#she never missed voting season but she too is doubting

[coyoxxtl]

its rly frustrating that if the democratic party doesn’t win the presidential election the blame will fall on american citizens who rightfully refused to support the biden administration and not the administration themselves for failing So Fucking Hard to act right so they could’ve kept that support. like they led this genocide and shat the bed and Yet centrist liberals will just chalk it up to stupid commies who hate voting for no reason and russian bots or whatever the fuck

[axel-ambassador]

Reasons why Axel is best girl

Her name and design is absolute peak

This was a promo photo. The combat boots, the camo pants, the asymmetrical piercings, the camo paint and absolute feral energy in this photo.

There's a reason why she had so much hype before we even knew her personality. She exudes absolute girlboss energy and leaks with potential.

Her voice is incredible

Something about her dialect tickles my brain. Just listen to her speak especially in S2 E3 and you'll see what I mean. Her VA does an incredible job.

She's incredibly compassionate believe it or not

Her boot episode in S1 starts with her getting breakfast in the woods. She could have made food for just herself but took the time to find and cook food for the rest of her team.

S2 E2 consists of her helping her struggling teammates several times. Zee when he's taken too many hits and Damien after going through the 4 point tube.

You may think she does it out of necessity, but anybody could have gone and saved Damien, Priya especially. She's quick to inform them he needs medical attention.

She even admits that despite winning she doesn't approve of what Millie did. This is coming from the same girl that kicked a teammate overboard in the season prior. She genuinely cares about her team.

She's not very fond of Ripper, yet when she accidentally punches him in the face, she is quick to help him up and fix his broken nose. Her voice is incredibly soft as she helps him as well.

The way she handles Ripper's initial confession really sticks out to me. She doesn't lash out or mock him for having a crush, she calmly admits to being uncomfortable and gently tells him she doesn't feels the same.

She even apologizes. There's no need to apologize for not returning romantic feelings for someone. They're not entitled to your love. But she apologizes anyways despite Ripper never asking for one, because she knows that she hurt him and wanted to reject him as nicely and possible.

She recognizes Rippers development and sees how he's willing to better himself for her. He took the time to learn one of her hobbies for her and she realizes and truly appreciates that. She rewards his efforts by kissing him.

She loves Ripper for who he is despite his imperfections. She finds his stupidity to be attractive, and he's a bit insecure when it comes to impressing her, so she's quick to reassure him that she does in fact love him after insulting him and knocking him off their canoe.

There's these little blink and you'll miss it moments in the finale where when Ripper is getting hurt she's not too pleased and is there to comfort him.

Her confidence is unmatched

From the very beginning she's very sure of herself and her abilities. Her first line is her boasting about her survival abilities and how she's not afraid and how people should fear her instead.

She doesn't doubt her decisions. She kicks Ripper overboard in S1 and doesn't ever regret it, not even after she's been voted off because of it.

In S2 E3 she does a flip over a stump just because she can. Her only solo confessional is her bragging about how she was born for this challenge. She's fully confident in her skills and for good reason.

S2 E4 has a lot of these moments where she's so sure of herself not as a survivalist but also as a person. She was voted "most likely to make you regret stuff" in survival camp. She's not ashamed of that fact, she sounds almost proud.

When her love of poetry is revealed, she's not embarrassed, she sounds happy to be able to reveal that fact about herself. She knows that it's an interest not expected of someone like her, and she doesn't care.

She kisses a man on live TV despite being incredibly embarrassed and near uncomfortable with being put on the spot.

She doesn't change herself for Ripper. She is so sure of herself and she knows Ripper loves her for who she is. She's not embarrassed to show her love for him, and she's not afraid to still be her authentic self.

She takes bullshit from no one

When she stops Ripper from wasting his time and energy in the beginning, he lashes out. How does she respond? She growls at him. She's not gonna let some guy yell at her when she's trying to help.

Ripper refuses to have her lead the team despite majority ruling for her to be captain, so what does she do? She kicks him overboard for mutiny and refusing to cooperate.

Ripper taunts her for getting booted by waving his marshmallow in her face. She's already pissed, so she bites his hand and eats his own marshmallow straight from his hand. What a queen.

Ripper calls her and her team nerds in S2 E2 and she immediately snaps at him and intimidates him for his disrespect.

S2 E3 is when she and Ripper get stuck butt to butt, and it does slow her down a lot, but she ends up being in the pack getting carried by Caleb regardless. She's not really responsible for her teams loss. So when Chef puts her on the list of people on the chopping block, she immediately shuts him down because of how stupid that is.

Her split second Yuri moment with Emma consists of her intimidating her not to mess up the challenge. Emma does mess up, Axel falls, and Axel votes her off.

Her team loses for the 3rd time in a row by E5 and of course Chris relishes in their failures and rubs it in their faces. Axel is a blunt and honest person, but here she resorts to sarcasm because that's how done she is with his shit.

She's literally about to be eaten by a shark and she just turns and yells at it to back off, icon.

[mystardustmelodyyy]

A tale of love, lust, & crime!

I’ve had this rattling around in my head for a while 💋

Thank you to my girl @remotewatch for playing editor this time! 🌹

Beverly Hills, 1971

Lieutenant Amato had been in the homicide department a long time. Eighteen years, to be exact- he’d questioned his fair share of widows. There was no doubt in his mind that Sabrina Van Ecken, the thirty-one year old housewife who was serving him fresh lemonade in her garden less than 48 hours after highway patrol found her husband belly up in the Pacific, was suspicious. But goddamnit, she was charming.

“These are heirloom roses, they’re much more fragrant than your modern varietal,” she chirped, handing him an iced drinking glass and a digestive biscuit. “You’re more than welcome to take some for your wife. How long did you say you had been married?”

Amato pushed up a grubby, coffee stained sleeve and accepted the treats. “It’s our silver anniversary this weekend.” He grunted.

“How grand!” Sabrina’s gold bracelets jingled like little bells as she clasped her hands together with glee. Then with an utmost seriousness, she removed her oversized sunglasses and looked him directly in the eye. “Lieutenant, I’m going to be straight with you. I’m glad Todd’s dead. But I didn’t kill him.

How brazen! Amato nearly choked on his biscuit. He dabbed the corner of his mouth with a nearby doily and composed himself. “That’s quite a statement, Mrs. Van Ecken.”

The young widow nodded and gingerly tucked some glossy strands of dark hair behind her ears., “I loved him in my own way you see. He wasn’t cruel or violent. But- and I’m sorry to speak ill of the dead so quickly- he was an ignoramus.”

“An ignoramus, miss?”

“Yes you know the type- doesn’t vote, leaves the toilet seat up, thinks Julia Child’s recipes are too exotic, that sort of thing.”

“I see.” Amato replied, thankful that years on the force had trained him to keep his cool even under strange circumstances like this one. “Do you know anyone who would want to kill him?”

“Oh plenty. Todd had a lot of enemies.” She nodded matter of factly, “His investor that he pantsed at a company meeting, all the country club caddies, servers he never tipped, I could go on. I don’t know what I expected, marrying into oil money.”

Amato scribbled furiously on his notepad. “What about his business partner that moved in recently? Jonathan Mollier?”

“Jonathan?” Sabrina’s expression softened “they had a complicated relationship as well. But it worked somehow. I can say with certainty, lieutenant, that if Todd had lived we would have stayed married and Jonathan would have been in business with him forever. Now that he’s gone… god rest his soul… we’ve both got a new lease on life.

“There has been talk of you two spending a lot of time together.” The lieutenant broached, raising his eyebrows. Sabrina just smiled.

“And they’re right! Jonathan has been helping me with the orphaned sea turtles foundation that I made through the company. Todd never was one for philanthropy, you see.” She took a long sip of lemonade. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but accidental death hasn’t been ruled out yet, has it?”

“It has not. As I’m sure you’re aware, your husband had enough DUIs that we are seriously considering that angle… by the way, is Jonathan Mollier from THE Mollier family? The ones on the east coast?”

“That’s correct. You’re a sharp one, lieutenant! I’d say you should question him too but he just went out paddle boarding. Perhaps you could come back later this week. I can arrange for some flowers to be made into a bouquet for your wife as well…”

⛵️⛵️🍒🍒🍒⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️🍒🍒☀️☀️☀️☀️

Lieutenant Amato left with a box of biscuits, a carafe of lemonade, and a spring in his step. Gosh, if only someone had told Sabrina in her younger years that manipulating the police was so simple! She might have had a glamorous stint as a cat burglar on the French Riviera in another life.

“He’s gone?” Jonathan Mollier, fresh off the paddle board in an unzipped wetsuit trotted towards the rose garden where Sabrina was waiting for him, arms outstretched.

“Yes,” Sabrina beamed, “I made him my famous lemonade.”

“Excellent, my love. The sooner we can get them to rule it an accidental death, the sooner we can leave town.”

🌺🌺🌺🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

Beverly Hills, 1971, two months earlier

If you’d asked Jonathan Mollier as an expat what it would take to get him back to the states, Todd Van Ecken would not have been on the list. In fact, when he’d met up with his former roommate during his last trip to New York, Todd proposing they go into business together initially came off as one of his infamous pranks. Until he started listing off facts, figures, and lucrative stock options. Todd even said that Jonathan could continue working in Japan from time to time, although he did want him to be primarily based in Beverly Hills with him. Jonathan, who had admittedly been feeling rather unmoored abroad since the birth of his sister’s second child and the passing of his beloved uncle, saw no better reason to return. California for a business venture- the perfect mix of new opportunities and old stomping grounds. When Todd picked him up from LAX Jonathan felt light and open, although that may have been partly due to the qualuudes his doctor had prescribed for the international flight. Even Todd’s erratic driving and excessive application of Old Spice while en route to his Beverly Hills mansion seemed charming rather than tiresome.

“So you’ll be in the guest suite on the west wing,” Todd said, flicking a cigarette butt out the window of his Jaguar Roadster “it ain’t the Ritz or anything but it should be roomy enough for those funky surf boards of yours”

“Paddle boards..” Jonathan corrected as he gently dusted stray ashes that had fallen onto his new YSL sport coat, “thanks again for letting me crash with you for a bit. I know nothing about California real estate.”

“Sure thing, you’re saving my ass here. Using my folks oil seismographs for consumer electronics was all fun and games until I realized I needed someone who actually understood the technology.”

“Oil man turned calculator entrepreneur is certainly a leap.” He agreed. “But if I learned anything at Toshiba, it’s that there’s a massive demand for chip tech. Anyway, I swear I’ll be out of your hair soon enough.”

“Don’t worry about it. Sabrina’s excited to have someone else in the house anyway.”

“Sabrina?”

“Yeah, Sabrina. My wife, ya dill weed.” Todd laughed. “You would’ve known that if you came to the wedding instead of sleeping on the floor in Japan or whatever it is you do over there. We’ve been married six years now.”

So it was the same girl. Todd had caused quite a stir amongst their old Yale classmates when he married a girl he’d met in Vegas less than a month after meeting her. It was rumored to be a shotgun wedding and when a baby never arrived it caused even more of a scandal.

“The ADPhi brothers and their wives still avoid her like the plague for god knows what reason” Todd continued, seemingly predicting his reaction. “Kinda bullshit, if you’ll pardon my French. I mean, what qualifications does a wife need, right? But she’s a sweet girl, you’ll like her. You both care about animals, believe it or not! Although I’ll tell ya, she’s been on my ass lately about getting a dog. She won’t shut up about it! But I told her, ‘no way Jose I don’t want those mongrels in the house’. I mean really! You’ll back me up on that, won’t you Jonathan?”

Jonathan rolled his eyes; the qualuudes hadn’t worn off, but Todd’s charm was waning to say the least. He gave a noncommittal “Mmhhmm” before drifting off to sleep as Todd continued to yap his way through the roads of Los Angeles county.

♥️♥️♥️♥️⛵️⛵️⛵️🌺🌺🌺🌺🍾🍾🍾

The Van Eckens tried out a few rental properties before committing to buy when they’d settled in Los Angeles. First it was a high rise on Wilshire Boulevard, but the lack of greenery made them both stir crazy. Then it was a Pierre Koenig house in the Hollywood Hills, which to this day Sabrina maintained was stunning, but Todd was disturbed by the amount of right angles. Eventually they settled on a neo colonial style mansion with a rounded balcony, lush landscaping, and easy access to the ocean. When Jonathan exited the Roadster, the bracing sea breeze felt like a shot of espresso.

He’d packed modestly for his flight- just a trusty Hartman suitcase and the treasured attaché that belonged to his late uncle. Most of his belongings were set to arrive tomorrow morning. Jonathan took it upon himself to unpack and freshen up when he and Todd entered the house with no Sabrina in sight.

“She’s around, I’ll find her.” Todd shrugged. “Your room is up the stairs, second door to the left if you wanna get settled. The phone in there isn’t connected yet but we’ve got another in the kitchen. Holler if you need anything.”

Getting his belongings in order didn’t take long at all, but putting his to-do list together was another matter. He needed to call his folks now that he was back in the states; they’d be at the Martha’s Vineyard house this time of year. Then there was renewing his driver’s license, touching base with investors, replacing his shoehorn that broke in transit to California… It was dizzying. Oh, how he longed to take an impromptu dip in the ocean and forget all his responsibilities! Luckily the sun had begun to set, so kicking back in the leather Marsala lounge chair setup and turning on some music seemed like a completely reasonable course of action. Jonathan even indulged in one of the pastel mints that had been artfully composed on top of his flanged pillow, like icing on a lambeth cake. There was a stationary card too, featuring a message written in big loopy script.

Welcome back, Jonathan!

Below the message there was a drawing that could only be Todd’s contribution; a rendering of the Hanna Barbera character Hong Kong Phooey breaking a cinder block, with a word bubble above the cartoon dog’s head.

It’s about damn time! Hi-ya!

Jonathan politely folded the card stock in half so that only the first message was visible.

As he began to fiddle with the radio controls, he could vaguely make out a woman’s voice chatting with Todd downstairs followed by the sound of agile footsteps pattering up the staircase and an airy “I’ll be down in a jiffy!”

Jonathan, who was in no rush himself, settled on the USC radio station before strolling to the bay window, surveying his new digs. The rose gardens in the back of the house were even more stunning than the impeccably trimmed boxwoods in the front landscaping. He was thrilled to see there was a slight view of the ocean in his room, albeit partially obscured by what appeared to be the master suite. Man, those California sunsets really were something. Cotton Candy clouds dotted the sky as gold light flooded into his room, and for a moment, Jonathan felt an all consuming wave of calm wash over him. So much so that he almost missed the leggy brunette in tennis whites dash into the master suit and beeline for the closet, disappearing behind a buttery yellow curtain… the elusive lady of the house!

She does, indeed, change in a jiffy. Not even a minute goes by before Mrs. Van Ecken comes out clad in a Pucci mini dress and twirls happily in front of her vanity mirror, mane of dark hair bouncing around. Jonathan was transfixed. But, as she began to tie a matching scarf into her hair she paused, frowning.

What could be troubling such an exquisite creature?

Not even a nanosecond later, she darted back behind the curtain only to return in a plain, wool shift dress. She stared blankly into the mirror, arms akimbo, before throwing them up in frustration and retreating into her sartorial lab. It was almost comically in tune with the frenetic Beatles song blaring on the radio.

