#than Ford who went through the same things in CANON

[eph3mrl-mien]

One thing that irks me about the Gravity Falls fandom is how differently they treat Ford's canonical trauma to others'.. more.. hypothetical ones, I guess (by that I mean AUs and stuff). Like, as much as I love seeing role-reversal AUs, one of the things I noticed was how the characters who take Ford's role in the narrative often have their traumas taken more seriously by the fandom than Ford does, even though Ford went through the same thing canonically.

[rye-bread08]

Finally finished my Gravity Falls OC

(If theres any questions about her, please do leave them in my inbox, I will do my best to answer them, since im practically crafting her story as I go, so things I say here might not be canon in later revisions)

And to my least favourite part writing: (TLDR; Childhood friends, Stan got kicked out, years passed they met again in Vegas, Dated, Stan 'died' in a Crash, 30 years later, met 3 & 4 in the woods, went to find Stan, reconnected)

Camila "Millie" Rosaline Garcia was born and raised in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey. As a child, she spent nearly every day at the beach, this is where she met the Twins, Stan and Ford. Being just a year younger than the two, she naturally went along with them really well, and they quickly became friends.

Millie attended the same school as the twins and developed a deep infatuation for Ford. Her feelings were met with a rejection, as Ford was aware that his twin, Stan, had crush on her. Despite this, their friendship remained strong throughout high school. When Stan suddenly left without a word, Millie was understandably upset. Ford simply told her to not worry about it and to continue with life.

After Graduating, Mills pursued her passion and attended an art school neighboring Backupsmore University. Her and Ford interacted a lot in the beginning and almost started dating, but Ford prioritized his studies, and their interactions happen less and less. They eventually stopped talking and just focused on their own lives. After graduating from University, Millie traveled across America, seeking opportunities in the film and theater industries. She eventually settled in Las Vegas, where she sold paintings and worked as a background actor in films. To make ends meet, she also took a job at a local diner. One day, a familiar face randomly appeared. It was her childhood friend Stanley Pines. Despite the years apart, they hit it off almost instantly. Quite Little has changed, he's still the Big goof she knew since childhood, and still had his athletic physique and strong personality. But now, he's ever so slightly more charismatic? One thing led to another, and their renewed friendship soon turned into romance. Their relationship led them to create new memories together. For a year or two, their relationship seemed like a second chance at happiness. They enjoyed every bit of time they were together and found comfort with each other’s company.

However, their rekindled romance was short-lived. During a risky illegal venture involving Stan, he fled, leaving Millie to face legal trouble. She was arrested, and after being incarcirated, the atmosphere of their relationship drastically changed. Even after they parted ways following a heated argument, their true feelings for each other still remained.

-

Millie’s life was a mess after finding out about Stan’s tragic death in a horrible car crash. But she pushed through, throwing herself into her art, traveling across the Americas, selling her creations to fund her travels. Her journey took her to various countries, and she continued to support herself through her art for years.

Summer of 2012 While traveling through the Pacific Northwest, coming from British Columbia, Mills encountered two children taking refuge from the rain in a cave near her campsite. The two looked very identical. The only way you could be able to distinguish them from each other were the numbers in their cap, reading "3" and "4". The two, who introduced themselves as Tracey and Quattro, were visibly distressed and confused. She quickly took the two of them in. Providing them with raincoats and other necessities she bought at a nearby truck stop.

As she spent time with the two, their stories began to reveal hints of the supernatural. Millie was not estranged to the paranormal and the bizarre. Frankly, she had her own encounters throughout the years, and was very intrugued with the stories they told her.

tho, a familiar name surfaced in their tales: Stanford Pines? They havent talked ever since she graduated and left New Jersey. Mill figured that since shes still in the area, It would be nice to visit an old friend. With 3 and 4 guiding her, she drove to Gravity Falls, Oregon.

"Welcome to Gravity Falls" she read Driving through the town filled with debree and on going construction, It was clear that something happened ,any questions made were met with the same phrase "Never mind all that"

She finally drives up to the Mystery Shack, and saw Stanley? ... something something, insert plot, something, Im too lazy to right it now. Im going to bed. ... If you finished reading through that, Thank you. Im not usually the type to write, this alone took me a whole night to do and revise. I will definitely make more content of her in the future, interacting with other characters, writing more backstory, those sorts. For now If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them.

[callipraxia]

Hii! I’m curious about your opinion re: one of the most controversial questions in this fandom, the Reverse Portal AU. What would have Ford, as we know him in canon, done if Stan went through the portal instead? Saved him or prioritized what he then considered a “greater good”? From the fanfics I’ve encountered, people definitely disagree on this, but they can be pretty biased. I’m personally of the opinion he would have saved Stan despite all his chiding about responsibility -- considering his decision to succumb to Bill’s blackmail and give him the universe in Weirdmaggedon, he’s a tiiiny bit hypocritical/contradictory in this regard (as well as in many others), hahah. I’d say it was pretty clear that he valued family above everything then, at least, but researcher!Ford... I am not 100% sure. To me there’s a difference between what Ford considers Danger with a Capital D™ (Bill Cipher) and what he didn’t even stop to consider was dangerous (Stan’s life in the streets). Stan going through the Portal That Made Fiddleford Crazy would fall into the former. Still, I don’t want to be seeing all of this through rose colored brotherhood glasses and it’s hard to get fully rid of my own bias. What do you, who wrote a huge wonderful canon analysis about him, think?

Hm, you know, I had never really thought about this! It is a tricky question, considering that the post-Portal version of Ford we know best can be considered a very different person from the pre-Portal Ford...except for all the ways in which they're exactly the same, of course. Thinking on it, though, there are some bits and bops I can use to speculate...Short answer, I think you're right that "there's a difference between what Ford considers Danger with a Capital D and what he didn't even stop to consider was dangerous" (a much more succinct summary than I could have made, lol) and that, despite their estrangement, Ford would have...at least wanted to rescue Stan. I also think that he would have at least been delayed by the need to get Fiddleford back on board, though. Considering Ford's tendency to assume the worst, it also seems quite plausible that Ford could quickly come to believe that rescuing Stan would be impossible, either due to Fiddleford's lack of cooperation with anything that involved opening the Portal back up to the Nightmare Realm or due to assuming/being convinced that Stan was dead. From either of those solutions, I reckon there's a number of ways things could go.

(notgonnawriteit, notgonnawriteit, notgonnawriteit....)

Ahem. To expand on that:

I’ll begin by addressing the counterargument. It's fair to point out that even when he wasn't in a distinctly grandiose frame of mind ("save the world or lose my life in the attempt"), Ford does have a tendency to lash out at Stan in a way that could be interpreted as suggesting that he values [whatever he's mad about] as more valuable than his brother. On the night of the science fair, Ford came into the living room looking like he was spoiling for a fight before Filbrick interrupted; on-screen, Ford and Stan come to blows three times, and on two of those occasions, Ford is the one who swings first. However, I think it's equally important to note that on both of those occasions, Ford's also the one who first realizes oh my God what am I doing? and tries to deescalate it again. In the 1981 flashbacks, he immediately backs off once he realizes Stan had gotten injured on the machinery, and when it looks like Stan might still want to fight, he keeps backing off for the rest of the scene despite the great big gaping, gravity-altering doorway to another reality being both turned on and right behind him. In 2012, he punches Stan on autopilot after going straight from a grenade-tossing and death ray-wielding and up-against-impossible-odds space battle to the ruins of the basement, but when Stan tries to escalate the conflict into an outright brawl like the one they had before, Ford is cross but relatively calm, and merely restrains him instead of indulging in further violence (I suppose his entry into the multiverse was a mistake he actually learned from and didn't care to risk any chance that he might repeat). So, to conclude the argument on this point - I don’t feel it’s really reasonable to assume that “Ford wanted to beat the tar out of Stan” in any way implies “Ford would have callously written off Portal Stan as a necessary sacrifice and then gone on his merry way.” One of Ford’s major flaws is a failure to accurately assess and deal with his own emotions and how they affect his relationships, and he’s pretty consistently shown to be far more sentimental about his attachments than he thinks he is. And even if he weren’t, well, good grief – even if he had genuinely hated Stan or considered him a totally worthless person, there would still be a long, long way between “I would like to beat this guy up” and “I am sufficiently jaded that I won’t feel a bit bad about it if my actions accidentally lead to Something Truly Horrible happening to this guy.” When we look at Stan and Ford specifically, we also have to factor in both that Ford had apparently (if the scattered references in the Journal are anything to go by) been thinking of Stan semi-fondly/at least ambivalently again for a while before he contacted him in the winter of ‘81, and what Ford’s mental state was at the time. He had very little life experience involving other people/outside of a laboratory and he seemed to be on the brink of an anxiety-and-sleep-deprivation-fueled psychotic break. He may have very well enjoyed lashing out at Stan in the moment, directing his bottomless pit of unpleasant emotions outward toward this Other who conveniently looked just like him instead of inward at himself, but I really do think he would have freaked out and felt incredibly guilty and upset had Stan actually gone through the Portal.***

Now, as for how he might have reacted instead of going on his merry way…in the possibly unlikely event anyone is still reading, then that’s where things get really interesting.

To begin on a gloomy note, I don’t think Ford could have launched an immediate rescue attempt for Portal Stan, no matter how much he wanted to. It’s made clear that he doesn’t understand everything about the Portal, and hinted that he actually understands even less than he thinks he does. When Ford writes in the Journal about the early stages of building the Portal, he makes it clear that, for whatever reason, he could not finish without Fiddleford, who understands the plans so well that he is able to suggest improvements and see the danger in them; when Ford writes in the Journal about the “Better World” dimension, he makes it clear that Parallel Ford was unable to achieve anything until he persuaded Parallel Fiddleford to come back. If AU Ford tried to retrieve Portal Stan, then he’d first have to persuade AU Fiddleford to help him, and it is extremely unlikely that AU Fiddleford would have allowed even a brief connection to the Nightmare Realm before he stabilized the Portal for good, even if Ford begged him on his knees to do so – not least because Fiddleford, having seen what was on the other side for himself, probably would assume that nobody who went through without a rope could possibly survive long. I suppose it’s possible that AU Fiddleford could at least outwardly convince AU Ford that he has to give up any hope of retrieving his brother in the service of the Greater Good – perhaps even that this is the universe’s punishment for being presumptuous and toying with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know – but I find it hard to imagine that Ford wouldn’t be severely haunted by this even in the best-case scenario. Worst-case scenario, that would have been the straw that broke the somewhat mentally unstable camel's back, with who knows what results.

