magazines continued to feature regular stories and photos about the ‘happy couple’, detailing what they were up to and how they were adapting to life as husband-and-wife. 

Much of the coverage presented the newlyweds as a quintessentially modern couple who were combining the twin demands of dual careers with companionate marriage. A multi-page profile in the January 1960 issue of British women’s magazine, Housewife serves a good case-in-point. Essentially a ‘celebrities at home’ pictorial, the article marshals the couple’s “delightful new home––a large flat overlooking Eaton Square––to which they went when they were married eight months ago” as a symbolic expression of the blended amalgamations of marital domesticity (Antony: 38). 

The “Andrews-Walton flat is a combination of their two careers,” the article chirps, “Julie’s piano has a prominent place and one room is made into Tony’s studio” (Antony: 40). Elsewhere it describes a cosy everyday scenario of domestic give-and-take as “Julie spends hours practising her singing” with Tony acting as one of her “sternest musical critics,” while Julie in turn “gets a thrill out of Tony’s work for the theatre [and] enjoys posing for his costume designs” (38-39). The image painted here is a transactional blend of conventional married home-life with newer forms of egalitarian coupledom: “two young people––both so young and in love––embarking on a duet” in “their lovely new home...a good basis for security in their marriage” (40-41).

Other profiles were considerably less blithesome. A recurrent refrain in a lot of the media coverage of Julie and Tony’s marriage was the perceived challenges faced by a couple in which, as one early newspaper report put it, “the wife’s name has embarrassingly eclipsed the husband’s” (Wilson: 10). In an era still tethered to orthodox notions of male breadwinners and female homemakers, a union in which the wife assumed greater professional and financial prowess than the husband was sufficiently novel to evoke both curiosity and, at times, unease. 

In the newspaper profile just mentioned, Cecil Wilson (1959) strikes a note of thinly-veiled anxiety when discussing what he apprehends as a gendered dilemma in the couple’s marriage. Titled “How Not to Be Known as Mr Julie Andrews”, the article asserts a very traditional view of marriage in terms of masculine dominance and feminine support. “No man could have done more in less time” than Tony Walton, it proclaims, “to rise above the reflected glory of being ‘Julie Andrews’s husband’ or, worse still, the ignominious label of ‘Mr. Julie Andrews’” (10). “Since his childhood sweetheart from Walton-on-Thames consolidated her...stardom in My Fair Lady, he has firmly established the name of Tony Walton by designing four West End shows...[and n]ow, to give Julie Andrews further pride in being known as Tony Walton’s wife, he has gone into management” as a theatre producer (ibid.).* 

It is a testament to Julie and Tony’s fortitude and well-grounded emotional security that, for the most part, they deflected such concerns as immaterial. Responding to a reporter’s question about how her status as “one of the country’s wealthiest young actresses” impacted her new married lifestyle, Julie  demurred: “I don’t know how much I’m worth...We haven’t a car, although I hold a licence. But Tony holds the important licence, the marriage one” (Hickey: 3). Later, on the eve of her departure for New York to start rehearsals for Camelot, Julie mused further on the ambivalent demands of career and marriage: “Of course it’s nice to get back to work. I love the stage. But what I really like and what I want to do is to settle down and be plain Mrs. Walton” (Tanfield: 12). 

For his part, Tony Walton struck a particularly mature and, for the time, progressive attitude to the unorthodox dynamics of his and Julie’s marriage. When asked in a 1959 interview if he experienced “professional jealousy” of Julie, he replied with categorical pragmatism: “Not a bit. After all, Julie has one career and I have another. But I still wouldn’t rank my fame with hers” (Wilson: 10). It was a consistently balanced approach he maintained––at least publicly––right throughout the marriage, even after Julie had graduated to the exponentially increased fame and fortune of film stardom.  “[T]he embarrassments people see for me are easily coped with because they’re so absurd,” he remarked in a 1966 article, “I’d be stupid if I let them affect me” (Leslie: 8). If there is any problem, he ventured in an admirably democratic take on modern marriage, it is 

“who at any one time is going to be the support. I don’t mean financial but emotional––which is the basis on which the whole marriage is built. When Julie and I were both in the theatre, and she was rehearsing at something and I was working at something else, the pressure times would swing back and forth between us. And at times I’d find myself taking on an almost feminine role, trying to calm, soothe, protect or whatever. And then as soon as I was deeply involved and under pressure then the roles would be reversed. I think if I were an over-dominant kind of male I’d find this situation harder to cope with. But neither of us is over-poweringly masculine or over-poweringly feminine” (ibid.)

That the marriage of Julie Andrews and Tony Walton ultimately didn’t last is a matter of historical record. Following extended periods of separation, the two officially filed for divorce in November 1967, eight and a half years after they were wed (”Julie Andrews Suing”: I-23). But the pair have, by all accounts, maintained a strong and enduring friendship, even after both of them found and subsequently married new partners (Robins: D-6). In fact, Julie is fond of recounting how Tony and his second wife, Gen LeRoy-Walton, affectionately refer to her as “our ex” (Andrews: 323). “They’re best friends and they gang up against me,” explains Tony Walton of the relationship between his former and current partners (McDonnell: 3D). As Julie observed in a 2001 interview: “[T]he divorce was extremely sobering but I've known [Tony] since I was 13 and he was 12, and you cannot undo that knowledge” (Birch: 16).

Notes:

* This kind of angst-ridden discourse about the perceived gendered power imbalance of the Andrews-Walton marriage intensified once Julie made the move to Hollywood and the even greater success of global film stardom. “When a wife starts earning much more money than her husband,” wrote one especially egregious example, “the marriage is not long for the lasting” (Shearer: 15). Such sensationalist commentary was evident even in international reports.”Julie Andrews and her prince-consort” was how one French-language article billed the marriage (Von Cottom: 22).

Sources:

Andrews, Julie. Home: A Memoir of My Early Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008.

Antony, Jonquil. “Theatrical Duet in Eaton Square.” House Wife. March 1960: 38-41.

Birch, Helen. “Truly Andrews.” Daily Telegraph. 7 December 2001: 15-16.

Hickey, William. “For Julie it’s the Beginning.” Daily Express. 8 August 1959: 3.

Jordan, Ruth. “No Fashion Fuss for Julie.” Woman’s Journal. December, 1959: 26-27, 134.

“Julie Andrews Suing Designer for Divorce.” Los Angeles Times. 15 November 1967: I-23.

Leslie, Ann. “Beating the Hysteria: ‘Mr. Julie Andrews’.” Daily Express. 19 April 1966: 8.

McDonnell, Brandy. “Tony Time.” The Oklahoman / Sunday Life. 27 May 2018: D1-D3.

Robins, Cynthia. “When Art and Love Meld Successfully.” San Francisco Examiner. 6 September 1992: D-6.

Shearer, Lloyd. “When a Wife Earns More than a Husband.” Parade. 9 July 1967: 14-15.

Tanfield, Paul. “My Year of Bliss...by Julie Andrews.” Daily Mail. 18 August 1960: 12.

Von Cottom, Joseph. “Julie Andrews et son prince-consort: le pitoyable drame des maris de vedettes.” Ciné-Télé-Revue. 4 August 1966: 22-23.

Wilson, Cecil. “How Not to Be Known as Mr Julie Andrews.” Daily Mail. 24 September 1959: 10.

Photographs by John Dixon, George Konig, and anon.

© 2019 Brett Farmer All Rights Reserved

[let-it-raines]

Betting on the Bullseye Part 7

Summary: Emma Swan loses a bet that means she has to ask her celebrity crush to be her date to her office's annual fundraising gala. Killian Jones is that celebrity crush. She expects all kinds of humiliation and for her dignity to be completely lost. What she doesn't expect is for him to say yes.

Rating: Mature

A/N: I honestly didn’t expect a Christmas one-shot to take on a life of its own like this, but here we are, my friends! I hope you guys continue to enjoy this :D

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

Found on Tumblr: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Tag list: @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @wellhellotragic​ @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @branlovesouat @dreadpirateemma @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @galaxyzxstark @lifeinahole27

“So his vocabulary is really starting to improve.”

“Uh huh.”

“The other day he was almost stringing together full sentences.”

“Wow, so interesting.”

“And then out of the blue he goes, Dad, I’m moving to California and going to get Emma’s head back so she’ll stop staring off into the window.”

“Yeah? Cool.”

The back of her head is slapped, shaking her out of her daydreams only to find David standing above her with his hands on his hips and his lips stretched into a thin line. She reaches up to scratch the top of her head, patting her hair down from where it’s messed up.

“What the hell was that for, David?”

“You weren’t listening to me.”

“Yes, I was!”

“What was I just talking about?”

“The murder case at work. You finally caught the guy.”

David sighs, tipping his head back before scratching his chin where his normally clean shaven face has blonde scruff growing. He sits down on the window seat with her, leaning back against the glass pane and staring at her with the same kind of stern look he gives Leo when he’s not listening. Personally, she thinks that the kid is two. David staring him down with his eyes squinted and his hands on his hips isn’t really going to do a lot, but she doesn’t have kids to parent and teach right from wrong. She has the kids at the shelter, but they’re usually older and each of them takes a special touch. And her job deals more with the adults and paperwork than anything but whatever.

She realizes she’s spacing out again when David flicks her knee, bringing her attention back to him.

“What?”

“You’re not listening to me at all.”

“I am so. The murder, remember?”

“Emma,” David sighs while her confusion increases, “I stopped talking about work fifteen minutes ago. I was talking about Leo. Where’s your head today?”

“Nowhere,” she lies, picking off some imaginary lint on her yoga pants. “I guess I just got distracted. You talk about your kid a lot.” “Well, he is adorable,” he jokes, a bright smile crossing his features that happens whenever he’s talking about Mary Margaret or Leo. “But seriously. You’ve been spaced out all week. Mary Margaret and Ruby have both said the same thing when you’re with them. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” “Is it about Killian?”

“Not everything is about Killian, David,” she bites, crossing her arms over her chest and looking out the window, seeing Wilby running around in the backyard, his fur bouncing everywhere. “That’s sexist to just automatically assume that if something is wrong it has to be about a man.”

“I know that, but I ask because if it’s work related, you vent to Ruby. If it’s something else, you tell me or Mary Margaret. The only time you bottle things up is when it comes to your relationships, and you’re bottling things up.”

Damn him for being able to read her so well. If anything, she should be spending less time with David so he can stop doing that. He’s a detective, and he figures everything out with weird accuracy. And as much as she has wanted to talk about all of this, she hasn’t quite found the words.

She picks at that imaginary piece of lint again before adjusting her sweater and murmuring, “We…Killian and I kissed again when I was in California last week, and then we slept together completely sober because we wanted to. And I know you probably don’t want to know anything about that, but it’s important for what I’m about to say.”

