#so for her to become a character any earlier than season 10 it would have to be like season 9

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

you said your inbox is dry so let me share what i've been thinking about - imagine if mandy would've came back to the show and sandy would've been introduced earlier and they were just besties?? cousin besties, bad bitches; everyone knows you don't fuck with the milkovich girls. thoughts?

oh i love this ask!! also, i just realized while checking my inbox that you sent a really good long ask so im going to answer that asap💋

ummmmmmm so i definitely think that in the shameless universe that we know where both sandy and mandy exist, yes, they would be friends and i feel like they probably got along well growing up. HOWEVER, if mandy had come back they wouldn’t have even made sandy so idk

i wouldve liked for sandy to be introduced earlier, but i think that sandy’s character being introduced really all has to do with mickey because they were never really willing to make mandy a huge character. BUT, if she was introduced i feel like it would have to be like, mandy and lip are together and mandy takes lip/mandy goes to the milkovich house for advice on something or maybe just to get something, and then sandy would be there. maybe it’d be a scene kind of like sandy and mickey in 10x08???

i like that thought, though, and i would have loved for mandy and sandy to be in the show at the same time.

sorry this answer sucks ass LMAO

[shewolf-sinclair]

I HATE when people dumb down Jason Todd “he’s impulsive/irrational/erratic/brash/dumb/the angry robin!”

WRONG

let me break it down for you fools because he’s actually like one of the most nuanced and complex characters to ever bless my presence (and he’s the best ((my fav)) robin argue with the wall) (tldr at the end but please read the post)

Starting out as robin they are ALL orphans. because that’s like bruce’s thing. BUT dick and tim had families before bruce adopted them. Jason did not. HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. (+10 points for truama✨) which led him to grow up to be independent and resourceful. Bruce literally met him because he was trying to steal the bat mobiles tires with the intent of reverse engineering them to sell to the people of gotham because bullet proof tires in that kinda city would save lives source

As for being brash. Yeah. he is. he lacks people skills because HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. yet he still knows how to sympathize with people and not be an ass ALL the time. he’s cocky sure but it’s a defensive mechanism after years of being treated like he doesn’t have value/having to prove himself. and damien is worse lets bsffr.

He’s impulsive. (likely adhd) Teenager. next question.

He’s the angriest robin! he only ever wants vengeance! WRONG. dick is angrier! he was so petty he left gotham and got a new identity just as a fuck you to bruce. any anger Jason has is not unmatched or outdone by other robins and he is rightfully angry he’s been dealt a crappy hand in life. he’s jealous of dick because bruce was ALWAYS comparing him and telling heroic stories of dicks feats. it’s hard not to push yourself to be as good as or better than the og and not to crack under said pressure.

He’s dumb! NOPE. he is as smart if not smarter than tim. He is BRILLIANT when he wants to be. (see above: resourceful) if you take titans (cw) as canon (why wouldn’t u its as canon as any other tv show??) he is a GENIUS. he taught himself chemistry so he could invent and mass produce drugs. he had a genius strategy to fuck with the titans; the puzzle of clues for which dick needed scarecrow, kory, gar, and conner to solve. Not to mention him finding doctor light earlier in the season. He leads the outlaws bc he is a natural leader and good at handling the details!!

He’s a villain! OKAY AND? SO WAS HARLEY BUT WE LUV HER !! DAMIEN WAS A TRAINED ASSASAIN! he puts so much effort into helping people (see above: resourceful) HE RISKED/LOST HIS LIFE FOR IT. HE IS FIERCELY LOYAL. even as red hood he obtains a strict moral code; no drugs to kids or by schools, don’t kill innocent uninvolved people(depends on which media you’re looking at). serve karma on a gold platter. unlawful but USUALLY NOT unethical. he also becomes a vigilante (and the JL for a bit) and does so much good! none of them are perfect ALL of the time. and considering the other DC villains, he’s not that evil.

strength?? no problem! he almost beat dick and bruce several times in the comics!! source

not to mention his proficiency for new things (see above: chemistry) his whole time as robin he uses bat tech. but redhood uses guns and knives. he just picked that up and was a skilled marksman immediately. (also truama response after nearly dying to death stroke)

so what hes kinda fucked in the head. aren’t they all? isn’t that… the point? it’s justified after everything he’s been through AND it makes hims a better character, more 3D more realistic and relatable.

also for the sake of this thesis partially disregard the wonderful work of art that is WFA it’s a fixit. for a reason. because the it was broken and needed fixing.

TLDR; you don’t have to like Jason Todd, or think he’s the best Robin, but you have to admit, he is a complex, layered, well written character. And stop mischaracterizing him and dumbing him down to this impulsive, angry, weak kid.

bonus: my Jason playlist

[juniorfor2]

I’ve seen too many posts on Rhaenyra ‘continuing the cycle of Viserys’ weakness’ or ‘being a bad mother’ without considering the bad writing of House of the Dragon and I am fed up with it. Rhaenyra’s motherhood being stripped from her was nothing more than ignorant and (at times) malicious writing, it is not a true aspect of her character.

First, considering the “parallel” between Viserys and Rhaenyra - where neither truly support their heir’s position - it should be pretty apparent that this wasn’t intentional. The writers clearly had NO understanding of how they wrote Viserys, which in turn meant they didn’t understand how they wrote Rhaenyra. Even back in Season 1, consider the fact that it was the fandom that noticed how weak Viserys was in supporting Rhaenyra, there was little to no framing of this at all from the show itself. He’s portrayed as a man who wished for his family to get along, but failed because they refused to do so - not because of his lack of decision making.

In Episode 8, he’s desperately trying to bring his family together one last time, and he is portrayed as someone who is not at fault; regardless of the fact that he was clearly much too late to change anything, this is a heroic act. Viserys is not at fault, it was Alicent who misheard him, the council who usurped Rhaenyra. Viserys was a ‘good’ man, and the weak and politically terrible attempts he made to secure her succession are instead framed as strong and wise decisions.

Even back in the earlier episodes, this is obvious. When he sends Rhaenyra out on her tour for a husband, this is made out as Viserys helping her. Rhaenyra is terrified of marriage and the childbed, but his ignorance of such isn’t considered at all by the show. And when he sends off Otto, this is shown as an amazing decision that showed his clear protectiveness of Rhaenyra - even though he then took away her choice, sold her off to a man who would have a hard time giving her children, and took away one of the only family members she felt she could rely on. Truly incredible.

And even further back, when Viserys is stubbornly acting as if nothing is wrong during the carriage ride to the hunt, this is framed as Rhaenyra being difficult, not Viserys’ lack of consideration for her feelings. The show had very little idea of who they made Viserys out to be.

In Episode 10, this idea becomes more forceful through Rhaenyra’s sovereignty.

“Rhaenyra is very much her father’s daughter…the way she approaches her duties as sovereign is much more in line with Viserys” - Ryan Condal, Inside the Episode

Viserys is not viewed as weak. He’s a “peaceful” and “good” ruler, one who should be emulated. Season 2 not only confirms this, but also encourages it.

“Do you never think of your father? His…forbearance, his…judiciousness, his…his dignity.” - Otto Hightower, S02E03

“You sound like my father.” - Rhaenyra to Daemon, S02E08

This means that the idea that Rhaenyra’s parenting is a result of Viserys’ is nonexistent. How can her parenting be weak when her father’s wasn’t either? This is a parallel that comes from the fandom, it has no real meaning in the story. That’s not to say the writers weren’t putting Rhaenyra in a situation where her parenting could be questioned - because they were - but this is not a true parallel, it does not exist to affect or even foreshadow the plot.

Rhaenyra does not continue this cycle of weakness. In fact, if the writers or the fandom understood the relationship between Viserys & Alicent’s family, and Rhaenyra & Daemon’s family, they would have understood that Rhaenyra would break any cycle created.

This brings me to the next point - Rhaenyra is not a bad mother. She is being stripped of her motherhood, yes, but she is not a bad one.

Regardless of book or show, it is clear that Rhaenyra raised a good family. In the book Jace, Luke, and Joffrey are noble, caring, and perfect as any man in Westeros could be. Aegon as well, kept constantly by Rhaenyra’s side, is noted to be a good person, even if traumatized. And with no other consistent parenting figure, GRRM clearly credits this to Rhaenyra. The fact that every one of the children she raised turned out so well was not unintentional writing.

When the Prince of Dragonstone took his dragon back into the cold autumn sky, he did so with the knowledge that he had won three powerful lords and all their bannermen for his mother. Though his fifteenth nameday was still half a year away, Prince Jacaerys had proved himself a man, and a worthy heir to the Iron Throne.

His brother Lucerys agreed. “Our uncle calls us Strongs, but when the lords see us on dragonback they will know that for a lie. Only Targaryens ride dragons.” Mushroom tells us the Sea Snake grumbled at this, insisting the three boys were Velaryon, yet he smiled as he said this…“My lord, I am not free to marry,” he replied. “I am betrothed to my cousin Rhaena.”

Prince Joffrey, three-and-ten, donned squire’s armor and begged the queen to let him ride to the Dragonpit and mount Tyraxes. “I want to fight for you, Mother, as my brothers did. Let me prove that I am as brave as they were.”

“There will be no progress.” [Aegon] declared… “I mean to give the smallfolk peace and love and justice.”

And when it comes to protecting her children - well, there is no doubt that she supported their ascension.

Ser Vaemond Velaryon, protested that the inheritance by rights should pass to him…on the grounds that Rhaenyra’s sons were bastards sired by Harwin Strong. The princess was not slow in answering this charge. She dispatched Prince Daemon to seize Ser Vaemond, had his head removed, and fed his carcass to her dragon, Syrax.

“Bastard blood, shed at war,” Alicent replied… The Dowager Queen’s words only fanned the flames of Rhaenyra’s wroth. “I will hear no more lies,” she warned. “Speak again of bastardy, and I will have your tongue out.”

In the show, while these events are somewhat removed/haven’t happened yet, they are somewhat present in S1. Rhaenyra drags herself through the Red Keep minutes after childbirth to ensure Joffrey is safe by her side. She threatens Aemond to keep her son safe, and takes a dagger to the arm to keep Alicent from harming him. When it came to Luke’s succession being threatened, she was willing to beg her father to protect her and her children. She gives a small nod to Daemon, asking him to take Vaemond’s head. She clearly does her best to protect her children in Season 1.

Rhaenyra, also unlike Viserys, ensures her children all love each other. While she had a terrible relationship with her own half-siblings in part because Viserys never cared to ensure Alicent couldn’t influence them against Rhaenyra, the half-sibling children of Rhaenyra clearly do not feel the same animosity.

The Prince of Dragonstone also had a care for the safety of his half-brothers, Aegon and Viserys, aged nine and seven. Their father, Prince Daemon, had made many friends in the Free City of Pentos during his visits there, so Jacaerys reached across the narrow sea to the prince of that city, who agreed to foster the two boys until Rhaenyra had secured the Iron Throne.

Viserys’ return did much to lessen the king’s loneliness as well. As a boy, Aegon had worshipped his three elder half-brothers.

Rhaenyra is not a continuation of Viserys. She is his opposite. She ensures her sons grow up kind and noble, unlike Viserys’ sons who grow callous and cruel to all. She protects her sons from threats of succession, unlike Viserys who sought to please both Rhaenyra and Alicent, putting her in danger. She ensures all her children grow up as one family with no wish to overthrow one another, whereas Rhaenyra’s own half siblings did usurp her. It is very clear in the book that Rhaenyra raised and protected her children in the way Viserys never truly did for her.

Now, in House of the Dragon, the writers changed this aspect of her in two ways in Season 2: by removing her children from her side, and by making Rhaenyra choose the throne over her children.

In the first one, this is easily seen when Rhaenyra willingly sends off all of her children to the Vale. Rather than have this orchestrated by Jacaerys, she sends them off herself, and says that she cannot be a mother to them. To add to this, Rhaenyra hardly has any time with the children, leaving the scenes between them rather cold. We also see the way that Jace, Joffrey, Aegon, and Viserys do not mix. They are not in the same scenes most of the time, or they do not interact with one another.

This was mostly just because Condal only cared to develop the Team Green kids over Team Black’s, but it was also set up in order to make the next change easier - and to make sure the audience wouldn’t question it.

The second change was deliberate, and intended to take away Rhaenyra’s motherhood. When they created the dragonseed situation, they specifically gave it to Rhaenyra to carry out in order to put her in a position between power and her children. As if somehow she could not come to a compromise.

She can have the throne or the children, not both.

This show has a serious problem with female autonomy and illegitimate children, so this was done for a reason. To portray bastards as some sort of “sin” that must be given up in order to gain something “righteous.” In the books they cause her 0 problems - the Greens usurped her because of misogyny, the bastardy was simply their cover up that no one else cared to believe, even on their own team.

Ser Criston Cole spoke up. Should the princess reign, he reminded them, Jacaerys Velaryon would rule after her. “Seven save this realm if we seat a bastard on the throne.” He spoke of Rhaenyra’s wanton ways and the infamy of her husband. “They will turn the Red Jeep into a brothel. No man’s daughter will be safe, nor any man’s wife. Even the boys…we know what Laenor was.”

This is changed in the show, where the children are the problem, not the misogyny. This much has been clear throughout both seasons, but it is actively encouraged in Season 2, where the writers’ bigotry and hatred for Team Black was let loose.

They do not like Rhaenyra, and they don’t seem to particularly care for how much this characteristic of hers was loved by the audience. They also don’t like Jace, Luke, or Joff much because they are rather bastardphobic (how that exists now I don’t know, but this show has revealed just how many people believe it). So the writers indulged in their fantasies by taking away one of Rhaenyra’s best characteristics, and by portraying the Velaryon boys as uncompromisable obstacles to the throne just because of their birth. Therefore giving themselves a way to portray Rhaenyra as a narcissistic and religious woman who cares more about power than other people.

