#she likes rori hes a best friend forever ever to her :)

[hqmillioncorn]

Did someone say Happy Nameday?!

“Happy nameday Rori!!!” Babycorn popped out of the ground in front of Rori. After Rori finished screaming he was finally able to process what Babycorn had said to him. It was only just a little bit weird. By her standards. “It’s. Not my nameday??” Rori didn’t even remember ever mentioning his nameday around Babycorn.  “I just know it’s your nameday cause Cherry told me so!” Right next to Babycorn the smaller and younger Cherrypit popped out of the ground as well. “Bah!” He wisely said. Of course he actually had no idea when Rori’s nameday was. He had just read Rori’s mind and picked out a random day. “Here we got you a present!” Babycorn rumaged through Hungstal for a bit before finding what she was looking for. “Ah-HA! Tada!” She held up her present proudly, “The newest B’ig Nunh almanac! I got it just for you!” “...T Thanks.” 

ffxiv write day 24: bar

with @windupiceheart 's rorichaux

on a day like any other babycorn is going to talk to her good friend rori :)

Another year passed, and with it came another Valentiones Day. With the festivities in Gridiania coming to a close for the day. Though that didn’t mean that everyone was gone by now.

Rori let out a yawn. His shift was almost over and soon he would be free.

Free to do whatever it was that Roris did with the time they spent not working. Perhaps he would go on a jog or eat a delicious meal. Truly the possibilities were endless. Yes, it would just a few more minutes until-

Something made Rori pause, something was coming. 

Or more like someone. 

Because even from far away, he could hear the telltale cry of someone yelling out his name. Followed by the sounds of several tiny little steps that could only come from a lalafell wearing a pom on her head. Rori figured that this might as well happen. 

It had been almost an entire day since Babycorn had last visited him during his work hours. Either she was slacking or she had finally died. There was no inbetween or any other explanation for her absence. 

The approaching cloud of dust was enough for Rori to confirm that it was indeed Babycorn heading his way. “Yeah okay.” He grabbed onto a nearby post and braced himself for impact. Then as the cloud of dust got closer and closer, a strong breeze blew past Rori, almost blowing him into the air like the stick-bug he was. 

When the wind died down opened his eyes, looking down to see Babycorn grabbing onto his leg like she was about to fly away instead. Babycorn looked up to stare at Rori with her huge and shimmering bug-like yellow eyes. “Hi Mister Rori-Chow!!” 

“Hi Babycorn.” Rori greeted her. 

He extended his leg out and waited for Babycorn to let go. Once she did, she plopped onto the ground. Looking more like a rag doll that had fallen off the shelf. “It’s Ro-ri-Show.” Rori explained for the hundredth time now. He hoped that breaking it down into sections would help Babycorn get his name right. His first mistake was to hope that Babycorn do anything right. 

“Okay Mister Rori!” Babycorn saluted him. 

Rori sighed, the first of many to come. 

Babycorn bounced back a step and placed her hands behind her back. She was wearing a strange outfit Rori had never seen on her. The big poofy skirt she was wearing sort of made her look like a giant cupcake. Complete with sprinkles. From what Rori knew of Babycorn he wagered that those were real sprinkles. 

There was also a massive candle on her head. Thankfully it wasn’t on fire. 

“Mister Rori! I have a surprise for you~!” Babycorn threateningly sang out loud. She didn’t mean for it to sound like a threat. It just sort of happened whenever Babycorn told people she had a surprise for them. “It’s right behind my back~” 

“Y-Yeah. Sure. Alright.” 

There was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. 

Unless this ‘surprise’ took eleven hours for Babycorn to explain like the last one had. 

Babycorn did a cute little twirl and extended her hand out to Rori. “I wanna invite you to my nameday party!!” That sounded normal enough.

At least, it was normal. Until Rori looked down to see what Babycorn was handing him.

Babycorn’s left hand was stuck inside of a glass jar. 

“Um.” Rori truly was at a loss for words. Which is why he just continued to stare at the jar around Babycorn’s hand and at Babycorn’s rapidly blinking face for the next few seconds. “What’s that you got there?” Rori finally worked up the courage to ask. 

Babycorn wasn’t sure what Rori was talking about. Pretty evident considering the confused smile she was giving him. “Hmm? What? Where?” She turned around in a spin, looking for something that was on her. Like an excited dog chasing its own tail. 

It was kind of cute. “I’m talking about the jar on your hand.” It reminded Rori of the time Babycorn stuck her hand inside of an anthill. Only pulling it out when he told her she could. Then Rori had to take a two hour bath to get all the ants out of his hair after 

“Oh this?” Babycorn wiggled her hand around. There was a simple explanation to this actually. “I was eating berries and I thought there were none left but I saw there was one more and put my hand inside to grab it!” She brought the jar closer to her and bit it for a while before giving up. 

Previous teeth marks showed that she had tried this before. “I also got the invitation to my party inside! See? See? I’m holding it!”  Babycorn held her hand up as high as she could for Rori to see.

Rori looked as close as he could. The jar looked pretty empty, aside from the obvious. True to Babycorn’s word her hand was wrapped around a now pretty crumpled piece of paper. That must have been the elusive nameday party invitation.

Even so this was far from the weirdest thing Babycorn had done.  As far as he knew. And yet, Rori still had to ask. “Why did you put your hand back in to eat berries with the invitation in your hand?” 

“Uhhhhhhhhh…” It seemed Babycorn didn’t have an answer. 

Not to mention that the jar looked pretty empty. There were berries in there bouncing alongside Babycorn’s hand and the invitation. “Were there actually any berries left in there?”

“There were!” This time Babycorn was quick to answer, “I ate em’ and then I put my hand back in the jar.”

“...Why?”

“I forgot it was empty!!”

“...” Rori had no idea what he was supposed to say next. There was a part of him that truly wondered how Babycorn had managed to stay alive this long. Was it luck? Was it fate? Was it some inexplicable third thing? 

Whatever it really was–Rori was glad that Babycorn always bounced back. Even if it came at the cost of several hours of hearing her yapping about some neat rock she found yesterday under a moldy piece of bread that she later ate and saved half of it for Rori.

“Wait-!” Babycorn suddenly exclaimed, “I know how to get this off me!” 

“How?” Rori asked genuinely wondering what sort of method Babycorn was going to come up with. Maybe something like licking it off? That sounded plausible. Though she could have never guessed what was going to happen next.

Without a moment's hesitation–Babycorn slammed the jar into the ground. It smashed into teeny tiny little glass shards. “Yay! My hands out!” Babycorn let out a cheer and waved her hand around. Weirdly enough it was kind of hurting but surely that would go away on its own eventually.

Rori stood frozen, mouth hanging wide open. “a,” That was the only thing he could manage to say. At least until he said the next thing, “You’re-uh bleeding. Um we should probably….” Probably go get that fixed or something. That was the smart move. Right. What the heck.

Babycorn looked at Rori, confused. Until she looked down at her hand. “I guess I’m bleeding now!” She said with a grin on her face. Bleeding suddenly from her body wasn't something Babycorn was unfamiliar with. 

This was the same girl who had an eternally bleeding scar on her body since childhood. 

“Uhhhhhh. Let’s just get some bandages for that.” 

Rori led Babycorn to the first-aid station they luckily had on hand. Turns out there were many accidents that happened to be related to Valentiones day. Babycorn walked behind Rori like a baby duck following her mom. As they neared their destination she suddenly remembered something! The very thing she was still holding in her hands.

“Mister Rori! Here! You can have my invitation now!” Babycorn held it up and waved it at Rori. Waiting excitedly for him to take it. “Here! Here! Here! Mister Rori! Mister Rori! Mister Rori!”

As ‘excited’ as Rori was to take a blood stained invitation he decided to tell Babycorn he would take it after tending to her hand. “I’ll go to your party. It’s not an invitation only party, right?”

“Nope!” Babycorn shook her head. “I think everyone should come to my twenty-seven nameday party! I made invitations so I could drop them from the sky all over everywhere!”

“That’s nice-”

Wait. Rori stopped dead in his tracks. Had Rori heard right? “...How old are you turning?”

“I’m turning twenty-seven!!” Babycorn winked and stuck her tongue out. Posing with her fingers pressed against her rosy freckled cheeks. 

Rori paused, taking in what he had just heard. 

“...You’re twenty-SEVEN?!” 

Babycorn was ONE YEAR YOUNGER THAN HIM?!?!?!

[vindieselsfacebook-blog]

I want to hear more about your opinion that Rory ending up with Logan would go against everything the show stands for. How so? Tell me more!

Bless your heart (complimentary) for asking for MORE of my rambling! :’)

I think there are a few themes that ultimately guide the entire Gilmore Girls narrative. No matter where the plot and characters end up, if ASP is writing, I think the outcome will always adhere to these themes and a specific pattern.

The most important is family - how complicated and imperfect it is, how patterns repeat and break and struggle to repeat and break. We try our best and love in our own ways, but inevitably fuck things up, too. We just keep working at it, which is beautiful and painful and frustrating and gratifying. I think found family and community is just as important, which leads me to the second theme, which is independence and/or individuality.

The show centers Lorelai's quest to build her own life from the ground up which is a pattern I feel repeats in most of the main characters. She rejects upper class life to work a blue collar job, make her own home, build a new family unit with her daughter and close friends, and aspires to small business owner life. Luke shares those values and has a similar journey - taking his father's store and making his own, new thing from the ashes. Jess, the character with the most positive character growth, repeats that pattern, too. He struggles until he, too, strikes out on his own to build his independent life from scratch.

The third theme is class struggle. Although I do think it's clear the show has more respect for the working class, it loooves playing with the back-and-forth of it all and never takes itself too seriously to poke fun at it. It's fun to sometimes see Emily's point even if it's often buried in shallow superficialities. It's thought-provoking to agree with Richard that Rory should use her grandparents' privileges, although we've been rooting for her to make it on her own. We respect Lorelai's independence, but want to yell "just take the money!" when she needs a loan. Or we judge her for it and think "you're not so independent after all."