David smiles and nods, urging her on, and she lets him. “I have feelings for him. And it’s, like, I knew I had feelings for him before I went to California, but I didn’t know they were so deep. But I told him about Neal and my past. He already knew all of the foster care shit, and now he knows about Neal along with some of the others. He knows about more than most people ever have, and he didn’t look at me like I’m some poor victim. He understood.”

“What’s the big deal, Emma? This is a good thing, isn’t it? You’re opening up to someone again.”

“And I’m terrified,” she whispers, pulling her knees up against her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs, “because there are already so many complications.”

“Complications?” David furrows his brows and purses his lips. “From what you say, things seem great.”

She scoffs, her head falling back against the glass again. “It’s…Killian is great, really great, but he didn’t tell any of his friends about me, which I get now. I don’t tell you guys every time I start talking to someone new, but there was, um, an incident.”

She knows David is being patient with her. He can be impulsive and irrational, sometimes not waiting to hear both sides of the story and barging off on some kind of unwarranted quasi older brother protective shit – as if there’s not enough of that in the world – but today’s he’s decided to listen instead of interrupting her or jumping to conclusions. She appreciates it because despite she and Killian talking regularly this week and her missing him, she has all of these feelings and emotions jumbled up inside about everything that happened with Liam. Killian does, too. She knows he hasn’t talked to his brother since that morning in his kitchen, and she feels guilty about that as well. She can’t come between a family. Everyone deserves a family who loves them.

How could everything go from being happy and blissful to confusion and conflict?

“What do you mean? Did Killian hurt you? Physically, I mean.”

“No,” she fervently shakes her head, the thought of that completely out of the realms of possibility here, “definitely not. It’s just, well, since he didn’t tell any of his friends about me, no one knew I was coming. And Robin was fine with it. I really enjoyed talking to him. But then my last morning there, the morning after Killian and I were together, his brother walked in the house and chewed my head off, telling me I’m some kind of delusional fan and threatening to call the police because he thought I broke into the house.”

“What an asshole.” “That’s what I said, and I get it now. I get what that must have looked like to him with Killian’s past and people taking advantage of him, but it was still crazy. And then I heard some of what he was saying to Killian after I left the room and, well, he…Liam hates me.” “Emma,” David soothes, leaning forward and placing his hand overs hers, “that’s not Killian though. From what I can tell, the man is enamored with you. Him having an asshole of a brother doesn’t have to mean something. I have one of those, and Mary Margaret and I are very much in love.”

“That’s because you two were basically written to be together. There’s never been any other option.” “You say that now, but we didn’t always know that. Neither of us come from great families, we had lots of obstacles, but we made it work. You’ve never had a man fight for you, something you deserve, but Emma, if you want this, you have to fight for him too.”

She knows that. She’s not used to it, especially because she doesn’t feel like she did anything wrong, but she knows she can’t just let all of these things fester. It’ll drive a wedge between she and Killian, and while that may be her first instinct, that’s what she’s trying to push down. He’s different than all of the others. He understands her, and he doesn’t try to change her.

His brother is what’s holding her back.

And maybe a little bit of the other fears, but she’s trying to take the leap of faith. Trying.

“It’s just, like,” she begins, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands, “if his brother doesn’t approve of me, how am I ever going to fit in? And then I start thinking long term, and that terrifies me. And then I start thinking about how I don’t need the approval of someone who speaks to me like that, but a tiny part of me wonders…how can I ever have a future with Killian if the most important person in his life hates me and thinks I’m some kind of fan using Killian for a weird fantasy?”

“That’s not what’s happening though, right?”

She scoffs, shaking her head back and forth, the thought of taking advantage of Killian ludicrous. “Not at all.”

“Then his brother will understand once things have calmed down and everything has been explained. You said he’s his best friend, right?” She nods, thinking of all of the kind words Killian has said about Liam, trying to match them up with the man she met. “Then he can’t be all bad. He sounds like a bit of a pompous ass, and I’ll be speaking to him if he ever says anything like that to you again, but I think things are going to work out for you, kid.”

“I’m only six years younger than you.”

“Yeah, well.”

David opens his arms and leans forward, pulling her into his arms and embracing her. She wraps hers around his immediately, holding on tightly and breathing him in while he cups the back of her head. David always makes everything better even when he’s annoying the hell out of her, and she really appreciates him for that. She’s going to have to make sure he’s not overbearing when he meets Killian or else this whole situation will be like the pot calling the kettle black.

She also can’t believe she’s so sure that he’s going to meet Killian, but the thought came so naturally. She wants to keep trying with him, to keep working toward whatever it is we’re working toward, and that means the both of them trying with the other’s friends and family.

She still wants to kick Liam’s ass a bit, though. Verbally, though. She’ll leave him be otherwise.

“What’s happening here?” Mary Margaret questions, her voice shocking them out of their hug.

When she pulls back from David, she sees Mary Margaret holding Leo, the both of their hair sleep rumpled and crazy from their nap. Mary Margaret is pregnant, but they haven’t told Emma. Yet she knows this is why Mary Margaret refused a beer three days ago and why she left the room earlier when the smells of their Chinese food became too much. And it’s why she was upstairs napping in the middle of the day on a Saturday, something she never does. She really wishes she’d tell her so she can be excited about it.

But if they’re not ready, they’re not ready. They may be unusually invasive about some things, but they deserve their privacy. She’s just really hoping that she’s going to have another kid to spoil. There’s nothing quite like giving a child sugar, making them love you, and then handing them back to their parents while you get to go home.

Yeah, David and Mary Margaret are totally going to give her hell for payback if she ever has any kids.

“David was being David, helping me through some stuff.” Mary Margaret raises a perfectly groomed eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m totally going to need some more info on that later.”

David laughs before getting up from the window seat and walking over to Mary Margaret, kissing her lips and whispering something in her ear before ruffling Leo’s hair and talking to him. She smiles at their little family, thinking of everything David alluded to about them going through tough times too, and she feels better than she has all week.

Her flats flop off of her feet as she walks down the hallway, an apple in her mouth and a box of files in her hands. She feels like she hasn’t stopped all day, her feet aching despite the lack of heels, and she hasn’t even had time to eat more than this apple that’ll likely get stuck on the desk and rot away from where she’s taken the singular bite out of it. But a new quarter means new financials and updating the files for the kids. It’s always busy, but this week especially so.

Ever since the Christmas gala, their donations have increased, and they bought a new computer system. Installing it and updating it has been exhausting, especially for a few of the older people she works with who have been totally against a computerized system. The worst thing, though, is that she’s having to manually enter everything. And manually entering everything means checking that all of their information is right before fiddling around with her computer. It’s not extremely complicated, but it takes awhile to get used to and to make sure everything is right as she logs it into the system. It doesn’t help that her hands feel like they’re cramping and her fingers are one more box of files away from falling off. That would probably be a medical first.

She’s still got twenty-three boxes in the file room, and it’s already six o’clock on Tuesday evening.

She’s going to lose her hands too. There’s no doubt about it.

And she sure as hell isn’t finishing these tonight, but she can at least finish this one box before going home.

Her office phone rings as she’s walking back into her office, and she drops the box on her desk before picking it up and pressing the buttons to hit speaker.

“Hello?”

“Hey, beautiful,” Killian’s deep accent greets, the sound of a door shutting behind him.

“Hi,” she answers while her cheeks flush, sitting down in her chair and letting the wheels roll under her before pulling out a file to work on. “Why are you calling me at the office?”

“Couldn’t get you on your cell. Why are you still at the office?”

She groans, shutting her eyes for a moment before opening them and starting to type, knowing she can go to the gym and go home the faster she gets this done. She feels like she’s never going to get this done. “You remember how I said we’re having to manually enter all of our files so we can go digital?”

“I recall.”

“Well, it’s somehow just me doing this, and it’s taking forever. Like, this is all I’ve done since yesterday at eight in the morning. My hands are going to fall off.”

“I’m sorry,” Killian sympathizes. “Can’t someone help you? It’d be a pity for you to lose those hands. They do glorious things.”

“Oh gross,” she scoffs, scrunching her face up at how his voice deepened when he said the words. “How did you turn that into dirty joke?”

“I’m a man of many talents. But seriously, love. Don’t you have someone to help you?”

“Ruby does what she can, but everyone else is much more hands on and not computer savvy, which is ridiculous considering the year and their jobs. So I’ll just be toiling away in my cell of an office.”

“You poor unfortunate soul.” “Exactly,” she laughs, kicking her shoes off and curling her legs underneath her. “So what are you doing? Filming?”

“Yep, taking a b-break,” he yawns, his voice broken and raspy, exactly how he sounds just as he’s waking up in the morning…or at least how she thinks from her one experience. “I cannot begin to express how excited I am to be finished in three weeks. It’s not quite the same filming and then coming home to an empty house when I had a pretty good house guest last week.”

“Charmer.”

“I try.”

She and Killian chat for awhile, filling each other in on their days, and while she wasn’t planning on talking to him about the Liam thing again, she just typed in the name William for one of their regular kids, and it’s all she can think about it.

“Hey, KJ?”

“Yes, ES?”

She chuckles under her breath. He does that nearly every time she calls him KJ, and it drives her crazy. But it’s not going to make her stop. If he can call her every nickname in the book, she can have one for him.  “Have you talked to your brother since…you know?”

The line is silent and she wonders if she’s taken it a step too far, but then she hears an overexaggerated sigh and can practically see him running his hand through his hair. “I have not. Why do you ask, love?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I’m curious. I don’t want you two to be broken up over me.” “He was a bloody wanker to my girlfriend. I’m not just going to be over it.”

If she was holding a phone, she’s sure she’d drop it. She knows they’re dating, has said as much herself, but they’ve never defined it in terms like that. And she kind of feels like she’s fifteen and being kissed for the first time by Michael Kaleb after school. He’d turned out to be a jerk, but the moment was still nice. Just like this one.

So she smiles to herself while doing a little dance in her chair and tucking her hair behind her ears before going back to typing and talking to her…boyfriend. Yeah, she definitely feels like she’s fifteen again. “Killian, you guys have to talk. You can’t be pissed forever.” “I can try.”

“Yeah, but it’s not what you or me or even Liam needs. I personally think you should talk to him and work things out. And then next time I’m in LA, I’d like my chance, which likely won’t be nearly as nice as yours is, with him.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” he chuckles even if it doesn’t sound as joyful as his usual laugh. “He was an arsehole. But you’re most likely right, which I kind of hate.” “So you’ll think about it?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Also, I’d just like to apologize in advance for when David does something similar to you. I told him not to, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he finds a way.”

“Well, we’ll just call it even, Steven.”

“Sounds like a plan, Stan.”

He snorts on the other end of the line, his distaste for her using that phrase so often waning a bit, and if anything, she’s at least accomplished that. 

