#sorry for the rant just excited !!!!

[coulsart]

@venomous-qwille The opulence! The excess!

[meansevika]

i said it over on twitter but i‘ll say it here too! it‘s crazy to me that not even smth as little as a bit of banter about meljay can stay exclusively about meljay w/o being co-opted by jayvik or meljayvik at some point? like imagine i‘d go to a jayvik screencap tweet and comment "aww that‘s how he looks at mel"… that would get me ripped to shreds.. like the times i had comments or tags on a meljay post trying to swap her out??? wdym you‘re (figuratively speaking) swapping mel out on the mel post?? at this point if they actually do the pregnancy plot i‘m just gonna call it now and say general fanon will be vik raising mels child while she runs off to be evil woman™

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

"A first aid kit in a crate? It's a health pack. This is a loot drop."

The Librarians S02E08 And the Point of Salvation.

[fanaticalthings]

Hey, boss! Quick thought: Jason and Cass are basically Irish twins and Jason is totally that little brother who acts like her older brother/dad and she only lets him do it because its endearing.

Like he consistently shows up at all of her ballet recitals with a bouquet of flowers.

And he takes her out for ice cream when she comes back from a particularly long mission and he knows that the batgirls are unavailable.

And he can tell when she's feeling down about something so he takes her out on his motorbike for wordless drives.

But she's also not afraid of calling little brother just to remind him every now and then.

And he's learnt not to invite her to play video games, unless she's feeling particularly out of touch/having worries about her self-worth, because she will destroy him every time. He doesn't even need to pretend (not that he ever would obviously)

Ahhh I actually really love the idea of Cass and Jason being really close (although it probably wouldn't work out if you still hc Jason as a crimelord/killer) but just the thought that they both understand each other in ways that the others might not is a really nice thought I think.

I also LOVE to hc Cass as the older one, especially since Jason seems like he'd be the older one considering he looks like a fucking 6'4" linebacker that could take you out with one slap

Also also, just based on their canon interpretations as of right now, I actually would LOVE to see an exploration of their characters when put together.

Cass was raised and abused by her father to be a ruthless killing machine since birth, and yet she still turned out to be an incredibly empathetic person who believes anyone can change for the better.

Jason, when he was young also had a rough childhood (grew up in the slums of Gotham, had a father with a criminal background and a mother who succumbed to drug abuse) he'd basically witnessed the worst of Gotham and still believed in the good of people when he was Robin.

In the current comics, Jason heavily wants to turn his lifestyle around, going non-lethal and trying to get away from the more questionable actions of his past. I think it would be super interesting to have Cass empathize with wanting to escape the dark parts of yourself with Jason and also have Jason see his younger self in Cass with how she vehemently strives to save everyone like how he did long ago.

I would so be down for a lil duo run of these two. Maybe have them relate to each other with the roughness of their childhoods or have them explore/share the struggles of trying to better yourself when it feels like everything is against you.

[yuri-is-online]

Holy shit I love yutu? I want to kiss his head and pretend I don't see him side eyeing aces entire existence

Referencing this future kid au fic

(╥﹏╥) I'm so glad you like him. He's based off of M! Morgan from Fire Emblem Awakening who has a very special place in my heart. It's been 12 years (holy shit) but he's still my baby boy. Yutu would probably cry if Yuu gave him a forehead kiss, he loves his parent so much and was really fighting it to keep it together when he saw them alive again.

As for Ace... well. They have similar personalities, they're both very protective of Yuu but don't ever outright say it, they both like a good prank, and like life best when things are simple. Oh and they both like to cheat at cards.

But Yutu is a much harder worker than Ace is and doesn't complain about it so when he sees his father of all people "just joking" about wanting to share a bed with his parent or "not being into their type" he's got that judgey face on because he knows it's a lie. The best friends to lovers dynamic is completely lost on him because he grew up with a Yuu who could barely remember his dad but was still in love with him. He's got nothing to lose but his dignity and from Yutu's perspective he doesn't even have that 💀💀💀

[thebluemoo]

I'm so tired. And Frustrated.

I'm tired of characters needing to be "in love" every time they love each other. Especially when the media goes out of the way to make it clear that they love each other without ever trying to define that as "in love". They love each other. That is just as valuable. That is Just as worthy. They can be partners without romance. They can be partners without sex.

They Can Be Partners Without Romance.