(notgonnawriteit, notgonnawriteit, notgonnawriteit.…)

However, there’s a number of other solutions besides "gave up, regardless of the reason or how he felt about it." One might be Ford going out into the multiverse at a later date, after Fiddleford somehow figured out how to make the Portal work without going through Bill’s domain, in search of his brother, in the slight hopes that Stan might have survived long enough to dimension-hop. Another might involve him staying in his home dimension, but secretly experimenting behind Fiddleford’s back in an attempt to figure out if Stan’s still alive – I say ‘experimenting’ because the original Portal was a doorway, essentially, but it seems to have exceeded that mandate when it found Ford for Stan over the course of Season 2A. It's possible that some of the “components held together with duct tape” that Ford mentions might represent Stan-made modifications of the design intended to make it do what Stan wanted it to do. If it was modified, that could also explain why its final activation was so much more violent and unstable than the other two times it was turned on. Gravity behaved anomalously when both Fiddleford and Ford went through the Portal, sure, but it seems to have only done so in extremely close proximity to the device. When Ford came back the other way, half the buildings in town seem to have been lifted clean off their foundations. Something about that third time was...different. Though, of course, it's always also possible that Stan just hoped Ford would have stayed in place for thirty years and thus did simply open the Portal back up - as for why it took so long, it's implied at one point that Stan had trouble getting his hands on enough toxic waste to adequately fuel the thing - and that Ford happening to be in the Nightmare Realm right then was either because of Fate or sheer dumb Pines luck.

I could go on further (about how Ford might half-convince himself he doesn't care at all, with this having zero impact on how he actually does, or how the 'tinkering behind Fiddleford's back' thing could lead into a script flip of "Not What He Seems," or...etc.) but it gets increasingly speculative/like I'm drawing up plans for a specific plot. Hopefully something in all this managed to answer the question to your satisfaction, Anon, and hopefully it was at least mildly entertaining even if it failed in its primary mission? Glad you enjoyed the canon analysis!

***Another important factor to consider in all this may well be that Ford and Stan both trained as boxers for a long time - possibly for as long seven or eight years, probably for five at a minimum. They both knew all about punching, both how to dish it and how to take it with minimal damage, and the photo in Stan’s car indicates they at least practiced together. I suspect (despite having never punched anyone, either in or out of a boxing ring) that punching someone in boxing gloves when everyone involved has consented to getting punched at some point is a lot different than punching someone in anger and with your bare hands, but "try to punch Stan in the head" is still something Ford probably did many times when they were younger, all without a hint of ill will existing on either side. Ford might therefore not necessarily think of ‘hit Stan’ as an action that would or even could seriously harm him, even if done in anger instead of as part of a recreational sport. Plus, while he was almost certainly using violence as an ineffective form of communication before the end of the 1981 fight, he started it when he was alarmed, not enraged, and he was shocked/horrified out of being angry the instant a factor other than just the two of them trying to pummel the stupid out of each other directly got involved. It's certainly worth noting that Stan, at least, didn't seem to take "Ford punched me in the face before I could say hello properly" or "I then tried to hit back because I was annoyed about that punching/lack of gratitude business" as indicators that the situation was beyond salvaging; he only seems to have given up on any hope of reconciliation at the very end of ATOTS, after Ford first talked civilly with him, then made a joke with him, and then calmly announced that he was basically going to take his toys and go play alone in the basement until Stan went away. Years earlier, after the science fair, Stan also seemed to initially shrug off how Ford had blown up at him and to have assumed that he could smooth things over at first; it's Ford's silent, seemingly more miserable and conflicted than fisticuffs-inducingly angry, refusal to intercede with Filbrick on his behalf, after the initial outburst of temper has ended, that finally gets to him and prompts him to loudly and unconvincingly declare that he doesn't care anyway before he storms off. They...both really need to work on improving those verbal communication skills.

[klonoafan5]

further ideas for the ascension au reboot

ford trying to tell dipper what he knows and struggling with it, not knowing how he would react

ford becoming a mentor and helping dipper with the ups and downs of the ascension process

dipper dealing with intense emotions and mood swings during his ascension and ford supporting him because he went through the same thing

ford and dipper being protective over their family

ford putting his hands behind his back like in canon but it’s to hide his growing claws 

bill being smaller due to losing majority of his power and strength 

dipper having dreams of a potential future or a certain triangle’s past 

alternative: ford seeing the future and dipper seeing the past or vise versa

ford’s demonic half being calmer than dipper’s due to age

ford and dipper speaking in demonic language when emotional or by accident during their ascensions and talking to each other 

funny idea: dipper attempting to hide his demonic features from their friends in gravity falls only for them to already figured it out 

potential idea: ford coming out of the portal looking the same age he was when he got pushed in

ford and dipper pretending to be human around people who aren’t in the know

[trombone-minivan]

My thoughts on Lockwood & co. season 1

I've just binged the last four episodes (having seen all 8) and I have some opinions to share with the void.

This is your spoiler warning.

There will be spoilers for Season 1 of the show and at least the first two books past this point.

This would be a good time to mention I was going into this having read all 5 of the books, so some things were likely less surprising to me than to others.

The order isn't really particular and I might add more things as I think of them.

I like the expansion on Lucy's time at Jacobs. This was only described briefly in the first book and it adds some nice background to her character.

I especially like the character of Norrie, who was completely absent from the books. Not only as a childhood friend of Lucy, but also her state and the implications put on it by the plot. Knowing how it progresses after the 2nd book (which is roughly where the plot of season 1 ends), I think we will hear of her again, and I'm looking forward to her role in the future.

On the other hand, I generally prefer the book's depiction of whole Combe Carey scene/portion. I just feel like it wasn't given enough space in the series. I'm wording it this way because I don't really want to say I disliked it, I recognize the creative decision to briefen it (is that a word? idk) for the series. The succession of events is more or less all there, what mostly suffered is the depth of Fairfax's character as well as his relationship and interactions with Lockwood & co.

Saunders is a cheap fuck who should be hit with several fines and maybe a shovel for good measure.

What I disliked more was the section in Bickerstaff's house. I understand there likely wasn't time for it, but it was really downsized compared to my memories of the book passage. Firstly, Simon Wilberforce would have been a really cool ghost with his falling apart into rats. The patients were interesting with their fading in and out, but they don't hold a candle to Wilberforce's book depiction. Plus, and I might be biased as a reader, I would have enjoyed seeing more people than just Lucy scared, and also Lockwood & co's interaction with Kipps' team.

Here I'll take a moment to say I have noticed the changes some characters went through compared to the books - some clearly in the name of diversity - and frankly most of them don't bother me. I will say though that show Winkman is considerably more of a psycho than I remember book Winkman being - again, not that I disliked it, just noticed the difference.

Another thing I noticed are the cars. I am a car nerd, I always do. What I want to mention is that there weren't really any new cars - considering that the series canonically takes places in 2022 (I think). Like, the newest cars that I saw around were from the early to mid 2000s, i.e. a Mk4 Vokswagen Golf or a Rover (don't know what is the model name, visible for example in ep. 3 in the background of the gang getting picked up by Fairfax's driver Ellie). Now, this can very well be just that these were the cars that were available to the production team, as I also noticed a rotation of the same cars in different scenes (such as the gray Ford Granada with aftermarket foglights or the silver Volvo 700-series sedan, both visible in multiple scenes). BUT I can't help thinking about the in-universe implications of the Problem's interference with the car industry. The Problem must have been going on for around 5 decades when the show takes place. Over time, more demand arose for other things to be made out of iron/steel than car bodies, perhaps the demand for new cars also diminished as the way of life shifted more to staying in the safety of a home as much as possible. On the other hand - and I feel like this is the more likely explanation - if the Problem is only a thing in Britain and, as I mentioned, people there started needing cars less and less - there would just be less cars (or none at all) imported to Britain. I also think this fits in better with the actual cause of the Problem, which is revealed in book 5 or 4.

[cescalr]

i was also thinking reverse falls

for Real reverse falls was so... Gravity Falls actually had this problem with a fair few of it's AUs, like a lot of the interpretations of the stan-went-thru-the-portal-instead (but ford still waited 30 years) or ageswap just made mabel and dipper into stan and ford again and it's just.... sigh.

(I also have Thoughts about those AUs - I've currently got some of my ageswap au Thoughts written up, actually, though none of the others.)

I had my own ideas for reverse falls a long time ago - i couldn't find it now, some art/writing journal i last touched in like 2015 and likely lost when we moved house - but I always wanted to explore the canon negative characteristics of our heroes like Mabel's selfishness and Dipper's ambition, Stan's criminality and Ford's egotistic tendencies, if i were to do a reverse falls AU. Also everyone who made dipper swap with gideon and mabel swap with pacifica SO missed the point. if anyone was swapping roles literally instead of narratively, then dipper would swap with Pacifica and Mabel would swap with Gideon. There's a lot more parallels there that are interesting. Dipper and Pacifica have - to very different degrees, but still - canonically fraught relations with their family members at various points, and they're both easily caught up in competition and they're both very stubborn, but they've both got the same potential for good in them, as well as ill. I'd need like, time to talk it through properly in meta or some such, but basically; dipper and pacifica parallel each other better than mabel and pacifica do (Mabel and Pacifica are literally foils, guys - and not in the two-sides-of-a-coin way, in the narrative way where they're not reverses of each other and more simply have characteristics that clash, which is not the same thing), and if you're swapping dipper and pacifica there's much less weirdness with the characterisation people automatically do to pacifica when they make her Pacifica southwest, which is basically just blonde mabel and is really boring. Pacifica's not like that! Pacifica stood up to her parents to save people. Pacifica is very outwardly self-centred and she cares about the appearances her parents have conditioned her to keep up, but she's more invested in actually helping people when you get down to the wire. When Mabel is asked by Bill in sock opera about sacrificing stuff for the sake of your sibling, I can't see a reverse!gideon being the dipper in the room - but I can see Gideon being Mabel, realising all the things Pacifica does, despite the front she puts up, and coming to his senses. There's also the idea that Gideon swapping with Dipper just doesn't really make any sense anyway - they share maybe one trait, but for the most part they're very different people. (that trait, by the way, I feel is showmanship. But dipper and pacifica share that, too, so like, moot point, right.)