Killian has to go back to set at the same time she finishes her box of files, and as much as he helped her get through the rest of the day, she’s glad that he has to go if only because it means she’s closer to getting home and getting into her bed, something she’s been craving all day.

“So what are we eating?” Ruby yells from the couch only for Mary Margaret to scold her and tell her not to yell. Such a mom.

“I don’t know.” She ruffles through her fridge, trying to see if there’s anything edible, but it’s mostly just milk and eggs. “I can make, like, omelets or something. Or we can order takeout.”

“Takeout,” Ruby and Mary Margaret yell at once.

“Hey, I can cook.”

“You can cook some things,” Mary Margaret corrects, standing from the couch and walking the few steps to the kitchen, placing her hand on Emma’s bicep and squeezing, “but we’re having girls’ night on a Thursday when we all have work in the morning. We should at least eat something really indulgent.” She shuffles through Emma’s takeout menu drawer, throwing out everything until she finds the Shun’s Kitchen menu. “Let’s eat this.”

“Really? Didn’t we have Chinese at your house on Saturday?”

“Yeah, but I’ve been really craving it lately. I devoured the leftovers after you left.”

Emma quirks an eyebrow at Mary Margaret’s statement. She gets craving Chinese. She craves it all of the time, but she’s also not pregnant and the absolute worst at keeping a secret. But it’s whatever. It’s not her secret to expose. She’s just surprised Marg has so much resolve. At this rate, David is going to burst first.

“Okay, why don’t you order whatever you want then, and I’ll go find something to watch.”

She steps over to the couch, plopping herself down next to Ruby whose fiddling on her phone and flipping through shows on Netflix, trying to find something to play in the background.

“So preggo over there still pretending not to be pregnant?”

“Yep.” She continues to scroll through Netflix, realizing she’s spent far too much time sitting on her ass watching TV with everything she’s seen because there’s absolutely nothing to watch. “Who are you texting?”

“Um, excuse me,” Ruby scoffs, holding her phone against her chest, “who are you? You are certainly not Emma Swan, private person extraordinaire who doesn’t ask personal questions so as to avoid having to answer personal questions. Because first you’re super into Marg’s pregnancy, and now you want to know who I’m texting. That’s not you.” Ruby bops her nose then, and she scrunches her face up, knowing that Ruby is right. “Nosy.”

“Can you blame me?” she shrugs, curling her feet up underneath her.

“No, but it’s really not anything. It’s just Victor.”

“Wait,” she slaps Ruby’s leg, “are you seeing him again?”

“Maybe,” she admits, curling into herself and rubbing where Emma hit her. “It’s…I ran into him while running in the park a few weeks ago, and we’ve been talking. It’s not dating or anything, but you know I still like him.”

“You still like who?” Mary Margaret asks, settling herself down into the recliner and propping her feet up on the ottoman.

“Victor.”

“Shit,” Mary Margaret whistles as everyone breaks out into laughs at the woman who is pure as snow cursing. “How did this happen?”

“It just kind of…did? I’m not sure if it’s going anywhere, but I kind of want it to. I mean, we’re older now. We’re in the same city. We’re not going to be trying some long-distance relationship while he’s in med school. That sucked and obviously didn’t work out even though there was nothing wrong with us.”

Her throat constricts at Ruby’s words, a lump forming and lodging itself there. The words are a little closer to home than Ruby probably intended them to be, and as much as she’s trying to have this conversation with Ruby, to be there for her friend, all she can think about is she and Killian. It’s…she hates being the girl who’s always thinking about her relationship, who can’t think about other things. And she’s not always thinking about Killian. That would be ridiculous. She has a job, friends, interests of her own that keep her occupied, but he’s managing to snake his way into little parts of her life. It’s not a bad thing. It’s good really. She just feels guilty that she’s about to how some kind of mini freak out when she doesn’t want this night to be about her.

But Ruby talking about she and Victor’s long-term relationship from after college, when Victor moved to Atlanta for Medical school and Ruby stayed here, is getting to her. They were great together, two eccentric and outgoing people who worked really well together, and deeply in love. But the strain became too much on them, especially with Victor’s inability to leave to visit because of how busy he was.

She…she and Killian are like that, and they’re not in love. They’re getting to know each other, maybe making their way there, and they’re doing the exact same thing. How are they supposed to last when they have all of these obstacles between them? She’s seen him in person twice. Once for a few hours when they were meeting and the second time for a week where she almost immediately slept with him.

What the hell is she going to do next if that’s how she progresses through this relationship? Marry him? That’s fucking ridiculous.

“Hey,” Ruby nudges her, shaking her out of her thoughts, “where’d your head go, Ems?”

“Nowhere,” she lies, plastering a smile on her face.

“You just zoned out through all of my spiel and for dinner getting here. If I wasn’t so concerned, I’d honestly be impressed.”

“It’s nothing,” she promises, the words sounding untrue on her tongue. God, she really sucks. She just did this to David and now Ruby. She can’t keep doing that. “I’m sorry for zoning out. Just, feel free to tell me anything and everything you want, and I will listen to all of it.”

“That’s a dangerous game you’re playing, Emma Swan.”

“I know.”

The three of them eat their food while Ruby recaps all that she just said. She’s so happy, her face lighting up with joy, and it lifts some of Emma’s burdens getting to see her best friend like this. Maybe it’ll work out and maybe it won’t, but Ruby’s trying. That’s the important thing. She may sound like Mary Margaret, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as she’s learning little by little.

It’s a girls’ night like any of their other girls’ nights, the three of them dissolving into conversation and laughter, especially when they discover Instant Hotel on Netflix and absolutely lose it watching the ridiculous groups of people showing off their home. But it is Thursday, and they have work in the morning, so Ruby and Mary Margaret leave at ten, leaving her with all of the leftover food.

She’s getting ready for bed, scrubbing her face wash over her face, when her phone rings. Her hands are covered in acne solution, so she uses her elbow to answer, barely escaping knocking her phone into the toilet. “Hello?”

“Hi, Swan. You awake?”

“Yeah, but I’m getting ready to go to bed.”

“Do you need me to just try you tomorrow?”

“No, no,” she promises, grabbing a wash cloth and wiping down her face, “I can talk to you. We keep missing each other, so I’m good to go. Just gotta rub a hell of a lot of creams on my face so I don’t become old and wrinkly like you.”

“Oi,” Killian laughs while she rubs her moisturizer on, “I am not old and wrinkly, love, and I don’t appreciate you saying that when you know otherwise.”

“Do I? I’m not so sure. I definitely saw some.”

“You’re being cheeky tonight, Swan.”

“It was girls’ night tonight, so I’m in a pretty good mood.”

“Really now? You, Ruby, and Mary Margaret?”

“Yep.” She leaves the bathroom and crawls into her bed, pulling the covers over her chest and propping her phone up under her chin. “You still filming?”

“No, actually. We had late night last night and got finished around noon this afternoon, so I’ve just woken up. I’m about to go to the gym.”

“Sucks for you.”

“Yeah, well, I had a house guest that kept me away from my workouts, and my trainer has decided to make my life hell ever since.”

“Sorry?”

“I’m not. It was a bloody good week.”

He sounds so happy, and she gets it. He makes her happy, but she misses him. She didn’t think it was possible to miss someone so much after rarely seeing them, but she does. It’s stupid and weird, but it’s her life now. It’s only been a little less than two weeks, and she feels like she’s going crazy. She doesn’t know how people do this and actually have it working out.

“You’ve gone silent there, Swan. What’s up?”

“Nothing, I just…I was thinking.”

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“What are we doing, exactly? Like, we’re dating aren’t we? You called me your girlfriend over the phone the other day, but I didn’t want to say anything. It’s not that I didn’t like that. I did. A lot. It’s just, like, we’re doing everything out of order, and as great and as natural as it is most of the time…I need some sort of explanation or to have a conversation and wow am I rambling. I’m so, so, so not good at this.”

Killian chuckles on the other end of the line while she wishes she could take back her word vomit. She should not have said all of that, but at the end of the day, she really does need some kind of clarification. She’s also glad she’s not Facetiming him because she can literally feel how red her cheeks are. And she’s sure Killian’s got his hand scratching behind his ear thinking that he’s involved himself with a crazy woman.

“Well, first of all, love, I’m not bloody good at this either. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a relationship, which is what I’m thinking this is if you’re amenable to that?”

“I am.”

“Okay, so we’re in a relationship even if we both bloody suck at it. I’d like to sound half my age and call you my girlfriend, unless you have any other suggestions for the word? Partner, significant other, special friend, lover?”

She snorts, turning in bed and curling up on her side, moving the phone with her so it rests on her pillow. “Lover. Definitely lover. I think that’ll be the best way to introduce you to people. Hi, this is my lover.”

“Well alright then, lover,” he accentuates the word, lowering his voice and making it as seductive as possible, “it’s settled then. Does that clear up your worries?”

“It does,” she chuckles, a yawn interrupting her laugh. “Do you think I’m crazy for freaking out about that?”

“No, love, never” Killian promises, and she believes him. Wholeheartedly. Is her heart fluttering in her chest? Shouldn’t she be worried about that? She’s pretty sure that’s how people die. “It’s like you said, both of us are taking a leap of faith, and it’s only going to work if we both do it. I think being clear on what’s happening is totally reasonable.”

“For someone who isn’t a relationship expert, you seem to be very sensible.”

“Yeah, well, my sister-in-law gave me a talking to yesterday. She gave me some tips.”

“Yeah?” she yawns again, wiping away the sleep in her eyes.

“Yeah, but I’m going to tell you about it tomorrow. You’re tired, lover.”

“Shut up,” she laughs, even as she reaches over and turns off her bedside lamp, shrouding the room in darkness. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous, but I’m your lover. And I’m in this for the long haul, by the way. I thought you should know that.”

She does, and she is too.

[alphawolfice1989]

Robin’s benefits of dating Ted

We talk a lot about the reasons why Ted/Robin is unhealthy around here, so I think it’s a good exercise: why did T/R need to happen, for Robin? Not just in terms of “the safe guy,” or such, but what did it do for her as a character?

I think T/R needed to happen for Robin's benefit which is evolving into someone who can commit to someone and can eventually settle down and get married. But T/R happening isn't a bad thing it's just something that made Robin open up to love and commitment that was with the wrong person. Robin needed to grow in her life with her career first and than she was ready for the real thing that Ted always talks about.

I think it was good relationship practice for her. She'd never said "I love you" to a guy before, she was able to stick with one guy for almost a whole year, and she came close to moving in with someone. These are huge milestones for her. Whether or not we liked them together, she did get some growth and happiness out of it.