Ah, she's got a ticket to ride

She's got a ticket to ride

She's got a ticket to ride

But she don't care

The third time she emerges she’s in a fluffy pink bathrobe carrying an armful of options that were still on their hangers. A boho printed maxi dress? No. A frilly, wide collared babydoll frock? No. A slick ivory jumpsuit? No, no, NO. Each contender was held up to the mirror and discarded with increasing force while Paul, John, Ringo and George descended into musical cacophony.

My baby don't care, my baby don't care

My baby don't care, my baby don't care

My baby don't care, my baby don't care

This is when she sees Jonathan, who realized that he had gone from mild observation to fully studying the scene before him with rapt attention. Surely the long flight was to blame for him forgetting his manners? How uncouth of him! He scurries to the bay window drapery and quickly mouths “Sorry” to her, hoping the blush flooding his cheeks isn’t visible across the way.

She just smiles and gives a little wave as she mouths back “It’s ok!”

Jonathan nodded awkwardly, still flustered, and closed the drapes. He threw on a fresh cashmere polo and smoking slippers before heading downstairs. Given the time difference his parents would likely be in bed already, but maybe he could ring one of his sisters before dinner.

🍦🍦🍒🍒☀️☀️💋💋✨✨🐠🐠

TO BE CONTINUED 💋💕

[thefandomenchantress]

So I finally watched the new season (and four episodes of season two) of Total Drama, and I actually ended up liking it! Well, except for all the gross-out humor, but I’ve hated that aspect since the original series, so that’s not much of a surprise. Here, take some random thoughts:

I didn’t think I would like the character designs after seeing them floating around on my fyp a few times and my brain was like ‘old=good, new=bad’ and missed the old characters. But only an episode in I actually really started to like them and now I love basically every character design. Particularly Priya, Millie, Axel, and MK’s. They just make my brain happy for some reason.

Speaking of MK, I love her so much. She’s so cool and i hope either her or Axel wins season two, even though I don’t think that’s all too likely.

Speaking of MK again, I’m hard-core shipping her and Julia, please let them be girlfriends or at least have more awesome moments together I love them.

As previously mentioned, I hope Axel wins and therefore I like her a lot. She probably has my favorite character design, and she’s so badass. I wonder if the producers saw how Shawn was basically the only generally well-received character from Pahkitew besides Jasmine and so they brought back his zombie thing (and he’s an Easter egg during Axel’s intro). Since Shawn won Pahkitew, I doubt they’d let another Zombie-obsessed teen win the million, but hopefully I’m wrong.

The Axel and Ripper ship was…Unexpected, but I’m a huge multishipper who will ship basically anything as long as it’s not, like, incest or a ginormous age gap or something. So of course I think it’s pretty cute. It kinda came out of nowhere and I wish they would’ve shown Ripper realizing he likes Axel instead of him just suddenly stating that he does, but oh well.

Wayne constantly calling Raj ‘Raj-y’ all the time was such a cute dialog quirk to show how the two of them are close friends. Plus, Wayne being aggressively supportive of Raj coming out was my favorite thing ever.

Oh and Bowie and Raj’s relationship was adorable, obviously. That one moment where Raj says (talking about Bowie, paraphrased) ‘Yeah, he looks good…I MEAN he’s doing good! That’s what I said.’ Was so cute I loved it.

Julia secretly being evil wasn’t really too much of a twist for me, but it didn’t bother me that it was treated as one, since after an episode or two it’s just accepted that she’s pure evil, and she just gets worse and worse and honestly I can respect that.

I always thought All-Stars and especially Revenge of the Island felt rushed, or at least could’ve majorly benefited from having more episodes like the first three seasons, but strangely enough I think the pacing felt pretty good in this season’s 13 episodes. It felt like every character was actually explored properly but still had potential stored for the second season.

Speaking of potential, Caleb got voted out first in season one and so far I like what they’re doing with him in season two. He’s like Justin but less over-the-top and he actually seems pretty likable. I love how it’s not completely clear if Caleb knows if Priya has a crush on him or not, and while you’re inclined to assume he does and he’s just using her thanks to Alejandro and Justin’s legacy, he never says ‘oh, Priya’s into me and is easy to manipulate so I’m going to form an Alliance with her”. So I’m excited to see what happens with him.

Chase and Emma are a train wreck of a couple and I’m so glad season two started with them hating each other and ended with the two of them hating each other before they got voted off. I’m kinda sad to see Emma go so soon, though. Realistically, I think Priya would’ve gone home that challenge, since she made Emma pick the wrong answer during the challenge, but the writers need her around for the plot so Emma is voted off instead.

I think the writers didn’t know what to do with Chase and Emma now that they hate each other forever, so they just had them leave early and that’s kinda sad.

I was a little worried I wouldn’t like Bowie but after I made it through the first few episodes I quickly realized I actually really like him! He’s a ruthless player, but not over-the-top evil and I think that’s cool.

Scary Girl (Lauren) reminds me way too much of Veronika Grebenshikova oh my god. They have a similar fashion sense and personality. I really hope Scary Girl follows through on her threat to come back and make people pay or whatever, that would be very fun to watch. Also her efforts to become normal for a whole year only for people to vote her off for being creepy is weirdly very sad to me. She tried so hard to fit in and failed. But she did say she hid in their closets and stalked them, (was that true or was she kidding?), so I guess it makes sense everyone freaked out.

Chef is so…nice this season? I don’t know, but he seems a lot more caring for the campers. I’m not complaining, we kinda need someone to balance out Chris’s insanity.

I…Think that’s all? I might add more later, but for now that’s all I can think of.

[chivalricmaiden]

TOTAL DRAMA REVIVAL TIERLIST + THOUGHTS

After binging all of the new season, I've updated my initial tierlist! Priya stays winning, no surprise there. Thoughts about the ENTIRETY of the new cast (with spoilers) under the cut!

Let's just start off by saying that the over the top toilet humor and intro aside, this was a great season. While Pakhitew Island was rancid with blatant obvious character tropes, this season managed to make most of their characters relatable while parodying at it.

But as for Caleb, Scary Girl and Ripper... Those were on the nose too much for my liking. Caleb got the season 1 Justin treatment, Scary Girl is literally Jinx from League of Legends, and Ripper is nothing but a shoehorned character for fart jokes. It sucks because I thought Ripper was going to be great. His personality is pretty solid and reminds me loads of McArthur.

Now that I've got the slog out of the way, time to dissect the more intriguing parts of this show!

Nichelle, Damien and Axel were tremendously robbed this season, and you know it.

Axel's dexterity and agility would have no doubt gotten her far. Unfortunately, her prickly attitude got her booted very early, akin to Eva's elimination back in the original TDI. She's definitely the Shawn of this generation though. And hey, which begs the question — is she his kid? It's been 15 years after all...

Nichelle was nothing like the mean girl label everyone pegged her for. Just a typical rich, famous celebrity that's never been out of her comfort zone. Rude and vicious? No, she had the team spirit and was always ready to pump up her team. I love Dakota, so I am definitely a fan of Nichelle, the two being so alike. In her elimination episode, she had a breakdown where she realized that she wasn't "all that". It was honestly pretty sad to see.

Damien was the person with the most common sense on that show. It's funny how he's just wants the million bucks and never seen the show before. But when he sees what there's up against? He's totally done. FINALLY, A CHARACTER THAT GETS IT. He's a whole vibe. In the end, he decided he wanted to stay after he did some awesome heroics, but his team voted him off like he wanted... Better luck next time.

Speaking of next time, apparently these three do have another shot. They've all been invited back for another season, which means that we can explore these characters far more! Let's hope that the writers do not miss this opportunity.

As for someone that I don't think overstayed their welcome, MK definitely takes the cake. She was honestly a great character with witty comebacks and superior intellect. I think she got just the right amount of screen time. We got to see her in action while making room for other character's developments to shine. Nice.

Wayne and Raj are what happens when you combine Katie and Sadie with Geoff and Brody. I found their bromance pretty sweet actually. I don't think they had much time to grow more distinctively from each other though. And I know how everyone was betting their money on them or Caleb/Bowie as the gay couple, but I'm so so glad that they weren't.

Instead we got a delightfully surprising pair — Bowie and Raj. While I did want to see more build up, with 13 twenty minute episodes, you can't really do much. But no matter, I still thought they were plenty cute! I needed to see them smooch in the finale though. It would've been loads better than...

Chase and Emma.

How this pair irks me to no end. Chase is an incel and Emma is stupid for going back to him. Really hit the nail on the head with the on and off again couples of the world. Seen this way too often.

Speaking of which, I think you all owe RR Emma an apology. Because RR Emma actually had loads more character outside of her boyfriend. We got to see her in action, taking charge, her fiesty attitude, the great dynamic with her sister!

But this Emma? All she did was whine nonstop about how Chase was a horrible boyfriend only to go back to square one. Every second of her on screen was either her wanting to torture him in the best way possible or lusting after him. Girl... After everything Chase's done to you, him granting you immunity in a round does not cut it.

I'll give some points for the Bowie/Emma friendship. Except for the fact that it centered around Chase mostly, UGH. Bowie going "ew straight people" is how I felt about this whole ordeal.

And in case it wasn't obvious enough, Chase deserves to be ejected into sun. He radiates toxic masculinity. He wanted to change Emma's name to "Chase's Girlfriend"? He thought a guy should win the finale? He can't take no for an answer and keeps pursuing his ex? I hope he rots, ew.

Bless Zee's heart for being bros with him. Goodness knows I could not do that. But let's face it, Zee is bros with everyone on this island. He's that stoner friend everyone needs. Just chilling, making some unintentional funny comments, you get the gist. I first pegged him to be the scaredy cat type, but seeing him in the zone instead was hilarious. And he's the amputee! How cool is that?

Now I know I haven't talked about one of the best parts of Total Drama — the villains/antagonists.

Julia was a very fun twist villain. At first, she was just Dawn but if she was a social media brat. I was surprised to see that facade crack and her true colors shine. Instead, she's a two faced teenaged girl, which I see a lot in society. Putting on a show for others only to bash them in private. Watching her let loose was a thrill and I was here for it. Her manipulation, scheming and determination is unmatched.

At least, that's what I would say if Bowie didn't exist.

How Bowie absolutely dominated that competition. He was here to win and he meant it. Seeing him pull the strings was a sight to behold. He convinced the team to vote off Caleb at first glance, outsmarted Julia at her own game, ruined Priya and Millie's friendship, and snagged a pretty cute boyfriend too. If that's not absolute winner things, I don't know what is.

Which brings me to the part I've been waiting for. Last, but certainly not least of all, Priya and Millie.

These two are MY Total Drama inserts, I'm so sure of it. Millie disgusted by her own generation and Priya's obedience to follow her parent's dreams were things I felt in my soul. I know that they weren't popular when the characters were first leaked, but I'm so glad that they beat the early boot allegations.

Millie's character arc is one of the best things of the season. She came here to write a book slandering the people her age and thought of herself as above everyone else's nonsense. But then Priya happened. Priya was nice to her, she was the first real person to ever make Millie feel good about herself. And that was the wake up call Millie needed and the turning point of her life.

Priya also learned something too — self worth. She was too eager to be friends with Millie off the bat and have nothing but good energy all around. Only to realize that maybe she's putting more effort into their friendship than the other person is. And as someone whose been in that position multiple times, it absolutely broke me.

And everything went to hell when Bowie gifted Priya the notepad in which Millie was writing smack about everyone. Of course, Millie had changed her mind and was trying to be a better person, but karma catches up to you. Priya finally let herself be gulfed in anger and Millie truly got hit with the great significance of Priya coming into her life.

In the end, Millie managed to apologize and pour her insecurities out to Priya about everything. It brought both tears to me and Priya and the two of them reconciled. This was the best friendship story I've ever seen written on Total Drama. It's like what Gwen and Courtney could've gone through in All Stars...

Also, Priya wins. How cool is that? I rooted for her at the very start AND SHE WON. I'm loving this so so much. I'm sure there's another alternative ending where it's Bowie but the one I watched was Priya so that's the true happy ending to me :3

Sidenote: Anyone wanna talk about the Priya/Damien ship tease? Honestly I'm glad Priya didn't blush at anything Chase said; I know the fandom thought they were going to be a couple. But the best girl Priya and the best boy Damien had a hint and that's another win for me.

Think about it, a girl who's prepared for Total Drama all her life with someone who's never seen it before? GOLD. They were even paired for the finale! Do you think next season will have them be a couple? Manifesting that so bad with a real Chase/Emma breakup. And more Raj/Bowie while we're at it too, yeah?

[petrovna-zamo]

I live for Katya retweeting her “read u wrote u” verse. I feel like she undersells herself so often and especially the way she discusses the way she performed on s7 and all stars 2 (when she actually did pretty great in both seasons). I’m glad she’s aware of how beloved her verse is.

Me too! I’m all here for Katya getting her flowers. The way she dismisses any and all praise is actually frustrating as a fan because obviously I think she’s great (she is) but it’s not just that I’m obsessed (I am). Her self-sabotaging self-esteem has been her achilles’ heel for years and you can still see it really affect all other areas of her life because of it.

It’s like, girl! Give yourself some credit for being iconic. The whole world fell in love with her during season 7, there’s a reason she won miss congeniality when it was still determined by the fan vote, and to this day people feel she was robbed of a win on all stars 2. That’s no accident! She’s also a big reason why that season is considered one of the best ever! She did really well! She’s an excellent performer! She was lovable and relatable and honest and vulnerable and funny and weird and smart and original and memorable and good. Or I guess I should have probably just said she had charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent lol. But make no mistake she’s got it baby! She’s truly one of the most beloved performers to ever compete on the show and it’s not just because of the massive audience she gained from various web shows after. Like she did really well on drag race! And she did really well at the time as people were watching too, it’s not something people discovered in retrospect and are now championing her likes she’s a cult classic. That’s a big part of why she has her lasting legacy to this day. She did amazing in the show and then cemented it with all of her work outside of the drag race bubble.

When she did that drag race podcast recap episode promo thing with T before season 14 she just dismissed all compliments and I was thinking omg! Stop! You did legitimately really well! Or in the recent unhhhh when they were reviewing old episodes and she said she never made a joke. I wanted to scream please shut up and stop putting yourself down! Truly some of the funniest/most memorable/iconic lines ever spoken on that show are from her. Also she has unintentionally and maybe even unbeknownst to her shared very thoughtful advice, although she’d rightfully claim she should never be looked to for guidance. But she has! A woman of wisdom indeed.

Deep down I know she knows all this but just probably feels uncomfortable admitting it. But her self-deprecating humor so often turns self-defeating. I just wish she wouldn’t have so much self doubt! (Wow that’s a lot of selfs lol). But ultimately that’s what makes her so relatable, right? We so often can see the good in others easier than we can in ourselves. I guess it’s a lesson in trying to give ourselves our due and continue to prop up others so they feel the same.

[anaiswriterr]

Screamtober Featured Fics: Masterlist

Pairing: Shirakumo x Reader {Already published on October 2, 2020}

Synopsis: He watches your stance intently, eyeing your every move, every fidget. Whether you like it or not dead or alive.. you’re his for the taking.

