#that storyline will never be done until justice is HAD

[trkstrnd]

season 5…

[asumi2020202]

Everything has a Price to Pay

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x reader

Summary: Daemon's hired men, whilst trying to slay Aemond in his bed, accidentally harmed his wife and his son and Aemond blames his wife for it.

A/n: The 2nd episode of s2 broke my heart. The way Helaena clung to her son's blanket. But anyways, this is something which is somewhat based on the storyline of ep 1 and 2 of s2 but unlike the directors taking out Alys Rivers from the show, I'm including her. Thank you for reading!

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All throughout the kingdom, you were known to be the gentlest of souls much like your sister. Though she was naive and all too forgiving, you were a bit unlike her. You preferred knowledge but both of you were kind.

Your marriage to Aemond was exactly like Aegon and Helaena's. To keep the bloodline pure. Except the only difference was that both of you loved each other and that he was not like Aegon.

You always stayed with either your sister or your husband ever since a child. Or sometimes you would accompany your eldest brother, he only had you who understood him.

Unlike his brother and nephews, you didn't tease and harrass Aemond, for you too knew what it felt like to not be heard. He felt as if he could only seek comfort in you and his mother as a child and even now.

When he had claimed Vhagar, he had to pay the cost with his eye.

He realised he loved you when the maester and maids tried to usher you away saying the stitching and mending to his face would too horrific to see for your gentle soul yet you stood your ground and held his hand while your mother pleaded for justice.

You felt hate for your father. For he blindly trusted his daughter, disregard anyone else. If someone even asks him your name he probably would not be able to say.

After that incident in the Red Keep, your half-sister's family fled to Dragonstone.

_________________________________________

War had started. Your mother along with your grandsire, successfully installed Aegon on the throne. Your husband Aemond had took the life of your nephew.

You knew that the House of the Dragon would tear each other apart. With no literal escape.

It was only some days before your child would be born. Having your first child with your husband. The only happiness in this devastating time.

Your happiness has crashed down when you got a raven. Your husband was laying with some bastard whore in Harrehal. The only thoughts you would get were

Did he not love me? He always swore that he would never leave me and stay by my side, that he will be different than our father.

He looked happy when he got to know of our child yet he is laying with another woman.

What did I do wrong?

Why did he lie?

He left you right when the war had been declared and he finalized it by killing your nephew.

Your mother tried to help you. Completely disappointed in her son. She raised him better yet he still did this. Harming her daughter, hurting her emotions and dishonouring her.

You stayed with Helaena until the pressure of it all became too much to bear and ultimately pushing you towards your labor.

_________________________________________

You laid in your bed crying, sweating and panting, while your husband was who knows where.

You held tight onto your mother's hand as Helaena quietly said "A price must be paid for all that is done."

Soon enough your child was born. It was a son. Your little Aenor.

Moonfyre's roar were heard. She could sense a new presence. One familiar to her bonded sister.

You cried as you took your son in your arms, your mother kissing your head as your sister gently rubbed your arms.

_________________________________________

Moonfyre had laid her eggs 3 weeks before your son's birth.

It had been a week since you had Aenor. Since your husband, if you can even call him that now, had not returned. You took it upon yourself to get him his own dragon egg.

As you walked through the dragon pit, you saw some dragon keepers scared.

"Moonfyre iksos daor īlva jikagon va zyhōn. Nyke suggest ziry would sagon wise naejot daor jikagon va zyhōn nykeā zyhōn drōma sir." Said a dragon keeper.

Moonfyre is not letting us go near her. I suggest it would be wise to not go near her or eggs now.

"Dīnagon aside. Nyke shall ūndegon skoros nyke kostagon gaomagon." Came your reply.

Move aside. I shall see what I can do.

As you walked further in, you saw you dragon, guarding her precious eggs.

You walked towards her. She's let's out a small noise upon recognising you. You gently placed your hand on her snout and then your forehead. With her wings she gently pushed you towards her eggs, guarding you.

You chose an egg for your son. Before leaving, you patted her snout and scratched it a bit, giving her some comfort.

_________________________________________

Night had already fallen over kings landing. You were with your son in your shared chambers. He had fallen asleep to your gentle humming.

As you were cradling your son to your chest, you heard the door being opened. You thought it was perhaps a maid but as you turned around you saw the rat catcher that comes everyday.

He was smirking and held a knife. Soon after him, entered a muscular man who had a knife as well.

"A son .. for a son he said." Said the muscular man. "Oh but look there, thats his son." Replied the rat catcher to the other man.

As the other one looked at you, you felt dangered.

"I.. have a necklace. It.. is of great value.." you cradled your son closer to your chest with one arm while with the other hand you tried to open the necklace.

The muscular man simply tore it away from your neck. Fear was evident in your eyes. You took a step back as the rat catcher said

"Hand him over and you'll live. We only need him."

As he approached you, you placed your right hand over your right thigh where your own dagger was kept.

The rat catcher tried to forcefully take your son but before he could do so, you kicked him in his crotch. While writhing in pain, he slashed your arm. The other one was coming towards your son, but as he tried to slash him in your arms you turned around.

His blade dug through your back. Muscles getting slashed. Extreme pain courses through you. Yet you didn't give up. U took out your dagger and slashed his cheek and stabbed his chest. As he flinched away, you took your chance and ran out the room, you nightgown red with your blood.

You didn't know where to go. Time was limited. You could hear faint moaning noises. Cradling your son closer to your chest, with your jaw on his head, you followed the noise.

You came infront of your mother's chambers and entered without a second thought. You saw her with Ser Cole but you didn't care about that. Your energy was running out. A lot of blood was lost. You didn't even know if you would survive.

With your remaining strength you said "Mother". You shakily walked to her and somehow gave her your son as you collapsed beside her bed.

Alicent's scream could be heard from everywhere. She couldn't believe her eye. Her little sweet y/n was bleeding out in front of her. She put Aenor on her bed as he wailed out loudly.

Alicent kneeled before her daughter and hugged her to her chest. Her blanket and body getting bloodied. She cried and cried.

Aegon and Helaena had appeared as well. Helaena couldn't watch, tears flowing from her eyes. She took Aenor as a maid escorted them away to her room.

Aegon rushed beside his mother and sister. Gently taking her in his arms as maester Orwyle came through hurriedly, asking Aegon to put you on the bed.

Aegon very carefully laid you on your stomach on the bed. While maester Orwyle asked them to leave the room, both your brother and mother did not stop crying.

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Aemond had landed on the Red Keep. Getting off of Vhagar, he walked inside the castle. As he entered, he could see a man being dragged to the dungeon. Blood everywhere. Maids rushing around.

He saw his brother. But he wasn't as he usually was. He knew after becoming the king, Aegon had changed, but now he looked completely different.

His hair not brushed. Eyes red and tired. Blood. He was covered in blood.

As Aemond walked towards him, he heard Aegon say to a guard "kill every rat catcher you can find. Spare none."

Aegon looked away from the guard and saw Aemond. His eyes filled with fury. He marched towards him and grabbed his collar.

"Finally came back huh brother? It could've been avoided with you here yet you chose your whore over everything else." Aegon said, trying to keep his calm which is very unlikely of him.

Aemond felt ashamed and confused. Ashamed for being disloyal to you and dishonouring the family and confused thinking about what Aegon was saying.

"Look I'm sorry brother, that was a mistake. But do explain what you mean by it could've been avoided. What has happened?"

"Our sister had given birth to your son a week ago. And today she-" Aegon stopped. His tears flowing uncontrollably. "T-today she and my nephew were attacked. She is badly wounded. Maester Orwyle is with her but he said that she lost a lot of blood. That she was already weak from the birth and now this." With this Aegon completely broke down.

Aemond's breathing stopped. He chose his whore over you. The one who always stood up for him. He felt ashamed. So ashamed that he might sink and drown.

He ran towards his mother's room after Aegon told him where you were while he went down the dungeons to deal with the man who dare hurt you.

As Aemond reached, he saw his mother. Scared and fearful. He knew he fucked up bad. As she noticed him, she walked up towards him, looked him in the eyes and slapped him. He deserved it.

_________________________________________

You slowly opened your eyes, trying to take in your surroundings. You saw your husband pacing around the room.

He noticed that you were awake and spoke. "You're awake" you remained silent as you recalled the events of last night.

"Aenor.... My son.. my son Aenor! Is he okay?! Did he get hurt?!" Your enquired as you suddenly sat up, ignoring the pain in your body. Worried for your son.

"He only had a small cut on his feet. Nothing else. He is okay." Aemond replied helping you back down. You felt relieved and finally acknowledged your pain and groaned.

He didn't knew what came over him in an instance. He felt anger towards the ones who hurt you and his son. He was angry with himself but instead it got directed at you.

"If only you had taken better care of the security, none of this would've happened.." he muttered.

"What?" You sat up again, not believing your ears.

"If only you knew how to fight, this would've never happened! You can't fight, can't run, you can't even protect our child like a mother should!! You should have called more guards!!" He shouted while pointing his finger at you.

You got up from your mother's bed and stood as you held onto the bed.

"It is my fault now?! Huh?! You're the one who's irresponsible. You left me!! You left me and my child to fend for ourselves!! You left us for your whore whom you sought comfort in instead of your wife!! Where were you when we were attacked huh?! Were you fucking your whore?! Were you creating your bastards?!

You promised me that you were different. That you would treat me with respect unlike other husbands with their wives. You said you were different but...... You're just more of the same.." your voice raised and came down as tears flowed rapidly. Your would reopened because of how tensed your body was. Your nightgown was starting to get bloodied again.

Aemond was shocked. He yelled at his precious wife. His gentle lady wife. And she who never raised her voice no matter how angry or raged up she may be, shouted at him.

He fucked up greatly.