I think the story with Ted was important for Robin because it  has served to open up her more to love. Since the first season, Robin does not really believe in long-term relationships, while in the second season, we see a certain change (in 'Atlantic City', when Ted tells her that he can not believe that she does not want to ever get married, Robin answers with a "I've never said never," which makes it clear what she actually is considering the idea. the problem is that in that idea, Ted is not included. Surely Ted is a safe choice, because he's ready to settle down and having a family as was Kevin, and she herself admits that she felt that Kevin was the right person with whom to make the next step, but this is precisely the point: there is a substantial difference between the person you feel is the most appropriate for a future together and the person who you actually love.

there is a substantial difference between the person you feel is the most appropriate for a future together and the person who you actually love.

That's precisely it, and it has been Robin's trouble throughout most of the series. Finding a guy who seems like an ideal candidate on paper and for various reasons she feels will be the best choice for her and then trying to force herself to fit and make it work even though it doesn't fit and the feelings aren't there that should be there.

But that is not limited to Robin alone. It's the same exact thing that Barney does with Nora, and to an even greater extent with Quinn.

And even Ted is doing the same thing with Robin, only in the case of Ted it's not about who is a perfect candidate "on paper" (because Robin certainly would not qualify as anyone's idea of his perfect mate). With Ted it's about HE decided on the spot she had to be the one and nothing is going to dissuade him from that, even if the feelings aren't there (so long as he doesn't find anything better that is, because in those moments when he thinks he has Ted has no problem completely forgetting his obsession with Robin to romance some other girl...until that crashes and burns too).

I think Robin needed to date someone longer than a few weeks. She'd never really had anything resembling a long term relationship before, and I think dating Ted helped her in that respect. Yeah, at times it's off-putting because it seems like Robin is trying to play the role of "girlfriend", and it's also off-putting when Ted assumes the role of all-knowing relationship expert, but overall I think it was good for Robin in some respects. Getting to know little things about someone that only come with time, sleeping with someone for longer than a few weeks, putting herself out there and trying to meet Ted (often more than) halfway, finding out what you like and don't like in a relationship, and realizing what is truly a dealbreaker about someone, all of those are things that I think Robin benefited from in her relationship with Ted.

I also think it was important that Robin was in a relationship that ended in an amicable way, where neither person was at fault. It didn't end because Ted cheated on her, or left her, or did something else really horrible to her. It ended because they had fundamental differences on nearly every level. From what we know of Robin's past, her parents made terrible role models in terms of a functional romantic relationship, and it seems like every guy that teenaged Robin dated ended up dumping her or leaving her. So, it made sense that Robin would only date guys for a few weeks, guys she wasn't that interested in but thought were hot, and then dumped them when they started wanting to get serious (or because she didn't want to get too close to any of them). Dating Ted helped break that cycle in a way, because she got to be part of a relationship where things didn't end horribly, one where she wasn't the one who got left or ended up hurt.

Dating Ted helped break that cycle in a way, because she got to be part of a relationship where things didn't end horribly, one where she wasn't the one who got left or ended up hurt.

That's a really great point. Even though they weren't compatible and their relationship certainly wasn't problem free, it did teach her that being in a relationship period doesn't have to spell disaster and betrayal and heartbreak and pain 24/7, since that's the impression she seemed to have from her past experiences both personally and through watching her parents.

Through dating Ted, Robin got to understand some of the positive aspects of being in a serious relationship, and I think she really craved the closeness and the affection and the sense of feeling loved (because she sadly never really had that in her life before, from anyone).

https://barneyrobin.livejournal.com/1022689.html

[storiesaremylife]

Y'all asked for it

Ok, I must be the only person in the entire world who thinks Jason's personality has never really changed. And I mean from Robin to red hood, yes, but I also mean from his original backstory to becoming a street kid. Aside from the first three years of being the Red Hood with his PTSD/anger/pit driven psychosis (even jason will say he was out of his mind these years) that didn't end until like Bruce came back from the dead, with some good spots mixed in between (Countdown, Outsiders).

Jason has ALWAYS been obsessive and a little dark. This didn't suddenly happen one day. He was willing to kill Poison Ivy to save Bruce. When he was almost killed by a criminal called Dr. Dang, he put the dude's actual tooth on a necklace and wore it all the time. He questioned the no kill rule and didn't seem satisfied with Bruce's answer, but respected it because he looked up to Bruce so much.

(I don't have sources, but these are all from Batman/Detective Comics BEFORE Jason's backstory was retconned. And if that last one sounds familiar, it might be because of this:

In today's issue of Tec)

Jason has stopped Bruce from killing before, but honestly? Was it because he didn't believe in killing or because he knew what it would do to Bruce?

So yeah, Jason's personality hasn't changed all that much since 1984, aside from increased trauma and growing as a character. Not that you all want him tok grow as a character, but you know. Details. Not relevant.

Another thing people are up in arms about is his admiration of Dick. Everyone's acting like this hero worship came out of nowhere. Like... what? Literally no. Jason has always seen Dick as a hero, has always looked up to him. Dock was the impossible standard, yes, but Jason didn't resent him until New 52.

They didn't have much of a relationship when Jason was Robin, and I believe that directly affected Dick's relationship with Tim. Dick adored Jason like a little brother, even wanted to be the one to adopt him initially when his parents were killed, but he let his relationship with Bruce get in the way of his relationship with Jason. It's hinted later on they did more stuff than Jason's quick term with the titans together, but on screen there wasn't a whole lot.

There's an entire Nightwing arc on how Jason hero worships Dick. The One Year Later story, if you want to check it out. I don't remember the issue numbers, sorry. Before issue 136 I believe. Dick took a break from Nightwing, not sure if he wanted to do that anymore, until Jason dressed up as him and started killing people. Jason was psychotic, but basically he wanted to work with Dick. He wanted to fight crime together. Dick was the only person he really reached out to, and Dick repeatedly turned him away because he'd started killing people. This happened several times. Maybe Jason's mind would have started healing sooner if Dick had accepted his offer and tried to help instead saying h3 wished Jason had died in Under the Red Hood, but that's neither here nor there.

I think y'all know where I'm going with this. My unpopular opinion. The whole killing thing.

You guys are under the impression that Jason loves to kill and will kill any and every one. But that's not true, not outside of that Nightwing arc, and Battle for the Cowl. Y'all need to pay more attention. Jason Todd is WILLING to kill. Anyone he kills has either done somerthing so super bad they definitely deserve it, or is a strategic move as well as the first thing. Jason is embarrassed by the person he was when he was seventeen. Jason slowly phasing out killing is not ooc.

Have you ever thought about why he started killing people? Other than the fact that he thinks sometimes the bad guys deserve to die (an idea stared by Diana Prince and Wally West btw), he did it to get Bruce's attention. Honestly. He did it all to maneuver Bruce where he wanted him, and yeah this was when he was psychotic.

In New 52 he didn't kill a lot on screen, and who he did had pushed him too far for him to let them live. He's not killing anyone now because he promised Bruce, and Bruce is the most important person in his life. (You want references read anything with Jason Todd ever). He doesn't necessarily agree, like he didn't really agree when he was Robin, but he'll do it to have his family back.

You: Jason Todd is a loner

Me: Jason Todd craves family and acceptance and after God knows how long he's finally got it and y'all are upset about it.

Rant over. Sorry for the lack of coherence, i typed this all on my phone.

[ryanmeft]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Movies-at-Home Review

Star Wars: The Last Jedi completely changes everything about the franchise, a fact which some will love and some will hate. One thing I feel confident in saying is that if you think the previous sentence is true, the odds of you being a middle-aged fanboy who still believes busy adults should be thinking more about the term “Midochlorians” are high. The reality of Rian Johnson’s entry into the once-iconic toy-generation engine is less dramatic: a few insignificant background details have been altered, once-thrilling space opera has been replaced by a plot revolving around running out of gas, and otherwise the movie is the same old Star Wars. Like The Force Awakens, it is still tied firmly to the original trilogy. Unlike The Force Awakens, it’s not very much fun.

I don’t honestly remember how part seven ended, and before you rush off to remind me, you should know I don’t remember because I’ve had better things to do since 2015. I don’t think it left off with the rebel fleet, led by the now departed Carrie Fisher as Leia, running out of oomph, but that’s where we start this entry. Actually, correction: we start with hotshot space pilot and bad Han Solo impersonator Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) lobbing grade school insults at Imperial Commander somebody-or-other (Domnhall Gleeson) to distract him from the fact that he wants to blow up their ships. I know people who were personally offended by the glib tone of this scene, but I didn’t mind, because quite frankly it was still more polite, mature and useful than trying to have a conversation about the franchise these days. He does blow up the ship he wants, loses 95% of the Rebel ships in the process, and wonders why they don’t declare him a hero.

If you somehow like Poe, don’t worry: the other characters eventually fawn all over him, because this movie has so many gaps of logic it is officially a registered Libertarian. Witness the scene in which Leia is temporarily unable to command. An officer prepares to announce her replacement. The camera pans around the room, lingering on familiar faces, right before the new commander is announced as…a supposedly legendary Admiral who we’ve never seen or heard of before this exact moment. Sure, she’s played by Laura Dern, and having Laura Dern in a movie is usually a good enough motivation for anything (see Downsizing for another example), but the film is riddled with such random and inexplicable introductions and asides. During the opening space battle, the cameras of longtime Johnson collaborator Steve Yedlin linger on the protracted heroic death of a woman whose importance is not explained, and who is later revealed to be a foil for terrible new character Rose (Kelly Marie Tran). Rose is also there to be Finn’s (Jon Boyega) pointless love interest. They have a mildly interesting subplot on a planet where the locals made their bones by double-dealing weapons to both sides, and Boyega once again proves he’s got the most interesting character of the three new stars, but his story is robbed of any pathos by a moment so ridiculously stupid that I’ll let you discover it for yourself. I never, ever question the logic of a movie about magic sword knights in space, but The Last Jedi is, in this regard, ambitious. 

Throughout all of this, the dialogue is so vapid and empty that it could only have been written by corporate committee. Compare it to the original Star Wars, which I re-watched afterwards for the first time in over a decade. The dialogue there was hokey and at times a bit workmanlike, with stilted delivery, and is mostly quotable through cultural accretion rather than any inherent quality. What it has is the sense it was written by a bunch of big kids who grew up on Flash Gordon and were having a ton of fun. The Last Jedi feels dictated by people whose primary interest was in appealing to as many demographics as possible, and as anyone experienced with spinning a good yarn knows, stories that are made for everyone are really made for no one.