This is not Rhaenyra. This is the writers using her face to force in their own political and social ideas - just as they’ve done for Jace and Rhaenys. Rhaenyra’s unintentional parallel to Viserys means nothing, and is just a disguise the fandom made up to let the writers get away with their misogynistic writing. Rhaenyra was written as loving, protective mother, and to consider her otherwise is to engage in the writers’ misogyny, nothing else.

[awoogayanderes]

A KISS TO REMEMBER

➪ request : “Hi!! Can I request HCs of sharing a first kiss with Muichiro and Mitsuri from kny? I am obsessed with the latest season! Have you seen it already?”

➪ other notes : yes i’ve seen it ! it was genuinely amazing, i’m so happy they did it justice because it was as beautiful from the manga, i can’t wait for next season, i also haven’t written for kny in such a long time omg, non edited

Muichiro Tokito :

- you’d definitely have to play a big role in his life, struggling with his memory issues

- that is until he regains his memory after his encounter with gyokko ( and the tanjiro effect, yes it’s real. )

- so when you visit him in the hospital, you didn’t have much hope of him actually remembering you, getting used to his coldness

- “y/n ?” muichiro calls out for you, his eyes bright, full of life, something you hadn’t seen anytime before

- after he gets discharged, he’s more lively around you, remembering everytime you put up with him even when he was stubborn

- your first kiss happens when you’re both sitting on a log in a field of flowers

- it comes out of nowhere, not calculated on either party, you just lean in and it happens like most first kisses as a teenager

- it’s soft, despite his lips being slightly chapped, but the kiss is also light, you can almost not feel it at all

- when you pull away, you just blankly stare at each other as his face is coated in red

- “is this what people call dating,” muichiro asks, still slightly confused on the term shinobu had explained to him earlier

- that’s the only reason why he got the guts to do it, knowing that it could ruin your friendship

- 8/10 overall experience, despite so much frustration, in the end it was worth the wait

Mitsuri Kanroji :

- she’s literally my favorite character and hashira in demon slayer, she’s my wife fr

- i think she starts to develop genuine feelings when you show her kindness and patience, not judging her for the amount she eats or her body

- this starts out in a restaurant as you lovingly watch mitsuri eat joyously, a light pink already coating her cheeks

- “do you want anymore y/n ?” mitsuri asks, holding out her chopsticks in case she needed to feed you some of her food

- once she’s done, you both chat of whatever comes to mind, a tradition you both have established to spend more time together

- you both don’t realize when you’re getting closer, just wanting more of each other without actually saying it out loud

- there’s a pause of silence until mitsuri closes her eyes and envelops you into a kiss

- her kiss is passionate but also soft, lips gracefully but carefully glazing over yours, it’s not messy, rather delicate

- as you both pull away, you notice her face has become crimson red rather than its usual pink

- “i apologize if i startled you but you’re just so kind and lovely with me,” mitsuri sputters out nervously making you smile with love

- she’s literally been debating doing this for months on end, it wasn’t just a spur of a moment, she’s wanted this for so long

- 10/10 overall experience, she’s literally full of love, any rating lower would be criminal

[thelasttime]

so i don't know your general familiarity with ABC's Once Upon a Time but we were talking about it on here earlier so i wanted to offer a brief (lord willing) explanation of the timeline and relationships bc it's a hot mess!

i've used yellow to divide the major characters into two main "generations" based on who we see interact and when but there's some caveats. as you can see, hook, milah, and rumple were all contemporaries but rumple became immortal and hook went to neverland so they never aged after their first appearances. baelfire/neal, who as rumple and milah's son would be the generation immediately after them, also went to neverland and didn't age except he was still a kid (that's important for later).

its unclear how much time passes before cora appears but like i said, immortal or in neverland, and for transparency's sake i had to include rumple and cora's relationship, which is the miller's daughter spinning straw into gold story that most people associate rumplestiltskin with. anyway, that relationship doesn't work out and cora marries and has regina, the evil queen who becomes snow white's stepmother but i put snow and regina in the same generation because just trust me okay, i don't have time to explain, just trust me that we're meant to interpret them as closer to peers than mother-daughter.

belle is in gen 2 because while she doesn't meet snow or charming personally before the show's present, rumple mentions her to charming and regina kidnaps belle and holds her prisoner for a while. so yes, rumplestiltskin is Chronologically older than belle and most of the main cast except for hook, but more accurately he's eternally Father of a 13 y/o Aged, and belle, who was old enough to be engaged to gaston at the time of meeting rumple, is into that.

everyone who isn't in neverland (or wonderland, long story) gets frozen in time for 28 years Per The Plot and baelfire returns from neverland, still a teenager, in time to take on the identity of neal cassidy and meet main character emma! they have a tryst as teenagers (emma confirmed to be 18) that results in henry. we don't know neal's exact age at the time, but their actors are almost the same age (one year apart) so neal was most likely 18 or 19 physically.

the end result is that when time starts moving again, emma is 28, henry is 10, and everyone else appears to be Around Emma's Age (she says as much in season 2) or in rumple's case a bit older but not as old as you'd expect because neal/baelfire aged a bit without rumple aging.

i say all this because i need people to know that its not worth talking shit about age gaps in OUAT since hook is literally from the same generation as rumple and OLDER THAN BAELFIRE but no one has any problems with him and emma because they think his actor is attractive. thank you for your time, madie, this is something i'm very passionate about ;0;

"28 years Per The Plot" made me laugh so much help!!!! this is so fun, thank you so much for the info-dump <3 this lowkey (highkey) makes me want to watch the show although it does seem very chaotic

[yukine-sakamoto]

Shadows House Season 1 Review

I really liked this show, even more than I thought I would, actually, and I’m surprised it has so few members on my anime list. I want more people to watch it so they make more of it. I don’t think they can finish everything in the one more season that exists right now.

First, the mystery was done so well. The pacing of the small reveals that just lead to more questions. The way the world of the show slowly opens up to us. It just pulls you in. I love a show with really deep lore. And the characters were so well made. I came to love all of them, even though/because each has faults. The outfits of the shadows were each unique and beautiful, and despite having no features, the shadows were all so expressive. Honestly, the whole show is beautiful. They managed to do one of my favorite things which is blending fantasy/action with bits of slice of life. You have the mysterious soot stuff going on, but you also have these occasional cute moments of just life in the mansion. It’s difficult to get the pacing right, which is why I think it’s not often attempted, but this felt very smooth, and did a fantastic job of contributing to the character arcs. It wasn’t too scary either. There were definitely some unsettling scenes that set the dark undertones for the show, but it was still very palatable for me. The ED is fantastic too. Really captures the mood of the whole show. The last two episodes are apparently anime only, and they definitely felt a little different. I haven’t read the manga, so it didn’t really bother me, and the manga author is involved in the show, so I’m willing to believe they have a plan. I still thought the ending was satisfying. It ties up some smaller threads from earlier, while still leaving the broader questions open leaving you wanting more seasons.

I gave it 9/10, and I don’t give out a lot of nines. I actually think this show has become one of my favorites.

Now, some more detail on the last two episodes (spoilers)

The whole kidnapping thing felt very rushed. Edward had very little to go on to prove that Kate was involved in any kind of misconduct, so it seems odd that he would go straight to kidnapping Emilico as a plan. He is shown throughout the debut arc to be a meticulous planner and schemer, so this is fairly out of character. I saw some manga readers that were quite frustrated with this as it’s apparently well out of line for his manga character as well. I wasn’t too bothered by that aspect. I was more peeved by the way Ricky and Lou were cured of the soot coffee. It felt way too easy compared to what Emilico and Shawn went through. I don’t think the coffee effects would fade so quickly as to lower the bar that much.

I did like seeing all the kids work together to figure out how to save Emilico and get Kate into the other wing. John’s veiled doll impression was hilarious. I feel like Gerald and Aileen didn’t do anything all season, but it was especially painful that they did the same “they must be disguised as veiled dolls” bit twice. I liked that we got to see Kate’s wings again, but it felt like a stretch of John’s powers to push them like that. I found it an odd choice to have Kate and Emilico land on top of the boys. I don’t know, maybe it was supposed to be funny? I don’t get it. It was also very convenient that John was able to escape via the soot bird without any kind of difficulty or anyone noticing. Felt like the writers wrote themselves into a corner and had to make do. Honestly I’m kind of nitpicking though. I enjoyed the little arc overall, it was nice seeing Edward get caught (It was also clear that it was anime-only so they couldn’t give him any real consequences, but anyway). Still, I feel like they could have ended things in a fairly satisfying way right after Kate notices the soot coffee effects to leave a good cliffhanger, maybe when they’re meeting lord grandfather. Or maybe after Kate cures her. That would still leave the other three’s condition open ended. It felt like a very awkward transition right after that emotional scene to jump right into the kidnapping. I guess they wanted to get to a full cour.

Biggest reveal of that arc is that the little morph with a bow actually is Shirley. I thought I was deluding myself, but no somehow she survived. I can only imagine the reveal was done differently in the manga; the Shirley-morph had a surprisingly large roll in the rescue. Also, we see Shirley-morph seems to stay with Rum, which is adorable and heartbreaking. We know she’s alive, which is expected since we knew the plan was to make her a veiled doll, but we never see her face. We don’t know her mental condition right now, and we were told that the veiled dolls undergo some kind of extra soot coffee treatment. I’m not sure Rum will be able to be brought back like the others. It’s clear the coffee has different strengths as it was used to wipe memories in the very beginning. Rum might be saved but not be able to remember any of the events thus far. Also, Shirley-morph hasn’t taken her form again, so there must be more going on with her.

Other questions still open: How does Kate know so much and why does she seem to harbor such a personal hatred towards the house? Why is Edward so obsessed with getting to the third floor? How has he been watching Kate and the others? What’s his next move? Why does he suspect Kate so much? Why does he suspect the others in the third floor crew? What are their goals anyway? What is lord grandfather’s end goal? World domination? What do the star bearers do? What other types of soot powers are there? What’s in the box Kate found when searching for Emilico? What happens in that soot room we saw in the intro? Actually, I think we see it again in the outro. I really liked the parallelism of having those two montages book end the show. It looked like Kate, John, and Louise were getting instruction on soot powers in the same room. Also there were a couple shadows that were working on Emilico’s cage in the intro that we see again in the outro in some kind of workshop. I want to meet them. I want to meet all the characters. I think I will take a break before watching season 2, though, as this show has genuinely affected my sleep.

[sillylilyposting]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE BELOW

The main reason Lily claims to despise Steven Universe is because it's Nazi propaganda (“out of stupidity, not malicious attempt” Lily tries to claim) since the main character wins the conflict via non-violent means and convinces the enemy to change their ways. Yet this isn’t even the first Cartoon Network show to take such an approach and it's from a show just as popular as Steven Universe if not more so, Ben 10: Alien Force. The first two seasons of the second Ben 10 show have Ben and co battling against the Highbreed a race of xenophobic aliens who wish to exterminate all other life in the universe with Earth being a prime target for their operations as its tech and relative. The Season 2 finale has Ben and Co. head to the Hybrid Homeworld to get them to stop the war by any means necessary after their attempts to repel the invasion from earth end up futile.

When there they learn the Hybrid’s motive for wanting to kill everybody is they’ve become sterile from generations of inbreeding for the sake of genetic purity, with the species are petty enough to want wipe out all life alongside them. Despite Ben being capable of easily wiping out the council thanks to currently having the Omnitrix’s full power unlocked Ben chooses to use The Omnitrix’s power to cure them of their genetic defects rejuvenating the Highbreed race by turning them into Hybrids, sacrficing the coveted Master Control in the process. The Highbreed are at first disgusted but one Ben had healed and befriended at the start of the Season 2, Reiny, convinces them this is the key to their survival. This speech combined with the fact Reiny is technically now the most genetically pure Highbreed causes the council to elect Reiny as the new leader and he calls off the invasion.

From this description alone, you can see a lot of similarities with the Season 5 finale of Steven Universe, the thing Lily uses to justify her hatred and slander of Rebbecca Sugar claiming she’s a Nazi sympathizer. Yet despite Ben 10 eclipsing (or at least rivaling) Steven Universe in popularity, Lily has never brought up the franchise once, despite the Highbreed having FAR more Nazi-coding than The Diamonds. I have a few theories as to why (not all of which being mutually exclusive) but I’m curious about your thoughts:

Lily is so narrow on the media she consumes that she’s really never heard of or watched Ben 10

Lily didn’t think Ben 10 would draw any views given the franchise was in a slump at the peak of her channel. (Original continuity ended in 2014 and the 2017 reboot was seen as mediocre at best, with Ben 10’s fandom not returning to active prominence until the 2020s).

Lily is harsher on characters and creators who are caucasian. While the Ben 10 franchise was created by four white guys the showrunner of Alien Force was the late Dwayne McDuffie who is African American

Lily knew she couldn’t as easily distort facts or rile up people, as the finale of Steven Universe was already divisive even if you discount people who aren’t crazy like Lily. While Alien Force was at one time contentious, the first two seasons are now seen as a sacred cow amongst the fandom, with the finale in particular being seen as a highlight of the franchise. In other words, Lily does hate Ben 10 but knows that the fanbase is too detail-oriented for her to misrepresent stuff

Her hatred of SU is done solely to spite Lizzy since Lizzy was apperently a fan of the show

Well first

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

That message was long goodness

Second i think ypus right a major part of the reason for Lily not covering Ben 10 might include it's clear aim towards the action crowd right off the bat

She gots no interest in action media and yeah it was earlier than her general vid essays days but WHO KNOWS really

[beansthebylershipper]

Stranger things teens ship analysis

disclaimer: I can’t write about all the stranger things ships in one post, so I have another post about stranger things kids ships (Byler, Lumax, etc.), and am also planning to make one about the adults.