Anyway, yeah. I'd rather do the whole thing like, swapping narrative function - antagonists, protagonists, villains and heroes and all that - but like... if i were to swap roles; Dipper's instigator-investigator-hero role, I wouldn't give that to Gideon. I might still have Gideon discover the journal, but I'd have Pacifica decide to use it to solve problems around town and get into other people's business. Maybe in this AU she decides to keep up appearances by actually doing the good things for the community her family pretends to. I mean, she didn't know her family were liars at the beginning, remember! Maybe her pride manifests differently as the protagonist.

Stan can stay basically the same in a Reverse AU tbh - just make him more realistic. Guy is a career criminal with a current, ongoing smuggling operation. Like, c'mon. Family loyalty can be a double-edged sword!

As for Ford, just... there's some real obvious ways. But my main issue is that I don't think the "will" situation is ever properly explained in a Reverse!AU. Like I don't want to make these entirely new characters with a gravity falls coat of paint, just as much as i don't want it to be canon with a redesign, you know? I've never read a reverse AU that got to the point of explaining the portal or why Ford is still trapped in there if he's evil and had control over "will", like it doesn't make sense. I think a Reverse AU needs the caveat of keeping Bill mostly the same, or maybe making the Time Baby the big bad. I mean, canon actually has an evil dipper that's got some fucked up shit to do with time-travel going on, from one of the books they released (i forget which one, sorry). But yeah - I don't know why nobody talks about that. It rotates in my brain like i can't get rid of it; dipper canonically goes evil or at least very creepy and worrisome at some point in the future of gf!!! he seems to be our normal good dip-dop as an older teen, but once he's an adult he's gone fully off the deep end. And I think that's interesting, because that would mean in a reverse AU, dipper as a kid should be fully off the deep end, but once he's grown he's a heroic sort of character. teen dipper should be weird and unnerving while adult dipper actually is genuinely honest when he says the future got fixed and he shouldn't worry about teen dipper, instead of sounding very scary and evil about it.

But yeah, I mean - reverse AU also doesn't really make sense with the choices it makes in regards to the side characters, like, what are you going to do with people like Susan? It's a roleswap au, so who's role is she swapping, if we're not going with a more, metatextual swap of narrative importance/alignment? People always swapping Wendy and Robbie seems odd to me. Some of the swaps seemed arbitrary, and that one especially with the way that robbie!Wendy got drawn was... hm. It really seemed to me that was just an excuse to draw an emo wendy redesign, which, babes, you don't need an excuse for that. Just draw what you feel like, you know. It's fanart, it doesn't need a whole AU around it to "excuse" it's existence - it's cool either way.

Idk, man. Yeah. Reverse AU always bugged me. It seemed like a wasted opportunity for some really neat character studies. But that's just me!

Man, that was a long post :D. I do want to gather my thoughts together about this stuff, actually. I probably will now, with the motivation to do so sparked. Thanks :).

[britishsass]

if i were to ever write my random little psychonauts / professor layton au with the pl chars as the psy7 I just know a few million things for it

Which is why I'm saving everyone by including a cut here.

(also because there's spoilers for all of professor layton and for all of psychonauts, but hey)

To start off: Characters who I know or at least can assign tentatively.

(this is mostly the main characters tbh. A few extras seeped through)

Luke is Raz. Both are sonboy incarnate, have strained relations with their father, and have some sort of power that most people around them don't understand.

Flora is Lili. I'm saying this partially for the name joke, partially because I think Flora deserves to be a bit angry about everything that happens to her. Her dad is still alive in this au, too! wow! reinholts stay winning i guess!

Claire is Ford. I know that's not what's expected but I really, REALLY want to talk about Claire and I think that her mind could have such an interesting time theming throughout that you have to contend with-- past/present/future, mainly. Plus, she's morally a little gray already.

Hershel is Lucy. Yes, I know, it doesn't really fit, but imagine the emotions here. Also, this gives me an excuse to have him being Luke's mentor throughout his life and for the two of them to have a very close bond as a sort of family. (Plus, he's already taken the name of a sibling in canon, just like Lucy did.) Additionally, everyone would probably fall apart without him.

Don Paulo is Otto. This is partially for the memes, partially for the serious fact that they're both brilliant inventors who probably had a Thing for Ford/Claire. Also, both would give dangerous inventions to children, no holds barred, give the boy a flying machine just 'cuz.

Randall is Bob. This is specifically him for a few reasons: One, although his main storyline does align with Helmut ("dying but not really, coming back, thinking he failed everyone") his other storyline of being mad about losing the ones he cares about to the point of making it EVERYONE'S PROBLEM is very much a Bob thing.

Angela is Helmut. It's unfortunate, but at the same point I genuinely cannot find much information on her as a person and it's kinda annoying. PL series treat your women better please. On that note: Being romantically involved with Randall, being one of the more positive forces in the lives of the others, caring about other people's safety... Yeah.

Henry is Cassie, sort of. This is where it gets a little messy. I say this mostly because he went to Green Needle Gulch to keep an eye on Randall, not because he did anything in particular. However, he's still trying too hard to fix everything up for when Angela, Hershel, Claire, and Randall are back in shape, cleaning up everything a bit too much. His archetypes are everywhere, but they're more like dust clouds than archetypes-- desperate to clean up the mess but just making more mess.

I've been tossing around Dimitri as Compton as well, but i can also see someone suggesting almost anyone else here. I'm saying Dimitri solely because I personally adore Unwound Future, though. No real reason.

For Sasha and Milla, I've been kind of joking that they're Sammy Thunder and Katia. This is, yet again, mostly because I enjoy Diabolical Box a lot. Plus, they're one of the best duos in the series, other than Chelmey and Barton. There's nothing romantic here because they're cousins, but they got the standard "fun music-lover and serious thinker" dichotomy for it.

Since Luke is Raz, Clark is Augustus. Both tend to throw themselves into their work during times of stress, and they don't exactly listen to their kids the best, but by god they're trying so hard to be good dads, and they have to let their sons go to learn more.

Additional pieces I've thought about include that Luke calls Hershel "Uncle Des," the battle that wrecked the psy7 was only 10-15 years ago here, and that everyone's powers are definitely gonna be mixed up. Also, Luke's not cursed! That's just "Uncle Des" thinking that something is definitely amiss whenever he feels something psychic around. No curse here.

[callipraxia]

Oh, hey, it's my boy Powers! (He has just enough dialogue to suggest elements of a personality and backstory, but he acquired more and more traits further and further removed from his source material as FWJB went on. Things I Just Made Up include his first name, his tendency to very rarely use his first name even in informal situations, his asexuality, his lack of siblings, his childhood in a strict Catholic school run by nuns, the name of his department, his family's history with said department, his interest in the psychology of paranormal criminals, his working knowledge of advanced physics, his affection for the Lord of the Rings movies, and, to some degree, how I extrapolated his disorder that makes him incapable of perceiving or producing humor into "nobody ever says 'autism' on screen, but basically, he's autistic." Tate McGucket also involved a lot of extrapolation, but his lifelong ambition to punch Ford in the face and his mother's career path are the only things I can think of which weren't spun directly from one or another sliver of canon; there's more facts about Tate out there than you might think at first glance, they just occur in tiny, unconnected blocks, so you have to patiently comb through lots and lots of material and then piece the fragments together in ways that make a coherent narrative and character. Since I imagine you could plausibly derive a number of other interpretations from the same data, though, I'll call him a half-case compared to Powers, who I...didn't realize I'd actually made up to the degree it seems I made him up. I suppose Emma-May McGucket will count to something close to Powers levels if I ever finish "the Unexpected Memoirs," too.)

i think everybody should get to claim ownership over a barely-canon character and say whatever they want about ‘em. technically not an oc but so close because canon doesn’t really provide anything but a design or a name or a few short lines of dialogue. blorbo from your headcanons or whatever

[athgalla-arts]

Ford and Fiddleford's Dynamic - Pt. 1

Alright, so I had expressed not long ago that I wanted to more exhaustively discuss my thoughts on Ford and Fiddleford’s dynamic, why I love it, and why I find it so compelling and enjoyable regardless of whether it is read as romantic, platonic, something in between, or something else altogether. I'm going to break this up into parts, too, hopefully that makes it a little easier to read. I know I'm a text-heavy person, so please bear with me!

I am going to do my best to focus on canon and interpreting it and keep the headcanons to a minimum for now. As I said, I believe their dynamic is wonderfully done and equally meaningful regardless of how you want to read it (although maybe it’s meaningful in slightly different ways depending on interpretation.). Ford and Fiddleford’s ‘arc’ excellently meshes with and manages to encapsulate the themes of the show as a whole – trust, love, and the gravity of these – how they can be broken and the severity of that, how these can  be flaws, the effort it can take to rebuild them, acceptance, embracing weirdness, and mystery. It’s difficult to truly pull their whole arc out and separate it from their relationships to other characters, but I’m going to do my best to focus on them and not get too side-tracked.

Let’s start off with some words from Alex Hirsch about their dynamic (thank you to @tazmiilly for finding this! the video it is from can be found here with the quote in question at 45:48)

“Everybody has that one friend in school who, like, school would be a nightmare without them. You know, like one person who is on your level who makes the same dumb jokes, is into the same weird games that you are, just like gets your sense of humor. And like, it can be the most meaningful thing in the world to have that person. I feel like every place I’ve been I have had at least one really good friend, who like… I can get through how awful it is because they’re there. And I think, y’know…McGucket and Ford were those kind of friends.”

Between this, Fiddleford’s enthusiastic acceptance of Ford’s request to help him build the portal, and Ford’s positively giddy reaction to seeing Fiddleford again in the 80s, I think we can safely assume they had a solid, steady bond. I’m going to backtrack now to Ford pre-college to set up some context that I think makes Alex’s description of their relationship in college so much more significant.

We know that throughout Ford’s formative years, he was practically attached at the hip to Stanley. They were inseparable, they were a team (though, of course, not without their differences). They shared a dream, trusted one another, and understood each other – although despite the understanding they do have, there are aspects of each other that are going to forever be disparate and difficult for the other to get. That’s normal and good! I love that Ford and Stan share so much yet stand out as unique people with their own way of viewing the world, unique interests, ways of handling things, and so on.

