#ship meta

[nualaofthefaerie]

I'm tired of explaining the same concept 170000 times.

Do you see how not a single line or diagonal threatens their queer identities?! Miss me with that Skyvik and Meljay make the boys OR the girls straight...where?! THESE BITCHES ALL GAY!! LET THEM SHARE A BED!!!

[mswyrr]

"ready or not" - grace/daniel ship meta

It's a delightful Horror/dark comedy film about how rich people suck. Scary but not too scary (I am a 'fraidy cat about Horror movies) and just a romp really. It's paced well and has a great Final Girl and I'd recommend it.

But now I want to talk about my ship lol

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Hm, so, are they "in love" exactly? No. There's chemistry and ultimately they appreciate each other (as the only two people in that house "who [have] a soul" - Daniel is able to recognize and appreciate that Grace has one because he's still got one too, albeit tattered and buried deep). But the more important thing, for me, is the structural shift between the two brothers and how that strongly implies things would have turned out happier if Grace had fallen in love with Daniel.

Namely, Alex has a heel turn arc and Daniel has a face turn arc. And, the one who face turns acts on the promises the one who heel turns broke.

The film is a wedding night gone wrong, specifically a new spouse who proves untrue. Grace says her problem was "in-laws," but it's actually Alex breaking the vows he just made to her that comes closest to killing her. The in-laws themselves are not the most efficient threat ever. They're pretty bumbling. Alex keeps Grace in the dark and Alex turns on her, that is what brings her close to death. As well as a funny political satire, it's a satire of the tensions marriage brings into a family, over who your new spouse will be loyal to - you above all others, as they've promised, or the family that raised them, even if it's shitty.

Grace marries one man who promises to be good to her, care for and love and protect her. To be her family, when she is a foster kid who has no family. And then Alex proves false and the other brother, the "weak" one, poisons his family and puts himself between her and a bullet.

Daniel does what Alex promised to do.

Now, he largely thought he was doing this for Alex (not realizing Alex would have a heel turn), so it's not primarily about Grace - HOWEVER, Daniel independently recognizes and values Grace as a person as well as doing it for Alex. Loving his little brother and trying to protect him is how Daniel kept his soul; he's that kind of person at heart. And the structure lends itself to asking how well he and Grace would get along in other circumstances. If this is how he is when they barely know each other, what would he be like if he was the one who'd met and fallen in love with her? Or what if he survived?

The writing includes other elements that strength this as well: they both recognize each other. Early on, Daniel keeps saying "You don't belong in this family - I mean that as a compliment" and saying she "has a soul" so she'll never fit in. And Grace recognizes his soul too. She keeps reaching out to him and believed Daniel would help her before he knew it himself. ("I knew you'd help me." / "I didn't.")

A YouTube review was like talking about how Grace doesn't survive by her own wits because she trusts Alex and he turns on her, it's only "good luck" that saves her. That she has “plot armor.” And I was like wuuut lol Good luck is part of it, but not beyond belief - and Grace does keep herself alive with her grit and wits and then she reaches out to someone and that person poisons his family and takes a bullet for her.

Another point is that, despite it clearly not being a love match, Daniel warned his wife, Charity, about the family cult before their marriage and let her decide whether she wanted to take the risk. Alex hid the information from Grace because "If I told you, you would've left."

That's the key choice where Alex doesn't put Grace first. He puts what he wants (to keep her with him) first. And that foreshadows him putting what his family wants first. Subconsciously, Alex was always ready to betray Grace if she pulled the wrong card. He betrayed her by not warning her.

I think the final thing that makes it work for me is that Daniel and Alex were both children the last time someone pulled the Hide and Seek card. As much as the movie tries to make us not feel bad about the kids today, they're not to blame for the shitty way they've been raised, and Alex and Daniel weren’t to blame for what happened 30 years ago.They were kids.

It's *this* time that they're both adults and making decisions as full moral agents. It's this time that they both find out who they really are. And the decision Daniel makes is to put a stop to all the ritual murder bullshit.

It's also about the heroine's victory. What does Grace *want* from the very beginning of the story? A permanent family, people who will stick by her and love her.

In the canon movie ending, Grace survives, but she's still a foster kid with no family. Though she's legally filthy rich now, it's not the same. She doesn't actually get what she told us she wanted from the beginning of the movie. In fact, she loses the one person she was certain would be family to her, along with the hope her in-laws would be there for her. So there's that sadness to it, which makes the ship meaningful on her side. In this terrible circumstance, she found someone who has a good heart too and would prove true.

The story both provides us with a lack (Grace, the heroine, not getting her heart's desire) and someone who the story shows us could be that for her. Someone who has a soul, despite everything, and wants to do the right thing, to protect and love.

There's a reason why there's timeloop stories where Grace keeps playing the game until she can have a "complete victory" by saving Daniel and winning the family she wanted as well as getting away with her life and the money. The heroine's victory in the film itself is compromised.