Explanation: This is based on the first season of American Horror Story murder house season, without giving to many spoilers Shirakumo is terrifyingly crazy. Everything will be explained later on. I just can’t spoil it.

Pairing: Kirishima x Reader {Already published on October 12, 2020}

Synopsis: You press your hand hard against the cold glass shield that divides the two of you. Burning hot tears swell up in your eyes, you press a picture of a girl, a young girl who was brutally murdered and found in the woods. Clutching onto the jail phone in your separate hand, desperately attempting to catch your breath. You mutter out the words no wife should ever mutter, “Ejirou Kirishima... did you - do this t-to her?” Your voice wavers, eyes stinging to catch his reaction to the crime scene photo. He’s emotionless, “No.”

Explanation: What happens when the love of you life, the father of your two year old daughter. Is living a double life, and is responsible for the deaths of fifty six missing women? Basically serial killer AU. Based on some Ted Bundy documentaries.

Pairing: Aizawa x Reader {Already published on October 20, 2020}

Synopsis: “Running through the parking lot, he chased me and he wouldn’t stop. Tag you’re it, tag, tag, you’re it. Grabbed my hand, pushed me down. Took the words right out my mouth, tag, you’re it, tag, tag, you’re it.”

Explanation: Based on Melanie Martinez ‘Tag you’re it.’ Hope y’all like yandere Aizawa.

Pairing: Hawks x Reader {Already published on October 24, 2020}

Synopsis: Where ever you go he won’t be far to follow.. he just wants you. Even if you don’t love him. He doesn't care, you’ll learn to love him.

Explanation: Y’all know that waitress song that blew up on TikTok in 2019 (sigh... best tiktok time) yeah.. he’s a yandere. And he’s in love, and man he doesn’t like that boyfriend of yours.

Pairing: Bakugou x Reader {Already published on October 27, 2020}

Synopsis: “Are you sure this.. spell will make him like me? Find me attractive?” Y/N questioned her witchy friend. Eyeing the wax melted jar in her hand suspiciously, she just wanted his attention nothing too serious. “If you doubt it won’t work. I promise, this spell is going to make him want you forever.”

Explanation: Don’t play with love spells guys, you never know the consequences of a love spell gone wrong. Yandere Bakugou.

Pairing: Todoroki x Reader {Already published on October 28, 2020}

Synopsis: Two lovers walking in a forest at night.. but one comes out.

Explanation: Just a basic horror story, of a young couple just wanting to watch the stars and make out.

Pairing: Deku x Reader {Already published on October 30, 2020}

Synopsis: He loves you, he really does. He’s the perfect image of a boyfriend everyone could see that. Caring, loving, sweet, strong... but that’s what he wants others to think.. behind closed doors he’s the reason why you’re scared of the dark. He’s the monster hiding in your closet, he’s the monster under your bed.

Explanation: Yandere Izuku honestly, giving you guys the horror and scream vibes for this month.

Pairing: Tamaki Amajiki x Reader {Already published on October 31, 2020}

Synopsis: Why couldn’t you just love him!? Why did you have to make him do this to you? ..well it’s not like anyone can hear your screams anyway.

Explanation: Our timid Amakiji fell in love with you but you won’t love him back! Why? He’s trying his best, maybe he just has to use force.. try to run and he’ll cry while slicing your Achilles’ tendon, can’t run away from him now.

Pairing: No pairing here just three friends {Already published November 1, 2020}

Synopsis: Play the Oujia board they said. It’ll be fun they said. Let’s play on a Halloween night, yeah that sounds like total fun.

Explanation: Just three friends messing around, one die hard believer, one skeptic, and one scared of the dark. Lol, just Shirakumo messing with his friends on a Halloween night.

***

➪ I hope you guys like this line up I’m making for October I may add some more stories but until then these are the featured stories that will be coming out! Tell me which you’re most excited for, tag lists are open if you guys wanna be on my permanent tag list or for a select few fics! Vote which should come out first in the comments.

[jordanr770-blog]

America Needs Some Talent

 I just needed someplace to write down my thoughts so here we are!

I have been watching America’s Got Talent since season 11 when the ukulele girl won. I personally didn’t vote for her but can understand why she won. Same goes for season 12. I was rooting super hard for Diavolo but can understand why puppet girl won. Season 13 had some of the best acts ever (Shin Lim-winner) and I know a lot of people disliked her, but Courtney Hadwin should have at least  gotten 5th place over sob story “I’m such a good person and I hit my wife” Michael Ketterer. Kodi Lee was the obvious winner of season 14 and I personally thought he deserved it over the other acts. Other people did not think it was well deserved, and that’s ok too.  

Last season we got a spoken word poet in the form of Brandon Leake. I did not enjoy the act AT ALL and was kind of mad that he won, but I will say that even though I did not enjoy him, spoken word poetry is indeed a talent.

Now, you may be thinking that season 16 would be a smidgeon of an improvement over season 15. Talent and reality shows should probably strive to become better every season. But if you thought this show isn’t capable of getting any worse, you haven’t been paying attention because this show will always find ways to disappoint. Last night we were told everyone voted for an INSPIRATIONAL speech giver as the winner. Or I’m sorry, apparently he does magic. His name is Dustin Tavella. But the thing is, he was HORRIBLE at both storytelling AND magic and nowhere near deserved the win. “It was well deserved.” How? How is a kindergarten level “magician” worth a million dollars and a Vegas show? I believe the show in Vegas is about an hour and a half and I am curious as to what is he going to do in that timeframe? Talk about how the folks living in Vegas are living in sin while simultaneously throwing paper in the air MAGICALLY? I’m sure the audience will go wild over that. Or maybe during all of his shows he will adopt a kid a day from different countries and then spend about an hour talking about Little ZimZam’s harsh life and while he’s babbling  he’ll be semi incorporating his poor magic skills into the act in the last minute so the poster stating he’s a magician didn’t TECHNICALLY lie so nobody is getting their money back. I really don’t know. I have a lot of thoughts. 

Plus, his sob story just did nothing for me whatsoever. Good for you for adapting 11 children, unless it has to do with whatever your act is, shut the hell up and do the trick! Not once did this guy impress  or give even the best of a performance of the night. It was always 8+ minutes of “inspiration” and tirades about how we as a society need to be good to one another whilst doing crappy magic. Let me tell you, I know next to nothing about magic but even I could tell he was a less than stellar magician. Even calling him a magician is somewhat laughable. In reality he's a motivational speaker who does terrible magic tricks and  who always somehow manages to suck at said terrible magic but America apparently doesn’t notice him screwing up his terrible magic because he’s too busy telling them to look at a crumpled up piece of paper or a ladder or the new photograph of his adopted son who has an extra eyeball or whatever. It’s stupid.

Last night for his final performance Dustin’s act was, and I kid you not, telling us all to be nice. FOR SEVEN UNNECESSARY MINUTES. And I do believe he started to fake cry. Dude, you’re acting is about as good as Heidi Klum’s. You can't act and you can barely do magic. Why are you here? What is your talent? Did he really join a talent show to become some type of inspirational God of obvious wisdom? If that’s the case, he should have gone and done a Ted Talk, many less victims of mediocrity that way. America somehow  put him in the top 5 with actually talented people? I think not. The act itself was not impressive and he did the same thing every time, just told a different sob story. If you have to rely on a sad story to win, you don’t deserve to win a show where talent is the main objective. 

In case my last few paragraphs were not made abundantly clear, I am not a fan of this dude. At all. I read a comment which stated that a message is not a talent and whoever said that is 100% correct and summed up my feelings pretty accurately. I'm not a fan or boring and basic tricks combined with even worse stories. He's the living embodiment of a motivational meme and anyone who voted for this guy is  gullible and can fight me. Maybe people “voted” for him because he attempted to pull on the heartstrings? But because I sold my heart long ago his act didn’t effect me as much. /s But I swear every year they make it more clear that the entire show is rigged. 

Well, maybe the voting ISN’T rigged entirely and all the boomers  (first time I’ve ever used that term) and antivaxxers and easily swayed by sob story people on Twitter and Facebook voted for him. Doubtful, but you never know. HE WAS SO FREAKING BAD!!!

We are all allowed to have opinions and just because you don’t agree with me that doesn’t mean I am an awful person who deserves DEATH. I keep getting responses and messages on Twitter from angry folk who are calling me heartless because I questioned WHY they voted for him. “Well, IIIII gave Dustin all 10 of my votes!” That’s nice Karen. That is also not an answer and I cannot stress enough how much I do not care that you voted for the phony used cars salesman. Go tell your Prince from Nigeria all about it. Another guy got mad and reported me for “yelling at strangers.” Which is kind of a typical thing people do on Twitter. And I wasn’t even yelling! Lol. 

And another point I’d like to make (about this and  in general) is people really need to stop using the terms “all of us” and the word “we.” I am my own person and you do not get to speak for me. 

“We were all crying when we saw him perform!” - No WE most certainly weren’t. I was seething with anger, yes. Crying? Not even close.

“His magic touched all of our hearts!” WHAT MAGIC? WHERE WAS THE MAGIC IN THIS MANS ENTIRE ACT? I MUST HAVE MISSED IT AFTER I PASSED OUT FROM HIS 7 MINUTE LONG STORY ABOUT HIS BORING LIFE. 

His win was a complete insult.

* I personally voted for Aidan Bryant, but I really wanted Unicircle Flow to win before they got kicked off due to the judges having a tendency to suck at picking during judges choice. *

Edit: I apologize if this wasn’t articulated very well or if it seems I basically said the same thing over and over. To be fair it was 3 am when I wrote this and I was still irritated and questioning everything. Still doesn’t excuse the fact that this guy was lame and doesn’t deserve a Vegas show. My mom told me earlier today that people on the Internet are mad about his win and that it’s not fair to take it out on the guy, which I suppose is kind of true. Not exactly his fault the general public has failed and shown their stupidity yet again. If anyone is to blame it is the people who actually voted for this doofus. And AGT. And yeah, I guess I will blame him as well. But I’m not saying go to his Twitter or Instagram or whatever and call him out for being a con artist and bully him. 

I think the MESSAGE =P I’m trying to display here  is that someone has no business being on a talent show unless they have talent; self explanatory. A message isn’t talent. Being a narcissist isn’t talent. Exploiting your kids and wife isn’t talent. Speaking can be a talent (comedy, that poetry guy, acting, improv, probably a lot of other stuff I’m forgetting about) but one shouldn’t call themselves a magician if one is really a way less cool garage sale version of Talky Tina. Magic IS talent but if you want a million dollars you better have skills that are on par or better than the professionals. 

[agentrouka-blog]

When Jon think about wanting winterfell and it's Lord he felt hunger which he later connect with ghost's hunger. Do you think that passage is implying something?

Hi anon!

I think the passage has many layers when it comes to symbolism and foreshadowing.

ASOS, Jon XII is a fun chapter. Jon’s been through a lot. His trip North of the wall left him traumatized and disillusioned in a way that’s hard to sum up. Anything he had hoped to be proud of in life was obliterated, he suffered serious injury, has been separated from ghost, learned that all his family are dead or missing, fought a viciously cruel battle, feels responsible for the death of his stockholm-syndromy abuser, was stripped of all respect and honor by his superiors, and he got to see a woman die in childbirth. Now Stannis and Mel are squatting at Castle Black, and the threat to the North keeps looming.

Life sucks. 

We’d been introduced to some options that were denied to him in life:

His lord father had once talked about raising new lords and settling them in the abandoned holdfasts as a shield against wildlings. The plan would have required the Watch to yield back a large part of the Gift, but his uncle Benjen believed the Lord Commander could be won around, so long as the new lordlings paid taxes to Castle Black rather than Winterfell. "It is a dream for spring, though," Lord Eddard had said. "Even the promise of land will not lure men north with a winter coming on."

If winter had come and gone more quickly and spring had followed in its turn, I might have been chosen to hold one of these towers in my father's name. Lord Eddard was dead, however, his brother Benjen lost; the shield they dreamt together would never be forged. (ASOS, Jon V)

or

“If the boy shows any skill with sword or lance, he should have a place with your father’s household guard at the least,” Jon said. “It’s not unknown for bastards to be trained as squires and raised to knighthood. But you’d best be sure Gilly can play this game convincingly. From what you’ve told me of Lord Randyll, I doubt he would take kindly to being deceived.” (ASOS, Samwell IV)

One fails because of the seasons, the other was prevented by Catelyn. The Watch has been a soul-destroying nightmare, Ygritte’s offer of taking over a Tower “after” is not even worth a moment’s consideration to him. Every hope he ever had about his life has been disappointed. 

Jon’s just about sixteen and is completely done. Sam notes how much time Jon spends in the training yard, even though he’s injured and off-duty for the title of turncloak. He does not bother voting in the Lord Commander election. A maligned outcast again. Forever. 

The warg, I’ve heard them call me. How can I be a warg without a wolf, I ask you?” His mouth twisted. “I don’t even dream of Ghost anymore. All my dreams are of the crypts, of the stone kings on their thrones. Sometimes I hear Robb’s voice, and my father’s, as if they were at a feast. But there’s a wall between us, and I know that no place has been set for me.” (ASOS, Samwell IV

He is lonely. Even Ghost is gone, his one proof that he belongs to something.

Stannis alienates Jon by talking ill of Robb, but he offers Jon recognition for the things he did right, a rare thing, and then he offers him legitimization. Basically, “You proved your worth and you have the Right blood. All you ever wanted can be yours. For the small price of breaking your oaths for real and of your own volition and forsaking your gods.” Downright mephistophelian.

Jon is torn, can’t sleep, fights. For the first time he has a real choice. He remembers the traumatic incident where his bastardy became a true concept to him.

That morning he called it first. “I’m Lord of Winterfell!” he cried, as he had a hundred times before. Only this time, this time, Robb had answered, “You can’t be Lord of Winterfell, you’re bastard-born. My lady mother says you can’t ever be the Lord of Winterfell.”

I thought I had forgotten that. Jon could taste blood in his mouth, from the blow he’d taken. (ASOS, Jon XII)

And Jon’s response is a near black-out rage against his sparring partner. All his suppressed feelings of grief and anger and longing and loneliness are just broiling inside him.

Why am I so angry? he asked himself, but it was a stupid question. Lord of Winterfell. I could be the Lord of Winterfell. My father’s heir.

Jon soaks in the hot tub and thinks of Winterfell, mulls restoring it versus not belonging and destroying its soul in the process

When Jon closed his eyes he saw the heart tree, with its pale limbs, red leaves, and solemn face. The weirwood was the heart of Winterfell, Lord Eddard always said … but to save the castle Jon would have to tear that heart up by its ancient roots, and feed it to the red woman’s hungry fire god. I have no right, he thought. Winterfell belongs to the old gods

The tree is almost described like a person. A person with Tully coloring, like all his siblings save Arya. Like Sansa. The hot springs in Winterfell have a potential link to his decision to join the Watch, or at the very least to his siblings in general. The castle of Winterfell is juxtaposed with the heart, with the purpose and point of it all. Save a structure by destroying what made it a meaningful place? Betray his family in his heart, the person whose castle is truly is, betray all his values and his gods?

He takes a walk past sites of all his recent experiences and North the Wall over the recent battle field and just sits to think. 