You winced as you fell to the ground. Blood getting everywhere as Aemond rushed to your side and gently tried to pick you up but you refused.

"Don't. Do not touch me with the hands that you used to hold her. I may be a woman. I may be the most vulnerable, but I have an honor. Neither my son nor do I need you. I will ask Aegon to annul our marriage. After that you may return to your whore and I will raise my son alone." You said, wincing as pain shot through you body.

Your lady in waiting came in and got you up on the bed and called maester Orwyle.

As Aemond got up from the floor, he was speechless. He never knew one mistake would cost him his everything. The words you spoke hurt more than when he lost his eye.

The entire day those words circled his thoughts.

_________________________________________

It had been a week since the last time Aemond met you. He had went to Harrehal and returned. Aemond walked inside your shared chambers after he got to know that you shifted back there. Aegon provided two guards infront of your door.

He watched as you cradle your son to your chest with your left hand which was fine and hummed a valyrian song to him.

You stopped as you as noticed him. You gently put Aenor in his crib and straightened your back.

"I'm sorry" he started.

"You sorry means nothing to me. You say your sorry now but next chance you get you'll run back in her arms." You spoke, gazing out the window.

"There will be no next time. I got rid of everything that would come in between us." He replied as your body stilled after hearing his words.

"Whatever do you mean?" You asked, turning back to face him.

"I got rid of her. All i now need is your forgiveness. For you to accept me again. To trust me again. Please avy jorrāelan. Forgive me this once." He begged as he got down on his knees and held your hand.

You were shocked. He killed her. He killed her without a second thought. You wanted to loathe him but deep down you loved him.

"I don't know..... I don't know anymore. I want to trust you Aemond. But I can't. I can't trust you. You've hurt me far too much.

It'll take a while to heal the scar you inflicted upon me but I will try. I will try to forgive you." You replied shakily.

He got up and hugged you lightly not to press on your wounds.

"Thank you my love. Thank you" he spoke as he kissed your head.

You gave in to his warm embrace. War has started. But right now you just want to be held.

You would think later of how to punish those who dare harm your family.

Those who hurt your son will pay. They will pay with their life. And you will see to it that they burn in flames. You will make sure that they rot in hell even if you too would have to.

After all nothing is for free....

Everything has a Price to Pay.......

-Lillian

[wexhappyxfew]

Okay these prompts were so good. It was so hard to decide. After much thought, I humbly present to you “Don’t ever leave my sight again” for Annie and Brady? I feel like the scene you’ve set up for them in the camp, this would really fit for them, but of course only if you think so!

HELLO SWEET ANON!!! thank you so so much for this annie x brady prompt is was an absolute delight and treat to write!! the annie x brady storyline for me has just been continously building and it offered me the opportunity to write their reunion in the stalag and it was a JOY!!!!! i really fueled it with so many heartfelt emotions and i just truly hope you enjoy. writing this made me immensely happy and filled with a lot of emotions, so truly, THANK YOU!!!!i can definitely agree that the camp set up a *perfect* opportunity. and to everyone - here it is! THANK YOU AGAIN!! PLEASE ENJOY!!! <33333

gone to the earth

(a/n): ITS THE ANNIE X BRADY REUNION PIECE YALL. COME AND ENJOYYYYY!!!! let's just say this has been sitting around in bits and pieces for a WHILE and this prompt absolutely gave me every inkling of an opportunity to write the reunion and to say the least, it came out exactly as i was hoping, with the energy i was hoping to portray. i sincerely hope you all enjoy - annie and brady are so special to me as characters and in their connection to one another and i hope to have done them justice for this piece especially; please enjoy!! (also: annie you are so real for thinking of brady in the way you do).

The drainage of color from what must've been a once bright and shining landscape was utterly depleting. The gray sky above hung like a heavy tapestry, fighting to keep whatever light that could've been shining in, out, and the sight of the camp, with its rows of bunk houses, and barbed wire crawling up the sides of the borders were enough to make her shiver.

The unknown was enough to make any person uncomfortable to any sort of relevant extent - especially in wartime. War seemed to bring out all the possibilities of uncertainty and the unknown, and it seemed to be staring her in the face with this camp.

As she struggled to keep up behind the few USAAF POW pilots who were in front of her, she could see the clouded outlines of POWs currently inside the camps, their faces smudged with dirt and grime, hair under beanies and crusher caps, heavy coats and jump gear still strapped up on them with their boots covered in crusted mud and clay.

Squinting her eyes, she could see the looks on a few of their faces as the convoy neared; enough grief, numbness and exhaustion to last a lifetime. A look that might never disappear.

Annie had been limping ever since they were sent marching this direction, the shove on the ground a few days prior, only to be hauled up by her twisted shoulder and dragged on the ground until she could get her footing, had left her feeling limp like a rag doll, her body nearly giving out under the weight. Her entire form ached from exhaustion, lack of food and water, and having spent the last few nights, ever since jumping out of that B-17, almost entirely awake, for fear of someone attacking her as she tried to sleep.

She couldn't trust a soul as far as she could throw them; she was in enemy territory now, in Germany. She was in a place so few seemed to make it out alive in, where they could have her head in seconds and do whatever they pleased with her. Because to them, she was their enemy. Recognizing that would forever feel like a punch to the gut.

Two nights ago when she'd shoved herself in the corner of the room they'd been keeping her in, she'd crafted a makeshift sling to keep her shoulder in place, the ache deep and slightly dulled now by the time she was moving more. Her body couldn't seem to figure out where to place the pain - her heart or her body and she was almost regretting letting herself worry as she had.

Where were Bessie, Kennedy and Margie?

Conditions like herself or worse?

Would they run into the others who were downed?

Or were they dead, gone to the Earth like a last fleeting resource and expense of the war that they were all expected to pay?

An air-raid siren seemed to open up the second the gates to the camp were shoved apart from one another, the immediate rush of pilots inside the camps, flushing themselves against the wiring and metal caging about the borders, their fingers latching onto the sides, immediately yelling out to familiar faces in the crowd, once lost but now found.

Annie lifted her head as the calling out continued, in an almost last-resort hope that somehow in all of this, someone from the 100th was here and alive and well. A desperation latched onto her, the sudden want to see someone from the 100th overwhelming her being as she looked from side to side, keeping herself in line as she continued walking forward towards the second set of gates.

"Annie! Annie Bradshaw!"

The sound of her name mixed in the swirl of other names being yelled, with cheers and call outs, made her suddenly locked up with more emotions than she thought she'd feel.

"Annie Bradshaw! Here! Annie!"

Turning her head to her left, through the crowd of pilots clinging onto the barbed wire, she saw the smiling face of Bucky Egan appear through the crowd, pressing up against the wire and watching her, calling out her name once more as she limped closer with the group.

A certain look in his eye was enough to make her freeze up for a moment - a split second of 'Why are you here? You shouldn't be here? You should be back in Thorpe Abbotts'. And then a mix of 'I am glad you're here and nowhere else now that you're in Nazi Germany'. Suddenly her mind raced - Bucky had gone down with Brady.

Her Brady.

"Bucky!" she called back, weakly, picking up her limping pace forward as she did so, watching that grin grow onto Bucky's face again as he watched her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he called out to her as the group continued to move forward towards the second gates, and the yelling grew louder and more invigorated, "You should be back in the sky!" She watched him, trying to get her response strung together into a well-thought out sentences and came back with nothing but a puff of air as the realization of just what the last few days of life had been like for her.

From the plane and the flak, to dropping out, being on the run, lost and slightly terrified out of her mind, to captured, in interrogation, lacking sleep and any source of food to here. And she was here. She'd made it here. And Bucky Egan was right there. Some members of the 100th had made it.

Annie tracked Bucky until she'd gotten through the second set of gates - people immediately started coming forward, helping some who were dragging along others who couldn't walk, along with greeting friends and fellow pilots. Something cathartic about it all hit her as she turned and watched Bucky come right towards her before anything.

Maybe in another lifetime, she would've knocked his lights out, but standing here now, the only thing she could grasp onto was the boys from the 100th. Bucky pulled her into his arms quickly, the hug short, but meaningful enough that tears entered her vision at the feel of him right there. Pulling back, Bucky held her at arms length and stared at her long and hard, like trying to figure out what to say and why she was here.

"Bradshaw…." he started, but she just shook her head.

"Your eye." she managed out, catching the blues and blacks mixing around his eye that had evidently been wiped clean of what blood and grime had been there, "Are you okay?"

"Hell, Bradshaw, I should be asking you that," he said in a slightly strained and choked voice, "what the hell happened to you?" What the hell did happen to her? She could barely even get her facts straight of the last few days, let alone talk about it. All of it. The bad, the ugly, the horrid.

"Did any of the others make it….?" she asked him, the sudden realization of her, Silver Bullets' pilot standing there, smacking him in the face, "Kennedy, Bessie and Margie. They split up Silver Bullets, we were losing crews left and right and with a whole lot of new replacements, they needed vets to step in. We all went down somewhere over near Berlin. Did they….? And….and your guys? Anyone?" Bucky watched her for a moment, his gaze both pensive and thick, as if trying to put the pieces together while dissecting her all at once, this shell of a girl, a half-made used-to-be pilot who was now in shambles in front of him, downed and trapped.

"Let me take you back to barracks." Bucky said both calmly and assertively, "Get you some food and water, too." He gave her an extra-long stare. "And a blanket, you're shaking, Bradshaw."

For a split second, she was almost ready to argue back, meeting his gaze, holding up that strong front she had built up the last few days when she'd been alone and struggling to survive under the watchful eyes of the Germans. But now, despite the conditions, this was someone from the 100th, someone from the place she'd started to think of as 'home' and she knew she had to trust him. That opening her mouth would only do more in this moment than was even needed.