The reason why there's a lovely bunch of gems of fanfic about Grace and Daniel on Ao3 is that the story itself provides that bitterness to the sweetness of Grace's survival, that she's still so alone, and a strong foundation for ways they could have been happier or worked out if they'd fallen in love instead of Grace and Alex or if Daniel had survived.

[the-bar-sinister]

Miles and Phoenix are so toxic (positive connotation) because they are both snarky, cynical, sarcastic, competitive and respectively emotionally distant vs confrontational-- and I can't imagine them doing anything but reinforcing those traits in one another (in absence of some drastic change).

Narumitsu to me is the equivalent of shipping those two old guys from the muppets 😂💖

And that's why it's so much fun. 😂😂😂

[franollie]

feeding your haterisms, what ships dyou hate??

only doing ships i actively have filtered out:

1. DICKBABS: nothing will fill me with more rage than seeing babs with two functional legs long hair and a batgirl suit being a sexy lamp for a batboy. a batboy that she was never that interested in for that matter. ALSO, dickbabs only became a thing to invalidate dickkory and more specifically the importance of kory in dick’s life. on an even broader level, it disregards the importance of the role that the titans played in dicks life in favor of pretending that the “batfam” is more important to him. and because of that its a very “tell dont show” ship where all of a sudden they’re inseparable and the worlds cutest sweetest couple because theyre soulmates, but we never really get to see them fall in love so everything just falls flat. the ship doesn’t benefit either one of them and honestly if im in a bad enough mood it can turn me off an entire series

2. timber: i tried. i wanted to like it. its cute i guess it just feels so…fake??? idk it reads like a pr stunt and i hate the tim drake that’s dating bernard because it doesn’t feel like the tim drake i know and love so i just associate it with modern tim…all around just a big squick for me. also ive had some bad interactions with timber stans who were really rude to people who ship tim with other characters notably tam and steph

3. harlivy: ikik this one’s gonna get me. listen, i used to ship them BIG time, and to a certain extent i still do but modern harlivy is NOT the harlivy i fell in love with. unfortunately dc has watered them down and polished them to make them marketable. a fate worse than death…they’ve been defanged. i mean harley’s just a manic pixie dream girl with no real motivations for fucks sake. that being said, im more of an ivycat enjoyer because i think thematically they make more sense and can relate to each other in more significant ways than harlivy can.

[rriavian]

You mentioned in a recent ask how one of the things you loved about Corintheus is the balance of the ship. Could you tell me more about this? It's something I've never really associated with Corintheus and I'd love to know more.

Thank you for the ask! Sorry it took so long to answer—I ended up writing far too much and had to wrangle it into something shorter. Also (as a general disclaimer) this is based on the show rather than the comics. When engaging with Corintheus as a ship I can definitely see why the idea of balance might not be something you’ve come across before!

I suppose the personal answer is that (for me) balance is what makes a ship fun.

I don’t think either of the two would be satisfied by someone who doesn’t match them, and as a reader/writer I’m not satisfied by that either.

I’ve answered a couple of asks about power dynamics and how I like to balance them (original here, part two here), but there are also other ways in which balance can be found within relationship dynamics. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about physical strength/power. In many ways I write Corintheus as a negotiation of balance, (though of course the Corinthian is going for dominance most of the time). In canon we see him fighting for agency, fighting for freedom from Dream and all of his rules, and to me that’s an attempt to balance the scales.

There’s an obvious, and unavoidable, power difference that impacts the relationship but there's also a hierarchical difference, further complicated by the creator/creation dynamic. In many ways Dream is always going to hold all the cards. But that’s a character quality not a relationship one (most characters interacting with Dream also face it) and, again, it’s what the Corinthian spent all of season one seeking to counteract.

So I don’t think he would want to stay in a relationship where he had no power…not when a lack of agency was why he rebelled in the first place.

But I also don’t think Dream is really the sort to use brutal (clumsy) shows of power in a relationship context. As the Corinthian’s king and creator, sure, Dream will be absolutely merciless when he needs to remind his creation of the rules. There’s a line though (exceptions made for fun little roleplays perhaps, but even then Dream is going to be far more careful with the Corinthian than the Corinthian would be with him).

A common theme in my writing is the Corinthian trying to push past his own limitations to balance the field with Dream, and Dream, in turn, allows him to choose the game they play but he doesn’t necessarily makes himself ‘weaker’. He sees it more as ensuring an interesting game of chess ;)

Of course this could just be me wrangling these dynamics to make it personally satisfying, but I always draw my characterisation from canon.

