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annie-mit-ie · 3 years ago

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Glimpses: Part 8 (Kathryn Hahn x Fem!Reader)

Part 1 // previous chapter <<< >>> next chapter

Summary: Babysteps are taken.

Word Count: 1,8k

A/N: Hey y’all! I am really sorry it took me a while to get to this but tbh life hasn't been the easiest since I’ve last posted. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, even though it turned out completely different than I had anticipated. Definitely plan to throw another chapter your way this week. We’ll see :)

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Her soft lips move against yours as Kathryn’s hand finds her way into your hair. She pulls you closer and it seems like she wants to deepen the kiss, but before she gets any chance to do so, you break the contact.

“Kathryn…“, both of you are panting and you have to hold on to her upper thigh to steady yourself. You take in a deep breath as she looks at you with widened eyes, while a worried look is creeping onto her face. She immediately lets go of your neck. Still panting, she tries to form words.

“Sweetheart, I… I am so sorry! I… Oh my god!“ Her eyes widen and she removes herself completely from you and puts a few more inches in between the two of you. “Is this…? Did we…? Are you okay?“

You nod, slowly, because you need time to process. What struck you and made you speechless wasn’t the fact that she kissed you in the first place, no, you are absolutely confused by her harsh reaction to the occurring situation. You look at her, eyes wide open, as she is sitting way too far away from you and looks at you like something horrible has happened.

“Kathryn, hey, I AM okay. Very much so, stop worrying. All is good!“ You take her hand in yours. “I… I loved this. This is everything I have ever dreamed of…“ “But?…“, she impatiently interrupts you and you give her the look that a mother gives her children when they repeatedly reach for a toy they are not allowed to have.

“But… This is not how I want this to go. Let me take you out on a date or something? Let’s go eat somewhere or read or talk or just sit… But not in the back of a car in the middle of the night as we are both very much not sober, hm?“ She nods and the hiccup, that escapes her throat right after you take her hand into yours again, just tells you that you’re right.

The rest of the ride is calm and quiet as Kathryn clearly is tired and overwhelmed with all the love she has gotten all night. You opt to just sit with her in silence, noticing how her body slowly falls against yours until her head lands on her shoulder. She is asleep.

You move a strand of hair behind her ear - prompting a small smile to form on her lips and it makes you feel proud that you did the grown up thing and resisted the urge to take a step further, the urge to see how far she would go, not that you could sneakily slip your hand anywhere anyway, considering she was still wearing that one-piece that was hugging her in all the right places.

Shaking your head to get rid of the thoughts that are flooding your tipsy brain right now, you realize you’ve reached your neighborhood right as the car slows down on the side walk. Peter opens the window to look at you “Do you want me to take you directly to your house or do you want to walk the rest of the way?“

You really appreciate how considerate he is, but you have to tell your mom eventually anyway, so you opt for the safer option. “Take me directly home, please.“ He nods and his eyes wander to Kathryn, who is still asleep on your shoulder. “You’re good for her, I hope you know that.“, Peter says before closing the window again.

“YOU DID WHAT?“ You haven’t seen your best friend enraged like that ever before. “YOUR./NAME… YOU DID WHAT NOW?

Telling her that you were the one who broke off a kiss with Kathryn was probably not your smartest idea in a while. When you got home last night, you went straight to bed, but texted Alex that you were gonna call her as soon as you woke up to give her all the tea.

“I… I broke the kiss?“ You repeat and look at her, scared she will yell at you again.

“Honey! How??? Why? This could’ve very well been a one in a lifetime chance!“ She is not mad or anything, more shocked because she knows how much you’ve wanted this.

You look at her and both of you become serious for a moment. “It wasn’t right. We had too much to drink. I know she wanted it. We’ve had moments before, but… I just didn’t feel right, Alex. I don't know how to explain. Don’t get me wrong, I was into it, very much so, but I want the real deal. Not a car fling, you know?“ “You really are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I hope she knows how fortunate she is to know someone as respectful as you.“ It still felt unusual to talk about Kathryn that way. Even to your best friend. Even though you know you share everything with Alex that is there to share. Kathryn was Kathryn and you were… just you. But somehow, when the two of you are together, that doesn't matter at all. You don’t think about who she is when you are with Kathryn.

Right as you think about her, your phone lights up and you receive a message.

„Sweetheart, I really enjoyed having you around last night! Can’t wait to do it again. Packed week ahead, sadly, but would like to invite you to my garden again by the end of it? xxx K.“

For a moment, you smile and already want to text back, but you had read the message out to Alex as well and she doesn’t want you to text back just yet. “Can’t wait to do it again?“, she says. “Like as in the kiss or as in the night, well I mean the day, in general? DUDE. That’s huge!“ You hadn’t thought about it that way. Alex was wild sometimes. She would come up with things that you haven’t considered yet, but not always in a good way. Sometimes, she drops knowledge on you until your anxiety kicks in and she doesn’t even notice. Not this time, though.

This time, Alex’ remark only makes your chest swell with pride because, either way, it was a huge compliment. You let Kathryn know that you feel the same and you would love to visit her again.

The following week seems to be endless but somehow you make your way through it, especially with a Q&A that was announced Sunday night and would happen today. Kathryn is booked to watch an episode of her latest show Wandavision with some cast members on something like Zoom, where they can be seen by fans around the globe to promote upcoming shows and increase streams.

She had texted you a selfie earlier, and captioned it with how she was missing your compliments while getting ready, with a wink, of course, and you that made you even more excited to see her later.

The event itself is cute, hundreds of fans are online and even though you can’t see the other fans, you all can feel the unity and love towards the cast. You’re sitting on your desk, laptop propped up in front of you with the stream, while you are FaceTiming Alex who stayed awake for the event like she always does.

“Kathryn is just soooo beautiful tonight.“ Alex swoons, as you watch her staring at the stream. Kathryn does look great. Her blue eyes are highlighted by the blue button up shirt she is wearing and her hair is loosely hanging down one side. Ben really outdid himself with tonight’s look. She smiles at something Lizzie says and they both laugh as they watch the scene where Agatha and Wanda are in the kitchen together.

“Many mouths make good gossip.“ Alex laughs and you can see Kathryn grin in the corner of your eyes as you look at her best friend. “Have you told her she looks beautiful yet?“

It was a logical question. Shooting her a message would be so easy and yet, you haven’t thought of it yet. You shake your head.

“Gurl! Take your phone and text her, NOW! Let’s gooooooo.“ She was right. You had the perfect chance right there and you were sure Kathryn would not be looking at her phone anytime soon. Most likely, she would only see your message after the event, so you decide to go for it after all.

“Looking really good tonight, Ms Hahn. ;)“ you finally type. It took you a couple tries and you reworded the message several times, trying to figure out what tone would fit best. After deleting the previous ideas, you just want to not send anything at all, but as you reread your final words , you feel satisfaction and that makes you decide to shoot your shot after all.

Ales notices our internal struggle “Y/N! Send that freaking message NOW.“ You know she would take your phone and just press send if she was with you and you want this friendship to feel a little less distant tonight, so you immediately press send.

Immediately, the both of you keep your eyes on the stream to not miss any possible reactions and you were wrong. Kathryn actually does have her phone with her and you can tell she notices a message because she looses attention for a second and looks to her left.

You can tell she rethinks if she should pick up her phone or not, but before you can worry about the whole situation more, she reaches out for her phone and reads. The smile on her face is telling. She tries to tone the smile down but it still creeps onto her face on one side. You’re not sure, but you would also say that there is a little blush around her nose that you think is adorable and makes a warm feeling bubble up in your body. OH NO.

Shortly, she looks directly at the camera with the softest smile, before putting the phone back aside and giving her attention back to the cast and episode.

“JACKPOT!“ Alex celebrates an early win. „She loved it! See! Aaaaargh, I am SO GOOD AT THIS.“

You roll your eyes. “You have a wife, honey, OBVIOUSLY you are.“

And while the two of you laugh about your antics and virtually high five because messaging Kathryn was a success, the other fans on twitter are already freaking out about the mysterious message Kathryn has gotten and who it might've been from.

#Kathryn hahn #kathryn hahn x reader #Kathryn Hahn fan fiction #kathryn hahn x you #groupie #groupie au

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bestworstcase · 3 years ago

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I like your thoughts on how Rapunzel was handling things wrong in “Rapunzel: Day One.” The episode tries to imply that Cassandra is wrong for not sharing her feelings with Rapunzel, but is a Rapunzel really the person Cassandra should be opening up to? Rapunzel never respects Cassandra’s boundaries. Cassandra’s a private person. Rapunzel doesn’t respect that. And just because Cassandra doesn’t want to open up to everyone doesn’t mean that she’s bottling things up.

ok so this is gonna be a long one bc tbh i like. fundamentally disagree that RDO, the narrative of RDO, in any way positions cassandra as the one at fault for the emotional conflict between her and raps.

to digress a bit - while tts is not immune to Aesop Episodes (e.g. rapunzel's enemy or you're kidding me) wherein the characters close out the story by talking about What They've Learned, ultimately i don't think tts can or should be read as a morality play. it's a story where sometimes characters just... fuck up and the narrative doesn't waste its time on hand-holding or spoon-feeding us the moral.

anyway, i submit that RDO is what i'll call a False Aesop Episode. it follows the basic structure of an Aesop Episode (protagonist acts badly -> protagonist learns a lesson) but the lesson rapunzel learns is a bad one. it's like if you took... say, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" as an aesop, the False Aesop here is rapunzel confidently eating a rotten apple and then being blindsided a few months later when the doctor who kept begging her not to eat food with maggots in it steals the moonstone from under her nose and runs off into the night with her new demon pal--

and that metaphor got away from me a little bit but you get the idea.

#1: constructing the conflict

the episode opens with cassandra. she's training; we see the sword fly out of her injured hand; lance suggests she take a break, and she answers, "thanks to rapunzel's little trick at the great tree, i have to relearn everything using this hand, so breaks aren't really an option."

she isn't harsh about it. her demeanor isn't all that different from her normal self—she even segues into a very typical concern (that the woods are dangerous and they should all be on their guard) and banters with lance a bit.

what this communicates, immediately and succinctly, is that:

1. cassandra's injury is severe. it's disabling. she's either in immense pain or she's lost all the strength in that hand or both.

2. cass is really upset about this, and not happy with rapunzel.

3. nevertheless cass is keeping her feelings more or less in check; the worst anyone could say about her is she's being a bit more curt than normal.

which is to say, she's acting quite reasonable. she's not taking out her hurt feelings on anyone else or being mean or lashing out, and she's not hiding her injury either. the most concerning thing about her behavior here is actually that she's focused on training so she can do her job instead of on healing or resting or taking care of herself.

then there's a pan over to rapunzel, who is angrily watching this play out while venting to pascal. "i get why cass is mad at me," she says. "she told me—" huge disdainful rolling of eyes here "—not to use the decay spell back and the tree, and i did, and she hurt her hand. but if she had just listened to me and stayed out of it, this all could have been avoided! and i feel like we could work things out, but she refuses to talk about it!!"

line this up against cassandra's behavior and spot the differences.

cass is focused on her injured hand. cass is upset because rapunzel accidentally mutilated her in the great tree. that's what this conflict is about for cass; her injury, and how she feels about being injured.

by contrast, rapunzel thinks the conflict is about them not listening to each other. she does acknowledge that cass was injured, but 1. she puts the blame on cass, and 2. has shoved the fact of the injury to the periphery of the conflict. it's not important, it's just a natural consequence of the real conflict, which is cass being mad and petty and refusing to talk to her about how she's unfairly blaming rapunzel for something that wasn't rapunzel's fault.

[i will add here that this behavior from rapunzel is 100% not knowing how to handle guilt and externalizing it as anger, and this thread of rapunzel burying her guilt gets picked up again in rapunzeltopia; it isn't that rapunzel doesn't care that cass is hurt, so much as she's just not emotionally equipped to process these feelings in a healthy way so it mutates into...this.]

and where cass handles her feelings in a pretty reasonable way, rapunzel rants and raves and draws cass as a literal monster with fangs and claws—she's stewing in her out of control emotions and concludes that she just has to find a way to force cass talk to her, which she does shortly thereafter by ordering—not asking—cass to come with her to search for parts to fix the caravan.

#2: the breakdown of communication

i've said it before but it bears repeating: cassandra might not be perfect, but she's a good communicator. in s1 and the front half of s2, she shares her feelings with rapunzel readily and frequently. when she tries to set boundaries with rapunzel, she's able to be clear and specific about what she needs. when she expresses frustration with eugene or her dad or rapunzel, she's very articulate about exactly what she's frustrated about. she can recognize when politer, softer refusals are being ignored and become blunter and more specific to ensure the message is getting across.

the moments when cass struggles to communicate are noteworthy because they're not normal. they signal that she's in acute crisis. think of how her unhinged rant about adira in RATGT heralded a complete emotional breakdown. she clams up in RDO because it's the only thing she can do to protect herself. because rapunzel is an inexperienced nineteen year old who learned all her social "skills" from a manipulative, egotistical abuser and nowhere in the series does that show more than in RDO.

rapunzel knows cass doesn't want to talk about the great tree, so she isolates cass from the rest of the group with the intention of forcing her to talk about it anyway. she's passive aggressive at first: chattering about inanities and trying to bait cass into 'opening up,' and acting vexed and guilt-trippy when she finds out cass brought owl along. she broaches the subject by going "too bad there's not an open-up-to-your-best-friend-about-the-thing-you-guys-are-fighting-about wand, huh?"

then she leads with "i know you're mad at me, but i did the right thing. i didn't have a choice," which... what can cass even say to that? she acknowledged cassandra's anger in one breath and followed up with "but you're wrong tho" in the next. that statement makes cassandra's feelings about her debilitating injury into an argument about Who Was Right.

this is a game that cass tries very hard not to play. "look, if you feel that way, then it's fine. we're good," she says, which is a statement that is not true at all on its face but - what it means is that if rapunzel wants to turn this into a debate about Who Was Right, cass will concede because that's not an argument she's invested in. cass does not want to put her feelings on trial so rapunzel can pick them apart and decide whether she deserves to have them or not.

so she disengages. the sun sets. they camp. rapunzel pokes her again, this time with a more direct approach: "cass, i need to talk about what we both know is going on between us."

and that's when cass throws up a WALL. prior to RDO, when cass is pressed on her feelings, she either: 1. opens up and explains to the extent that she's able (e.g. under raps or RATGT), or 2. flatly shuts the conversation down (e.g. cassandra vs eugene). but in RDO?

"there's nothing to talk about."

"i never said i was upset."

"what makes you so sure that you know how i'm feeling?"

this is cass falling off the end of her rope. this is a cass who spent the last year and a half with rapunzel running roughshod over every boundary cass exhausted herself trying to set. this is cass maybe a few weeks out from rapunzel screaming at her in front of all their mutual friends and then telling her "i am going to make decisions you don't agree with and i need you to be okay with that" when cass tried to open up about her deepest insecurities. this is cass spiraling into despair because she's seen that her best friend cares more about assuaging her own guilt and exerting her authority as a princess than she does about cassandra's feelings.

this is the moment when the friendship dies.