I am so Sick of not only the idea that for some god forsaken reason, Every single queer relationship needs to be labeled and categorizable to "count" as explicitly queer, but the idea that it needs to be romantic. The notion that characters and stories cannot be queer until you get to see a kiss or people are declared "boyfriends" or something else like that. We are Woefully shy of queer representation on the whole— I'm not saying you can't interpret media however you like. Do what you want.

But I am so sick of characters that Clearly mirror aromantic stories or stories about queerness that just don't focus on romance be called "not good enough" or "homophobic". Not every story is about romance. Not every partnership is romantic.

That doesn't make them not queer. That doesn't make them not important. I can promise you, those of us who don't or can't center romance in our lives? We Are living a queer experience. We are antithetical to amatonormative allonormative expectations for how life "should" be lead.

We get to see ourselves in those stories you're calling "not queer enough". Queerness is complex and weird and Fucking Queer. It's not an analog of straightness or cisness. We're not playing opposite to straightness or cisness. We're not operating in the same Framework— that's what makes us so goddamn queer. We aren't easily definable, and when we try to force ourselves to find one definitive way to be queer, we leave community behind.

So yes. We need more queer stories. We need more queer stories of all kinds that are messy and weird and romantic and aromantic and trans and ace and nonbinary and all over the place because every single story about queerness is going to be different. And that's good.

[vangbelsing]

One last thing about the Keep spoilers below the cut

I am more worried about the inquisitors portrayal than the lack of options. Like I wanted reactivity, but I get why it's not there, and while the absence of reactivity to my choices is regrettable, that absence doesn't contradict my world state, so to me that's livable. But the Inquisitor not having any options to tweak their personality at all?? Not even a general "were they more humorous or kind or violent" section??? That seems... Very much not promising. They seem so excited for people to see how they've portrayed the Inquisitor but... Y'all know people only care because it's their Inquisitor, right? Like there isn't some universal Inquisitor we all agree we love, we like ours. So the fact that there's absolutely no control over them? I. Am more than a little anxious over how they're gonna get handled.

[stealingyourbones]

Spent so much time making sushi for dinner and was so excited to have a funky little sushi roll and eat it like a burrito but then my nori ripped apart mid roll and I had to eat it as a salad and apparently my brain doesn’t like the texture of imitation crab + seaweed and rice rn :(

[kentopedia]

truthfully i want to back away from jjk but i don’t know how

[hers-underwraps]

AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK ADVENTURE!!

Octoreview time + talk about Koshi!

Watching this episode was awesome, got to see my favourite sisters in action in AUSTRALIA (YEAH)

Like first of all genuinely love the way Octonauts represent the creatures in the countries they visit. I honestly loved seeing all the Australian outback creatures and it wasn't giving the "down under" parody vibe that media usually presents Australia with. So um slay meomi?

I genuinely loved the way these two interacted with each other. They're so expressive and silly throughout the episode.

Dashi getting so excited over the Kangaroo was so funny and a core memory moment. It's such an Australian thing to get overly excited when seeing a kangaroo even though we see them in out backyard like every day. We're always "OMG GUYS LOOK IT'S A KANGAROO" and the Joey excitement is so real.

(Lowkey reminds me of the time our science teacher had a Joey he was fostering and it came into our science class and just chilled the entire time)

ANYWAYS GETTING A LITTLE SIDETRACKED BUT JUST HAD TO GUSH A LITTLE BIT.

I just love to see my girls winning ya'know?

They were pretty independent throughout the episode (apart from when the guys back at the Octopod were checking in) and it's nice to see them being able to use their own skills and knowledge without outside support

*literally, me watching Koshi and Dashi in this episode*

ALSO -> Not Koshi stealing Barncles thunder. Bro was probably like girl, you stole my most iconic line you can't just do that. Like he was so taken aback I just giggled. (Koshi being a little smartass is always so amusing to see though)

Since there was a heavy Koshi focus in this episode I just want to say I adore her as a character (no not just because she's Dashis sister).

I love how overly excited she gets, I love her insights and I love the sibling relationship she has with Dashi.

(Just look at how excited she gets with the octo-watch. The gasp and shaking with excitement oh my gosh it was so cute)

She genuinely admires her sister so much and she constantly shows her admiration and support throughout the whole series. The mystery sisters series she writes is just so adorable, she constantly gushes about how cool her sister's job is and how she aspires to be an Octonaut is so heartwarming. Especially since there are some unhealthy sibling relationships on the show (*coughs* pinto) and since I love the relationship I have with my sisters I really enjoy seeing it in these two!