Even when provoked Dream rarely attacks with the full limit of his power, remains incredibly well controlled, pitches the exact amount of force required. To use one of my favourite examples—and also one where traditional ‘power’ isn’t what makes the difference—Dream does this against Lucifer. One could add that this is especially intricate as he takes what I write as the Corinthian’s usual place in this scenario; except here the obviously stronger opponent also sets the game, Lucifer can't quite commit to leveling the playing field, and yet Dream proves he knows exactly how to play because he still wins. Which is one of the things that makes his relationship with Lucifer so interesting.

The scenario in hell is a nice example of how balance isn’t guaranteed by giving one character a power boost, nor is it lost if one character is ‘weaker’ than the other. Lucifer was objectively where the power scale tipped, and yet I don’t think anyone who watched that scene could really say that Lucifer came out the victor. It’s a perfect illustration of how Dream sees/uses power, how he can manipulate an external perception of it.

(Not just the characters around him, but us as viewers, which is again something I’ve brought up before).

Ok so there was a whole point here about the Corinthian and Lucifer but it’s not really relevant (and I’ve already gone a little off topic!!) so I’m moving on…

So. If ‘power’ doesn’t always matter…where is the balance?

The Corinthian is intelligent, a hunter, made to be patient and calculating, and he has the sheer gall to use that against Dream. Yeah season one was mostly running, but when he stands his ground the Corinthian stands and fights. He pushes back—looks so personally hurt by Dream as he does so—and extrapolating that development into other scenarios is what started my Corintheus journey haha. I think those attributes—the stubbornness, the perhaps overabundance of intensity that is quite inhuman—are shared.

They are both nightmares: that part of Dream finds someone who can take it (and vice versa). It can be played out in a way that is healthy for them both. 

I think that’s what so often goes wrong with Dream in his canon relationships—he’s too much for those who’ve tried. I think I briefly referred to this in another ask. But anyway! When the Corinthian wants something he goes all in to get it; his freedom in the waking world, his refusal to deny himself, ravenous to taste it all. Applied to Dream himself it’s balance because of how intense Dream also is. I think Dream is insanely attracted to that—the attempt of it, the eternal dance of it—he doesn’t want to be forced into a box, he wants someone to meet him where he is and still he knows that doing so will be a constant fight.

This idea is a theme in Baiting the Trap, though the Corinthian is only starting to become aware of it.

It’s the Corinthian’s nature as a ‘dark mirror’, because a reflection is a thing of balance. He brings out the dark urges, the selfish ones, speaks to the nightmare in Dream that isn’t evil but can be misunderstood to be so. Nightmares are a big part of Dream that I don’t think many characters within the narrative accept, or see as a good thing, but it’s not a part of him that should change. I think the Corinthian can draw that out and play with it.

They can do all sorts of fucked up/imaginative things with each other as outlets for a shared nightmarish nature, finding pleasure in what others might balk at.

The Corinthian objects to Dream’s rules, to a perceived lack of agency, but still thinks he’s doing what he’s made for. He has a differing philosophy in how he wants to be a nightmare in the waking world. This desire for freedom/agency is another balancing tool—it challenges Dream’s duty (and what that makes the Corinthian’s duty)—giving Dream a stage to reaffirm/explore that part of himself. While giving Dream a forum to challenge right back so that the Corinthian can reaffirm/explore the same thing.

In the weirdest of ways, Dream is complimented by a partner who is both a subject of his kingdom and a sceptic of it. The Corinthian understands, is just as inhuman as Dream is, but shows utter disdain right to his face—doesn’t put role and duty first—is selfish enough to want just him and fuck everything else. 

The scene at the Convention was what inspired me to write for Corintheus. Mostly because of how it was framed. As opposed to the meeting in ep one it’s a very different set up and that’s not really because of Rose. 

If anything the presence of a vortex should mean Dream zooms his way through this like ‘yeah that’s nice, but turn into sand now’ but instead he takes his time. He talks it out. They both have one half of the stage, opposite sides, opposite colour palettes, but there’s no game. They are both honest. It’s raw and real. And though it still ends in an unmaking it’s a very complex encounter. Yes it has the threat of duty hanging over it, but Dream is very clearly affected in a way he wasn’t when he punished Gault. 

Wow this is getting long. This is so complex for me that I’ve written over 100k about it. I hope this makes sense though! 

The Corinthian gets to push the boundaries with Dream, to do what he’d never thought he could, what he could never do to anyone else. In the waking he finds victims not equals, those he’s supposed to teach, to prey on but who he can never fully let loose on. No worthy opponent (no worthy lover). But Dream can be fought forever, is an incredibly powerful being that can be enjoyed past the limit, and oh does the predator in the Corinthian enjoy that. It’s the right kind of bittersweet because victory is impossible sure (balance in that too!) but there’s fun in it.

The sort that suits two immortal beings. It’s a meal that the Corinthian can never finish. It’s balance because he is never going to stop, and Dream is never going to move an inch.