I love scenes like this one at the end of S4E15, Scene In A Mall:

Lorelai: This is your window on a whole other world, Luke. The world of worthless rich people stuff. People of means see what they want and simply take it, regardless of others. Luke: ... d'you pour your own coffee? Lorelai: Oh, err, yeah. Luke: You're not supposed to do that. Lorelai: Oh yeah, sorry, I won't do it again. Luke: Mmm hmm.

Like, yeah, rich people suck and we dunk on them all the time, but hey, even queen main character can be selfish and hypocritical. No one's really above it!

Anyway, all that to say... Rory is clearly set up to have a similar trajectory where a wrench is thrown in her plans and she won't ever really get back on track until she, too, burns her life to the ground and independently starts all over. She just struggles with the push-and-pull of it all more than her mother ever did.

I get frustrated with fans who think her ending up pregnant like her mother is some pessimistic "history is doomed to repeat itself and no one can ever really change" message, when I see it as her being set up for her inevitable successful ending. She has to figure it out for herself on her own terms. This is why I feel she and Jess will be linked together forever, romantically or not.

If Rory had ended up with Logan, that crash and burn would've just come later. She would've been unsatisfied in that life. Rory and Logan always went to each other for escapism and fantasy - it just doesn't make thematic sense to me that he would ever be a legitimate happily-ever-after option. It's simply not how things are done on this show. Even Emily ultimately follows the pattern - she starts a new life as a more independent person rejecting the "bullshit!"

And conversely, look who is set up in contrast - Christopher is the coward who could never fully run away from his guided cage. The show repeatedly calls him "weak" and makes it clear he's not as brave and independent as Lorelai. He ends up isolated from his kids, accepting the status quo. And ohhh boy, look what his parallel is doing in AYITL - Logan is accepting the dynastic plan, working for daddy and marrying the heiress. That is not the story of a viable end game to me! It feels pretty clear.

Phew - you asked for it! lmao I hope I articulated this well enough??

[agaypanic]

Can you write for Rory where he has like a pen pal for a school project. They both talk to each other ALL the time and he's really excited that he made a new friend! One day the reader tells him she's coming to visit and he gets all excited telling the gang about her and over all just that huge buddle of joy he always is! Well..obv he doesn't know what she looks like because they talk through letters. So when this absolute buddle of cuteness and rainbows randomly runs up to asking about and just rambling on and on about how he's her pen pal he just crushes her with a hug and just can't believe she's really their! And just ends all cute maybe throw in some flustered and blushy moments too if you can!!

My Pen Pal (Rory Keaner X Reader)

Masterlist

Request Something!

Summary: Rory’s English class is assigned pen pals from the high school in a neighboring town. You and him hit it off right away, quickly realizing that this new friendship should go beyond letters.

A/N: open ending bc i didn’t really know how to end it lol

***

Rory must have been the only one in his class excited to have to do a pen pal project. He liked making new friends, especially since it came relatively easy to him. He was just the type of boy who could get along with anyone.

When you first started talking to Rory, you just viewed it as another assignment. You each had to write five letters, one letter being sent every week. But your thoughts quickly changed when he responded to your first letter. He seemed funny and nice, so easy to talk to.

Rory thought the same about you. You were so sweet in your letters, always giving thoughtful responses to what he had previously sent, and he tried to do the same in his letters. You two had so much in common: the same taste in media, opinions on different topics, how you would survive a zombie apocalypse if the day ever came.

During the last week of sending letters, you and Rory grew sad when you realized the assignment would soon end. While talking to each other, you didn’t think about the fact that your conversations would someday come to an end.

But then you remembered that Rory lived in the next town over. You could easily see him and continue talking if you really wanted to. So, in your last letter to Rory, you asked if he would ever want to meet and talk in person. If yes, he should describe what he looked like so he’d be easy to find.

Rory was absolutely ecstatic to read your letter. He said that he couldn’t wait to see you, giving you his description and telling you the best time and place to meet.

“Rory, I didn’t know you knew how to write.” Erica joked as she watched him scribble feverishly on paper.

“Who are you writing to, Rorster?” Benny asked.

“My pen pal, Y/n!” Rory took a break from writing to look up at his friends, smiling brightly as he thought about you. “We’re finally planning to meet in person! She’s so nice; I can’t wait to meet her.” Then he got back to writing, trying to decide where you should meet. “Hey, is the park a good place to meet someone for the first time?”

***

Before he knew it, the weekend had come, and Rory was sitting on a bench at the park, waiting for you. He convinced his friends to go with him, to calm his nerves while he waited and to comfort him if you never showed. But he knew you would come.

“So, what should we look out for, Rory?” Ethan asked, looking around. A few people were scattered around the park, but they probably weren’t who Rory was looking for. “What does this girl look like?”

“Well-” Rory cut himself off, trying to think. Only then did it occur to him that you hadn’t given him a description for him to look for. You knew what he looked like, but that was it. “...I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Erica asked, crossing her arms. “You didn’t think to ask?”

“It slipped my mind!

“Well, she knows what you look like, right?” Sarah asked, and Rory nodded. “Then I guess we just wait for her to find you.”

“But that could take forever!” Rory knew he was exaggerating. But he had been waiting for what felt like forever to see you; the fact that he had to wait for you to find him first made him even more impatient. 

“Don’t worry, Rory. She should be here soon.” Benny said, checking his watch. “You told her to meet you here at three, and it’s-”

“Rory?” An unfamiliar voice came from behind the boy. He whipped his head around and looked at a girl who was looking at him hopefully, playing with her fingers. He stood up from the park bench.

“Y/n?” Hearing him say your name made you squeal, and you couldn’t help but run up and hug him. Rory gripped your waist tightly, jumping around in excitement with you in his arms, making you laugh. “I can’t believe you’re actually here!” He set you down but kept his arms around you, trying to take in every detail.

“Of course, I’m here! I couldn’t wait to see you.” You caught a glimpse of Rory’s friends watching your interaction and giggled at their stunned reactions. They probably didn’t think that you were actually real, or that you’d be so excited to see Rory. “Wanna introduce me to your friends?”

As if suddenly remembering his friends were there, even though he made them come in the first place, he turned to face them. He introduced everyone to you, and you waved excitedly.

His friends could sense that the two of you should have some alone time. After all, this meeting was for the two of you to finally hang out.

“You know…” Sarah stood up and walked to you, placing a hand on your and Rory’s shoulders and turning you toward the other direction. “There’s a really good ice cream shop down the street. Perfect for hanging out and first dates and stuff.”

You and Rory lit up at the suggestion. Quickly thanking Sarah and saying goodbye to everyone else, you and Rory practically dragged each other out of the park and to the shop. You talked the whole way there, trying to plan the rest of your first day together.

[quietwingsinthesky]

(@transgenderdoctorwhomst )

looks at you with my big eyes and holds out my hand. would you like to be normal with me about master!rory?

yes yes yes yes so badly hold on hold on.

okay. see. what’s got to activate my brainworms about master!rory is the moment we all know and love, this little speech here:

You know what's dangerous about you? It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around.

which, already one of the best rory moments on its own. with regular rory, its an immediate tell of just how insightful he is about the doctor—the guy whose whole thing is being a mystery man in a mystery box. he reads him for dead there, and he’s right. but god. think about that with the context of master!rory. maybe even a master!rory who is still currently fobwatched or whatever, who doesn’t know just how well he knows the doctor. because doesn’t that just cut to the core of their relationship. as much as the master is perfectly capable of doing evil shit all on his lonesome, there’s a part of him that wants the doctor to see. to be impressed by just how far the master can go, has gone.

i mean s3 and end of time are practically him shouting LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! until he’s gone far enough to put his own face everywhere on the planet.

and then, of course, the way that this line could also reflect on missy’s future(?) arc (assuming that at some point rory is gonna regenerate into her. which. extremely funny if you hold to the EU fact that missy is also one of amy’s childhood therapists. missy, that’s your wife what are you doing-) What’s more undoing than wanting to be better because the Doctor knows you can be, promises you can be, and you reach and reach and never quite get a hold on what he’s saying you must. you don’t want to let him down. and you will. inevitably.

you know?

and we gotta get into amy/rory we gotta. okay. again presuming fobwatched!rory -> him getting his memories back. i mean, what’s that like, right? because rory’s world revolves around amy, it really does, but the master has centuries behind him. how do you fit a universe inside you and still love one girl so much. i don’t think he could stop, i don’t think he could help himself. above all, i don’t think amy would let him. that sounds uhhhhh but what i mean is: i don’t think amy would watch rory become someone else and think that she, she who believed the doctor back into existence, couldn’t force a little of him to stay rory, just by holding onto him. very tam lin of her, if she held onto the master as he snarled and spit and lashed out until he ran out of energy to fight it and let himself be rory again just to be in her arms a little while longer.

i think you’re right. i think she really could just go ‘you’re being an idiot’ and he’d completely bluescreen processing that he, the master, is being spoken to like that. that he’s listening to her. he can’t help it, he’s whipped. oh the insane things that would do to him and the doctor both if the doctor couldn’t talk him down from Evil Plan Of The Week but amy could. a compelling parallel too, assuming that somehow fobwatched rory grew up from being a kid (the way yana did?) alongside amy, remembers that still alongside memories of growing up with the doctor. two very different childhood friends, and the real one, the older one, is someone with whom the relationship is so banged up it can never be good or simple ever again. and his childhood with amy wasn’t even real but the love is. the love is.

i think that would be a wonderful way to fuck him up forever. the doctor spends all this time picking up humans and ghosting when they grow older because he’s terrified of facing that and the master mocks that, and then all of a sudden. here’s his human. she’s going to grow old. and he never will. a new kind of fear for him to experience, the horrible understanding of exactly what the doctor does and why. he’d probably bring it up more in response, lash out at the doctor with names of people he hasn’t visited in centuries because he’s so scared, and then turn around and see amy and get cold and shaky because it’s happening to him and he can’t stop it.

ohhhhh river. what do we think the odds are that master!rory would let his daughter be taken away from them? zero, right? and like hell would amy, no matter what the show seemed to believe. so let’s steamroll the doctor’s opinions on the matter, commandeer his ship, because its his future he wants to preserve but its the master’s/rory’s/amy’s present they both want to save. amy’s got a vicious streak that could burn through the galaxy if given enough reason to, and that’s her daughter they took. but alone, the doctor could stop her, because at the end of the day, it’s his ship and he’s got more power over everyone’s lives then is reasonable. with rory, she couldn’t do it. but with the master? the stars are gonna learn to shake when they hear she’s coming.

so yeah. i have. a few thoughts on master!rory. hopefully good ones lmao.