Jancy: Jancy was really cute up until season 4. Then their relationship became kinda toxic. But in all the other seasons I definitely shipped them, and I’m pretty confident that they are an endgame ship. Rating: 6.5/10

Stancy: I’ve never shipped Stancy, and I don’t think that the duffers want us to either. They were clearly just used as a prop to get Jancy going, and they were quite a toxic relationship. Steve and Nancy are better off with other people, and I hope that Steve will realize that like Nancy did. Rating: 0/10

Ronance: The idea of Ronance is cute and I ship it about as much as I ship Jancy, but I don’t see it becoming canon because Robin and Vickie both canonically like eachother, but who knows, I wouldn’t mind much if I were wrong 🤷. Rating: 6/10

Jargyle: Jargyle is awesome, and I love it. I ship it about as much romantically as I do platonically, and you guys are really out here doing gods work with the fanwork. I don’t see it becoming canon because it’s pretty clear that they are just besties, but I’d love it if it was. Rating: 7/10

Stonathan: to be honest I don’t see the chemistry at all with this one, but the idea of the ship is cute. And I mean, Steve was pretty chill with the fact that Jonathan literally slept with his girlfriend in season 2. Rating:4/10

Steddie: I liked Steddie at first, but Steddie fans have kinda ruined it for me. A lot of them are either Eddie stans/simps, or fujoshis, both of which are a red flag. The ship it’s self is really cute, but some of the fans are problematic and we all know that if one of them wasn’t white there wouldn’t be nearly as many fans, I mean look at them compared to jargyle, both are healthy ships, but only one has a large amount of creepy fans, and yet that one has WAY more shippers. I think that that’s a little suspicious. (Also I’m aware that there are plenty of normal Steddie shippers out there, I just think that there are more problematic ones than there should be.) Rating: 4/10

Stobin: NO. NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. ROBIN IS A LESBIAN. IF YOU SHIP STOBIN ROMANTICALLY, GET OFF MY ACCOUNT. Rating: -100000/10

Rockie: (is that the ship name for Robin and Vickie?) I don’t have that much of an opinion on this ship, but it’s pretty cute I guess. My only problem with it is that I wish that they had given Vickie more screen time or introduced her earlier in the series because it’s hard to me to care about a ship when I hardly know anything about one of the characters. I feel like that was kinda bad writing on the duffers part, but that’s my only problem with it, other than that it’s fine. Rating: 6/10

Buckingham: The fanwork for this ship is everything, but they literally have zero moments together. I get why people ship it though because the dynamic would be cute. Rating: 5/10

Chrissy x Jason: (what is the ship name for this????) Jason really cared about Chrissy, but they barely got any time together on the show, plus Chrissy was giving me lesbian vibes so- Rating: 3/10

Harringrove: Billy was definitely a simp for Steve, but Billy was rasist, abusive, and just a terrible person in general and Steve deserves a lot better. Rating: -100/10

Barb x Nancy: where is the hype for this ship?? It’s so cute! Barb wasn’t alive for very long so I don’t have that much to say on the ship, but i definitely shipped them while she was alive. Rating 7.5/10

Hellcheer : I didn’t see any chemistry for this tbh. They interacted once, when Chrissy tried to buy drugs from Eddie and then got vecnaed. I just dont see where people are getting a romantic relationship from, I guess. Rating 3/10

Part one ⬇️

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, People, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 12: Predatory.

I hate this episode so don’t read if you like it. I also don’t have any screenshots.