It’s insatiable appetite vs an infinite feast.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Toga Himiko; Crush vs Love

Sure, anon. Sorry for late answer. Here's the Izuocha version in here.

Signs Of Crushes and Infatuation

1- Feelings Come on Fast

Infatuation hits with an out of this world intensity. You saw them and you knew you had to have them. Love at first sight, so to speak. The feelings didn't grow and develop over time, which is what happens with love, they were almost instantaneous.

This doesnt fit Toga's feelings for Tomura since they had bad start and their relationship starts developing slowly after spending time together.

2- Short Lived

Crushes come and go pretty quickly, usually in a matter of months. Love stays, whether the relationship works or not, the feelings are always there to some degree.

Ever since they met, Toga's feelings for Shigaraki or league didnt suddenly go away, unlike her feelings for Izuku and Ochaco. It stayed because that was true love. Not short lived crush.

3- Sees Perfection

With crushes and infatuation it is more about the idea of the person, than the person themselves. Maybe you think you would look great together as a couple, or one or both of you have a certain status in the community or a high income. The mind creates and envisions the perfect life together, and the happily ever after with Prince Charming.

Toga doesnt see Shigaraki as prince charming. Actually, she constantly observes his behavours, his happiness, his flaws, everything.

4- Crazy Or Irrational Behavior

Crushes can lead to stalking, intense jealously, and obsessive behavior. Sometimes the intense feelings of crushes can also cause risky behavior, and irrational thinking.

Ironically, Toga's relationship with Shigaraki makes her more stable, healing her from her usual unstable condition.

5- Based On Attraction

Crushes are often based strictly on physical attributes since you really don't know the "real" person, and there is nothing else to go on except what you created in your head. The infatuation begins because you find them beautiful or hot, and strongly desire the person. Usually the crush is someone whom is out of reach for you.

Once again, what makes Dabi, Toga, Spinner get into Shigaraki is that he is there. Stain is ideal. Toga's interest for Izuku and Ochaco is ideal, far away but Shigaraki is real. And that how they get over their ideolism for Stain and start developing admiration for Shigaraki. Someone who actually knows them and someone whom they know.

Signs Of Love

1- Feelings Last

With love, feelings may not last forever, but they do last a while, whether you stay in a relationship or not. Love does not go away after a couple of months, or because you realize they are flawed or look a hot mess in the morning.

Once again, Toga's feelings for league always there.

2- Accepts Them, Flaws And All

When we truly love someone, we see their flaws, and we accept them. Maybe he's a little short, or she's a little chubby, but if you are in love you don't care.

Shigaraki is first person who accepts her and thats very important for Toga, she accepts his darkest sides too despite not really agreeing with.

3- Open and Honest

Love is willing to go deep. Love is open and honest. Love wants to share their hope, dreams, and fears, and hear about yours.

Most important part about love is you feel comfort by their side. I think its safe to say thats how Toga feels around legaue, but especially around Shigaraki.

4- Only Eyes For Them

Love only has eyes for you. If the eyes wander, then you are not in love. Love isn't blind to other's beauty, but love's eyes follow their heart

This doesnt really happen with them. Toga is in very unstable condition and she is not really loyal to anyone but if she is to someone, the person she is loyal towards the most is definitely Shigaraki.

5- Their Happiness Is Important

We are willing to sacrifice for those we love and put their wants and needs before our own. Love is willing to be inconvenienced, bored, and patient for the one who means the most.

God knows how many times Toga repeatedly focus on Shigaraki's happiness, it was the first for a girl like her who only lived for herself since running away from home but she is the first person she started to care about his feelings after everything.

6- Their Presence/Or Voice Brings You Comfort

Seeing their face, or hearing their voice can turn your whole day around, and instantly improve your mood. That’s a true telltale of being in love.

Shigaraki knows how to make Toga happy. We saw several panels of how much Shigaraki makes Toga happy, compared to other characters.

Basiclaly, Toga's feelings for Shigaraki isnt crush, its true love. (I only focus on her part because her feelings for Shigaraki is one sided for now at least so we dont know.) What Toga felt about Stain, Izuku and Ochaco and others is a feelings of crush. And of course, what Toga felt about league members is also true love. But i think its a little more there with Shigaraki. More details in this and other shigatoga/toga posts. Also, recently, Ochaco became her hero so well, we will see how it will change the story.

[ftl-faster-than-life]

You wrote another eobarry fic! It's so good, I love your writing, you really nail the one-side Eobard is obsessed in every way he can be messed up version of the ship that is the version I am most interested in (sorry Barry), it's excellent.

Yeah! I decided to start turning some of these ideas I have that aren't fully fleshed out (and probably don't need to be, really) into little drabbles. They're going to be collected on AO3--Tribute is the first. It's my first published Eobarry fic that's suitable for general audiences and the first published one that's set in the comics-verse instead of the CW-verse. The show's got a bit of a different dynamic going for it--it's easier to imagine that Barry, who knew Eobard as Harrison Wells, might have some lingering regard or even affection for Eobard. So that's a different kind of tension to handle.