#3: the memory wipe, cassandra's apology, and the false aesop

the details of the tangled-but-cass shenanigans are not super important for the purposes of this discussion. suffice it to say that cassandra lashes out in the heat of the moment, seriously harms rapunzel by mistake, and spends the rest of the episode trying to repair the damage, then apologizes to rapunzel for hurting her. this is, obviously, the correct thing to do when you hurt someone, even if it was an accident.

you see the parallel here, yeah?

rapunzel hurt cass with magic by accident, and then made cass's hurt feelings all about her, blamed cass for the injury, twisted the facts to justify her own indignation, picked a fight about Who Was Right and invalidated cassandra's feelings, and pushed and pushed and pushed until cass blew up and lashed out at her.

cassandra also hurt rapunzel with magic by accident, and then she set aside her own hurt feelings from the argument they were having before to focus one hundred percent of her energy on brewing a cure and keeping amnesiac rapunzel safe, readily admitted her fault, and offered an earnest apology for losing her temper as soon as she could reasonably do so.

if RDO were a true Aesop Episode, this would be the lesson, and rapunzel would of course learn from cassandra's good example and reciprocate by apologizing for the accident in the great tree and her abysmal behavior afterwards—and in a reflection of how cass shared how bottling up her anger allowed it to erupt in a catastrophic way, rapunzel would probably confess that her demanding, selfish behavior came from a place of feeling awful about what happened and terrified that it would ruin their friendship.

but RDO is a False Aesop Episode. rapunzel isn't emotionally equipped to handle the intensity of her guilt, and she lacks the social insight and empathy to draw comparisons between what she did to cass and what cass did to her, so she can't connect the two situations in her head to understand what she's doing wrong. the true aesop flies right over her head, and instead what she learns is this:

1. she was right about cass being upset

2. backing cass into a corner fixed the problem

3. friends really do "just know"

4. being pushy and forceful was the right thing to do.

because the thing is, when cass apologizes for the accidental memory wipe, she truthfully explains why she acted the way she did—she's furious and she didn't want to talk about it, so she held it in as long as she could and then exploded when the pressure became too much—and for rapunzel, i think the explanation and the actual apology get conflated. meaning, cass says "i'm sorry for what i did out of anger" and what rapunzel hears is "i'm sorry for being angry."

and because of that misunderstanding, from rapunzel's perspective her own indignation has been validated and her behavior justified, because she was right all along and cass shouldn't have been angry with her in the first place and now everything is fine--

but it's not fine.

we're not supposed to share rapunzel's perspective here, because she's flat out wrong. nothing is really better and nothing has really changed, except that rapunzel got the talk she wanted and stops putting this intense pressure on cass. so as we enter the house of yesterday's tomorrow, rapunzel is taking it for granted that things are fine with cass, and meanwhile cass is still injured, still angry, still as aloof as she can be without getting rapunzel breathing down her neck again... and then she meets zhan tiri, who gives her everything she needed and couldn't get from rapunzel.

like, to my mind, this is the entire point of RDO, that rapunzel makes this catastrophic mess of trying to patch things up after RATGT and comes out of that mess wrongly thinking she succeeded. the episode is presented through the lens of rapunzel's perspective, but the lines are very wide and i absolutely think the intention is for the audience to read between them and understand the reality that rapunzel has sort of blinded herself to.

#tts #rta #interpersonal conflict......good #theres also a whole separate layer of stuff going on in RDO w the class dynamic #this fight coming on the heels of raps pulling rank in RATGT and all but ordering cass to shut up and deal. like -#in RDO cass is Literally Doing What Rapunzel Ordered Her To Do #being okay with the decisions rapunzel made that hurt her #except that's not what rapunzel wants really. rapunzel wants cass to be her friend #but cass learnt in RATGT that her friendship can't transcend her servitude #she knows now that when push comes to shove rapunzel will treat her like a servant so... she acts accordingly #er #long post

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stanharu · 4 years ago

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beastars episode 24 thoughts!

this post got kinda long i have Many Thoughts on this one

Overall I had fun watching this ep but I could really tell it was rushed and there was so much that got cut, which makes me super sad. our fears about the finale having pacing issues due to all the added scenes & rearranging were confirmed & it rly sucks, but i'll elaborate more on that in a bit.

this week's ep covered the end of chapter 92, chapters 93-97, and included small bits of chapters 98 & 99.

so the ep starts with the ED and the latter part of the tunnel scene with ibuki and louis. i liked the visual effect they used to show that they were in the dark. louis' voice acting was also On Point. for the most part i think this scene was done pretty well but I can tell it's being rushed also. I really wish we got more buildup and narration instead of just jumping straight to ibuki telling louis to shoot him. the way it is in the anime feels less impactful imo.

also im sad we didnt get to see this in the anime

before i move on, i wanna talk a bit about louis and his relationship w/ the shishigumi and ibuki. i feel like in the anime quite a few of the lil moments that really endear you to the shishigumi and also ibuki were either cut or kinda glossed over, which is strange to me considering how much effort and care went into the ED. it's very emotional and good but i feel like maybe anime onlies are missing out only seeing the anime and the MV. but idk.

legosi and riz's fight was quite rushed as well. there's so much narration and dialogue missing from it and that really rubs me the wrong way. It wasn't all bad but compared to the manga I just don't think it's as good. I will say tho that I really liked the sequence w legosi and the moths. I thought it looked really nice and was pretty well done.

also i liked how the backgrounds had some anti-yahya graffiti, its a nice touch imo

it says "high quality horse meat"

I was happy to see legosi do the "tell me more" pose but I'm honestly disappointed that the anime took out the whole exposition about why legosi did it. like i feel like without that it's just legosi being weird when he has a reason for it!!! This is just one example of the anime taking out crucial narration during the fight.

I also think it's kinda weird how they changed how louis shows up at the fight. im not sure how i feel about riz just charging at him like that, but i liked how legosi kicked him before they ran lol.

i dont have much to say about pina's small scene but I did wanna say that during my first watch thru of the ep i was too distracted trying to read the graffiti behind him that i didn't notice him getting his phone out of the dumpster and calling the cops lmao

it says "devour yahya"

and now... here we are... the predation scene.

overall i thought it was pretty well done but, like the rest of the ep, i could tell it was also being kinda rushed. some important beats werent given enough time to really sink in, and there's a few bits of narration taken out of this part as well that i find disappointing :^(

tho i did like how the anime called back to this scene in s1 when legosi mentions utilizing his strength.

also this part where louis is remembering ibuki had me like😭

I also really liked seeing louis cry. I was crying too sjdflskjdflsjkdf. i thought that scene was really good, its prolly my favorite part of the ep tbh. getting to hear the whole predation scene voiced made me kind of a mess lol. i really liked louis' expressions throughout this whole ep too. studio orange used their whole louis expression budget on these last 2 eps lmao.

seeing legosi instantly get all beefed up was great too. he looked a little ridiculous but i kinda loved it lol. he's so huge and poofy. i love him.

big pomeranian

anyway, im also sad they took out louis' line about being reduced to a flashback character lol. instead he tells legosi "be a hero" again which... im not sure about that change. i liked the part with riz thinking back about tem tho. tho imo the way riz realizes he's in the wrong feels pretty sudden. again adding to how rushed the whole ep feels.

before i move on again i just wanna say legosi looks so cute. even all puffed up and covered in blood. how does he do that

baby boy baby. i wanna ruffle his cheek floofs.

i think one of the things im most disappointed about from this whole ep was how the fight got wrapped up. i really like how the cops show up and totally shift the tone in the manga jslkdfjskljdf. im also really sad we didnt get this interaction

tthe anime really took out most of the sillier moments from the finale, which makes me pretty sad to think about. i know the anime and manga have different tones but pls let the boys be silly sometimes!!

the next part where legosi and louis finally establish their friendship was really cute tho ❤️ even tho it was pretty different i enjoyed it a lot.

BABIESSSS 🥺😭❤️❤️

the wrap-up for this arc and this episode gave me whiplash sdjlfkjsdf. it literally speedruns thru legosi's predation conviction, being released, louis & haru's graduation, and legosi deciding he's going to drop out of school. that is SO MUCH AT ONCE. also i was holding out hope that legosi would have his new years call with haru after the fight instead but that didnt happen!! so it just got cut!!! kinda mad about that tbh. legosi and haru having a lil scene at the very end made up for it a lil bit but that's still one of haru's few moments in this arc that's just not included.

we didnt even get the part wher legosi learns he can't marry haru bc of his conviction.

ive been really hoping for a season 3 announcement once this season ended. with all the background allusions to yahya, the added plot point of someone stealing elephant tusks, and sebun and melon's lil cameos in this season, it seemed to me that studio orange was kinda teasing a 3rd season. but now, with the dismissive way the anime ended, and paru's note from earlier today, im less sure about the possibility of a 3rd season. i'd still like to see the rest of the series animated, but i guess we'll just have to wait and see if more anime is announced in the future.

if we do get another season in the future i just hope that we swing back around and actually address the things that got completely glossed over in the last couple minutes of this episode instead of charging forward w/o touching them again.

i really think the finale for this arc should've been two episodes at least. not including the tunnel scene. i think then things wouldn't have felt so rushed. people have been saying this season really would have benefitted from at least 1 extra episode and i cant help but agree. some have even suggested a whole 24 episodes just for this arc, but i think that this arc couldve been done properly with 12 or 13 episodes if there was some better prioritizing on what to include and what to cut.

like i dont mind not getting the parts about legosi's family if they can be addressed somehow in a future season (or if theres no more future anime seasons thats a plot thread that doesnt have to be worried about). i could have lived w/o seeing sheila & peach's chapter animated if it meant more time for the focus of this arc. and was the kangaroo red herring really necessary?

adaptation wise, i dont think this season was as good as the first. i still think it did fairly well, but i know that it could have been much better. ive been excited to watch this season with my friends once the dub releases, but now im wondering if i should just tell them to read the manga instead. sighs idk. perhaps it comes thru better as a bingewatch, or perhaps im being a bit too harsh. idk. at some point ill do a rewatch and see how i feel about the season as a whole, but that wont be for a while.

if you've read this far, thanks for reading my ramblings!! it's been fun to make these posts every week and im gonna miss getting new episodes every week.

#beastars #beastext #legosi #legoshi #louis

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evakuality · 3 years ago

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Mia, episode eight

1. I know I’m just a grumpy oldish person and all, but ugh. This whole ‘walking into school and holding hands while everyone gapes as if it’s amazing’ thing seems so stupid. I work in a school, and maybe it’s different in Germany but this sort of thing just doesn’t seem to happen. People just turn up together and it’s part of life (and also they break up again in 5 minutes so Plus, I’m annoyed that I was right and that Kiki seems to be 100% entirely okay with Mia and Alex now. Her entire story appeared to be that she felt like she wasn’t good enough for Alex and so the whole eating/exercise thing was tied into that. But now a) she’s totally ok with this whole Mia and Alex thing and b) getting together with Carlos has fixed all of her issues? I’m not sure I like the message we’re getting here.

2. Oh, skateboarding and Alex of course gets all hyper aggressive. I mean, obviously this is from the og and so a lot of the fault lies there. But honestly I cannot stand these types of guys who think they need to act like this. I don’t get why he can’t just say ‘he’s bad in this way...’ rather than totally blowing up at Mia and effectively accusing her of being an asshole by association (I mean, after last episode I think she is kind of an asshole - but that’s by association with Alex not this Bjorn guy). William blaming Noora for all the problems in Skam was an issue and it’s not better here. What’s the reason for attacking the guy with the board? We have no idea and he seems super unreasonable. I know that’s the point, but it’s not a good plot line and I don’t see why we had to keep all the really shitty stuff from the og. And tbh, while I usually like Alex’s acting, here I don’t find him convincing at all. He actually doesn’t look worked up enough yo go after the guy, and afterwards there’s nothing, no hint that he might feel like he went too far.

3. I do like this opening on the next clip with Mia clearly stewing in the things she saw and conflicted about it all. It’s these little quiet moments that really make for a good interaction with our characters imo, and I’m always a little sad that we get so few of them with Mia. It was one of the things that I found best with Hanna, Matteo and Amira - these moments sitting with them in quiet and solitude where you get to see them unguarded. It almost feels unnecessary to have this little chat with Linn and Hans’s guy because we clearly see what’s going on with Mia even without the dialogue.

4. Interesting. The last thing we’re asked in the previous clip is ‘what about this guy now’ but here we are and Mia is only concerned with Alex? I genuinely don’t care about him (partly because ugh this character is not one I like anyway and so I have very little sympathy for him when he harms someone else), and I would actually like to know how the guy he hit is. Now, again, I know this is coming through from the og and I know Bjorn is therefore really shitty but at this point the characters don’t know that and so I’d expect to see a little more interest and concern for him. I’m sure that on the day, this was probably very poignant for viewers. It’s Valentine’s day after all. But the lack of any resolution of Alex being violent means I don’t actually care here. Mia would be better off without an asshole. violent boyfriend, and as shitty as it would be to be alone like this on Valentine’s, she’d still be better off. Plus, she could easily go hang with her friends. Speaking of which, this thing with Jonas and Hanna is weird. As if he has any claim on her now that they broke up????? I’m starting to revise my opinion of them getting back together - this isn’t healthy behaviour from him at all and I don’t like what he’s doing here.

5. Interesting choice to have Bjorn telling Mia about Alex’s sister (I only watched the og once but from memory it wasn’t his counterpart who told Noora? I think?), but this ‘Alex has told you something different - that figures’ is such a weird take. Because yeah we KNOW Alex has been keeping stuff from Mia. We saw that last episode and we were made very aware of it in the ‘spin the bottle’ scene among others, so making this like a big reveal and making it as if Bjorn is being a manipulative dick here is odd. Like, it’s the truth? Alex has been keeping stuff from Mia. This show has spent a lot of time trying to make some moments real ‘gotchas’ for Mia, when actually they’re just genuinely telling us the truth about the character. Alex does have this side, he always had it and he hasn’t really changed at all.

6. The use of this really annoying buzzing, whining noise is good though. It works really well to put us in a space where Mia is out of sorts and finding it all overwhelming. Alongside the brightness of the light, we do get a sense of dissociation, and the harsh glare of the light even after the moment is over really shines on how harsh this news is for her. For most of the last 2 episodes we’ve seen Mia is softer, muted lighting so this is new and different and it really does play up the change that’s happening here. ‘I got to know a different Alex’ - yeah, except she didn’t really. Or we never got to ‘meet’ him alongside her. It was told in montage and it wasn’t enough for me. And the bits we did see of him being vulnerable also came with clearly hidden parts, and so this idea that she knows ‘the real Alex’ falls flat because (like I said a thousand times last episode) pacing was so off and things happened so fast that I don’t believe any of it. Because we never really got to see anything very ‘real’ from him.