"Okay." she said quietly, letting him turn and wrap his arm over her shoulder, his hold on her tighter and more confident than she had ever experienced. Like a sudden need to protect and guard - and if it didn't give her an indication of what she was stepping into, she didn't know what would.

Something in the way he walked, with her tucked into his side, like he didn't want to let on that it was her beside him, a female pilot on her lonesome, there in his protective and caged side. But there was something about the way he didn't talk that scared her.

Bucky Egan was always talking - he practically never even came up for air. So the fact he wasn't talking, wasn't even making a mention of her previous questions and had digressed immediately to discussing going back to the 'barracks' made a small pit form in her stomach enough to make her feel slightly sick.

They came upon barracks with two wooden doors, to which Bucky released his hold on her a bit, leaping up to pull open the doors for her and letting her inside. It smelled musty, like dampened wood and cigarette smoke, along with charcoal and death, and there was enough of a bitter tinge to the air for her to shiver as Bucky came to her side again to lead her down the long hall.

"We're just right in here…." Bucky started to say as he pointed to a doorway that led to a small room, lined with bunks on all sides, half of a table peeking out in the center of the room and a potbelly stove going in the corner. A few people sat around the table - she saw a pair of feet at the edge of one bunk and a head on another.

Annie slowly moved forward into the room and it was almost like a light had been turned on with how quickly heads seemed to turn towards the threshold she had just stepped over.

"Annie?"

"Lieutenant Bradshaw!"

"Bradshaw?"

"What the hell you doing here, Bradshaw?"

Immediately, she was rushed by a hug from someone she couldn't quite find the head to, but then the person pulled back and she was met with the brightly smiling face and shiny eyes of Bessie Carlisle, who was staring at her like she were starstruck.

"Annie Bradshaw, how'd I know you'd find your way back to us?" she whispered quietly, reaching up her hands to softly cradle Annie's head, holding her gently with that smile of hers. Annie met Bessie's gaze, the sudden realization that she had her navigator back, alive and well and very much here, in front of her, and couldn't help but pull Bessie into another hug, filled with relief, joy and a whole swirl of emotion.

"Didn't think I'd live to see the day." Annie opened her eyes as Bessie pulled back and there coming towards her was Kennedy Farley, a slight limp to her walk but a smile on her face and it was enough for Annie to completely disregard the salute Kennedy was about to perform and pulled Kennedy right into her arms. She held onto her like some sort of lifeline as Kennedy's arms immediately went to latch right around Annie right back, the two girls holding each other with tears in their eyes.

"I'm so glad you're here," Annie whispered quietly into her flash of ginger hair, pulling back to look up at her face, "you're both okay?" Annie looked from Kennedy to Bessie who both nodded, before glancing sidelong at one another.

"Margie never showed." Bessie started, "Yet." Annie's gut sank a bit as she looked between both their sets of eyes again and nodded, before looking back to Bucky, who stood by, watching with a solemn look written on his face, enough to hide, but enough to tell at the same time.

Looking back, around Bessie and Kennedy, she was met with DeMarco and Murphy and Hambone, along with Buck and a few unfamiliar faces that didn't exactly hit her memory. There were hugs, there was some laughter, there were even some warming gazes that made her feel more content than she had been in days. But something in her gut was ticking like a clock as she pulled back from DeMarco's warm hug.

"Did Captain Brady make it?" she asked aloud, her voice sounding hollow and strained as she felt her mind turn to turmoil - Bucky was here, he'd gone down with Brady, so how could Brady not also be here right now?

"He did." Buck said almost immediately, "Murph, go get him. He's been out getting some food with a few of our guys for a while now." From the moment she'd heard the words 'He did' fall from Buck's lips, her entire body seemed to freeze up just at that thought. Brady was here and he was in this camp and he was alive. A bubble of relief grew inside her stomach at the mere thought of him. He was alive and here. Murphy hurried out of the bunk room leaving the place in a disarray of a mix between new arrival and long-lost friend.

"Well," Bessie said stepping forward and making way to wrap a blanket around Annie's shoulders, "let's get you situated with some soup and water, huh? No doubt you haven't eaten anything of substance lately."

"Thanks, Bes," Annie said as the navigator helped her settle into a chair with that leg of hers, wrapping the blanket more comfortably over her shoulders and letting her for once sit down. Annie couldn't remember the last time she'd been properly sat down and felt both safe and comfortable that wasn't Silver Bullets.

"It's not much," Kennedy said coming over from Hambone where a bit of soup had been scooped into a plate, "just what we could find. Potato soup."

"It's perfect." Annie said, her eyes slightly widen in hunger as the bowl was placed in front of her, along with a metal spoon, "God, I can't even remember the last I put food in my mouth."

"You want water?" Bucky asked moving towards some of the canteens stacked against the stove as she nodded.

"Thank you all," she said as she took the water canteen from Bucky and sipped the water thoughtfully, "you don't know how happy I am to know you're all here." Annie looked around the room at the people who meant more to her than anything right now, their faces bringing an immense amount of comfort to her trembling form, their presence enough to make her feel safe enough to eat and drink.

"We're happy you're here, too," Bessie said, exchanging glances with a few others around the room, her voice dipping into something broken and lodged with emotion, "worried us when you didn't show. We didn't even know if you'd show. At all."

"Me either." Annie managed out, her throat feeling as if a piece of bread was lodged inside and she couldn't get her words out.

A beat of silence seemed to eclipse them as Annie tasted her first bit of the soup, which was quickly followed by her taking in a larger bit of soup, savoring the watery broth and the stiff potatoes.

But it was food and it was damn-near luxurious to take in right now when her stomach had been empty for days. Her mind was moving a thousand miles a minute though, stomach twisted in anticipation in seeing Brady after all those weeks, after Francis had broken the news.

Francis. Francis Montez.

Annie's heart fell at the realization of just what situation they were in with Francis experiencing the loss of another pilot; another Birdie.

A frenzy of footsteps echoed out from the hallway into the bunk room, a chatter of low voices following, causing heads to turn from the bunk room to the threshold.

As Annie looked up in that moment, there around the corner, stopping to freeze in the doorway was John Brady.

The first thing she took in about him with her spoon half-raised to her chattering and chapped lips, was his eyes, so intently focused on her own, the mixed hues of blue with gray flecks holding her own, his gaze so fixed on her own, she didn't realize that the spoon of soup was falling out of her hands, knocking against the table as it clattered to the ground.

His hair was in his eyes, stranded and hanging over his forehead, parted more down the middle, something she'd only seen from him when they'd been out at the officers' club or when they woke up side by side that one time all those weeks ago. His overcoat was clinging to his body, his boots caked in dirt, his hands filled with, presumably, sacks of the food he'd been scrounging and his entire frame facing her.

"Annie."

The second her name had fallen from his lips, that strong semblance she'd built for herself had quickly fallen in a matter of seconds. She'd stood, with the blanket falling from her shoulders and practically, between a mix of stumbling and limping, launched herself into his arms, meeting him halfway between where he'd been standing and she'd been sat.

Maybe launch wasn't the entire right word, but whatever it was, their arms were locked around one another in a way she couldn't even describe in her mind, her hands reaching up into his hair, trying to hold him as close as physically possible, his own hands tracing up and down her back, lingering on her exposed neckline as he held her there. Her eyes were welled with tears as she felt his hand moving up and down her back in that familiar and comforting, synchronized motion.

It made her think of that last time they'd seen each other - side by side in her cot, his hand rubbing her back as she had curled under the covers and wished him good night. A fateful 'stay safe' lingering on her lips.

Somewhere near her neck was his face, breathing her in, his lips brushing her sensitive skin sending goosebumps across her entire body, suddenly aching for him in more ways than were possible, longing for his hands to be on her longer, tucked up under her shirt, pressing against her cold skin, warming her up and keeping her safe.

"Let's give them a minute…." Annie heard Kennedy briefly say from somewhere behind her, a few muffled voices in response, a few coughs following as feet shuffled out of the room, to God knows where. For a moment, all that mattered to her was that Brady was in her arms at this very minute and safe.

Slowly, they peeled apart from one another, like cracking at a piece of stone to split open, arms still very much wrapped up in one another, their faces still close to each other when they finally locked eyes again, slightly breathless and pink in the cheeks, neither saying a word beyond staring right at one another like it'd be the last time. Annie couldn't help but let a hand crawl to his cheek, her heart pounding inside her chest as she brushed her thumb over his skin, feeling a part of him she hadn't dared to touch back before his plane had gone down. When she'd been scared. Fearful. Locked away.

"You're here." he whispered out, his voice so delicate she was sure she could lose it right there in his warm embrace, "Annie, you're here."

"I am." she said quietly back, continuing to brush his cheek gently, her thumb tracing underneath his eyes that had sunken into his face a bit, yet not dimming that look in his eyes that made her want to burrow right under his arm to hide. A sudden sense of boldness struck her as she stood there, drinking in the sight of him and his face and that look in his eye that made her feel slightly insane and swallowed.

"I can't tell you how much I missed you," she managed out quietly, "after hearing you and Bucky went down….I….." Brady softly cupped her cheek from the other side and offered one of his classic lopsided grins and watched her, eyes painfully brimming with an emotion that hit her in the heart, as she felt the tears build up in her eyes and a sob escape her lips. Her hand came back from his head to instinctively cover her mouth as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"It's okay now," Brady said with a small smile that quivered at the corners of his lips, "you're okay." Annie felt a small whimper escape her lips as she cracked open her eyes and looked to him again, reaching out her hand again to let her fingers dance over the scar above his eyebrow.

"Look at you," she whispered softly, her voice hoarse and filled with a quiet serenity in a way that she didn't quite expect, "did they hurt you?" Brady shook his head gently and continued to rub his hands on her back.