[harrisonarchive]

Scan - Klaus Voormann's drawing of George Harrison giving him a hug at Abbey Road Studios in 1963, as published in Voormann's book Warum spielst du Imagine nicht auf dem weißen Klavier, John? (2003).

George and being affectionate, as requested. A companion post to this one.

"George giving me (Klaus) a bear-hugggg My first time in London and... what a welcome!!! ‘It’s Klaus!’ George Harrison called, setting his guitar aside and walking toward me to give me a firm hug." - Warum spielst du Imagine nicht auf dem weißen Klavier, John? (2003)

"[W]hich Beatle was the better kisser? 'George,' [Iris] says with a smile. 'He gave me my first kiss. He was lovely. Paul was charming. George had something else.' [...] 'They’d all come round at two in the morning and my Mum Vi made chip butties. I met George at the ice rink when I was 12 and he was 14. Every night he would come round to our house after school. 'He used to play guitar and wanted to get into Rory’s band but Rory said he was a bit young. We went out for ages – but it was a totally different concept to boyfriend and girlfriend today. 'We’d walk down Lilly Lane which was like a lovers’ lane and kiss and cuddle. George was the best kisser ever. 'Rory opened a skiffle club and I wasn’t supposed to go because I was under 15 so I put cotton wool in my bra and blue blusher on my eyes. 'At the end of the night, Rory made a joke about his little sister having cotton wool down her bra. I was so embarrassed I ran out in tears. 'Then I heard footsteps behind me. It was George. I ran into his arms and he gave me the best kiss ever. 'I can still feel it right in my tummy, even now. He was lovely.'" - Mirror, October 6, 2012

"'At all clubs [in Hamburg],' says George, 'they used to read out a notice every night saying that all people under eighteen had to leave. Someone eventually realized I was only seventeen, without a work permit or a resident permit. So I had to leave. I had to go home on my own. I felt terrible.' Astrid and Stu drove him to the station, got him his ticket and a place on the train. 'He was just standing there,' says Astrid. 'Little George, all lost. I gave him a big bag of sweets and some apples. He threw his arms round me and Stu, which was the sort of demonstrative thing they never did.'" - The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (1968)

"I was surprised to see how affectionate he was with Olivia, holding hands, heads touching as they talked, snuggling up next to her at every opportunity." - Chris O’Dell, Miss O’Dell (2009)

George hugging Alla Rakha during the Dark Horse, 1974: here.

"Olivia was in the room and asked Madeleine her name. The next thing she knew, George was walking across the room directly to her, and as if they were old friends, put his arms around her! She was so overwhelmed and she automatically put her arms around him and hugged him back. He asked her her name, and she told him it was Madeleine. She said something to the effect of 'I love you George’ in her cute and charming way, but George only replied, 'It’s Krishna that you love.’ He was told by Bill how many concerts she had attended, so he asked, 'This is your 11th?’ In her shock, she said yes, but when he asked again, she said no, it was her 8th concert. He was knocked out that she had gone to that many. She told him, 'I would have gone to all 50 if I could,’ to which he jokingly replied, 'If I could I wouldn’t have!’ During this time George was holding both her hands in his." - Harrison Alliance, December 1974/January 1975, with thanks to Meet The Beatles for Real [x]

"Even hugging George was a psychedelic experience, what a gem of a man. Love him forever." - Dave Stewart, Facebook

“Just a few months after his death, I was in Bungalow 8, a New York club that Paul Shaffer had dragged me to, when I noticed a skinny fellow who was the spitting image of George, only young George, coming right toward me. Before I could say anything, this young man embraced me in a tender hug. And then pulled back to explain himself. ‘I’m Dhani Harrison,’ he said. ‘One of the last things my father told me was that if I ever come across people who were important to him, I should give them a hug.’” - Martin Short, I Must Say: My Life As A Humble Comedy Legend (2014) [x]

"The last time I met him, he was very sick and I held his hand for four hours. As I was doing it I was thinking ‘I’ve never held his hand before, ever. This is not what two Liverpool fellas do, no matter how well you know each other.’ I kept thinking, ‘he’s going to smack me here.’ But he didn’t. He just stroked my hand with his thumb and I thought ‘Ah, this is OK, this is life. It’s tough but it’s lovely. That’s how it is.’" - Paul McCartney, The Mirror, April 7, 2003 [x]

“George was the kind of guy who wasn’t going to leave until he hugged you for five minutes and told you how much he loved you. We knew where we stood with each other.” - Tom Petty, Rolling Stone, January 17, 2002 [x]

[eclipsewxtch]

okay so i have so much stuff planned for blue moon so MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS FOR ANY FUTURE CHAPTERS LOOK AWAY AVERT UR EYES:

ik i said this before but all relationships r implied n i don’t make anything canon. that being said, i make sure all ships (even the most obscure n rare ones) get their flowers!! whether that’s from POV’s in the chapter, dialogue, or just little moments/details. that being said, here’s what i intended:

• ethan & jesse have the relationship dynamic of two toxic divorced men who have shared custody of their daughter (jane)

• jane is jesse’s kid idc idc idc im making it happen its gonna give reluctant dad/mentor who’s lowkey the Worst Person Ever & daughter/mentee he didn’t want but NEEDED!!! they’re gonna be so good. im gonna eat it up.

• jane is ethan’s kid too ig but it’s not the same. like that’s her protector n her brother sure but JESSE?? he commits war crimes for that little girl she’s his baby

• audrey & ethan have the relationship dynamic of something soft and sweet. like she makes him feel grounded, but not exactly human. safe. i adore them. i rlly wanted it to give monster bf x human gf so i hope it has those vibes(?)

• rory & ethan (im so so biased i love them so much) they have the dynamic of puppy love. they’re just the sweetest n kindest n they make my heart hurt so much. literally aches.

• benny & ethan r very much old married couple. (they’re gonna hurt yall so bad in the last chapter for s1 like yall r gonna hate me!) they fight n bicker, but it’s like a domestic kind (until it’s not) n crazily enough i actually don’t ship them (don’t crucify me yall) but i want to feed the bethan shippers.

• sarah & ethan give nerd x cool girl he’d do anything for. like he is the loser bf to her cool popular gf!! i actually rlly love this ship n its kinda sickening, but i think ethan heals sarah from her past hurts (jesse u asshole) n sarah makes ethan feel seen n less of a dork.

• erica & ethan r just cuties!! friends forever!! like it’s black cat x golden retriever with them. while i don’t ship, i understand it’s a REALLY rare pair, so they have cute moments where they have fun together. its more platonic, i’ll admit, but if u wanna read into it u can.

• benny & erica r unrequited crushes. like i fear they had a crush on each other b4 she became a vampire, n after the bite it just could never go anywhere. she became too different, n he stayed the same. he’s bitter abt the missed chance; n she can’t imagine him ever liking her before she was a vampire.

• erica & rory have the same dynamic in the show but she’s just nicer to him about it. that’s her puppy, n she treats him as such but she’ll be DAMNED if YOU treat him like a dog. who do u think u r???

• erica & sarah are sapphic vampire gfs. soulmates, ur honor. it’s bad. real bad. i fear they are each other’s homes.

• jesse & rory give evil villain n his loyal henchman. it’s cute in a “oh he listens n respects ur opinions” kind of way, but he takes those opinions to further his selfish agenda.

•NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JESSE/SARAH OR JESSE/ERICA, THAT SHIT IS PAST TENSE AND FINISHED!! REFUSE TO HAVE A MAN COME BETWEEN WOMEN!

•audrey & sarah r gonna be best friends. they don’t argue over a man; they’re better than that. unfortunately audrey is straight n this won’t be romantic😓

• s2 is gonna be longer than s1–so like twenty chapters probably(?) #longfic #somuchthoughtputinthis and i am probably gonna go back n edit s1 chapters in between updates for s2 but i rlly rlly wanna dive deep in each character. ESPECIALLY JESSE. this redemption arc is gonna go crazy. he’s a horrible, terrible, very bad man and yet!!

• i love audrey n im forcing everyone to love her as well. i normally hate OC’s in fics bc it’s like damn why is this person taking over the narrative(?) n more often than not it feels like an extension of the author’s personality. unfortunately if i was gonna make audrey an extension of me and a self-insert for me i would have her flirt HEAVY w erica. love erica bad😝 if anything audrey is just for fun. i was like hm? what if we gave ethan a little red riding hood?? wouldn’t that be sooo funny? n it is.

• i’m sorry for bringing this up again but the ethan & jane & jesse dynamic goes sooo crazy. so crazy. be thankful im not turning it into a louis & claudia & lestat situation bc i contemplated more than once having jane almost die n ethan beg jesse to turn her. i decided against it but the urge was there.

[roeyliteratiforever]

do you ever think about how lonely jess must have felt when he first moved to stars hollow? to be trapped in that tiny snow globe of a town for his junior year where everyone’s already formed friendships and cliques and groups and his teachers teaching shit he either already knows and knows better than them or shit he doesn’t know and can never catch up with. to know in his heart that staying with luke isn’t an unconditional thing; that the minute he screws up, he’s gonna get kicked out. to have nothing to do all day every day and to know all the things he could be doing in new york. to have left behind friends a month after 9/11, where people have lost businesses and jobs and family members. to just want to be 18 already so he can get out and live independently and not have to be a burden on anyone. trying to find extra income in a town that completely mistrusts him. and by the way, i have no doubt in my mind that there were kids in that town who pulled shit worse than jess did and blamed it on him because jess is like that town’s boo radley. do you ever think about how alone jess is in stars hollow that he latches to the one person he finds a connection with? how lonely he must be to bet $90 just so he can have lunch with this girl who seems to be the only one in town to not have crucified him yet?