Also, I appreciate how this Octo-watch was well deserved. Unlike some of the other jnr octoagents Koshi genuinely makes positive and helpful contributions to the team. She's still and child and sometimes gets distracted yapping but she can be a vital part of the team instead of a liability.

(Like just look at how happy everyone is for her!)

Also, the fact the she wanted to make her sister round like *tears in my eyes* gosh I love her.

Gotta love my dawgs <3

Anyways thanks for reading!

[moonsart]

Hewwo I am here with chapter 2 uwu

^ link for easy access for whoever wants to read, this time putting my thoughts undercut so I don’t accidentally spoil hehe ^^’

EXCITEMENT YES YES!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS I LOVE IT!!!

DAMM Loop??!?!?! They are mad mad I did not expect them to start antagonizing the family like that omg!! The family too omg 😭😭 they all just care for siffrin 😭 AND YES ‘THE FAMILY WOULD HAVE MADE IT THROUGH THE HOUSE UNINTERRUPTED IF THEY SEARCHED TOGETHER’ IS MY HC TOO!!!!

Sorry sorry going on a sudden side tangent, but Siffrin just recently lost his eye, of course he’s gonna miss stuff!! That’s a whole 50% of his field of vision gone!! Had they all helped, it would’ve been much easier! (And yet! And yet! Everyone is so so SO on edge and stressed while going through the house, especially Mirabelle! Seeing everything that she loves frozen in time, the survivor’s guilt consuming her, the pressure she feels, the truth about not being chosen by the change god, and even being off her meds for who knows how long!! It’s all too much!! it’s no wonder she’s distracted!! The family getting time to relax and chat is essential for them to still have the energy to fight The King!! I kinda hc that on the loop that Siffrin hangs out with Loop, the family are so on edge the whole time that by the time they reach The King, even if they have the shield, they never would be able to beat him because of how burned out they feel. Siffrin is not useless at all, they are as important as everyone else is!!!)

Side tangent over, back to the fic: poor Siffrin 😭 theyre so scared about their family finding out about the Loop hangout they don’t even realize how devastated they are after finding out how much pressure he was under 😭😭😭 now he will have to talk to them he has no choice 😤 thank you once again for sharing this is lovely!!!! And kudos to you!!! 💙💙💙💙💙

[alicent-hightowers-spouse]

Idk if this is real or I’m just going crazy from sleep deprivation, but am I the only one that thought in the most two recent episodes Rhaenyra and Alicent were being paralleled in their internalized misogyny? (Not a hate post, I love both of them and I think it’s impossible NOT to have internalized misogyny in that setting. Just talking about something I noticed.)

Like in episode two we see Alicent having Helaena do the whole political funeral thing, and it’s so obvious that before, during, and after it, Alicent sees herself in Helaena. The whole thing is like Alicent reliving her earliest days as Queen all over again where not only was she also just a political pawn for the men in her life, but also where her biggest fear started. This fear being something happening to the kids she was forced to have. While the political pawn thing is majorly important too to the generational misogyny discussion, I think the more major relation that registers within Alicent’s brain is the fear of her children dying, and her consciously forcing Helaena to suffer through an extended version of that pain, and it is what will be relevant later in my post. Keep that in mind.

Similarly, in episode three, we see Rhaenyra narrowing Rhaena down to nothing more than an idea of motherhood. Rhaenyra basically tells Rhaena that her main purpose in the war is to take care of her children, even though Rhaena is less than enthusiastic about it. Even before I made the distinction that I make in this post, this whole scene struck out as odd to me, because my first thought was “teenage Rhaenyra would have hated to be told this,” yet Rhaenyra didn’t seem to care about Rhaena’s feelings at all. And then I realized that was the point. Sure, Rhaenyra’s fear of motherhood surrounded around childbirth mainly, but still, her greatest fear had been motherhood for most of her life, specifically being forced to mother children she didn’t want, and yet she forced it onto Rhaena without a second thought.

So. Alicent’s greatest fear, suffering the loss of a child, befell Helaena, and instead of comforting her in her time of need, Alicent furthered her daughter’s pain. Rhaenyra’s greatest fear, being forced into motherhood, was easy for her to force onto another young girl. It’s disturbing, and shocking, and upsetting, but it’s such a good decision for their characters. It shows how easily women can forget their girlhood fears when they come into more power, contributing to the misogyny around them. But that’s not all. Because then I realized something else.