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

~~~~Transition~~~~

00:40 - I get this is supposed to be important but it’s taking forever!

00:55 - It’s weird how Jack’s allowed to come with Arcee. I would’ve thought she’d be more concerned about him.

00:56 - Why is he comparing them to vampire bats? Why not just ‘bats’. Also unless they’re in Australia, I doubt those Mozzies are anything to ride home about.

01:02 - alright Arcee, settle down.

01:05 - No, she wouldn’t, instead she’d be making fun of the fact you didn’t bring it. Also he was very animated in that moment.

01:10 - The animation got a lot heavier. It works on the bots because their designs are awesome and because becoming more expressive is a rare sight on them. For Jack, it just looks uncanny.

01:22 - Those are a lot of big words. Maybe I’m just tired, maybe my brain ain’t working 100%, but I seriously doubt parents had a good time hearing their child stuttering their way through ‘what does________ mean?’

01:30 - As I stated earlier, I don’t like this episode. One of the reasons is because it’s very slow paced. I’m fairly certain this episode’s a placeholder (considering that Sick Mind and Out of His Head are coming up and those episodes are great) but it doesn’t mean that it has to be so boring.

01:56 - This would be a bigger reveal if we hadn’t seen the thing land.

~intro~ (never have I been so glad to see it.)

02:51 - Arcee is the worst guardian. Why wouldn’t she send Jack home before going in?

03:32 - that could’ve been cool if they did the flashbacks WHILE Arcee was looking around, like if it showed the corridor/hall whatever ya wanna call it without anything, then showed what Arcee saw, rather than just giving flashbacks while Arcee stands there. 

03:46 - finally, doing a smart thing! (Although credit to her, once she recognised something was wrong she got out of the ship.)

03:50 - missed opportunity for a suspense build up then ‘my ex wife’s’. They exes.

04:02 - credit where credit’s due, this is kinda realistic. Arcee’s in a sort of panic so much that she’s blocking out her surroundings and Jack’s trying to communicate with her to understand the situation and how worried he should be.

04:04 - NO! Dear frag have you learnt NOTHING, Arcee??

04:31 - this scene feels like it should be more intense… I don’t know why, but it’s just not hitting correctly.

04:38 - If she had more gone to the neck, rather than the face plates, I think it would’ve been more suspenseful because the face plates are more cosmetic injuries and rarely scar, while the neck on the bots could be hiding more scars and could be more life threatening. Then again, maybe they were right not to do that (if you know, you know)

04:57 - I’m sorry, but I have to share.. I’m so incredibly bored and it’s only been 4 minutes.

05:15 - I.. UGH! What the frag?! I get that Arcee’s upset and all, but I’m on Jack’s side rn.

05:27 - WAS THIS SERIOUSLY THEIR JUSTIFICATION AS TO WHY JACK WAS THERE?! NO RISK?! R E A L L Y ?! THEY WERE IN A NEW LOCATION WITH BAD SERVICE WITH ONLY ONE THING TO GUIDE THEM! IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS THAT NO RISK?!

05:44 - Jack the type to stand at the edge of a sinkhole.

06:24 - Tailgate sounds like he’s voiced by the guy who voiced Shiro in Voltron. I searched it up. He did :D AND APPARENTLY HE VOICED JACK TOO?!

06:50 - those two were dating, pretty obvious.

07:16 - H O L Y . Airachnid’s voice made me gayer. Although missed opportunity to give her an Aussie accent.

07:22 - GODDAMN She HAWT

07:45 - HOW THE FRAG DID HE KEEP ALL THAT IN A TINY BELT BAG.

07:49 - this is a still image.

07:54 - MMMM CURVES!

08:00 - makes me kinda uncomfortable seeing her spy on a child. Makes sense why the episode’s called Predatory.

08:01 - So Airachnid’s ran into no other animals?

08:22 - Airachnid’s moving side to side, why would her perspective be so steady?

09:06 - excuse me but WHAT THE FUCK?

10:01 - Jack, you actual idiot!

10:21 - No. We know she’s not down because she’s also a spider, they don’t stay down for long.

10:30 - …Someone should tell her that she’s the liability too.

10:33 - w h a t ? I can see it in your e y e s 👁👄👁

10:43 - you scratched her cheek and she gave up. The hell are you on about?

10:51 - I like that Airachnid is incredible at getting into someone’s head. She’s physically strong, yes, but she’s mostly talk because once she finds away to play her opponent like a flute she’s so much more likely to win.

10:57 - seeeee?

11:40 - Airachnid’s in Arcee’s head. Someone telling the truth would’ve acted more desperate and focus more on persuading them that their not lying rather thanspeakingallatoncetotryandgetthepointacrosstominimisethechanceofaccidentallytellingthetruth. (Just incase you couldn’t read it: than speaking all at once to try and get the point across to minimise the chance of accidentally telling the truth.)

11:56 - I thought that Airachnid was smarter than that. You never get rid of the only bargaining chip you have right away.

12:02 - that was quick…? Although dumb. Never have heartfelt moments until you’re completely out of the woods.

12:26 - let’s be honest here. She kinda does have to wonder.

12:46 - To be fair, it is working for her.

13:08 - DON’T LOOK BACK!

14:02 - YEAH! WOO! BUMBLEBEE!

14:06 - SLAY CLIIIIFF! Perhaps I shouldn’t say Slay tho-

14:09 - FRAG YEAH!

14:12 - okay, that looks so funny. With Arcee being dwarfed by Bee and Cliff.

14:16 - that couldn’t care less as Arcee screams ‘I couldn’t save him’

14:23 - I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel in this situation.

14:31 - She has SWORDS on her ARMS. Why is she trying to break the webs by force??

15:22- okay, that was kinda scary, ngl

16:25 - a lot of this is just a chase scene.

16:47 - she could’ve stepped over it.

17:18 - you and me both, Airachnid.

17:32 - WHY?! WHYYY?! WHY?! WHY WOULD HE GO IN THERE?! WHY?!

18:16 - she has a similar demeanour to Knockout. In a perfect world, the two get drinks together and talk about other people.

18:26 - smart, NOT going into the ship.

18:51 - you’re telling me he doesn’t have a match?.

19:15 - I’ve lost so many brain cells.

19:33 - his running cycle has me in tears.

19:52 - of course she’s still alive!

19:57 - oh.. Ew..

20:18 - see? Arcee had the odds with her as long as Airachnid didn’t talk.

21:02 - I’m sorry I had to witness it.

21:23 - oh, pretty- WAIT I GET IT. IT’S TO SYMBOLISE THAT THEY’RE OUT OF THE WOODS!

———————

So that was Predatory.

It’s very clearly a filler episodes (Very obviously because they didn’t bring in any other voices actors at a l l. That’s why they chose Bee and Cliffjumper to be the ones to help out Arcee, but didn’t give Cliff any speaking lines.

There was literally only three voice actors in the entire ep and it shows)

I despise this episode. I understand that Airachnid was messing with Arcee, but it didn’t make it any less frustrating to watch. It was also incredibly boring.

I thought an Airachnid central episode was a good decision as her debut, but this was not it.

[lostariel17]

The Mandalorian Season 3 - Post-Binge Opinions

So I just binged the last season of the Mandalorian and while I enjoyed it enough, I do have some opinions about it (because it’s Star Wars and I always have opinions about Star Wars) Since it’s 3am and there’s no way I’m gonna be able to sleep right now, you get them in no particular order.

1. Why do they never close and lock their ship when they leave it? This makes no damn sense and opens them up to the worst possible security issues...

2. Bo-Katan’s throne room is ridiculously big. Alright, it would be impressive if it was filled, but her just lounging there all alone made me want to throw therapist numbers at her.

3. Speaking of therapist, shouldn’t have Grogu have had those PTSD flashbacks earlier? Also, I don’t like them dropping bits so randomly like this. I suppose they’ll use them later in future season. But it felt quite “let’s drop that here since it doesn’t fit anywhere else” to me.

4. I also admit I was bored most of ep3. I just didn’t care about what happened to the doctor and I feel disappointed that the longest episode of the season was almost exclusively about two minor characters, one we don’t even see again later.

5. While Grogu being all toddler “no no no” with Mando was fun and cute, Greef Karga choosing to cannibalize IG-11′s corpse to give like that says a lot about how little thought they give to droids despite them being sentient. Me didn’t like that.

6. Speaking of Grogu in that droid, what the hell was Mando thinking when he took him to Mandalore’s surface??? He knew they were going into an unknown potentially very dangerous situation. Taking the kid with him made absolutely no sense and shows that he really doesn’t have any experience with children.

7. This point may be influenced by fanon, but even if it is, I don’t care. Where are the non-humans Mandalorians??? They are a “swear the Creed, become one of us” people. They shouldn’t be all humans or near-humans!

8. The fights were disappointing, especially the gun fights. Most of them just felt too staged (which I know they are, but they aren’t supposed to feel that way) and boring and like the Mandalorians were Stormtroopers who couldn’t aim. Until they suddenly could 🙄

9. Why are Mandalorians so self-sacrificial? I don’t care that it makes sense with their culture and that it was a logical enough choice. I didn’t want Paz to die!!! I like his big dick/gun energy and the way he’s just very guided by his emotions and his pride. But I guess that’s what fics are so I’m gonna head up to AO3 later, and hopefully someone will have already fulfilled my fix-it need🤞

10. I always assumed that Mando’s first name was Din and his last name Djarin. Which is my Western raising showing I know. They could have told us before the last episode of the 3rd season that it’s the opposite though! Because if they did it earlier, I completely missed it 🤷‍♀️

11. Can they stop making the big bad guy come back in a full black armor? Darth Vader is dead and the vibes are over 🙄

12. The New Republic is proving to be very fussy about procedures and paperwork, which I expected. I didn’t expect them to go the forced indoctrination way though. That part was a bit darker than I expected. I did like it though!

So, this was my post-bing ramble. Hopefully it’ll still make sense when I get up tomorrow!

[thecurioustale]

Bardic Halloween

It never even occurred to me to pick October 31!

You know, I had been wondering lately when I should set Afiach Bard's birthday. This is a very "Mate of Song" time of year, and the Bard has been in my thoughts of late. I have (very!) slowly been setting birthdays for characters in The Curious Tale. It's one of those things that I should really just sit down one day and do en masse, but in lieu of that I've only been coming to it wild slow.

Birthdays, of course, should be fairly evenly scattered in a realistic composition. But the good thing about a large cast is that you can make a few exceptions. So far, all the birthdays I have chosen are meaningful to me personally, accounting for the translation between the Terran year and the Relancii year. Galavar's birthday was originally my birthday, though I changed this in The Great Galavar and made my birthday a major holiday; I moved his birthday later into the summer and never actually repegged it to our calendar, though it is somewhere in August. Silence's birthday is on my Five-Twelfths Birthday, December 27. DeLatia's birthday is on February 17.

The anniversary of Mate of Song itself is shrouded in mystery. For my 10-year Anniversary research on it last year, I came up with the date of October 30 (the date I started writing the manuscript), which would be a good date for Afiach's birthday in terms of how the events of Mate of Song play out. But Afiach herself was actually first named months earlier, and the character is a carryover from the RPG.

Then I saw the 10-year-anniversary post for Mate of Song in my Facebook Memories this morning and I instantly realized what date her birthday is: It's Halloween. October 31. Tomorrow!

Mate of Song is a very "Autumn" story, even though it takes place over the course of most of a year. To me, Autumn is the season of mystery and magic, crisp nights and hazy glimpses of other worlds. It is the season of inner light, when the Sun retreats and our own luminous works become more prominent. It is quite literally, in my culture, a time of year for lighting candles and hanging faerie lights—traditions which I am happy to engage with. Autumn is the season of leafy jewels everywhere you look, foggy mornings and afternoons, and spiced hot beverages like cider and chocolate and pumpkin. It is a very rich and rusty-red season, and Mate of Song is a very rich and rusty-red story. And no character in The Curious Tale, other than Silence herself I suppose, is more entwined in the mystery and magic of the world than Afiach, nor is any overall story more entwined in it than hers.

Halloween—and this is the reason why I like it so much—is the day when the boundary between worlds is at its thinnest. It is a day for fluid identities, encounters with the unknown, and eeriness and impishness. A day for feasts and sweets and jaunty spooky music. It is a day when life and the world are just a little bit...bigger.

And what better day for the birthday of Afiach Bard? October 31, or its Relancii equivalent rather, is hereby declared to be Bardic Halloween !!

It'll be a little bit sloppy to have Mate of Song's anniversary and Afiach's birthday one day apart, but OH WELL THEM'S THE RULES!! 😁😁😁

In the meantime, Happy 11th Anniversary to Mate of Song!

[hayscodings]

No because part of the brilliance of the earlier seasons of Shameless was precisely the balance between levity and grounded-ness that the writers were able to maintain, and this scene is a prime example of that. While part of it is written to make you laugh, the sentiments being expressed by the characters themselves are very much genuine. The actors are not playing for laughs; the scene only comes off that way to the audience by design.

Svetlana did not love Mickey, she was never in love with him, but she was happy to take what she could get so long as she was part of a family, and I think that she was hoping here that Mickey would feel the same. So much of Svetlana’s character was making the best of whatever present situation she found herself in and not asking for or expecting more— she was constantly operating in survival mode, because it was all she ever knew. Her mistake was assuming that other people operated the same. She never had the luxury of choice until this turning-point scene with Mickey.

Once it becomes clear to her that Mickey is in love with Ian, and they’re both able to put all of their cards on the table, she’s finally free to do something for herself for once— “And Nika comes here to live.” Not because she has to, not because it will promote her and her son’s survival, but simply because she wants to. That was a first for Svetlana, who had been denied any personal autonomy for at least half of her life.

I’m glad that you bring up her age, because, while I do feel that Svetlana’s often simplistic (and rather childlike) reasoning was largely informed by the extreme circumstances in which she grew up, her age cannot be ignored altogether. Svetlana is a teenager when we first meet her. She is younger than Fiona and only just slightly older than Mickey. Her experiences up until around S4 have been limited due to the fact that she has been under someone else’s control since she was 10 years old. She deserves far more grace from the fandom than it generally grants her.

Of course she was going to make mistakes— her life wasn’t her own until she was around 20. To expect her to have thought and functioned the same as the average, well-adjusted person her age isn’t just unrealistic, it’s unfair. She didn’t have the freedom to make and learn from her mistakes at the same time that everyone else did. She was experiencing firsts as an adult that most people experience in adolescence. There was a lot for her to figure out, and she was doing the best that she could with what little resources she had.

For a character who was never intentionally cruel or motivated by malice, it’s always shocking to me how quickly people are willing to vilify her. All she ever wanted was a decent life and a family for her and her son.

Svet was willing to change so much of herself to be loved, and it makes me sad. Like, i know it's just meant to be funny, but she was trying so hard to appeal to mickey. She completely changed her hair to match ians and ofc the strap on.

She must have known from the start that mickey was never gonna love her, that he couldn't, given the way they met. But she tried anyway cause she is just desperate for the affection and family that she's been deprived of for so long. Even svetlana herself knows she doesn't love mickey. She craves the fulfilment of a relationship. This just feels as a more light hearted version of the emotion in the scene where mickey brings Ian home.

It's things like this that remind me how young svet it. I cant really pinpoint why it just feels very childish.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

“What Was Missing” to “Obsidian”- 10 years of LGBT representation in cartoons

Guys, it’s been 10 years since What Was Missing aired. 

Any Adventure Time fan knows what this is, but any cartoon fan needs to understand what Was Missing is the reason there was a big push for LGBT characters in kid’s cartoons. I’m not sure just how far its influence goes, but it possibly had a strong impact on the western LGBT movement as a whole - how gay people were seen in online spaces, at least, before and after this dropped in 2011 is very different. 

Back when Rebecca Sugar was a young storyboarder on Adventure Time, they were very keyed in to internet fandom culture. It was late enough that LGBT shipping and activism was becoming increasingly dominant, but early enough that LGBT characters in media were almost nonexistent, with children’s media in particular avoiding even the most background of gays. Even adult’s media tended to reserve LGBT characters as sexualisation or comic relief. Rebecca thought it would be interesting to try something on AT:

Sugar: Okay, well looking back on everything, I'm really proud of what we were able to do with the characters of Garnet and Ruby and Sapphire. It really goes all the way back to the time I spent on Adventure Time and when I got a chance to do some of the earlier episodes with Marceline and Bubblegum. This was 2010 so Don't Ask Don't Tell was still a national policy. It would be half a decade before same-sex marriage was legal in The United States and I wanted to do something with the characters of Marceline and Bubblegum but figure out how to get it on TV. The strategy at the time that I pitched was that because they're both centuries-old, millenniums-old, had a relationship sometime in the past and they're unpacking that in a way that would be apparent. That was the only way to be able to do something with these characters and their relationship on screen. As I was entering my show, I really wanted to find a way to be able to show characters actively in a relationship happening in real-time