With the bullying they faced and the implied pressure at home, Stanley is the only (confirmed) positive relationship Ford seemed to have during his childhood and teen years. There is a lot we don’t know about what might have happened off-screen in their lives, but we know that Stan’s role was by and far the most significant to Ford. While their home situation leaves some room for interpretation, I think it is also safe to assume that pressure was heavy on both of them and that they experienced emotional abuse, at least from Filbrick (although it’s entirely possible this went further than we know, and we don’t get a good picture of how Caryn treated them either besides potential evidence for a somewhat detached relationship to them between ATOTS and Lost Legends).

Once Stan was kicked out and Ford was alone, I would bet that nearly all that pressure was now doubled down on him and all the scrutiny Stan had been under now fell to him. Ford’s a picture ‘golden child’ and all the high hopes his family had are looming over him while he’s dealing with major changes in his life – the heartbreak of losing his shot at WCT, losing Stan (and I would LOVE to know more about his feelings and thoughts on that whole scenario and how it would have gone if their argument had not been interrupted), trying to figure out his future and backup (heheh) college plans, and so on. Even if Ford wanted time to be independent and to chase his own dreams, at least for a time, I don’t think he ever wanted it to happen like this.

We now have Ford starting as a freshman at Backupsmore – far from his first choice of school, his expectations far from high and his outlook far from rosy. He’s completely on his own for the first time, still glaringly alone in Stan’s absence, although on a more positive note this may be his chance to be away from some of that hovering shadow of pressure from his family (at least to an extent) and away from the bullying and ostracization he experienced in Glass Shard Beach. It’s not perfect, but it’s new, and it’s a fresh start…sort of.

Enter Fiddleford Hadron McGucket.

We don’t know the details of how they met or what their first impressions were of each other, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that regardless of circumstances, Ford was a little hesitant and timid at first just as a consequence of past experiences damaging his ability to readily trust others; however, while also being hesitant for good reason, we know Ford is also quite the golden retriever who is excited and happy to find people he shares interests and values with. He does place importance on connection to others. Once he likes someone, I get the impression he loves them quite fiercely, in his own way (and that he’s easily won over by kindness and compliments).

Regarding Alex’s words… well, now Ford finally has someone that not only shares many of his interests, enjoys other things he might be intrigued by, but someone who is earnest and kind, who sees him for who he is and understands him in a way he probably has not been understood before. It’s not to disparage the connection Ford had with his brother, but I think what he has with Stan and what he has with Fiddleford are two very distinct connections and types of understanding. On that note, in a way, I think that Fiddleford, initially, somewhat filled the void left in Stan’s absence for Ford, at least subconsciously (and honestly…it could have even been a bit of a Mabel and Dippy Fresh type situation with Fiddleford representing everything Ford, at the moment, wished he had all this time). I think once that he saw that Fiddleford was a genuine and kind person, that switch from hesitation to golden retriever was flipped in a nanosecond.

Unfortunately, we don’t see much of their relationship in college, but again, based on Alex’s description and how readily they connect down the line, we can assume that it was a positive situation based on trust and love. I do wish we knew more about whether they kept in contact regularly after college or not. I can see them being the type of friends who could talk weekly or not speak for years and pick up like it was yesterday. I do imagine that life got in the way and Ford’s tendency to isolate did not help, but I like to think they called and wrote from time to time, maybe in bursts of talking regularly for a bit and then not at all for quite a long stretch. I’m speculating now! Back to focus on canon…

[pricemarshfield]

a little evil

[Image ID: the shadow of a woman with devil horns against a wall, colorized red and with the text “a little evil” on it. End ID.] (Image Source: original source site no longer up (Potaca.com), found on Pinterest.)

Pairing: MC x Poppy

Rating: M for milder-than-canon-typical sexual content (minors still DNI).

Word Count: 4068.

Summary: A canon-ish imagining of right after the final scene of Queen B, or: resolved emotional tension for the Poppy route. Requested by anon.

Warnings: Second person POV, drinking (not to the point of getting drunk).

Created For: @anyfandomfluffbingo​, filling out the “I guess today’s my lucky day”, drinking buddies, and public sex squares.

Read on AO3 here or below the cut.

The day of graduation, you and Zoey move as fast as your six-inch heels will carry you on your way to the ceremony. "Would you slow down?" you say, eyes more on your own feet than on any of the big ceremony here for her (and the rest of the student body, of course). It doesn't help that her muscles still ache from a night spent with Poppy, and then from staying up just thinking about it.

Zoey looks back at you with a wide smile, somehow not missing a single step. "I can't, Mom's got me on a tight schedule. Graduate by noon, day drink at the afterparty until dusk, and then the tour bus leaves at midnight."

"Don't tell me she's coming on the road with you."

Zoey's eyes go wide in horror. "God, no. Bunk beds and crappy dive bar food with no one to talk to but each other sounds like the set up for an episode of Snapped. But now that she's taking me seriously, she's showing me the tricks of the trade. We're meeting up in LA to prep for some label meetings." She leads the way up the stands and makes a beeline for Felicity who has, surprise, surprise, managed to secure the entire front row for herself.

"You're late," Felicity says, not looking up from her pamphlet.

"That's on me, Momma Wade," you say with a charming smile, on the off-chance she does glance over. "After everything we've been through, I'm having a little trouble saying goodbye to this place."

"You get used to it," says a familiar voice from behind you, and you turn to see Luis and Hayley climbing the bleacher steps. "Plus you get one hell of a reunion when you come back. I've only been gone a year, and my Alpha bros went nuts!"

With the same ditzy smile as her sister, Hayley adds, "OMG, I can't wait! Ohio still has no idea I'm here."

Zoey blinks rapidly a couple times, looking puzzled. "Wait...Hayley, if you graduated last year, shouldn't Ohio have graduated too?"

"People think that all the time, but I'm actually one minute older, so I get to do things one whole year before her."

That gets Felicity to look up at them at last. "Oh, honey. That is not how that works..."

"Maybe I could be of some assistance. After all, in another life, I was a professor."

"Ina!" Looking over your shoulder at the familiar voice, you see Ina following Luis and Hayley up the steps. "What're you doing here?"

Your old professor smiles, looking more relaxed than she has in months. "Celebrating the end of an era. The day that my students embark upon the world was always one of my favorites. Congratulations to you both."

"We won't be embarking on anything if they start without us. C'mon!"

Zoey hurries you down to the field, and before you split up to go to your seats, you give her a hug on the sidelines. "The next time I see you, we'll officially be one degree hotter."

"Like we need it," she says, beaming.

As you settle into your seat near the rest of the H's, Steinhelm takes the podium, looking every bit of 'let's get this over with'. With all the razzle dazzle of a kid's birthday party magician, she whips out her cue cards and starts to read verbatim. "'Graduates and honored guests, we've gathered here to celebrate the outgoing class of 2021--'"

Ford starts off the chaos, screaming, "Momma, we made it!"

All around you, the graduates start to cheer, and from the stands, you see Luis and some of the other returning Alphas raise their shirts to show 'GRADATES' spelled across their chests.

"That's not even spelled right!" Steinhelm says, mouth falling open in shock, somehow? This isn't even gonna be the worst thing to happen today, guaranteed.

Luis yells to the stage over the noise of the crowd. "Tripp's flight got cancelled. He was the 'U'."

Steinhelm's fingers blanch as they grip the sides of the podium, and you hear her heave a heavy sigh. In a quiet voice that still gets picked up by the mic, she says, "Stick to the script, Marguerite. It's almost over. Ahem. 'This year's crop of graduates are some of the brightest, most amazing trailblazers--'"

"Byew byew byew!" Carter yells, clearly having the time of his life.

You're hardly going to pass up an opportunity to let loose before college ends, so you join in with a loud whoop.

"That's it!" Steinhelm balls up her cue cards and throws them in the crowd, hitting Clint Burton in the face, full-force.

"Ow, my eye!"

"You wanna know the truth? I hated every second of this year! Namely because I was undermined at every turn! I cancelled the Person to Watch Award and shut down that awful blog...seconds later, it was back and worse than ever!"

Chloe raises her hand, as though there's the slightest chance of her being called on, and then starts talking anyway. "Okay, but, like, without The T, how else were we supposed to know who we're better than?"

Ignoring her, Steinhelm continues, "I banned parties, and the Alphas threw the biggest rager Belvoire's ever seen--"

"Oh, BTDubs, I talked to the national chapter, greased a few palms, and they told me to tell you...'suck it'," Liam says, trademark smarmy grin on his face.

The brothers whoop and cheer, and you watch as Steinhelm's existential crisis sets in. "I give up. You're all just a bunch of spoiled brats that are going to make the world a worse place...and the only saving grace is that I'll be dead long before any of you affect the world in any meaningful way. Now, in an effort to get you off of my campus as quickly as possible, allow me to introduce the student you voted as class speaker..." She rips open an envelope perched on the podium with the soulless, glazed-over gaze of a woman who got into education to make a difference. "And...of course, it's Bea Hughes."

Sweet.

The crowd erupts in cheers and applause as she sulks over to the chair waiting for her on the stage, and you make your way to the podium. "You all voted for little ol' me? Oh, you shouldn't have!"

Poppy jumps up from her seat and storms the stage, ripping the mic away from you. "We didn't. This 'vote' was faker than Ohio's bottom lip!"

"Well, I did," Carter says with a smile. "Bea killed it this year!"

Emi sits up to her full height to be seen over the rest of the crowd. "I voted for Bea too! She always knows what to say to soothe the savage beast within!"

"And who the eff are you?" Poppy hisses, nostrils flaring.

"...Emi Less? We had Stats together, and you told me to calculate the odds of you remembering my name?" She frowns. "...they weren't very high."

Erik interrupts her. "Bea! Bea! Bea!"

The chant slowly picks up speed until the entire crowd is cheering for you to take the stage. And you can't let your adoring audience down, now can you? "Sorry, Pop. The people have spoken." You grab hold of the mic and then give Poppy a shove before you can think too much about it, sending her over the stage's edge and right into Clint Burton's lap.

"Ah, my nuts!"

Jeez, overshare, much? You wait for the crowd to settle before looking out at the sea of your peers. "I've spent most of this year hunting down haters and making them own up to why they didn't like me. Most of them were full of it...but after hearing their stories, I can't think of a better way to end my time here than by telling my side of things. Without a doubt, Belvoire introduced me to some of the worst people I've ever met."