"Don't you worry about me, I'm fine," he whispered, "I'm worried about you." He let his finger dote on her cheek on the bruise from where the ground had met her when she'd passed out. "What about this?"

"I passed out after their interrogation, I'm fine though, really," she said quietly, her voice still strained as she tried to wrangle her emotions in a way she could speak, "I missed you so much." Hearing those words fall from her lips again without so much as a question to repeat those words made her heart ache as she stood in front of him, having him there in her arms.

"I missed you, too, little birdie," he whispered back, a nickname that made her insides twist, before he was pulling her closer to himself, "shit, you're freezing."

"It's cold out." she managed out back with a small smile, to which the corners of his lips grew upwards into that glorious grin of his - the one she'd yearned for and missed day in and day out, all those sleepless nights, staring at the ceiling, wondering where he'd been, what he'd been doing, if he was alive. Something that ate at her core and thrived on the very fact she was worried over someone she would've never met if she never became command pilot of Silver Bullets. If Birdie had never lost her life. The world worked in ways she would never understand nor comprehend. She felt lucky to even know him. Be here with him. Know John Brady for the man and leader he was.

"Have you eaten anything?" he asked her quietly, his eyes darting over her shoulder towards her bowl and water canteen, "Here." Slowly, his hands traveled from her back to her hands on his cheeks and he slowly led her back over towards the bench, lowering her down gently, before reaching down to grab her fallen blanket and spoon.

In a matter of seconds, he was pulling the blanket over her shoulders and wrapping his own arm around her form, his palms rushing up and down the blanket over her shoulders and forearms in an attempt to warm her up. Even in a moment of being again in one another's presence, he couldn't help but take to doing what he did best. And that was care for her when she could hardly care for herself.

"I didn't mean to make you drop your spoon." he said as his gentle movements up and down her arms made her feel warmer than she had in days. She slowly looked up at him with a smile, catching his gaze under the softly lit light above them.

"Just seeing you there, I could've cared less about a spoon on the floor or not." she whispered quietly to him, her eyes holding his. Staring at him, his warmth and her own minimal bit combined, she couldn't help but reach out with her cold hand to cup his cheek again, his firm facade melting at the touch of her embrace there on his cheek again. Tears lingered at the corners of her eyes again as she stared at him, feeling this, all of this around her.

"I thought you were dead." she admitted, her voice sounding weirdly distant from herself as she spoke, "When they told me. About your plane. I thought you were dead. I just….I didn't want you to ever leave my sight again after that." His grip tightened on her as his hand wandered up to her cheek to wipe at that stray tear that struggled to leave her eyes. "And after everything just, sitting here with you….." Her words failed her as they watched one another, her heart pounding at the feel of his hand there on her cheek, cradling a part of her that no one had touched in any way beyond caring for the sick and wounded.

Annie watched his eyes explore her face, seeing the new parts of her that he'd miss in the time they'd been separated, his grip close and tight, like letting her go would make her disappear.

A part of her lingered closer, her eyes darting down to his softly parted lips, the stubble appearing on his cheeks, those strands of hair in his eyes that made her fingers want to start at his chin and dance their way up and across his face to tuck them back from his blue orbs.

An ache built inside her as she softly moved to cradle his face tighter, his head tilting as she felt herself inch closer, his palm pressed against her own cheek as their noses brushed and their eyes closed.

Every part of her was begging for him to come closer, to touch her, to feel her, to pull her as close as physically possible and let her know this was real and they were sitting here side by side. Because one hour ago this was far from the reality and a painful lie of life. But now, she was sat here with him and he was inches from her and she wanted him right there, hands in her hair, across her skin. Her nose brushed his again as a siren suddenly pitched out across the camp, Annie's eyes flashing open in an instance as she looked up from Brady's face and towards the window - an air-raid.

There was one at the other camp too, in the middle of the night, where she'd been curled in a ball on the stiff cot, staring up at the moonlight as the siren went off, over and over throughout the two hour expanse. Her body had shook with each distant bomb drop and in this moment she felt her body freeze, her mind draw blank as footsteps rushed inside the room and voices eclipsed her mind.

"Alright, everyone remain calm." Buck called out to the people of the room rushing in, Annie briefly meeting Bessie and Kennedy's tired gazes from the doorway, "No doubt they're bombing Berlin, or close enough to it to where we can hear it."

"Just stay calm." Bucky said, leaning up against one of the barracks, glancing out the window with a distant look in his eyes, "Those fucking bastards are probably getting what they deserve."

With silence falling around the room, the sudden realization of the spoon in Annie's hand, she looked back to Brady who was watching her with that quiet look still, that soft yearning and gentle touch she wanted to be wrapped in again.

Where his lips had almost touched her own - they'd been as close as their noses brushing - had it almost been more?

Would she have kissed him then and there, and allowed his lips to press against her own, letting herself become undone with his touch, now back beside him?

Her mind raced and her hurt thumped in her chest as her body felt the warmest it had been in days as Brady's hand reached down to pull her free hand into his lap, fingers tracing the delicate parts of her skin, over her knuckles and over each curve and nail. It was enough to make her insides feel funny and she focused her best on taking in more water and potato soup as everyone sat around in the room, the air-raid siren went off and Brady's fingers traced her own.

In a different time and place, she wasn't sat in a POW camp with an air-raid siren going off - she was in a little blue house, on the front porch, staring at the blue skies and the beautiful world around them without war. She was in a different world that wasn't her current reality.

Glancing over towards Brady, she held his gaze as the air-raid siren continued to drone and his hand continued to trace against her skin.

For a moment, she thought in her mind - she had wanted him to kiss her.

Right then and there, side by side, lips inches from one another in that tiny bunk room.

But all she could do was stare at him and plead for another moment where she got to stare at those blue eyes in a world like this.

[bb-olicity]

On An Island Alone

It’s been 3 weeks since Chenford’s breakup and I feel like I’m on an island… alone.  The day after 6x06 aired, I made the decision to walk away from The Rookie. Well, at least until after the finale. I’ll decide if I'm walking away permanently once I check online and see how the season ended.  And before I go any further, to anyone who wants to say I'm not a true Rookie and (most importantly) Chenford fan: I have just as much right to stop watching the show as you do to keep watching it.

So why am I choosing to no longer watch the show?

The main reason I started watching the show in the first place is/was Chenford and I can’t sit there and watch them redo Seasons 4 and 5A and I won’t. Especially considering the fact we already know from Eric’s comments to TVLine they’re not getting back together by the end of the season finale.  I do not see them getting back together until at least the midseason finale next season.  Actually, if I’m being completely honest, I’m not sure they will get back together or if they even should.  I know me saying that will make a lot of people mad, but after reading Melissa and Eric’s post-episode interviews, I got a sense of finality when they were talking about Tim and Lucy’s relationship as a couple and the breakup.  Plus, I honestly don’t see how they can come back from what they did, which leads into the other reason why I’m not watching anymore.

Tim’s whole storyline rubs me the wrong way in so many ways.  They could’ve brought in his military past in so many other ways and still had him struggle without destroying his character in the process.  As it is, the storyline feels extremely forced just to cause drama for the sake of drama and, for me, irredeemably destroyed Tim’s character.  They completely erased 5 ½ seasons of character growth in the matter of only 1 ½ episodes.  And I'll never be able to see Tim the same way again, even if he goes to therapy.  I personally would never be able to trust him again and I honestly don’t see how Lucy could either.  That’s also why part of me feels like they should not get back together. Yes, I know it’s a short season and everything is condensed, but Alexi and the writers should not have done the storyline this late in the season, knowing they would not be able to do it justice with only 4 episodes left and not knowing the show’s fate by the time they finished filming the finale.  Since they were planning to break them up, I feel like they should’ve done it at the end of the premiere or by 6x03. That way there would’ve been time for Tim and Lucy to work through their struggles individually then work them as a couple by the end of the season.

Why do I feel like I’m on an island alone?

After the episode aired, a lot of the fandom was angry and a good number said they were done to show.  However, over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that number dwindling and a lot fans are now justifying the breakup who weren’t before and they have absolutely every right to.  I can see where they’re coming from, to a certain extent.  Tim and Lucy both were hiding things from each other since they started dating and would just gloss over things that needed deep and meaningful conversations to work them out.  That said, I personally will never agree with the breakup or the whole (Tim’s) storyline and will always maintain the breakup was completely unnecessary and they could’ve (and should’ve) stayed together and worked through their struggles as a couple.  So yeah, I’m on an island alone… and that’s okay.

[theravenflies]

I love the Young Justice Barbara Gordon

[Plain text: I love the Young Justice Barbara Gordon.]

(Keep in mind that I am not paraplegic, just a nerd)

I was never the biggest fan of the original Killing Joke storyline (and I will fight people on this,) but I think Young Justice managed to turn it into a plot that wasn't actually bad. In fact, they did a lot of things really well.

The original storyline, The Killing Joke, gave Barbara Gordon waist-down paralysis after the Joker shot her. The problem with that is that he shot her in the stomach at an extremely close range, the muzzle of the gun literally pressed to the middle of her stomach. At that close a range, depending on the gun and bullet, he probably shattered half of her spinal cord, if not more. The thing about shatter injuries to the spinal cord is that they cause more complications in upper-body mobility than other spinal injuries. If a significant portion of her spinal cord was shattered, Barbara wouldn't be as good as she is at fighting. The damage would cause problems in the rest of her body. And then, of course, everyone is grieving for her and so sad that she'll never walk again and have to retire and I'm pretty sure Batman does something drastic? And that's... really not a plot non-disabled writers should go for.