I think one-sided, obsessed Eobarry is what we're given in comics canon. I wouldn't call it subtext, either, or say it's something that Barry himself is unaware of. Barry draws parallels between a woman's romantic stalker and his own situation with Eobard, so I think he's uncomfortably aware of what Eobard feels for him. I think he doesn't want to acknowledge it, so putting him in situations where he's forced to is interesting to me.

How Eobard acts on this changes from moment to moment--sometimes he wants to be Barry, sometimes he wants to destroy him, other times he wants to be the only person in Barry's world in one way or another. To be clear, this isn't inconsistent writing. This is just a symptom of how erratic and unstable Eobard is.

I really enjoy exploring the parasocial nature of Eobard's obsession, and how unhealthy it is, why it's turned into this monstrous all-consuming thing that dominates his narrative and taints Barry's. And how there's nothing either he or Barry can do that will satisfy his obsession or erase it.

Usually when I do write something fluffy or sweet with these two, the domesticity is just a veneer. The foundation of this pairing is dangerously rotten and that's what I try to convey.

Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for reading!

[cilil]

I'm genuinely curious about the Yavanna/Melkor pairing. What inspired you to put these two together? Are there going to be more fics centered around the two of them in the future?

Admittedly it wasn't my idea at all. @demonscantgothere suggested the ship on the server a while ago and shared this gorgeous artwork by @ylieke that gave us a lot of thoughts and feelings.

I've been thinking about the pairing since then and the first thing that came to mind was the spring/summer vs. fall/winter dynamic. Yavanna is the Queen of the Earth and created the kelvar and olvar, she's Mommy Mother Nature if you will, while Melkor is responsible for the existence of snow and frost. In general, Yavanna is all about life and growing things, whereas Melkor introduced death, decay and natural disasters which at first glance just destroy and kill her creations, but are actually an important part of nature if you look at the big picture, one example being volcanoes and how they provide fertile soil.

It's similar to the light vs. darkness dynamic between Melkor and Varda and you could even draw parallels to Melkor and Nienna (evil vs. good, cruelty vs. mercy, wrath vs. patience, etc.). With Varda and Yavanna more so than with Nienna there's some inherent enmity and dislike which can lead to either opposites attract or an odd fascination with one another or at least spicy hate sex. I think you can apply this idea to all sorts of Melkor ships actually, he's an excellent foil to pretty much every Ainu (even Mairon - order vs. chaos, fire vs. ice) and probably at least a few Incarnates too (for example Fëanor, though in his case Melkor would hone in on their similarities).

Another interesting observation in regards to Melkor and Yavanna are the similarities between Melkor and Aulë - as we see in "Of Aulë and Yavanna", their relationship also has a certain element of friction and opposition to it. You could go as far as to say that Aulë is the more "agreeable", "chill" and "domestic" version of Melkor, the one you can settle down and have a decent marriage with, while Melkor is the one for hot (literally) and spicy hate sex. You could easily take Yavanna's canon marriage as "evidence" that she has a thing for men she can argue with...

So yeah, there certainly are some interesting things to explore with this ship and I'm definitely down to write more about them in the future. At least I can say that (as is the case with pretty much every ship involving Ainur) y'all are always welcome to give me prompts for them for drabble challenges/prompts lists/other events🖤

[descendant-of-truth]

Shipping is fun and all but I swear every single time someone makes a comment, whether as a joke or in a legitimate analysis, about there being "no other explanation" for a pair's interactions, I lose just a bit more of my sanity

Like, no, you guys don't get it. Romance is not about the Amount of devotion, it's about the COLOR. the FLAVOR of it all. a character can be just as devoted to their platonic friend as they are to their romantic partner, and they don't love either of them more, just differently.

But because the majority of people still have it stuck in their minds that romance exists on the highest tier of love, I'm stuck seeing endless takes that boil down to "these two care about each other too much for it to NOT be romantic" as if that's the core determining factor to how literally any of this works

In conclusion: stop telling me that I don't understand the story if I don't interpret the leads as romantic, I am TIRED

[neo--queen--serenity]

Marcille is actually one of the biggest reasons it took so long to pinpoint which Chilchuck was the imposter in today’s episode.

The Senshi and Marcille imposters had their own reasons for being hard to decipher, but that was a joint effort on the party’s part. Chilchuck was the only example where a single member’s bias actually swayed the others so strongly that it made them all doubt themselves.

Ryouko Kui did an excellent job of giving us a rich background on how different races interact, and how they may descriminate against each other. Each of the races in this series struggles with these prejudices. Our main characters are not exempt from this, and we see it clearly in the way the shapeshifter manifested as each party member, showing us how the others percieve them.