Hi Anon,

Awe this makes me so sad 😢 Yeah I do think about how Jess must have felt living in Stars hollow from time to time, and how Rory was the only one he felt safe, and comfortable around in that town that he definitely did latch onto that. The fact that she would go out of her way defending him to her mom ensuring that he is a good person and not who they think he is. Omg yes he did just want so badly to be 18 and independent so he could depend on himself he was scared to have anyone depend on him mostly because he has never had anyone to depend on. Him growing up in a neglectful childhood at best and his condition for staying with Luke if he did slip up he might get kicked out. I do think about these things, and it rips my stomach apart especially the way Lorelai treated him. Like I love Lorelai but sometimes come on he was just a kid. She would use the he was just a kid excuse for Dean all the time, but with Jess it was no he's unforgivable! It's maddening to me really. I also think about how if Jess went to Chilton with Rory would he have done better in school because it would challenge him more because intellectually he was more on that level. (Now I'm thinking of Distilla Truent and I want to go re-read it!) There probably were kids in the town who pulled stuff like that around school and blamed Jess. I am forever wishing Asp had given Jess real friendships and Jess had joined Rory's friend groups and became friends with Lane, Dave, and Paris! Rambles about this forever!

[quantumshade]

I’ll just never to be able to be pissed at River Song’s ubiquity. Crammed into at least one work of every single incarnation. Like. Moffat saw the power of Rose Marion Tyler and immediately needed to be like NO MY DOLL IS BETTER AND IS THE BEST ACTUALLY. LOOK AT AND LISTEN TO HER ALL THE TIME FOREVER.

I truly feel like the two are masterclasses in how to write a good female character versus how to. Not.

I will forever be so fucking mad.

i’m going to fucking cry i had the whole reply typed out and then the tumblr app glitched and ate it. anyway. let’s talk about river song.

here’s the thing. i like to put river into what me and my mutuals call “the salad spinner”. one of these bad boys:

where you put in your soaking wet lettuce or whatever and press the button on top and it goes WHHSHSHHHHHHSHHHSSSHHH and all the water drains out? yeah i’m putting moffat’s river in there and draining out all the sexism and weird fetishes and she becomes the character that she always could have been.

like, she’s a bisexual time traveling crime committing archeologist. of course i fell in love with her age ten. the “mercy” scene in the big bang was a sexual awakening for me. the scene in THORS where she’s like “i’m an archeologist from the future. i dug you up.” is in no small part responsible for me getting a minor in archeology. river’s a really important character to me, but the more i grew up, the worse her storyline and origins got to me.

and then in early 2021, i had a revelation. the one step you have to take to fix just about everything about river.

make her NOT amy and rory’s kid.

that’s it. that’s all you have to do. it fixes so many of my issues with the story immediately.

my friend @nounpolycule has much more developed headcanons about this based on the audios (and maybe she’ll explain them when he gets the chance?? 👀), but river as a completely unrelated child taken by the silence who grew up in that environment before escaping and running as far as she could is so much more compelling to me than “amy and rory’s kid who is also their childhood best friend”. she escapes the silence, makes a life of her own, puts herself through school, and becomes an archeologist. in this situation, the first time she meets him (in her timeline) is less “i am programmed to kill you and nothing else matters” and more “you showed up in my doctoral thesis research and dude. you’re REAL? the fuck?”

i really like river’s personality, and most of that is thanks to the depth that alex kingston gives her. river would not be nearly as important to me with a different actor; kingston is just incredibly talented and she loves river and she loves playing her, and she gave so much more to the character than moffat ever did.

like you said, moffat notoriously hates rose and originally wanted river to be “better” than her, but he twisted himself around so much and ended up neglecting river just as much as he did rose. according to alex kingston, moffat was the ONLY writer allowed to put river in episodes. no one else could use her but him. a big part of it is “my doll is better than yours!!!” except at the end of recess his doll is left out in the mud, forgotten entirely. he didn’t even believe that she was the best, didn’t care about her at all past her relationship to the doctor, and you can tell!

river deserved better from the narrative from the beginning.

and she and rose should kiss send post

[crystallizedkingdoms]

I had a crazy autism car crash moment and thought about what each of the yiik characters TMA affiliated entity would be so now I’m going to list out all my possibilities + my reasonings. I haven’t listened to tma in forever i need to relisten sometime so this is off of my Memory and the wiki so BE NICE.

Alex: ik The Extinction was kind of my immediate gut feeling because of the whole y2k destruction thing he has going on AND I STILL FEEL THAT FITS. BUT! going off of his actual character alone, the Web is honestly sooo him. with how he spins the whole narrative to fit whatever he feels suits him best. he fears so much about not having control of his life that he turns around and starts doing it to everyone instead. and it’s just never ending in that sense. this feels the most blatant honestly No Notes.

Vella: shes very Buried to me for reasons i am struggling to explain, but i think what draws me to it is how shes been known to shut herself out from situations she cant control and when the world is falling apart around her. like thats literally how we meet her in the first place she had a bad circumstance and she escapes it by trapping herself in another fucking dimension. which feels very Buried to me. also i like how she presses the sides of her head with her hands when shes stressed i like to think tight spaces comfort her just as much as they frighten her in a way.

Rory: IM STUCK BETWEEN THE LONELY AND THE VAST. on one hand the Lonely is so obvious that it hurts, Rory surrounds and pretty much defines himself in loneliness. and to that end you’d think it would be kind of hard to give him anything else. but then you think specifically about his little theories, how thoughtful he is towards the idea of how humanity and souls occupy space, and its like oh shit. so i believe there is Some element of Vast in him. also i love the idea of him and Vella as physical foils OKAY THERE I ADMIT IT.

Claudio: this man could not be more Hunt coded if he fucking tried. his search for his brother is practically endless because he won’t just accept the most likely answer that he’s dead, until the search literally consumes him. when it becomes clear a physical Hunt won’t fulfill his desire for the chase, he starts using the Internet/ONISM to start a digital Hunt that can go on forever and ever and ever. maybe there’s even a little part of Claudio that doesn’t even want to find Aaron, knowing it’ll bring an end to his Hunt.

Chondra: when i make this into a full fledged AU with some semblance of story, i imagine her being the only one who starts out not clearly affiliated with any particular fear because of just how incredibly disinterested she is in anything trying to drag her down. HOWEVER, i think that she would be marked by the End, what with how the death (in her eyes) of her brother haunts her everywhere she goes even if she tries to distance herself away from it, until eventually she gives in and lets it claim her as an avatar.

Michael: i had to save him for last because he’s the one that made me think of this at all and i have so many ideas. HES SO FULL OF POTENTIAL I FOUND THREE GOOD ANSWERS. Part of me wants to separate it into the different facets of Michael that we see throughout the game + the little snippet of I.V. the Michael whos the eternal best friend and blind to the broken narrative Alex creates is such Stranger, i can imagine him Literally being a life sized doll painted to look like the Michael of Alex’s dreams but it’s just. a little off.

meanwhile Red Michael is The Spiral, so achingly aware that everything about the world Stranger Michael lives in is a lie but being unable to communicate that to himself outside of the red room so he spirals into ONISM and consistently tries to find reality where everything is a nostalgia-based deception that further pulls him to the path of Distortion,

FINALLY. Proto-Michael, consumed by the Eye, being painfully aware of everything around him, when no one else seems capable of doing so, and desperately wanting to know the answer to it all. I think this is the entity that fits his entire, Singular the most, because Michael is such a solution-oriented, curious guy and his need to understand every strange, supernatural thing in this world really reflects on his entire character. ALSO the camera motif with him would go FIRE with the Eye. so when i make this an AU separate from the canon events of yiik that’s probably what im gonna go with. But still isn’t this super cool.

uhhhh this was super long and doesn’t even feature other prominent characters but. hey this is the main cast so at least i got that. I’ll keep working on this tho yippeeeee

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Hi! This isn't meant to be hate, and while I do very much disagree on the chemistry conversation, I understand that must be something that's subjective. I don't understand however, how R*na is supposed to be considered unhealthy, when there's even been friendships on the show that were less healthy than they ever were. I'm just not sure where that came from and I want to know what I missed.

Hey. First off I find it a little odd that your tumblr has no action on it. Makes me think maybe you created it so that whatever your main one is people don't see you asking stuff like this. But it's okay whatever let's ignore that it's not that important. Next whenever anyone says they don't mean it to be hate they actually mean that it's hate. But okay i'll indulge you. I shouldn't because it's always a bad idea but let's go for it.

The chemistry thing is obvious. Just compare Josh's scenes with Olivia and his scenes with Sofia. Compare Matts scenes with Sofia and his scenes with Olivia. Olivia/Josh & Matt/Sofia have natural chemistry & when they kiss or touch or look at each other it feels natural it's not forced.

All the Rina stuff feels super forced and over the top acted. Never said Rina was unhealthy as far as I remember. But they had a terrible buildup. Okay yes they had moments in the early seasons but they were not exciting enough for me to care or remember them.

If they had a gradual buildup that made sense then I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. But all Ricky did was ignore Gina for 3 seasons and then suddenly catch feelings last season. He had no interest in her until Nini left. And even this season he was a terrible boyfriend. He never communicated and he just ran away all the time. And he had to go to EJ to get help on how to interact with his girlfriend instead of just talking to her like a normal person. EJ told him to go to her in the rain and EJ told him to sing her a song at the end. If he didn't have EJ would he have done it himself? Probably not. The kid needs therapy and to grow up. He is not mature enough to keep a relationship or stay in one. Maybe if he worked on himself then that's another story.

Now lets talk about EJ & Gina. I mean they had the best buildup. Enemies to Lovers. They built each other up. They saw the best in each other. He went to the freaking airport for her. He showed up for her. And the whole camp thing was obviously just written to make him look like an idiot and horrible boyfriend so the Ricky/Gina thing would seem like it somewhat made sense but it still didn't and for a growth arc. Because you can't go from giving your 100% to nothing that quick. Come on it's just not realistic. But then this season he grew as a person/matured as a person. He learned from his mistakes and apologized for them. He communicated with Gina. He was there for her and he didn't need to have someone tell him what to do. He was just there as a friend for her after all the shit she put him through. He had her back. He showed up for her when she needed him. All Ricky did was run and run and run.