Ygritte wanted me to be a wildling. Stannis wants me to be the Lord of Winterfell. But what do I want? The sun crept down the sky to dip behind the Wall where it curved through the western hills. Jon watched as that towering expanse of ice took on the reds and pinks of sunset. 

There’s an essay I could write about walls, Tyrion, Jon and Sansa (the sun to Arya’s moon) and how they all interact in the books, but let’s say just like this word play, the fact that Jon answers his own question is not an accident:

"Close your beak, crow. Spin yourself around, might be you'd find who you're looking for."

Jon turned.

The singer rose to his feet. (ASOS, Jon I)

The singer rose. Lyanna, his mother, the riddle. But also Sansa, who unwittingly took up her mantle. One unlocks his path to the other and everything that follows in his imagination:

I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister’s son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly’s boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We’d find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance’s son and Craster’s would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb.

He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. It was a hunger inside him, sharp as a dragonglass blade. A hunger … he could feel it. It was food he needed, prey, a red deer that stank of fear or a great elk proud and defiant. He needed to kill and fill his belly with fresh meat and hot dark blood. His mouth began to water with the thought.

Jon paints a picture of recreating his own childhood with his wolf pack at Winterfell, only this time there are no outcasts, and he is the Father. He gets to be Ned. The Lord of Winterfell with a lady’s love. And a son, something he had, apparently, dreamed of until he stoppped. 

He has always wanted this thing that he has no right to and it filled him with a guilt strong enough to concern the gods. But he admits it to himself, lets himself truly feel it. The feeling flows through him the same way the rage did earlier. powerful and all encompassing. 

Like a dragonglass blade. There we have some lovely foreshadowing for a) potentiall the origin of the Others, b) Jon’s paternity, and c) his own death when his desire to abandon his vows and head to Winterfell is met with, you know, some blades. Not to mention d) his desire to have these things.

Each of these is answered by his primal hunger response. Which is of course, his connection to Ghost. The wolf he has so woefully said goodbye to, that he missed deeply and bitterly, chooses this moment to reappear. This moment where Jon returns to his own feelings, his true self.

a) the answer to the Others are the direwolves, the Starks, their magical connection to Winterfell and what happened way back when.

b) the answer to Jon’s paternity is a violent embrace of his mother’s side.

c) the answer to his own stabbing will be warging into Ghost and biding his time in there, becoming more wolf than he ever anticipated.

d) the answer to his heart’s desire...

It was a long moment before he understood what was happening. When he did, he bolted to his feet. “Ghost?” He turned toward the wood, and there he came, padding silently out of the green dusk, the breath coming warm and white from his open jaws. “Ghost!” he shouted, and the direwolf broke into a run. He was leaner than he had been, but bigger as well, and the only sound he made was the soft crunch of dead leaves beneath his paws. When he reached Jon he leapt, and they wrestled amidst brown grass and long shadows as the stars came out above them. “Gods, wolf, where have you been?” Jon said when Ghost stopped worrying at his forearm. “I thought you’d died on me, like Robb and Ygritte and all the rest. I’ve had no sense of you, not since I climbed the Wall, not even in dreams.” The direwolf had no answer, but he licked Jon’s face with a tongue like a wet rasp, and his eyes caught the last light and shone like two great red suns.

Red suns. Arya’s wolf has golden coins (haggling for death, faceless men coins, spinning fates), Grey Wind has molten gold (like a crown that kills you). 

Jon’s wolf has red suns. Like the colors that the sun painted on the Wall. The direwolf in heart tree colors, inverted bastard colors of house Stark, Tully colors, Sansa colors. 

Red eyes, Jon realized, but not like Melisandre’s. He had a weirwood’s eyes. Red eyes, red mouth, white fur. Blood and bone, like a heart tree. He belongs to the old gods, this one. And he alone of all the direwolves was white. Six pups they’d found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow.

He had his answer then.

Not the red gods, not fire. The old gods. the heart tree, the wolves. He may be a Snow, but the old gods gave him Ghost. His own wolf. His white wolf. His place was made by their will. 

There is honor in that choice. No matter what anyone else says, Jon knows who he is and he has that power: to reject betraying his heart. 

How does this choice led by Ghost fit the layers?

a) The answer to the Others: don’t steal, don’t trick. Be honest. Accept what was painful. Not the Wall matters, the answer is in the heart tree.

b) The Dragon father does not Need to guide his decisions. He can let that go. He is a Snow.

c) Being in Ghost will lead him back to himself. Not fire, not Melisandre. The old gods.

d) Well... What does Jon want? What IS his answer?

Jon is filled with sudden energy. He strides back, rejects Val in his mind, stalks dramatically into the dining hall and is suddenly voted Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. We close on this:

So Jon Snow took the wineskin from his hand and had a swallow. But only one. The Wall was his, the night was dark, and he had a king to face.

Jon’s answer? We never hear it in this chapter. 

We hear it in ADWD, Jon I:

"By right Winterfell should go to my sister Sansa." 

And ADWD, Jon IV:

Jon said, "Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa." 

The chapter is followed by? Sansa. Rebuilding Winterfell out of snow. 

When Jon lets go of pretense, honestly asks himself what he wants, shame or not, his wolf takes over and helps him find the answer and the path. The answer is not in taking the Castle and creating a mimicry of what it was, it is in honoring what it truly was and truly means. The heart over the structure. 

And in giving supremacy to the heart, to the red-white heart, he unknowingly paves the way for his own place: Winterfell built of Snow. He doesn’t have to steal the castle, he will be invited to belong.

That’s my own humble interpretation, anyway.

[princeescaluswords]

All You Could Want

I couldn’t help but think of @alan713ch​ ‘s post here that I reblogged.  I have no doubt that it is utterly true, but I always think that these things can be better with a concrete example.  And there’s no better example than how the Teen Wolf fandom totally slept on the Scott and Kira romance.

Oh, yes, it had it’s adherents, but it was never passionately embraced by the fandom.  Scott and Kira, if you count them being together from their first date in Galvanize (3x15) were a couple for forty-two episodes, longer than any other relationship on the show.  And yet they have less stories on AO3 than the Canon relationship of Boyd and Erica, which lasted at the most like 8 episodes (and that’s stretching it) and ridiculously fewer stories than the big three white m/m relationships -- Sterek, Steter, and Thiam. 

(And before anyone gets their undies in a bundle -- I’m not excluding myself from this criticism.  I’m not pointing at any individual person and saying you should write Scott x Kira.  I’m talking about numbers.  I’m talking about trends.)

But if you look at it closely, the canon relationship touched on every single major romantic trope that populates fan fiction.  You can barely read a Sterek, Steter, or Thiam fiction that doesn’t incorporate one of these tropes.  Let’s look at the list:

Opposition from friends: “ Scott, no way. Until we figure out if she's just another psychotic monster that's going to start murdering everybody, I vote against any and all interaction.”   

Opposition from family: “Foxes and wolves tend not to get along, not just in fables and stories.”

Inability to express their feelings:  “So if you die down here, are you going to regret not kissing your girlfriend?” 

Obstructive trauma from the past: “I guess it's supposed to be part of her. But now it looks... Differently. Almost like it's taking over. I don't know. Something's happening. And to be honest ... I don't know if I could trust her anymore.”

One lover forced to torture the other: “ Your hand goes here. So, let me explain what's about to happen. This one, the fox, has an immunity to electricity. So she's going to turn the dial on the Alpha."

Mind-controlled lover trying to kill the other: “He's been through quite a lot without ever having to kill. I think it's time to change that.”

Fortifying belief:  “Me again. I have to leave. But I'm coming back to help. I promise. Because you're right, Scott. If anyone's going to save Mason, it's you. It's us.”

Unwilling separation:  “I made a deal with them. And I need to. It's not for my parents. It's not for you. It's for me.”

It’s like the Greatest Hits of Romantic Plotlines.   And yet, something about this relationship didn’t spark the fandom’s imagination.   You see the relationship isn’t just seriously neglected, it’s disparaged.  The criticisms run like this:

Kira is a replacement for Allison, even though the dynamic wasn’t the same and her actions weren’t the same. 

Kira is a “placeholder for a certain type of villain.”  

Scott isn’t over Allison. (This is one of the favorite of the Sterek/Steter crew because they fixate on Scott’s supposed obsession with Allison because it’s how they attack Scott’s decisions in Season 1 and 2.   If Scott was able to move on from Allison while not forgetting about her, their claim that the only reason Scott didn’t bow to the Hales was his obsession with a hunter’s daughter gets undermined.  If they can’t blame it on Scott’s hormones or stupidity, they have to face the fact that the Hales were violent thugs, and Scott was right to tell them to get lost.)

Kira is boring, because dealing with the fact that she’ll outlive everyone she knows and can drain the electricity from an entire city doesn’t seem interesting.

Their relationship is saccharine.  (Note that when Liam breaks Theo’s nose three times, it’s passion, but when Kira throws Scott in The Maid of Gevaudan, it’s ... missed.)

Scott spends too much time pursuing Kira and not enough time doing his job.  Which isn’t his job.  

They don’t have chemistry.   Yeah, sure.  

Kira doesn’t give Scott what he needs.  (I still don’t truly get this one, but I think it means that Kira was supportive of Scott when he needed it without sarcasm or helpful criticism of how he could be a better alpha, as every other person he loved constantly gave him.  The idea that someone could just have faith in Scott without questioning his competence just doesn’t fit -- though blind faith in Derek’s leadership, Peter’s competence, or Theo’s inherent goodness is a major part of the big three romances.)

I’m citing this, not to tell people who to ship, but to support the argument that minority ships -- especially where both participants are minorities -- tend to be overlooked and neglected, most often for the two closest white people.  That behavior and tropes are recognized in ships in which both participants are white.  It’s simply another fandom thing.

BUT IT’S NOT RACISM.

[tbhwhocaresanymore]

Nancy Drew 2x5

It’s official everybody: love conquers all

Okay WOW I cannot believe this was the original Nancy Drew season finale and that I had to wait an additional eleven months to see this episode I am suing the coronavirus for emotional distress. Because let me tell you this was one of the best season finales I have seen in a WHILE. And once again the writers have swaddled me in a safety blank and assuaged all of my concerns. I was a little worried when they made Odette a wlw because then that meant a lesbian was hunting down the good guys and would have to be killed, but MORE THE FOOL WAS I. I should have learned by now not to doubt the Nancy Drew writers.

Every single plot thread was wrapped up and a whole host of new ones were set up and I cannot wait to dive into all of them.

First off I would like to say that everything about the scenes with the Aglaeca coming to kill them was perfection. The five-way phone call, the deathbed confessions, the soft French singing and ominous chain rattling. And then when she APPEARED on the hood of the car like Dead Lucy appeared to Nancy on top of her car to tell her to summon the Aglaeca aaaah parallels and Nick and George held each other. “oh where is she, where is she” SHE’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU! The fire leaping out at Bess, the meat hook cutting Ace, Nancy falling from the bluffs. And then the crew reconnects back at the Claw thinking all is well but OH NO WHAT’S THIS ANOTHER PORTENT.

Hey how is it the entire gang seems to have forgotten that they willingly volunteered for this whole Aglaeca mess. Like I get it, your lives are on the line, you’re scared, but Nancy was all “no I cannot let you guys summon the Aglaeca with me it’s far too dangerous absolutely not” and they were all “psh danger fuck danger we have the power of friendship” and went right on ahead. And now that they have to face actual consequences they’re all “Nancy I cannot believe you put a gun to our heads and forced us into this how dare you” like GUYS. But yeah that scene caused me pain, with them all yelling at each other. I do think it’s interesting that proverbial lines in the sand have been drawn. Generally speaking whenever there are massive disagreements I’ll be watching to see if it stays as George and Nick v Bess and Ace with Nancy as the sort of swing vote.

Also because I am a Drewson shipper until I die it was satisfying to see that Nick, despite being in love with George, still has unresolved feelings about what went down with him and Nancy. We love unresolved feelings, and once Nancy learns how to communicate and be more open they will find their way back to each other and be even more in love.

The writers continue their never ending tally of taking seemingly unimportant moments from past episodes and making them SO IMPORTANT. NANCY HAVING THE PORTENT IN RYAN’S CAR??? *SCREEEEAAAAAAMS* And then speaking of the car. Oh my god you guys. Ryan and Carson the dad duo was peak comedy. I was legit dying. On the topic of parental figures

Hannah Gruen: Nancy no!

Nancy Drew: Nancy yes!

BABE. SHE LITERALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO OPEN THE DEATH BOXES AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN WAIT LIKE SIX HOURS BEFORE BLATANTLY DISOBEYING.

I know some people who watched the episode are probably going to be like “are you kidding me they beat the angry sea spirit with the power of love? Ugh pathetic” but no actually you’re wrong and it was BEAUTIFUL. Not just the concept but the execution. The lights going out one by one, the Aglaeca popping up and screaming, throwing them across the room one at a time, the words having to come from the heart, Nick speaking French he can speak French to me all day long, the Aglaeca melting and Odette rising once more. BRUH.

And then of course the blood bucket curse came to fruition and George fucking died and I was losing my mind only for Nancy to fucking revive her because THAT won't have consequences. And George talking about her sisters was so sweet I thought it might give me a cavity, and her with them in the morning. Quick question though. We know Victoria is around because she gave them the inhuman sea spirit banishing ritual like five days ago, soooo where is she now? Like George is about to die and she hardly gives her mom a spare thought aside from making sure Jessie will be able to take care of their sisters. Nancy had a fucking beautiful moment of reconciliation with Carson, couldn’t George have at least exchanged some kind words with her own mother?

Moving ahead we have sooo many plot lines to talk about I can’t wait.

The Bobbsey twins are coming back. Don’t know how I feel about that yet.

We have Ace with the sibling in Witsec. Now I know like the entire fandom wants Ace to be a Hardy brother, but here’s the thing. Ace has apparently never met this person and his dad doesn’t have any of that tortured ‘I’m-missing-my-child’ vibe going on, so I’m thinking maybe it’s Ace’s half-sibling. Like he’s half a Hardy. Cause also why would just the one kid go into Witsec and not the whole family? Maybe his mom had a baby as a teenager and gave them up for adoption, maybe his dad had an affair and didn’t realize it ended up as a pregnancy. Who’s to say???

We have Nick and Ryan (and possibly Nancy) taking down the Hudson empire. Nick is going to commit to honoring Tiffany’s dying wish and with Ryan as his man on the inside, he can hopefully actually do it. Nancy will probably also have a role in this storyline, because as evidenced by Ryan taking the flash drive she’s going to be the driving force behind Ryan listening to his conscience. And then of course we will have Nancy’s whole my-DNA-is-evil struggle, and her wanting to prove she’s not a bad person. Separate from the Hudsons (potentially) Nancy will also be working for her father this season as he regrows his law practice, and it will be so nice to see them finally have a good relationship again.

We have The Possession of George 2: Electric Boogaloo. This possession, if that’s even what it is, is very clearly different from the last one with Tiffany. George is still in control, and she’s not switching back and forth between herself and Tiffany like last time, she just has some new personality traits or whatever. The next episode summary includes Nick being concerned about George’s behavior, so I’m guessing some of the changes will be pretty obvious. But it probably isn’t something that’ll be fixed right away it’ll take a while. And I also don’t think Odette possessed her on purpose? Like she had given up the Aglaeca and seemed ready to move on, and then we see her in the mirror. Maybe there’s something she has to do regarding her girlfriend, like she has to find the Englishwoman’s ghost? Because the public story is Odette got married on the ship and died, what if her lady love thinks Odette forsook her or something and Odette wants to make it right? Last but not least I have said it before I’m saying it again I want George to develop psychic powers like her mother. Come on writers she’s not even cousins with Bess at least give me this.