Your eyes flick to Poppy, almost involuntarily, thinking back to your first meeting. First and last memory of Belvoire, indeed.

"But it also introduced me to some of the best." You smile at Zoey, who waves a hand like you're in The Princess Diaries at the crowd who turn to stare at her and get a picture for their Picta. "My first days on campus were practically perfect. I mean...who else can say they've danced with Jaylen Riaz and watched Poppy throw a hate-fueled tantrum?"

"I forgot about that! She was all--" Liam rushes into the aisle so everyone can see before throwing on his best scrunched-up Poppy face, taking his voice up an octave, and stomping his foot. "'No. No! Everyone, shut up! This is all some sick joke!'"

Carter's laughing a little too much to make his impression of himself convincing, but it's so charming, you're sure no one cares. "Hey, 'babe'! Did you like the performance? I really worked on my dancing--"

"'How dare you help her, you stupid, ugly, pathetic idiot! We're officially over!'"

Poppy's pushed herself off of Clint by now, and her face is flushed red with rage. "One more word, and you'll sound like that permanently, Gill."

"I even bonded with woman's best friend..." You open your purse, and Cutiepie pops his head out, eyes wide at the attention. He barks once, and the crowd melts.

"He's so cute!" Abigail coos, finally showing something other than love of all things gothic.

"But the longer I spent on campus, the more immersed I got in the inner workings of Belvoire. The takedowns and overzealous fans...no matter what came my way, I rose to every challenge." You pause, wondering whether you should mention the gala...but nothing that happened there was fun, not really, so you skip to the good part. "Not to mention when I kicked Poppy's ass and introduced her to the family of algae growing at the bottom of the fountain.

Trixie's mouth drops open. "Damn...I always knew Helena was a savage."

"Now that I think about it, this is the first year where there hasn't been a Person to Watch Award in the school's history..."

Steinhelm brightens at that. "That's right! Maybe I did manage to do some good this year--"

"Soooo I'll take it upon myself to crown one and continue this great tradition!"

"Never mind."

While Steinhelm silently has an aneurysm, you detach the mic from the podium and observe the crowd. Not like you need to; there's only one person here you'd even consider giving this to. "I personally award the Person to Watch Award to Zoey Wade! She's about to take the world by storm, and in ten years, you're all gonna be telling people how you went to school with the Zoey Wade!"

The crowd cheers again as Zoey beams and basks in the well-deserved attention. "Oh, stahp."

"This year has been one for the books. I ruled over you as your first new queen since the beginning of Poppy's reign...which Poppy responded to by going into literal mourning."

"I had that dress burned the second she took it off," Veronica says, mostly directed at her livestream but loud enough for everyone to hear. "You're all welcome."

"And I've done everything I could've hoped to secure my throne, including banishing a less-than-loyal subject..." Your eyes flash over to Michael's empty chair. Rest in pieces, creep. "Making famous allies and putting fake allies in their place." For just a moment, you get stuck on thinking about cherry-bloody Poppy, but you brush past it. "I got in touch with my roots, unveiled the coward cosplaying as the fox in my henhouse, and showed everyone that if you're coming for the queen, you'd better not miss."

"Bro..." Ford says, looking up at you adoringly, which is only like...60% weird. "Bea saved me from the ultimate embarrassment. For real, we all need to bow down."

"Not to mention that hog wrestling thing was kinda hot."

Uh, good to know Carter's into country girls. You'll have to introduce him to some of your cousins who aren't gay. Anyway, back to the speech; it's your moment, hello? "Every incredible moment was all thanks to the fans that believed in me, voted for me, and semi-stalked my every move. But now it's time to move on to my next epic adventure, starting with launching my own company! It's time to take the skills I've learned in managing my own image and expand on a global scale."

"Would you wrap it up, Farmsville?" Poppy says, studying her nails with a poorly-feigned nonchalance. "I'd like to graduate before the school year starts again."

You roll your eyes and head to the edge of the stage to look at your adoring public one last time. "It was a wild ride going from the rolling plains of Farmsville to here, and I'm going to miss each and every one of you--"

"Me too?" Crispin asks.

Barf. "Like I said, I'm going to miss almost each and every one of you...but the person I'm going to miss the most is Poppy Min-Sinclair." Here goes nothing. Or everything. Your heart's in your throat but you've come this far, gotta see it through. "And I know she'll miss me too."

A gasp goes up from the crowd, and as you leave the stage to make your way to where Poppy stands fuming, every eye on the field lands on you two. Her teeth clench as she growls out, "Take it back, right now, Farmsville."

Oof, that's gonna hurt when the adrenaline stops pumping long enough for you to process it. In a low voice, just for her, you say, "No." Her eyes don't suddenly soften, her scowl doesn't slip into a smile, but her expression shifts, still furious but--calculating, enough that you find the courage to continue. "After two years at each other's throats, there's just one thing I need to say, here and in front of everyone..." Deep breath. You've got this. "Poppy, it's always been you. From the moment you first insulted me on the quad, there's just been this spark between us."

"It's called loathing. If you bothered to visit a single English class this year, you'd know that."

Poppy doesn't break your gaze as she says it, though, and you're stupid enough to hope that means something.

"I loathe you too, Pop."

Before she can get another word in edgewise, you grip the back of her neck and pull her in, crushing your lips to hers and tangling your fingers in her hair with a passionate kiss. She bites your lip again, the same spot as last night. You're reluctant to pull away, but you do have to graduate, probably, so you do, hurrying back onstage before handing the mic back to Steinhelm with a smile.

"Alright, Dean Steinhelm, go ahead and take us out."

"If only..." She steps up to the podium and waves her hands over the crowd with all the energy of just a shell of a woman. "With the power vested in me by your tuition payments, I now pronounce you Belvoire's graduating class of 2021. Now get the hell off my campus before I call the cops."

Ford rips his shirt off. Chloe jumps up, locking her legs around Carter's waist, and maybe you'll have to rethink introducing him to your cousin. You bound down the stairs of the stage, leading the way to the afterparty to celebrate saying goodbye to Belvoire University one last time. That's the plan, anyway, until you feel a grip on your arm, tight enough to bruise, yanking you out of the party procession.

"Ow! Who the hell do you--"

"What the fuck was that about?"

Poppy's not madder than you've ever seen her; that still goes to confronting her about Art Nakamura in the fountain, with losing Apodeia at a not-so-close second. But she's pissed, eyes boring into you with such malice that a lesser woman would've shrunk back. You're kind of tempted yourself.

"Well? Your own self-importance got your tongue?"

"No," you snap. "Guys, go on ahead, we'll join you."

Zoey looks at you with such pity in her eyes, and you kind of want to flip her off, but you know it wouldn't be that satisfying, since she's definitely right to pity you. Also, Felicity might kill you, and you'd rather not take that chance. Carter looks like he wants to stay and see how the chaos plays out, Veronica's got her phone out and is not-so-subtly taking pictures, and even Ina's half-smiling.

But they leave eventually, leaving you and Poppy alone on the edge of the field, Steinhelm walking past you and refusing to look at either of you.

"I--"

The thing is, you have no idea what to say. That you didn't mean it? Too cowardly, not after you've gotten this far. That you said it to fuck with her? A lie, and one no one would believe. That you meant every word?

Terrifying. But you're not backing out in the final quarter, so you take a deep breath and say, "I said what I've wanted to for ages, Poppy."

Poppy hasn't let go of your arm this entire time, and a thrill runs through you when she only tightens her grip, shifting closer to you. "Why?"

"Huh? What do you mean, why?"

"Why did you want to say it?"

You roll your eyes and pull away. "Whatever. I'm not feeding your massive ego more than I already have. You have my number if you want to reach me and actually talk about us."

"There isn't an us!" Poppy calls after you, and you let it roll off your back with only a little misery.

The sound of heels on Belvoire's cobblestone pathways follows you. You refuse to look back, give her the satisfaction of knowing she gets to you (more than she already knows, anyway). She follows you all the way back to the party house, a place you're pretty sure Liam's renting as a way to apologize/grovel for forgiveness. Or bought, actually, knowing this crowd.

To his credit, the bouncer doesn't ask any questions, just steps aside and lets you both walk in. You make a beeline for the bar, feeling in your bones that you need a drink before you can even start to have this conversation. Poppy slips onto the stool next to you, staring at your face with an intensity that's unsettling, and a little exciting.

"Can I just get a beer?"

Poppy rolls her eyes. "Seriously? Has your taste not evolved at all?"

You turn to look at her fully for the first time since ignoring her. "What do you want?"

"For you to answer my question! And a pomegranate martini."

That does actually sound kind of good, but you keep your expression annoyed anyway. "Oh, goody, I guess today's my lucky day since you won't fuck off. Do you need me to pay? I know money's tight, and I'm nothing if not a good date."

"This isn't--" Poppy glowers at you, cutting herself off. "My question?" You blink at her, confused, and she makes a quiet, frustrated noise, grabs both your drinks, and drags you into another room under the eyes of literally everyone. Well, more like a closet, but it's big enough that you're not touching, though you're close enough to feel the warmth radiating off of her. "Why did you say it?"

"I already told you, Poppy," you say, opening your beer and wishing you'd ordered something stronger. "I said what I've wanted to for awhile."

"So after you already beat me, you just--what, decided to confess you have feelings for me in front of the entire school?"

"What do you care?" you hiss. "We graduated. You don't have to see any of them ever again if you don't want to, so sorry if you're embarrassed, but--"

"I'm not embarrassed," Poppy says, getting further into your space, enough that your noses brush. "I'm mad. I don't need you trying to manipulate me for--what, every last bit of clout you'll get as the benevolent former Queen? Forgiving anyone, I see that you're playing right into your brand. Well, fuck you. I'm not going to be your pet project--"

"What the fuck? No, that's not--you think I'm trying to use you for my image?" 

It's not the dumbest thing you've ever heard Poppy say, but it's coming pretty goddamn close. You're not appearing like some angelic saint here; you're being honest with a group of people in a way that makes your heart race, makes you terrified, makes you want more than anything to have done this over a quiet night in. Except you were never going to, not with her. She wouldn't have listened to you.

Except that she's listening now.

"You're...not? No, that's bullshit. I know what I am, there's no way."

"It's not bullshit. Yeah, I know you're kind of a monster, but--"

"Rich and bitchy is your type?"