When “What WAs Missing” aired, it was a week after ���Fionna and Cake”, one of the most hyped up episodes of the series. Everyone found out about the names Natasha Allegri and Rebecca Sugar, and it seemed like AT was a series with a strong passion for fandom, very modern.

When the preview above aired, a few days before the episode, there were SO MANY EYES on it left over from Fionna and Cake. People IMMEDIATELY caught onto the romantic subtext in Marceline’s song. It strongly implies Marceline and Bubblegum had a bit more going on between them than a simple friendship gone sour.  Marceline’s feelings of resentment towards her ex girlfriend not seeing her as good enough were utterly transparent. At least to anyone keyed into the character. 

Unfortunately, it was not direct. And because of what happened next, it wasn’t going to be, for the next 7 years. 

The “Mathematical!” Controversy 

So have you ever heard of Frederator’s “Mathematical!” Podcast, where they posted Adventure Time animatics and modelsheets and discussed episodes? No? That’s because Fred Seibert had it wiped off the internet after they dropped their “What Was Missing” video.  

For context, Frederator is the production studio that is responsible for helping Pen develop his show and pitch it to Cartoon Network. They partnered up with Cartoon Network to produce Adventure Time, and had the right to share any non-classified documents. Frederator used to post storyboards for every episode, until season 5, when they studdenly stopped. I’m not sure if this is due to a change in their terms with Cartoon Network, or if Fred just stopped, but there are no storyboards uploaded for anything between “Finn the Human” and “Apple Wedding”, which is when Adam and Steve opened up @kingofooo​. 

Anyway, “Mathematical!” aired for the first 10 episodes of Season 3. It was fan oriented, like the videos about “Bravest Warriors” and “Bee and Puppycat” that Frederator used to share. It was directed by a gentleman called Dan Rickmers, and spoken more from the perspective of fans rather than anyone “in the know” about what the writers were intended. This part is important.  

When “What Was Missing” dropped, Dan decided to have the presenter talk about the romantic subtext in the episode. The podcast points it out clear for everyone to see:

So, they drop this podcast, suggest Marcy has feelings for PB, show off the now-famous Natasha Allegri’s crew art of the pairing, and ask everyone to ring in what their thoughts are about them getting together. And SWEET JESUS, this caused an explosion.  Word got around fast, specifically here on Tumblr back when it was the most active fansite on the internet.  Frederator recieved MOUNTAINS of phone calls. Mostly? Overwhelming support. But also, unfortunately, a lot of strongly worded complaints. Some from the AT crew themselves. 

Adam Muto, storyboarder on the ep and future showrunner of AT when the ship was finally canonized, was particularly bitter. He said the following when asked about the podcast: 

If it was just a fan video there would be no problem at all.

The problem was that it was made by a production company actively involved with the show.

The video took something that was a possible subtext and declared it, in effect, text and made it seem like the production was actively seeking out input on plot development.

......To be clear, besides Falling under the Frederator umbrella, the people who put together those recaps have no connection with our production. The last “Mathematical!” recap was unnecessarily sensationalistic. “Thumbs up for subtext” was a gaudy touch too.

Adam has never had any love for non-crew input on the show being mistaken as canon, but I have to be honest, considering he allegedly knew the truth of the pairing and was directly responsible for the subtext, his words here seem.... deeply confusing. Sensationalistic? How??? For pointing out a canon plot thread in your show??? Seems like Adam was salty that suddenly everyone had this much attention on AT for its gay characters. 

Dan, the podcast director, responded to everything with this post on tumblr. He defended his video, clarified it’s a fan podcast

Let’s talk about this whole Bubbleine thing. I direct the Adventure Time fan videos and episode recaps at Mathematical, and there’s some stuff going on about Cartoon Network and censorship. I think fanfics and shipping and LGBT relationships are AWESOME. Seriously. Personally, I also think Bubbleine is adorable and definitely my OTP for the series so far.

Mathematical can at most be considered a reaction to you guys, the fans. It’s a place for us to talk about what we like, and geek out about Adventure Time, and the production staff has nothing to do with it. So yeah, I think we all were thinking about Marceline and Bubblegum possibly crushing on each other after that episode, so I wanted us all to talk about it, but getting upset at anyone isn’t going to solve anything.

If you still want to talk about it, I think it would be a really cool development in the show, and between you and me, I’d be excited to see an american cartoon that is able to casually discuss LGBT relationships. I’m open, Mathematical is open, and we’re still going to put up a fan video tomorrow about…something. And if anyone else isn’t open, then that’s too bad for them, because I still love ALL OF YOU.

I also just wanted to say sorry to Adam Muto (Because it seems like I offended him, I guess?) and Rebecca Sugar for possibly distracting anyone from the excellent episode they wrote with two of the BEST songs in the series! Nothing but love for you two.

Fred Seibert, well..... He fired Dan Rickmers. Not just that - he told Dan not to go back into the animation industry. He threatened the guy, destroyed his career, and had him blacklisted from animation. 

Here’s FRED’S post on Bubbline (taken from Autostraddle): 

There’s been chatter on the internet recently about our latest Adventure Time “Mathematical!” video recap that we created, posted, and removed here at Federator. I figure it’s time to clear up the matter.

In trying to get the show’s audience involved we got wrapped up by both fan conjecture and spicy fanart and went a little too far. Neither Cartoon Network nor the Adventure Time crew had anything to do with putting up or taking down our latest re-cap. The episode ”What was Missing” remains a terrific short and will be shown again and again just like any other Adventure Time episode.

Once again, calling it “spicy fanart”, saying it went “too far”. What exactly was too far about Dan’s podcast???? It was no different to any of the other Mathematical! podcasts talking about shipping. Why is it suddenly a problem now????

Pen Ward himself? He just said that it was all a “big hullabaloo” and people had strong stances both sides so he didn’t want to say his thoughts. 

.....Now, imagine being Rebecca Sugar during this time period. You put in a little bit of gay subtext into an episode of a cartoon, and suddenly the WORLD explodes. The internet loves it, but everyone at Cartoon Network  and Frederator condemn such a thing, with poor Dan being the sacrificial lamb at the altar. It’s absolutely unjust!

As it turns out, Rebecca was starting to develop Steven Universe, and decided that the best way to respond to the backlash was to work in some gay subtext of her own. Adventure Time had a hard “No”, from WAY high up. Sugar has cited that the ceilings put up by Cartoon Network and friends around Bubbline were a challenge she became determined to overcome with Steven Universe. 

....And, it turns out, Sugar wasn’t the only one with the idea. 

The quiet road to gay representation in cartoons

Once the controversy dropped, the discussion about Bubbline completely shifted the landscape for LGBT representation, not just in cartoons, but in other media too. You had two pretty cool major characters, one being fan favourite Marceline, and the other being the main love interest for the protagonist, and you implied that these two ladies had feelings for each other, back when the protagonist was still chasing one of them.  It was unprecedented! Such a unique turn away from the classic YA gay dynamics of the “flirty cougar boy” or “sexy lesbian”, where characters exist purely with those traits and lack the dynamism of true protagonists or honestly written characters. Marceline and Bubblegum were a breath of fresh air, and on a kid’s show no less. 

...The backlash by Frederator and CN also, ironically, created an ENORMOUS MOVEMENT towards increasing awareness of LGBT people. People were asking themselves about their pre-existing assumptions on whether being queer was inherently an adult or predatory thing, whether it defined your entire identity. And while some stood by that assumption, many people upon getting the chance to reflect on it decided that no, that’s absolute bullshit, you can’t censor queer people, you can’t treat them like aliens. 

I was one of the people in this group. After I found out about the controversy, I did some hard reflecting. One of my best friends came out to me as gay, so I had a lot on my mind and was already in the process of changing, but Bubbline was where I committed. I went from an extremely closeted and self loathing teenager into someone who no longer saw those aspects of myself as predatory, who was determined to see those ceilings smashed apart and have LGBT people be seen as a normal part of society. 

The Adventure Time crew must have calmed down, because the subtext with PB and Marcy continued onwards into season 4 and 5. The bombshell episode was Jesse Moynihan and Ako Castuera’s episode “Sky Witch”, airing July 2013, which was the first time PB and Marcy had interacted since “What Was Missing”. This ep didn’t have quite the same level of attention as its predecessor, but it had this legendary and incredibly gay scene. 

While Jesse Moynihan tried to argue on his blog that this could be interpreted platonically and people were putting words in his mouth, anyone who watches Sky Witch today can tell that... yeah.... PB definitely has very strong feelings for Marceline. And considering the two of them made up at the ep, and there was further subtext in the later 2013 eps “Time Sandwich” and “Red Starved”, people were hopeful that Bubbline would get future development. The majority of the viewers had accepted that these two were ex girlfriends who maybe wanted to try again.  

It took a long time to get more, but the show fully committed to exploring their relationship as of 2015′s Season 7. This was after Sugar had smashed down the doors with SU. And while Season 7 didn’t straight up call them girlfriends, it got as close to that as it possibly could without CN defunding the show. Bubbline was no longer a question. It was very much canon. All it needed was that bow on top - the creator’s confirmation. 

....Other shows being developed after “What Was Missing” dropped also made note of the controversy and decided, “Hey, they tried to have gay characters in Adventure Time. People WANT there to be gay characters. There’s clearly a lot of institutional bullshit preventing this from happening. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we beat Adventure Time to the punch and got the first confirmed queer characters?”

Sugar was racing against theirself with Steven Universe. “Jailbreak” would air in early 2015 and reveal Garnet as two tiny lesbians in a trenchcoat. Very cute.  

Meanwhile, another show with a sizeable queer fanbase, “The Legend of Korra”, was developing its third and fourth season, which would finish at the end of 2014. 

Korra and Asami were involved in a love triangle with their teammate Mako. So, naturally, a lot of people shipped Korra and Asami together! Fuck this hetero bullshit!  For years, this was a mere pipe dream, a crack pairing. But then in season 3, they actually started to put in some romantic subtext with the pair, blushing and stuff like that, until the two girls were implied to hook up in the finale. 

What made Korrasami stand out was that it was the first time in history a creator had openly stated that major cartoon characters were gay. 

Korrasami is canon. You can celebrate it, embrace it, accept it, get over it, or whatever you feel the need to do, but there is no denying it. That is the official story. We received some wonderful press in the wake of the series finale at the end of last week, and just about every piece I read got it right: Korra and Asami fell in love. Were they friends? Yes, and they still are, but they also grew to have romantic feelings for each other. Was Korrasami “endgame,” meaning, did we plan it from the start of the series? No, but nothing other than Korra’s spiritual arc was. Asami was a duplicitous spy when Mike and I first conceived her character. Then we liked her too much so we reworked the story to keep her in the dark regarding her father’s villainous activities. Varrick and Zhu Li weren’t originally planned to end up as a couple either, but that’s where we took the story/where the story took us. That’s how writing works the vast majority of the time. You give these characters life and then they tell you what they want to do. I have bragging rights as the first Korrasami shipper (I win!). As we wrote Book 1, before the audience had ever laid eyes on Korra and Asami, it was an idea I would kick around the writers’ room. At first we didn’t give it much weight, not because we think same-sex relationships are a joke, but because we never assumed it was something we would ever get away with depicting on an animated show for a kids network in this day and age, or at least in 2010.

....After Adam and Pen had been constantly evading questions on Bubbline, it was.... so nice, to finally have a creator come out and say their characters were gay. Even if the relationship in Korra was basically nothing other than a handhold, it’s amazing how powerful words can be. 

And I think it’s absolutely no coincidence that they first started writing in Korrasami subtext within the year after the Mathematical! Controversy. I don’t think it would have been possible if there wasn’t such a warm reception to the Adventure Time episode. 

Then, just a few months later, Sugar came out with this beauty, which had been in development at the same time. 

And, yeah, let’s not forget other things: before EITHER of those aired, “Clarence”, created by former AT storyboarder Skyler Page, had the first gay kiss between two men. With Jeff’s moms being a lesbian couple! 

Allegedly it was going to be a mouth kiss, but it was unfortunately censored :( 

The show's writer, Spencer Rothbell, has confirmed that the gay couple originally kissed on the lips and one of them gave his partner flowers.

The scene was changed in order to get the green light from Cartoon Network, who air the show.

He later added: “It’s such a minor throwaway moment but I guess it’s better than nothing. Maybe one day the main character can be gay and it won’t be a big deal.”

...I cannot BELIEVE I forgot about “Clarence”. Seriously. It aired these characters the same time as season 1A of Steven Universe and season 5 of AT, and despite the minorness of their roles, and the questionable censorship, these were... explicitly gay human characters. 

Once Steven Universe got SUPER gay in season 2 onwards, things started to get easier for all the other shows, including Adventure Time. 

Nate Stevenson (on She-ra’s gay characters): Yeah, we began production towards the beginning of 2016 so honestly, even the conversations that we were having at the beginning of our plans for including queer characters and relationships was only possible because Steven Universe had done it first. We can point to Steven Universe, what you were doing there and be like "look this is working, this is getting support, fans are into this and it's getting this reaction."

Adam Muto (on Bubbline subtext, just before the finale aired):  That’s been an ongoing conversation, and I think where we are now is a lot different from where we were eight years ago. So, that’s the one heartening thing, the network has been dragged into having more conversations about that, largely because of shows like Steven Universe. Definitely Steven Universe. I mean literally, Steven Universe. That was the one that had to take the lead there. And it’s difficult because it’s not something I can say like, ‘Well, we just didn’t put it in because … we didn’t.’ This is more like we have to answer certain conversations. Those come out of meetings, and after meetings, and at one meeting they said, “Don’t do that, because we don’t want you to.” I think Rebecca [Sugar] was better at not taking that answer. She’s just so tenacious and passionate and that was such a big part of the story she wanted to tell that it had to get through. It’s not my story in that same way, so I didn’t feel like I had the grounds to do that.

Rebecca continued to face enormous barriers with Steven Universe, and tragically the show was defunded by CN International after Sugar pushed hardcore for the Rupphire wedding. 

However, because this wedding exists, and because it got such a positive reception, CN have been changing their tune about how they treat their young queer fans. They’ve gone from pushing them away to embracing them.

 Video linked here - it’s all the PB and Marcy gay moments from the show, retroactively relabelled as canon gay by CN itself. Holy SHIT. Unfortunately it seems they’ve made it unavailable in the UK recently. 

I didn’t think I would exist in a world where “Adventure Time: Obsidian” could exist. I was so eager for that episode when I was a teenager, but when PB and Marcy’s relationship stayed subtextual for almost all of AT, I felt a bit disappointed. 

It healed a hole in my heart when I saw the beginning of “Obsidian”. 

The purpose of this post, more than anything, is to look at how things have changed. To remind the younger bloggers today what things were like back in 2010, and how we ended up with “Obsidian” and “The Owl House”, where characters were not only openly queer, but this side of them was embraced by the children’s network. 

It is just... after 10 years of stoicism, subtext, being told that gay characters are too “spicy” to be open with each other and treated the same way as normal people, it is such a breath of fresh air. I think I about died when they started calling each other “girlfriends”. 