However, in Young Justice, it's completely different. Barbara saw Cassandra Cain, who was unidentifiable but very small so obviously a young child, going after Joker with a sword, so she chose to get between the child and her target to prevent Cass from doing something that could never be taken back. She took the slash, which hit her lower back, just above her tailbone, so that it didn't go to Joker's neck. And the other characters handled it well. Nightwing was a bit panicked, of course, but that's because Barabara had a severe injury that was life-threatening. Batman, knowing that Nightwing had called for a medical evacuation and that he was handling first aid, took the sword from a terrified Cassandra ever so gently, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Cassandra was horrified, of course, but it was because she'd just hurt someone who wasn't her target severely, not because Barbara was now disabled. And then Barbara tells her that she didn't do it to save Joker, she did it to save Cass. And Cass is horrified and probably hates herself in the moment, sure, but that memory later becomes something that strengthens her. Cass gets kidnapped in that episode and remembering that during her captivity helps her. It's a memory of the woman who would later become her older sister and one of her best friends. She knows that Barbara, the woman who has done so much for her, will help her. She won't rest until Cassandra is safe, even if it means coming after her herself.

I also really like how the plot handled this. Number one, we don't know off the bat why Barb is paralyzed, it doesn't come up until it's relevant, she's just paralyzed. And when it does come up, it's not a tragedy, it's Barbara risking her life to save the soul of a child who didn't understand the moral consequences of what she was about to do. She chose to do that and she would do it again. That's a really interesting way of subverting the exhausted "disabled by an accident" trope, because yes, it was an accident on Cass's part, but Barbara knew she was probably going to get badly hurt. It's similar to a character running into a burning building to save someone else. They accept the potential consequences because they couldn't live with themselves if they didn't help. She took the risk, she knew what could happen, which is so much better than her having no choice and being shot. It's far less tired an idea and a very interesting spin that I quite like.

Going back to the injury, let's get in-depth about that. I mentioned how a shatter would impact her upper body, too. But the way she was injured in Young Justice, which was probably severing the connection between two very low vertebrae or possibly cutting a vertebra itself if Cass put enough force behind it, makes sense. It wouldn't have as much a major impact on her upper body, so it makes sense that she can throw the person who snuck up on her like it's easy. Barbara can be an excellent hand-to-hand fighter and it's not unexplainable. We don't see her exercising in her chair, likely because she has the wrong chair for both exercising and her disability (she has a hospital-type wheelchair instead of a lightweight chair, which is, I think, just poor research,) but she clearly still does because she's still extremely good.

Also, I like how there's no cure plot. The show might still be ongoing so I don't know if that'll last, but for now, she hasn't been cured and shows no desire to be. The comics would occasionally have her paralysis cured and thank the gods they didn't go with that, even with a character (we won't get into the absolute disaster of Violet Harper here) who could, in theory, heal her, and I love that. For some reason writers are afraid of keeping their disabled characters disabled, so I'm surprised and glad they didn't take the easy out.

Finally, I love that Oracle is still able to do field work with special equipment. Does she go onto the actual field herself? No, not really. But she uses small drones and other things to help out, such as the tiny drone that gave Cass a lock pick or her hacking into systems to protect her allies from security measures. Babs doesn't need to stop being a superhero because she's disabled but also doesn't suddenly use a mech or something, she just finds ways to work with her new circumstances to keep doing what she wants to do, just in a different way. She's still a massive threat to her enemies, just in a different way, utilizing talents she already had (Barbara is extremely intelligent and very creative) to continue to help people.

TL;DR, I really, really like how Young Justice handled Barbara Gordon. If we must have more characters disabled in accidents, this is a very good way to do that.

[thlayli-ra]

Which 5 fics you've written are your favorites or most proud of?

Ooh! Thank you Anon for slipping into my askbox with a lovely little question. Must admit, this was hard! I'm proud of most of my fics so whittling it down to just five was tricky but here goes;

1. Flint and Steel - I feel like this is the best writing I've ever done. I wrote it back when I had bags of time to edit and re-read what I'd written previously so it's a better coherent story. I love the world-building, the imagery, the harsh but beautiful love story. This is probably still my best work to date and I really hope to finish the series one day and do it justice!

2. Would You Offer Your Throat To The Wolf - This one just feels... special to me. It's the most brutal, graphic and depressing fic that I've written and my first foray into pure horror but was very liberating to write. It also felt like something of an event at the time - I'd been building up towards it here on Tumblr so when I finally posted it, it kinda had its own little following. It's also a fic that has prompted so many incredible comments and feedback from readers, many of which said it inspired their own writing and that is just so cool to me!

3. When We're Alone - Of all my fics, this is probably my own little personal favourite (and one of my least popular 😂). It's a silly, little Underpunk fluff piece set in the Valetverse AU. I just loved writing a hopelessly un-domesticated Punk trying (and failing miserably) to nurse Taker back to health while he was injured. I usually write Punk as very intense and moody so having him in more of a comedy role was a lot of fun (although he's still very moody!)

4. The Moon Rises Red Tonight - My other unloved little baby! It's a close second for my personal favourite fic. It's utter self-indulgence - I wanted all four of my faves to fuck! That's it! That's the premise! But, because it's me, and I'm god-awful at writing smut, it somehow turned into a porn with plot fic, focusing in on politics, corruption, and trauma, whilst also being rather light-hearted and wholesome. And filthy too! It's a weird bag! I adore the au, I adore all the flawed characters and their self-discovery throughout and I want to draw and write more for it in the future.

5. The Chain - Sometimes, a moment sticks in your head and magic happens. That Smackdown where Drew carried a bloody Punk to the ramp and dumped his carcass for all of his hometown to see was....... [local dogs start barking]. I had to write something for it! Originally it was going to be another headcanon essay talking about a motif I'd used in several fics of Punk and AJ being connected by a chain with hooks embedded in their chests when it dawned on my to actually write a fic about it, resulting in this twisted soulmate au. To me, it's a perfect little fic, a beautiful gemstone in my collection and I'm very proud of it.

[Honourary Mention - Yes, I'm cheating here but I couldn't not mention my most popular fic The Valets of WWE. Despite it easily being my worst in terms of writing prowess, it's a huge personal achievement for me. It had a massive cast and was heavily influenced by reader requests and input so I had to think on my feet for every chapter and change things up on the fly sometimes. I also had to write for characters I didn't know very well during an era that I admittedly didn't really watch (no, I'd never seen any Legacy or Social Outcasts footage until writing this fic!!!) so that was a bit nerve-wracking. But despite the challenges, I managed to create this huge, intricate soap opera, that had so many interlinking storylines and plot threads, that had characters bouncing off each other constantly and even if it reads more like a script than narrative, I'm still very proud of it and I always look forward to returning to the valetverse for more!]

[dc-polls]

ROY HARPER vs RENEE MONTOYA

DC Downgrade Bracket

Round 3 - Match 3

🤢Roy Harper (Arsenal)🤢

New 52 hit everyone hard but Roy 🤢 What happened to my hot single father with decades of character growth? Oh his daughter never existed and he's hanging out with Jason Todd for some reason

And another entry

Roy Harper's downgrade didn't come all at once, but when it started it went downhill fast. After the failure of "Green Arrow/Black Canary", the editors decided to take the Arrow Family in a new and terrible direction and Roy was most notably affected. After "JLA: Cry for Justice" ended with him losing his arm and most devastatingly his daughter Lian, the downgrade took a worse turn with "Rise of Arsenal" where he is abandoned by everyone after his relapse and is manipulated by Cheshire to join Deathstroke's team in the latter "Titans: Villains for Hire". Then the "New 52" happened and Roy's achievements, character development, and the many relationships he's had including his daughter were retconned away. What was once a seasoned hero who once led the Titans and the Outsiders, a devoted single father and mentor to younger heroes, and a man who wanted to do as much good as he could was now a clingy manchild whose only friend- Jason Todd who is deserving of his own nomination for Worst Downgrade- openly and frequently puts him down with little to no pushback. Yes, even Roy's addiction was changed from heroin to alcohol and it's no longer Dinah Lance who stayed up with him during his withdrawal but Killer Croc who begrudgingly became his AA sponsor. Even visually Roy was done dirty by the New 52. Post Crisis, he was often designed with a thick build, compared to Nightwing's more acrobatic build. New 52, he's thin and kind of greasy looking, especially when drawn by Kenneth Rocafort. It's not until "Infinite Frontier" that he was given more of a solid build. Roy has recovered some since then, especially reuniting with Lian and looking much better, but the 15 years of bad writing and bad editorial decisions has certainly done a number on his reputation that readers who first saw him in "Red Hood and the Outlaws" are thrown by how wildly different he was before the "New 52".

🤢Renee Montoya (The Question) 🤢

Renee had an incredible storyline spanning over multiple books in which she became disillusioned with the GCPD, quit the force, fell into alcoholism, rediscovered herself and her new purpose under Vic Sage's tutelage, and became the Question. And then current canon decided nah, she's commissioner now, she'll root out those bad apples! Go police!

*Worse meaning more devastating of a downgrade

[beawritingbooks]

Kali Prasad headcanons?

I thought that she was such an interesting character!

Why do we never see or really even hear about her again???? Also, why do we never see or hear from any of the other people with numbers????

Like, I know there are little parts here and there, but not nearly enough!

I think we should see and hear more about each kid from the facility. I know that the fandom didn't like her, and that they probably aren't interested in any of the others, but I don't care. So much potential was wasted by not continuing her storyline.

For those of you that do not know, Kali Prasad is Eight on Stranger Things.

Like, I'm not saying she was a perfect character or person. She had flaws, but all interesting characters do. However, like Eleven, she was tortured for the majority of her life, treated like a lab experiment, and robbed of normalcy and autonomy until she escaped. So, I am not going to hold her to weird perfectionist morality standards set by the fandom.

My hope is that she'll be able to come back in Season 5 and help rain hellfire down upon all of the government agencies and people that have abused, taken advantage of her, and failed her.