Despite the idea haunting her for almost her entire life, Alicent never had to suffer the loss of a child. But Rhaenyra did.

And in the end, Rhaenyra did get to choose who the father of her children was, and when she had them. But Alicent didn’t.

They lived each other’s worst fears. It adds another layer of tragedy to them, because it would have been so easy for them to understand each other, their fears and grievances matching perfectly, but they never really got the chance because of how they viewed the other as having caused their issues in the first place. And even later, they get another chance to understand both themselves and each other through their daughters, but it makes no difference.

None of them will ever win, because they don’t help each other. Everyone complaining that “so-and-so” is better than “this character” because “so-and-so” is a true feminist and “this character isn’t” doesn’t understand the point of the show.

The point is that they won’t help their mothers, they won’t help their best friends, and they won’t help their daughters. If you think any of the men in House Of The Dragon are an ideal image of feminism…. I don’t even know how you’re on my page in the first place. And all the women in the show are only looking out for their own best interests. Which is totally fair for the time period theyre in, and I would probably do the same. But it all goes to show that they could’ve been so much stronger if they all stood together.

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

BRO THEY LITERALLY DID IT AGAIN

I was talking this morning about how the og Titans were so off balance that they had to keep removing Donna and Wally from the narrative just to make it work because those two were WAY too overpowered for the typical Titan mission.

And do you wanna know what they did in today's Nightwing? Huh? Do ya? They, you guessed it, removed Wally and Donna from the narrative. But that's not all folks! Nope! Starfire got removed as well!

Honestly, I'm surprised Raven managed to still be in this thing. Cause it'd go Wally, Raven, Kori, Donna in terms of firepower.

Man... They weren't even clever about it. Wally was gone the entire issue with no explanation. He checked the perimeter of a jail once. That was it.

Donna and Kori got relegated to babysitting duty while the other Titans (sans Wally for no explainable reason) did the actual plot and went on a Heist in Hell.

This is concerning because this man is writing the new Titans series. The og series suffered because Donna and Wally were on a different level and the writers didn't know how to compensate for that so they kept knocking them out at the start of every issue. And now the same thing is happening.

Taylor doesn't know how to power balance. The best Justice League runs deal with assorted power levels by having different roles for the heroes to play. Ollie isn't on the front lines fighting General Zod with Clark and Diana. Hal doesn't tag along on stealth missions with Dinah and Bruce. Different heroes have different power levels and different abilities. Narratively, you have to juggle that.

And it's hard! I get that. It isn't easy. But I'm going to be honest, if a writer can't power balance then I don't want them writing the Titans series.

Because having half the cast drop out of the plot for no reason other than 'they would solve the plot too fast' is not good writing.

And I'm sorry. I'm going to say it. It's because Taylor is power scaling everything back for Nightwing. It doesn't take the entire goddamn Titans team to take out Blockbuster or to take out a single shape shifter. For some reason Taylor has this fascination with Grayson being the best and smartest Titan who can be the only one who solves issues, so every bad guy is difficult but doable for Nightwing to defeat.

It's incredibly annoying and it makes Nightwing seem super unlikable which is... I'm flabbergasted at that because it's Nightwing. How the hell do you make him unlikable?? But this is it. I've found it. This is the limit . Mary Sue Nightwing has no place in my heart.

[authenticcadence18]

this is not really my brand at all but I’m just going to rant about Toy Story 5 for a hot second because the D23 sneak peek made me so mad.

TLDR: Toy Story 5 (and 4) ruin what made the first three films so special.

I’ll start this off by saying I ADORE Toy Story 3. It’s one of my favorite Pixar films. I was 10 when this movie came out, I remember going to like three Walmarts just to find a Jessie doll, and carrying her around with me in my bag all summer. I still have that doll, she’s very special to me.