I'd respect Rina if Ricky made more of an effort the first 3 seasons. If he acknowledged stuff but he just was always making an effort with Nini. And I still will forever believe they were the endgame but Olivia left and Tim was like well we have no other choice now but to put him with Gina. Cause there is no reason for a beautiful enemies to lovers buildup just for a plot device. I'm sorry there just isn't.

Ej & Gina just have so many of the same things that Pacey/Joey & Jess/Rory have and they are the gold standard. So obviously if Tim were not writing this show and Olivia had not left we would have had EJ/GINA thriving this last season.

But you know what it's okay because this show takes place in high school. So 10-15 years down the line Ricky/Nini will be back together and so will EJ/Gina. They are the one that got away ship that ends up together a long time down the road.

I'll leave you with one last thing. They model themselves after Troy/Gabriella supposedly. Well Troy/Gabriella are in therapy. HAHA sorry to break it to you but your endgame is toast.

This is my opinion don't agree or agree with it I don't care. But you asked me so this is what you get.

AND I WILL NOT RESPOND TO ANY OTHER RESPONSES TO THIS OR ANY OTHER ASKS THAT COME AFTER THIS. THIS WAS A ONE TIME RESPONSE. CAUSE I KNOW THIS WILL BE A THING AND I'M NOT GOING DOWN THIS RABBIT HOLE.

[dioles-writes]

• OC FIC •

Masterlist | Characters: Felix (he/him), Hiraya (she/her), January (he/him), Maddox (he/him), Alzena (she/her), Nyssa (she/her), Astley (he/they), Rory (they/she), Kuali’i (he/him), Wilder (he/him), Ensio (he/him), Ilona (she/her), Akali (he/him), Della (she/her), Winola (she/her), Vincent (he/him), Howard (he/him), Haven (she/they), Una (he/they), Reese (they/them), Shehani (she/her), Paisley (she/they/he)

Credits also to @jiphenn as the characters in purple are hers 😋😋

Winola belongs to @sleepsloooop

Before Felix knew it, over two months had flown by in Paradise.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, he was genuinely happy again. He had slowly fell into the routine of day-to-day life, and by now it was almost easy to forget about Chumps Jr., or the concert. Everything in his life had finally settled down. He really understood now why this was called “Paradise” in the first place.

Training with the Top Five was incredible. It was probably the highlight of his day, meeting up with Hiraya as the two of them fought and sparred with each other, refining their physical abilities. He had even learned a new skill: “Portal Mutilation”, as the two of them had named it. (Although he wasn’t very good at it yet and almost passed out every time he tried to use it.) He even felt like his and Hiraya’s friendship might actually become something more, as the two of them grew closer and closer. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Akali’s face when he finally took her out on a date. He was sure it’d be priceless.

His fights in the arena had been improving too. For about a month or so, he had been quickly rising in rank, defeating each opponent that crossed his path with ease. It felt good to be finally good at something again - and it felt even better to see the large cash prizes that he was getting off each fight.

Paradise had almost started to feel like home. He wrote to Reagan every day, and sometimes he could almost pretend that she was here with him. The Board Game Club had even started to have frequent meetings at the Mansion, laughing and playing board games as they sat in January’s impossibly large room. It was everything he could have ever wanted. Paradise really seemed like it would be the place that he could spend the rest of his life, perfectly happy and content, surrounded by his best friends.

Today, however, was a special day in Paradise. Today, May twentieth, was the day that the people called “The Day of New Waves”. Everyone was in a bustling mood, all preparing for the huge party that was supposed to be happening at the Lim Residency later.

Felix couldn’t wait. He got ready excitedly, pulling on the most lavish suit he owned, making sure his makeup looked perfect, and styling his hair into a fancy up-do.

By the time he had finished with everything, it was already time to start heading down to the Mansion.

“Hi Felix!” As he started his walk to the Lim Residency, in high spirits, like usual, he heard someone call out his name.

It was Hiraya, looking drop-dead gorgeous in her party attire (though he couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t looked stunningly beautiful). He smiled and waved to her. “Hi!”

“Excited?” She asked, coming to walk right beside him. Felix wondered if this day could get any better.

“Mhm!” He grinned. “You?”

“Mhm,” She hummed, pulling at the sleeve of her dress.

“You look nice.”

She smiled. “Thanks. You do too.”

The two of them continued to walk, eventually reaching the huge ebony-black gates of the Mansion. Felix let Hiraya walk in first, the two of them trailing down the expansive halls and entering the ballroom, where they were greeted by hundreds of happy people talking and laughing with each other. The party was already in full-swing.

“Felix!” January called him, sidling up next to the two of them, dressed in what must’ve been the most expensive suit to exist.

“Hi Hiraya!”

“Hi January!”

“You look nice.”

“You do too.” She gave him a grin.

“Well, I’m gonna go meet with the rest of the Top Five, see you guys around!” She smiled before disappearing into the crowd.

January turned to Felix with a knowing smirk. “Woah, did you two come here together?”

“Yeah.” Felix grinned back.

“Maybe you can ask her on a date soon!”

January led him over towards the rest of the Board Game Club. “I’m back with Felix!”

“Hey, y’know what this whole ‘Day of New Waves’ thing is about?” Rory asked, turning to him.

“I’m not too sure, but it is my dad’s birthday today.”

“Guess we’ll figure out sooner or later.” She shrugged.

“Oh look, there’s Astley!”

It was hard to miss him with his tall figure weaving through the crowd, his bright raspberry-pink streak of hair making him stand out even more. He emerged from the wave of people, Nyssa popping up from behind him. “You guys look nice!” January said, taking in Astley’s nice formal suit and Nyssa’s dress.

He looked around. “Have any of you guys seen Akali?”

“He might be with his family.” Alzena said as everyone shook their heads.

“Oh well, he’ll meet up with us eventually!”

The next few hours passed by quickly, the ten of them contentedly chatting and walking around, meeting with all the guests.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed down and a spotlight was shined on the balcony. Vincent stood in the middle of it, the rest of the unit leaders in a row behind him. “Good evening everyone. I’m glad that you could all join us for this very special day.” He smiled and everyone clapped. “Today on the Day of New Waves we celebrate the birth of my dear friend Howard Restall.” The crowd erupted into a chorus of boos, which made Vincent’s smile grow. “But today, we also celebrate the day that will become his anniversary with death.”

“Soon I will be off to kill Howard Restall.” Vincent grinned and the whole crowd listened in anticipation, hanging onto his every word. “But I cannot do it alone. As a society we rely on each other, and tonight I rely on all of you here. As you may know, Howard Restall has many highly guarded warehouses. Once I kill him tonight, they will send out all those vaccines without a second thought.”

“Get rid of the vaccines, the warehouses, the guards! I want to see ALL OF THEM go down in flames tonight!” His grin widened and everyone cheered loudly. Felix smiled; this day could get better. He couldn’t believe his ears. It was finally going to be over. Howard Restall would soon be gone. He was getting everything he ever wished for.

“But this is just the beginning, our waves will crash and consume all of society. We will make the whole world OUR DIOLE-ONLY SOCIETY. OUR PARADISE.” The cheers from the crowd grew even louder and became more erratic. Felix could feel people pushing and shoving, yelling in excitement. “For fifty-four years they’ve divided us and forced us to hide. But tonight, we reform their puny society into something GREATER!”

Felix stopped cheering.

“Guys what the fuck is going on?” Alzena hissed to the rest of them. Felix turned to January in horror, thinking that if anyone could’ve known about Vincent’s plan it would’ve been his cousin. January didn’t even acknowledge him, his eyes locked onto Vincent with a look of shock.

“LET’S KILL ALL HUMANS! THEY WANT TO SEPARATE US? SO BE IT. THEY’LL BE THE ONES TO DISAPPEAR.” The crowd went crazy, yelling and shouting and pushing at each other. Vincent grinned even wider than before, his purple eyes twinkling with this crazed light that Felix remembered very clearly from the Winter Concert. He looked exactly like Gunther.

“He’s fucking crazy.” He whispered under his breath, his smile gone.

“Haven will dispatch you at different places in exactly two hours, when the clock strikes seven.” Vincent continued, and Haven stepped forward from her spot in the back, looking around and waving. “Once the warehouses are taken down, they will open a door and bring you all back to Paradise.”

“Everyone, enjoy the rest of your time here! This is the last day Paradise will ever be this small.”

“One more thing to add.” Haven grabbed the mic from Vincent. “If you don’t plan to co-operate with tonight’s plan, you better start running now.” She smiled and it sent a chill down Felix’s back.

“Thank you everyone and enjoy your night.” The spotlight turned off and the lights switched back to normal, the crowd bursting into applause.

“We have to get out of here.” Maddox mumbled as soon as Haven and Vincent disappeared from view, making his way through the crowd and leading the rest of the Board Game Club away from the party, which was now two times as loud and rowdy.

“We gotta find Akali.” Felix said, glancing around wildly for the familiar head of dark blue hair.

“You find him, we’ll wait in the hall.” Alzena told him, still following behind Maddox.

Felix turned and pushed through the crowd, trying to make his way through the swarm of bodies, as he instantly realized, just like his first time here, that it was very hard to find anyone in a crowd of people this large. It was even harder with how wild Vincent’s speech had made everyone. And even worse - his portals had stopped working. Again. Not at a worse time.

But he wouldn’t leave someone behind. Not again. Determined, he pushed past the happily chattering people, ignoring the weird looks they were giving him and searching desperately for his best friend.

“Felix!”

Felix whipped around, seeing Akali hurriedly weaving through the crowd towards him, Ensio, Ilona and Della right behind him.

“We have to get outta here. Right now.” Felix whispered.

“Where are the others?” Akali looked around.

“In the hall, waiting for us.” He replied, leading Akali and his family out into the hall as fast as he could.

“Let’s follow that crowd.” Maddox said as they met up with the rest of the group, pointing towards other people that were rushing out the door.

“Where ya guys going?” A familiar voice popped up beside them. Una. He ran ahead of them with a grin. “You gonna leave too?”