Marcille knows Chilchuck well, and cares deeply for him as a friend. But she’s not immune to assumptions and biases that come from her elven background. The Chilchuck imposter we are faced with, when it’s down to two of them left, is Marcille’s memory of Chilchuck, Marcille’s perception of how he behaves.

One of the first manifestations of this bias occurs when shapeshifter Chilchuck can’t get a jar open.

The real Chilchuck knows that this would never happen—at least not in this way. Chilchuck is proud, yes, but he asks for Laios’ help all the time. Laios is actually one of the party members he is the most likely to ask help from, given how long they’ve known each other, and how much mutual trust exists between them.

However, the whole scenario isn’t right. Chilchuck wouldn’t give up so easily on opening something; his whole job is opening and unlocking things. He would never quit an attempt like this within 5 seconds, then run to Laios so that “big strong adult tall-man” can open it for him.

Marcille is the one who asks, “Huh? Why do you say that?” because Marcille is partially right. Chilchuck does rely on Laios, and Marcille knows this to be true. But she fails to realize how he relies on Laios.

Chilchuck respects many of Laios’ talents, but the most important ones are his combat skills, his emotional fortitude, and his quick thinking when delegating tasks. He trusts Laios as someone he is comfortable following (he literally said to him and Shuro in the last episode: “Laios!! Tell us what do!! Give us orders!!” when chimera Falin was quickly overpowering them).

So while Marcille almost understands Chilchuck’s confidence in Laios, she tends to accidentally infantilize him in the process.

She immediately believes that Chilchuck B (the imposter, who is specifically using her own memory as its base for Chilchuck’s personality) is the real one, and says so, because she’s blinded by her perception of him as being childlike and adorable because of the very common racial prejudices that half-foots deal with all the time.

She dotes on the imposter, and is open with her affections, as usual (again, her care for him is clear), but doubles down on that bias, on her own assumptions of Chilchuck’s behavior shown through her own lens.

And ultimately, Laios was able to tell the difference, but only because he watched how the Chilchucks handled other minute tasks. Marcille’s stance on which Chilchuck was real truly did throw the others for a loop, at least until the threat passed. And honestly, that’s part of what makes the shapeshifter so terrifying. Its strategy almost worked.

[sammaggs]

3x01 Burning Down the House | Continuous

THIS IS ALL ONE SHOT!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS ALL. ONE SHOT.

A nearly two-minute walk and talk in the precinct set with NO CUTS. For TWO MINUTES.

This is TWO FULL YEARS before The West Wing, which popularized the long hallway single shot walk and talk.

Genuinely hard to convey how difficult a shot like this is to choreograph with so many different moving pieces. As one continuous take this shot is WILD. It means everything—including the push in to Ray and Elaine, the pull back out to include Fraser stepping precisely back into frame, the ACTUAL LIVE DOG, the walk into the bullpen with all the extras cutting in front of camera, the gag with the ink—all of that is in ONE GO, NO FUCK UPS.

INCLUDING!! One of the best pieces of acting in the ENTIRE SERIES right here:

THE love at first sight moment. In the MIDDLE of all this.

My favourite thing about this is imagining Gordon Pinsent standing patiently in the bullpen waiting for his moment for the 45 times it took to get the first ninety seconds of this shot clean.

Oh I will never be done being obsessed with this show. The level of stagecraft involved here alone is insane. Paul Gross the man you are,

Happy 27th birthday today, Burning Down the House (Sept. 14, 1997)!! You are still iconic🇨🇦🍁

due South Long Shots [one] [two] [three]

[paintpanic]

Kirbtober Day 28: Final Boss

[the-bar-sinister]

Song: Escape (The Pina Colada Song)

Ship: Sabretooth (😼🔪) and Mystique

Essay outline

Time period– X-Factor era (90s)

Broad idea: during this time, Mystique and Sabretooth are technically broken up, and even marginally enemies, but neither is over the other one.

(headcanon) Sabretooth loves annoying Mystique with mushy, goofy music, and would sing it at her at karaoke

The song highlights a staple of their relationship; being very compatible together, but lacking the emotional maturity and communication skills to really connect

More literally, the song focuses on escape and freedom, which is something neither of them have during the X-Factor era, both of them implanted with bomb collars and forced to work for the group.

Sabretooth of course repeatedly tries to get Mystique to run away with him, but she fears what will happen if they do.

Though it takes a while, they both eventually come back to the spark that they had, and get back together, just like the couple in the song.

“And she said, oh its you”. Despite looking everywhere else for love, sometimes it’s in the person you least want it to be.

[bluerosefox]

Stellar Collisions

Back at it again with a DPxDC prompt.

It does have deaged Dani (Ellie)

Only this time its KonxDanny idea!~

Supernova, Kon's new hero name since Jon took over the Superboy name now, wasn't expecting to be called out to... especially in the sky... by another floating/flying person and-

WOW

They were cute as heck.