Part of what makes the first three films so good is the passage of time. First two movies came out within 4 years of each other (1995 and 1999), third movie came out 11 years later in 2010. Andy is a kid in the first two films, maybe he doesn’t age exactly four years between 1 and 2 but he doesn’t have to we’re still in the range of childhood years, in the 90s. When the third movie came out a significant amount of time had passed in the real world, and thus it had in TS3. We quite literally felt the passage of time in that movie along with the toys. THAT is what made that movie so captivating and special, those trailers were so bittersweet and magical and REAL. I remember it so well. The third movie also FEELS like 2010 that movie EXUDES early 2010s it’s so comfy and nice (minus the traumatizing fire scene ofc)

(more below the cut)

Nine years later TS4 comes along and even tho the animation is prettier and the film seems to take place in the 2020s. everyone is the same age. Bonnie has aged what, a year? Over the course of nine real years? whereas Andy went from kid to college bound in a similar amount of time? where is the real world connection?

but ya know I gave the film the benefit of the doubt, I saw it I liked it I loved forky. But the emotional connection wasn’t there the way it was for TS3. But oh well that’s it right? How do you continue the franchise after that ending?

but OH! NOW TS5 is coming out in 2026, seven years later and GUESS WHAT!!! BONNIE IS STILL A KID. Look at this concept art!! She is very clearly still a kid.

she’ll have been a kid for 16 years at this point!! what is this, despicable me? (that’s a rant for another day shdjdjdj)

And she’s an iPad kid now which I mean. Yes. That’s a relevant issue for today’s kids. A GREAT concept for a TS movie. But Bonnie is not the character to portray this storyline. She’s not one of today’s kids she is a kid of the 2010s she was born in like. 2005. BONNIE should be in college and/or starting her own career now. Not an iPad kid. The toys should be with someone else, maybe a younger sister or cousin.

Plus!!! Guess who’s back in Bonnie’s room! Woody!!! so much for him saying goodbye to the others forever to be with his one true love right? The end of TS4 was not my favorite initially but I applauded the writers’ decision to make such a bold choice and change to the status quo. It echoed TS3 in a way, even if it cheapened the end of that film somewhat for me (in my heart the true TS canon ends at TS3 and TS4 is just a possible timeline it could branch off into).

But I guess the moving sacrificial end of your film doesn’t really matter when you can just change it in the next film!! 🙄

I love the sequence of the first three films so much, I love how they take place in the eras they come out in while also moving the timeline along.

Bonnie going from being born in 2005 to the late 2010s AT THE EARLIEST for these films to make any sense makes no sense. and if she’s born in 2005 how is she an iPad kid??? TS4 should’ve come out way sooner, and it should’ve been about a different kid.

(and I KNOW lots of movies and shows have a floating timeline where the kids never age. Charlie Brown, Phineas and Ferb, The Simpsons. but for those shows the setting changing with time while the characters don’t is part of the charm. The Toy Story franchise could’ve been that way but Toy Story 3 fundamentally changed that.)

(And look let’s say the movie takes place in 2012 and Bonnie has a rudimentary IPad 4 or something. why are we just seeing the movie now in 2026?? the timelines don’t match up it doesn’t make sense no matter what.)

I feel an emotional connection to the Bonnie of TS3 because she belongs in that time period, in the early 2010s when cellphone technology was just starting to pick up, when I was still a kid. And I think of TS3 and my brain screams 2010S!! MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!!!

whereas when I think of TS4 I’m like “has it actually been five years? it feels like it came out like two years ago” bc there’s no passage of time within that film to anchor it to the year 2019. That film came out the year before covid and it STILL feels like it came out like two years ago. that is telling to me.

Seeing Bonnie still be a kid 14 (and what will be 16) years after her debut feels inauthentic to the precedent set by Andy and TS3. I’m sure the movie will be good bc Toy Story movies are always good. But they’ve lost that sense of realism, of moving time, of leaving something behind and NOT being able to pick back up right where you left off. That kept the TS movies grounded in bittersweet reality, that’s kinda the whole point. :/

[lopez-richter-fangirl]

Do you honestly think tcb will reach their goal?

I have to believe that they will but I am fucking stressed and fucking scared

The thing is there’s literally no reason they SHOULDN’T. Yes it’s a bigger goal than they’ve ever had but shipwrecked raised that amount for headless and starkid raised almost double that for returns with a smaller slate of projects. Even in TCB’s own kickstarters they raised 100k for a single staged barebones workshop reading. Yes 200k is a lot of money, but for how much they’re doing with it?? It’s TINY

Two concert screenings, one of them international. A full month international play run. A brand new musical with performances in LA and eventually internationally. A concert performance of a show we’ve never heard live yet. A brand new pilot reading. And multiple performances of a live comedy game show

I do think the niche-ness of the campaign branding means they have to work harder to reach a wider audience, but for people who are already aware of what they’re doing, I don’t understand why it’s not showing in the numbers

Please, if anyone’s on the fence, tell me why and let me convince you why this is worth it

[enhanced-operatives-division]

Junicrane/Starstruck Ramble

I will not be brief, all under the cut

To clear some things right off the bat:

No corpse, no proof with Juniper. Obligatory this is set in a canon where he's alive and adjacent to the agency in some way.