"But I care about you, asshole. Maybe I shouldn't! Hell, I know I shouldn't. But I do. And I'm not taking it back."

"You don't mean that. Really?"

Poppy seems genuinely confused, and the stupid, sentimental part of your heart (which is, to be honest, most of it) breaks at it. "Poppy, I like you, okay? Nothing more than that, no plots or schemes or anything. It's not--I'm sorry I did it like that, since you clearly--hated it, and me, but I just...it was stupid. I'm getting out of--"

"You mean that." She says it like she's just realizing it herself.

You sigh. "Yeah. Of course I do."

Before you can open the door, Poppy puts her hands on yours over the handle, shocking you into stillness. "Don't--give me a second to think."

"Don't give you a second to think?"

"You know what I meant, bitch." You do, and the insult's not said with her usual venom, so you wait for her, trying not to be obvious about the way you can't look away from her face, the little furrow between her eyebrows that means she's concentrating, the way her drink has oh-so-slightly stained her bottom lip, her fingers lacing through yours. "I'm not--used to that."

"To...?"

"To--people meaning what they say," Poppy says, and then rolls her eyes at nothing, glaring at you like you've done literally anything to piss her off. "When they say things like that. I don't..." She pauses, and you let her, much as you want to interrupt her and tell her you do mean it, you do, beg her to listen to you, to see you-- "I don't know what to do with that."

"What, and you think I do?" You laugh. "Poppy, my first and only other relationship ended because she moved out of town and just didn't tell me. And I was 14, so it barely counts. This is--terrifying. Not that you're--actually, no, you are terrifying. But you're good terrifying. This is...I feel like I'm going to fuck up and ruin things. I feel like I have." 

"You haven't," Poppy interrupts. "I'm not promising anything, but you haven't ruined it. Yet. I'm sure you can find a way."

"Oh, fuck you," you say, a little confused and a lot happy, and you pull her in. Poppy melts into it, softer than she has in any of your other trysts, arms winding around your neck. With her heels on to your sneakers, you're of a height to each other. It makes it easier to pull her in, hands on her hips. Poppy pulls back, though she doesn't stay gone for long, pressing quick, sweet kisses to the column of your throat, taking your breath away. "You do--ah--realize this door doesn't lock, right? Anyone could walk in?"

"Let them," Poppy says, voice low, sending a shiver up your spine. "You already told everyone something's happening. Show them how much you need me."

And she sounds, just a little, like she wants you to show her, too, so you grab her hand, press a quick kiss to her palm to watch her shiver, and bring it up your skirt. "I need you. Only you. Always been you, Poppy."

She kisses you again; you can feel her smiling into it. You can't help but smile back.

[sxrrandomfanfics]

🎁✨💥🐇🎬🤩🔮

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share? (Monster to Hero)

✨ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

Actually, I keep my eye out for Commentors! I really like when Retro46 comments on "Family Swap," and Queenofdragons6 on "Raz's Regretful Realm" And of course I like getting comments in general as they keep me motivated and help me figure out what to write next.

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

For my current Brainrot of Psychonauts, changing the timeline. Like... apparently Augustus is a VERY young boy when the Deluge happens 20 years ago and also the Deluge happened in 1962, making PN2 take place in 1982. Thing is... Raz is supposed to have been born in 1991. Simple change: just make the Deluge back a few years and give a bit more time to all of the characters to grow through the Psychonauts organization. While the "Deluge only took place 20 years ago" is PERFECT for my ideas that Truman had a bond with Augustus and Lucy before they were torn away and their memories were gone and Truman ALSO lost not only a motherly figure but BOTH of his uncles which creates *chef's kiss* delicious family angst... it doesn't make sense. Ford is supposed to be 70, he would have been 50 and only participated in the battle against Maligula so his reputation as "the psychonauts's greatest leader" makes 0 sense. (edit): I'd also give extra days for Raz at Whispering Rock and the Motherlobe to help flesh out Campers/Interns and their stories with Raz. The stories with the Campers just have Raz witnessing events rather than getting to know the different characters and the sidequests that you CAN do with the Interns aren't as impactful as the Camper's side-stories that you can just find throughout Whispering Rock.

🐇Do you write for yourself, for others, or both?

Both.

🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

Probably the Nutern AU. I'd probably cast each creator as their supposed Nutern, and keep the Psychonauts characters the same. If not that... definitely the little ideas I have of the Land of Ot that Lili had to deal with.

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

I saw a thumbnail of the 2nd game and remembered a YouTuber hating the Meat Circus from Psychonauts. I went in and haven't come back out.

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

Dealing with inspiration but no motivation - write garbage. and once you get the ideas on the page, that dam is going to burst. Motivation but no inspiration - go out and do something. Whether it be sitting in the sun, petting some nice animals, getting food at a resteraunt, and maybe write it down physically or try a new medium

[why-is-it-always-autumn]

A series of thoughts:

Obviously the ten people on the symbol wheel are the IPRE equivalent. They're not anywhere near as organized or professional as in TAZ canon it's just two guys who built a spaceship in Ford's basement and the random family members/neighbors/interns who happened to be close enough to get in and escape when the apocalypse came

Bill is John. This is also obvious

Their original world doesn't follow DnD rules. They've picked stuff up over time but their spell lists and skills don't always quite make sense

That said, McGucket is an artificer, Dipper is a wizard, Robbie is a bard, and Ford has made (and regretted) at least one warlock pact

Gideon is a warlock pretending to be a sorcerer, but also he keeps scamming new warlock patrons for spells and ditching them when the cycle resets. He might be a lich, also?

Every time Gideon and Stan are left alone together some truly epic grifts happen. Sending them out to get the Light is a last resort because there's a good chance no one in the crew will be allowed on that continent again

They spent a century together, they've had enough time to work through their interpersonal issues

None of the kids enjoyed being 9-17 forever. Dipper, Wendy, and Robbie especially were not having a great time

Gideon and Mabel got really good at the "innocent child who can do no wrong" act. They still try to use it post-century but it's not as effective coming from a 20something. This confuses them, although they can't remember why

The idea of dating gets messy when you're 12 but also 80 and you're stuck with the same nine people for the forseeable future so by the end of the Century pretty much all of the kids have dated each other at some point (other than Dipper and Mabel, obviously). There's no epic Blupjeans love story but there is a weird Dipper/Gideon/Mabel/Pacifica/Robbie/Wendy polycule

Ford went missing trying to solve the problem on his own

McGucket did the redactions, but Stan was the one who was immune to the voidfish (he fell in by mistake back on Legato). They founded the Bureau together to try to keep things under control while trying to get Ford back

Robbie is responsible for feeding the voidfish his music.

Wendy somehow had family on the world they ended the cycles on

Soos fell in love, got married, and had kids after the Century was redacted.

Pacifica has the lowest overall death count, Dipper has the lowest death count of the four Pines twins (Stan tends to stay behind to cover everyone else's escape, Ford and Mabel just blow themselves up by accident a lot)

Currently rotating Gravity Falls/TAZ Balance fusion fic concepts in my head. We've got long lost twins, interdimensional travel, amnesia cults, journals, prophecies... I have so many thoughts on Stolen Century alone

[nocturnal-milk-dud]

Man Made of Stone: Chapter Five

Previous    Next

Pairing: Horacio Carrillo x Reader (it gets complicated)

Summary: “We have to get him to a hospital.”

Rating: R

Warnings/notes: Canon-typical violence; death; implied death; swearing; smoking; alcohol consumption; inebriation; angst; some smooches; once again, I know nothing about medicine, I’m just doing my best; special shoutout to my mom who answered a bunch of my questions like a champ and only laughed at me once; I also don’t write action very often, so bear with me; once again, if you’d like to be added to the taglist please let me know, and if I missed you please let me know--I’m still having trouble tagging some people

Word Count: 2558

Infection.

A word you dreaded. A word you could barely get your lips around. Since Carrillo had been brought through your door his eyes had opened once, disoriented and searching, reminding you of the officer in the street. Now, his skin was on fire, his breathing rapid and shallow. It was the gunshot wound to his abdomen. You pulled Javier aside.

“We have to get him to a hospital,” you said. 

“What about antibiotics?” he asked. “Can you get some from the clinic?”

“They won’t do any good with that bullet still in there. He needs a surgeon.” Javier passed a hand over his face and shifted, looking at Trujillo and Murphy. 

“Okay, okay,” he said. He went over and spoke in hushed tones to Trujillo, and you turned your attention back to Carrillo. You pressed a damp cloth over his forehead and timed his rapid pulse. 

“Trujillo’s going to contact a small group of men from the search bloc and have them meet us here,” Javier said, joining you at your side. “We’ll take him to the nearest hospital while you and Murphy wait here. I’ll contact you once he’s safe.” 

“No,” you said, getting to your feet, “I’m going with you.” Javier sighed and you watched the lines appear between his eyebrows. He started to protest, but you interrupted him.

“I’m going,” you said, your tone final. Javier shifted his weight and shook his head, his lips disappearing for a moment as his jaw worked. Finally, he looked at you, his eyes tight, face stern.

“Fine, but you do whatever I say,” he said, pointing at you. You nodded and he walked away. 

You followed behind as Carrillo was carried down the stairs and out to the black Ford truck sitting at the curb. Four officers in plainclothes had arrived in another vehicle and they kept watch until the five of you were safely packed away. Your heart pounded in your ears as Javier passed through the dark streets, the other truck following close behind. Everything was too quiet, too still. Carrillo was propped between you and Trujillo in the backseat, his head on your shoulder, your arm around him. Your eyes never stopped moving. How could the world be so quiet? 

Shots shattered the night and you covered Carrillo’s body with your own, huddled awkwardly in the tight space. Javier swore and you peered over the back of your seat. The windshield of the tailing truck was splintered and the tires were shot out. Smoke billowed out from the hood. It had come to a stop several yards back, and the distance grew as Javier laid his foot on the gas. 

“Are any of them still alive?” you asked, even though you knew no one could answer. No one did because several gunshots sounded and the back window was gone. You heard Trujillo return fire. 

“Get us the fuck out of here, Javi,” Murphy said.