And yeah, there’s definitely a way to go. Just because gay people are more accepted in media by conglomerates who have decided to accept the money fans are literally throwing at them, it doesn’t mean that homophobia and censorship has been eradicated. These shows get censored internationally, or on repeated home viewings. They get banned, or not posted on different versions of HBO and Disney Plus. There are many instances where Obsidian is absent from the Distant lands lineup, or where their finale kiss was completely erased. 

In the real world, the alt right is growing increasingly strong. My friend was talking to me about how the France presidency is being competed against by three right wing parties of varying awfulness in the upcoming election. That’s going to result in a lot of pain for a lot of people, especially queer people, so hated by the alt right. 

But, yknow, it’s a small victory. And it’s an enormous one for the online gay community, in gaining the trust of families and the media corporations that have such power over how people are seen. 

A lot happened between the first and last time we saw PB with that shirt. It’s not just her who holds a powerful world-shifting sentimentality for the item. 

[zuko-always-lies]

If you would do an ATLA rewrite, how would you polish the characters and plot-line?

So I assume you want a polish where the core of the story and characters is kept the same instead of a total rewrite. In any case, I've thrown about 10,000 AU ideas out there and I don't think I would write ATLA if I started from scratch, so I'm going to focus on a polish.

First, we're probably going to need another season. Book 3 ended up notoriously cramped, and having more space would help with this problem. As you'll see, I have plenty of ideas that will take up more space anyways. The number one thing I want to emphasize is moral complexity:

1) Zuko's arc needs a bit of a broader basis. His daddy issues are fine and very emotional, but we need more. We need to have him demonstrate he cares about ordinary people, that he's learning and improving and growing and becoming someone who can save the Fire Nation. I think one of the easiest ways of doing this is having Zuko stay with the Gaang longer and have to deal with the problems the Gaang deals with.

2) Zuko becomes friends with the Gaang organically across several episodes in which he aids the Gaang deal with challenges, not through tailor-made "life-changing field trips."

3) Ozai's evil plan isn't destroying the Earth Kingdom(which he's already 90% conquered!), it's destroying the Northern Water Tribe using the power of Sozin's Comet. This threatens the world because he'll end up killing the moon and the ocean, with no Yue to save things anymore.

4) Zuko tells the Gaang about Ozai's plan the instant he joins them, instead of hiding it from them for months for no reason??

5) We see much more of how Ozai mistreated his children, instead of aggressively hiding Ozai for most of the series.

6) Ozai gets humanized much more, but in a way that doesn't deemphasize his evil.

7) It gets pounded into the audience's head that Ursa is/was an imperialist, so they have to deal with the moral complexity of someone being nice to Zuko and still supporting the war.

8) Zuko centered morality doesn't fucking exist.

9) Many more female characters, particularly benders.

10) Write an actual character treatment for Suki and refer back to it, so she's not just a blank space.

11) Jet survives, and ends up joining the Gaang. He's not only someone who offers a unique perspective (that of an Earth Kingdom peasant), he offers an excellent opportunity to call Iroh out.

12) Delete the Order of the White Lotus(and probably Piandao too) from the narrative, it's useless, pointless, and raises more questions than it answers.

13) Iroh can start off just as flawed as canon, but give him an arc throughout the series where he's forced to confront his flaws and become a better person(or just make him be evil and a bad influence like the series bible). Emphasize his bloody past, and make people actually call him on it.

14) Delete Iroh's postcanon tea shop. He ends his arc advising and aiding Firelord Zuko, not abandoning him.

14) Sokka, Katara, and Aang get much more emphasis placed on their trauma as victims of genocide throughout the series.

15) Aang's issues with killing get introduced much earlier(and in part actually stem from a reaction to learning how many people he's killed).

16) Hama gets treated with empathy; maybe she still kills civilians, but she's deliberately going after those producing material for the war effort as a way to continue fighting.

17) Don't deliberately dangle the "Where is my mother?" hook in front of audience at the end of the series with zero plans to actually answer it.

18) Azula must be consistently depicted with empathy. And cut the ableism surrounding her portrayal.

19) Actually mention some ages on screen.

20) I'm actually fine with Azula being initially demonized in her first couple portrayals, if the narrative then rapidly switched to humanizing her and calls into question audience perceptions. Waiting an entire season after her introduction to humanize her. The audience should be left with no doubt she cares deeply about her friends.

21) Show many more interactions between the Dangerous Ladies.

22) Maybe an "Azula Alone" episode, which would delve deeply into Azula's relationships with her friends.

23) Cut the whole "Azula lies to Ozai about who killed the Avatar" thing, it only provides an excuse to demonize Azula. Azula claims that both her and Zuko killed the Avatar, and you can even very much run Zuko being terrified the Avatar is alive from there.

24) Zuko doesn't lie to Azula about there being no chance Aang survived.

25) We get more interactions between Zuko and Ty Lee.

26) Azula's motives need to be pounded into the heads of the audience, Zuko-style.

27) Move away from using Zuko as the only viewpoint into the Fire Nation palace. Have a "Tales of the Palace" episode which covers more. Show Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee reacting to Zuko betraying them.

28) The Zuko-Azula relationship can be the mess it is in canon, but have Zuko legitimately try to be kind to her at least once. And end the series on the hint that they can reconcile, that Azula can recover and become a better person.

29) Azula's relationship with her friends falls apart, but because she expects and demands too much from them, not because of Zuko.

30) Show more about Kya.

31) Use Suki more in a substantive way; let her express her opinions.

32) Don't have the Air Nomads be vegetarians, because pastoralists are not vegetarians.

33) Emphasize imperialism and imperialist ideology much more as a motive for the actions of Fire Nation characters.

34) Don't have Bumi be an abusive asshole.

35) Let Aang, Sokka, and Katara be hurt and traumatized a lot more.

36) Call more attention to how screwed up many of the expectations placed on Katara are.

37) Hold Sokka and Katara reuniting with Hakoda after the DoBS until the end of the series rather than the clumsy writing we got.

38) Teo, Haru, and the Duke don't end up on the Western Air Temple, only to be clumsily written out of the series.

39) Iroh's day of Sozin's Comet assault on Ba Sing Se gets cut out; instead he does something substantive and meaningful to protect the people he once hurt.

40) Have Zuko have a much more gradual turn against the Fire Nation in a manner that emphasizes the role of his experiences in the Earth Kingdom.

41) Toph needs more character development.

I'm not entirely happy with this list, but I think it's a worthwhile set of fairly easy ways that the ATLA narrative could be polished.

[norahastuff]

penny for your thoughts on salmondean codependency ?

Sure. Fair warning it’s long (was longer but I stopped myself.)

I think it’s complicated in a show that’s had so many different showrunners because they’ve all handled Sam and Dean’s relationship very differently. In Kripke’s era (s1-5) there was a romanticization of the bond. Sure there was a lot of in-depth exploration of how they wound up at the place they were at, spoiler alert: it was all because of John and his obsessive crusade to find the demon that killed his wife. That’s all he cared about and as a result, Sam and Dean had to be everything to each other. But Kripke had no intention of dismantling that at any point because he was (and always had been) writing a tragedy. Gamble continued that too. There was no room for anyone else in their lives and it would always just be the two of them against the world. So Cas had to go. Bobby had to go.

(Actually, it's funny because Gamble didn't intend this at the time, her plan was to kill Cas off, but by Edlund creating the masterpiece that is The Man Who Would Be King, he not only saved Cas from being seen as a villain, but he also deepened Dean and Cas' relationship in such a profound way and inextricably linked the two of them emotionally. And since Cas was eventually brought back, that laid the foundation for a lot of what their relationship would become.)

Up until this point, there hadn’t really been any significant dismantling of perhaps the more unhealthy parts of Sam and Dean’s relationship. Enter Carver. He stripped things down and started to explore what drove these characters. What they wanted and why they couldn’t have it. It starts with Dean being mad at Sam for not looking for him in purgatory, which sets up the whole speech in the s8 finale of Sam’s guilt about letting Dean down, but the thing is, Dean was never honest with Sam about his year away either. He never told Sam he could have gotten out much sooner if he hadn’t stayed to find Cas. I mean Dean had assumed Sam was up there alone doing God knows what to try to bring him back, and yet still he stayed in Purgatory because things were clear there. He needed Cas. Anyway, I just find that interesting, but Cas isn’t a victim of Sam and Dean’s relationship in s8.

Who gets the honour of being cast aside? That would be Benny and Amelia, two characters they introduced in s8 specifically to highlight that Sam and Dean’s relationship doesn’t allow for anyone else to be a significant part of their life. I mean that’s nothing new, we’ve watched that happen many times before. Lisa even said as much to Dean. The thing is this time? It’s framed as a truly sad thing. That moment at the end of 8x10 when Dean has just ended things with Benny and Sam leaves Amelia, and they’re sitting alone drinking beer and watching tv is such a hollow empty moment. This is not what they want. But it’s the way things have to be.

I’m actually fascinated by Sam and Dean’s conversation in the church in the s8 finale. Not so much Dean’s assertion that there is no one else he would put before Sam, but more so what provokes it, which is Sam saying “who are you going to turn to instead of me. Another angel? Another vampire?” See the thing is Dean saying he would always put Sam first is not news. We know this and it’s not really an unhealthy statement in itself either. A lot of people would put their sibling above anything else, not less a sibling who you raised and is the most important person to you. But in this context? After what Sam said? It just highlights how unhealthy they are if Sam believes that Dean having other people in his life means he doesn’t love him enough. That he’s a disappointment to him. That’s so profoundly fucked up.

(Note, Dean tells Sam that he killed Benny for him but he doesn’t say anything about Cas. I think like I said before, this is because Cas and Dean’s relationship has largely existed out of the Sam and Dean stuff up to this point - Sam and Cas don’t even really have much of a relationship yet besides both of their connections to Dean.)

And then from here, things start getting steadily worse. But we also keep being shown how bad they are. Dean lying to Sam, taking away his free will by letting Gadreel possess him. Dean sending Cas away, Kevin dying. It’s all awful. The whole “there ain’t no me if there ain’t no you line” from 9x01 isn’t really said by Dean, it’s Gadreel, but that is how Dean feels. He does think that’s all he’s good for. And over the season we’re shown how much of himself and what he truly wants he’s had to give up because of his ingrained “Save Sammy” and “Sammy comes first” mentality. It’s always been this way for him. In 9x07 we see that he had found a happy home, a good father figure, and his first love, a first love might I add that he had to leave behind with no real explanation because Sam needed him, and Sam comes first.

I mean just one episode earlier we had him rushing out the door elated about seeing Cas and spending time with him, only for their time together to come to sad and melancholic end when Dean once again leaves Cas behind without any real explanation, because despite what he wants Sammy comes first. What he wants doesn’t matter.

See I think after the Gadreel stuff comes out is where the narrative starts to get a little wonky for me. You can clearly see that this was intended to be a shorter story that they ended up stretching out to a much longer one because of renewals. There’s also the fact that this is a formula show so they can’t necessarily be separated for longer than an episode or two. S10 is a rough one to get through at times, I think the themes still mostly hold up but it’s a rough one to get through.

S10 highlights all the connections that Dean has, Cas, Charlie, Crowley even, but Sam doesn’t really have those bonds in the same way.  For Sam it’s just Dean, so he goes down a reckless destructive “do anything to save Dean!” path and so many innocents pay the price, and ultimately with the release of The Darkness, the whole world.

They skirted right up to the edge of exploring just how toxic and dangerous their relationship had become in the season 10 finale.

DEAN: I let Rudy die. How was that not evil? I know what I am, Sam. But who were you when you drove that man to sell his soul... Or when you bullied Charlie into getting herself killed? And to what end? A..a good end? A just end? To remove the Mark no matter what the consequences? Sam, how is that not evil? I have this thing on my arm, and you're willing to let the Darkness into the world.

I can’t say evil is the right word, they were never evil, but they were wilfully blind to everything and everyone else when it came to saving each other. S10 tested my love for the show because after watching it, because there was certainly a feeling that the two of them had become the villains of this story. And don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have a problem with that, it’s just after 2 seasons of this I can’t say I had a lot of faith that this was going to be properly addressed or if we were going to keep going in circles around it. Keep being shown, it’s bad and then nothing much being done to fix it. Your mileage may vary on how it was handled, but I think s11 did a relatively ok job considering it wasn’t the end of the story, and the show needed to keep going.

See from Dean’s side a lot of the codependency rests on 1. His father’s orders to always save Sammy 2. His low self-esteem where he sees himself as nothing but a blunt instrument. 3. His guilt at not being able to perfectly fulfil every familial role in Sam’s life 4. His belief that no one could choose to love him but family has to love you. 5. The unhealthy example of what it should look like to love someone that he got from John. You give up everything but them.

For Sam (and honestly it’s not as clear for me as Dean’s side is so feel free to correct me/disagree on this) 1. Everytime he’s tried to leave and create his own life it’s never ended well. 2. His guilt over wanting freedom and a normal life when he was younger (I’m referring specifically to Stanford era here) 3. His guilt over everything Dean has given up for him. 4. John. 5. Jess.

Ultimately it all comes down to isolation. They both had to be everything to each other, and the deeper they got into this fight, the more people that they lost, the tighter they clung to this notion of family and brothers. I think s11 (and 11x23 in particular) was an important turning point, both for Sam and Dean’s relationship, as well as for them as individuals. Because they weren’t alone there anymore. Cas was there. Sam let Dean walk to his death. Of course, it would devastate him, but he knew it was what had to be done. And he didn’t walk out of that bar and go back to the bunker alone. He had Cas, he had someone who cared about him and wanted to help him and talk to him. Sure Dean asked Cas to take care of Sam for him (you know after Cas offered to walk to his death with him) but Sam let him. He let him be there for him. We didn’t get to see much before the BMOL showed up and blasted Cas away, but still, we saw enough.

I think that’s a significant difference to note why their relationship was different in the Dabb era. It wasn’t just them anymore. Cas was an important member of their family and given a level of importance he’d never been given before and couldn’t have been when the story they were telling was of the dangers of their codependency. Mary was back. Eventually, Jack would become a part of their unit too. Just the two of them wasn’t enough for them anymore. This is made abundantly clear with all of Dean’s desperate attempts to get Cas to stay in s12, followed by his inability to keep going when they lose Cas and Mary in s13. Similarly, Sam really struggles when they lose Jack and fail to get Mary back later in the season.

Another big moment is Dean letting Sam go alone to lead the hunters against the BMOL in 12x22 while he stays back to try and reach Mary. Like he tells Mary, he’s had to be a brother, a father and a mother to Sam and he never stopped seeing him as his kid, but in that moment he makes a choice. He lets Sam take charge and he shows that he trusts him and believes in him. He knows he can handle it.

Sometimes it’s not even a character growth thing. Sometimes having other people there stops you from making destructive choices even though that’s still your first instinct. I’m thinking specifically of 13x21 after Sam was killed. Dean would have run headlong into that nest of vampires and got himself torn apart, but Cas was there to stop him. He was able to make him see reason.

Basically, I think that for a long time, they thought the only relationship they could have was each other, which then became a self-fulfilling prophecy because their desperate attempts to keep each other around led to them losing the people around them. They eventually started to learn that that wasn’t true, they could have more, they were allowed to want more, and that it wasn’t an either-or situation. Dean didn’t have to choose between Sam and Cas. They didn’t have to choose between each other or Jack. The same goes for Mary. Different relationships can coexist without threatening each other, and not say that their relationship in s12-15 was all smooth sailing, but it was certainly so very different from everything that came before.