Bess is going to try and stop stealing and some other stuff I’m sure and maybe learn about Marvin family skeletons and hopefully start dating Amaya??? Pleeeease???

We still have no idea what Det. Tamura’s purpose here is and I for one continue to want McGinnis back.

And then of course we have like fifty million horrors that Nancy just unwittingly unleashed on the previously sleepy town of Horseshoe Bay, and I absolutely cannot wait to see where that goes.

Hmm yeah that seems just about everything, except for I feel like there’s something I’m missing, something I'm forgetting, something important that’s slipped my mind. Oh, that’s right.

WRITERS.

WHERE THE FUCK IS LUCY SABLE.

[everybodyscupoftea]

What about pike Jj, Cody and Tyler fighting over who gets to match reader on Halloween and she ends up playing them where they end up matching each other or something like that lol

okay, i had an idea for this today on my drive home from work! so let’s say we kinda combine requests and have some fun. jealous pike jj and group costume and costume contest!

ft. zach, cody, tyler, and brooke 

-

“so are you and zach planning on matching?” cody asked, laid back on the bed next to you.

you hummed, “maybe. i was actually thinking about a group costume.”

“with who?” tyler sat up, sounding curious.

“well, with you guys actually.”

“oooh,” cody started, intrigued, “whatcha got in mind?”

“well i was thinking that you guys kinda look like the guys in teen wolf, thought it would be fun if we did that. everyone loves a good werewolf look.”

“i get to be isaac,” cody raised his hand.

rolling your eyes, you squeezed his shoulder, “sorry bud, but you’re scott.”

you invested in fake teeth, contacts, and beacon hills lacross merch for the boys, fully dedicated to winning the competition. you took the excuse to buy a new outfit for lydia even though you had plenty in your closet already.

“i still think you should’ve been derek,” cody told you as he stood in front of the mirror trying to put the contacts in.

“well, i wanted a new outfit and to match zach.”

“technically, you made out with me too,” he wiggled his eyebrows at you, red contacts in.

you shuddered dramatically, “that was season one, please.”

tyler gently punched his shoulder, “bro, she’d never actually go for you, it was all for jackson.”

cody rolled his eyes, “yeah, whatever. it still happened.”

“i’m not kissing you for...multiple reasons.”

“baby, you could only dream of being so lucky,” he cooed, throwing an arm around your shoulder.

“fuck off,” you complained, straightening the shirt collar he messed up. 

“what’s up boys?” you heard zach call from the hallway before he walked into the room. his hair looked shaggier than usual and he did a little spin to show off his outfit.

“sorry guys,” you told cody and tyler, “he looks much better than you chumps.”

“zach is hot,” tyler nodded, “i can live with that.”

zach winked at tyler, “good, hate for us to have to break up.”

“never, babe,” tyler blew him a kiss.

zach laughed and bent down to press a kiss to your forehead, “looking great tonight. stiles was a lucky man.”

you grinned, “thank you, sir.”

“ready to go, team?” cody asked, pocketing his wallet.

“born ready,” you cheered, bumping your fist with tyler’s outstretched one as the four of you walked toward the door. 

“i’ve got the uber,” zach volunteered, “we’re just going downtown right?”

“yep, thanks man,” cody responded cheerfully.

“no prob, thanks for letting me crash the group costume,” zach responded, locking his phone.

“i think we should be telling you that,” tyler told him, wry smile on his face.

“ty, i’m not sure if anything will ever be better than hermione.”

tyler shrugged, “probably not, but this will do.”

the uber arrived not too long after the four of you made it outside to stand on the sidewalk.

“you know,” you told them as the four of you climbed in the car, “this is maybe my favorite costume so far.”

tyler cooed loudly and pinched your cheek as the driver pulled away from the curb. you slapped his hand away and the driver asked, “what are you guys?”

“teen wolf, bro,” cody, who was in the front seat, told him.

“my sister watched that i think.”

“great show,” zach told him from your right, “i’d recommend.”

“dude, are you zach davis?”

blinking a few times, zach nodded slowly, “yeah.”

“dude, you’re incredible! you gonna try and go mlb next year?”

he laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, “thanks man, um, i think so, yeah. but for right now, i’m focused on finishing up here.”

“yeah, definitely, i just. wow, my roommate is going to be so jealous.”

“hey, thanks for the support.”

you were trying really hard to stifle your laughter, but tyler was less successful. a few snorts escaped his mouth before he managed to hide his face in his shoulder. nudging him harshly, you tried to avoid making eye contact with the driver in the mirror.

luckily the drive downtown was short and you were able to hold it until he’d pulled away from the curve. as soon as he was gone, you and tyler lost it, bent over with belly laughs while zach stood above the two of you, unamused look on his face.

“fucking hell,” you muttered, wiping your eyes, “zach, i didn’t know you had a fan club.”

“you and me both,” he slung an arm over your shoulder as the four of you started walking toward the bar. the line was short and it didn’t take long to get in. 

holding on to zach’s hand, you let him pull you to the bar, cody and tyler close on your heels. 

“you’re buying right?” you asked tyler.

he sighed, “yeah, i lost fair and square.”

“elite, i’ll start with a vodka cranberry,” you told the bartender, “triple shot please.”

tyler sighed and motioned for the rest of the group to order, “on me.”

“why?” zach whispered in your ear after ordering rum and coke.

“he lost our weekly game night, which means he buys all alcohol on our next outing.”

“i didn’t participate,” zach’s eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

“yeah, but you’re my plus one. and don’t worry about him going broke, he had a ton of customers for his laptop repair side business last month, he’s good for it.”

zach looked impressed, “okay i do feel a little better now.”

“going to sign our names on the contest sheet,” cody yelled over the music, beer in hand.

“good, thanks!” you yelled back, taking your drink off the bar where he’d slid it.

“dance?” you asked zach when he grabbed his drink. he took your arm with a smile and you held the other one out for tyler, “you too?”

tyler grinned, “fuck yeah!”

the three of you moved toward the dance floor, grabbing cody along the way and started jumping around with everyone else. the costumes you could see were pretty good, but you thought your friends and you had a real shot at winning.

“when’s the judging?” you yelled at cody.

“11,” he told you before throwing an arm over your shoulder, “saw maybank and brooke!”

“in costume?”

“yeah, guess what as?”

“what?”

just as the song slowed down and started to change, he loudly answered, “scarecrow and dorothy from the wizard of oz.”

everyone in the vicinity turned to look at him. cody blushed, stilling, and waved at them all, “hey, a, b conversation.”

“who’s dressed like that?” tyler asked him, looking around.

“maybank and brooke.”

“ew,” you muttered, “whose idea was that?”

“i highly doubt it was jj’s,” zach laughed and the rest of you nodded because, yeah, that had brooke written all over it.

-

by the time judging rolled around, you were sufficiently tipsy and heavily leaning on zach. jj had been avoiding your eye all night whenever you tried to catch it and you were over it, content to just focus on your friends and boyfriend.

“you know,” you slurred at them, “whatever happens here, it’s been an honor and a pleasure, boys.”

zach snorted, arm wrapping around your waist, “aye aye, ma’am.”

tyler saluted sloppily, “yeah, boys, way to go.”

cody was leaning on him, grinning, “we’re gonna win. i bribed the judges.”

“you didn’t,” you shoved him, “don’t even joke.”

“i didn’t. or did i? imagine if we win, you’ll never actually know.”

“this man doesn’t have a dollar to his name,” tyler reassured, trying to pat your shoulder and missing.

“hey!” cody protested, “i have at least five dollars.”

you laughed just as they announced third place, second place, and then, “and for first, we’ve got teen wolf.”

“fuck yeah!” tyler yelled, throwing his hands up.

cody howled, very in character, and you couldn’t stop the grin from creeping on your face at their antics. zach laughed as they chest bumped and dragged you and him to the makeshift stage where they were passing out prizes.

tyler leaned on the table as they handed out the free drink vouchers and t-shirts. as the four of you walked away, he leaned in, “bro.”

you winced at the smell of vodka on his breath, “what?”

“guess how many votes we got?”

“how many?”

“so many.”

your eyebrows shot up, “actually?”

“mhmm,” he grinned cheekily, “guess how many maybank got?”

“less?”

“one.”

“what?!”

he cackled, “a whole one.”

“it’s what he deserves,” cody nodded seriously.

“what’s going on?” zach asked, having missed most of the conversation while he was trying to call another uber.

“maybank getting his just desserts.”

“desserts,” cody interrupted, “should we go trick or treating?”

“literally where?” you asked, “we live in a city.”

“i’m sure we could find somewhere.”

zach shook his head, “no, dude, we’ll just go back to mine, i have oreos.”

“oh fuck,” cody groaned, “i could kiss you right now, bro.”

zach blew him an air kiss playfully and cody caught it, bringing it to his heart. you laughed at their antics, an arm around each of their waists, “love you guys.”

“love you too,” they all chorused back. your boys.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

When a Grady Actor Confirmed TD and Other Reasons the Spoilers Don’t Spoil TD

Okay Everyone, I’m gonna cover a few of things today that I hope will help everyone to continue feeling at least somewhat better about the spoilers. 

***More spoilers below (same ones as yesterday, actually) but don’t read if you don’t want to know. You’ve been warned.***

1) Could the spoilers be fake?

I got plenty of messages and comments yesterday, too. Some of them claiming these spoilers aren’t even true and the person who spoiled them is a troll and unreliable. 

Now, before everyone starts messaging me and commenting about how you “know” these are true and the screeners are out, please note that I’m not making a claim either way. The account that spoiled this isn’t one who normally gets and reviews screeners, which means they could be false. That doesn’t mean that account didn’t get these from a reputable source, which means they could be true.

As I said yesterday, overall, I think they’re probably true. I think they were probably intentionally leaked to hype up the fandom and gauge our reactions. And I would rather you all make your peace with them being real rather than holding out hope that they’re totally false. But I think it’s worth reiterating that they haven’t been 100% confirmed, yet.

2) There’s a whole other person involved in this Leah arc that we don’t know about yet.

You know how yesterday I went on and on about how we don’t have anything near all the details of this arc? Well, someone pointed this out to me. Don’t feel bad if you totally missed it, because I did, too, and I haven’t seen anyone talking about it.

Look at the picture of Leah below carefully. Look at what’s behind her. If you look closely, there’s someone kneeling on the ground. They’ve got one knee resting on the floor, and the other one pointed toward the ceiling with their foot flat. You can see one shoulder to the left of Leah’s hip.

Spoilers make no mention of this person. We have no idea who they are or how they fit into the story.

This looks to me like it’s when she and Daryl first meet (hence, she doesn’t trust him and is holding him at gunpoint) and she seems to be protecting this person from him. Whoever it is, it probably has to do with why she’s out there to begin with, and will probably factor in how/why she disappears.

And I have no doubt that this shot is purposeful, guys. If they wanted us to know about this person directly, they would have given us a more obvious shot of them. And yet, they have put hints of the person in the shots they DID release. Isn’t that just like them?

But my point is, this is proof that there is a lot about this episode the spoilers are leaving out. So please keep that in mind.

3) When a Grady actor directly addressed TD.

So, for the past few days, as you can imagine I’ve been talking with and consoling people about these spoilers. I just keep going back to the stuff we KNOW. Like that there are missing scenes Emily was in from S5. Those have nothing to do with Leah and suggest Beth’s return. And if she’s returning, I promise you, Bethyl will be a thing.

The other thing I mentioned to people is when Jarod Thompson (guy that played one of the Grady cops) addressed TD directly. 

I quickly realized I needed to repost this because no one seemed to have any idea what I was talking about. Then it took me an hour to find it because I didn’t give it its own post when I first posted it. It was buried at the bottom of this Rick’s Fate post from S9 and not properly indexed. But I did finally locate it.

So, here’s the rundown. Right after the episode where Jadis took Rick away in the helicopter, Jarod Thompson tweeted this:

I’m pretty sure you can’t find this tweet anymore. It was taken down. But let me make a couple of points here. 

First, the obvious. TD has nothing to do with Leah. She wasn’t even on anyone’s radar back then. So what he’s telling us here has nothing to do with Leah. He’s basically telling us that Beth will return. 

Translation: Leah doesn’t matter. Beth is coming back. 

This is just one (of many) things that keeps me strong in TD. Because the actor actually confirmed this for us. And then it was quickly taken down, which is always suspicious to me. Why? Well, I’m sure some people will be quick to counter with the argument that maybe he was just trolling or making fun of us. But I don’t see that as a terribly logical argument. 

He’s never done it before or since. 

We have other evidence (HERE) of him working with Emily post-season 5, and possibly in the hospital setting. 

The timing is suspicious. This happened after Rick left. And I personally think that what he referred to here was the CRM. 9x05 was the first time they really came front and center, an active part of the story. So I think he was hinting that Beth is inside that organization as well and that now that the audience knows who they are, the stage is set and things are in motion for her return.

For the record, it was not long after this that we started getting the massing amount of Beth/Emily promotion on social media. 

Most importantly, his tweet was removed, probably by him at someone else’s request. Think about this really logically, guys. They don’t remove tweets about Caryl happening. They don’t remove teases about Daryl and Connie. They only remove suspicious posts that might tell us something about Beth’s return. There’s a reason for that. 

Furthermore, consider this. He’s kind of a small-time actor on the show. Of course I don’t mean that in a negative way. He’s fabulous. But I mean he’s not a main character on the show like Andy or Norman or Lauren. And HE knows all about TD, what we want, obviously what is going to happen, and which events in the show constitute room for us “to breathe.” 

So what does that tell you about other actors on the show, the writers, and any higher-ups connected to the show?

Yeah. Exactly.

Which leads me to my next order of business:

4) Kirkman’s Post/Poll

I think most people saw this last night, but if you didn’t , here it is. 

You can still vote HERE. I took the screenshot last night. I just checked again and the percentage has gone down a couple of points (still at 47%) with more than 9500 votes at this time. So the ‘bring Beth back’ option is still the runaway winner.

Here’s the thing. The timing on this is super-suspicious to me. When was the last time Kirkman tweeted something about Beth? I have no idea, and don’t care to go digging through his Twitter account to find out, but I promise you he hasn’t done it in a long time. He’s said things about her and Bethyl during interviews and such, of course, but he doesn’t just randomly tweet about her. Like...ever.

So you’re telling me that on day 2 after these spoilers leak, when the fandoms are loosing their collective minds, Kirkman just so happens to post this? No way. I don’t buy it.

Look, I know most of us don’t like Kirkman. And I’m not defending him. I don’t like him either. But after watching his interaction with tptb all these years, I have come to believe that they do use him. 

Gimple (and now Kang, I’m sure) are very careful about what they say. Guys, I’ve watched and analyzed this VERY closely over the years, which is why I always say that they never directly lie to us. Misdirection? Yes. Hyperbole? Of course. But they never look into the camera and tell us something blatantly untrue. 