“What the fuck do you think I’m trying to do?” Javier growled through gritted teeth. You glanced up between the front seats and you could see the hospital in the distance just before Javier took a sharp left turn, careening down a narrow alley, knocking away a side mirror. As he neared the end of the alley, a motorcycle flew out in front of him and the rider littered the hood of the truck with bullet holes. Javier slammed on the brakes, throwing his arms up in front of his face, and ducked down as bullets peppered holes in the windshield. 

Everything was still then, everything quiet. 

“Everybody okay?” Javier asked, his voice ragged, breathless. Everyone responded. 

“What do we do now?” Murphy asked after a moment. Trujillo helped you get Carrillo into a sitting position. He was still alive, but he wouldn’t be for much longer if he didn’t get to the hospital. Javier looked back at you.

“If we don’t get him to the hospital he’s going to die,” you said. He sighed deeply and looked at Murphy, who shrugged. 

“They might think we’re dead,” he offered. Javier let out a dry chuckle and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Whatever,” you said. “Let me out.” Murphy looked from you to Trujillo to Javier. 

“Let me out!” you ordered. Murphy shoved open his door, shattered glass clinking on the ground. You hooked your arms under Carrillo’s and began hauling him out of the truck. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Javier asked. 

“I’m going to get him help. If that means dying I don’t give a fuck,” you said. Javier swore and got out of the truck, hesitating for a moment when his eyes fell on the bullet holes in his headrest. He came around to the other side, helping Murphy shoulder Carrillo. Trujillo stood at your side. 

“Take this,” Javier said, handing you his gun. “Trujillo will take point, you follow behind us, watch our backs. Do not hesitate, you understand?” You gave him a single nod. Trujillo led the four of you out of the alley and up the street, heading back towards the hospital. It was in sight again and you felt a glimmer of hope. The street you were on opened up to an intersection and as Trujillo came upon it, a man popped up from behind a car parked on the road running perpendicular to the one you were on. He fired off a shot at Trujillo and the man pressed himself up against the wall of the building on the corner, waving at the four of you to move over to the left. Trujillo returned fire, and as he did you saw another man weaving through the parked cars to the right. You heard a grunt as a shot connected with Trujillo’s opponent and you fired as the other man straightened to take aim, hitting him in his side. Javier looked over his shoulder at you and you raised your eyebrows at him, mouthing the word “go”. 

To your surprise, the street was clear the rest of the way to the hospital. When you arrived in the emergency room, Carrillo was whisked away and you were left standing there, gun in your hand, feeling lost. Trujillo called more search bloc members to meet him at the hospital to protect their Colonel, and when he hung up the phone he walked over to you, taking your hand in his.

“Muchas gracias...por todo,” he said. You nodded and stepped away, wanting to speak to a doctor. 

“We need to find someone who can talk to us about Carrillo,” you said to Javier. 

“They just got him in, it’s gonna take some time, you know that.” He carefully slid his gun out of your hand, returning it to the waistband of his jeans. “Just have a seat, relax.” You didn’t, couldn’t. Instead you went outside where you found Murphy smoking a cigarette. He offered you one and you took it, the both of you smoking in silence. 

“The infection developed into sepsis.” The doctor spoke in sharply accented English, and your heart collapsed at the words. You and Javier were sitting in his office, the door closed to the rest of the world. “We’ll need to operate, but we can’t do that safely until the infection is treated. Unfortunately, the sepsis has progressed rapidly, not to the point of shock, but he is in a dangerous place. These next twenty-four hours are going to be crucial.” He spoke calmly, in a reassuring tone, though his words were not reassuring. You tried to absorb it, his calmness, but instead you found the fear running away with you. 

“Excuse me,” you whispered, just managing to squeeze the words out of your rapidly tightening throat.  

You stumbled out of the emergency room, past two officers smoking by the entryway. You tried to catch your breath, but it was as if the more air you pulled in, the less went to your lungs, and you found yourself gasping. Your chin trembled and you covered your face with your hands as if they could keep you from falling apart. The weight of the knowledge that he could die before he even reached the operating table crushed your heart and you wanted more than anything to be numb. You should never have come here. You should have left when your husband died, instead of following some foolish notion that you could carry on the fight. A useless, stupid fight that had cost so many lives, destroyed so many people. 

The feeling of a hand on your shoulder was like a raw nerve being touched and you recoiled, turning to see that Javier had joined you. Your blood boiled at the sight of him.

“I told you,” you said, barely getting the words out. Your throat was tight and your eyelids brimmed with tears. “I told you to take him to a hospital! Why couldn’t you just listen to me?”

“I’m sorry,” Javier said. There was nothing else he could say.

“No, you don’t get to say a goddamn thing! I told you I couldn’t save him and you didn’t give a fuck! He could die tonight but what the fuck does that matter to you?” Javier’s jaw worked as you spoke and he passed his hand across his mouth, casting his eyes down to the pavement. His other hand rested on his hip. 

“Hey!” he snapped when you finished speaking, his tone making you flinch. You noticed then the tightness of his lips and the way his eyes glistened in the light from the parking lot, but you chose to hold on to your anger. 

“Fuck off, Javi,” you said, turning away and walking off into the night. “Do not follow me.” 

You didn’t go home. You were plagued by the image of the empty couch before you even saw it. Instead, you sat on a stool at the same bar you’d visited the other night with Javier and Murphy. There was no dancing that night, no figure watching you from the doorway. The only thing that was the same was the alcohol, and you kept it coming. The shot glasses and empty beer bottles piled up on the bar in front of you and you were slumped forward, your head planted firmly in your hand. You were far enough into the booze that emotions didn’t stick to your thoughts or memories, and you were humming “I Only Want to Be with You” while staring at the stack of empty shot glasses. 

“That song came out when I was eight years old,” you said to no one in particular. The bartender was cleaning glasses nearby, but if he heard you or understood you, he didn’t show it. You didn’t care. “My dad and I used to dance to it when it came on the radio. He loved music, listened to it all the time. He loved to dance, too. We played that song for the father-daughter dance at my wedding. That was the first time I ever saw him cry. The last was the day I got on a plane to come down here.” You knocked back another shot and added the empty glass to your structure. You squeezed your eyes shut and pressed your thumb to the bridge of your nose, humming the song again. The air shifted and someone sat down on the stool next to you. You lifted your head, seeing Javier out of the corner of your eye. He looked at you before placing money down on the bar, paying your tab. 

“It’s time to go,” he said softly. Javier got to his feet, but leaned towards you expectantly. 

“Thanks, but no,” you said, pushing the money back over to him. You nodded to the bartender, tapping the neck of your bottle. Javier said something to him in Spanish, and briefly flashed his badge. You thought you heard the words ‘cut off’. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” you snapped over your shoulder. “I thought I told you not to follow me.” You got to your feet to face him, and that was a mistake. You put your hands on the bar to keep your balance.

“C’mon,” Javier said, holding his hand out for yours. “I’ll take you home.” 

“No.” You closed your eyes and shook your head slowly. “I can’t go back there.” Javier was standing with his hands on his hips while he waited for you to speak, but now he took his jacket off and walked over to you, wrapping it around your shoulders. 

“Then you won’t,” he said. “Come on, let’s go.” You let him lead you out of the bar, your legs feeling limp and shaky. He opened the car door for you and helped you in, making sure you were settled before getting in on the driver’s side. Wondering, you felt in the pockets of his jacket, finding a pack of cigarettes. You pulled two out and lit them, offering the second to him. 

“I’m sorry for what I said,” you whispered into the quiet dark of the car, watching Javier’s face catch the warm amber of the streetlights as he drove. Your eyes were heavy with exhaustion and the weight of the alcohol. “I know you care, of course you care. And you’re not responsible for any of this. It’s not your fault.” Javier didn’t say anything, and it was impossible to read his face, but something told you he didn’t believe it. 

Javier opened the door to his apartment and stepped aside to let you in. You went into the bathroom and splashed cool water on your face as he turned the lights on and tidied up a bit. 

“You can take the bed,” Javier said, gesturing to the bedroom. You looked in at the bed and remembered the joke you had made to Carrillo about staying with Javier, how you’d gotten him to smile. The memory was like a punch to your gut. Was that how things would be now? Would you be living in memories again? The thought made you feel sick. You needed to feel something else. You shrugged the jacket off your shoulders, letting it fall to the floor, and you grabbed Javier by the collar of his shirt, pulling him into a kiss. He stumbled into you at the unexpected action, your back hitting the wall, and you let out a soft gasp against his lips. Your fingers worked quickly at the buttons of his light orange shirt, eager to find the skin underneath. 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Javier said, closing his hands over yours. His forehead was pressed against yours while you both caught your breath. “We shouldn’t do this.” He pushed your hair back from your face and cupped your cheek in his hand. 

“Javi,” you whispered. You didn’t know what to say, all you knew was that you needed him close. Needed somebody close. You gripped his shoulders, fingers pressing into his skin, trying to keep him there.

“You’re drunk, you’re exhausted, I can’t take advantage of that.” He kissed your forehead. “You’ve been through hell tonight, you need to sleep.” He started to walk back toward the living room.

“I need to not be alone,” you said, finally finding the words. He stopped and looked back at you, his eyebrows turning up in the middle.

“You’re not,” Javier said.

Taglist: @cheesybadgers @massivecolorspygiant @vanthrefrigeration @funtasi @redwine-n-hiddles @sarahjkl82-blog @maharani-radha-writes @lettherebrelight @banga-sama @ajeff855 @madlyhowling @chiara-cannot-sleep @mcrmarvelloki @cassandras-nest @flowerchild-96 @harduy @chasingdreamer @anatanotegami @live--aloud​ @grogu-pascal @dodgerandevans

[evilwickedme]

ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...

[ilovelotsofthings]

Never Got Divorced  → Eda and Stan

[6/12/2022]

Added: This is a mess. I hope other posts in this Au will be neater.

Needed to figure out the kinks in timeline and ages. Also law… kind of.

Basically this is the planning stage that I posted.

Okay like with all of my AUs I have no real plan per say.

This AU is just that Eda and Stan never got divorced 

There is no romantic or sexual attraction.

Just 2 con artists who got married to steal from each other yet it fell through.

Eda ran before any divorce papers were ever given, okay.

Oh yeah since Eda has popped into the human realm since she was like 14 to 16 she got a legal identity.

Her legal identity is her actual name but she just goes by Marilyn.

Makes life easier if there is not hang ups

[Also I want this crap as legal as I can]

Basically she knows more about the human realm then she makes herself appear. She is smart.