7. I’m also not sure why she’s believing this guy that her boyfriend clearly told her is an asshole. Okay so Alex isn’t very available rn, but there are surely other people she could talk to. Even if he hasn’t been the greatest, Sam for example is at least someone she knows. This Bjorn guy is a dick, but unlike in the og when Noora went to William’s place and sort of fell into the issue, here Mia has chosen to go see him. She’s deliberately put herself in his way. And also, she’s literally being told that Alex kept stuff from her and held stuff back to manipulate her. Why on earth does she just take this guy’s stuff at face value? I know it’s supposed to be a whole ‘woah - falling for the thing he’s warning her of while he warns her’ moment for the audience, but it doesn’t work for me. This guy isn’t charming or believable enough for her to not even consider going deeper into this. But it’s an interesting call back to Mia’s phone call with her parents and how rigid they were, so you can sort of see why this part resonates for her. Even so, dismissing Alex’s attempt to see her because of this is a choice. Make it make sense! It made very little sense with Noora and even less with Mia.

8. One thing I really dislike about this Niko/Bjorn character is how cartoonishly evil they are. Where’s the motivation for this guy to say all this to Mia? He saw her exactly twice, barely knows how she’s related to Alex, and yet he decides when she comes to visit him that he should manipulate her? The biggest flaw in the William/Alex story imo is the way they can only make him seem ‘good’ in comparison to a literal villain who has no depth. Or I mean I guess we have 2 episodes to give this guy more depth but somehow I doubt it’s going to happen. Everyone I’ve read talking about this has said this guy is worse than Niko, so I expect him to remain this weird cartoon with no reasonable motivation for any of this.

#druck #og druck #ugh I am NOT enjoying this season #alex is barely in this episode #but I still can't stand him so not much is still too much

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vaguely-concerned · 4 years ago

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The Mandalorian Chapter 11 reactions; the ‘the sea is a harsh mistress’ edition

- on first watch this wasn’t really one of my favorite episodes. I think it’s something to do with... one of the many things I love about the mandalorian is how it made the star wars universe feel HUGE. big and surprising and unknowable, there could be fucking anything out there man we don’t know. so having first bo katan show up and then ahsoka being set up right after (quite aside from who’s rumoured to play her, which is an entirely different can of wormy beans) in additon to opening the season on tatooine... eh. I’m not that into it, it feels like shrinking the world. we haven’t even gotten to see any other type of force user yet. it is only early/mid season tho so they’re probably going to pull some unexpected twists on us

my opinion might change with rewatches too, that happens quite a bit with this show!

🎶I’VE COME TO TALK WITH YOU AGAIN🎶

honestly I had kind of a hard day yesterday and watched this the next morning and kept pointing tiredly to the crest like ‘it me tho’

- I was unreasonably happy about seeing the calamari flan again hahaha he’s been keeping that shit in his pockets for a season and a half now (didn’t he pay with some at one other point too?)! also the sound effects for them are SO EXCELLENT, I keep thinking about how well this show does texture which is wild considering how it’s filmed

- the warm pat din gave frog lady’s arm when he thanked her and said goodbye 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I love the small ways he’s thawing

my heart ached so much for him at this point, he just looks so small and tense and lost, like a kid who’s lost his parents in a supermarket

(he keeps his hand on the blaster the whole time too so he knows this is a bad scene but now they’re right out in the middle of the ocean already soooo)

- din’s very very very dry sense of humour is so blessed. ‘a bowl of chowder for my friend’ faklhfsadkjlfhsadkjhfsd

the baby’s look when he poked the squid thing with his knife too -- yodito’s like ‘dad is a wizard??’ haha. some good baby & dad stuff in this one

- oh din... side quest boy, side quest booooooyyy

- the shot when bo katan helped him out of the water is perfectly mirroring the scene of bb!din being pulled up to safety by the mandalorian in the flashback, which seems Very Intentional

I Extremely Do Not Trust Her in the larger scale tho. I think it’s important that din knows now that he was raised in a very specific offshoot of the mandalorians ant that there’s some Stuff he hasn’t been told, but I also think it’s crucial to remember that her pov is not unbiased either and she, in fact, already has an established tendency to selectively share information with him to manipulate him into fulfilling her goals. (which he realizes because he keeps saying ‘that is not my mission, my mission is the child’ and I could not love him more). hell, I’m not sure exactly how ‘the children of the watch’ were positioned within death watch, but she was fucking death watch too for the longest time! and she hardly left for particularly noble reasons, she just didn’t like maul! she already lost mandalore like twice, do we just have to trust that third time’s the charm or what!

she lied to him about the scope of the mission to force him into a position to do what she wanted (fully knowing he’s responsible for a child!!) and she called that ‘the way’ just as easily as the thing about not letting his bravery be forgotten! big red warning lights, NO! I think the thing is that din is having to find his own ‘way’ of being mandalorian (/how does one be a person exactly help?? relatable content, and he’ll get there in the end I’m sure he’s so good), but her way is no less fucked up to me than the children of the watch from what we’ve seen so far. she’s good at killing imperials though which is of course a mark in her favour

(considering that the episode gives her the epithet ‘the heiress’... yeah that’s probably a hint that she’s loyal first and foremost to her entitlement, getting the position she considers hers by right of inheritance. guess we’ll see if the text agrees with her)

- ‘mandalorians are stronger together’ yeah that’s probably why the cosmic balance makes sure they’re mostly engaged in being at each other’s throats lol

- so I might be feeling kind of sketch about these guys but on the other hand... when that one lady saved the baby and then promptly took off her helmet to reveal she looks like t h i s ?

you better BELIEVE I was ready to fall down on one knee and propose right then and there holy shit

- ...wow if he didn’t have the jet pack din probably would have just sunk like a rock and drowned there huh 😨 that armour’s pretty heavy, turns out

- in happier news: din has become so good at reading what the child is expressing and responding/labeling the feeling for him! that’s so important to his development! ‘I know you’re hungry’ and both telling and showing him there’s a solution! still a bit of an issue that he thinks he can inform the baby of things like it’s a reasoned adult and have it understand, but we’re getting there we’re getting there lol

- that poor lady guiding them in for landing and sounding more and more worried fhkasjdlhfkjsdlahf (and he fucking TURNS OFF THE RADIO or whatever he’s using to talk to her through sdkfhaksdfhjs he takes a precious split second just to cut her off asfdjhaslkdfsdfhsda I love my salty dad)

- when the fisherman asshole tells mando he knows where to find more of his people there’s the tinkling bell sound in the background music, I think it’s meant to convey almost childlike longing for belonging and connection, for finding someone who’ll know what to do?

- when they took off their helmets and baby looked up at din like ‘???dad what the fuck? can you do that???’. (or like he just sensed his father taking a shitload of psychic damage all in one go)

- the way din didn’t start breathing again until they got the baby up from the water and he had him in his arms... the way he held him... sladfhasdklfhsjakdhfjsakldhfsakjldhfsjkadhfjaskdhfskajdhfjsdakhfslakhfskladhfsakljdhfjskadlhfkjsld

that whole scene was like a nightmare, so desperately unpleasant, in a way it mirrors the way the mandalorians have been hunted down and pummeled these last few generations, this must sort of be what it feels like to him subconsciously

- din isn’t particularly inflexible as a person, after the initial kneejerk rejection he did listen to what they said and is carefully considering it (he did say ‘this is the way’ back at the end!)

- the baby’s babbling when he wakes up and looks around in the beginning sounds half like ‘baba?’ and I almost had a heart attack

- loved how greasy and awful and dumb all the empire dudes were (and the comedy on board the ship too it was good for me)

- the boob plates huh. shit they’ve shown with the armorer that they don’t have to do that in any way shape or form and they still brought the boob plates back :/ I guess it’s so they match up with the rebels/clone wars look, evoking that ~*era*~ and everything, but I don’t have to like it lol

- I feel so validated in my theory that the razor crest is symbolic of din’s sense of self (now with beautifully added commentary!) after this haha (and also so so scared now they might be ditching it for a new ship eventually). it’s in pieces, his world view is going to pieces and can’t be patched together the way it was before, from what he knows he’s about to deliver the baby to someone else who’ll understand/love/deserve him better (I do think that feeling is still in him) and he doesn’t even have the certainty of the code anymore to fill the void. oh buddy.

the discomfort I felt when we got back into the cockpit -- into where it’s supposed to be familiar and safe! -- and saw all the ocean junk lying around, making it feel weird and changed and dirty (it probably smells like rotten seaweed in there now :( no likey)... I mean it was also very funny to see the pilot’s chair held together with a literal fishing net, but please favreau leave my dad’s car/ego alooooone

- baby laughing his little bum off at din catching the small sea monster before it got him and then munching it......... the ‘there’s nothing in this world my dad can’t fix’ safe energy.......... I’m so scared we’re coming up on something din can’t fix

- knitwear in star wars: I didn’t know I wanted it, but I am ELATED with having been given it

- moff gideon’s amazing evil voice... back in our ears, in our hearts, I gleefully hate him

- at least din’s armour is clean again after that (awful) swim? one must appreciate some silver linings along the way I suppose

- din goes straight for the main pilot’s seat once they get the imperial out of it, so he must feel really secure that he’s probably the best man for the job; he is genuinely a good pilot! (and after this I am wondering even MORE who taught him. who raised you within the mandos din??)

- even while everything is new and scary and falling apart we can live safe in the knowledge that at least frog lady and frog husband had a good day and will have a good and happy frog life together with their frog children

couple goals tbh

(I don’t necessarily know how it works for frog people but I uh. guess they got busy quickly huh hahaha good thing mando didn’t turn up again until later)

#star wars #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian meta #I've mostly seen people love this episode so I feel a bit like a buzzkill about mostly being 'meh' about it but what can you do lol #I actively disliked a lot of the clone wars mando stuff so I'm biased I suppose

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evans-heaven · 5 years ago

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My review...ish (tbh it's just some notes I made lmao) on Defending Jacob

I'm strictly focusing on the Barbers here, and their relationships. I'm saving all the comments I might have about any other characters, and the performances of all the actors for a final review of the series-if I decide to do one lmao. Also, this isn't completely spoiler free, I couldn't resist y'all I'm sorry 😅

It's also straight from my notes, long asf and unedited asf and I won't take offence if you don't read. I did however enjoy writing it 😁

(This is all in good fun and yes and I'm biased and no you're not getting my time of day if you attack me)

Okay I'm done let's get into it lol

The Barbers are picture perfect. That house belongs on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens and that kitchen belongs on a Food Network show. They eat sleep and breathe privilege, but they probably won't admit it, or are even aware of it. To them, it might seem normal, maybe they believe every family is like that, or at least, should be. Their lives mirror that of basically any white family on TV these days. They're the cookie cutter American household, a damn poster family. Which makes their situation all the more interesting.

I adore Andy and Laurie's marriage. Lowkey they make me feel like I'm third wheeling, with the way they handle each other 🤣🥺 but eventually something began to hang over their heads, and the atmosphere surrounding them only, completely changed. The differences became more clear and God knows where thats gonna take them. Andy hid the truth about his Dad being in jail for 17 years really makes us wonder what else he could be hiding, and tbh she may be wondering the same. If theres anything else below the surface it could ruin them even more, and that's scary.

Andy's relationship with Jacob is the perfect representation of a healthy father-son dynamic. Andy's not rough around the edges and tough with him. It's an unashamedly loving relationship, and something we need to see more of. Let's put aside everything that happened after Jacob was accused. Closed off as he might seem, it's so clear he admires his dad. And Andy is a man who would risk it all for his kid. It's as simple as seeing the way he looks at him. He can't imagine anything ever changing the way he feels about him. And he probably thinks Jacob will never give him a reason for that to happen. He says "I love you" to him without sounding like there's a knife to his throat, jokes around with him, calls him 'buddy' more than he does his actual name, overall it would seem like we're watching best buds with a big ass age gap rather than a father and son 🤣

But back to reality, even after his son is being accused of murder, and him and his wife don't seem to agree on where they stand, Andy believes Jacob. He just sees a scared kid. On the surface, at least, that seems like what Andy thinks about the situation. However, given how good a certain someone portraying Andy (which is very easy to forget, as said certain someone fucking transforms and i see very little traces of him in this peformance) is at conveying emotion without saying a word, Andy won't have to open his mouth for his true feelings to come about. But let's not forget, he went off the handle in a very hot way upon finding a knife in his kid's room. His kid who is a very heavy sleeper might i add lmfao. He also, felt it appropriate to bring up his imprisoned father, which I honestly feel like had to be on account of some of his true feelings, whether he'd admit it or not.

The moment shit hit the fan for the Barbers is moment, I'm sure, we all felt a shift. I said last night that my anxiety was high even before Jacob's accusation, but after, I felt like I was experiencing the Barbers panic and helplessness with them, almost as though I was the accused.

Which brings me to my next point. We need to talk about that scene. You know the one. Where Lynn informed Andy for a situation I'm sure he never, in a million years anticipated. The level of talent radiating out of a certain someone is unmatched. Y'all (who have seen the show) saw the way the emotions raced across his eyes-his entire damn face? The disbelief in his voice, the tense, defensive stance he fell into? The heavy breathing, the anxiety that fell over him, the way he raced home desperately? If there's anything this show did for me and I'm sure so many others, is making us feel like we were experiencing the severity in person. And that's so special to me.

I won't get too much into this, but the way Jacob was handled by the police...well let's just say we know that wont be the behavior with everyone. And it has very little to do with his age, btw 😅

The way he pleaded for his dad almost had me tearing up. Being a lawyer, he feels as though his dad will protect him and make this situation go away. And if I was a 14 year old boy who was arrested for such a brutal murder, a lawyer who just so happens to be the man that raised me would be my first request.

Idk how I feel about the whole murder gene thing. I did however love the way the scenes kept switching, from Jacob finding out about Andy's dad to Laurie finding out. Their reactions were so similar and relatable. However, if that gets brought up in court as "evidence", that person is going to, and deserves to, get called tf out 🤣

Andy was entirely too polite to that waitress who was, very rudely, staring at Jacob. Maybe it's my inner drama lover, but if she stood there like an idiot looking at my kid, another thank you isn't all she was getting. Avert your eyes or lose them sis 🤬

Seeing everything progressively fall apart for the Barbers, while Jacob remains quietly oblivious broke my heart. Laurie being sent home (and highkey being fired lbr), losing her best friend, and seeing her son be treated like a criminal. Andy being increasingly protective of Jacob's every move, is understandable. I'm super excited to see the lengths he'll go to when it comes to protecting his kid, which, if the trailer is any indication, may not have boundaries.

A few more short notes:

Neal needa get hit by a bus and I volunteer

Leonard is a creepy mf which isn't really surprising but STILL

Pam shooting Andy down was lowkey harsh but she still pulled through so 🤷🏾‍♀️🤣

Andy not giving Neal the satisfaction of being closed off and succumbing to whatever drilling Neal thinks he doing is satisfying asf

Andy Barber is a dilf™�� in every scene

Am I the only one who heard Michelle's accent coming through in some things she says?