Where the film comes alive is when Luke Skywalker is on screen, and I can honestly say I never expected to write those words. For all that he’s iconic, he was the dullest of the three main heroes in the old films. Here, he turns out to be the one and only part of the movie that feels like anyone really believed in it. Played again by the now obviously aged Mark Hamill, he resides in exile on a planet with only one island, inhabited by a frog-like race that seems to live to maintain it. Here are the remains of the first Jedi temple, a fact which could really be spun out into something fascinating if Disney were remotely interested in things that are fascinating. Luke has given up on the Jedi Order for reasons that are, if not really gripping, then more compelling than anything else the story offers, but like a true believer he still carefully guards the original religious texts. I wondered through most of the film how much better it would have been if the rest of it were this inspired. Unlike Harrison Ford’s obligatory, phoned-in final outing as Han Solo, appreciated somewhat by me at the time but which I have since recognized as pure fan service, Luke’s return feels like it adds something not just to this film but to the franchise.

It’s just too bad Johnson had to nearly foul it up by taking Rey’s story to the least interesting place possible. Rey is, if you recall, the new Force-wielding hero of the series, and she travels to the Skywalker Cosmic Bachelor Retreat to try and get Luke to train her. Their scenes together have zip, including a particularly funny moment, and for a while we think the movie will really go somewhere with Rey’s temptation toward darkness. It does not, because that would cut into merchandise sales. Instead, Rey heads off to confront Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and his boss Supreme Commander Snoke (Andy Serkis), whose head looks like someone did something very painful to another part of their anatomy. Back in my review of The Force Awakens, I called Kylo and Rey the new additions with the most potential. I also said I could not give the series credit for future movies, and I have been proved right. Almost every bit of interest the two characters had has been flushed in favor of completely generic paths for their stories to take. The one revelation I thought added something new to Rey will doubtless be retconned for something duller when J.J. Abrams takes the reins back with the next installment. I think Daisy Ridley has a bright career ahead of her, and after seeing her in two Star Wars movies, let’s just hope it’s still ahead of her.

The new Star Wars series has schizophrenia. On the one hand, it wants to hew so closely to the original films that it refuses to break from them even in spin-offs. On the other, it seems determined to give fans what they have long desired by all but erasing George Lucas from the series he created. There is none of his life here, or his boyish, innocent wonder. There are no Mos Eisley cantinas, no strange alien jazz bands aboard floating slave ships, no underwater cities or rolling droid armies. There is nothing to match them, either. This latest entry neither moves the series forward nor captures the boundless magic of the past. No one could come in on The Last Jedi and ever think this was a series born from a crucible consisting of Kurosawa, Robin Hood and Joseph Campbell. In the quest to make it inoffensive to anyone not obsessed with continuity, it has finally been made lifeless. For all the complaining people still do about the prequels, they were at least films a human being wanted to make, done how he wanted to do them, with influences and ideas and innovations. The words “A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away” feel like farce now, applied as they are to a film with very little of the all-too-human emotions that generations of wide-eyed children invested them with.

Verdict: Average

Note: I don’t use stars but here are my possible verdicts. I suppose you could consider each one as adding a star.

Must-See

Highly Recommended

Recommended

Average

Not Recommended

Avoid like the Plague

[amandajoyce118]

2020 In Review

I used to end the year with blog posts highlighting 100 things, or 50 things if I wasn’t that ambitious, that I loved about the year. Usually, those things were pop culture things. 2020, however, is a special year, no? I mean, a pandemic, quarantines, political unrest, massive bread lines, natural disasters, refugees seeking better lives, stressful elections, etc. For most people, to make a blanket statement, this year sucked.

Most of the people following me know that I’m a freelance writer, but I have a full time day job as a fresh merchandiser for a food service distributor. That means I never “shut down” or worked from home or any of the other things people have been forced to do. I work a full day pretty much every day with customers who don’t understand why distribution has slowed, why I have “long term outs” of items like cases of hard boiled eggs or fresh ginger, why there are certain days of the week when they just can’t get chicken wings. I have people who refuse to wear masks, employees who forget to disinfect work stations, and a questionnaire I have to fill out before every shift as to whether or not I think I’ve been exposed to covid. And when I’m done there, I escape by writing.

As a result, I haven’t been doing much for fun. Outside of my day job, the media I consume is generally for freelance work, which has made this year really exhausting, no matter how much writing/stories is an escape for me. That’s why, instead of just things I loved this year, I’m going to give you a list of 10 pieces of media I’ve consumed - over and over and over again - that I’ve somehow not gotten sick of when writing listicles about the subjects. I feel like we all need to feel like we’re getting lost in a good story, or with characters we genuinely enjoy, even if, like me, we’re getting lost in those worlds with those characters to be able to write about them.

The Baby-Sitters Club

I was obsessed with the books, the ‘90s show, and the eventual movie as a kid, so it’s no surprise that I was counting down the days until the Netflix adaptation premiered - and I loved it. I’m not going to lie, I’ve watched this show from beginning to end four times this year. It’s such a quick watch and there’s something really great about watching these girls grow up.

Nancy Drew

Again, obsessed with Nancy Drew as a kid. More specifically, obsessed with the ‘80s case files as a kid. I read all of them I could get my hands on. The new television show is a little more Riverdale than the novels are, but it’s an interesting spin on the characters and stories we already know - and the representation of a diverse community on the show is fantastic.

Anne With An E

I’m still holding out hope for a movie to close out this show since there are something like seven books in the original series and the show basically only covered the first one? Where is the justice? But, this is another show I think I’ve watched three times from beginning to end because Anne Shirley Cuthbert is someone you want to be friends with, no matter how old you are. You also want her to come to her senses within about 30 seconds of being introduced to Gilbert Blythe, so you know, it’s a fun and angsty time.

Agents Of SHIELD

One of my favorite Marvel properties ended this year, and… I should probably be more sad about it? Like, I absolutely would have watched more episodes of this show if it had kept going, but I’m also incredibly satisfied with how the show concluded this year, which is rare for me. I’ve gone back and rewatched a handful of episodes for articles, and Agents Of SHIELD feels like a show that I’ll end up rewatching yearly because it’s one of the few shows where I’ve actively engaged in fandom for years and still genuinely love.

Timeless

Yes, I rewatched this gem this year while writing a handful of listicles, and I’m bitter that this didn’t get more seasons. The cast chemistry, the stories of those often overlooked by history, and the twist of a shady organization being closer than you think? It’s pretty perfect. I miss it. It’s a yearly rewatch already.

Pitch Perfect Trilogy

Every so often, I find myself in the mood to hear Anna Kendrick belt out a few songs. Pitch Perfect tends to win out over Into The Woods, and I can’t ever seem to stop at just the first movie. Pitch Perfect is cheesy and not as perfect as its title implies, but it always puts me in a good mood. I want more comedies about a capella groups, please.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

If I had to say where my love of serial storytelling, or my ability to engage in fandom, started, it was with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I had friends who would create their own team of Rangers when I was little, and we’d trade kicks on the playground (which got us in trouble), and yeah, as an adult watching a show made in 1993, this show is ridiculous. Full stop. But it’s also the kind of show that makes you remember that a whole generation was raised on the idea that even if the good guys don’t always win, they keep trying. They never give up. And that’s just as important today as it was then.

Teen Wolf

I recognize that this show is sometimes a mess and that continuity is not always its strong suit. Does that mean I love it any less? Nope. And neither does the rest of the internet since some of my articles still get heavy rotation even though the show has been off the air for years. It’s the kind of show that pulls me in, even when I already know what’s about to happen.

Leverage

Oh, Leverage. How do I possibly explain how excited I am that you’re getting a revival? I don’t think I can. Also, I don’t know why I’m talking to Leverage directly when I haven’t to anything else on this list. Leverage is about a group of criminals who steal from the corrupt to give back to their victims. I mean. It’s Robin Hood for the modern age. It’s a found family. There are love stories. There are redemption arcs. It’s just chock full of greatness. And Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison.

RWBY

I only really got into RWBY last year, and it’s fast becoming one of my favorite anime, though admittedly, I don’t watch a ton of anime. I love the references to fairy tales, mythology, and history mixed into this crazy fantasy world. I love that the villains are as compelling as the heroes. I love that in such a large cast of characters, I want to know more about everyone. It’s a fascinating show and some of the episodes are only five minutes long. 

Sailor Moon

I grew up in the ‘90s era of television, so, of course, I watched Sailor Moon after school. The English dubs because I’m a heathen, what do you want from me? I’ve really enjoyed revisiting the ‘90s series after watching Sailor Moon Crystal because, obviously, the ‘90s anime is not exactly the story that was told in the manga. It has such a rich mythology and fascinating characters not to mention beautiful designs.

Naruto

I’m going to be honest, you guys. I never thought I would be into Naruto. But something about it just hooks you. I got into it because there were always listicle topics that editors created for the show on the sites I write for, and I was curious. Unlike manga purists, I actually really like the filler episodes. I think they add a lot to understanding the characters. Also, there is no anime character I love more than Shikamaru in Naruto Shippuden.

New Girl

Okay. New Girl has really been the saving grace of 2020. I know this show ended a few years ago. I know that people should be ready for other things. But here’s the truth: I’m not really a sitcom person. I was as a teenager, but as an adult, I like my serial storytelling to be completely unrealistic and dramatic, usually. But 2020 has been so heavy that I needed the lightness New Girl provides. 

And I love each and every resident of the loft - even the ones I would never be able to stand hanging out with in real life. I love how much they all grow up over the course of the show. I love the one-liners. I love the running jokes. I love the musical numbers. I love the Nick and Jess of it all. In 2020 alone I have watched the first five episodes of this show about ten times. I’ve watched the show from beginning to end twice in just the last three months of the year. I love it so much I’ve even considered writing fanfiction for it (though I really don’t have the time and haven’t even finished old works over the last year). When this pandemic is behind us all, I’d actually consider playing the (arguably dangerous and would likely give everyone alcohol poisoning) game of True American just to see if my friends and I could get through it. 2020 has been rough, but at least New Girl is still on Netflix.

There you have it, a baker’s dozen of the things that got me through this year - mostly in television format. There’s something I just love about serial storytelling, and when it looks like the world is falling apart, it’s nice to have the comfort of happy endings and stories you can plot out yourself. Here’s hoping 2021 is kinder to all of us, and has plenty more stories for us to get lost in.

[mattviperme]

Criticizing some theories related to the FRobin ship  Part-1

D: Hello, Odacchi! I have a question; will you hear me out? ...Oh, you will? Thanks! Here goes. In the song the Straw Hats sing called "Family", they have a line that goes "We're not acquaintances, we're not friends, we're family". If the Straw Hats really were an actual family, who would be the dad, and who would be the mom? P.N. Nashi

O: "Family" has been aired on TV, and it seems to be the most popular out of all the character songs. I really love it, too. My answer would currently be something like this.