I don't care if they were "just following orders," either, when they hurt those kids.

Sometimes revenge doesn't mean you're a bad person, and I certainly don't believe that getting revenge makes you just as bad or worse than the people who you are getting revenge against. That kind of fucked up black and white morality bullshit doesn't fly with me. My moral compass doesn't work that way, and I don't think that Kali's has to, either.

But, after getting her revenge, I headcanon that she eventually fully embraces her vigilante energy. What I mean by that is that she'll get justice for ALL people that have been failed by the system, not just for herself or for the others from the facility.

Like, our irl justice system is a joke. Just look at how many criminals walk free, and at how many wrongful convictions and incarcerations occur. The Stranger Things universe appears to mimic the irl system. So, Someone needs to care about actual justice, and I don't particularly mind how the justice is served.

So, vigilante Kali, doing what needs to be done because no one else has the guts to do so, is my ultimate Eight headcanon.

That being said, once that is done, I'd love for her to make a beautiful life for herself wherein she finds safety, happiness, and peace.

[homosandhomies]

My favorite solo from each main character on glee (because why not)

SUE: Vogue. “WILL SCHUESTER I HATE YOU”

KURT: Rose’s Turn. Chris Colfer rarely got songs that highlighted ALL his vocal strengths. This song used everything. He had a strong head voice, an amazing mix, and he can EMOTE WITH EVERY INCH OF HIS LIFE. No wonder he got the Golden Globe.

QUINN: This Is A Man’s World. This scene is ridiculous, but out of context the song absolutely slaps. Diana can BELT and she deserved to do it more.

ARTIE: Stronger. Probably my favorite Britney song. Kevin ate. That is all.

PUCK: Only the Good Die Young. This song is so fun and I think Puck’s voice is very underrated. A good ol’ jam. Thank you for repping the Jewish community king ❤️

WILL: Sway. It’s a shame that we never talk about his voice because HOLY SHIT MATTHEW MORRISON IS INCREDIBLE. This man is so talented and we never acknowledge it because of Will Schuester’s shenanigans.

BLAINE: Somewhere Only We Know. You can hate Blaine all you want but you can’t deny the POWER of this song. The love in his eyes is sickening I am not okay right now

FINN: I’ve Gotta Be Me. Given the fact that Cory didn’t have any singing experience before, this song makes me so fucking happy because you can see how much he had grown as a singer, but also how proud he was of himself! Look at him go!!! (Bonus: If I’m bending the rules in terms of what qualifies as a solo I would 100% make his Paradise By the Dashboard Light. That was his undoubtedly his very best vocal performance. It’s SO FUCKING GOOD it makes me go batshit.)

RACHEL: My Man. “She may be difficult but boy can she sing.”

BRITTANY: Run the World. The dancing is definitely the more impressive part of this number, but it still sounds great! This song really highlighted Heather’s strengths, when most of her songs weren’t very memorable in my opinion.

MIKE: Cool. Maybe Tina should be a professional vocal coach because damn look at him go!! Idk why an Asian kid wanted to play the role of a leader of a white supremacist group but at least he sounds great 🤷‍♀️

MERCEDES: I Will Always Love You. Literally every single Mercedes song is perfect, so this was the hardest one for me. This means I had to base it on acting. And she DELIVERS here. It should be illegal to be this talented.

TINA: Because You Loved Me. The fact that this is one of TWO solos that Jenna actually got to finish infuriates me. She was ROBBED because she is an amazing singer.

SANTANA: Nutbush City Limits. LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, MISS NAYA RIVERA. HOLY SHIT. Finn saying before the song, “They say that true divas aren’t really mortal” is so true. This woman was an absolute icon and I will always be blown away by her talent.

JAKE: Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself). It’s so EARNEST and HEARTFELT and Jacob Artist popped off with the acting. And the falsetto!! God it’s just beautiful.

EMMA: Getting Married Today. This is a trio, not a solo, but it’s so fucking good that I HAD to do it. That is literally one of the hardest female songs on Broadway, and for some reason they had Jayma sing it even FASTER than the original version? I can’t imagine the stress of trying to do that, but she was perfect.

SAM: Copacabana. This is just a really fun song! Everyone’s having a good time and Chord sounds amazing.

RYDER: Your Song. This is my favorite Elton John song, and boy was it done justice. The acting is really good in this scene. The mix of anxiety and earnestness coming from Ryder is adorable. He had great chemistry with whoever that girl was. (On a storyline note, I hated how this all developed though. If it had gone my way, Unique would confess it was her, then Ryder would sing this directly to Unique.)

KITTY: Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours. I just really like this number. Obsessed with Becca’s high notes.

MARLEY: Wrecking Ball. The cheating storyline with Bree was so fucking stupid and shouldn’t have happened. That being said, Melissa ATE what they gave her and left zero crumbs. She really came in like a wrecking ball.

UNIQUE: I Know Where I’ve Been. THIS SONG MAKES ME GO FUCKING CRAZY!!! THE TRANS CHOIR!!!! THE ACTING!!!!! THE FUCKING HIGH NOTE!!!!!! IT’S JUST SO GOOD I CAN’T HANDLE IT!!!!!!! This is the best part of season 6, full stop. THE most underrated Glee song ever. I will not accept criticism towards this opinion.

[autismtana]

santana lopez has adhd (part 2)

^the adhd/lesbian flags^

(*disclaimer: i have adhd myself and work in education/educational psychology, which is the basis of this post in which i get wayyyyy too analytical about a fictional character; however, i'm not a psychiatrist or doctor and am not qualified to diagnose real people with adhd or anything else ... seriously, our only representation is cis white boys whose adhd is an explanation for them being the class clown and treated as a joke so please don't get salty at me for claiming a fictional character that isn't a cis white boy as part of the adhd gang)

(credit to @dojasrivera on twitter for making the og adhd!santana thread; i unfortunately wasn’t able to see it as i only found out about it after their original twitter account got suspended but there may be some overlap between their thread and this post)

sup homies, as you know, tumblr cut me off so i had to make a part 2. (here's part 1)

ambitious but lacking in direction - noted terrible educator will schuester describes santana as being "unfocused" in 3x16.  she's indecisive about college in the latter half of season 3, initially says she wants to go then flip-flops, and then goes to louisville (fun fact: donovan mitchell also went there) for a short period of time then drops out.  after that she has a bunch of projects and career goals that never really go anywhere. (partially thanks to the lazy writing on the show)

fear of failure - santana wanted to go to new york after graduation but initially wanted to stay behind when she found out brittany wasn't graduating (like immediately), then chose to take the scholarship to louisville despite brittany and quinn both pointing out that she had the cash from her parents to pursue her dreams in new york (brittany was a lot more supportive and less judgy though). she did end up going after unpacking her anxiety around it with britt though.

low self-esteem, anxiety and/or depression - season 2 is what i like to refer to as "santana lopez's sad gay era", however i'd also argue that season 4 until mid season 5 (when she reunites with brittany) is kind of a low period for her as well.  the break-up is painful for both of them.  they're one another's safe people so when they don't have each other in close proximity, both of them experience depression.  i would also consider her demeanour at the beginning of 5x09 as an example of her exhibiting signs of depression. santana also experiences a lot of anxiety around her interpersonal relationships (pretty much all of season 2, 4x16, 5x09-5x13); in 5x18 it's very apparent that she's scarred by the experience with auditioning for rachel's understudy part and doesn't want to intrude on mercedes (thankfully, mercedes is awesome, we love mercedes jones here, themostrandomfandom does a great job of analysing this storyline here). it's also worth noting that despite how clumsily she goes about things, santana lopez is the most loyal, ride-or-die person on this damn show (she's definitely a gryffindor or hufflepuff who thinks she's a slytherin despite my less than positive thoughts on the transphobic lady's book series, or - in the context of the superior book series - a mary anne who thinks she’s a claudia) but the only acknowledgement she gets is shame, so she internalises it to give people an "out" ("I'm numb to people's feelings", "I have no heart").

can be easily distracted (while also hyperfocused on other things) - has a tendency to zone out of conversations (credit to @santanaslawyer on twitter) and couldn't remember her locker combo around brittany (although some of that could have also been santana being in her sad gay era and pining over britt)

narrow window of tolerance - santana was completely done with everyone's shit like all the time

strong sense of justice - homegirl uses her bitch powers to protect the people she cares about (see 2x17, 3x11, 5x18). other people aren't allowed to make fun of her mates, that's her job, dammit! she's also proactive in reporting mr schuester's lack of efficiency as a spanish teacher not because she dislikes him (which she doesn't; she might roll her eyes at him all the time but she does actually like him as a person) but because his teaching promotes offensive stereotypes, harms her and negatively affects everyone's education (and to her credit she is way more patient and charitable to him than he deserves when he literally chastises her in front of everyone for doing it). she will also challenge authority in situations where she is being held to a different standard to others. in 3x07, when figgins is considering suspending santana, she pushes back against it (rightfully so) because she doesn't understand how there isn't a zero-tolerance policy for violence when finn and puck get into it in the middle of school, or when the glee club get slushied, or when kurt is repeatedly physically assaulted by karofsky, but she slaps finn (after he outed her) and this policy suddenly exists. same applies in 3x13 when finn and rachel are allowed to have very graphic PDAs at school with no complaint from the authorities, but santana and brittany have one chaste peck and it's the end of the world, and she rightfully tells figgins that there's a double standard.