Glowing green eyes, and white hair, a bit shorter than him. He was floating in the air with a soft glow around himself as well.

And he was holding a white haired, very similar looking toddler in his arms, only the toddler had longer hair that was tied in pigtails. And the toddler was staring at Kon with large, almost sparkling eyes.

The young man, around Kon's age if he guessed, smiled and floated a bit closer, his face friendly and warm. When the young man stopped he kindly asked "Hey, would it be any trouble for you to autograph something for my daughter? She's a huge fan!"

[ladystoneboobs]

so, one aspect of catelyn which i think is underrated (certainly the biggest adaptation loss which nobody talks about) is her, let's say superstitiousness, or better yet, let's call it genre-savviness, being one of the few adult characters open to magic and the supernatural in this fantasy world. we first meet her in the godswood, home of gods which are not truly hers, yet she is still very aware of their power. when she and ned talk of the deserter he killed, he hopes he won't have to go with the nw to deal with mance rayder, but she has even more fear of that idea bc there are worse things beyond the wall than just wildlings. ned scoffs and says she's been listening to old nan too much, but she's right. we already know from the prologue that she's right! and here she is, understanding the genre of their world better than her husband, who was actually born and spent his earliest years in this northern land of deep magic, listening to old nan's stories. same with the direwolves, where she was uncomfortable with them at first, but later believed in them as guardians from the old gods even after robb had lost his own faith. and once again, we know she's right even if she doesn't know the evidence to back up her instincts, bc summer and shaggydog did not fail bran and rickon and robb was almost certainly a warg like his brothers. (perhaps making it more fitting that she's the one brought back as a fantasy vengeance monster, not ned and robb, the most unbelieving dead starks.) and in her 2nd agot chapter, everyone focuses on her ambition in wanting ned to agree to the hand job (pun intended) and sansa's betrothal, and while she does recognize the value of their daughter being a future queen more than ned does, that's only her stated argument bc she thinks it's rational enough for ned to listen to. (if ambitious matchmaking were as important to her as to her father she never would have made those frey betrothals fandom loves to blame her for.) in her own head there's a deeper urge driving her. she keeps thinking of the dead direwolf with antlers in its throat, an omen which filled her with dread from the first she heard of it, before robert's arrival, and thinking of it again is what makes her desperate to convince ned not to refuse robert. she had to make him see. and really, she's not wrong, as jon snow would say. the dead direwolf was an omen of ned and robert getting each other killed. it's just one of those misread portents, with no way of knowing the danger to ned was in his loyalty to robert, not conflict with him. BUT the next time she's dealing with baratheons, she knows exactly what she's talking about. it's catelyn, not brienne, who sees the shadow slaying renly, and explains that it was stannis who did that through some dark magic. with no way of knowing how it was achieved and no prior expectation that such a thing were ever possible, she realizes with no hestitation that stannis was guilty and that his red witch was capable of pulling this off somehow. really, the only instinct of the supernatural she's wholly wrong about is her insistence that varys gathered his knowledge through some dark enchantment. however, though that might offend varys, given his own personal experience with a sorcerer, i'd say it's a reasonable assumption without knowing the dude had children moving through walls everywhere like oversized rodents. and imo it just shows she had a healthy respect and awe for varys's power which most other characters lack.

oh, oh, and let's not forget that she also believed in the curse of harrenhal, from her own childhood and the stories old nan told her kids. "and every house that held Harrenhal since had come to misfortune. Strong it might be, but it was a dark place, and cursed. 'I would not have Robb fight a battle in the shadow of that keep,' Catelyn admitted." sure, that wasn't enough to save robb, but he did not die from the curse of harrenhal. that doom was meant for his enemies from tywin lannister to roose bolton.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Wish there was more Shiggy/Toga stuff. :)

ShigaToga; Great Compatibility

Sure but first, i would like to say that i wasnt shipping them at first or expected to ship them because well, to me, Shigaraki was always redeemable villain and Toga was crazy yandere girl. I used to not pay attention to their relationship or any other league relationship before MVA arc. And honestly, it was hard to imagine Shigaraki having romantic partner or involving any romance but biggest reason is their age. At beginning, we didnt know their age so i thought Shigaraki was like 23-24 at least and Toga is high school girl so lol but then he turned out 20 years old, a lot younger than i expected. He is the one who has closest age to Toga in league, 3 years age difference isnt actually much, if it was 4 or more, it would be but 3 years age difference depends. Especially in Shigaraki and Toga's case, since they are not your usual 20 years old or 17 years old. Shigaraki is literally Afo's hostage since he was 5 years old and Toga is living in streets since her middle school so yeah. And 'average 20 years old would have to take care of Shigaraki and average 17 years old could easiely take advantage of someone like Toga too. (And the thing is; I am pretty sure that people wouldnt mind shipping Twice with Toga, if Twice was 20 years old but suddenly its a problem because it is Shigaraki, even though, it should be other way around and Shigaraki isnt really big brother to her, yeah). I think its not a problematic ship. I think it is very good ship with potential and also, there is kinda set up but well, i wish we get more lov interactions.