I believe that’s because they don’t want the fans to be able to point at anything they say and accuse them of falsehood. That’s why they can’t ever say much, because it’s either give spoilers (which they won’t) or lie (which they also won’t). That’s why their answers are always so vague and general and very, very irritating. 

But Kirkman isn’t one of the showrunners. He’s connected to it, of course, and I think he knows a lot about what’s coming down the pipeline, but if he says something that’s untrue, tptb can simply shrug and say, “he’ doesn’t make executive story decisions.” Because of that, I believe they use him to sew discord and misdirection. 

And again, I’m not saying this isn’t troll-ish. I’m not saying I like this tactic or that it’s a good thing. I’m simply saying this is what they do. 

So when Kirkman says anything TD-related, I pay attention. Not because I think we should take it at face value, but because the timing, context, how he frames it, and what’s going on in the fandom at the time can tell us a lot about it and give us some clues. 

So, in this case, I think tptb are watching the fandom’s reactions to the spoilers and trying to do a little damage control. But here’s what really gets me: he only mentioned Beth, and specifically in the context of bringing her back. I mean, ALL the shipping fandoms are freaking out right now. All of them are hating these spoilers and losing their shit right now. But he ONLY mentions Beth.

I truly believe that this is tptb, through Kirkman, addressing TD specifically, and just kind of throwing us a bone. They’re not addressing the others because there isn’t any hope for those other ships. 

I know there will be people who disagree with him and think he’s just making fun of us. I understand why people think that. But guys, if that were the case, we’d see at least SOME comments about other characters or ships. There aren’t any. And hey, look through the comments on his tweet. There’s a ton of Beth support (which is why she won the poll) and a few haters, but there are also lots of people who are kind of mystified, saying things like, “How about bring back Glenn? Or Rick? Or Carl?”

See what I mean? 

5) The time Gimple Confirmed Something that was NOT Going to Happen on the Show

Okay, gonna end by reminding you of just one more thing. Just a couple of months ago, before the finale of The World Beyond, S1, one of the actors teased on TTD that we might see Rick in the finale. 

Now, that was totally false. The finale came and went with no Rick (obviously). The actor was just trolling and trying to get people riled up, which he succeeded at. A few days later, Gimple was giving an interview to a clickbait site and they asked him about it. Gimple started to give his run-of-the-mill, vague answer but stopped mid-sentence and said this:

ComicBook.com asked Gimple if World Beyond was working up to a Rick Grimes reveal. 

“You know what? I’m very happy to say… I’m not happy to say the answer,” he said, clearly aware he was about to disappoint people. “I’m happy to be definitive with people. It is not.”

That’s one, I don’t know if people are being cagey about that. But I feel that one’s important not to be cagey about…I think people could watch this show and learn a lot about the mythology that Rick Grimes is caught up in. And they might even see places where Rick Grimes has been. But yeah, he’s not swinging around the corner. And I don’t even know if I’m making people upset saying that, but I just don’t like people watching it, sort of expecting Rick.”

Full article HERE.

Guys, they’ve never done that with Beth and TD. EVER!!!

I’m just saying.

And I can already hear counter arguments about how they’ve never shut down other ships like C@ryl or Donnie either. You’re right, but those characters are still front and center on the show. If Beth is dead and not coming back, why wouldn’t they put her to rest for us the way he did with this Rick rumor? (And I’m also going to argue that they’ve given us very clear indications in the show about a few of these ships, and the shippers just don’t want to accept them. But that’s not entirely relevant here.)

Thoughts?

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 61 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 359 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here. 

---

RATE THE EPISODE 347 Responses

While this episode wasn’t as big of a hit as episode 60, overall most viewers still enjoyed the content and are looking forward to more next week!

amazing amazing! I'm so delighted with this season so far!

Im so beyond pumped i love everything

Dissapointing but acceptable.

I’m like angry I loved it so much.

I just wish we didn't have to wait a week

It was amazing. We all gotta apologize to MAPPA for ever doubting them.

It's a huge stepdown from episode 1. At times the animation was straight up painful to watch. My expectations were low and yet I'm still disappointed :/

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE SCENE/MOMENT? 349 Responses

Reiner-centric scenes were the highest on people’s radar, with 24.9% of respondents enjoying his reunion with the warrior cadets, and not far behind, 22.9% enjoyed Reiner bringing up the 104th at the dinner table. In third, with only 13.5%, was Pieck and Porco’s formal introduction to the audience. 

Hearing Zeke greet his grandparents with such happiness warmed my heart. I do believe that he loves them. 

They just had to add one last image of Ymir's broken face before she died, huh? :(

WE FORGOT TO ASK LAST WEEK D: WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SCENES/MOMENTS FROM EPISODE 60 WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 348 Responses

Last week we forgot to include what your favorite scenes were. The scene from episode 60 that got the most favor was Reiner’s, “I’m sick and tired… of walls” with 33.6% of the vote. 16.7% most enjoyed Zeke’s titan transforming scream. 14.9% were hyped about Reiner and Porco wrecking Fort Slava.

MAPPA WENT ALL OUT WITH THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THIS EPISODE. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE CINEMATIC PANS AND ROTOSCOPE ANIMATION? 349 Responses

Overall, a total of 74.5% respondents have positive feelings about MAPPA’s use of rotoscope animation and camera panning. Some felt like it was akin to watching a movie, while others are just happy to have the dynamic movement. A smaller amount of respondents didn’t have feelings one way or another, and a minority (about 10.3%) really are not a fan of this type of animation style for the series.

It felt odd sometimes as they used it for long scenes (like Udo talking or Gabi telling the story to her family) but overall it was pretty great and I prefer it to WIT's stale animation during season 3

I liked the more dynamic movement during dialogue, but my roommate found it super awkward and off-model. So a fifty-fifty split in a sample size of two lol

It could have been animated better, but I like the extra dimension it gives to scenes

Enjoyed it a lot! However, there were a few scenes that felt a bit off, like some frames were missing. Specifically, when Udo was doing all those gestures while talking with the rest of the Warrior Candidates.

It felt dynamic to the point of looking unnatural - some gestures and expressions just moved wrong

i'm split, in some scenes it was great (like reiner waking up), but in the dialogue scenes the constant movement seemed kinda unnatural and distracting

It was amazing but at the same time I'd didn't look fluid enough, especially at Udo's mouvements which made the character look kind of...video game-ish in constant moving. 

I thought it looked great the rotoscoping,the movements all looked amazing

The animation during Urdu’s scene is so cool!  I was caught of guard at first though lol. It’s so realistic!

NOW THAT WE’VE GOTTEN TO HEAR A LITTLE MORE OF THE NEW OST TRACKS, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SOUNDTRACK SO FAR THIS SEASON? 344 Responses

So far, reception to the newer music is overall positive. 31.1% are really enjoying the music and think the songs are being used immaculately, and 40.4% really feel that the song choice compliments the scenes they’ve been used in. 13.1% think the songs are good, but miss having that sole Sawano feel to them. 10.8% just feel the music is “ok” and 2.6% aren’t a fan of the new OST tracks so far. 

I mean it sounds good, but we haven't gotten to important moments that require a memorable track, so we'll see!

First episode slapped because it really complemented the scene but it's more... generic. I didn't like how it was used in this episode, there wasn't enough of it and again, generic. I miss Sawano's unreal scores.

the animation absolutely blew me away, and i love the intense music that played during Reiners monologue 

The music is fine.

I've heard both new and old songs from the previous seasons. Still too soon to make an opinion as we need to hear more.

I am deaf, I can't hear no damn soundtracks 

That music guys when they came back to Liberio and reuniting with they parents, made me tear up but also because the scouts never had the chance to go back home with victory in the arms of their family, I wish I could have seen EMA like this.. It kinda felt unfair X) but I was happy for them nevertheless.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CLOSEUP OF ZEKE’S MOUTH? 346 Responses

Our first of probably too many crack questions in this poll, 32.7% thought the closeup of Zeke lighting his cigarette was cool looking. 21.4% are concerned about Zeke’s lung health. 19.1% are probably annoyed with us and simply don’t care (lol). 13.3% wouldn’t mind smooching Zeke, and 11% were just plain grossed out.

Does smoke even affect a titan shifter? Surely his lungs just heal themselves

ASMR for the eyes, right there. Aww yiss

It was awesome! Zeke is shown as relaxed person with a big drop of mystery. 

Smoking Bad but he is gonna die in a year anyway

Suuuuuuucc

It might've just been an artistic choice to include it in there, but i gotta say I'm oddly fascinated and idk why

I don’t remember it lol

I didn't even notice.

Zeke looks hotter than he has ever looked

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ABOUT ELDIAN ASSES? 341 Responses

Most of the responses seemed to feel rather positively about Eldian asses, with almost 40% seeking out Zeke’s ass wiping technique. About 17% simply stated their appreciation for them, while almost 13% are just thirsty. In contrast, a little over 17% seemed confused to the question’s inclusion and about 10% were confused outright. 

MAPPA WHERE IS PIECK'S ASS

More into Eldian thighs, really

I bet Levi’s is nice

If only Eren had one

zeke has the energy of a straight man who doesn't wash his ass

Only Shadis' ass

GIVE IT TO ME 😏😏

They are like normal, human asses. Do not turn them into some magical, special snowflakes, just because they belong to Eldians. 

Seek help

Enough

DO YOU WANT REINER TO GIVE YOU A HEAD PAT? 343 Responses

A definitive majority, almost 59 percent, openly expressed enthusiasm for the prospect of a head pat from Reiner. However, a near 30% fraction of responders didn’t seem too happy about this recent chain of less than serious questions. We’re sorry about that. 😅. The rest either didn’t seem interested in said prospect or noted they wouldn’t care either way.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE DECISION FROM MAPPA TO CONDENSE REINER’S FLASHBACK INTO (PRESUMABLY) A SINGLE EPISODE? 346 Responses

It would appear that the majority of those who took our poll express cautious optimism at the prospect of seeing all (or the vast majority) of Reiner’s backstory being adapted into a single episode, with a near 47% supporting the move, thinking it could make the narrative “more coherent”. Almost 20% argue it would work better pacing wise. On the flipside, just over 17% state that they would rather have a more accurate adaptation to the manga. 11.6% simply say they have no opinion. There were also more than a few write-ins.

I do wish everything could be animated to full detail, but pacing and structure will benefit here

They've done a good job so far, so I'll reserve judgement until I actually watch it.

It will be difficult as they're chapters with loads of dialogue, but they can pull it off if unnecessary stuff gets cut out or changed in some type of way (like watching Marcel's death for the sixth time, them breaking through the wall or even Jean and Eren fighting) 

If they get the pacing right, then the rearrangement will be for the better.

Reiner flashbacks + Reiner suicide attempt + Falco meeting "Kruger" (more than 2,5 chapters) in a single episode? HELL NO! WTF MAPPA!  

Worried and cautiously optimistic.

At least it looks like they're going to stick to just one episode for the RBA flashback. It was mostly just filler anyway, so there was never any need to stretch it out and waste precious time getting back to the Paradis side of the story

I doubt that that's exactly how it is, but if so, then I don't think that that's a wise idea

It’s gonna be rushed as hell

Reiner flashback is very long and there is tons of dialogue, so I dont know how its going fit in only one episode, but if they can make it work then its fine for me

WHICH CHARACTER DESIGN DID YOU LIKE BEST IN COMPARISON TO THE MANGA? 346 Responses

This question gave us a somewhat evenly split pie chart, but Porco nonetheless managed to gain the bigger piece with just over 55%. Surely due to that bomber jacket and haircut. Nearly 45% picked Pieck (gottem) instead. Must have been the somewhat inconsistent nose. 

WHO’S SEIYUU DID YOU LIKE BEST? 335 Responses

On the flip side, 68.4% seemed to prefer Pieck’s soft voice. Porco with his (how the hell does Porco sound like… how can you describe his voice) managed to win the hearts of 31.6% of responses.

Pieck voice wtf? I imagined Pieck with a more Hanji-ish voice, not this sweet and high pitched.

DID MAPPA DO PIECK’S NOSE JUSTICE? 345 Responses

The debacle over Pieck’s POWERFUL nose gave us quite a colorful pie chart. Almost 39% of responses noted that Mappa was on point with Pieck’s nose for most of the episode. Afterwards, 26.7% stated that they thought that Mappa got it right only in some points of the episode. On the flip side, another 26.7% thought that Mappa was generally quite on point throughout the entire episode. A small minority (7.8%) thought that Mappa simply did a poor job. 

The animation is good, and while I don't want to complain, I have a small problem with the drawings themselves. I feel like they lack precision (like Pieck's nose, idk if that's clear).

I'm grateful for Pieck's nose. I always respected Isayama for drawing imperfect characters, because this way he has made them to look more realistic. Even though Pieck has so-called imperfect nose, she is still absolutely gorgeous. Her imperfections are part of what makes her beautiful and unique.

PORCO’S HAIR - WERE YOU TEAM RED HAIR OR BLOND HAIR? AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH HIS ANIME COLOR SCHEME? 345 Responses

A far less controversial debacle concerned Porco’s hair scheme. The folks supporting a Blond color scheme were universally content with his hair color (all 57.4% of team Blond). On the flip side, an almost universal approval was also present from team Redhead (13.6% of those supported his blond hair color). 27.5% of the responses seemed to care not about this issue at all, however.

NOW THAT WE KNOW PORCO BETTER IN THE MANGA, DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE *ACTUALLY* DONE A BETTER JOB THAN REINER IF HE HAD INHERITED THE ARMOR AND WENT TO PARADIS? 348 Responses

Porco inheriting the Armored Titan is a rather interesting what-if scenario. Perhaps of the most interesting as a whole, so it’s no surprise to see a rather divided opinion of those who took our poll. A little over 36% believe that Porco doing a better job than Reiner on Paradis is a definite possibility. Just over 24% believe it’s not likely Porco would have done better than Reiner. On the flip side, 21.6% think that is is likely Porco *would* have a more successful conduct on the island. 9.2% believe that Porco’s success is a given and in opposition to that, 8.9% think that Porco’s success would have been basically impossible.

HOW ABOUT IF PIECK HAD GONE TO PARADIS WITH THE WARRIORS? 346 Responses

Much less division here, however. 70.5% of responders believe that Pieck’s possible trip to Paradis (in the initial attack) would have not have resulted in a given “mission success” for the Warriors, although she would have been a rather useful ally. Nearly a quarter, on the other hand, think that Pieck’s inclusion would have ended the story right then and there. The rather small minority of the other responders think that Pieck would not have been useful had she participated in the mission.

GABI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER. HAS MAPPA BRINGING HER TO LIFE CHANGED YOUR FEELINGS TOWARD HER? 342 Responses

64.6% of respondents overall have positive feelings toward Gabi as of right now, with 39.5% having already been enjoying her character throughout the manga. 25.1% now view her more positively with her being brought to life. 20.2% don’t really care about Gabi either way, and 11.7% feel very negatively toward Gabi, without the anime swaying their opinions. 

Gabi still sucks

Sakura ayane as gabi is probably the best thing to happen to me all year

WITH SUCH A DIALOGUE-HEAVY ARC, CUTS WERE INEVITABLE. WHICH CUTS WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED IN, AND WHICH CUTS CAN YOU LIVE WITH?