Laurie throwing the food Toby brought her in the trash without batting an eyelash, I got how she felt but that shit hurt to see 🤣

The actor playing Ben looks like the love child of Harry Styles and Grant Gustin

Wtf do Sarah and Derek know 😭 its killing me

Cherry Jones is killing it 🙌🏽

So is Jaeden, kid is blowing me away.

So is Michelle, her emotions are fucking mine up

The score is intense and adds to the anxiety we feel watching the show and I don't appreciate my emotions being played with in such a way

Chris Evans deserves an Emmy and if he doesn't get it we riot.

That's all for now, if I post anymore notes on the other episodes, obviously it won't be this long as from this point we're only getting one episode a week. Hope y'all enjoyed (if anyone bothers w this 🤣)💕

#chris evans #michelle dockery #jaeden martell #andy barber #jacob barber #laurie barber #defending jacob #defending jacob spoilers #djspoilers #apple tv

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sharkfish · 5 years ago

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ps i loved this one

(rereading bookmarks edition part 2)

(part 1)

i’ve been rereading stories from my bookmarks as a comfort thing. i’m getting real deep in there to stuff i haven’t (re)read for years, and damn do i have good taste. the ones i’ve read recently that you should, too:

(under the cut so i’m not that asshole that makes you scroll past an endless post)

Best Laid Plans by Persephoneshadow

Things are going well for Dean: he's landed the biggest design job of his architectural career and is about to get final approval on the project despite how difficult the development company, personified by Castiel Novak, has made it. It's not bad for a moody omega...except things are also going terribly for Dean because he has to get in a plane and fly to a meeting, and course ends up in heat a few hours before. Luckily, Castiel is there to help and both men discover the good that can come when nothing goes quite as intended.

i don’t know why i’m such a ho for stories where dean thinks cas hates him, but cas secretly adores him and is just a little “rusty” on his “people skills.” i’m also a ho for stories where dean is a gd skilled genius but his dumb ass still thinks his work sucks and/or anything good is due to other people instead of himself. and also, heat boning.

Confessions of a Cam Boy by MsCaptainWinchester (rons_pigwidgeon)

Dean runs a cam show to pay his way through marketing school, but he's about to start an internship that he doesn't know will change his life. Watching Dean's show is Castiel's favorite way to wind down after a stressful day at Sandover Bridge & Iron. When Cas comes to work one day and finds his favorite cam boy setting coffee on his desk, he is completely thrown. Will Dean finish his internship without knowing his favorite viewer is his new boss, or will he be able to see through Cas' non-existent poker face and figure it out?

omg poor cas is soooo awkward and dean is weirded out about how much his new boss seems to dislike him and then it’s super sexy >:)

For Science by shiphitsthefan

“Think of it like an experiment," says Dean. "You’re testing a hypothesis as to whether or not a desirable response can be achieved through the stimulation of the anus via the application of a willing volunteer’s muscular hydrostat.”

Cas raises an eyebrow. “Are you actually trying to use the scientific method to talk me into letting you lick my asshole?”

everyone is such adorable nerds in this one. it’s a fic about rimming, but it’s also about love and discovering yourself and acceptance. it explores cas’s realization through his connection with dean that he’s not straight up ace but more grey/demi - and that doesn’t mean he was “faking” being ace up until he met dean.

Friends with Benefits with Tentacles by andimeantittosting (Saylee)

Dean's never been embarrassed about his porn collection before, but that was before he found Cas holding his prized copy of Sweet Princess Asuka and the Tentacles of Pleasure. Dean finds himself sweating bullets—because this is Cas, sweet, nerdy Cas. Cas, his friend. Cas, his roommate. Cas, his—only slightly out-of-control—crush.

Cas, with his big, blue eyes and muscular arms and perpetual sex hair.

Cas, with his tentacles.

The last thing he expects is for Cas to suggest they experiment together.

there are not enough tentacle fics out there and i 100000% approve of this addition to the tag. i love that dean is out there legitimately studying porn, and the tentacles are obviously super fun, and there were parts where my heart hurt so bad, all around a damn fine fic.

Grown-Ups Making Grown-Up Choices by Carrieosity

Dean is a grown-ass man - he can take perfectly good care of himself, thank you very much. Except that sometimes the easier or more fun choices aren't always the right or best ones, and, all right, maybe thinking ahead and working the long game isn't his strongest suit. It's fine! He's fine.

When he meets Castiel, he realizes that flying by the seat of his pants may not be the best way to attract the super-serious (gorgeous, funny, genius) Alpha. Dean's shrink has been telling him he needs to start making "grown-up choices," and if that's what he has to think about in order to make Cas fall for him, then he'll give it a whirl.

i LOVE this fic (series). i feel so hard for dean feeling like he’s too old for his life to still be a mess, but i also felt sad for him that he thought he had to make all these hardcore changes - basically turn himself into a different person - to be worthy of cas’s attentions. i fucking adore cas in this, and i nearly cried just thinking about all the damn peppers they eat, and i want to read it again right now.

If I Run by Anonymous

"Dean Winchester is a red-blooded American male. He lifts all the things. He aims for functional strength. He counts his macros and makes fun of curlbros. He is not a member of the Tarahumara tribe and he will not read Born to Run, no matter how many times Sam tells him to, because Starting Strength is the only book Dean will ever fucking need."

***

Wherein a friendly competition with the mysterious ThursdaysAngel turns into a sexy selfie-trading spree that motivates Dean Winchester to train for his first marathon.

i really really love this fic and reread it pretty often tbh. it only became “anonymous” pretty recently and i’m so curious about why!! regardless, this fic is a really great time!!!

It's Always More Than Once (Before It Takes) by squeemonster

The first time it happens, it's because of boredom. Or, at least that's what Dean tells himself to justify it. Boredom and Dean Winchester are a dangerous combination, especially when you factor in beer, a raging libido, and laziness.

dean: my dudes, is it gay to do sexy stuff with your male bff? cuz i’m totally straight. but also, having sex with my male bff.

I Wanna Get Outside (Of Me) by emwebb17

Dean is a novice in the dom/sub world asked by his employer as a desperate last resort to be a sub for his recluse of a brother, Castiel. Castiel is a diagnosed OCD suffering from PTSD and agoraphobia, mysophobia, and dystychiphobia. Needless to say—he’s a mess who hasn’t stepped out of his home in literally seven years. The only times Gabriel can see traces of the way his brother used to be is when he feels in control—specifically when he has control over a sub. However, due to his idiosyncrasies and paranoia, keeping a sub around has been impossible. Enter Dean, who’s not a very traditional submissive, to try his hand at subbing for the hermit.

you know how sometimes you read a fic, and it takes ages to get yourself out of that world? even though you’re finished, you’re still right there with him? this is one of those fics. i reread it a couple weeks ago and fell asleep thinking about it last night. i cry a lot reading this one.

Living in Agony by ChasingRabbits

Dean Winchester's life is... well, it's not great. He's a gym teacher, he's in his thirties, and he can't seem to keep any part of his life straight. When the aftermath of a one-night stand goes awry, Dean is dragged kicking and screaming out of his cozy little closet and into the harsh light of reality.

Enter: Castiel Novak, the new history teacher, who knows full well that life gets crappy when you don't allow yourself to live it in the way it needs to be lived.

there aren’t a lot of stories that deal with themes of mental illness, and a lot of them read like an episode of degrassi where everything wraps up in 30min to never be discussed again. this story is honest in that there’s no easy out. there’s medication and therapy and supportive people, but that’s not always enough. it’s a story about how you don’t have to be mentally ill to be fucked up, and while people can’t fix each other, they can help each other. content note: references to a pre-story suicide attempt.

Oddly Shaped Empty by jemariel

Dean grew up thinking -- knowing -- he'd be an alpha.

Until he failed to present. As a beta, he has no mating cycle, no noticeable pheromones, none of the physical markers that are so important in a world of alphas and omegas. He's out of place. How is he supposed to navigate his relationships and find love when he doesn't fit into the neatly-defined boxes he's used to?

By the time he meets his new roommate, Castiel, he's more or less given up on finding a mate. He wears his secondary gender like a chip on his shoulder. But you never know what the future holds, who will come into your life, and how they might change it forever.....

Queer themes, finding identity, reconciling the past, and a whole lot of smut.

y’all know @jemariel is a gd genius, but i’m particularly obsessed with their fics that use abo to explore queer identify & experiences. i hold my breath reading most of this fic and also cry.

Steal my Breath by Sincestiel

“Tighter, Dean, please,” Cas urges throwing his head back to rest on Dean’s shoulder. Dean squeezes. He doesn’t know why Cas wants this or even what the appeal is, but he always comes harder when he’s struggling to breathe.

what’s on the tin. a quick lil breathplay fic that is thoroughly enjoyable.

Unsolicited by Dangerousnotbroken

In which Dean Winchester gets an unsolicited dick pic from an unknown sender which is both totally not disappointing in that it's a really nice dick pic, and incredibly disappointing in that it's clearly a downloaded picture of his favorite porn star.

There's absolutely no way it's actually this porn star sending it to him, right?

Right?

this is a destiel classic and i feel like anyone who isn’t new here has probably read it. but here’s your reminder that this is a great fic and you should (re)read it.

Wordplay by Dangerousnotbroken @dangerousnotbroken

“I don’t understand why talking dirty is such a big deal for you humans,” Cas complains, apropos of nothing.

it’s a “cas learning about sex” and also dirty talk, which are both things i’m really into!! and DNB is a genius so that’s even better.

if you enjoy these fics (and you should), please give the writer some love via kudos and/or comments. <3

ps - as always, if i didn’t tag the writer and you know their tumblr, please tag in the comments. i don’t think there’s a writer alive who wouldn’t be happy to be on a rec list. :)

#sharklist #sharkrecs

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murasaki-murasame · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 Episode 22: “Because I Was Happy”

In spite of how last week’s episode was kinda meh, this episode ended up being one of the single best episodes of the show thus far. It at least goes to show that this adaptation is incredibly good at drama, even if it’s not so great at comedy.

Anyway the TL;DR of my feelings right now is just a whole pile of those pictures of crying cats. You know the ones.

Thoughts under the cut [and spoilers for the manga as a whole]

To get right to the chase, this episode adapted chapter 51, which is interesting because this makes it the first episode adapting material that straight up hadn’t even been written when the 2001 anime was made, since I think that came out when the manga was at around chapter 43 or so. Even Uo’s backstory arc had already been done in the manga by that point, and they just chose to cut it in the first adaptation. So I can’t exactly fault the 2001 anime for not having adapted this chapter, but man it really goes to show how much of the story the 2001 anime was missing, and how much good stuff we’re in for here.

I think it was a good choice to put the two Hana chapters back to back like this, even though in the manga they were like 20+ chapters apart from each other. It’s by far the most standalone chapter of the manga, and it’s specific placement has always kinda baffled me, since it happens right after we meet the student council characters and Kureno, and shortly before the summer vacation arc, and none of that had to do with Hana. I think it’s just one of those things where Takaya’s nerve disorder probably impacted how she approached the story, and lead to some odd detours into side stories and backstories until the ‘main story’ kicked back into high gear. It flows a lot more naturally here, and the fact that the whole episode is a flashback with no real present-day context or framing isn’t even noticeable when it comes right after the events of the last episode. It felt like a bit more of a harsh narrative shift in the manga.

But it’s still always been one of my favourite individual chapters in the series, in spite of it’s awkward timing. The material itself does everything it needs to make it stand out. And the shifted placement in this adaptation just helps elevate it’s strengths even more.

I’ve been wondering how anime-only people might react to this episode, for lots of reasons, and I’m glad that everyone seems to love it. It really does come as a huge curveball in terms of tone and focus after how self-contained and comedic the last episode was, but it works nicely.

And even more than that, it’s fun watching people react for the first time to the reveal that Hana’s powers are actually 100% real, and the story ends up being dead serious in depicting how they impacted her life. Basically Fruits Basket suddenly turns into Carrie But With A Support Network for an episode, and I doubt any new fans saw that one coming, lmao.

Though tbh I still think it’s [intentionally] ambiguous whether or not she actually had supernatural powers. It never really comes up again, and the handful of cases of her using her powers on people can technically be written off as a mix of coincidences and a sort of placebo effect from people who think she’s seriously gonna curse them. In terms of what Takaya thought when she wrote this, I think Hana probably does have straight up psychic powers, but there’s room for interpretation, and I think this episode is really interesting when viewed through the lens of Hana having some sort of severe mental illness.

I’ve been pretty occupied recently with thinking about the topic of disability in Fruits Basket when it comes to Kyo’s arc [and oh boy do I have stuff to say about that very soon], but I’d kinda forgotten that Hana’s backstory here is another good example of that.

I don’t exactly want to jump to conclusions and start armchair diagnosing her, but the ‘voices’ Hana heard could definitely be symptoms of something like social anxiety or even schizophrenia. Depending on how literally you want to take the idea of her ‘hearing voices’.

In general there’s a sort of blurry line in this series between supernatural stuff, and things that are realistic to the experiences of disabled [or otherwise oppressed/neglected in general] people. But I’ll talk more about that later.

On a somewhat related note, one surprising thing about this episode is that in spite of the overall tone and events of this episode, Hana’s family is completely supportive of her, and never doubt the existence of her powers, or hate her for it. Instead all they care about is her safety and well-being, and they’re willing to move towns if it means removing Hana from a toxic school environment. I think I’ve said it before, but I think it’s good that this series has a whole range of types of parents/families who have their own unique feelings about their childrens’ struggles. You can’t really accuse it of being one-dimensional.

The thing that really struck me about this episode most of all was just how good the artistic direction and overall execution were. In terms of the story it was a pretty 1:1 adaptation of the manga, with nothing changed/added/removed from what I can remember, but it was just executed incredibly well. Pretty much like how things went with the Uo arc.

Specifically I really loved the way that the entire episode had a consistent cool grey tone to it all, and was filled with deep shadows and harsh, artificial-looking lighting, right up until the point where Hana admits that she wants to stay with Tohru and Uo, and suddenly everything is bright and warm and filled with light. It’s not exactly the most complicated thing ever, but it really made the climax of this episode stand out.

But the way it handled the lighting and shading up until that point was genuinely really neat in and of itself, and lead to a really atmospheric and oppressive vibe to everything. Especially scenes like the one where Hana got her arm burned by those bullies, and the whole scene was incredibly dark and shadowy and eerie. I also really liked the cut of her running down the school hallway, and how the harsh bluish lighting from the windows contrasted with her silhouette and the darkness of the hallway itself.

The way they handled the scenes of her hearing voices by having the screen be slowly blotted out by cloudy blackness and overlapping voices was also really neat.

I think it’s really neat that some of the best material we’ve gotten thus far has come from some of the most unlikely characters. Normally with a series like this you’d think that Tohru’s best friends would be disposable comic relief characters [which they kinda were in the 2001 anime, tbh], but they both ended up getting incredibly good backstory arcs that flesh them out immensely and deliver some of the strongest emotions and messages in the series. It really goes to show that this is an ensemble cast type of story that cares about all of it’s characters instead of just the core few. In the manga it wasn’t really apparent until later because of how things were paced out, but this adaptation’s really making it clear already that this series is totally willing to basically ignore it’s main trio for episodes on end in order to focus on the supporting cast, lol.