Also, i would like to say that the only reason i ship is because i truly believe that Shigaraki and Toga can actually develop healthy romantic relationship. And honestly, its hard not to ship after realizing their canon interaction, Toga's character and how much Toga is fond of him. Anyway, lets continue.

It is even more interesting since they are written to be compatible with each other. Their dynamic is like murderous couple, not in a way 'we make each other worse' but in a way 'we make each other better'.

Their characterization is inspired by Joker and Harley Quinn. All it takes is one bad day. Though, Shigaraki is opposite of Joker. He is not Toga's abuser. He is her healer.

They have the opposite attracts energy.

When i think about those two together, I realize how healthy and compatible their relationship would be.

Since they are both murderers and since they both became like this despite being good people/they tried their best until reaching breaking point, they wouldn't judge each other for this. Their life has been destroyed both causes of their quirk and environment so they would understand each other.

Who Toga really is was ignored her whole life, and that's why in the end, Toga controlled her all relationship. She always stalks people, having side relationships to have absolute control. Even with her relationship with Twice, she has more control over her relationships. So what Toga needs to do is give control to her partner too, she shouldn't try to control their life. She should be letting that person s taking decisions too. Shigaraki is the opposite. His life was always controlled by others. He didn't make decisions in his life so he needs to take control of his own life. Shigaraki needs to make decisions in his relationships too. Shigaraki wants to be a leader in the group while Toga has no interest in being a leader, she is ok with being a helper. Shigaraki became a villain cause of pain, and hate. His life is full of pain, this is why he needs to see good things in life. Toga became a villain cause of pleasure and love. Her life is full of pleasure but she shouldn't ignore the pain of life. They are both equal children, this is why they would be equal in a relationship, they could learn how to deal with life and grow together. Toga is living in her world, she doesn't see people, only she is there. Meanwhile, Shigaraki only sees other people, he doesn't see himself, even in his memories.

Normally, Toga acts close to other people but in reality, she is too cold and acts logically cause she wasn't loved. Meanwhile, Shigaraki normally seems too cold and cautious but actually, he is very warm and emotional. when someone pushes him, he acts emotionally, unlike Toga who acts logically. And even though, Toga is more emotionally intelligence than Shigaraki (and many other characters), Shigaraki is a lot better at socially interacting with others and making friends. Again, since Toga was never really loved, she would afraid of being loved, hugged, being touched, at first. While Shigaraki lost his family with his own hands, he would afraid of loving, hugging, and touching someone. Shigaraki has always had a relationship with someone but since his all relationship is abusive towards him, he has no interest in having a partner, also he is like asexual. While Toga never had a relationship with someone, all she wants is to have a partner, also she is like bisexual. Shigaraki has no one in his life as his lover while Toga has many lovers in her mind. Shigaraki is always being chased after, and controlled by people while Toga always stalks people. All Toga want is to be accepted by someone, and belonging to somewhere. While Tenko’s hero dream is literally about giving a place to outcasts like Toga.

Toga always sees people as things but she needs to see people as people. Meanwhile, Shigaraki was treated as a thing his whole life, he needs to see himself as a human being, not a thing. Toga needs to see worth in other people while Shigaraki needs to see worth in his life. Shigaraki needs someone who will be beside him, loyal to him, someone who will fight beside him, even against the whole world. Toga needs loyalty towards someone, a person who will inspire her and since she heals with Shigaraki’s kindness, she would fight beside him, even against the whole world, since they are both outcasts as equals. Shigaraki needs support, and Toga needs inspiration, just like their foils Deku and Uraraka. Shigaraki is very destructive and he always hurts himself he needs to learn to care about his life. Toga enjoys someone’s bleeding, and getting hurt, she needs to care about other people’s pain.

Toga likes spicy food, and Shigaraki likes sweet things, kinda funny. Both Shigaraki and Toga don't want anyone to do their thing, Toga cause she wants to choose what she wants on her own, for Shigaraki, he doesn't want to be a payer to someone.

Shigaraki is youngest child of his family, he has that kinda spoiled kid energy and very codependant and he always needs a babysitter to take care of him while Toga (and Dabi) is oldest child of her family, she is very independent girl. Even though, she is the youngest in league, she tends to take care of people around her too and she is living in streets on her own since middle school.

I am sure that there is more. They are written to oppose each other in every way but also in a good way and it is really entertaining. They have murderous couple energy with amazing chemistry but at the same time, its is unexpectedly very stable for them. This post is actually kinda old but whatever, it is fun to think about it.