Dad: Franky (Thug)

Mom: Robin

First Son: Zoro

Second Son: Sanji (Punk)

Daughter: Nami

Third Son: Usopp

Fourth Son: Luffy

Youngest: Chopper

The FRobin ship actually came to existence after Oda sensei had given answer to the above mentioned question.This answer was given at the end of 48th volume of One piece.I am going to start my analysis with this theory.

Firstly,the question was asked by assuming a condition that “If the Straw Hats really were an actual family” and while giving the answer Oda sensei used two terms “currently” and “something” which can change the meaning of everything he commented on this context.

Roronoa Zoro                                                           Sanji

Birthday: November 11                        Birthday: March 2 Age: 21                                                  Age: 21

Height: 181 cm                                     Height: 180 cm       First Appearance: Vol. 1                    First Appearance: Vol.5

  Secondly,while taking a look at this makeshift family, i found a big loophole which makes the whole thing contradictory.Just take a look at Zoro and Sanji’s information provided by Oda sensei .Both Zoro and Sanji are of same age but Sanji’s birthday is 2nd March and Zoro’s birthday is 11th November (From Volume 15).That is, Sanji is 8 months older than Zoro,then how Zoro was the first son? 

Ussop and Luffy are of also of same age but the order is correct in their case.So it can be said that the family concept fails only when we consider Zoro. So from this fact it can be concluded that either Oda sensei have never considered Zoro to be Robin’s son or trying to give a future Zorobin hint.In both the cases the ‘Parents theory’ which the Frobin shippers use fails miserably.Let us consider the first possibility that Oda sensei never considered Zoro to be Robin’s son,then what role Zoro really plays in the straw hat family? Oda sensei had given many evidences of Zoro acting as the father of the crew.The major role a father play in a family is to protect the family even at the cost of his own life.We had seen Zoro doing that in Thriller Bark arc against Kuma. The second important role which a father play in a family is helping in character development of his children.We have also seen it when Zoro had given advice to Chopper in Davy back fight arc. A father is respected by all the members of the family.We have seen how much the straw hats respect Zoro at the end of Water7 arc when Zoro refused to let Ussop return to the crew without an apologize.Above all Zoro gave bath to Chopper at the end of Arabastra arc,an act of a good father.If these evidences are not enough to prove that Oda sensei have made a joke about Franky being the father of the crew in volume 48 then a big hint is provided by Oda sensei himself in the second chapter of the 49th volume. 

When Robin rejected Franky and accepted Zoro,the message become quite clear who Robin actually wants to be with at the end of One Piece and who is actually the father of the crew in her eyes.In this canon event,Oda sensei directly compared the two ships and gave preference to the Zorobin ship over Frobin ship. 

We all know 9 year age difference is neither suitable for defining Zoro and Robin’s relationship as mother and son nor I guess Oda sensei tried to promote child pregnancy in One piece.We have found glimpses of Robin behaving like a mother with Luffy and Chopper but with Zoro, Sanji(most of the time flirts with Robin),Nami(addressed Robin as Robin-sis) and Ussop she never act like a mother.Then why the concept of mother arises here? If we consider the role of a wife in a man’s life then we are going to find out that a wife plays the role of both a mother and a lover at the same time.Here ‘first son’ gives the idea of Robin’s first preference towards Zoro. Until the Thriller Bark arc,both Zorobin ship and SanRo ship have the equal chances of becoming a cannon couple.The ‘first son’ and ‘second son’ was actually the hint given by Oda sensei that after the Thriller Bark arc,the SanRo ship will sink and Zorobin ship will rise.If we just check the One piece episodes after the Thriller Bark arc,the SanRo evidences became almost null while Zorobin became a thing. 

Thirdly,here Oda sensei mentioned Franky as a thug but we all know Franky do not have any fixed personality.His personality changes with the type of beverage put into his stomach.If anyone don’t understand what i am saying then check Franky’s story during timeskip. So I guess it is quite meaningless to say “Franky and Robin are of opposite personalities and opposites attract each other”. 

I still can point out some more facts from this family concept and analyze it but I think i should give it a rest for now.

Couples wearing matching T-shirts

I guess everyone understands which theory i am going to analyze now.Truly speaking, i found it very ridiculous to ship someone only because they wear matching T-shirts.Anyway that is my opinion.At the end of Dressrosa arc,we found Franky and Robin wearing matching t-shirts.I guess couples wearing matching T-shirts is a tradition of Japan,but according to Oda sensei none of these characters belongs to Japan: Robin (Russia) and Franky (USA).So Japanese tradition is not applicable to them.On the contrary,at the end of Water 7 arc,we found Zoro and Robin wearing matching T-shirts and  according to Oda sensei, Zoro is a character from Japan so the Japanese tradition of couples wearing matching T-shirts is applicable in this case.Moreover,not only couples siblings can also wear matching clothes.So,couples wearing matching clothes is just a vague theory.

D: Question. Robin always says frightening things in front of everyone. But in her own thoughts, she oftentimes thinks of fun stuff like "Cats" or "Dress-roba" (T.N. - Dress-roba is a pun on Dressrosa, meaning "Dress-Old Woman"). Why doesn't Robin talk about these thoughts with her crew to make them laugh? I love how Robin is like this. P.N. Y.O

O: I see, that's true. From what I think, from the Punk Hazard Arc when she told Franky (in Chopper's body) not to ever make such a strange face in Chopper's body again, Robin probably likes cute things. But even though she likes cute things, she's a bit dark/creepy herself, so if she tries to put these cute thoughts to words there is a chance it may come out as scary/ominous. That's the kind of woman that Robin is.

The above part was taken from one of One piece SBS volume.

 D: Dokusha (Reader) 

 O: Oda

In one of my previous Zorobin post regarding Ryunosuke,i claimed that Robin like cute things and not weird things. Oda sensei while giving answer to a question also said the same thing.We know Robin likes Chopper because of his cuteness but in Punk Hazard Arc,when Franky was in Chopper’s body she told Franky not to ever make such a strange face in Chopper's body.From that scene of Punk Hazard Robin made it clear that she don’t consider Franky cute but a weirdo.

 In one of the manga covers i remember Robin trying  to imitate Chopper with Zoro. So i think she considers Zoro as cute.

To be continued............  

[lafiyahenry]

How Money Heist Uses Music

SEASON FOUR SPOILER ALERT! 

I have watched Money Heist religiously since season one. It’s one of the most amazing pieces of art I’ve witnessed. It’s written beautifully, the cinematography is clean, crisp and aesthetically pleasing at all times, the characters are portrayed in such a raw way; we see their flaws and love them nonetheless. After four seasons, they feel like our family too. But yesterday as I sat down to binge watch the latest season, from the first episode I could tell that something was different... and it all began when Berlin opened his mouth and sang. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3xtWk9VJ5s

For those of you who live under a rock, or simply don’t appreciate the finer things in life, Money Heist or La Casa De Papel is a Spanish television heist crime drama series. It’s told from the perspective of our badass female protagonist, Tokyo. A man called The Professor has assembled a team of eight people, all code-named after various cities, to rob the Royal Mint of Spain. The plan is well thought out and we see things progress in real time. What’s even more amazing is that we are on their side. We want them to get away! The heist is a heist for the people, a revolt against the government. There are allusions to Robin Hood where the gang gives money to the poor and so they’re supported by the public. The themes that we see are  anti-fascism, anti-capitalism, and just plain resistance. We also see themes of passion like love, friendship and betrayal. If you’ve seen the show, you know how important music was in the first seasons. Case in Point: Bella Ciao. 

Everybody who has seen this show, knows this song. Bella Ciao encompasses everything that the show is about. It is an Italian protest song that  was modified and adopted as an anthem of the anti-fascist resistance by the Italian partisans between 1943 and 1945 during the Italian Resistance. One of the first times we hear it is in a scene between The Professor and his brother, Berlin, while discussing the plan for the heist. The song feels like hope. It rings of freedom. It quickly became a fan favorite and an “anthem” of sorts. It is simple, catchy and the feeling that rises in you when you sing, becomes infectious. So, the story has always been connected to music but this season was done differently. Let me explain. 

Everybody loves Latin music. Show me someone that doesn’t want to gyrate their hips and take shots of tequila when they hear Latin music and I’ll show you a psychopath. Just the fact that Money Heist is a Spanish television show, they were destined to greatness where any soundtrack was concerned. The theme song “My Life is Going On” by Cecilia Krull is sung in English which is interesting because the music used in Seasons 1 and 2 are Primarily Spanish.  Don’t get me wrong, there are English songs  mixed in there but it predominately is Spanish sung. In Seasons 1 and 2 the music is also scarce compared to 3 and 4. In this article is shows exactly what music was used. But the question is about how the music is being used. 

In the earlier seasons they used music mostly to set the mood and color of the scenes. When using the song Bella Ciao, it was personal to the Professor and Berlin who had learned it from a grandparent. From then, it was adapted to the whole gang who now use it as their personal anthem for resistance. I believe that the soundtrack is developing with the characters as the seasons go by. It’s becoming more personal to them through the use of diegetic music. 

Diegetic Music is a big term that literally means that the music  is part of the fictional setting and so, presumably, is heard by the characters.

 Diegetic = heard by the characters, for example Bella Ciao & Ti Amo (the song Berlin sings for his wife) 

Non- diegetic= My Life is Going On (Theme Song), the music that the characters do not hear. 

For Seasons 3 & 4 there was definitely a bigger budget and more attention paid to the musical selections but there was definitely increased use in diegetic music. We hear Van Morrison’s Days Like This in S4 E2 with Palermo getting ready and we know that the music is heard by him because he sings along (making it diegetic). This song choice is abnormal for the Money Heist that we knew in seasons 1 and 2. It’s not sung in Spanish and it’s not Latin either but it gives the scene a depth to it. Music itself is a Universal language and no matter race, ethnicity or nationality we all understand what the scene is saying, through the music. The tool of irony is being used as well. The music in itself is hopeful and Van Morrison sings about better days but the team isn’t in the best place. One of their own is captured and being questioned by the police . It weirdly makes the scene feel nostalgic and it’s just one of the scenes that really stood out to me while watching it. 

Another great example of diegetic music in Season 4 is when in Episode 5, Nairobi goes to encourage the workers in the forge that are melting the gold and we hear “Fuego by Bomba Estereo”.  She has the music played in speakers while the workers work and we see her sing  the beat of the song. The song sounds personal to Nairobi and her character. It sounds like her. The choice of music in this scene represents Nairobi and her presence in the Forge, how she motivates and takes charge of the men. She asks them to perform their tasks with rhythm! The music has now represented the character.