Stan knows he never divorced her btw but they still haven't seen the other in decades.

Stan did indeed sign with his legal name.

Now on to less fun things like Math, timeline, and sort of law.

Ages/Timeline.

Stan was born in the late 40s or early 50s.

Just to make a time frame I will say 1945 to 1955 making him anywhere from 67 to 57 

Eda was born anywhere from 1974 to 1978. That is if TOH takes place in 2022

Canon also has her in her mid to late 40s. [like 44 to 46. Maybe 47]

If you cannot tell this timeline does not work if we looked at both canon.

(As in my "Law" section for them to be legally married they would've had to sign their actual names and Stanley Pines would be dead. I want those 2 married and not the hilarious image of Stan getting Eda married to Ford. Which means the canon timeline cannot work. Another knot is the fact she would have to have gray hair when they married which would point to "Stanford '' marrying her. So also ignoring that,  she is still a ginger. Good thing this is an Au.)

Since the canon timeline will not work here it is reworked. ■

Eda was born in 1976 making her 46 years old in 2022.

Her "Human" identity which is her legal name on the Boiling Isles with a smudged birth year. That year being 1974 [21. She can legally drink now]

Stan was born 1965 making him 57 in 2022. 

Eda and Stan got married in Las Vegas in 1995 with her dipping after stealing the car and earnings.

Ford Pines went into his portal in 1996. So Stanley "died" that same year.

Then everything in canon happened the same except Eda told King more of the truth and didn't wait till Season 2 episode 3. The legal adoption still didn't happen until later though.

Also because I shifted the timeline by a decade that means Mabel and Dipper are only a year (maybe 2) younger than Luz.

OH also since this is an au. Season 3 (as it hasn't come out yet) is non canon.

Law [Sort of. Not a lawyer and I got my info off of Google]

In real life it seems if the married person goes missing and is declared dead [or is just presumed dead] the couple is no longer married.

Also if they got remarried their marriage is valid and not the previous one.

This is in fact boring for this Au as Stanley "died" their marriage would no longer be valid.

So yeah no that law doesn't exist in this universe unless they remarried

Also Eda proved her existence to the American government (Not as a witch) by just showing proof of her being there for a while.

Still she fibbed as she wasn't born in Usa and has no proof of her living there as a baby or child.

Either way she did it.

Basically she legally exists. Neither got remarried so I am pretending they are still legally married.

While I am having trouble finding out if you can adopt without your spouse knowing it looks like a maybe.

I mean Eda mostly live on The Boiling Isles and adopted King there so it wouldn't matter anyways

Basically their marriage exists and the GF timeline changed by a decade.

[Stopping here 6/12/2022]

^ Did that so the next post looks neater than this mess

The next post should be the meeting of Pine Twins and The Group (Hunter, Luz, Gus, Willow, Amity, and Vee)

[jurassicparkpodcast]

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 3 SPOILER Review!

The Third Season of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous has arrived – meaning we’re bringing you some more content around the show, including our spoiler thoughts on how the third season did when compared to the first two. If you haven’t seen Camp Cretaceous Season 3 yet then click off this article now, as we are going to be discussing some of the key set pieces in this series which make it by far the best one to be released to date. Let’s get into it!

We’ll start by summarising the third season – and, in particular, it’s story. The story of the Campers attempting to get off of the island whilst uncovering that a terrifying new hybrid has broken loose is interesting, with plenty done to explore more of Isla Nublar and, indeed, the terrifying work which Doctor Henry Wu was doing in the shadows of the former Jurassic World. Although the kids ultimately escape the island, this isn’t without a few interesting sequences sprinkled in throughout – including direct tie-ins to Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, and also hints at the future of Mantah Corp and their research into InGen’s work. The third story feels incredibly well balanced – with lots of fantastic set pieces balanced with meaningful storytelling and interesting characters alongside brand-new dinosaurs. The third season brings us a much more grounded story which aims to fill some of the canonical gaps left by Season Two – creating a story which feels satisfying and fulfilling.

The third season maintains the same cast of characters – with each of them getting plenty of interesting development. Darius, for example, spends some time earlier in the season filling the holes in his notebook – giving us a fun look at a Dilophosaurus drawing indicating he encountered this animal on the island at some point. Kenji struggles with the kids liking him and feels the need to use his wealth to impress them, whilst Sammy worries about what Mantah Corp may have done to her family back home. Each character feels three dimensional in the third season – with some great development showing how they have adapted to their environment. Of note here in particular is the character of Yasmina, who selflessly heads across the island in search on an anti-serum when Sammy is poisoned by the quills on the Scorpios Rex. This animal itself is handled incredibly well – with the kids feeling genuinely in danger at some points throughout the story.

The other dinosaurs in the story are good too – including surprising appearances from both the Ouranosaurus and the Monolophosaurus. These animals do go against the pre-established canon of the island a little bit, with neither of them ever mentioned as being present on Nublar, but it is possible that the prior existing list was only ever intended to reflect the public-facing dinosaurs. These animals get some interesting sequences throughout the story – although there are a lot of the Monolophosaurus at one point in the story. Beyond the small canonical issues here, the only other real issue I had with Season 3 was the fact that the Scorpios was developed before the Indominus Rex. This does retroactively go against a lot of the pre-established timeline in things like the viral marketing – but it is possible that the Scorpios was hidden from existence altogether given it was seen as a failure by Simon Masrani. It is interesting to note that the Scorpios was able to reproduce asexually – suggesting a second E750 which is present in the show was able to grow to maturity incredibly quickly. Perhaps this can be explained by the enhanced growth Bumpy also inherits, however. These small issues aside, Season 3 took big strides to fix my issues with Season 2 of the show – creating a much more well-rounded experience which fits better within the universe of the films.

There were a few moments throughout Season 3 which stood out to me as building on the critiques on Season 2 – the first of which was the Ouranosaurus Attack at the dock as the kids attempt to patch up the damage which Tiff’s boat has sustained. I loved how the ambience in this sequence felt reflective of sequences in both The Lost World novel and in Trespasser – with some fantastic, tense sequences utilising natural fog and darkness to really elevate the stakes and create something which felt darker and scarier in tone than anything beforehand. We don’t often see herbivores as direct threats for the human characters in Jurassic, so the attention to ambience and atmosphere throughout this sequence really helped to make the Ouranosaurus feel more intimidating when they eventually attacked. I also loved how this sequence is later explained as the animals behaviours changing due to the ecosystem being tilted off-balance by the Scorpios Rex – a fun note which perhaps suggests that the Spinosaurus may have had a similar impact on Isla Sorna. This was a really fun sequence and one which I thought was worth highlighting here as I really enjoyed it.

Next up I wanted to talk about a sequence which hits the nostalgia factor and tones it up to eleven – with the pair of Scorpios Rexes hunting the campers through the original Visitor’s Centre. A lot of the sequences in the centre feel very similar to those in 1993’s Jurassic Park – with sequences in the kitchen, in particular, recreating shot-for-shot some of the moments from the kitchen sequence in the first film. I really liked these call-backs as whilst they were quite overt, they felt as though they fitted with the show, and worked incredibly well. I also love how the series initially shows Blue nesting in the Visitor Centre before she heads to the Ford Explorer, as this underpins how much of this animal’s present-day existence is nested in Henry Wu’s past work at Jurassic Park. The Visitor’s Centre is also ultimately destroyed by the Scorpios Rexes during this sequence – with both animals buried by the rubble. Whilst some fans may be upset to see this location destroyed, I loved how it underpins a very core concept moving forwards – highlighting how Henry Wu’s arrogance and continued ignorance in the implications of his science has ultimately destroyed the legacy of the work that both he and John Hammond attempted to do.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that the third season features two bonus episodes – with the final two episodes tying directly into the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom opening sequence. After Season One of the show, I tweeted one of the writers asking him if there was a chance we’d see reference to this in the future, so seeing this recreated shot-for-shot in the show with the kids watching on as the Indominus sample was extracted was awesome. It was also really cool seeing how Wu’s additional mission was to retrieve his laptop – noting that without it, the work he needed to do on the Indoraptor would take years and not months. This perhaps explains why the animal we see during the Lockwood Manor auction sequence is only a prototype – as Wu ultimately leaves the island without this information. It is interesting seeing some of Wu’s dialogue with Brooklynn throughout these episodes – with the character perhaps showing some small semblance of remorse. Ultimately, however, he leaves the kids on Nublar – reinforcing his status as a character with a questionable moral compass moving into Jurassic World Dominion. I have to admit – the way this tie-in played out was handled masterfully, and I was really happy to see things unfold in the way they did. I genuinely screamed out loud at my screen with happiness at one moment – emphasising how much work went in to nailing this crossover. It’s clear that the team working on Camp Cretaceous went to great lengths to smash the third season – and the result is some fantastic crossover which pays off and builds the lore of Wu’s work in meaningful ways without any of the massive contradictions I was worried these sequences may introduce.

The Series ends with the Campers finally escaping the island – heading off in a repaired boat, although we do see at the very closing moments that something else is on-board and hidden in the lower decks. This poses an interesting question in its own right, as it has been pre-established that Scorpios can self-reproduce – so is it possible a third hybrid existed on the island? If so then this could pose a grave risk to people on the mainland when the campers return there. We also know that Mantah Corp may potentially still be at play – with a quad-copter drone observing the Scorpios Rex on the island. Is it possible this shady corporation may now recover the carcasses of the dead hybrids for their own experiments? And what happened to the pilot of the Helicopter which the kids crashed in? She didn’t appear to have been eaten – but we never see her again after the crash sequence. These are just a handful of the questions we were left with at the end of Season 3 – implying there is more story to be told, even if the third season felt like it reached a nice natural ending for the series as a whole.

Overall, the third season of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous is fantastic. Do not sleep on this season. It adds a lot to the lore of Doctor Henry Wu and his research, and it builds out a lot of interesting lore for the experiments which were happening on Isla Nublar. It also sets up some interesting plot threads for the future without them feeling overly intrusive and detrimental to the wider story telling in the Jurassic universe. Season 2 of this show left me feeling a little deflated, but Season 3 left me feeling reinvigorated. This wraps up the story of E750 and the wider universe in meaningful ways, and is a fantastic and more mature Jurassic adventure which adult fans will enjoy. I can’t wait to see the reception to this season – and how it informs Jurassic content in the future.

Written by: Tom Jurassic