And on THAT note, to balance out the fact that Kyo in particular has been kinda absent since, like, the lake house episode I think, the next episode is gonna dive straight into what will ultimately be a three-episode story arc focused on him, his backstory, and his relationship with Tohru. I hope it lives up to the expectations of all the new fans who’ve been anxious to see more of him, and I hope they know to keep their hands inside the rollercoaster at all times because we’re about to Go Places [tm] :)

I’d been expecting for a while that the next episode would adapt chapters 30 and 31 and end with Kazuma’s introduction, so that the last two episodes of the season can focus on the meat of the true form arc, and thankfully they just outright used Kazuma’s line from the end of chapter 31 as the title of the next episode so that spells itself out, lol.

I’ve seen some people worry that this means they might be skipping the soup chapter, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think it’d actually be really easy to cover both of those chapters in one episode. You could actually splice the events of them together pretty nicely, so that Tohru getting sick is still the main thread of the whole episode even if it ends with Kazuma showing up.

I think they could at least do some things like making the part in Chapter 31 where Kyo and Kagura go shopping together be related to Kyo cooking for Tohru while she’s sick. But we’ll see.

I know some people think that ep24 will cover the whole true form arc, and that ep25 will be chapters 35 and 36, but I don’t really feel like that’d work well. The true form arc is way too much of an emotional climax all around to not be the season finale. And chapter 35 in general would serve as a nice sort of semi-recap of the true form arc to start season 2 off with.

And in general I don’t think the series has ever adapted three whole chapters into one episode, and I don’t think they’ll start with this arc. I think it’ll be like how they adapted the Uo arc into two episodes when it was also three chapters long. Either way, I think they’d be able to pretty easily flesh it out a bit to cover two episodes, whereas it’d be difficult to condense it into just one episode without it feeling rushed. But who knows. I have faith in them one way or another.

For the time being I’m just gonna emotionally prepare myself, lmao.

#murasaki rambles #fruits basket #me @ the fact that the kyo arc starts next week: this is fine :)))))

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eloqvents · 5 years ago

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♡ ◟ ° › lucy boynton, female, she/her, twenty three ⋯ ❛ thank you for applying to SEX AND THE TITTY, ELODIE MONET ! before we start this job interview, i would just like to go over a few questions. you said your best attribute was DEBONAIR, right ? well, word around town is that some people find you to be a bit more GUARDED… but, nevermind that. i’m actually more curious about whether you were actually caught DRUNKENLY SERENADING OUTSIDE OF YOUR EX’S HOUSE AT 3 AM last year ? oh, you were ? that’s unfortunate. on the bright side, i heard that you excel at COOKING …. so that’s cool ! now, one more question … your last manager said that you’re hiding THAT YOU PRETENDED TO GO TO REHAB TWO YEARS AGO BECAUSE YOU WERE PREGNANT, is that true ? — haha , just kidding ! they didn’t say that, i just read that about you online . anyway , you got the job ! ❜ 】 eri, pst, she/her.

hello all ! it’s eri once again with another muse bc we just can’t get enough. anyway, please excuse how shitty this intro is going to be bc i am lacking sleep.

ok to start off, her parents are loaded so she’s very wealthy. original from la, her father was a well-known producer and her mother a stay at home mom. long story short, their marriage was a far cry from a happily ever after. growing up watching their parents fall apart, elodie and her brother latched onto each other and he remained her wall. it was painfully obvious however that their father favored the other, whether it be because he was the only son, or how musically and theatrically inclined he was... and she found herself thrown off to the side much like her mother, except a lot stricter rules set in place that she found herself easily breaking. curfew? forget it. no boys? she was sneaking them in all too often.... but even more easily having her girl “friends” over for sleepovers with no questions asked. she began resenting her father early on and it only grew the more rules, until finally she threw all caution to the wind and fell off the expected monet route.

by 15 she was known as the party girl. she did her school work most of the time, kept good enough grades to keep her parents off at least that aspect of her life. going out every weekend, never coming home on time or just refusing to answer her phone. she was a hellion, with no cares in the world, and she simply lived with no worries and absolutely no care or respect toward her parent's wishes. they virtually gave up on controlling their daughter by the time she was 17, clearly making her own choices and took no bother in chastising her as they knew their efforts would get them nowhere.

despite the dysfunction of the family, they did vacation to stone harbor every summer which had become some of elodie’s favorite memories of her younger years ( i would love any plot referencing her coming back every year and what not ok )

at 18 she had a choice. college, or follow her heart. new york was calling, as much fun as she had in la... it just wasn’t quite it. and new york was so exciting. the following summer she found herself back in stone harbor, unable to resist the tradition but instead opting to stay the summer..... except she never left. with all the fond memories she held in the place, and finally being far away from her family, she felt like she’d found herself. or at least the closest to home she’d ever had.

we gonna skip ahead to her getting pregnant three years ago, which is something she told no one (not even the potential father). the day she found out she was packing her bags and leaving stone harbor with no word, instead of leaving a note for her roommate ( plot wanted ) at the time, and sending out a group text explaining she had decided to go to rehab. it seemed like a good excuse, not a complete lie considering she did not touch any alcohol or substance during her pregnancy. she instead went and stayed with her aunt and uncle in london.

she went back and forth on what she wanted to do, spending her days swaying back and forth between keeping the baby and starting a fresh life or putting it up for adoption. but after a particularly painful depressive episode, she decided for the safety of both of them she had to give her baby girl up. this is when her aunt and uncle said they would take the baby in, not wanting to separate family, and it is a secret she’s kept in to this day.

coming back from rehab, she had changed. at first cold, extremely depressed, and she wanted to stay away from her prior addictions but within a few weeks she was right back into it. drinking nearly daily, taking whatever pills or drugs were offered, although she was much more cautious when it came to sex. becoming quite a bit pickier when it comes to men, however her love for women only seemed to grow.. likely due to the fact she could not get pregnant that way.

she’s had her ups and downs, about six months ago she came back from a few months at rehab once again after an especially harsh bender that landed her in the hospital. sobriety has continuously and still continues to be a struggle for her. she swore up and down that she wanted the help after begging her parents to pay ( not wanting to dip into her own hefty inheritance ) for her to go back, although within a month she found herself dabbling in other substances, occasionally taking a little too many of her medications at once, and having a drink, or two, or three....

while she was staying with her aunt in france, she spent a lot of time cooking with the elder woman and it became the most therapeutic thing to her... at least without getting high.. it’s become one of the only things that can genuinely distract her, although she does become a master chef when you add a little pot to the mix, but she hardly counts that against sobriety anyway.

personality-wise elodie doesn’t really hold back her opinion, and although she won’t go out of her way to avoid stepping on toes, she will try to make things as least confrontational as possible. in her opinion, life has shoved her around enough and she prefers to not allow anyone the excuse to do it too. but........ in those cases she will probably show her temper and make sure people know she isn’t going to be walked all over. she’s very upbeat, tries her hardest to be excited for life each day ( or pops an extra xanny if it’s a particularly hard day ). however.. her bad days are bad. if she’s down enough its nearly impossible to get her out of bed for anything other than a shower. some are harder than others, especially nearing the birthdate of her daughter delaney ( 2 currently ).

a few more facts bc this is long uh: she writes a letter every day to her daughter and saves it in a special box kept secret in her room. she dabbles in poems and other types of prose, and has a goal of one day writing and illustrating her own childrens book in dedication to her daughter. she has a lot of money and could technically afford to not work, however she took a bartending job at sex and the titty for side cash and to send a monthly check to help support her daughter. and laaaaastly, she is kind of a hopeless romantic and loves romcoms way too much. she is 100% the type that believes very strongly in love but just ... sucks at it. she’s scared to commit herself but she’s also not afraid to shout from the rooftops ??? rn she’s trying to work on herself so

oh and here is a playlist and pinterest for her even tho she wasn’t here for the task:)))

connection ideas ( plots page currently in progress )

an ex who she serenaded drunk at 3 am bc that rumor is definitely real

possible baby daddy

her old roommate that she bailed on, can be positive or negative

a best friend, like the blair and serena type ( minus all the fighting ... or not ) that can tell each other and count on the other for anything

exes in general, good, bad, ugly, any and all.

slow burn ??? or the one that got away ??? or maybe they just keep missing each other ???

maybe an enemy or someone she had a falling out with in the past

ANYONE SHE USD TO HANG OUT WITH IN THE SUMMER BEFORE ACTUALLY LIVING THERE. gimme them long term friendships / relationships

a good influence // the person who tries to help her not keep fucking her life up

alternatively .. the bad influence that encourages and participates in a lot of not so good activities with her

tbh i just want anything and everything so throw any ideas at me bc i’ll probably be in

listen i know i forgot like 239523852 things and rambled on too much but i just love her and could go on forever.

#stone:intro #uh hi i am so sorry for how long this is pls dont hate me #if you dont wanna read it just lemme know and i can paraphrase the important stuff ok

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kamino-ink · 6 years ago

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Romeo | Lee Felix

genre ⌁ friends-to-lovers, [ sort of,,, not exactly lover status but it is implied ] minor angst but also fluff uwu

summary ⌁ Ever since the boy you called your best friend left on the day of his sixteenth birthday with no goodbye or warning, you’ve been determined to grow past the pain he left with you; but of course, not everything works out that way - especially when two years later you end up in South Korea as an up and coming variety show host.

word count ⌁ 2.8k

warning ⌁ this is bad and technically just a long drabble tbh,,, sorry

Check out my masterlist!

Lee Felix was born on September fifteenth of the year 2000, and you were born just three months later on Christmas day; call it fate or anything of that matter, but on the very day you were born, your dad had run into Felix’s - probably because your dad was having a mild panic attack and the other nurses around were busy, you know, helping you be born. Simple enough, really - both of your dads bonded over the fact that yours was about to be a dad and his was, well, still struggling to being a new dad. Boom, instant friendship.

Along with that came the fact that you and Felix instantly were destined to be childhood friends. Turns out that his family also lived just down the street from your house, too, which made it even easier to stay close with the slightly older boy after all those years. Not that... you were complaining.

See, here’s the thing; Lee Felix was a ray of sunshine to not just the people around him, but you as well. His warm smile was enough to make your heart pound in your chest, and his charismatic attitude certainly helped your lesser days become just a bit, or a lot, brighter. It was as if he was, for lack of a better term, your own guardian angel. On your darkest days he would be there to cheer you up with homemade cookies and milk, and on his darkest days you would do the same for him.

You and Felix were practically made for each other, as everyone put it. Whether they meant it as something more than platonic care or something more, it was up for the two of you to decide. Except... you never got to figure that part of the whole mystery between the two of you out. All because he left before you could tell him how you truly felt.

Being able to vividly recall every individual detail of the day you lost Felix wasn’t exactly something you cared for. And the fact that this haunting nightmare kept coming out of nowhere to attack your thoughts out of thin air wasn’t the most pleasant of reminders.

It had been Felix’s sixteenth birthday when he left so suddenly, and it had also been an otherwise normal day; except, whenever his birthday came around, you would always wake up a couple hours early to bake him chocolate chip cookies. He never asked for anything else from you, always stating that having you as his other half was enough to last a lifetime of birthdays. So you obliged each passing year, handing him the platter of cookies at lunch during school with pink tinted cheeks and a wildly beating heart.

But that particular day, something felt... off. Felix hadn’t shown up to any of his classes or even lunch, plus he didn’t answer any of your texts throughout the day. To say you were worried was quite the understatement.

So naturally you booked it to his house after classes had ended, anxiously chewing on your nails during the bus ride to your house and the short walk to his down the street. When you arrived at the front door, it was like everything else was a blur to you.

“Oh Y/N, we thought that he told you,”

“Sweetheart... Felix had his party last night and flew out to South Korea this morning. He’s going to be a trainee-”

No goodbye, no note, nothing - all Felix had taken with him was his luggage and your heart.

Even now, almost two full years later, you found yourself reminiscing on the older boy; of course you knew he was doing well, growing into quite the young charmer as a member of a Korean pop group called Stray Kids. In fact, you had watched their survival show after getting a message about it from his mom back in Australia. You could also vividly remember nearly throwing your phone across the small bedroom of your apartment when he initially was eliminated - and when he was included in the final lineup you just about cried; oh who are you kidding, you did cry. Like a baby.

He’d always been cute, even as a kid and growing teenager, but god almighty he had become so handsome and utterly stunning at the ripe age of eighteen; it was as if he’d stolen all the good genes of your generation and used them himself, in all honesty. But it was so much more than just that - he grew up as a person, too. Seeing the boy you were so proud to once call your best friend so happy and well... kind of hurt, at times.

You’d always grown up making silly promises of moving in together after school, going to the same university, and being together forever; in what context it was never specified, but it was pure all the same. Yet here you were, just having turned eighteen not even four months ago. You live a solitary life in a small yet cozy apartment in the heart of Jeju, having been brought in by a decent internship at a radio station a few months back.

Then when you had to host the show for the regular broadcaster when she called in sick for a solid week and a half, you found a new love in the entertainment industry. Since then you’ve been doing small gigs, like guest hosting other radio shows or acting as a temporary host for variety shows; and then one day, you got a call from the producers of Idol Room - it was still somewhat fresh since Doni and Coni had left Weekly Idol, and they were on the hunt for occasional guest hosts and the like.

To put it in lighter terms, you got a temporary opportunity to help host Idol Room. You were kind of already making a name for yourself in the variety business, being able to make guests comfortable with light humor and adapting to their personalities with ease; with such a big opportunity like this, you were simply ecstatic to see what the outcome would be.

And then came the day you were going to be on Idol Room.

Most of the staff were pretty relaxed, helping you rehearse the lines you needed help with (as Korean was not your native language) and encouraging you to do well on the show. What didn’t help calm your bundling nerves, however, was the knowledge in knowing that Stray Kids would be today’s guests. Of all the idol groups out there, you just had to host the popular show on the day your once best friend was going to be there.

“Remember, you come in and introduce yourself when Coni calls for you,” one of the female staff reminds you calmly, noticing how you’ve started to chew on the tips of your nails with growing anxiety, “you will do wonderful, Y/N, and I’m sure the boys will adore you as well.”

You were so not ready for this.

“- today the rookie monsters, Stray Kids, will be joining us!”

Was it too late to back out?

“Ah, but that’s not all - we have an intern with us today too! Welcome, Intern Y/N!”

That was your cue.

“H-hello,” shit, “I’m Intern Y/N, it’s nice to meet you!” You quickly introduced yourself after having stepped out from the crowd behind the cameras, feeling the curious stares of the idol group burning holes into the back of your head. Doni and Coni supportively pat your shoulders, making some oddball joke before telling you to get on with your ‘job.’

That was how most of the show went; you’d be smiling in the corner of the shot at their silly antics and games, occasionally sending the two main hosts glares whenever they said something a bit too harsh, and introducing small segments. Until, that is, they’d started poking a bit of fun at Felix for having done theater in school - particularly bringing up old recordings of him playing as Romeo during freshman year.