Overwhelmingly, the scenes that were most missed by manga readers were “Pieck walking on all fours/scaring Porco”, “Zeke mentioning the Ackerman Clan”, “Reiner’s smirk when his family talks about ‘Island Devils’”, and “The imagery of Eren and Armin wrecking ships”. Smaller character details, such as Reiner mentioning how he acted like Marcel on Paradis, Gabi wishing to understand Reiner’s feelings, Falco pointing out how Reiner almost had the Armor taken from him, were also very missed by manga readers, although just less so. 

General Calvi talking about Zeke’s loyalty, Gabi getting praise from her parents when they reunite, and Magath trashing the Marleyan navy, were moments that many respondents didn’t feel strongly about one way or another, or felt that these were details that weren’t really needed anyway. 

Cutting the scene where Falcon talks about why Reiner kept the AT was really bad.  Also the table scene could have been better. Some imagery when Reiner was describing the 104th and his smirk.

The cuts the anime has done made the spectators less informed about some story background stuff. This is in order to direct attention to the marley's eldians planning how to overcome the world's disparagement towards the power of the titans. 

I'm sad they cut the gate guards. They humanize the marleyans a bit. Hope they add their scenes next episode and do them justice.

I hope we will get the Gabi/Reiner talk about understanding each other through PATHS when she eats him next episode

Gimme crawling best giiiirl

MAPPA cut Pieck's ass so this episode wouldn't be so ass centered with Zeke's ass wiping technique. This is my theory lol

Great episode but U was so looking forward to the Reiner scene talking about Paradis “devils”. In the mange it was a powerful scene really adding to the duality of Reiner and the pain he has, and the animation did not do it justice. Plus some parts of his speech were probably hard to understand for a non mange reader without the flashback. (Like which one is referring to Jean for example).  I really wish it had been better delivered

IS THERE ANY CHANCE WE’LL SEE SOME OF THESE CUTS ANIMATED IN A LATER EPISODE? 342 Responses

them into different scenes. Overall, the majority answered a big, fat, “maybe.” 15.8% are confident that what’s done has been done, and 12.6% are more optimistic that MAPPA will find a way.

Overall I was a bit disappointed. I feel like the amount of material cut from every conversation included really added up overall and gave it a very rushed feel to me. I really hope they add it all in later.

ON THE FLIP-SIDE, WHICH ADDITIONS/CHANGES DID YOU LIKE/DISLIKE?

The changes and additions that MAPPA made were overall viewed very favorably, with the scene of Porco and Pieck interacting with the warrior cadets being the most liked addition. This is followed closely by the overall character movement during dialogue scenes, the small detail about Pieck’s father being unwell, and Gabi shouting “Watashi!” on the train.

I loved the additional details made it very emotional

IT WAS A GREAT TIME TO BE GALLIPIECK TRASH

Sneakier Eren's a nice addition too

Porco my boiii I'm so happy he's here 💖💖💖💖 if mappa is adding some extra scenes then gimme more of gallirei 👀

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 338 Responses

Unsurprisingly, 42% of respondents are hyped about Kenny’s brief return and Annie’s unlikely encounter with him in the Underground. 22.2% are eager to get that sweet Reiner angst as he is rejected by his Marleyan father. 17.8% are looking forward to Reiner’s training days.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

great! it was inevitable they would cut stuff but it hasn't changed any major plot point or thing i would want to see desperately 

It was just really great to see the scenes animated, it adds another level of depth and understanding to the story I believe. 

Loved anime-onlies missing Eren completely. Some even thought it was him but then noticed the leg and thought against it

I think it was very well done. Just need a little getting used to with MAPPA on the reins now. I think MAPPA added some scenes to show how those Eldians over there are still just human after all and they have their own problems to deal with. 8/10 episode.

I feel like they took a lot of emotion way from reiner. made him seemed stoic and determined to go to the island even though in the make he looked scared about having to return. 

I thought the rotoscoping was really well done! I’m happy with the pacing, the fact that the episode felt like it went by fast is good considering it was dialogue based.

Incredible. The direction, the cinematic quality, we are feasting. MAPPA is elevating the story beyond anything I could have imagined! I'm beyond hyped for the rest!! But where is asshole Marley guards/Hobo!Eren's appearance as a favorite moment?!

Incredible, it adapts the source material very well while adding some touches that make it unique in it's own way. As a manga reader, I'm really glad that they're doing this because it feels like a completly different experience from reading it and makes me excited on what changes or directing choices they're going to make during the course of the season, great job so far MAPPA!

Such an amazing episode. Made 20mins feel like 5. MAPPA is doing fantastic. The characters have never felt more alive and the animation style is something I never knew I wanted until now. 

I can't believe they didn't cast Mads Mikkelsen to voice Mads Mikkelsen

The episode was good but the dinner scene didn't do justice to the manga. It didn't have the same feeling to it. I saw a lot of anime onlys thinking Reiner was just trying to talk shit about the 104th. I feel like the flashbacks during that part in the manga gave it a nostalgic feeling that helped convey what he truly felt about his time on the island. His facial expressions were not quite there either. Specially sad because it was the moment I was expecting the most this episode and because it's a big part of Reiner's character, maybe next episode can kind of fix this.

I haven't seen the anime only poll results, but given personal conversations with them I imagine quite a few could care less about the Warriors and are looking forward to the 104th showing up to stir shit up. Boy are those folks in for a treat :)

I knew I'd feel more attached to all of them once they got animated. I didn't expect getting real thirsty for Lainah.

I was so happy with how much detail MAPPA put into the background scenery. Also, I think that an underrated moment during this episode was the Marlian douchebag triggering the Eldian soldier’s PTSD. You could really feel their terror, and THEY KEPT THE HOBO EREN PART IM SO HAPPY!

Its consistently very pretty and well animated which is great of course, but I worry the team won’t be able to maintain this quality for some of the meatier scenes in the later episodes. The fast pace of the episode (compared to the manga) as well as the many cuts make it a bit harder for scenes to stick, I wish there was a bit more breathing room at times. This also makes the fancy animation and frequent rotoscoping cuts feel less impactful for me—with every scene being cut down to its core ingredients, and every scene having at least one cut with more motion and energy than we’re used to, I can’t help but feel it all kind of mashes together without sticking out as much, leaving less of an impact. (I feel really really weird actually complaining about good camerawork/animation, what the hell lol) Also hobo <3

Plenty of questions about ass but no questions about the full ED? Or how we thought the episode did at hiding Eren in plain sight?

rip Reiner's chocolate abs :'(

The episode wasn't as interesting as the first one. I was yawning from time to time. Yet, I think that Mappa did a great job, because it's hard to animate full of  dialogues chapters. I was disappointed of the fact that flashbacks from Paradis have been cut. I hoped to see Sasha, Connie, Ymir and Marco while Reiner was speaking about them. Without the flashbacks we just got the dry speech and this way hard to say what Reiner is really thinking about people he met on Paradis. We - as manga readers - already are aware of his feelings, but anime onlies may not know and see Reiner as cold hearted person. I'm not complaining over animations or the OST tracks because no studio is perfect and some small mistakes here and there won't destroy my fun. I just sit and enjoy the episode. 

Very good, with the exception of the dinner scene, in which the director missed the mark completely with the tone.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 328 Responses

Thank you again for participating! We’ll see you again next week!

[elsanna-shenanigans]

December Contest Submission #5: Thirty-Six

words: ca. 1100 setting: modern!AU lemon: no cw: none

Note: This story will not be included in the voting by choice of the author.

As Elsa looks over the white expanse of snow covering the dreary streets of her hometown, she’s transported to the past – to a time where she would once wake up and, upon witnessing such magic, would race to Anna’s room and wake her up (because “the fresh powder wouldn’t last forever, Anna,” and “the sky’s away and I’m awake, so let’s play!”) so that they could roll around in unconstrained glee, building up their relationship as surely as they would build up snowman after snowman after snowman.

And then, inevitably, just as snowmen thaw in the spring, so too did their relationship, and Elsa found herself pulling away; drifting, as it were, like the seasons, so soft and smooth that one doesn’t always quite notice that it’s moved on until it’s time to put the jumpers away and open the windows.

A knock on the door pulls her from her thoughts, and she turns to come face-to-face with that same sister, effortlessly invading her space just like she’s so easily invaded Elsa’s mind and thoughts for the better part of a decade.

“Hey, Sis,” she says, sauntering, and Elsa bristles because intolerance and frustration is all she really has now. “Wow, it’s been a while.”

By choice, by design, though Elsa does wonder if it ever really were an option – being a while, that is.

Anna doesn’t approach, instead just tilting her head to indicate through the window as she says, in a voice so weary Elsa knows that she’s spent all evening driving here and hasn’t slept a wink, “You look… really good. New gym? Diet? Boyfriend?

She should sleep, Elsa finds herself thinking, before casting that thought to the side like an old, well-worn shirt: comfortable, and yet entirely inappropriate.

“You should sleep,” come the words anyway, unbidden and unwelcome, and Anna’s gaze softens in a way that sends flares ricochetting through Elsa’s chest, burning flesh and searing bone until there’s nothing left of her.

How contrived.

“I wanted to see you,” Anna says, voice easy – there can be no allusions as to what she actually means. “Catch up.”

And Elsa knows she can’t hide much longer because she knows she can’t run, not forever. Not when the direction she’s going is so opposite to where she wants to be. So, she simply sighs and turns away, staring out the window once more and chewing on the words before she finally releases them to the wild.

“Hans is arriving tomorrow,” she says, like a guard, like a shield. “He missed you at the wedding. Wanted to see you.” Anna simply nods, an expression on her face so close to pity that Elsa’s heart squeezes and her bottom lip trembles, if only for a moment.

I wanted to see you, she thinks, but she can’t possibly voice that, not here – not in this place. So she doesn’t, clamping her mouth shut until Anna leaves, neither satisfied with the conversation (though, in matters pertaining to Anna, Elsa is very rarely satisfied, and only reaches that target in one specific, horrid manner).

She needs a drink.

—-

The next she sees of Anna, of her sister, is in front of the fireplace, stoking the failing embers.

“We have a heater,” she says over her shoulder. Elsa’s half a bottle in (over the course of an entire afternoon, which is not that bad) and she realises, faintly, that the sun is setting and it’s growing dark; she should turn on the lights but she doesn’t because the ‘comment over her shoulder’ becomes a ‘look over her shoulder’, and Elsa finds herself sinking to the sofa anyway.  “All electrical.”

Elsa nods. Her body trembles; every nerve tingles, and she’s completely and utterly aware of every part of herself.

The last time they were sat in this room, there was nothing needed saying. The last time they were sat in this living room, they weren’t really sat at all, but rather standing, avoiding eye contact as the lawyer – the suit – read the will that would seal their fate.

The home, as it were, became abandoned. Neither had any use for it, nor for the memories it contained.

It seems so contrary now; the only thing Elsa seems to have are memories, many of which she’d prefer to forget if only because they’re so seared in her mind, her thoughts, her body that she doubts she every possibly could.

Anna notices her shake, it seems, and moves away from the failing flame to sit down next to her sister. A hand rests on Elsa’s knee, and it’s all she can do not to inhale, sharp, and give the game away; all she can do not to continue shaking, quivering, yearning to lean close and take, greedily, the warmth and tenderness that Anna always exuded – always offered.

“Hey,” Anna says, voice a murmur. “Are you okay? It isn’t that cold.”

Of course it isn’t. Elsa scoffs through her nose and tries not to make it obvious when she moves away, even though it clearly is and Anna doesn’t even both hiding the fact she’s noticed. “I’m fine,” she responds. Her eyes are averted because she can’t bear to look at her sister; can’t bear to become aware of the closeness, of the fact that she can smell her – sandalwood and vanilla – and and she so desperate to be closer that her body tenses, spasms, and her heart thuds and her naval clenches.

“It’s a little chilly,” she says – an excuse. Go back to the fire, is what she’s really saying. Please.

Anna has never been one to listen to common sense, though, a fact Elsa loved about her until she realised she couldn’t love her, not anymore, and their entire world came crashing down.

She’s never been one to listen to common sense, to leave well enough alone, and so instead of a laugh; instead of a comment about the fire, or heater; instead of moving the fuck away, she does the opposite and turns more fully towards Elsa, her sister, and says, voice low and thick with an emotion Elsa is all too familiar with and hates herself for it, “I’ll keep you warm.”

Then, as always happens, the space between them vanishes and Elsa, suddenly, isn’t cold anymore.

[somedayonbroadway]

I am literally begging you to tell me about the Psych AU???

(Just to be clear this will be set in the fantasy land where all cops are trying their best to be good all the time. Thank you!)

So Psych was actually probably my favorite show for a lot of my life so I am pretty excited about this one. For those of you that haven’t seen the show, go watch it. It’s on Peacock and I believe it’s still on Amazon Prime. Definitely it’s at its best in the first three seasons, but it never ceases to be funny. However, I enjoy the first season a lot more because of how smart they portray Shawn without having him also be, for lack of a better word, an idiot. Shawn is incredibly smart and his humor and charisma highlighted that instead of hiding it and I miss that in the later seasons, but it is still a really funny show and I do recommend it.

Anyways, enough of me ranting.

Just to be clear, it could work with either Jack or Race as Shawn, and if you would like to see this AU the other way, just let me know!

Psych AU

Characters

Racetrack Higgins — Shawn Spencer

Albert DaSilva — Burton Guster

Jack Kelly — Henry Spencer

Spot Conlon — Juliet O’Hara

David Jacobs — Carlton Lassiter

Medda Larkin — Chief Karen Vick

Racetrack Higgins (Shawn Spencer)

Tyler James Kelly had never had an easy life, with his drunk father or absent mother who had him on accident with a man she barely knew

His father had named him Anthony Higgins

When he’s six all of that changes when his half brother takes him in, against his father’s wishes.

Jack renames him Tyler James Kelly.

Race didn’t know Jack all too well back then. But he looked up to him, even if he’d refuse to admit it later.

Jack is eighteen and just starting out as a beat cop. But Jack’s father had been training him to be a good cop his whole life. Right up till he died.

Race never knew what a parent was supposed to look like. So when Jack began to test and train him, he didn’t think anything of it.

Race has a eidetic memory and Jack knows it even if his baby brother refuses to acknowledge it

The kid is hyper observant and quick witted which often can lead him into trouble though he describes it as being useful stay one step ahead intellectually while being one step behind physically

Was born two months too early and has always been pretty thin and small

Loves classic movies and television shows and often references them

Is wickedly smart and clever, resulting in him graduating high school three years early and leaving New York to travel the country

Growing up he’s best friends with his next door neighbor, Albert DaSilva, who he relies on constantly as he has a fear of abandonment

While growing up with Jack, Race finds himself somewhat resenting his brother who constantly pushes him to be more and do more and get better. He explains that Jack never let him just be a kid, and never lets Jack explain why he has him memorize how many hats are in the room and learn how killers and criminals operate

When he’s fifteen he takes the detective’s exam and gets a perfect score but refuses to go into law enforcement, instead chooses to leave Jack behind, illegally, and travel around the country on a bike he wins in a poker game with a bunch of old men who think he’s no threat.

When he’s eighteen, he inevitably ends up back in Manhattan.