(There’s maybe a point to be made about how they didn’t have anyone or anything in the finale and how that relates to the story we got, but honestly I have no idea what the intention was with any of the choices made in that episode so I’ll leave it at that for now.)

[revengeisourlullaby]

Everything Happens For a Reason

Warnings: 18+, smut, Cheating/mentions of cheating, “revenge” sex, arguing, dealings of breaking up, ex-partner being shitty, dom themes, hair pulling, dumbification, degradation, feelings of worthlessness, Thor being an asshole, Loki being an asshole sexually, sensual themes, some angst, some softness but mostly tough love vibes, this will take place around the time of Ragnarok for visual reference, kinda domestic but not really 

a/n: This is my first time writing for marvel characters! I previously was writing for mha, which I still do if you’re interested. Apologies to the Thor lovers, he’s an ass in this. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it and that I do a good job of representing characters that we all enjoy. :)  

Word count: 6.7k

Main: Loki x female!Reader Ex: Thor x female!Reader

You were on your way back home after ending a grueling shift at work. Everything around you left you in a sensory overload. The sound of your feet pattering on the sidewalk, the aggressive car horns of New York’s taxis, conversations you passed by all created a stinging buzz that roared in your head. Finally reaching the station, you walked down a flight of stairs, the horrific New York air filling your nose. A stench that made you feel at home but somehow could never get used to. Sighing you thought to yourself.

I just wanna get home.

The idea of having to mush yourself into the train in desperate hopes of not only being able to find a seat but to not be bombarded with the evening nonsense made the buzz in your head turn into an unfortunate headache. Waiting for the train to rush through the tunnel, you grabbed your phone and frowned, seeing that your boyfriend had yet to answer the text you sent earlier. He said he was free from any heroic duties for the next month so it was peculiar to not hear from him. You began to grow worried. 

Picking at your nails, you were thinking about all the possible “what ifs” that could have happened with Thor. You guys had been dating for some time now, almost two years. It had become common to be met with all the craziness that his job title of hero held. Truly anything could happen. So, of course, your brain was constructing all of the terrible things that could’ve possibly happened with him. 

You couldn’t fuss about it too long, the train came bustling through the tunnel, the air from up underneath it blasting you in the face with the trademarked scent of burnt rubber tires and gasoline smoke. You trudged your way into the train, squeezing your way to a spot closest to the door so you could make your way out quickly. Holding on to the railing beside you, you popped your AirPods in and dissociated. Trying your best to drown out the noise and the perpetual thoughts of what was going on with your boyfriend. You couldn’t help the aggressiveness of your worries so you pulled out your phone and gave Thor’s phone a ring.

You waited, and waited, and waited and the line went to voicemail. Your mind was running a mile a minute. It felt like you couldn’t breathe. You tried composing yourself, you were almost at your stop. When the PA system announced your stop, you rushed through the automatic doors and ran to your apartment. The sky, now overcast, and the slight smell of rain tainting the air, only adding to the tension. Running up the outside set of stairs, you headed to the elevator preparing yourself for the worst. Once the elevator dinged, you rushed down the hallway to your apartment. 

Fumbling with your keys at the door, you began to hear a slew of moans. Stopping in your tracks, you moved your head closer to the door to make sure that you were hearing the moans slip from the other side of your apartment door. Placing your ear against the door your suspicions were confirmed with a groan that seemed to billow from none other than Thor’s throat. Your heart began to shatter and become blanketed with the bitterness of winter, you slowly turned the key into your apartment. 

Conscious of your steps you tried your best to not cause creaks to squeak from the floorboards. The air wreaked of sex and was starting to become seasoned with rotten jealousy. Turning the corner to head down to your shared bedroom, you were acquainted with Thor pile driving into your best friend. 

She caught you in the doorway and to your dismay, she called out

“Y/N! Oh my god. Thor stop!”

With the mention of your name, Thor whipped his head around but you were already making your way towards the front door. He threw on his pants that were thrown on the floor and rushed his way over to you.

“Y/N!”

You turned around with a quickness and landed your hand right across his cheek. Leaving him with a scarlet mark to brand his betrayal upon him. You looked up at him through your eyebrows because you didn't have the strength to look at him in the eyes for the tears that were welling up would threaten to spill over. 

“Thor...why don’t you go finish your business with her. Since clearly, she’s the priority.”

“Y/N, it’s not what you think it is. She brought herself upon me.”

“Oh! And you just couldn’t resist right. Cause she was just so overbearing against yourself?”

His silence solidified your suspicions and you wanted nothing more than to just get out of that apartment. Not waiting for him to come up with another response you grabbed your bag that you dropped on the floor and turned on your heel to leave.

   “And when you release yourself of whatever leftovers you’re straining to hold, I want you to get your shit and leave. There’s nothing here to be salvaged and honestly, the last thing I wanna do is attempt to fix this.”

You slammed your apartment door and took the stair exit, not wanting to chance to have to confront him again while waiting for the elevator. Coming up on the last flight of stairs you held yourself up against the railing and felt the emotion in your throat bubble up and release itself. 

It hurt. A strangled whine erupted from your throat and you hid your face in your hands. Hoping that it would muffle your cries enough so that no one would hear you in the stairwell. All of your insecurities began to settle in and resurface. Why weren’t you good enough for him? What made your best friend better? It's not like she was otherworldly or something. You could maybe understand if it was Valkyrie, but this was some regular bitch. This was someone you knew and felt undeniably close with. It felt sour, like residual vomit on the tongue. 

You pushed yourself up from the stairs and slowly walked to the main door of your building. You were brought out of your haze with cold droplets of water that began to roll down your face.

“This is just comedic now.” 

You laughed to yourself. Not only did you just spoil your eyes by seeing your now ex-boyfriend inside of your best friend but now you're stuck out in the exordium of New York rain with no real place to settle. Not at least until Thor packed his things and left. You put your bag over your head and searched for the nearest station to just catch a ride on. Walking down the steps, you again waited in the queue for the next train. Leaning on the wall you were suddenly overwhelmed with the stench of your wet outside clothes and wanted nothing more than to curl up and go to sleep.

With the roar of the train coming through the tunnel, you got on. Unaware of where you were going just desperately wanting to get away from the drama currently suffocating your mind. Trying to forget about the world around you, were brought back into reality by the buzzing of your phone in your pocket.

Of course, you had a list of missed calls from Thor as well as your best friend. Lists of texts from Thor, but the notification that stood out the most was a text message from Loki. It was unlikely for you to hear from him and coupled with today’s events it felt like salt being rubbed in a wound. 

It can’t get any worse, honestly. Just open it. Fuck it.

Going against your brain and entrusting your gut, you opened his message.

Would you happen to be in the Manhattan area? 

You looked up at the sign above the train doors, flashing the streets of the next stop. Luckily for you, you were getting ready to be dropped off right in the heart of Manhattan. Sighing you swallowed the lump in your throat and straightened your shoulders. Replacing your previous weight of mourning with now a sudden spark of pride and revenge running through your veins.

Yeah, I’m actually on my way there now, why?

You rolled your head back and bounced your leg, sudden nervousness striking your body. You didn’t fear Loki, it was nothing like that. But rather you were intimidated by him. His presence demanded attention and you were one to give it to him. You couldn’t deny that he was incredibly handsome. Despite his condescending nature, you found him all too alluring. Yet, here you were awaiting a response from him to come through. 

Interested in some company while visiting your planet for personal business. Care to be that company? 

Your heart started to thump behind its ribcage, beating a rhythm that you hadn’t been familiar with. You were excited. Quickly you typed back, not wanting to wait too long. 

Sounds like a plan. The train is getting ready to stop, probably will be in central Manhattan in about 10. Where should I meet you?

I’ll be waiting outside the Baccarat.

The train doors dinged and you rose from your seat and maneuvered your way through the 5th Avenue-53 St. station. Climbing the stairs, you were met with the unfortunate luck of it still raining and now with nightfall completely draped over the sky, you were beginning to regret accepting the invitation of meeting Loki. Looking ahead you noticed a store on the corner. You bolted in there, desperate to find something to change your soaking top out for. You walked in and saw yourself in the mirror. Your hair was still okay somehow, not too damaged by the wetness in the air. Just a tad more frizz. Fluffing your hair, you walked away from the mirror and searched for the men's section. 

Wanting an oversized hoodie you felt you had your best chance to find what you wanted there. Coming across a graphic hoodie, you pulled it off the rack and walked to the checkout. 

You got into a fitting room before you left, taking off your soaked shirt and now bra, and slipped into the hoodie. Stuffing your hair under the hood, you placed your clothes into your bag, sprayed some perfume on, and walked back outside to head to the hotel. The rain had let up some but you weren’t trying to risk it considering today had been littered with bad luck. You quickly walked up the street and finally made it out to the front of the hotel. 

You went to pull out your phone from your pocket, but when you did you were tapped on the shoulder. You whipped your head around, an instant attitude flooding your body. You were about to mouth off until you looked up and realized it was Loki who had grabbed your attention.

“Tense, are we?”

You rolled your eyes, wondering why you showed up. His tone worming through your ear and rattling your brain with contempt. He seemed to be a bitter reminder of his brother and you questioned why you thought this was a good idea. Looking up towards his face, you remembered why you came. His features, absolutely tantalizing, and the cadence of his speech almost always put you in a trance. The suit he was in only added to your inner desire. This was a moment of revenge, a moment of sheer pride that you needed to take advantage of. Finally, you opened your mouth and looked up at him. 

“A little, the day has been quite rough, but I don’t think you’d want to hear about all that.”

You looked toward the entrance of the hotel silently wondering why you two were still waiting outside. 

“Shall we go in? Standing in the rain like this is quite puerile.”

You looked up at him incredulously, 

“I swear you can read minds.”

You both shared a chuckle while he guided you in the hotel, his hand resting upon your lower back. Once you were in, you were struck in awe of the decor of the building you were in. It’s not that you had never been anywhere nice before but compared to your day-to-day lifestyle this was something very unexpected. You soaked it all in, not wanting to ever leave the luxury. 

“Y/N? You in there?”

You finally came to and gingerly shook your head to settle back in your body realizing you were now standing in front of the elevators.

“Yeah, I just got distracted, my bad.”

The door dinged and you two stepped into the elevator. He pressed the last set of numbers on the pad and you waited to be dropped on the floor of what you assumed where his room was. Your stomach dropped when the elevator arrived on the floor, almost adding to the anxiety you were feeling being so close to Loki. Walking down the hallway you reached his room and he pulled out his room key. Wanting to cut through the silence you broke the ice by asking Loki a question. 

“So what are you doing back on Earth? Here to cause some trouble or just for leisure.”

“Leisure, more or less. I came back for my brother but he has yet to inform me of his whereabouts.”

Dropping your bag down at the door you felt your body become heavy. Like someone had just dumped an anvil on your shoulders and expected you to be fully prepared. It stung. You couldn’t escape the sour taste that lingered from the day's earlier events. You sat down on the bed and had become unusually short. You had spit back at Loki.

“Yeah, he failed to let me know as well. Had to stumble in on him.”

“What do you mean “stumble in on him”? Where was he?”

Expelling air, you puffed out your cheeks slightly. Silently expressing your disdain for the question asked. You suddenly became aware of your hair still being tucked under your hood when you went to trail your hands across the top of your head. Removing the hood and fluffing your hair, you stood and walked up to the mirror to fix yourself before sighing again. Tears of frustration began to well in the corners of your eyes. You pursed your lips into a tight pucker and had to look up toward the ceiling to prevent them from spilling. 

“I’d prefer to skip over the antics, darling-”

“-Your wonderful brother was fucking somebody I was once close with, but now that relationship is undoubtedly severed, and quite honestly thinking about the event makes me want to cry and vomit.”

You finally let your voice shake and a fat tear rolled down the left side of your cheek. Hot and stinging your lash line before it fell. Exhaling more air, you shook your hands in a feeble attempt to calm yourself down. You heard the springs of the bed squeak as Loki situated himself on the bed.

“No one ever listens to me about that brute. He may be my brother but he lacks the capacity of decent intelligence.”

Turning around to face Loki, your eyebrows furrowed wondering how in the hell you thought sitting in a room with the smuggest piece of shit to ever exist would be a good idea after being cheated on by none other than his brother. Sniffling you brought yourself together and smiled at him.

“You know, for someone to be baggin on someone else about decent intelligence, you sure are lacking in the emotional department.”

“Never said I was perfect sweetheart, just alluded to being better.” 

You laughed. You had to. It was all too much to bear. Your ex-boyfriend sleeping with your ex-best friend and now you’re stuck in a hotel room with his shit-eating brother. You wanted to peel off your skin and remove your brain from its confinements. You needed to leave, you could find somewhere else to loiter around until tomorrow. 

“Ya know, I’m still trying to figure out why I thought having you for some company would be a good idea. Think I’m gonna leave you and your better than average intelligence to fuck off together.”

You couldn’t even look at Loki because inside you didn’t really wanna walk away. You were just projecting because all day everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It felt like your legs and heart were going to buckle at any moment and it was becoming too much to lug around silently. You wanted to scream for hours on end. Walking towards the door, you picked up your bag. Too engrossed in your thoughts to hear the bed creek signaling Loki’s movement. 

“Y/N, wait.”

Loki grabbed your wrist and your heart stopped beating for a moment, almost forgetting what it was you were upset about because you had someone else’s warmth heating your tainted soul. You looked up at Loki, creases in between your eyebrows beginning to form from you trying to hold back the tears that were welling up once again. 

“What? Look, Loki. I don’t want to be the downer of the evening and I’ve surely already done that. The last thing I want to do is burden you fully with what’s going on. I’m not gonna dump it all on you.”

“Will you sit down, please. Don’t leave.”

Sighing you dropped your bag and flopped onto the bed. Leaning over and burying your face in your hands. 

“Let me apologize. I was not thinking about the severity of what you were dealing with, that was foolish of me.”

He sat next to you on the bed and once again placed his hand on your back but this time it was rubbing back and forth. An action that seemed to calm you down instantly. Taking a deep breath you looked at him and couldn't help but feel an overwhelming amount of lust pool in the pit of your stomach. It felt wrong but, so right. You hoped he wasn't looking too deep into your eyes because you could almost predict how blown your pupils must’ve looked. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap and be so dramatic.”

Loki chuckled to himself, a small smile dancing across his face as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and laid it on the bed.

“No need for an apology, I was being insensitive. As for your dramatics, I’ve grown used to them.”

Your face folded and your lips pursed, annoyance clear on your face. 

“Yeah, you would be used to dramatics, Mr. “I need to rule over Earth cause I can’t back home.”.”

Your eyes lidded, you had your lips rolled around your teeth trying your best to hold a snicker in. 

“You Midgardians never know how to let things go, do you?”

“Well considering you were demolishing half of New York with an alien army it’s kinda hard to forget....I forgive you though.”

“Do you now?” Loki raised his eyebrow smirking at your remark.

“Yup, kinda hard to stay mad at someone so easy on the eyes.”

It wasn’t until after you said your words, did you realize what just rolled off your tongue. Your eyes grew wide and heat rushed to your face. You breathed heavily out your nose and brought your gaze to his. 

“Easy on the eyes huh?”

“I-” you couldn't even get any words out you were so embarrassed. All you could do was laugh to yourself and decide to be a little bit bold. 

“There’s no reason for me to be shy about it. You’re obviously the more attractive one.” 