It was silly at first, just a quick joke about how he was a theater nerd, but then Doni started to take it a bit too far for your liking.

“Oh, I think that your Juliet was hesitant to kiss you! Even her lines are shaky!” The older man insisted with a chuckle, though you could just tell from Felix’s awkward laugh that it wasn’t all too appreciated. You also just knew that it had to hurt the boy, especially since theater had been his life in school - he’d even dragged you into it.

You would know, because you had been playing his Juliet.

“Actually, my lines were really shaky because we were performing in front of the entire student body.” You utter quietly, only to feel your cheeks heat up to a degree you didn’t even know was possible because your mic had increased the volume - meaning everyone heard your words. Not one ear fell short of perking up at your words; especially not Doni and Coni’s.

“Your - your lines?” Coni said in awe, quickly coming over to your little spot at the side of the room and pulling you closer to the center just a few inches in front of the boys. “So... that little girl is you, Intern Y/N?”

With a nervous laugh escaping your lips, you rub the back of your neck - a sort of nervous habit you’d picked up over the years. “Erm, yeah. Lix - I mean, Felix and I went to the same school.” You admit, knowing full well when the episode aired that the information would easily be found by fans anyway. The two men hum in understanding, but wicked smiles slowly find their way onto their lips.

Doni gently pushes you closer to where Felix is standing, teasingly patting the top of your head while Coni does the same for a baffled Felix. “Say some of your lines, they don’t have to be in order! Let’s see if it was really the stage fright that made Intern Y/N so nervous.” One of them cooed, though you were too focused on catching your breath after meeting the taller boy’s nervous gaze.

No - he had no right to be nervous. He left you hanging, not the other way around.

“But, soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” The freckled boy utters without a single stutter or break of his words, reciting the line perfectly with no hesitation whatsoever. Your lips part in surprise, to which you swear he chuckles softly at.

You weren’t too sure of what the following line was, in all honesty, so you quoted the first one that you could think of. “O Romeo, R - Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy... thy father and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I’ll no longer be a C - Capulet.” Curse your stupid nervous heart for having you stutter in front of Felix, curse his intoxicating smile for making your heart feel as if it was beating out of your chest.

You faintly hear Doni and Coni giggling like little school girls in the back, clearly milking the scene to garner to their viewers watching at home. But you were entirely focused on the freckled idol in front of you, his gaze flickering all over your flushed face even though he knew that there were a dozen cameras filming his every move - his every reaction.

“... It’s been a while, Y/N.” He speaks up softly, finding solace in staring at your eyes after he’s analyzed the rest of your heated expression.

“Since you left without even saying goodbye?” The sharp jab spills from your lips almost inaudibly, but by the falling features of his speckled face you can tell he’s heard you loud and clear. “Yeah, it’s been two years. Two years of not having my best friend with me.”

He winces, but doesn’t make an effort to argue against it. For a moment it looks as if he wants to say more, to keep talking to you, but by then Doni and Coni are moving the show onto another segment; meaning you had to walk away first. Of course, you could feel Felix’s sad gaze following your back as you turned away from him to face the cameras, and as much as you hated it; you felt a twinge of longing tugging at your heartstrings.

“Good job today, intern!” Coni praises you lightheartedly after the shoot is finally over, playfully ruffling your hair much to your slight distaste. “You’re a natural at this sort of thing, so don’t be surprised if we give you another call soon.”

“Ah, thank you - that means so much coming from someone like you-”

You’re suddenly interrupted by a hand going to hover over your shoulder, as if the person behind you was too scared to touch you with no warning. “Y/N, can I talk to you?”

Oh no, it was Felix - you could recognize that deep yet soothing voice from just about anywhere. You stiffen up slightly, pouting when Coni immediately obliges and heads off to wander somewhere else in the aftermath of the shooting.

“Y-yeah, sure thing.” You give in easily with a small sigh, knowing you couldn’t exactly escape the situation at hand. Felix lets out a cute noise of relief, akin to a sigh but a bit too high pitched.

Said idol leads you to an empty corner of the otherwise crowded studio, letting his hand fall off of your shoulder and down in front of him to wring with his other free hand. “Okay I don’t - really know how to go about this,” he breathes out quietly, playing with the hems of his sleeves as he tried to get the words he wanted to say out, “I just... wanted to say that I’m so unbelievably sorry for leaving you behind like that, back home. It’s a shit excuse, but - I didn’t want to say goodbye because saying goodbye means that we weren’t going to see each other again.”

“You’re kind of right - it is a pretty bad excuse,” you utter after an awkward moment of silence, quick to cover up your tracks when his lips purse into a sad pout, “but - I’m over it, freckles. Seriously, it was in the past.”

You weren’t lying, truly; for almost two years you’d been moving on not from Felix himself, as that was a task you deemed quite impossible, but from the day he left home. Erasing that single day simply brightened the memories you held dear to your heart, which was practically every waking moment you had spent with the boy.

Sure, it hurt how he left you so suddenly - how he hadn’t bothered to at least fight for you two to remain in communication. That’s just how life worked out, and you were strangely alright with it; especially since you were here, right now, seeing the boy who’d been by your side your entire life after two years of watching his blossoming success on a screen.

“No, you shouldn’t forgive me so easily,” he insisted, much to your surprise, “I want to make it all up to you, even if it takes me months or years. I just... I just want to be able to call you my best friend again, my other half, my - my soulmate.”

“Felix, you don’t have to do all that... though if it might make you feel better, I won’t stop you.”

The boy with little constellations dotting his dark cheeks blinks; once, twice, and a third time before his lips crack open to reveal a tiny, hopeful smile. “Great! I mean - good, yeah! Can I um... have your number, then?” He asks you almost timidly, making you giggle softly under your breath as you nod slowly at him. “I don’t have my phone on me, can I just put my number into yours for now?”

When you nod again and hand him your phone, the smile on his face seems to brighten even more - if it was possible to be blinded by a smile, you were sure that Felix’s would’ve made you unable to see long ago.

“Okay, here-”

“Felix, we gotta go!” One of the other boys calls out to the younger, waving for him to join the waiting group. Frantically, he hands you your phone back, neglecting to lock it before he starts to head off.

“Just text me whenever you can, Y/N! I’ll be waiting for you!” He states in a rush, catching up with his friends soon after. With a slight shake of your head in quiet amusement, your gaze flickers down to the screen of your phone where Felix had put his contact name in. A warm, bubbly smile twitches onto your lips from the name, and you’re sure it’ll only continue to appear in the near future whenever you get to texting the boy back.

Contacts:

…

Romeo <3

#skzwriters #stray kids #stray kids au #stray kids drabbles #stray kids imagine #stray kids scenario #stray kids fic #lee felix #felix lee #felix drabble #felix scenario #stray kids angst #stray kids fluff

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lagaudiiere · 5 years ago

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RE: NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER THINGS:

Can we talk about how paranoid Nancy was when she walked into school the day after her first time with Steve? ( Chapter Three: Holly Jolly ). Mind you it was a lot of things, like the fact that she had to have left before her & Steve had a chance to talk about it, but it’s a small town, people talk & you best be careful what it is they end up saying about you because that sticks with you until you leave ( if you leave. ) You see how jumpy she is, the way she almost withdraws into herself, shoulders slightly hunched, head down ( contrast this with how comfortably & casually she walked in with Barb an episode or two ago, & it really highlights the difference. She may not have been popular before her & Steve were a thing — arguably, she wasn’t even when they were, she was just in that crowd, but she was comfortable where she was & she was confident — she was smart, she was little miss perfect, at least in other people’s eyes. ) She literally jumps when Steve meets her at her locker, she’s practically braced for an onslaught of something, be it harsh words or something. Steve notices ( he always does seem to notice when something’s off with her, which is so important because Nancy Wheeler’s first & automatic instinct is to insist she’s okay, that everything’s fine, everything’s great & Nancy vc: it’s bullshit.

But this has been her coping mechanism & the only way she knows how to deal — until someone calls her out, or notices. Steve notices — although this time it is quite obvious, people often see what they want to see but he still asks ) & he asks if everything’s okay. Instinctively, automatically, she responds. It’s like a gut reaction, ❛ Yeah, yeah totally. ❜ But then after a moment’s hesitation, she does tell him. ❛ I just — I feel like everyone’s … staring at me. ❜ & she looks around, as if to emphasize her point. What I find really interesting is that, Steve automatically knows. He doesn’t miss a beat. ❛ Oh I didn’t tell anyone. ❜ So apparently this staring & slut shaming thing is a common theme in Hawkins, or at least in their school. You even see bits of this when Nancy mentions the other girls Steve’s been linked to. It’s stupid, but it’s how things are, & they’re looked at differently because of their choices & what they have done with others. Either that or, once again, Steve knows exactly what’s wrong with her, or going on. I’d say it’s a mix of the two at the very least. She knows it wouldn’t have been him, her immediate response says as much but then she goes — but what about Tommy & Carol & them?

Again, she’s uncomfortable, words a little hesitant, & he immediately dismisses it, says she’s being paranoid — but then, once again in Steve Harrington fashion, he realizes it isn’t enough & says exactly what she needed to hear in that moment tbh. She had been nervous & anxious, & shy, & she didn’t know where they stood anymore especially what with his previous relationships, & he eases all ( or at least most ) of that away with what she needs to hear & you can see her body language relax.

Phew. Still with me? Now let’s talk about Nancy the Slut Wheeler things.

We initially find out something is up when some stupid boys honk at her & talk about her movie. She’s immediately uncomfortable & it takes her a second but she’s smart & the town’s small. She’s running. On her way there, you see people glancing at her, the women quickly looking away, people standing at the theater pointing at the big crimson letters ( starring NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER. ) She’s literally staring there, openmouthed, unable to even imagine how this came about, & it’s probably all that paranoia from before, except it’s a million times worse because it’s real & it’s not just people at school that are going to be talking, it’s everyone. Friends, people at school, classmates, teachers, neighbors, her parents, Mike & his friends. Again, bear in mind, while she had done nothing, we have seen the mentality of the town, & it’s a small town. The moment the anger & shock wears off, you see tears gathering in her eyes & she’s looking around because she knows, this town talks, this town is small-minded & right there is her proof — a couple walking past, looking at her as if she’s some freak ( the wow the woman says doesn’t help ) & the guy pushes her to keep walking as if being near Nancy is bad. You can see her breathing heavily & my heart literally hurts. Let’s not forget what last night had actually been & what hell she’d already been put through. She’s trying so hard to be okay, & I find it worth noting that few things get real reactions out of her because she tries so hard to be fine & strong — this & the night before have both gotten real reactions.

Nancy, who’s been trying all her life to maintain this persona of perfection, of being okay, has everything literally just crashing before her eyes.

& she hears laughter. She sees Steve. The boy she’d finally trusted & let in, the boy she was telling Jonathan earlier in the woods how great he was ( again, a huge contrast to the start of the show when she was insisting they were just make out buddies — see, Nancy isn’t someone who says to your face how she feels, the actions & the little things show it. )

I don’t want to even talk about that moment because it’s all kinds of awful, but I find it incredible how she literally walks away. She could have yelled at him, explained something, but she literally just turns on her heel to leave. Again fast forward bc we all know, which btw, she doesn’t even get two seconds to deal or be to herself because of the fight.

Still with me? If so you’re really the real MVPs guys.

The aftermath. She’s able to forget about it temporarily or at least push it aside, ignore what happened for the time being because she’s got far bigger things to worry about. Forget school, forget that stupid chemistry test she’s got, forget the stupid gossip, she’s seen the monster & she needs to find Barb ( let’s not even talk about when she finds out Barb is gone, we’re at novel length already. ) But what about after? When she goes back to school, or walks the streets? How many more times will she have walk the streets, shoulders hunched, this time not because she’s being paranoid. How much worse is that? How many more boys will honk at her way, catcall, follow her around, bother her at school? This looks even worse because for the time being, she’s not with Steve either, however long that is, so she does start to look like that Becky, & whoever else she’d said she wasn’t like in that night they studied together. How many women & couples will whisper things as they walk hurriedly, how many parents will speed up just a bit with their children when they see Nancy? By the way, she doesn’t drive or have a car, & now that Steve isn’t picking her up, how does she get to school, what about that? What does she say to her parents? We’ve seen Nancy & how she deals, she doesn’t.

She doesn’t say anything to her parents, the same way she doesn’t tell anyone about her trip to the upside down, the same way she hadn’t told anyone about her family’s situation before Jonathan. But she’ll be more quiet at the dinner table, be more removed, & she’s already dealt with so much, she really doesn’t need this on top of everything else? What does she say to Mike? Because again, he’s probably at the very least heard, & idk about you but when something awful happens that my younger brother knows, I want to tell him but at the same time, I can’t because, even if I’m not at fault, it’s embarrassing? She’s ashamed, & it angers her because she knows she shouldn’t be? And plus, she’s supposed to be the older sibling, she’s supposed to be the stronger one & help him, not vice versa. & again, they’ve both been through hell, so she doesn’t want to add that. More uncomfortable silence, more hunched shoulders, more pouring it all into herself, more being not okay & insisting she was.

tl;dr Nancy Wheeler went through hell & god dammit she deserves the world & people don’t give her nearly the amount of credit she deserves.

#&. ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ( ɴᴀɴᴄʏ ᴡʜᴇᴇʟᴇʀ. )

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lagaudiiere-archive · 6 years ago

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RE: NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER THINGS:

Can we talk about how paranoid Nancy was when she walked into school the day after her first time with Steve? ( Chapter Three: Holly Jolly ). Mind you it was a lot of things, like the fact that she had to have left before her & Steve had a chance to talk about it, but it’s a small town, people talk & you best be careful what it is they end up saying about you because that sticks with you until you leave ( if you leave. ) You see how jumpy she is, the way she almost withdraws into herself, shoulders slightlyhunched, head down ( contrast this with how comfortably & casually she walked in with Barb an episode or two ago, & it really highlights the difference. She may not have been popular before her & Steve were a thing — arguably, she wasn’t even whenthey were, she was just in that crowd, but she was comfortable where she was & she was confident — she was smart, she was little miss perfect, at least in other people’s eyes. ) She literally jumps when Steve meets her at her locker, she’s practicallybraced for an onslaught of something, be it harsh words or something. Steve notices ( he always does seem to notice when something’s off with her, which is so important because Nancy Wheeler’s first & automatic instinct is to insist she’s okay, that everything’s fine, everything’s great & Nancy vc: it’s bullshit.

Phew. Still with me? Now let’s talk about Nancy the Slut Wheeler things.