“Are you leaving?” Felix retorted defensively. He wasn’t sure who he could trust, if Haven was going to send out the Top Five to deal with the unwilling citizens. One thing he knew for certain is that Una could easily pulverize the whole Board Game Club with ease. He prayed that they weren’t crazy like Mr. Lim.

“Yup, I just gotta wait for my buddies before I go.” Una said, seeming not so stressed about the whole ‘kill all humans’ thing. He was somehow his usual chipper self, smiling at them without any worries.

“You know how to get out of here?”

“You gotta run to the edge of Paradise, but I don’t exactly know the way there.” Una said. “Reese knows the way though!”

“Aren’t they with Mr. Lim?”

“Nope, they took off as soon as he finished his little speech. I’m sure they’ll be here any minute now!” They stopped at the doorway.

The next couple minutes felt like hours as they waited for Reese to show up. The doors swung open and shut as more and more people left in a hurry, the sounds of the citizens enjoying the party still loud in the background.

Felix looked to January again, realizing that he had been unusually quiet since Vincent’s big announcement. He stood there silently, staring out into the void. His eyes weren’t shining like they normally did. He didn’t seem to notice Felix staring, or Maddox anxiously glancing around for Reese. He didn’t seem to notice anyone. His posture was slightly slouched over, his expression completely unreadable. It was like he wasn’t even really there.

With a pang, Felix realized exactly when he had seen that look last. Chumps Jr.

“Una!” A voice caught his attention, and he looked up, momentarily forgetting to worry about January. It was Reese, followed by Shehani. “Are you ready to go?”

“Mhm, these guys are all coming with!”

“Okay, then let’s go.” Reese ran out the door and everyone followed.

Well, mostly everyone.

Maddox tugged on January’s arm. “Hey, c’mon, we have to go.”

January blinked, like he was just seeing Maddox. He pushed his hand away, taking a step back. “Do you think he’s right?” It came out just below a whisper.

Felix stopped, hesitating at the doorway. “What are you talking about?”

“Ever since coming to Paradise our lives have been so much better… do we really want to go back?” January took another step back, even further away from the door.

“Didn’t you hear him? He’s going to kill all humans. He’s just trying to replace your dad.”

“Those humans KILLED AVIL.” He snapped.

It went dead silent.

“Are you listening to yourself?!” Felix shot back, staring at January incredulously. “You want to wipe out thousands upon thousands of innocents just because some of them are murderers?”

“Shut up Felix. Like you weren’t first cheering at the news.” January’s voice hardened, his eyes narrowing. It was a look Felix hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Yeah, maybe when he said we were taking down warehouses. Not every single human to exist.”

“January please, let’s just go, you don’t know what you’re saying.” Maddox kept stepping closer to January, reaching out for him with a look of complete desperation.

“I don’t want to live in a society where they kill my friends on the daily. I don’t want to live the rest of my life hiding in fear.” January’s words became more venomous and his aura flickered, growing more dangerous than before.

“What about Adelio? Wasn’t he your friend?” Felix narrowed his eyes right back at January, clenching his fists, uncontrollable anger bubbling up to the surface. “You’re acting like an idiot. You really think wiping out every human is going to fix things?”

“If you want to call me an idiot then go ahead and leave already.” He looked at them, his pupils shrinking as he took larger and larger steps back.

“I’m-“ He took a deep breath, pausing to calm his shaking voice. “I’m staying here.”

Felix stared at him speechlessly. He couldn’t believe that January was saying this. January, who had been by his side from the very beginning. January, who had promised Felix from the start that he’d protect him. January, who couldn’t be seen without a smile on his face. January, who saw the good in everyone, even Felix when he did nothing but scream and throw insults. January, who was kind. January, who was his friend. No, not just that, but January, who was one of the only people Felix had left.

“January, we’re your friends. We care about you, just please, come with us. We can talk once we get out of here!” Maddox pleaded, grabbing onto January’s hand desperately, his eyes wide and shiny. But it didn’t shake him.

“If you’re really my friends then you’ll respect my decision.” January paused, his multicoloured eyes flickering dangerously, scanning between each of them, before he turned his back and slowly started to walk away. Felix felt frozen in time, standing there watching him. It was as if everything was playing in slow motion.

“Well, gotta go follow my leader.” Rory began to walk towards him. “It was nice while it lasted, guys. Get out of here safely.” She turned around slightly, giving them a bittersweet smile before waving and following January. Kuali’i didn’t even spare the rest of them a glance as he left, right behind them.

The atmosphere around them suddenly started to get hotter, the sound of flames crackling to life disturbing the silence. “YOU FUCKING BITCHES!” Wilder stepped forward, pushing in between Maddox and Felix and screaming after the three of them. His fingers twitched, and small but violent eruptions of flames emerged from his palms, white hot. “AVIL DIED TRYING TO PROTECT EVERYONE THAT DAY, NOT JUST US. DON’T USE HER AS AN EXCUSE FOR YOUR ACTIONS.” His face was contorted with fury, eyes bright with pure rage, as the flames started to multiply, forming at his feet, growing in height. For a second Felix could see the Wilder he knew five months ago, not the sullen and quiet boy that had replaced him.

“AVIL PROTECTED THEM AND WHAT’D THEY DO? THEY KILLED HER. SHE SAVED THEM AND GOT A BULLET TO THE HEAD AS A REWARD.” January yelled back, whipping around. “THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT US. GUNTHER WAS RIGHT. THEY ONLY SEE US AS MONSTERS.” Despite the way he was screaming, louder and more aggressive than Felix had ever heard before, January looked just as confused and hurt as the rest of them.

“SHE DIED TRYING TO SAVE YOUR SORRY EXCUSE OF A LEADER!” Wilder screamed.

“WELL I’M NOT YOUR LEADER ANYMORE.” January ripped his bracelet off his wrist and whipped it at the ground in front of them. The string snapped, and the pale blue beads spilled everywhere, sliding across the floor. Felix watched as January’s specially made charm - the ace - shattered into a million pieces.

The hall went absolutely silent. The flames around Wilder started to grow even hotter, blazing up around his body, flickering angrily.

“Guys we need to go. Now.” Akali said, grabbing Wilder’s wrist.

January turned around again. And this time, he didn’t look back.

Una led them outside, looking around and trying to remember the path that Reese and Shehani went, considering they were long gone now. He followed along the path of blood spots on the ground, quickly turning to glance back at them. “Be careful guys, as soon as we leave the estate is when the monsters come out!” He warned them. “So all of you be sure this is what you want. There’s no coming back.”

Maddox looked back at the mansion longingly, like there was nothing he wanted more than to be by January’s side, but he didn’t turn back.

As soon as they left through the Mansion’s gates, the same eerie feeling that fell along Paradise at night surrounded them. “Look, there they are!” Una pointed towards the distance.

It was hard to make out exactly what they were looking at. The creatures in the distance were large and disfigured, with these horrifyingly wide, pitch-black eyes that watched Felix’s every move. They walked very slowly towards them, never once looking away.

“Be careful, they can run too!” As soon as Una said that the monsters started sprinting, faster than should’ve been possible with their massive and bulky size. Una started running faster, him and Nyssa easily outpacing everyone.

Felix tried to open up a portal, but it still wouldn’t work. “Shit.” He mumbled under his breath, starting to pick up speed and sprinting as fast as his legs would allow.

“CoMe hErE!” The monsters screamed in a distorted, high-pitched tone, running even faster. They extended a misshapen arm, swiping at the slowest of their group.

Winola.

They snatched her up before any of them could react, their long twisted fingers closing around her body, trapping her.

Una’s body made a crackling noise as a clone splintered away, running at the monster. It leapt into the air, kicking the monster’s hand and sending Winola flying out. Winola fell on the ground roughly, rolling through the dirt with a grunt as her ankle twisted in an odd angle.

More clones separated from Una, running to deal with the monsters. One scooped up Winola, who was trailing behind even more than before with her injured ankle. The rest all started to fight, slowing the monsters down bit by bit.

They sprinted for another thirty minutes.

“Shehani!” Una perked up, spotting his two buddies up ahead. When Shehani saw him she let out a little sigh of relief. “You saw the trail?”

“Mhm!” Una smiled.

Una and Shehani continued to take out more of the monsters as the group kept running, Reese leading them in the front. The more that they ran, the more dead bodies they could see scattered around, surrounded by pools of dark blood. Some were missing limbs, others contorted in ways so horrific that Felix couldn’t make himself look. He focused in on running, not allowing his mind to drift any further. They just had to get out of here. That’s all that mattered now.

He just had to get out of here.

“Oh look, someone over there isn’t dead! Let’s go get them!” Una said, pointing to a person in the distance. Felix looked over, and for a second, time stopped.

Paisley.

They stood in front of a pile of monsters, their back turned to him, but it was definitely her. His hair wasn’t the purple that it had been the last time he had seen them, instead a gentle blue, but Felix would’ve recognized her anywhere.

“PAISLEY!” He screamed, loud enough that it could have been heard back at the Mansion. He shoved past Akali and Una, forgetting about January, about Rory, about the monsters that were swarming them. Forgetting about what they were fleeing from. Nothing else in the world mattered to him at that moment, all except that she was okay. That she was alive.

He tackled her in a hug from behind, grinning from ear to ear.

Paisley didn’t turn to face him. They stood there for a second before elbowing him harshly. “Get off of me.”

Felix’s smile started to fade. “Huh?”

“You have someplace to be. Hurry up and go.” They turned around to look at him for the first time in five months, but when they stared down at Felix, it wasn’t their familiar look of gentle kindness that he had come to expect. Instead, he stared at him like he was nothing but a bug. Nothing but an annoyance.

“Paisley?”

“Didn’t you hear me?” He started walking away.

This was all wrong. This was all wrong.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Paisley was supposed to hug him back; she was supposed to turn to him with a soft smile, eyes gentle and kind. And then Felix would apologize a million times over. He’d tell her everything, starting from all the way back in September, starting from his very day at school. And Paisley was going to cup his face, her hands rough against his cheeks, and give him this look that meant “it’s okay”.

And he would knew it would be. Because it was Paisley, and as long as he had her and Reagan then everything would end up fine.

Everything was going to be fine.