There are many more examples of how the music is used brilliantly but the real prime moment of awe for me was Nairobi’s death in S4 E6. Damian Rice’s Delicate? It smashed me to pieces emotionally. This is non-diegetic music, the characters themselves have no idea the music is playing. Just like with Days Like This, the song is neither Latin nor sung in Spanish but because of the universality of music, most people understand what is going on subconsciously. Rice’s woeful voice, the slow tempo of the song and heavy use of strings? We know instantly that this is painful. We are visually seeing a beloved character dead and audibly we hear a musical expression of the team’s pain. We see them crying and bawling but we actually don’t hear them. The song that is playing is expressing everything the Director wants us to feel in that moment. 

I could go on and give infinite more examples of when Money Heist had made the right choices regarding music, but then this blog post would be entirely too long. I was born into a family of musicians and have played music for most of my life. So, when a film or television show has done amazing work and placed thought into the creation of an audible landscape that keeps audiences engaged and interested, I have to stan! Hats off to the composers Manel SantistebanIván and Martínez Lacámara for a job well done especially the evolutions from season to season, which they have handled well. 

WE’RE READY FOR SEASON FIVE, NETFLIX! 

Love, Lafiya. 

[fanesavin]

Is your character inspired in any way by the characters they have played in film/tv?

The answer to this sort of links back to that ask I answered a while back here about how Fane came to be. In short, he’s not really inspired by any of them but also weirdly there are a lot of parallels that I can draw to characters he has played that I only realised recently after researching/re-watching the episodes/shows because it was soooo long ago that I watched them. So I’m gonna go in chronological order here and pull apart the main similarities/differences I see w/ his main roles.

Doctor Who

Now Tom is known foooor about five roles give or take. The earliest is probably that time he ironically played Thomas Milligan in the episode The Last of the Time Lords, where the Master masquerading as Harold Saxon basically took over the world as which was actually called out on Lucifer the other day XD I never actually realised this until someone pointed it out when we were metaing about Lucifer and it made me go OMFG I REMEMBER HIM.

Long story short I never actually remembered Thomas Milligan as a character until it was pointed out, but there are certainly similarities between Fane and him - they’re both severely loyal to people the care for (Thomas for Martha in this instance) to the point he actually would have died attempting to attack the Master in Martha’s defence had time not been reversed and the paradox machine created within the TARDIS ultimately corrected. They both put other peoples priorities first (esp with Thomas being a doctor). Point being both of them would die for the people they cared for if needs be, they also both aren’t afraid of taking responsibility and getting shit done. Aka Thomas Milligan my presh cinnamon bun ♥♥♥

Merlin

Okay, we don’t talk about Tom in Merlin because what EVEN WAS GOING ON WITH THAT WIG JESUS. Anyway, Fane isn’t really anything like King Cenred because he’s not sadistic, ruthless or impatient however some similarities exist in their cautiousness towards violent situations both considering their lives more important than their pride. Cenred despite everything also displayed a little honourable and valiant streak when he told Morgause that he’d rather fail her than let countless men die needlessly. AGAIN, DIDN’T REALISE UNTIL I WAS GIF SEARCHING.

The Fades

Aka that time Tom was married to and slept w/ Natalie Dormer XD Looking back on this I can definitely see resemblances between Fane and Mark but again it’s something I’ve only recently watched so nothing that influenced his characterisation. They’re both guys working as best they can to make the most out of their lots in life; Mark after his wife was supposedly ‘murdered’ and Fane in regards to those who have wronged him and hurt him over the years.

The Secret of Crickley Hall

Is something I only recently watched since I found it on Netflix and it’s actually pretty good, in it Tom plays a distraught dad whose son goes missing and the family move ironically to Crickley Hall in Devil’s Cleave (LMAO THE IRONY CONSIDERING HIS MOST NOTORIOUS ROLE IS YET TO COME). Now, Fane and Gabe are one of the few roles I’d say ARE DEFINITELY PARALLELED. Maisie Williams is also in this, she plays his daughter so that’s fun and I GET MAJOR DANI AND FANE FEELS FROM IT OKAY. Anyway, Gabe is suCH A DAD and I love it and he just worries so much for his family’s well-being despite LITERALLY GRIEVING THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HIS SON BECAUSE OF HIS WIFE FALLING ASLEEP IN THE PARK ANd OMFG THIS MINISERIES GIVES ME ALL. THE. FEELS. I CAN’T EVEN TELL YOU. But Gabe doesn’t really understand his wife’s psychic link with the paranormal leading to frustration and anger and a smidge of resentment. But he tries his best and ugh. Gabe and Fane are definitely alike but again I watched this only a few months ago so can’t say it influenced anything that wasn’t already there.

Once Upon A Time

Aka that one time Tom was in OUAT but he got cast in Rush and couldn’t dedicate the time to filming the show so they recast him as Sean Maguire. In the one episode we see him, again he’s Robin Hood like… he’s a do gooder, but in this he also breaks into Rumple’s castle to steal a magic wand to save his ill wife Marian. Once more, he was willing to risk his life for those he loved and also help strangers (Belle who he tried to get to come with him when she helped him to escape his captivity/torture). He’s also pretty self-confident borderline cocky because HELL YEAH HE’S THE BEST NON-MAGICAL ARCHER although that’s where the similarities end because Fane sucks with a bow and arrow so… ANyway, yes, definitely I see personality similarities here.

Rush

Rush was a great premise, and the medicine in it actually wasn’t that bad so I was admittedly quite impressed. Let’s just ignore Tom’s american accent because it’s atrocious ahaha. I can see similarities between Fane and Will in the fact that they both present outward facades in terms of acting all ‘cool’ and ‘suave’ to try and suppress their demons and traumas. But they both take different routes to achieve that end to a point with Rush using drugs as a coping mechanism they do both use work, drinking and sex as coping mechanisms and distractions so definitely I see parallels here. Plus, they both have a penchant for style and classic cars. Will’s moral compass is definitely more skewed than Fane’s is though.

Miranda

Oh Gary Preston. My heart, my soul. Gary is very much the “nice guy” and is always able to help those in need of it. He’s very much the guy next door and just ugh, absolute precious goofball. There are tangents that parallel Fane and Gary for sure especially in terms with how they handle certain situations in a way that some might consider immaturely.

Lucifer

OOOOOOOOOH BOY, so this is where most people know Tom from these days. It’s his first serial cable show which has been picked up for longer than 1 season and OH HELL AM I PLEASED ABOUT THAT. Honestly, Lucifer Morningstar is a tragically amazing character in an INCREDIBLE cast ensemble most of whom are female and all who KICKASS. Okay so points on which they vary are the fact that Fane is way more emotionally clued in and in touch than Lucifer is, Lucifer has very little regard for basically anyone beyond his immediate radius but they both are incredible in terms of denial. Literally they both end up in the river in Africa they’re so deep in de-nial about things going on in their lives i.e. Lucifer with his detective and Fane in regards to the fact he can forgive people as easily as he tries to convince himself he can. Truth of the matter is, it’s not as easy as that and suppressing what you feel just doesn’t work which is a lesson both characters are learning. Lucifer also has a tendency to take things the wrong way and run with it, he very much is the characterised embodiment of ‘13-year-old-teen’ in an adult’s body. But they’re certainly paralleled in terms of the fact they are capable of great emotional depths, just that Fane is better at recognising them and taking other people into consideration.

They’re also both incredibly capable of doing and going to atrocius lengths for the people they love and care for. They both would move mountains if it meant the safety and security of those they care about. Another parallel they share is the fact that neither of them tend to ‘lie’ at least not outright, omitting details and bluffing are entirely other stories.

also they are both extra™ as fuck.

it’s just a thing.

(him in a snuggie destroyed me omfg whaT IS THIS SHOW I LOVE IT)

[mavros-goodfellow]

The Shiz Diaries

From the diary of Tippetarius Saiserit

Day One

I can’t believe Mombi finally said yes! I’ve been asking her to let me attend Shiz for over a year-- it’s the best school for magic in Oz and I know I don’t have a lot of it but perhaps I could learn how to use it like Glinda does, like she learned here.

I moved in just this morning. Mombi had to leave-- it’s a long way to Gillikin from Shiz-- but my new roommate moved in this afternoon and it’s Mavros!

Oh, I suppose you don’t know who Mavros is, being a book and everything. Mavros is the step-son of Glinda the Good herself! His mother is Prince Robin Goodfellow (which I don’t entirely get, but I suppose it makes sense to them-- Mombi said not to question too much anyways) who is Glinda’s husband and sometimes called Puck, and she (he? they? I’m not sure, I’ve heard all three) was here helping him move in. She was very nice though! All the papers make her out to be so scary, but she unpacked Mavros’ things and even helped with a few of mine. She seemed concerned that Mombi wasn’t there to help me, but I explained it all and besides, I’m used to doing things on my own.

Mavros looked so sad to be here. I bet he’s going to miss his mother. I miss Mombi already.

Day Two

Oh, Mavros is wonderful! He’s already agreed to help with the Homecoming Dance, though I will admit that the other students were a little pushy, but only because they were excited! Mavros didn’t seem to know what to say, I’m sure he was so flattered that they would think of him. I know no one really thinks of me. That’s okay, though. Mombi said that my focus should be on my work, not on making friends. The faster I get my work done, the sooner I can go home. She was very anxious that I come home.

But perhaps one friend would be okay. I sure would like to be friends with Mavros. His life must be so amazing-- living in the palace, having the ear of Glinda the Good herself, and he says that he’s over 1200 years old, that sounds incredible.

We had our first classes today. We’re in several of them together, including magic and history. Mavros seemed a bit confusified over his history book, though I suppose he does come from another world. His history will be different than ours. He’s very smart, you can hear it in his voice. His voice is like... like that darkness that fell over Oz. Rich and cold. A calm eternal night. Oh, goodness, now I’m even writing like how he speaks. It’s just so wonderfied. It’s too bad he doesn’t seem to want to talk to anyone. I suppose we’re both a little shy.

Day Three

I wish Mombi was here. All this school work and cleaning the dorm room? Plus people are constantly asking me about Mavros. Mombi always said, even back home, that I do my work first, and then friends. And there’s always more work.

I cleaned the dorm while Mavros was at his committee meeting. I had hoped that he would be happy that the chores were done. He did not seem so. In fact, he seemed rather perplexed.

“I cleaned the room,” I told him.

“Why?”

Mombi never asked me why I did my chores. She only expected me to do them.

“I, ah...”

“It’s fine,” he said. He seemed distracted by something. “Ariel stress-cleans too. Just don’t disinfect anything.”

“Oh.”

I hope I didn’t upset him too much. Something tells me he’s easily upset.

Day Four

Mavros seems very interested in Ozian history. I started talking about the Wizard and the witches and Glinda, and he waved me off. He said something about “the same lies in the history book”. I hope he isn’t mad at me. He’s the only friend I have right now. There’s too much work for any others. I hope i can get everything done in time for the dance. I’d like to go.

Mavros was using this old textbook that I don’t think is part of the curriculum. He seemed to have some trouble reading it. I might have looked at a few pages over his shoulder-- it made sense to me. Maybe written Ozian is different from the languages he’s used to?