Grazing your hand across his knee, you trailed your hand up to the meatier portion of his thigh.

“Are you planning on plowing through every Asgardian you meet?” 

Mouth agape you couldn’t believe what he just said to you. But you realized quickly this was your time to go in and plant the seed.

  “Not exactly. You’re the one I really want. Your brother just happened to fall in my lap first. It’s always been you though. Honestly, I was just too afraid to say anything. I couldn’t fathom the thought that you’d look my way.”

In the moment of your ramble, you hadn’t realized Loki rolling up his sleeves, using his nimble fingers to expose his veiny forearms. Once you had looked down you noticed his now exposed arms and your eyes met Loki’s again, the tension between you two becoming so thick it created a fog. 

“Honestly, I have yet to meet someone as dense as you are. The verity of my liking for you I thought was terribly noticeable. Yet you still somehow ended up with my oaf of a brother. It’s quite amazing actually.”

You were astonished, to say the least. While Loki was sarcastic with you, he had confessed his liking for you. Not just an inkling for you but a liking for you in a romantic aspect. You were over the moon. You stood up not being able to contain your excitement. Walking towards the desk you stared in the mirror and composed yourself. Looking in the bottom right-hand side of the mirror you caught Loki’s blue eyes in the corner. He stood up and walked behind you, almost stalking you like a predator does prey. 

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“Truly I thought you were happy darling, it wasn’t my business to interfere. Although, if I knew your deepest feelings sooner, I would’ve acted with more haste.”

Hearing “darling” come from his mouth so freely made butterflies fly hoops in your stomach. It did something to you that you had yet to describe outwardly. Turning around to face him, you hooked your fingers into the loops of his pants and pulled him closer to you, all so nonchalant. 

“Shall we make up for lost time then, Loki?”

Lust dripped off your tongue when saying his name. Your tone penetrating through the fog of sexual tension and your eyes undressing him before the affair would begin. You heard his breath hitch while you looked back up at him, his blue eyes were now almost black. His breath heavy and waiting for the go-ahead to indulge in each other's desires. For a moment you saw his eyes flicker to portray something of uncertainty. Dare you say something of insecurity.

“Only if it’s true. I want you to want me in the purest form of carnal desire. Not as a pawn to veil what you want to erase from your mind.” 

You moved your hands from his belt loops and traced your hands up his arms and planted them upon his neck, playing with the hair at the nape. 

“ Don’t stop now, we’ve already started. I’m begging for you Loki. Always have, always will.”

With the quick reassurance, his lips found yours in a heartbeat. Intertwining with each other like flies in a spider’s web. It was intoxicating you couldn’t breathe properly and still you pressed yourself closer against his body. Your leg inching up on his side and grinding into his now hardening dick. Your hand that was resting at the nape of his neck, crawled its way into his hair and grabbed a fistful of it, fully giving into the moment of you and Loki getting lost in each other. Your fistful of his hair would soon be gone, being replaced with his hand buried in your mass of hair and craning your neck back to look up at him.

“I control things around here, Pet. Don’t forget your place.”

His voice seemed to drop in pitch. Your eyes glossed over fully with lust and the sheer need to be ruined. Dominance enveloped his being which instantly quelled the brat in you. The reality of sleeping with Loki made you dive headfirst into a subservient space. You wanted him, you needed him. In being completely lost in submissive thought you almost forgot who was in front of you. That was until he spoke again.

“Understand?” 

He grabbed your hips and pressed your body against his, eliciting a slight whimper from you while nodding your head.

“Yes, Loki, I understand.”

Your voice was so meager, a complete 180 from your previous behavior in the night. You wanted as much of him as you could get so you shoved your lips against his again. A fiery kiss that made you dizzy and warm all at once. He moved with such fluidity, it made you feel like you were floating. His hands snaked down your back and his large hands landed on the cush platform of your ass. Squeezing, you moaned into his mouth and he picked you up. Turning around and laying you down on the bed. Your lips dislodged from one another and you felt empty and needy without him on you. He preyed over you, his stygian locks falling down his face.

“If you don’t want this, tell me now and we’ll never speak of this aga-” 

“-Loki, there has been nothing I want more than you…I need you. Please.”

With that, Loki attacked your lips again, his hands wandering up your hoodie. You had forgotten you ditched your bra earlier until Loki’s hands found your pert nipples. 

“Expecting this, weren’t you.”

You went to respond, but Loki rolled them between his fingers and a breathy moan was all you could muster up. Your hips rolled upwards, aching for some type of friction to your core that was more than soaked. 

“Maybe I was. Have to be prepared for anything.”

To emphasize your tease you moved your hand down to the tent in his black pants and applied a bit of pressure. Loki sucked in air through his teeth and released a light laugh. 

“Careful, Pet. Make sure you can hold up this front you’re putting on for me. Not sure you can handle it all.”

It was a challenge and a challenge you’d be more than happy to oblige in. Smirking up at him you began fiddling with his belt and undid his pants. Fishing your hand into them you lightly stroked his cock. 

“Try me.”

The restraint in him broke and a sardonic smile adorned his face. You knew you were in for it and were entirely ready for everything he had to offer.

“Darling I hope you’re ready to feel what it’s like to be fucked by a real god.”

Your hoodie came off with one swift motion of his hand and they wandered over your body egregiously. He was taking his time with you and was determined on making you fall apart. You messed with his dress shirt buttons but couldn’t get them off fast enough for your liking. Catching onto your frustration Loki mocked you,

“Aw, look at you, Little one. Having some trouble there?”

You huffed, the attitude in you not wanting to fully give in just yet. You finally got the top button undone and slid your hand back down to his pants in a feeble attempt to take the heat off of you.

“Ah ah, it doesn’t work like that. Let me help you out since you’re in such need of relief.” 

Finishing off the rest of his buttons, he pulled off his shirt and threw it somewhere in the room. Snaking his way down your body he undid your jeans button and peeled off the zipper with his teeth. Looking down at him you shuddered, excitement coursing through your veins.

“Easy now Y/N, I’ve barely even started.”

Removing your pants and underwear completely, you were now fully exposed to him and almost felt a bit of shyness envelop you. And of course, he noticed your legs attempt to cover yourself,

“Don’t hide from me darling, I want to see every bit of you crumble before me and show you how it feels to have your concupiscence satiated.” 

You let your anxieties fade away once his tongue placed a swipe across your aching cunt. A moan louder than you expected emitted from your throat, catching you off guard and a chuckle to release from Loki. The vibrations only added to the pleasure you were already feeling. Losing yourself in the silver tongue of the god between your legs, your hand found itself in his stark black locks. Your moans became more frequent and you were beginning to feel the coil tighten in the bottom of your stomach, heat spreading to your core. 

“Loki, please I-”

You hadn’t enough time to finish your sentence for Loki had wrapped his arms around your hips pulling you closer to him and making your back arch off the bed. Your moans becoming higher in pitch you could feel yourself coming to the precipice of your orgasm. Lifting his head for a moment he caught your eyes as you moved your head to look down at him.

“Cum for me Y/N, I can feel that you’re there.”

As Loki went back to devouring your pussy, you threw your head back into the pillow behind you, your orgasm finally washing over you. It was like none other you had before. Your legs caved in around his head and your body began to shake. Coming down from your high you reached for his neck to guide him up to your face, sharing a sloppy yet intimate kiss. The taste of yourself evident on his tongue and glistening on his chin. You felt the need to return the favor. Turning you two over you were now on top and you slid your way down to his basal regions. Undoing his pants you felt his hand upon your wrist.

“Not tonight, this is about you Y/N”

You shook your head, surprised by his actions. But, it wasn’t in your nature yet to fully comply. You went back to the hem of his slacks and went to pull them down. While Loki let you slip them off with ease, egging you on with a few hitched breaths, it wasn’t until you came back up and lined your mouth up with the head of his painfully erect cock that he took control again. You placed a kitten lick on the tip of his head, looking up at him while doing so. Loki then grabbed a fistful of hair, forcing you to stay stuck on his face and giving him full leverage of where he wanted you.

You crawled up his body because you had no other choice unless you wanted to continue to feel the slightly painful pull on your hair. Obeying his silent command you were brought face to face with him once again.

“You just don’t know how to listen, do you?” he chided

“Neither do you, but you don’t see me complaining.”

In an instant you were flipped over again, being towered by Loki’s body. Your breath quickened and you watched his blue eyes dilate once again. A lascivious smirk and energy cast across his body. Wanting nothing more than to feel him, you raked your hands down his back and dragged them across the sides of his ribs, only to let one of them begin stroking him again. 

“Ah~ Y/N”

It was at this moment that the last bit of power you had completely dissipated. Loki’s hand moved with such a quickness that it took you a moment to realize that his hand was now wrapped around your throat. Sending your eyes to roll to the back of your head in absolute euphoria.

“Such a dumb little girl you are. Can’t follow simple instructions yet here you are begging, for me to ruin you. Fortunately, you’re pretty. Otherwise this would be quite pathetic of you.”

Your walls clenched around nothing. It was becoming painful to not have some form of release. You just kept being pushed towards your edge with his words bringing you closer every time he spoke. He was dragging it out on purpose, you could see the sadism glint behind his eyes. Strangled you spoke, tears of desperation falling lightly from the side of your eyes.

“L-Loki, please. I need you so bad. I can’t take it anymore, please.”

“You may need me, but do you deserve it is the question at hand.”

“I promise no more games, I’ll be good for you” 

Removing his hand from your neck, he traveled them down the valley between your breasts bringing one hand to massage one while the other traveled further, landing on your soaking clit. 

“All this, from a little degradation...I expected more from you, darling”

Jutting your hips toward the hand currently nestled between your folds you begged,

“Loki, please I need you inside me, I need to feel you.”

He finally lined himself up with your entrance, teasing you with just his cockhead, reveling in your juices. You couldn’t help but whine the teasing was getting to a point of something almost unbearable. Your voice breathy and hot you whimpered one last plea,

“Please~”

When he fully sheathed himself inside you, your head rolled back, moans coming out of you at a pace you couldn’t control. He made you feel so full. You had yet to feel something so reminiscent of rapture. It almost made you dizzy. When you looked up at him there was a softness in his eyes that contrasted his tone of dominance a moment ago. It caught you off guard, but you were soon brought back to reality when his head brushed against the inflamed spongy spot within. 

“Oh! My god”

“Yes darling, I am your god-”

You couldn't help but roll your eyes at his comment. His cockiness always finding a way to rear its head. But in your moment of ecstasy, you didn’t think he’d be able to catch it. Wrong. In a second, his length left you, flipped you on your hands and knees, and slipped back into your drenching cunt. You settled into the position, propping your ass out even more so to give him better access. You heard him growl behind you, his hand coming across your ass check and without a doubt leaving a mark. You yelped, startled by the sudden action. His pace became unrelenting, pounding into you with a ferocity that would make angels weep. His hand slid down your back and rested and the bottom of your hairline, once again grabbing your hair and pulling you back so your back met his chest. Directing your head to the side to face his own, he got in your ear,

“Roll your eyes at me again and there will be more than just a simple punishment awaiting you.”

Your walls clenched around his cock, eliciting a loud groan to come from Loki. You couldn’t help it, the noises he made were beyond divine and each one had you one contraction away from being sent over the edge one more time. 

“Fuck, Loki, you feel, so good~fuck, please.”

You weren’t quite sure what you were pleading for; it just felt right leaving your mouth. 

“Yeah, you like it when I fuck you like this. Like the little whore you are.”

“Fuck! Loki, oh my god~”

You were in so much pleasure you couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down your face. It felt so good to have this instinctual release. Loki released his grip from your hair and pressed your face down into the mattress. Unable to truly control the noises that flew from your mouth, you were now whimpering in the mattress. The ravaging of your body sending you into a full-blown frenzy that you never wanted to be free from. Loki’s thrusts became more erratic and his moans and groans flew more freely from his mouth. Enjoying the moment of approaching his climax.

“You’re going to cum with me and I’m going to paint your pretty little insides my color. Wanna know why?”

You tried your best to be attentive, flipping your hair out from your face, you looked behind you facing the god above you.

“Why, L-Loki?”

Bringing his hand around your body to massage your clit, he gave you an answer that you weren’t prepared for. 

“Because you’re mine now. There’s no leaving after this. You belong to me.”

With one final clench, you tightened around his cock. Both of you reaching your peak at the same time, milking him of his seed. Both of your breathing was heavy, bodies sticky with sweat. Loki pulled out of you, his seed spilling out of you like donut filling. You rolled over on your back as he did the same and there was a comfortable silence that filled the room. 

With the distraction of reaching a climax now faded, you felt violently vulnerable under his gaze. You found your courage and looked back at him, his eyes still dilated but now with a different emotion swimming through them. Adoration? Wonder? Regret perhaps? Before you could let one more intrusive thought in Loki brought you out of your head.

“Stop worrying, you’ll make the wrinkle between your brow permanent.” 

Your mouth opened slowly in disbelief, slightly offended by his comment but also at a loss for words for him figuring you out so quickly.

“Is it that easy to figure me out.” you chuckled.

“Yes, in fact, you wear every single emotion on your sleeve. You couldn’t hide what you feel even if you wanted to.” 

You sighed, a smile stretching across your face as you exhaled. 

“Can’t fool you, can I?”

“It’s quite hard to fool someone who is the master of fooling others. I’m the creator of the ins and outs of mischief.”

You shared a light laugh but you couldn’t ignore the overwhelming feeling of guilt and disquiet swirl in your head. Did he honestly feel for you, or did he perhaps just indulge your desires because he had wants of his own. You were in the perfect state to be taken advantage of, heartbroken and needing something else to fill the hole in your heart. You rolled on your side, your hand resting on his chest, beginning to draw feather-light patterns on his skin. Your hand created a path up to his neck, your fingers guiding his face forcing him to have nothing else to focus on but you. You needed to quell the noise in your head, you didn’t want this to eat you alive as well. 

Worst he can say is no and we just move on Y/N. That’s all that can be done. Just ask him.

“I know you’re not one for sentiment, but did you mean what you said to me? About your liking for me.”

Moving a few coils of your hair away from your face he gazed into your eyes with an intensity you were unsure how to read.

“One thing about me darling is that through all my moments of deception, dealing with such intimacy is not something I take lightly. While not sentimental, I meant every word. I assure you of that. Now, dry your eyes.”

You hadn’t even realized the petal-soft tears slowly rolling down your cheek. You were too engrossed in Loki’s words of affirmation that you felt you left your physical body for a moment. Loki’s hand came up and wiped the tear streaks away from the bridge of your nose and under your eye. He made you feel at home. Warm and comforted even if he had his instances of sharpness, you didn’t want this moment to end. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

You chuckled and the light was restored in your face.

“I don’t care what you say to me, you can read minds. Now stop reading mine, you’re freaking me out.”

Your laughs echoed through the room, any remnant of tension long gone from the space. You stared at the ceiling thinking about how the rest of your days would pan out. You felt the waters would be rocky but they would calm eventually. The thrashing of emotional waves turning into gentle swells. You felt at peace for the first time in a while. Pulling you once again from your thoughts, Loki’s voice filled your ears. 

“Now, I am aware that we have done this quite backward, but would you care to join me for dinner tomorrow night? And do this the right way?”

Rolling back over onto his chest you smiled against him

“I’d love to”

Amiable silence fell over the room as your body began to rest. The beating of Loki’s heart created a rhythm that seemed tailored specifically to put you to sleep. Eyes growing heavy, you fell asleep, ultimately feeling secure within his arms.