“Paisley, wait!” He grabbed his arm, tears welling up in his eyes. “I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t be mad. I’ve missed you so much. I’m sorry I lied, I promise I’ll explain everything as soon as we get out of here.”

“I told you to get off!” Paisley snarled. He punched Felix, sending him to the ground.

Felix looked up at her in shock. “Paisley please, I just wanna go home. Please don’t go.” His voice cracked.

“I’m no longer a part of your home, so don’t make it sound like I’m going there with you.” Her dark eyes swirled, the gray contrasting against the black. Her gaze made him feel so incredibly small. No one had ever looked at him like he was such a disappointment, like he was so… insignificant. But especially not Paisley. He was sure this had to be an imposter. This couldn’t actually be her standing in front of him, because Paisley would never say that. Paisley would never look at him like that.

It couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be her.

“You are! You are.” Felix shakily got to his feet again, looking at her desperately and reaching out with trembling hands. “I’m so sorry. I’ll fix things, I promise. I was just trying to protect you.”

They slapped him, their jewelry raking across his face. His mouth was filled with a metallic taste, which was oh so familiar, but never from Paisley. He reached up to touch his burning cheek, looking at them with wide eyes. “You’re nothing but a burden.” They spat. “You always have been and always will be.”

She punched him in the face again, just as hard, if not harder, than the first time. But the calmness in her voice stayed unwavering. “You’re always making sorry excuses and promises you can’t keep.”

“I’m sorry.” Tears slipped down Felix’s cheeks, hot and salty. His chin wouldn’t stop trembling. “I’m so sorry, I promise I’ll be better. I can- I can control my powers now. Just let me fix things.” His voice didn’t sound right. It was whiny and shaking, as much as he tried to force it not to be. He swallowed hard, trying to push down the lump in his throat, trying to look up at Paisley, trying to make her see that he was sorry. He was so, so, sorry.

They grabbed Felix by a clump of his hair, pulling him up to his feet again so that his face was only inches away from theirs. “There’s nothing to fix, we aren’t family anymore.” He said in a low voice, staring at him with a hollow gaze. His eyes burned with a pure hatred that shouldn’t have been there - not on Paisley - as she punched him to the ground again.

Felix choked out a broken sob. “Please, I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave me. You’re all I have left.”

She kicked Felix on the ground, the heel of her boot connecting with his stomach harshly, making him cough and gag. “I don’t know why your sister wasted her life for someone as pathetic as you.”

“I’m sorry, please, don’t go. I’m so, so sorry.” Felix stared at her pleadingly. She had been the only person he could think about for over two months. The one person that he had searched endlessly to see. He would’ve given anything to know that she was okay, to have her at his side again. He would have given anything. He couldn’t even recall the amount of times he’d asked Haven about her, just begging to hear about them. And now here they were, standing before him, alive.

And all they could do is stare at him like he was the last person they would ever want to see. Like he was the root of all their problems.

Like he wasn’t their son.

“I don’t know why I stuck around all those years. I wish I never signed those papers.” She said coldly. She gave him another well-placed kick, this time in the face, and his nose started to gush blood, his face stinging all over in pain.

“I love you.” Felix sobbed harder. “Please forgive me. We can just go home. I just want to go home.”

“There’s no home for us to go to together.” Paisley kicked him more violently than before, no longer holding back. Little bursts of pain shot up his body for every time her foot came back down, but he couldn’t make himself move. He couldn’t make himself do anything other than stare at her, silently begging for her to please, understand. Begging for her to just take him home. Just take me home.

“There is, there is. Please don’t say that.” He begged. “Please.”

Paisley delivered one final kick, a million times rougher than the past ones, before squatting down and yanking Felix’s hair, forcing him to look in her eyes. “We’re no longer family. You’re nothing but a stranger to me.” They shoved his head into the ground, hard enough to make his ears ring. Felix sobbed harder, wretching and coughing as she forced him down.

Slowly, she stood back up, keeping their harsh gaze on Felix’s curled up and shaking body for a second longer. He could feel their eyes sweeping over him, filled with nothing but loathing and disgust. She turned her back to him, stepping over his sprawled out limbs, and began to walk away. She didn’t respond to his cries, to his begging, to his pleading apologies, simply leaving him to sob on the ground. Alone.

Someone leaned down next to him, rubbing small circles on his back. Felix sobbed harder, not daring to look in their direction, all while knowing exactly who it was. “Let’s get back to the others.” Una said, picking him up with ease. His voice was uncharacteristically soft and almost awkward.

Una took him to the others, quickly catching up to them almost effortlessly. Felix buried his face into their shoulder, sobbing broken-heartedly. He could feel Akali’s gaze, looking between him and the Una clone, probably wondering what the hell had happened in the ten minutes that they had been gone. Felix didn’t look up. Couldn’t stand to look up. He pressed himself as closely to Una as he could, like maybe if he made himself small enough, he could disappear. Maybe he could make it all just disappear.

The group continued to run for what seemed like forever. They weaved through the streets, speeding past the once-lively parks and shops, which now were now unfamiliar to everyone, empty and dark, littered by bloody corpses. They passed by the Entertainment hall, the Arena, passed by rows and rows of hotels. But finally, Reese stopped.

“We’re here.”

It was a seemingly normal area, no different from the rest of Paradise. The buildings, the ground, the nature, the sky - none of it gave any indication that this was the way out. Reese ran their hand along the side of the building, feeling along the bricks and thinking for a second, before looking towards the rest of the group. Their eyes landed on Felix, still curled up crying in Una’s arms.

Slowly, they walked towards him, reaching out and softly touching his shoulder. “Hey, Felix, I need you to do us a little favour.” Their voice was calm and soothing, unlike its usual monotone pitch. Felix looked up, his crying dying down, just slightly. “I don’t know exactly how to rip out of this dimension, but I do know your portals will work here.”

Hesitantly, he got to his feet again. “I don’t know where to go.” He said, voice barely above a whisper as he tried to blink back the tears that stubbornly kept falling.

“You can open a portal anywhere, right?” Reese stared him directly in the eyes, their gray ones stormy and dark.

“Bring us to Haru.”

[spydoclovr69420]

TIME TO SPEW OPINIONS (Companion Edition):

Rose was a great companion who worked really well with 9 and 10. Her personality really helped exaggerate the Doctor's sass and later his emo-ness as 10. She was super brave and very willing to act on her beliefs. (even standing up to the Doctor)

Martha was unfortunately overshadowed in the Doctor's mind by the loss of Rose (L) but she is a GREAT character who had strong opinions and wasn't afraid to tell the Doctor he was wrong or fucked up.

Donna was a great partner to the Doctor with their bickering back and forth. She would readily challenge him but would also play off of him with her own specializations (The calendar in The Doctor's Daughter, The planets in the stolen planet bits)

I have my own issues with Moffat's writing so I'll leave out things that I believe to be "Moffat Issues" and not individual character issues.

Amy was an interesting character who seemed to understand the Doctor more than some of the other companions. This, combined with the new lease on life that was the 11th Doctor really let Amy be both serious and goofy playing off of the silliness of the Doctor.

Rory felt like kind of a side note until he died the first time. When he came back he was a main character kind of guy. His main priority was always Amy, even when there was other things going on, and I REALLY like him.

River isn't really a companion, she's more of a side character. River feels like she was kind of shoehorned in to some of the Doctor's lore in earlier seasons, but by the time she arrived in the Capaldi era for the Christmas special it felt like she was actually someone that the Doctor would like. Before then it almost felt like she was just there for drama. Her appearance in Silence in the Library was interesting and made her character someone to be excited for, but her appearance in The Impossible Astronaut felt kinda of dramatic for me. (not that drama is a bad thing, just my preference) I'm not really a fan.

Clara... I've written essays on why I don't like Clara's character. I think she's well written, especially when we get into series 8 territory, but I also very much HATE her as a person. Her struggle with 11's regeneration is understandable, but the way she treats 12 hurts me a little bit. The 12th Doctor definitely doesn't help Clara's ego when he makes her choose things for the entire planet Earth (Kill the Moon) but by the time Dark Water rolls around her ego is so big it could have BEEN the moon. Spoilers BTW: Oops her boyfriend dies. She's like "OH, I have a time travelling friend I love and care about, he has nothing to do with anything related to this horrible thing that just happened to me so let's threaten to strand him on this planet forever if he doesn't help me undo an event that I already witnessed" What in her mind tells her to do this. I get it, you're mentally ill and grieving. I hate her. Not only did she think of the idea of stranding him on Earth to be fine, but she also TRIED. She tried to drug him and strand him. The idea that he was ok with that kind of put me off a bit. Him forgiving her aside, she also told him that anything Missy did ever was his fault, which is INSANE. I know Missy did some terrible shit to her boyfriend but Clara using this to guilt the Doctor into MURDERING Missy is insane. If she had a spine, she would have done it herself before he got in between them. Anyway I'm glad she died of her hubris. (I could go on)

Bill Potts is my scrungly and she was SO perfect for the 12th Doctor. Their conflict in Thin Ice really nailed down how different the Doctor is from their human companions and emphasized that he's not morally perfect all the time. His hands aren't clean and she knows that, but she also knows that he has good hearts and wants the best for humanity. They have a very grandpa/granddaughter kind of thing going on, which I think works super well with the grumpy 12th Doctor. They're fun, they get along, and in the end it's the Doctor's confidence in his own ability that gets her killed (at first). Bill did nothing wrong ever.

Graham and Ryan are generally ok. I'm putting them in one section because I don't really feel much about either of them. They each have like 3 character traits and nothing else. I feel ways about Chibnall's writing, but I feel like the crowded TARDIS was a bad idea and if it was going to be crowded I might have preferred that Grace be there. I don't dislike Ryan or Graham but a lot of the things they do (particularly Ryan) seem to be for the plot and have nothing to do with their personalities. In the first two episodes Ryan shows some impulse control issues, (touching a shiny alien thing in the woods, and running out to shoot robots with a gun). Graham shows some anger management issues when it comes to emotional things a couple times(The Woman Who Fell to Earth, The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)

Dan was a great short-term companion. He had what... 4 stories total? His personality was good and he fit in well with Yaz and the Doctor. He was sarcastic, and missed his crush. He had guts, running around with a wok in Liverpool during an alien invasion.