(really random) hyperfixations - it's a popular glee headcanon that santana spends a lot of time researching random shit on wikipedia (which she probably did the night before her wedding so she could explain to britt about the superstition around the bride/groom not seeing each other before the wedding) based on the absolute batshit cultural references she comes out with. she makes the most random cultural references (e.g. comparing rory to the great gazoo, which is a really random side-character from the flintstones), and has somewhat of a fascination with lizards (2x04, 2x12).  she also just randomly made an entire voodoo doll of rachel berry just for shits and giggles, like … wtf

lack of spatial awareness - so this one's mostly just naya rivera's physical comedy, but ... in the nicest possible way ... santana's a tad bit unco, isn't she? (see: her very charming wacky inflatable arm-waving tube person dancing in 3x08, the scene where she literally walks headfirst into a balloon in 3x22 and the scene in 5x17 where she gets attacked by pigeons).

hyperactive - santana's abuela put her in ballet classes because she was "such a tomboy and it really pissed [her] dad off"; obviously we know she had a mullet and dressed up as uncle jesse from full house for halloween (and she knows how to tie a tie, thanks again sarah) - those are obviously aesthetic things but "tomboy" can also be code for "hyperactive" in afab people (particularly if santana's grandmother was of the "children should be seen and not heard" generation).

[evilwickedme]

Ok so I have a kinda. Detailed and entirely too angsty headcanon about the death of Superman. Not the storyline from the 90s but like. How Clark Kent meets his end. Bc in my mind the superfam are functionally immortal cause like. At a certain point they just stop aging. Cause aging is the natural process of our bodies breaking down but the yellow sun is constantly healing them. So full kryptonians straight up can't die of natural causes

(Kon and Jon would age imo cause being only half Kryptonian means that their healing isn't as affective (according to this hc at least) and so they can die of natural causes, however they age much slower and still see all their loved ones die but anyway that's not the point of this)

And here's the thing. Clark and Lois have a good long life together. And Lois is active and healthy basically until the day she dies. She starts losing mobility eventually but never her mind, she can remember every single moment she had together with Clark

But eventually it's time to go and Clark who hasn't aged a day in sixty years holds her in front of the sunset and as the sun goes down she stops breathing

The funeral is quickly done. Everyone knew it was coming. It's attended by so many heroes and journalists and everyone pays their respects

And then the world moves on. Clark tries to move on. He still has his family - Kara and Jon and Kon and everyone else - but a month passes, two, six, nine, a year, and he just isn't the same man anymore

So he gathers his family, and then afterwards the justice league, and says that this is it for him. He's had almost a century on this earth and he's done a lot of good with it, but there's so many other heroes now

He's been off world and on world and he's done so much and now he's straight up done

And like for the superfam like. They saw it coming, you know? They try to fight against it because they don't want him to die obvi, but. Eventually they do get it. And he really hasn't been the same since Lois died

And yeah like in a way for Kara this is her losing her last family tie to krypton itself but also she has time to prepare

The jla are. Harder. It's a younger generation. One that us as an audience literally hasn't seen yet cause most of them haven't been born yet. And they're so hopeful and strong and yet they've seen so much and they want superman there with them

But Clark tells them they've got it, they can do this, he hasn't been a major member of the JLA in decades and there's so many heroes who have taken care of this planet without needing him

Finally he does it.

He uses gold kryptonite

Stabs himself, makes him completely human forever

And like, he could wait to die of natural causes, wait another sixty years. But he can't wait to see Lois for another moment. And I think what he'd do is he'd ask another member of the superfam to fly him into the sun. So quickly his doesn't even lose his breath

And he becomes a part of the star at the center of our system, the one that gave him all his strength

And he sees Lois again

[djeterg19]

so I don't really watch many bls but is it normal for them to be editing and cutting shit out on a weekly basis? I mean they thought it was important enough to put it in the preview but between then and now they suddenly decided they didn't need it anymore?? why? I can think of a few reasons and sadly none of them have to do with the actual storyline. they might still be endgame but my faith in it actually being done justice is pretty much gone at this point. especially with the teasing of the sex scene which is all they seem to think we care about. I'm just very frustrated for us but mostly fb who don't deserve this at all. (sorry just needed to vent and I saw your ask was open and decided to go for it lol thanks for listening)

Thank for the ask! Rant away! That's why I turned anon back on...it's been off for years due to a long dead fandom and figured it was time to open it up again.

I am by no means an expert because I've only been into BLs for a little over a year but I have never seen a scene shown in a preview get cut from the episode? Not in BLs anyways. I thought I was safe from promo monkey shenanigans here. I think part of the issue was they were still filming when the show started airing which has caused it to be rushed and choppy? I don't think there were many issues until episode 8 and things have started going off the rails since then. And I can understand why that scene was cut after seeing it but the entire angry!Mew turn this episode after him softening towards Top was...jarring and it didn't make sense to me.

And honestly if I didn't love ForceBook as much as I do and want to support them every way I can...this episode might've been my breaking point because my darling Mew was kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a pod person? And poor Force had one scene that was touted as super emotional and I'm pretty sure that was the cut scene where he cried. Both of them have been doing an amazing job and it just hurts to see their hard work end up on the cutting room floor.

I don't know that they can make the ending satisfying at this point for me either and the whole here's a sexy photo thing was... annoying. Like yes obviously I would like some sexy times after they reunite but Top and Mew need to TALK. They and Mew specifically need to sit down and discuss where they go from here and if they want to make things work. Because Top has said he wants to try again and how he would change and Mew...didn't really say what he wants or needs from Top. They substituted unnecessary drama instead. I don't understand the point of Boeing being brought in now with a revenge plot because it was just RayMew 2: Electric Boogaloo and I thought Mew had decided to move on from that. I just...did not enjoy that episode at all. Thanks for the ask and sorry if this was rambling!

[matan4il]

Idk if you're watching Lone Star but I am LIVID and if you've seen it I'm sure you have very eloquent thoughts??

about the (SPOILER AHEAD)

Nazi bar thing with Owen

Hi lovely! How are you? I’m giving you BIG hugs and I hope you’re taking care of yourself, my darling! *cuddles*

So I tend to binge watch shows. I know, 911 OG is a glaring exception for me (in part so I can write weekly meta posts for everyone interested), but binge watching at the end of a season is what I’ve been doing with LS. For you, however, I went and watched 401.

Well. Yeah, I can’t say that I’m feeling too great about it. As you know, I was already critical of 911 LS’ Jewish representation with TK (and his mom, Gwyn). To me, doing a storyline like this is touching on REALLY sensitive matters, and before you can do that, you should “earn” some credit. Based on seasons 1 through 3, LS has not yet earned that “credit” by showing us it is fully committed to handling these issues with the required care and sensitivity.

On the other hand, I’m also not livid. So, let me try and share my thoughts, in the form of bullet-points to give each one its space, and I hope they can explain where I’m at right now when it comes to this storyline:

First off, it always troubles me when people refer to ‘Nazis’ past 1945. After that point, it is only correct to refer to ex-Nazis or to neo-Nazis. Let me try to explain why this distinction matters. The Nazis might have started as an extremist ideological fringe group, but they rose to be a political party with considerable influence in Germany (responsible for the murder of several individuals and the corruption of German justice even before they came into power). Once they became the ruling party, which then led Germany and used all its resources to launch a world war, occupying as well as collaborating with countless countries, that increased its strength tenfold. They had power the likes of which today’s neo-Nazis never had (and hopefully never will), and they used that power to commit an actual genocide against the Jewish people, as well as persecute and murder members of many other groups. We mustn’t dilute these heinous crimes by conflating the Nazis with today’s neo-Nazis, who are still just a pitiful extremist ideological fringe group (again, hopefully they’ll never rise to be more than that. That’s on us to prevent). And we must also not absolve the neo-Nazis of what it means, that they CHOOSE to follow the ideology which was responsible for those crimes against humanity. Today’s neo-Nazis can’t claim ignorance about the meaning of this ideology, not when its history is so well recorded. The fact that 911 LS is referring to these guys as ‘Nazis’ rather than ‘neo-Nazis’ is already a bit troubling to me.

Another thing is the humorous reveal. TBH, I’m not bothered by the fact that Owen rode with these guys for a week without realizing they’re neo-Nazis. It does ring true to the way such groups indoctrinate new members, which is indeed gradual. If anything, it’s the sudden and complete reveal that they’re neo-Nazis which rings false. They would not have sprung that out of nowhere on a potential new recruit. It’s done this way to bring humor into the situation, which is 911 LS’ way of telling stories, but this is just too serious of a matter, which means once again the credit to use humor here has to be earned IMO. First show us that you’re not taking this lightly, that you are integrating this storyline because you actually care about things like the current rise in antisemitism in the US, and only then do you get to inject humor into it. The fact that this was not a throwaway joke, the fact that they will develop it into a whole storyline where they might yet show us that they are taking this seriously, is the main reason why I’m not livid right now. But it doesn’t mean that this is okay, it just means that I’m reserving judgment until we get the whole storyline and have a better, fuller idea of how they’re treating it.

One of the reasons why I’m giving 911 LS credit that it might still do this storyline justice is because I know that Rob Lowe is married to a Jewish woman, and their kids are, in terms of ancestry, half-Jewish (and in terms of Halacha, the Jewish law, they’re Jewish. Period). One of those kids actually works (I’m assuming he’s on board for s4 as he was for seasons 1 - 3) as a scriptwriter for 911 LS. Even just based on Rob’s involvement as a producer for the show, and assuming he cares about this issue as a man who’s married to a Jewish woman and raising Jewish kids, I’m willing to assume the intention was good. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll do this subject justice, but I am willing to believe they brought it up because it is something that does bother them.