We initially find out something is up when some stupid boys honk at her & talk about her movie. She’s immediately uncomfortable & it takes her a second but she’s smart & the town’s small. She’s running. On her way there, you see people glancing at her, the women quickly looking away, people standing at the theater pointing at the big crimson letters ( starring NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER. ) She’s literally staring there, openmouthed, unable to even imagine how this came about, & it’s probably all that paranoia from before, except it’s a million times worse because it’s real & it’s not just people at school that are going to be talking, it’s everyone. Friends, people at school, classmates, teachers, neighbors, her parents, Mike & his friends. Again, bear in mind, while she had done nothing, we have seen the mentality of the town, & it’s a small town. The moment the anger & shock wears off, you see tears gathering in her eyes & she’s looking around because she knows, this town talks, this town is small-minded &right there is her proof — a couple walking past, looking at her as if she’s some freak ( the wow the woman says doesn’t help ) & the guy pushes her to keep walking as if being near Nancy is bad. You can see her breathing heavily & my heart literally hurts. Let’s not forget what last night had actually been & what hell she’d already been put through. She’s trying so hard to be okay, & I find it worth noting that few things get real reactions out of her because she tries so hard to be fine & strong — this & the night before have both gotten real reactions.

Nancy, who’s been trying all her life to maintain this persona of perfection, of being okay, has everything literally just crashing before her eyes.

Still with me? If so you’re really the real MVPs guys.

The aftermath. She’s able to forget about it temporarily or at least push it aside, ignore what happened for the time being because she’s got far bigger things to worry about. Forget school, forget that stupid chemistry test she’s got, forget the stupid gossip, she’s seen the monster & she needs to find Barb ( let’s not even talk about when she finds out Barb is gone, we’re at novel length already. ) But what about after? When she goes back to school, or walks the streets? How many more times will she have walk the streets, shoulders hunched, this time not because she’s being paranoid. How much worse is that? How many more boys will honk at her way, catcall, follow her around, bother her at school? This looks even worse because for the time being, she’s not with Steve either, however long that is, so she does start to look like that Becky, & whoever else she’d said she wasn’t like in that night they studied together. How many women & couples will whisper things as they walk hurriedly, how manyparents will speed up just a bit with their children when they see Nancy? By the way, she doesn’t drive or have a car, & now that Steve isn’t picking her up, how does she get to school, what about that? What does she say to her parents? We’ve seen Nancy& how she deals, she doesn’t.

She doesn’t say anything to her parents, the same way she doesn’t tell anyone about her trip to the upside down, the same way she hadn’t told anyone about her family’s situation before Jonathan. But she’ll be more quiet at the dinner table, be moreremoved, & she’s already dealt with so much, she really doesn’t need this on top of everything else? What does she say to Mike? Because again, he’s probably at the very least heard, & idk about you but when something awful happens that my younger brother knows, I want to tell him but at the same time, I can’t because, even if I’m not at fault, it’s embarrassing? She’s ashamed, & it angers her because she knows she shouldn’t be? And plus, she’s supposed to be the older sibling, she’s supposed to be the stronger one & help him, not vice versa. & again, they’ve both been through hell, so she doesn’t want to add that. More uncomfortable silence, more hunched shoulders, more pouring it all into herself, more being not okay & insisting she was.

tl;dr Nancy Wheeler went through hell & god dammit she deserves the world & people don’t give her nearly the amount of credit she deserves.

#&. ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ( ɴᴀɴᴄʏ ᴡʜᴇᴇʟᴇʀ. )#{ this is long & rambly & from her og blog }#{ LOVE ME }#{ IT's SO LONG BUT IF YOU READ IT !! }#{ you're the real mvp & pls talk to me about nancy wheeler }#{ and write with her }#{ love us }#long post for ts

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theragamuffininitiative · 7 years ago

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Winn Schott - He Protects the Stars Masterpost, [P1 S2 E1-11]

Being a ramble of thoughts concerning one Winn Schott Jr., the tech genius and undervalued hero, with much appreciation for his character and reminders of how much they all need him.

Missed Season one? See S1 episodes 1-10 and episodes 11-20.

Without further ado, episodes are under the cut.

2x01, The Adventures of Supergirl

A decent Winnisode by all accounts

It was pointed out to me that Winn is always the one to pass Kara her drink when they’re out in a group. #idon’trecallmyhashtags. #supportive friend #priorities whatever

Winn chiming in on the “to family” toast, because this is his family. #space fam

Friendly reminder that Winn learned Kryptonian because he “got bored.” and that Alex requested his help at the DEO. #genius

“Find out something that my team of highly trained alien experts can’t.” “Challenge accepted.” AND HE DID. #genius

Aside: he promises to figure this out. To Kara. Because she is important to him.

Fanboying over Superman. I don’t have anything intelligent to add over this. Just watch the smol son freak out, it’s beautiful. #protect him

Winn handy translator helped him read the alien pod’s computer and discover the craft’s trajectory, giving them important info on their guest.

“You look Fantastic.”

Is the one who pays attention enough to find out where the explosion originated, that it was directly under a seat, and to realize that seat had significance: it belonged to Lena. This allows Kara and Clark to rush to Lena’s aid, who they thought was a suspect, not a victim, and they arrive just in time to save her life, and thereby contact the villain and find out his plans and save other lives. #hero

the murdery drone reminding him of his dad’s work. Look at our boy casually tossing around what was held as his deepest, darkest secret; making sure his friends don’t see him any differently now that they know. He’s come a long way.

-and immediate concern for Kara. Always. #supportive friend #priorities “always” should become another hashtag here.

Kara immediately asks specifically for Winn’s aid the minute they’re in trouble. And he delivers. #always

One minute Alex asks J’onn to let Winn help on a tiny bit of decoding, and suddenly Winn is in the thick of things, like he saw stuff going down and just grabbed a computer. #hero

Already making Space Dad smile by his antics. Space Dad needs this tbh.

Welcome to the DEO, Winn. You deserve this.

2x02, The Last Children of Mars

Open with sass: “Grumpy”

Quoting Yoda, the second Star Wars reference in as many episodes. Also, aside, it is obvious that Star Wars is Winn’s favorite fandom, it has the most nods and references from our boy of any he mentions. #nerd

“Hey, new kid, go get the alien tech from storage. Ya know, the stuff that almost made everything really bad for us last time. And see if you can improve upon it.” Winn isn’t there more than a day and J’onn already relies on him an incredible amount. Might be a test, might just be resourceful with his assets.

Entrusted with making Superman (and Kara) a specialized suit.

Our favorite non-super hero is loving this DEO tech, locating the Prometheum in seconds.

Those suits aren’t ready because the former IT guy is obviously preoccupied doing... everything else tech wise at the DEO. #give him a break

Winn and science and his big sis, Alex. #nerds #brotp

“Think with less stabbing.” Good advice.

Here’s a bit of backstory: Winn grew up in foster care after his dad was jailed and his mother took off. And they are not happy memories, probably especially because he’s the child of a crazy murderer. But what he’s taken away from that is beautiful. Family is about showing up. Probably this is why he always shows up for his friends, his family. He understands the importance of that.

CANNOT TELL A LIE TO SAVE HIS LIFE

Does anyone else require much, much more of Winn being a nerd with Clark? Give the boy some quality friendship time please.

Also: the slightly ironic swell of the soundtrack as the camera pans around Winn to reveal his emotional expression. It’s earned though: Winn is a hero.

“Thank you, Winn.” Clark is one of a small handful of people on a small handful of occasions to show appreciation for Winn or his efforts. Even though the quickly assembled armor was not ready to withstand the attack, it was helpful, and Clark appreciates it here. Bless.

He’s happy to see Space Dad and Clark finally getting along, and sad to see Superman leave. Also, that hug. Winn is very much a hugging person, and it’s a great bit.

“Next time.” Let there be a next time, yes? Yes.

2x03, Welcome to Earth

Look at that flame-retardant cape helping Kara save the president's life tracking Mon-el.

Just kind of, left on his own while everyone else squees over the president?? Winn honey, I know that in the past episode and a half you have become the single person who gets asked to do everything at the DEO but take a break for a minute

Finds Mon-el. Bravo.

Look at the other, older, more experienced DEO agents behind him, literally just staring in awe and confusion as he works. #genius

Somehow not only finds the signal Mon-el sends, but also tracks down its origin to a dead planet whose existence and name hardly anyone even knows about.

I feel the need to point out here, with Kara's reference to a Kryptonian slur for the Daxamites and her farewell to Clark in the previous episode, that Winn's ignorance of their meaning does not mean he doesn't actually know Kryptonian. Languages are hard and complex things, and Winn probably learned everything he knows from texts, not from oral teaching. A deeply personal phrase like the one Kara uses for Clark, which they say has no easy English translation, and a random curse, are not likely to have been in his vocabulary - but for what it's worth, they are now.

Pretty low on the Winncontent otherwise.

2x04, Survivors

Disappointed Earth doesn't have dragon soccer. Me too, Winn. Me too.

"awesome" and "amazing" are Winn's favorite terms, in case no one has noticed. #give the guy a thesaurus

Hold the phone. Casual mention of "shall I get a strike team to gear up?" after he identifies and locates an alien assailant??? The man has been at the DEO for what, a few days, maybe a week? And he has the authority to call up a strike team for Alex?? I'm not complaining, but, just how tight a ship is J’onn running here?

Just assumes Mon-el is going to use his newfound power for good, to be a hero, because whether it's with his friends, or even with his dad, or with Siobhan, Winn has a steady history of looking for the best in people.

I've been asked to point out the times Winn gets manipulated into things, and here's a good one: Mon-el promising Winn he can make his supersuit and name him, if he'll just let Mon-el do what he wants. Should Winn have listened? No. But he, too, has been cooped up at the DEO for a fair bit and temptation is too strong here. Thanks, Mon-el, for setting up how this relationship is going to work.

Drunk Winn. Oh dear.

Again, Winn cannot keep secrets or tell lies. He's hopeless.

This whole follow-up scene at the DEO is golden. All of it. I love him.

Winn traced J’onn’s phone. No big deal for him, but he did that.

To be fair, Mon-el at least puts in a good word for Winn, admitting he baited him into the whole thing.

Winn and Alex being concerned for Space Dad is an ongoing trope. I love Space Dad and his kids. #space fam

2x05, Crossfire **Winnisode**

Winnisode is how I’m officially labeling episodes with a fair amount of Winn

"Any of these [guns] look familiar?" is in the weary tones of someone who has asked this question multiple times in the past hour.

Displaying, again, concern over what could have happened to Kara in this most recent fight. #always

"I was into Kara." An important line. I don't think this is completely honest, but he's also not good at lying so who knows. In any case, his friendship with Kara is still important to him, and that's good.

Winn never should have let Mon-el watch television.

Playing with a toy gun, are we? After the incident at the toy convention and everything else?? Hmmm. I choose to read this as our irrepressible hero bouncing back, and maybe intentionally moving past fears, maybe because he thinks being an agent in the field would be cool.

Repeatedly going over the Cadmus broadcast, looking for clues. Detail-oriented.

Another instance of Winn being manipulated? Here we go. James here, showing up to "check in" on his friend, when instead all he wants is to trick Winn into giving him info so he can go be a haphazard vigilante. The second he has what he needs, not two minutes into their conversation, he just leaves. He wasn't there to see Winn at all.

This entire scene where Winn confronts James is golden. James is completely valid wanting to do important and worthy things and feeling out of place, but Winn is making total sense. James will get himself killed on this. He isn't a superpowered human, he isn't bulletproof. Winn obviously already worries about his other best friend getting herself hurt, now he's trying to protect his second friend.

“To fight with knowledge - there is no shame in that.” #hero

"Or you can end up just like him" is harsh. However, coming from the guy who is terrified that his own interests and skills will make him turn out like his father? He's not wrong.

Winn trying to remind James that you don't have to don a suit and punch people to be a hero.

Helping Kara implement her plan. Complete dork bumping into Lena. And still trying to protect James, whose actions in this scene, do not help btw. #supportive friend

Saving the day with his new Science Friend, Lena. #more of this please

"We stopped it!" #hero #sunshine child

1) acknowledging James' side of things, and 2) "I would feel kinda bad if you went and got yourself killed and I could have helped you, blablabla." You watch this scene and tell me which one is the more relevant reason for his decision. “Do not run into the line of fire until [the suit] is ready.” Winn will always want to be there to protect the people he cares about when he knows he can help them.

Also just a little bit excited to be a hero, who can blame him.

2x06, Changing **Winnisode**

(not as much screentime, but some solid moments)

Calling the agents to arms (is that also his job on top of everything else? what exactly is in his job description anyway??)

Distracted by Drunk Kara, a new thing. And you can't convince me of "was" into Kara when here he immediately deflates into saltiness about Mon-el partying with Kara.

Alex and J'onn just... leaving Kara for a bemused Winn to take care of lol.

Winn analyzed the laptops. All of them. Literally what are the other agents doing when they are at work?

Identifies and names the alien parasite. #genius #nerd

Another manipulative scene with James, and I was so angry with James here: He has absolutely zero right to demand things of Winn. They're both upset, worried about Kara, but that doesn't make his angry demands warranted. And he realizes he's gone too far, but it's too late. I think they both very much needed this conversation. But Winn is not yours to use, James, and he's doing this completely for you, so back off sir.

Aside: I will never not have feels over the way Winn immediately checks himself when he gets angry here. He confessed to Kara that whenever he gets angry, he wonders if he'll snap and do something terrible. So he doesn't let himself get angry. #protect him

"I'm better at this kind of stuff than anyone you will ever meet." It's nice to see Winn not selling himself short. Is it a little grandiose of a claim? I dunno, so far, he hasn't been wrong.

"Your IT Prophet has a lead." oh Winn. XD

Left to look after the two people who have come to be his family.

While I wish Winn had found a way to convince James not to do this, I appreciate the solemnity he handles the moment with. Yes, James, you need to be sure.

Friendly reminder Winn makes all of Guardian's arsenal. That bomb that just saved Mon-el? His. That shield? This boy is good.

Excited to see Kara. Sorry James, your Man in the Van will #always have a favorite super.

Designed James’ suit so that Kara specifically couldn't discover that it's James.

Feels wrong keeping the secret from Kara. Yes, good.

He hoped that James would take a shot at the hero thing and realize his mistake and be done. But that's not the case, so he'll continue to support James and enjoy being a hero along the way. #supportive friend

2x07, The Darkest Place **Winnisode**

Honestly, S2 holds a promising amount of content for Agent Schott, or at least it does when you know you might get scraps.

Winn Is Not Subtle.

“Three versus one.” Try three versus two, James. Don’t forget about your partner. Partner, not sidekick.

"in every situation Guardian seems to be one step ahead" that is one hecking good "sidekick" Alex

Nice grappling device, Winn *cough* I mean, Guardian.

#highpitched panic

Terrified of going to jail? Gee, I wonder how much thought he's put into that scenario...

Fantasy football: something James is into and invited Winn to get into as well, but not really Winn's thing - something he would do for an excuse to hang out with his friend? Yes.

Alex. Those eyes. He doesn't stand a chance.

That jump.

Offended by her slap. Such a little brother to Alex's big sister. #brotp

Too worried about the James/Guardian situation to be worried for Kara for once, having no idea she could be in danger. He does know she can take care of himself, honestly he probably shouldn't worry as much as he does, but this time it would still be warranted.

“Genius takes time.”

Winn figuring out things no one stopped to think on: noticing the one guy the vigilante let get away and wondering if there was significance to it, following through, making connections, digging up exactly who they need to look into. Call yourself genius anytime, sir, because at least it's not an empty boast.