Yaz. I have feelings about Yaz. If only they had decided to make her crush on the Doctor apparently BEFORE series 13, it would have allowed them more than 3 episodes to deal with it. With what little reference there was to it in The Flux, there was maybe 4 lines and some screentime in the new years dalek episode for that season, and a 2-3 scene reference in the sea devils return episode. That, combined with her saving the Doctor's ass in Power of the Doctor, it feels like this was shoehorned in after audience response, which is almost never a good idea. Otherwise Yaz is a generally ok character with little to argue about, and not enough to her for me to dislike. I do feel like they used Power of the Doctor as the stock standard "companion who has a crush on the Doctor saves their ass" that all these types of companions get at some point. It just feels like it was decided late and they realized that they didn't have one.

Anyway, writing some of these opinions made me feel like it was 2014 again and I didn't like rose because I liked the 10th Doctor. Ofc some of these opinions are from a place of "oh no! They hurt the scrungly!" I did not read this before posting, I just WENT.

P.S. Also I have feelings about the Master, I'll post those later.

P.P.S Also I have watched some of classic who but there's a lot of it so I just skip around to whatever bits sound the most interesting at the time.

[rockislandadultreads]

Space Opera: Sci-Fi books to check out

Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell

Rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, but they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe. Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified “architects,” he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds. Surit accepted a suspicious promotion-track request out of desperation, but he refuses to go through with his illegal orders to sync and control an unconsenting Tennal. So they lie: They fake a sync bond and plan Tennal's escape. Their best chance arrives with a salvage-retrieval mission into chaotic space—to the very neuromodifcation lab that Surit's traitor mother destroyed twenty years ago. And among the rubble is a treasure both terrible and unimaginably powerful, one that upends a decades-old power struggle, and begins a war. Tennal and Surit can no longer abandon their unit or their world. The only way to avoid life under full military control is to complete the very sync they've been faking. Can two unwilling weapons of war bring about peace?

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever in this captivating debut of connection across space and time. "This is when your life begins." Nia Imani is a woman out of place and outside of time. Decades of travel through the stars are condensed into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. Her friends and lovers have aged past her; all she has left is work. Alone and adrift, she lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky. A boy, broken by his past. The scarred child does not speak, his only form of communication the beautiful and haunting music he plays on an old wooden flute. Captured by his songs and their strange, immediate connection, Nia decides to take the boy in. And over years of starlit travel, these two outsiders discover in each other the things they lack. For him, a home, a place of love and safety. For her, an anchor to the world outside of herself. For both of them, a family. But Nia is not the only one who wants the boy. The past hungers for him, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . . Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers. After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared—and Idris and his kind became obsolete. Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It's clearly the work of the Architects—but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason

Rory Thorne is a princess with thirteen fairy blessings, the most important of which is to see through flattery and platitudes. As the eldest daughter, she always imagined she’d inherit her father’s throne and govern the interplanetary Thorne Consortium. Then her father is assassinated, her mother gives birth to a son, and Rory is betrothed to the prince of a distant world. When Rory arrives in her new home, she uncovers a treacherous plot to unseat her newly betrothed and usurp his throne. An unscrupulous minister has conspired to name himself Regent to the minor (and somewhat foolish) prince. With only her wits and a small team of allies, Rory must outmaneuver the Regent and rescue the prince.

[doctor-who-binge]

Was going to leave comment but I actually uate leaving YT comments— so here we go commentary on this video:

I agree that 10's ending felt like an ending to the show which meant not giving 11 a chance, he was unintentionally set him up to lose viewers. But 10s ending as a character still makes sense, his wallowing over it, his last line, and his complete angry rant about it not being fair after he thought he escaped were all very in character. He was the most human like doctor in the new series— and I mean tbf he turned into a human twice (John Smith & Meta Crisis). I've heard from fans his idea of regeneration being dying is possibly heavily influenced by how John Smith died, and that makes sense to me.

11ths is great. 11 was Amy's imaginary friend, him hallucinating Amy makes complete sense even without Rory; especially because regeneration energy makes all the Doctors high. I also always thought 11 should have been Amy-Rory-River only, no Clara. I don't mind Clara with 11 at the end of the day, but I still think those 4 should have been a neat box with a nice bow all wrapped up (except River who is a nice surprise among 12). The bit about him getting younger again is a bit odd, but I think the speech coming from the actual actor rather than a make-up aged version of the actor was better. It gives a better goodbye to the audience in my opinion sometimes focusing on the audience especially (not the characters) with changes like this, is okay.

River & 12 being together for 24 years is bad??????? I've never heard that take. I love it so much. The Husbands of River Song is one of the best episodes ever for me. "No it doesn't mean forever, it just means time. But I suppose thats not something you could ever understand." - River. Maybe it's because of how big of a River x Doctor fan I am and other people really disliked it. Alex Kingston's reaction to the scene when watching it was really cute

The bit about Donna being a really good end because Davies understands endings and the Clara thing being stupid because Moffat doesn't know how to end things might probably age badly when the 14th doctor specials comes out, we'll just have to wait and see

Maybe everything said in this video is why I prefer Moffat often, Davies episodes often make me way too damn sad when I just want a break from my shitastic life. I don't want my heart broken at the end of every episode.

Obviously 13 isn't in the video. Hers is short and sweet ("less is more with regeneration" according to the video) I know people kinda hated the "tag you're it" line but it seems entirely in character for her. And gives the next doctor a chance for fans to like (if it had been Ncuti) instead of dislike because he represented her dying. Its the polar opposite of 10s regeneration. Which kinda makes it hilarious that she regenerates into Tennant.

I don't have a feeling one way or another on 12, except the line about his name made no sense considering he tells River. There were good nuggets in it but it did feel like it had unnecessary bits. I can say, the destruction of the TARDIS was Chibnall's idea IIRC. He wanted it destroyed. Steven Moffat even expressed a bit of dislike for that choice (its in an interview I can't find).

9s was good but I don't see how it was SCORES better than all the others as the video explaones. I love the emotions and confusion from Rose. And his last line is absolutely amazing.

The 8th was really great because of the Karn aspect imo.

I think thats all my thoughts? I rarely disagree so heavily with a video like this. Reviews of specific episodes absolutely all the time; but when its talking about something overall like comparing regenerations I usually agree with something but other than the 8th doctor, and Moffat needing to learn to just let characters die, I don't think I agreed with much else.

[sundayinthcpark]

oh lord five whole different fandoms i’m sure i can come up with them but choosing is evil

‘Just this once, Rose, everybody lives!’ - The Doctor, Doctor Who (my babygirl forever my best friend i need him to give me a hug and this specific scene will cheer me up whenever idc)

‘This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, "Hey you, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up, "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here." The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."’ - Leo McGarry, The West Wing (i will always go back to this. always. got me through a lot, like, six years ago, continues to get me through shit today. i have this whole speech written on sticky notes on my wall.)

‘A heart can be broken, but it will keep beating just the same.’ - Ninny Threadgoode, Fried Green Tomatoes (i had to google a quote from this one cos i’ve realised i could easily pick five screencaps from each of these fandoms that i want tattooed on my heart but i am not always good with remembering words HAHA)

‘I’ve always wanted to use that spell.’ - Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (sorry will never ever ever be over her she was like the first character i ever looked at and was like ‘actually i want u to adopt me now but also i think if u had adopted me and raised me even in your world i’d somehow still be a lot less fucked up’ and also while this quote doesn’t have even close to the same emotions as the other ones it is still so nice to see ur heroes be relatable sometimes yk)

‘Oh, really? Well, where the hell where you when she had the chicken pox and would only eat mashed potatoes for a week? Or when she graduated high school and started college, huh? Where the hell were you when I was moving her mattress into her dorm and out of her dorm and back into her dorm?’ - Luke Danes, Gilmore Girls (listen that one moment right there i was so happy cos christopher did nothing to be rory’s father but luke was rlly fighting for her there and he fully deserved to ‼️ he cried at her graduation that christopher didn’t even attend ‼️ ik some ppl will be upset by that but luke was always more a father to rory than christopher was ‼️)

oh and now i tag people right erm @not-all-the-prayers @beturass @torchwood-99 @spellbound-multi ‼️‼️

toff starts a tag game

reblog with a quote from your fav character from atleast 5 fandoms that you’re in/used to be in!!

ok mine:

”your fingers might not be so burnt if you cooked with an air fryer!” -frye onaga (splatoon)

“you ever think about runnin in pictures? buy a ticket, they let anyone in!” -albert dasilva (newsies)

“now, what the heck happened around here? oh right- my doing!” -caine (tadc)

“what happened to you that made you hate fun?” -serafine savoy (lackadaisy)

“the romantic tension is so palpable… how can you guys even concentrate??” pavitr prabhakar (atsv)

hey guys 😏 @the-woild-is-y-erster @sluttylittlenewsboy @ftm-megamind @newsiesfixation @itsgrapes-exe @newsiesreference and anyone else that wants to join!!

[amelia]

ok here’s my slightly sleep deprived theory. Amy pond is a lesbian and the reason Steve. Moffat never let her have one (1) female friend is because he knew that she would have too much chemistry and marrying the human equivalent of soggy toast would longer be believable. thoughts? feelings? canon evidence? (I am so sorry for how this sounds in advance I am running on 5.5 hours of sleep and 2 cups of coffee)

oh arden believe me. i have been on the lesbian amy train for years and years. canon evidence includes the fact that amy's only female friend EVER is a lesbian (the power of three) (i like to think they met while amy was in her "i hate men" divorcing rory era and. well) and also the fact that in an earlier draft of the eleventh hour amy literally had a firewoman girlfriend (the doctor who companion #515)

so like no matter what… moffat Knows how inherently gay amy is

there's also this little deleted bit where she's definitely trying to flirt here — they kept karen's flirty little look in the aired episode lol

i won't even start on how everything about her relationship with rory is. well. :-) "he's been my best friend forever and he's died for me and he loves me so i MUST love him back even if i'm never completely comfortable he Deserves it and he's a Safe Option because he is never going to Leave" kind of insane. anyway. lesbian amy pond is forever