After not speaking with Jack for three years, he has no idea if he’s still even there and is terrified to face him, feeling bad about running away and not knowing if Jack will forgive him.

He gets his own apartment, taking odd jobs around town to make ends meet

He starts going by Anthony Higgins again, but most of his friends just call him Race, a nickname he got from Albert when they were very young

Albert is the only one who knows when Race is back in town and Race makes him swear not to tell Jack.

Race often spends his nights watching the news, calling in tips to the police whenever he figures out a crime that they can’t.

Eventually this leads him to getting arrested before he even turns nineteen, as the police suspect he’s an inside man

In order to get out of this, he tells a lie that he believes will be a one time thing.

He makes the cops believe he is psychic.

Things spiral out of control from there.

After making the majority of the station believe he has the gift (all except for one skeptic who happens to be head detective) he thinks they’re going to let him off the hook.

He has no idea the chief of police is going to ask for his help

Actually excited by the idea, Race runs to Albert’s school and begs him to help him out. Albert is reluctant at first but eventually agrees

Race and Al go out investigating as private detectives until Race figures out the case, leading them straight to the suspect who turns out to be dead.

With nowhere else to turn, Race goes back to his brother, a brilliant detective who got injured in the line of duty and retired early, for help

Jack isn’t even shocked to see him. He’s not surprised, he’s not happy and he’s not angry. It makes Race mad.

Jack takes Race out to lunch where he lets Race talk and tells him that he’s the ultimate disappointment because Jack told Race all growing up how much he hated private detectives and psychics. But ultimately, he helps Race out anyway

This leads to Race solving the case and getting recognition for it. Jack keeps his secret and is even secretly proud of him

The happiness he feels at that convinces Race to open up his own agency with Albert

Throughout their journey as detectives, Race ends up falling for a junior detective, a transfer from Brooklyn who is a partner to the skeptic head detective, David Jacob, his brother’s former partner and best friend.

Spot, the Junior detective, often flirts with Race and leads him on, but they don’t start a relationship until five years later.

Race is faced with countless situations where he becomes a target for serial killers and criminals who come after his and his friends and family.

Race gets shot and kidnapped at one point.

He and Albert get held captive constantly and The Yin Yang killer, a serial killer who had been messing with the department for years, takes a special interest in him, causing his current boyfriend to be nearly drowned, Spot to be nearly dropped from a clock tower, Jack to be nearly blown up and he and Albert to be nearly poisoned.

Despite only telling this lie to get out of going to jail for a crime he did not commit, he ends up sticking with it and finding his purpose in life was to help others instead of help himself and loves it

Albert DaSilva (Bruton Gaster)

Grows up with a good life.

His mother died when he was really young, not even a year old, and he lived with his father and two much older brothers who spoiled him and loved him.

Albert was always smart. He was always smart in different ways than Race was and enjoyed learning and gaining better understandings of things

When he was young, he wanted to become an astronomer. He always loved the planets and the stars.

While being academically advanced, he knew that graduating with Race was not the best option for him as he used to doubt himself when Race wasn’t around to tell him how much he needed him

As a child he applied for a school for advanced students, which he was accepted into. His father refused to send him on account of wanting him to be a kid which Albert never truly liked being

His father never did appreciate the influence that Race had on his son, but allowed it in order to let Albert be a kid because he knew Albert needed it

Albert loved academic activities growing up and had nearly won a national spelling bee that Race botched for him. After learning this, Albert is angry with Race and realizes his friend’s need for him as Race eventually admits he was scared his only friend was going to leave him

Albert is very independent and enjoys doing things on his own, much to Race’s dismay

Al was voted most likely to succeed in high school

When Race runs away, Albert knows about it and tries to stop him, but believes Race will get nervous and come back

When that doesn’t happen, Albert is too embarrassed and scared to tell anyone so he lets Race go, feeling abandonment for the first and possibly only time in his life and he’s always secretly a little angry with Race for leaving

Albert goes to college right out of high school and studied medicine, wanting to become a doctor

When Race comes back into town, he ends up missing a lot of classes and barely manages to stay ahead in school

He still works towards becoming a doctor, which often helps with solving crimes

After finding out he does not like the sight of blood and dead bodies, he switches to forensics which also helps with a lot of investigations

Albert’s oldest brother is a rocket scientist at NASA and his other brother is an engineer

He constantly feels as though he’s trying to catch up and be just as accomplished as his brothers

Albert was pep captain in high school in attempts to be popular. While he did have more friends than Race, he didn’t accomplish actually being popular, but hanging around so many girls turned him into somewhat of a ladies man

During his senior year spring break, Albert, who’s already eighteen, heads down to Mexico with some friends but ends up meeting a girl. He gets drunk and marries her before leaving and never speaking of it again, not seeing the girl until years later when she is getting remarried.

After helping Race on his first case, Albert finds he had a knack for assisting his friend in crime fighting and, though often gives Race a hard time about it and complains, genuinely enjoys helping

Is very protective of his car that his father pays for, affectionately named the Blueberry by Race who picks up the name from a stuck up client

Albert knows Race better than Race knows himself and is sometimes the only thing actually keeping him from chaotically causing his own accidental death, despite Jack’s best efforts.

He has a very refined sense of smell

Grew up catholic and believes in demonic possessions and exorcisms

In an attempt to be cool when he was younger, Albert learned how to pick locks and crack safes

Is often given ridiculous nicknames by his best friend while they’re out solving cases, just for fun. He just rolls with them typically.

He joined an a capella group in college because he knew how to sing and was curious as to what it would be like. Race always finds it entertaining.

Is an experienced tap dancer

Has trouble doing things that are more on the dangerous side while Race doesn’t mind jumping in head first just to see what will happen.

Albert’s father is very protective of him and, even when he’s being accused of murder, tries to constantly give Race money and have someone babysit and take care of him.

It isn’t until Race sets the record straight that Albert’s dad begins to trust him to take care of Al moving forward.

Albert is the only person Jack trusts with Race for a long time as Race had a history with bullies all growing up and never really wanted any other friends.

Albert becomes like another little brother to Jack and Jack teaches him some street smarts to get him by after Race runs away.

Albert helps take care of Jack after his career ending injury

Albert eventually becomes a forensic scientist and ends up working for the FBI

Jack Kelly (Henry Spencer)

A trouble maker when he was young, the only child of his father, James Francis Kelly Sr. and first born of his mother

When Jack is fifteen his father dies, murdered by a criminal who’d been out on a killing spree.

His father had always wanted Jack to follow in his footsteps and become an officer so, to honor him, Jack does

When Jack was twelve, his mother had had another baby. Jack did not know a lot about this, but after his father died, became very curious.

When asked about the baby, his mother got defensive, so he tracked the kid down on his own, finding him in a neglective home and immediately falling in love with the kid and wanting to protect him.

Although he often shows Race tough love, he genuinely makes it his life goal to keep the boy safe and protected

He renamed Anthony Higgins, Tyler James Kelly, because Anthony was originally named after his father, the man who almost never acknowledged that the kid existed and Jack didn’t want him walking around with that.

Even after Race starts introducing himself as Anthony again, he still calls Race Tyler and Tyler James and his little Tyler James because that’s still Race’s legal name

Jack is a bit of a troubled kid growing up.

He has ADHD

His father helped him channel that into being hyper observant and alert

His mother was a bit of a deadbeat, but Jack still loved her up until she died from lung cancer. He didn’t trust her to look after Race once, instead hiring experienced babysitters and sometimes even taking Race into work with him and having another officer watch him

When he first meets Race, he quickly picks up on the fact that the kid is special and had extraordinary talents and he wants to help Race use them in the best way

Jack is a very protective person, though he normally comes off as slightly intimidating stand-off-ish. He is genuinely friendly and actually is the inspiration behind Race’s sense of humor

Jack raises Race to be the perfect detective, believing he was doing this for Race’s own good as Jack himself is terrified of losing someone else, especially his baby boy who he finds he loves more than anyone else in the world.

While Jack was a bit of a prankster and a fighter growing up, his father explained to him that this was a good thing and would help Jack in the future as he knew how criminals could think

Jack is an artist and loves to paint and draw. It’s his most peaceful activity

He once arrested Race when he was fifteen for “borrowing” a car to impress a girl with Race later reveals he only did to keep the football team from finding out that he was gay

He moves up in the police force quickly, becoming the youngest head detective the department had

He is partnered with David Jacobs who quickly becomes his best friend and eventually replaced Jack as the head detective.

When Race runs away Jack is extremely hurt and goes through a small depression that ultimately makes him lose his focus and gets him into a bad car crash, ending his career as a detective

His knee is shattered and he can’t run as easily as he used to be able to.

Refuses help most of the time and locks himself away from the world until Albert comes knocking on his door

He lets the kid help him out

It is eventually revealed that Jack put a gps tracker in the dog tags that had been his father’s. He’d given them to Race because he convinced the kid they’d keep him safe. He knows where Race is at all times

This is why he’s not surprised when Race is back in town and this is how Jack continues to be able to find Race when Race is in trouble.

When Race is shot and kidnapped, his drops the dog tags and Jack panics because he’s never not been able to find Race and when he does eventually find him, he puts the dog tags back around his neck and yells at Race to never take them off again

That’s when Race finds out what Jack did

Jack is Race’s biggest critic and biggest supporter all rolled up into one

While he never truly approves of what Race is doing, he still does his best to help him and protect him as best he can and is always proud of him no matter what he does.

During his time in recovery, Jack sells paints and works on commission, starting his own arti website and becoming a fairly famous artist

When the Yin Yang killer returns to New York, it is revealed that Jack worked the case before but had not been the target of the serial killer.

He is kidnapped by Yang who knows somehow that he’d be unable to run and slightly traumatized him, placing him in a car at a drive in movie with a bomb in his lap

Though he tries to convince everyone that he’s not scared, Race ends up staying with him to comfort him through the nightmares.

After Yin and Yang strikes again, making it even clearer that it’s Racer he’s messing with, Jack accepts a job from the chief of police as a police liaison in attempts to keep Race safe

A few years later, another old case of his comes up and he realizes that the cops who trained him and worked with him were dirty and tampered with his evidence.

He is later shot point blank by one of his old partners and left for dead, but Race, who had followed him, manages to take him to a hospital, saving his life though it was a very close call

After all of this, Jack eventually retires from the police department, no longer respecting the badge as he’d used to and becomes a professor of criminology at the same college Albert attended where he meets Katherine, his future wife

Spot Conlon (Juliet O’Hara)

Sean “Spot” Conlon grew up being around cops a lot.

His father was a crook.

While he knew his father loved him, he also knew that his father was a conman and what he did was wrong.

Growing up, Spot would wake up to receive little gifts on his nightstand and eventually he figured out that his father had been breaking in to leave them for him, taking the window apart and putting it back together without a trace.

Spot loves his father but moves on and grows up to become a cop to stop people like his father from taking advantage of others

He has one older brother, Hot Shot, who is also a criminal, though he is a criminal in the name of the Army which he was trying to protect

Spot does have to arrest his brother but is not shocked to find that his brother escaped

Spot does have a younger brother, Charlie or Crutchie as he’s called by his brother, who he loves very much and tries to preserve as the kid is the only member of his family who is remotely innocent.

Crutchie eventually moves from Brooklyn to Manhattan to be closer to Spot and meets Spot’s friends who he adores.

Charlie is the one who reveals that Jack was one of Spot’s idols. Spot looked up to Jack because Jack was one of the youngest head detectives in the country and was an overall brilliant detective

Spot first meets Race while undercover. The conversation only lasts a few minutes before Race deducts that he is in fact a cop about to make a jump on someone.

Wary of Race at first, Spot keeps his distance. He is skeptical of Race’s “gift” buy after observing him behind to believe his abilities may be real

Upon his transfer to Manhattan to become a detective, Spot is partnered up with Jack Kelly’s old partner David, who is very stand-off-ish and mean at first

Spot and David begin to build a relationship based on trust and become like brothers after a long while

Originally, Spot is not taken very seriously as he’s very young and cares about how he looks. Many of the other cops make fun of him, calling him “pretty boy” and other derogatory names because they all know that he’s gay

David often sticks up for him but doesn’t let Spot thank him.

Spot eventually starts calling Race “pretty boy” as a means to give the words good meaning again

Spot is very good at going undercover for jobs and enjoys getting to be placed in different roles.

Race often tells him that if he hadn’t been a coo he would’ve been a hell of an actor but Spot doesn’t like that because he fears he’s becoming too much like his father

Spot is desperate to succeed in his work and often goes to Jack for advice (I know, they like each other in this one. It’s crazy)

Spot is very competitive and likes to be right.

He often brags about solving cases before others but does not put others down, necessarily, in the process

Though Spot is a bit on the shorter side, he makes up for it with muscle and strength.

When he gets angry, people back off, afraid of what he might do if he decides to take his anger out on them.

Spot is fluent in Spanish, just like Jack, and after Race and he start dating, they often have conversations about Race right in front of him.

After getting kidnapped by Yin, Spot is traumatized to the point of being unable to stay at the station.

He develops a paralyzing fear of heights that’s Race helps him through

Eventually, Spot becomes the head detective in Brooklyn when the chief is transferred there.

David Jacobs (Lassie Face)

David had always had a difficult time with trust

He grew up with a twin sister and a little brother.

His father cheated on their mother and his mother cheated on his father

His sister grew up and left without telling anyone.

His ex wife had cheated on him and left him

Suffice to say that trust didn’t come easy to him.

Growing up, Davey likes the rules and he likes enforcing them. He likes being in charge and he’s good at it.

David loves his younger brother a lot. Les is going to school for film and he loves getting insight about what police actually do. He likes to make documentaries

When David is partnered with the head detective, he’s shocked to find he actually likes Jack

Jack is the first person he truly trusts in a long long time

Jack becomes his best friend and only confidant

As he’s close with Jack, he does meet Race a few times, but when he questions Race about his tips under his old name, he doesn’t know why Race looks so familiar

It isn’t until David sees Race with Jack that he remembers.

Jack lies to David and tells him that Race is a psychic and found out when he was fifteen and that’s why he left even though he knows Davey won’t believe him

David understands and respects that Jack puts his little brother first

But the kid still annoys him

Despite not necessarily getting along with Race, David does everything he can to protect him as a ways to pay Jack back for all the times he’d saved his life

When Jack gets in his accident, David refuses another partner, nervous about not living up to Jack’s reputation.

His first new partner ends up being a girlfriend of his during his separation from his wife. Race outs the affair on accident and the woman is transferred

David and Spot don’t get along at first but Spot quickly shows David that he’s not any junior detective and is really good at what he does

He ends up really liking the kid

After Jack’s accident, David has a hard time going to see him, feeling as though he’d failed the other man somehow.

Eventually, he takes Jack out for a drink where Jack apologizes for screwing up and they have a bonding moment

Eventually, David finds himself infatuated with a suspect in a case he’s working

Though the girl is ultimately guilty, he visits her in prison and eventually marries her

His whole life all he’d wanted was to be the chief of police

Eventually, after Chief Larkin is transferred, his dream comes true.

He and Race manage to become friends and, after receiving a video message from Race, confessing to the fact that he’s not a psychic, he tears the disc out and breaks it, never needing to know how Race did what he did

I absolutely love this one, so if ya’ll wanna see any scenes from it, just let me know!

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