Day Five

History class was exciting! Mavros started telling this story about how the Wicked Witch of the West was named Elphaba Thropp and how the Wizard tricked her into doing something bad and how the Wizard was really in the wrong and it was so fantastical I could hardly believe it. I asked him about this story when we got back to the dorm.

“It’s not a story,” he said. “I placed a truth spell on the textbook, it was almost entirely wrong. Besides that, I’ve been told things by Glinda that directly contradict what it says...”

He told me a wonderful story about Elphaba Thropp and how she fought against the Wizard and how Glinda was left in charge. His voice was so wonderful and his eyes, as black as they are, seemed to light up when he talked about her.

“Then why was she called ‘wicked’?” I asked.

“Because... wicked is what people say when they don’t understand,” he said. “Good and evil is not a light switch. People do wrong things not because they’re inherently bad, but often because they’re scared, or angry, and just can’t control...”

I don’t understand, but then, I’m not a 1200-year-old fairy. But perhaps I can believe him. He seems to need someone to believe him.

Day Six

Someone in our history class tried to prank Mavros today. They got me pretty good, but they were trying for Mavros. He took me to the clinic-- I hope I’m not here long, I have so much work to do. Mavros seemed very angry for me. The ones who pulled the prank ended up here, I think Mavros had something to do with it. He didn’t need to, it was just a bucket of water.

Day Seven

They let me out of the clinic today-- I did not get a concussion. That’s nice, they told me I wouldn’t be able to work if I had a concussion. Mavros took me back to the dorm.

“Thank you for making sure I’m okay,” I said. “Though maybe next time, don’t try to take it out on those guys?”

“They were trying to kill me,” he said.

The Wicked Elphaba Thropp was supposedly melted by a bucket of water. I don’t think it would have that effect on him.

“How many times do I have to–”

“Would it have killed you?” I asked

“…No. The cast iron bucket might have burned me some though.”

I tried to turn the conversation. “Why do they even make buckets out of iron? They’d rust, right?”

He almost smiled, but hid it behind his hand.

“You know, Mombi’s a witch,” I said.

“Your mother? Is she...” He caught himself in a question.

“Is she a good witch or a bad witch? I don’t know. She only really does magic for herself.”

“I see.”

I hope he likes me. I’ve never really had a friend before. I think taking a prank that was meant for him makes us friends now.

Day Eight

I really screwed up in magic class today. I was just supposed to make the pumpkin grow. But it grew too much and left! It had vines that made legs and it just... walked away. There aren’t too many people people in magic class, but one of them is Mavros. I know my magic isn’t much, and I haven’t had as long as he has had to work on it, but I’d really rather not make a fool of myself in front of him again.

I want him to like me. I’ve never wanted anyone to like me this bad before. His magic is so wonderified. He controls these shadows and dark areas. They move with him, like they’re a part of him. It’s totally different from any Ozian magic I’ve seen. He doesn’t even need that spellbook, I bet. He jsut does it all on his own.

There was some iron glued on the doorknob to the door of our dorm (that’s a lot of ‘dor’ sounds...). In terms of pranks, even I could tell that was not a great one, but it certainly shook Mavros. I need to watch out for that. I don’t want him getting hurt.

Day Nine

It looks like I’m going to have plenty of time to go to the dance! I’m budgeting my time well enough that it should be easy to get everything done. It’s a masquerade, so I’m going to need to make a costume. I was looking through what I have when I asked what Mavros was going as.

“I... haven’t decided yet.”

“Oh, neither have I,” I said. “Perhaps we could help each other? I can never decide what to wear...”

“I’m not a fairy godparent,” he said.

“No! That’s not what I’m asking,” I said. “Just… you’re always really well dressed– all the newspapers hate you, but love your clothes.”

“Really.”

“Really! I just need a few pointers the night of, before I leave. When I’m not told what to wear, I look stupid.”

“Thou wears the pre-approved school uniform. Thou already looks stupid.”

“See!”

He really does wear such wonderful clothes. His uniform is a double breasted suit and cape with the mandatory stripes on the edge. He almost always wears a silver circlet with a violet stone. I asked him about it once, but he suddenly became very terse. All I know is that it’s important.

Day Ten

Mavros was poisoned today. Someone put iron in his food and he was in almost immediate pain. I helped him to the clinic where he sent for Ariel. Most people don’t get to see Ariel, he keeps to himself in the palace most often. Some people called him the Tempest, especially during the war. I saw him once back then. He was passing our home with a group of soldiers. I don’t think he recognized me. He really is covered in scales, too!

He was in with Mavros for a long time. Mavros seemed to be fine when he got out, but I’m worried.

I haven’t cleaned anything today, I should do that before I go to bed.

Day Eleven

I cleaned the dorm last night, especially taking care to get the iron off the doorknob and any iron in the dorm that might exist. Mavros came in while I was scrubbing the floor.

“Art thou cleaning again?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“You realize that this is a dorm right? That floor’s never going to be clean.”

“Some of the iron fell, I want to make sure it--”

“Tip.”

I stopped. I half wanted him to say my name again.

“This... isn’t stress-cleaning, is it?” he asked.

“Sure it is. That’s what you said, right?” I said.

“Look, I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t want you to get poisoned again,” I said. That’s not what I wanted to say.

“There’s nothing thou canst do about that,” he said. “Except, of course, making certain thou dost not poison me thyself.”

When he doesn’t wear his hair up, it falls in front of of his face just so... My hands were covered in cleaning solution, I couldn’t do anything about it.

Day Twelve

Mavros invited me along to help set up the Ozdust for the dance. There was so much color and everyone was so excited. Except for Mavros, of course. He keeps a very cool head, but I know he’s excited.

“Oh, Mavros! Isn’t this the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen?” I asked.

“It’s fine I suppose.”

Ariena, one of the other committee members, must have heard him.

“You’ve done nothing to help all day,” she said. “If you think you can do better–”

“Of course I could,” he said.

“Then go ahead!”

Mavros looked around the room.

“Well, I suppose.”

It’s difficult for me to describe Mavros’ magic because I have no idea how it works. He seemed to reach out and take the room, filling it with his magic, with himself. The cool black that matches that voice surrounded us, and I could just reach out and feel it.

And then he built with it. A gildified chandelier and satin and velvet curtains. Candles everywhere-- floating, on tables, in the chandelier. It looked like starlight in his darkness. He pulled it back, and it all was breathtaking. He was...

“How... magical,” was all I could manage to say, but it made him smile. I wish I could make him smile like that for always.

Day Thirteen

Before the Dance

I had put on my owl costume and Mavros almost retched when he saw it.

“What is this, exactly?” he asked.

“…An owl costume?”

“No,” he said. “Let’s try this again.”

He looked me over and started with the cape.

“If there must be a cape, it must be effortless, with clean lines.”

He turned it into a full-length cape of black feathers, which felt far heavier than the cotton one that I’d been wearing. A silver string tied it in the front.

“The rest of the outfit must fit properly. A shirt fits in the shoulders, collar, arms, and waist.”

He gave me a white collared shirt with fringed sleeves.

“The waist coat fits similarly.”

The vest he magicked up for me was black leather, with silver buttons.

“Tie or cravat?” he asked

“What’s a cravat?”

He gave me a scarf type thing made of grey silk, with a silver pin shaped like an owl’s head.

“And that’s tucked into the waist coat like so. Pants should match the waistcoat, but overdoing leather is a distinct possibility. Also, no break at the cuffs. Thou’rt not exactly the tallest, it will create the illusion of such.”

The black pants fit better than any I’d ever worn. Is he that intuitive about my size..?

“And this is a masquerade, not an engineering lab. Goggles are not appropriate.”

The finishing touch was a black silk mask that felt soft against my skin.

“Well?”

I went over to the mirror. I could hardly recognize myself.

“I don’t think I’ve worn anything finer. Does it, like, end at midnight or something?”

He hid a smile, and my heart skipped a beat. “I’m not a fairy godmother. Time limits on magic are idiotic, and I have no use for them. It will last until I lift it.”

I can’t wait to see what he comes as.

After the Dance

Oh, this was the best night of my life! The music was playing, the candles were perfectly lit, and just when it couldn’t get any better...

He was dressed like the sun, all white and gold. I noticed him when he added a layer of sparkles to my cape. He was trying very hard not to be recognized-- he had a full face mask and a wig that I think was real gold. The music turned soft and slow and I went over to offer him a dance. Perhaps it was the lights, or the music, or the costumes, but I suddenly found the courage to be with him like I want to.

I could feel his magic-- I’m not even sure he was conscious of it. His anxiety was calmed as the dance went on. The knots him him loosened, and perhaps for the first time in his life, he was able to be... normal. I’m still not yet certain why he isn’t normal, but he was closer to it. Next to it, at least.

It wasn’t until I got back to my dorm that that I suddenly had the thought of what Mombi might think. The work was done, I could do as I wished... but there’s always more work. But I read a book once that described a relationship as work. And Mavros needs work. But dancing with him tonight, I could feel that he wanted something. He wanted normal.

Perhaps I can give him that.

Day Sixteen

Mavros has been avoiding me for days now, ever since the dance. I can’t imagine what I did to upset him. Even if he didn’t want me, it was just a dance. But that’s not what I found out today.

He looked tired and I went to ask him what was wrong, but when I put my hand on his shoulder, he flinched. I backed away, convinced that he was done with me.

And then he apologized.

“No, no,” he said. “It’s… it’s just been a long day.”

“Yeah, you seem really out of it,” I said. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine!”

His shadows reacted. He closed up again, turning away. I could feel them closing in.

“That doesn’t sound fine.”

“It’s nothing.”

“That was your magic.”

“Oh, an expert now, are we?” He winced. I knew that wasn’t how he meant it.

“Well, now you’re sounding like yourself.” I crossed my arms. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

“No, I can’t,” he said. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“Fine. I was conceived by a dark force of unknown origin. I am trapped every day in its grip and my only option is to keep total control at all times. Now I try to remain civil, but any perception of impropriety and rudeness are mere moments when I am free to express myself.”

I had no idea. I want to tell him that his magic is beautiful, that his remarks are actually funny, that I don’t mind the dark. His hand was shaking, changing. His veins started to turn black.

“I have attempted to control it, but it doesn’t always work.”

I took his hand. And then… the shadows receded. The black veins were gone.

“I imagine some days are worse than others?” I asked.

“Y-yes,” he said. “How–?”

“You don’t have to worry anymore,” I said. “I’m right here.”

I kissed him. I could feel his magic reaching for mine, I could feel everything he did. He was at peace, for perhaps the first time in his life. Finally, the rest of him was as calm as the sound of his voice.

Me? I could have died happy right then.