Reggie & Juniper are just gay to me, but I don't mind any interpretation of their sexuality

The games are set in 1967/68 to me (based on a couple bits in game) which is before it was legal to be gay in America at least (1971), which is relevant to how I interpret canon as being somewhat grounded in reality, despite unrealistic elements.

This is just an insane amount of headcanons/elements of and AU all culminated into one post. I will talk about some headcanons like they're just facts because they are established in my head, and it saves me over explaining literally everything, however I will explain some parts a little bit for clarity.

Alright. Actual beginning of the ramble:

Juniper is a character to me who had gotten so lost in his job as an actor and a social presence that in the end his whole life revolved around that 'role'. Because of this, by the time he's put into the situation where he's around the Agency, he basically knows nothing about himself, though he doesn't realise at first. Furthermore, what little identity he had has changed in so many ways. He's no longer a beloved famous actor in the prominence of public light, he's legally dead and he tarnished his career just before he was supposed to die, with the bonus of that making him lose the majority of his estate. From that, he also has horrific facial scarring from the electrical burns from literally having his face fried. I believe a friend of mine made a post about this a while ago (I also think they were the first to think it up also), but, to me, Juniper has a permanent trimmer in his right arm (aka his dominant hand) from the electrical current and it is messing with his nervous system.

All in all, he's not doing great, but he's too proud to admit that he's not doing great, because if anything, what's left of his ego is all he has as a defense since he's deep in unfamiliar water.

Before ending up around the agency (I have multiple interpretations of this, so I'm just going to bring it up generally), he'd never actually seen Reggie, and his only impression of him is a single voicemail, which was his only reference he had to later impersonate him. Juniper probably has very little feelings other than the ones he projects onto him because of Phoenix and that, at the very least, he's physically attracted to Reggie to some degree (that's like the beginning of how everything else would tumble into place in this sort of interpretation at least).

And on Crane's side? His feelings towards Juniper are probably very intense and muddled. On the one hand, he adores musical theatre, and that's his now ex-favourite actor. The thought of just casually being around him blows the bit of fanboy in him away at first because THAT'S the GUY, plus the inklings of a celebrity crush which still poke at him. And then there's the rational side of him, which knows Juniper has committed absolute atrocities on the side of Zoraxis, and hates him for that. Then there's how much Juniper comes off as an asshole at first because he refuses to cooperate with anything the Agency tried to put in place. He finds Juniper endlessly frustrating, and yet he's stuck working with him since, afterall, he's the one who knows the Agency's history with Juniper the best. I imagine him acting a lot like how he does IEYTD 1 around Juniper.

At this point, I'm just describing the pitch for a romcom.

I think the start of their relationship with one another largely started with Juniper trying to wind Crane up. It was a way of getting his attention, and I don't think Juniper knows why he's so dead set on that at first, because I don't think he realises he has a crush on 'this grump' at first. (I think that's actually the fun part about these two, because it's almost like a role reversal of the celebrity crush dynamic. This ex-big name actor has a TERRIBLE crush on an average joe and it is KILLING HIM.) But of course the Agency keeps them together because Juniper is at least conversing with Crane, so it's a start.

Through one way or another, they actually get talking casually, at least mildly at first. It takes Juniper a long time to fully deconstruct the wall he's built, and the thing is, Crane isn't the one trying to deconstruct it, at least at first, because yeah, Juniper realises if he wants Reggie to actually like him in any way, he can't keep winding him up. So they talk. Small talk at first, something rhythmic and almost easy to keep to a script. And over time that turns into actual conversations. Genuine ones in which Reggie rips out the occasional one of his jokes which Juniper is endlessly endeared about. The way he smiles just before he makes them, like he wants to chuckle at what he's about to say before he says it. That's probably when Juniper realised that he does have some vague crush on him, and that it wasn't going away.