James trusting Winn's direction when they're in the field. He needs Winn like the rest of them do. Can you imagine Guardian without his man in the van watching his back? (Spoiler, when Winn gets distracted, James ends up with a bullet graze.)

A little offended on Kara's behalf with the whole "hitched" conversation with Mon-el, but mostly amused

Kid in a candy store when his bff uses her powers.

2x08, Medusa

"Casually drop" the revelation about Guardian. Winn, dear, you can't casually drop anything.

"Eliiiiiiza's glazed carroooooots??!"

Okay, but petition Winn gets like... one, just one happy normal safe Thanksgiving someday?

Shoves James forward to make his confession. Pulls him back down when the timing is obviously not right.

Mon-el gives his speech, very similar to the one Winn tried to give last year, and Winn just...sort of freezes... and then just downs his wine. Poor dude.

"One slightly less intense than last year's Thanksgiving." SEE WHAT I MEAN Warring families are definitely worse than ripping holes in space, I agree.

Listen to Kara or do the smart thing? Or try your best to do both?

-Not Winn related, but I just have to point out in the Monopoly scene you can see one of the crew got careless with those glass doors and you can see their feet as Kara goes in to help Mon-el.

Watch Winn's face when Cadmus declares "every alien will die." You can tell his heart just dropped. His bff? The boss who will also become probably his healthiest relationship? Hundreds of innocents? He can't take it.

Calls the strike team anyway, because he would rather take action (and listen to Kara) than err on inaction.

At the end, he was totally going in for a hug there with Space Dad. Just saying. #space fam

Lastly. We were so close, sooooooo close to a Winn and Cisco meet. *sigh*

2x09, Supergirl Lives

I have a love/hate relationship with this episode, but Winn is amazing.

Quick thinking Winn, clothes-lining the baddie with the van door. Bravo. #hero

I can’t watch this scene. 10/10 cannot handle.

THE NEXT PERSON TO POINT A GUN AT THE PRECIOUS SUNSHINE CHILD-

“Winn, you okay?” No James. He isn’t. But thanks because this may be the last time anyone asks.

James had free time so he went home and wrote a fluff opinion piece on himself?? While his best buddy is in need of medical care and a friend. *sigh*

Can we talk about how Winn, regardless of keeping Guardian a secret, chooses to try and cover up his injury rather than seeking sympathy with his “mugging” story? #too pure #a good #protect him

“The future is very bright.”

.2 seconds of concern for Winn being the victim of an armed mugging is over, now we switch to finding out why Alex looks so dang chipper.

I’m sorry James. Not everyone gets a gun pulled on them. That doesn’t happen to normal people. Give Winn a break.

James may truly want to help, but somebody please give him some pointers: Good things to do for your friend: give them a break to recover from a trauma, go visit them for the express purpose of seeing them and being there for them, listen to what they have to say. Winn is always the #supportive friend, but he could definitely use one of those himself.

“It’s Stargate!” #nerd

WINN DESIGNED KARA’S SUIT WITH POCKETS AT THE SHOULDERS AND CAPE. #HERO #GENIUS

Tracing the portal trip to its base planet. #genius

Tooooootally a Captain America shirt right there. #nerd

I could talk about this scene for days but just kudos to Jeremy for brilliantly portraying a panic attack with all of Winn’s little mannerisms here: flight instinct, pushing his sleeves up, trying to breathe normally, stammering, all of it. Bravo.

“Kara needs you. I need you.” #hero

Alex is just amazing in this scene.

Winn + Space = the only OTP

Please tell me whose bright idea it was to leave an untrained agent by himself on a dangerous alien planet with no means of protection other than a bulletproof vest and what appears to be a completely empty weapon holster. ???? #protect him

You are not the red shirt.

“You brought WINN to space?” I hear you, Kara.

Winn taking on a murderous alien with only his wits and a space rock is amazing. #hero

LOOK AT THIS BRAVE CLEVER HERO. Yeah, you had better be watching Kara, look what your friend can do.

“Start the car!” is like my second favorite Mon-el line of all time, just have to put that out there.

Sometimes, being a genius means aggressively hitting alien technology until it does the thing. #genius #sorta #desperate times

Did anyone else notice that Kara pushed Winn safely through the portal and then suddenly he’s still with them at the end? Terrible continuity, but I’m just going to choose to believe that the little space nerd didn’t want to leave it forever quick so quickly.

#no hugs for Winn. :(

Look at him. He is over the moon. Well. Close. ;)

When did he get the space rocks? Collecting samples while fixing the portal? Or from shaking out his vest and shoes and finding space dust there?

WIINN. SCHOTT. PROTECTS. THE. STARS. #hero

2x10, We Could Be Heroes

Winn. Is. Tired.

It’s a tossup whether the fact that James is injured or the fact that Winn’s suit failed is the reasoning for him wanting to tell Kara immediately.

“This is officially the first time I have ever asked you for anything.” ..... He has a point. And all he wants is to tell the truth.

“Maybe she’ll turn all the girlfriends evil again, I don’t know!” Winn Schott is the saltiest, most extra cinnamon roll in the world.

Cries out in anguish when Kara breaks a computer. XD #nerd

Pretty sure if Kara had maybe had a heart to heart with her best friend, it probably would have kept him from going behind their backs to help Guardian again. He wants to prove a point, and prove his worth.

Jack-of-all-trades #8?: Man in the Van. He has too many trades. I’ve lost count.

“Short answer: science,” is the best techno-babble replacement line.

Stuff goes wrong. Calls Kara. Winn isn’t an idiot.

Space Dad lecturing Winn and Winn thinks he’s this close to being dead. XD Bonus of Space Dad complimenting Winn and James and acknowledging their work. Kara, take notes.

When Kara lectures them, James leaves. But Winn waits. He waits to see if Kara has anything else she wants to say. And he looks so disappointed as he walks away. :( #always?

2x11, The Martian Chronicles **Winnisode**

not the most development, but some thrilling heroics

“Didn’t know I’d be seeing you tonight.” “Why wouldn’t you be?” Kara, some people do actually have work schedules that they try to stick to in order to keep their jobs, and most humans actually benefit from them.

That sad smile of his when she says “you could have been killed” It’s the thing he worries about with her. He knows, Kara.

“Have you ever thought that maybe I have a calling too?” This is one of only a handful of times Winn directly stands up for himself, and I want to stand up and applaud.

Gameplanning with Vasquez. YES. Also, good to see at least one of the other DEO agents actually being allowed to do noticeable work.

Confusion and horror in reaction to seeing the White Martian double. #protect him

They just.....wreck all the computers. Winn is really going to have a lot of work.

Spoilers: Everything from this point is not Winn, but the Martian. But that Martian has access to Winn’s memories, including learned abilities and general knowledge, and uses that to his advantage. Also, little note: Winn was probably physically the easiest target in the room. He’s not tactically trained. Maybe that’s why the White Martian took him out, because it needed a hiding place and Winn was a safe bet. On the other hand, the other one also took Alex, so. It may have been more than luck that led the Martians to selecting Winn, the genius whose mind and access they could use to implement their plan.

“Teakwood and tobacco.” I need the story behind this. Current headcanon is that this smell is associate with a foster home.

Martian!Winn noticeably nervous about J’onn’s mind scan.

Covering his initial offense at M’gann’s insult by turning it into a very Winn-like quip.

There is thinly veiled contempt in Martian!Winn’s glance at J’onn. Nice acting, nice directing there.

#whatEvenIsThatHandThingy ???

#ScaryWinn

I...I really hope Jeremy enjoyed this as much as it looks like he did.

Winn has access to the whole system. That’s great. Uuuuuntil an evil alien gets to the reactor.

“We need the real Winn to unlock it.” I love that Alex doesn’t even question if anyone else can beat Martian!Winn’s encryption. However, I’m not sure if this is the real Alex here or not...

Also, seriously Kara, why has it taken you this long to show concern for your friend?

non-Winn-related commentary: #this is not the time for a meaningful chat. #you are going to get blown up.

WINN. UNCONSCIOUS. TIED UP ON THE CEILING. how dare. #protect him

“Whhyyyyy??!” is me when my alarm clock goes off. Probably Winn too.

“OOooHhHh wegottagetouttahere” XD XD

....Recovers faster than Alex. Maybe because he’s already ‘been there done that’ with someone being in his brain?

“About four minutes?” Love him.

Psyching himself up, assuring he can do it, right before seeing the battle going on around the reactor.

Warns J’onn about Armek. #hero #space fam

Space Dad’s priorities: protect the children, stop the bomb. #space fam

Has the courage to move through the fight to the core. He has his fear well in control here, just getting to work. #hero

“Whoever encoded this was a genius.” You. You sir. You are the #genius.

“This did not used to happen at CatCo.” Sweetheart. It wasn’t a lot better.

“Close? We had like twelve seconds to spare!”

“Can’t believe it’s still nighttime.” It’s ok, no one knows how time passes in this town buddy.

Put it on record: Kara just showed appreciation for Winn doing his job and saving the day. He couldn’t have done it alone, but no one else could have done it without him. #always #hero

“Unless you object.” He’s giving her a chance to make amends and she takes it, not giving him any reason not to go with Guardian. #supportive friend. “Be Safe.” She also shows care for him, which has become rare.

#Always.

Alrighty, that’s it for this post! I’ll add the rest of the episodes to a second part, which I shall link from here as soon as it’s posted. :D Hope you enjoyed. Winn Schott deserves the world.

#stop ignoring winn 2k18 #winn schott - he protects the stars #winn schott #appreciation post #supergirl #superglue #masterpost

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loulougoingsolo · 7 years ago

Text

The new GMM thoughts

Okay. To start this post, I have to say that I am dead tired - mostly because of the Tour of Mythicality live stream which led me to having only under five hours of sleep last night (and I will never regret that), but also because it’s the darkest time of the year around here and it’s just so god damn dark, all the time. And there was a full moon, which intereres with my sleep way more than can be scientifically explained. I am literally so tired that all I can think about right now is my soft pillow and the warmth of my blanket. Keep that in mind.

Today was the first day of the new extended GMM format, with a new set, new lighting, and loads of more content. I’m not gonna lie, I have been experiencing some time management issues recently, and having an extended dose of mythicality in the middle of the day, during the few hours of sunlight isn’t helping with that - and I may need to consider watching the episode a bit later than before - just to manage my schedules. But that’s just something I need to figure out on my own.

I have some not-as-positive things to say about the new GMM, and I’m going to save the positive stuff to the end and start with the things I kind of wish will find their shape in the near future.

The set and the lighting

The thing about going bigger and having more resources has a tendency to make things go a bit overboard. I have always enjoyed the warmth of the lighting in the GMM set - it makes everything seem cosy and intimate, and very inviting - but today, maybe because of the bigger set, the lights seemed a bit harsh. You can almost see and feel the extra space around Rhett and Link’s desk. The video quality is amazing as always, it’s just the temperature of the lights, I think. (I know this was something people were mentioning on the YT comments too, so I’m not the only one who thinks this.) Based on the teaser videos, the extended set looks awesome.

The format

The episode was devided into separate videos for each segment, and I can only imagine it’s because of how Youtube functions. I haven’t really looked into it, but I assume the ideal format for a Youtube video is still a fairly short, easily viewed bit - and in a way that is how the new GMM was presented: in four separate videos. The downfall to this is that although this probably makes it easier for random viewers to find one of the videos, it kind of takes away from the enjoyability of the entire episode, at least when you are watching through mobile app. I don’t mind ads between the segments - they are something we have to endure to get quality content for free - but I still wish the episode was one video from start to finish. I know Google is strongly involved in making GMM bigger, and that they are kind of breaking new grounds with the whole concept, but this is just my thought on this.

The content

Now, this is again more of a technical thing than anything else: I loved all the ideas for each segment. They did however feel a bit rushed. I kind of hope that in the future, the episodes will build around one particular topic, and maybe do the separate segments by approaching this one topic from different angles, instead of four completely separate topics. Today we had a Will it Omelette?, a bit on jingles, the fan cake bake and Link’s Instagram picture discussion, all very good topics (which could easily make a full episode each, in my opinion), but so very random. I wish they had been more connected to each other, not just by a click-through but thematically, too. This is surely something that will evolve as time goes on, though.

All the good things

I kind of do not enjoy writing so many not-so-positive things about the episode, and I hope @rhettandlink and everyone else understands that this is just intended as a constructive critisism. Overall, I enjoyed the entire episode.

I was thrilled to see Rhett and Link get out of the studio for the fan cake segment (even they can’t make windbreakers look good, but Chase totally rocked the propelled hat). I hope they didn’t go blind from the cloud of baking powder and salt, though. Mythical baking, even if it results in a hard-as-a-rock cake disc with a strange smiley face frosting, is always welcome and highly appreciated.

Will it Omelette? was a mistake for me to watch while hungry. Tess clearly has the ability to make even the nastiest things look appetizing (I’m not sure if the surströmming looked appetizing, to be honest - I have never been able to understand why anyone would want to digest fermented fish, even though we have some very similar nasty fishproducts on this side of the Baltic sea, too). I don’t even like omelettes that much, but after not having eaten anything after breakfast, the thought of an omelette in any form made my stomach growl. I loved how Rhett first made Link pinky promise not to gag before trying to at least hold the surströmming in his mouth, but then he went on to be the first to spit it out himself.

The jingles were funny. A good show always comes with a song, and there have been so few on GMM recently. I doubt any of these jingles really help these poor kickstarters, though - not because the jingles were bad, but the products...Even if the Strap was a useful thing in an earthquake area or in a motor home, the name sent my thoughts to the wrong direction. I also doubt that the micro ice cubes makers would not be able to make enough ice to chill my coke, even if the gadget itself is pretty cool.

I do hope Link returns to Instagram - he could easily fill his account with cute pictures of Jade and/or himself, and make everyone happy. But who am I to say anything, I have been a bit lazy with my own account, and I don’t even have a dog at hand currently, since she’s with my parents...Seriously, though, I wouldn’t mind a few Links and Jades in my IG feed every now and then.

The new GMM format has a lot of potential to become an amazing show, which it in many ways already is. This first episode was filmed during a very busy time in the Mythical world, and I have a lot of faith that the new format will find its perfect form soon, even if it wasn’t quite perfect just yet. I honestly can’t wait to see the episodes with guests (Stranger things guys at some point this week, and who knows who else later on!), and anything involving cuddling is surely worth a watch. Also, there were some really interesting new additions to the Wheel of Mythicality: Two man wave, Mini duels and Sudden secret (is the Didn’t see that coming sector a new one, too?)

Here’s a screen capture from GMMore for you. I tweaked the hue a bit more to my liking. But how cool is it that the wheel landed on Gifticality again? The wheel gods really want to see their friend eat that shoe (and so do I, tbh).

#gmm #gmm 1213 #rhett and link #gmmore #the new gmm format #extended gmm #my thoughts #the not-so-good #the positive #this will be really good #with some tweaks #constructive criticism #i need to sleep more #but i had to write my thoughts down first

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