This is what kickstarts John I can't-buy-you-things-to-impress-you-so-acts-of-service-it-is Juniper to do little things for him. It mostly starts off as him trying to make Reggie his tea how he likes it. However, the nerve damage in his arm makes that hard, as the weight of the kettle and trying to pour is hard all of a sudden. And he refuses to accept that, so he tries for a very long while. Long enough that Crane would go to investigate what was going on. And when he does see Juniper leaning over a cup with the kettle as he uneasily tries to pour it, and when Crane asks Juniper responds so matter-of-fact that his intention is nothing but genuine. And it catches Reggie off guard because Juniper hadn't done anything like that up to that point, and his very apparent vulnerability is so clearly on show.

It shifts something between them.

From that point on, conversations are longer, more familiar. Both of their attitudes soften, and Reggie makes more jokes. Juniper learns how to better use his left hand while strengthening his right back to a point where it could be used again. Slowly, they're both spending time with one another not because they have to, but just because they can. Little bits at first, not too far outside what they already were doing, but those little bits turned into long bits to a point where the other person's company was genuinely desirable.

As time passes, Juniper probably realises that he doesn't genuinely know much about himself or what hobbies he's into, because he never really had the time when he got big, and his home life in his youth wasn't bad, but it wasn't picturesque. I think Reggie would pick up on it, and absolutely try to introduce him to some things he's into. Some things stick, other things don't (corn husking very much stays Reggie's passion, and John will go with him sometimes because it's him, but it's not something he strongly cares for). Crane introduces him to a lot of music, and it's something that becomes a staple between them, with tracks they listen to more than others (tragically, I know relatively little about 60s music so I couldn't really say what). Occasionally they dance, never anything intense, think slow dancing, but the closeness is nice.

Through all of it, Juniper is battling the worst crush of his life, and he can't stand it, because I think he struggles to read people since he doesn't have anything like a script or a director to refer back to, so he has no idea if Reggie likes him back or if he's just desperate for that to be true. I think because of that any sort of confession between them would be incredibly raw, not only because of the time they live in making it hard for them to be truthful about how they love, but because it's a complete show of Juniper who's worked to be this better person. I don't exactly know how that would go, mainly because I don't have one set version of their dynamic, this post is just a generalisation of main consistent points.

Reggie does like him back, because he's gotten used to Juniper being just this guy, not a figure in the public eye, not a Zoraxis lackey, and not any sort of Agency operative (despite being under their care to some degree). He's someone he genuinely cares for, because they've given one another the time of day to learn one another, and I think because Reggie was a field agent, he was a lot better at reading Juniper than Juniper was at reading him. Eventually Juniper's company becomes something he could see around him for the rest of his life, and I think he accepts that he likes Juniper a lot more gracefully.

I think any affection directed at Juniper would at first be met with him feeling a little muddled. Reggie was a very physically affectionate person when he could be, and sure the initial flirting with one another came with the occasional little touches, but everything now was so deeply intentional. I also don't think Juniper would almost ever get over the novelty of being able to kiss him, or many other gestures, because it made the fact that they were together so very real, and it was great. I do think it comes easier to Reggie, and it's a big way of showing how much he cares, so it's important for Juniper to try and show it back because he knows how much it means to the other.

I like the idea of them eventually living with one another, too. I think Juniper would have always had a quiet little daydream of sorts where he does just live a domestic quiet life, and he can with Reggie (well, as close as they can get between the Agency and Zoraxis always being at odds), and he loves that, and he loves him, and it's immense.

I think they cook for one another a lot, it helps Juniper work on his dexterity in a controlled environment, which means a lot because it's a huge point of insecurity (that and his scars). He does improve, and Crane is proud of that and shows it and it's great. I also think they'd probably cook together too, because they can deal with being in the kitchen together and they work well with one another. It's probably a good way for them to unwind because over time they can do it in relative silence.

As I said before, I also think music is a staple in their household, and that Reggie listens to things on vinyl almost all of the time because he likes the background noise. Sometimes Juniper will catch him chuntering along to the music which he finds endlessly endearing. I wouldn't put it past his dramatic ass to also join in to fluster Reggie, but I also don't think Reggie would mind that terribly because Juniper has listened to the music enough to know the lyrics, and that's huge to him.

I don't think they are without rough patches, no relationship is, but I think the good part about them is that they're willing to talk about it (... eventually). They're used to long conversations, and while they're often less fun conversations, they're needed and they know that, and it works out.

Alright. I think I'm done for now. I haven't mentioned everything, but this definitely got the worst of it out of my system. If you ever want to hear any specific thoughts my ask box is open but other than that, behold my general dynamic for these two which has been festering in my head for years. I think they're great