Speaking of doing this right, Owen is actually not a likely candidate for this neo-Nazi group. I’m not saying it’s impossible, there are always exceptions, but such groups usually prey on people who are young and disenfranchised, feeling cast out and unwanted by their own societies. Young people who are likely to be patriotic towards their country, but angry towards its chosen government, which they blame for their own failures. Owen is older, less likely to be easily malleable to their ideology, he’s successful in his profession, and while as a firefighter he can be assumed to be patriotic, they have no indication that he harbors any animosity towards the American government. If 911 LS was gonna tell this story, it has no way of really doing this one right, ‘coz none of the 126 members is a likely candidate for a neo-Nazi gang. Which makes sense, that’s the cast diversity they were proud of and even integrated into the actual plot in s1, right? I can only once again assume that they took on this storyline because it matters to them, and in spite of not having the right cast to tell the story as it usually unfolds. They can still “fix” that if in the following eps they’ll have someone (like maybe the FBI agent we saw) address the fact that Owen doesn’t fit the usual profile.

Which brings me back to what I said earlier, that to a great degree I feel like my final judgment of this storyline, whether it’ll make me just slightly uncomfortable or downright angry, is something I’ll only be able to properly address once I’ve seen the whole storyline play out.

I hope this helps? I’m here for you either way, you can always talk to me about whatever upsets you, regarding this storyline or anything else. Sending you so much love, hon! xoxox

(more of my posts about Jewish rep can be found here, and my other ask replies here. xoxox)

[hils79]

2023 Dramas Watched

I watched a lot of dramas last year, but not as many as I did in 2022. It was mostly a good bunch, which is generally why my to watch list is mostly things people have recommended to me (or I've seen gifs on Tumblr that look revlevant to my interests.

I'll put the list under a cut. It's mostly for my reference anyway

1. Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama - My housemate wanted to watch this because Michael Sheen is in it. I don't even have that excuse, although it's always nice to see him in things. IDK I wasn't obsessively following the court case when it happened, but my boss kept giving us updates because she found it highly entertaining. I think it was just something silly to focus on to distract us all from the shit that's going on in the world. Anyway, the cast were great and it was highly entertaining. I don't think we were supposed to laugh as much as we did but it was kind of ridiculous.

2. Ghost Doctor - This is one I've been group watching with friends over the past few months. It was a lot of fun. A rather silly concept (brilliant surgeon is in a coma after an accident and haunts the hospital where his body is) with a surprising amount of heart to it. I enjoyed it.

3. Dragon Age: Absolution - I loved this! I don't know how well this would stand up if you haven't played the games. It's mostly a stand alone story with a few nods to previous canon. I, however, have played the games and they are pretty much my favourite game franchsise. So, yep, this was great. Very much in the vein of the games. Everyone is gay and it's delightful.

4. The Eclipse - This was okay. It was in a similar vein as Not Me in terms of being a BL drama about social justice, but it lacked the maturity and tight storyline that Not Me had. The two main leads were both excellent it just lost its way a bit towards the end. Still very enjoyable.

5. Welcome to Chippendales - Honestly this show wasn't even on my radar until Jacqui was looking for something to watch and saw it on Disney+. She told me she'd watched a documentary about the founder of Chippendales a while back and gave me a brief synopsis. It was such a wild story that I had to watch this. It was really good! The cast did a phenomenal job

6. About Youth - I'd had this recced to me a while back so when my Saturday group watch gang suggested we watch it I was all in. It was great! Incredibly sweet, occasionally heartbreaking. We all really enjoyed it.

7. Hotel del Luna - I enjoyed this a lot even though I cried WAY more than I was expecting to. I thought it was going to be a wacky comedy about ghosts, and there are lots of funny bits, but there's also a lot about death, grief and making peace with your life. I think I cried at least once in just about every episode. Do rec though. It was good.

8. Roommates of Poongduck 304 - This is one I started group watching before Christmas with some friends and never got around to finishing. It was cute. Nothing amazing, and not one I'd particularly want to watch again but it was fine.

9. Choco Milk Shake - I did enjoy this. It was very cute and funny in places. It was also WAY sadder than I was expecting and I ended up crying a lot. I wish they'd spent a little more time explaining the mechanics of everything (basic premise is a guy's childhood dog and cat come back in human form because he's lonely) and the ending was a little bittersweet. But overall I think I did enjoy it.

10. The Blood of Youth - I absolutely loved this! It had a lot of of the classic wuxia tropes in it, but an interesting enough story that I was hooked. The cast were great, the characters all had fantastic chemistry. I definitely want to check out some of the other dramas the lead has done because he was great.

11. Until We Meet Again - This has been on my to watch list more or less since I started watching East Asian dramas back in 2020. I've been avoiding it because it deals with some quite heavy topics (the premise is two male lovers in the 80s take their own lives because their fathers disapprove of their relationship and in present day they meet again having been reincarnated into two students at the same college) but I'm glad I bit the bullet and finally watched it. It was very sweet, and was all about healing and forgiveness. I liked it a lot. I think Not Me still holds the top spot for my favourite Thai drama but this is a close second

12. The Guest - I really wasn't sure about this one when I watch the first episode. I don't mind TV horror generally but the first episode was a lot and I had to mute it a couple of times because it was freaking me out. Luckily they toned it down a fair amount after that and the rest of it was fantastic! Really enjoyed it. Definitely one of the better dramas that I've watched this year so far. If you're looking for a k-drama that's in the same vein as The Exorcist/The Omen/Supernatural then you'll like this one.

13. Overworking Man - This was a genuinely pleasant surprise. I watched it because the lead is one of my tomb show actors and I had pretty low expectations. I was expecting some sort of cringe sitcom in the same vein as The Office. What I got was a bonkers little web drama full of queer subtext where there's actual character development and life lessons. I really enjoyed it!

14. Midnight Museum - This was a very odd little drama. It was made by GMM who makes a lot of my favourite BL dramas. This one is not a BL, but it uses all of the BL tropes. The two male leads keep talking about how they want to be together forever and they keep risking their lives to save each other. I guess as bros? It starts off as a horror drama (premise is a barista ends up getting a job at a museum that houses cursed objects, which then get stolen, and they have to recover them all) but then halfway through it turns into this weird religious cult thing where they examine the nature of free will vs God's plan. I think I enjoyed it? But it was definitely a bit weird.

15. Cupid's Last Wish - I've been group watching this with some friends over the past couple of months. I enjoyed both leads in A Tale of 1000 Stars which I watched last year. They were good in this too but the story didn't hit quite as hard. It was fine but the ending felt rushed and anticlimactic

16. Sell Your Haunted House - This was really fun. It reminded me a bit of Buffy just in terms of general vibes and ass-kicking female lead. There were some genuinely surprising plot twists and I had a blast watching it

17. Ghost Host, Ghost House - This had a nice twist to it that I didn't figure out until I was partway through. It was cute and interesting.

18. Stupid Boys, Stupid Love - This was cute. I haven't watched much Vietnamese TV and this was very diverse even for a BL drama. There were gay boys, gay girls, height differences (the tall biker girl and her small nerd boyfriend were my favourites), butch women, femme women, bisexuals. The characters were young and, as the title suggests, pretty stupid. But overall it was cute and fun and it was only an hour long in total

19. A League of Nobleman - This was fun. It was quite silly, buckets of queer subtext and some political intrigue thrown in for good measure. It wasn't particularly deep or heavy going but I enjoyed it a lot.

20. Between Us - This is a spinoff/sequel to Until We Meet again. It was very sweet, and I enjoyed my favourite character from UWMA being the main role in this. Didn't quite have the same emotional impact as UWMA but I very much enjoyed it

21. Reset - Finished this while I was at the treehouse last month. It was one we had been group watching and it was nice to get to finish it in person. It was an interesting drama. A lot of unexpected twists which I liked, and a timeloop story is always fun

22. Our Dining Table - Absolutely one of my favourite things that I have watched this year. It was so sweet and soft. Usually I'm not a fan of kidfic but this was really lovely and the kid in question was adorable

23. Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 - I was a bit dubious when I heard they were doing a sequel to Tale of the Nine-Tailed but it was perfect. Time travel shenanigans, an awesome woman with a huge sword, brotherly bonding, an OT3 polycule. I had a great time.

24. The Eighth Sense - I liked parts of it. The main couple were cute, the two best friends were awesome. I did not care for the unnecessarily bitchy ex-girlfriend and her best friend who was equally awful. It went a little two hard on the 'everyone must have a happy ending' idea so a bunch of characters ended up getting apologised to who really didn't deserve it

25. Popular Indie Creator Nekoyashiki is Making His Yearning for Approval Worse - This was kind of weird, but also really fun. Everyone was so extra and dramatic but that just tied into the comic themes. I actually really enjoyed it.

26. The King's Avatar - This one got recommended to me literally years ago. Right back when I first started watching Chinese dramas and asked for recs. I definitely should have watched it sooner I absolutely adored it. Like I want to write fic levels of adored it. It had such a good group of characters, found family feels all over the place and was just generally soft and lovely.

27. My School President - A very sweet high school BL drama. I wasn't massively emotionally invtested in it but I enjoyed it

28. Love Tractor - Absolutely adorable! It's just very soft and I enjoyed this so much I watched it a second time so I could show it to one of my friends

29. The Director Who Buys Me Dinner - Got to love a drama where the premise is 'if we don't date you will die'. It was funny, but also kind of heavy with one of the protagonists being immortal and the the other being a reincarnation of his dead lover.

30. Oh No! Here Comes Trouble - I don't watch a lot of Taiwanese dramas but this was fantastic! Really funny, also really tragic, and full of really interesting folklore. I loved it!

31. Mysterious Lotus Casebook - Hands down one of my favourite dramas of this year. I keep toying with wanting to write fic for it but I haven't quite got there yet. I loved the cast, I loved the story. I was wonderful.

32. Moonlight Chicken - I really enjoyed that this was a BL drama about actual adults instead of the usual ones about high school or college students. I'd seen the two leads in a couple of other dramas and I really enjoyed them in this too

33. Goblin - This is one of those dramas that gets recommended to me all the time so I finally sat down and watched it. I enjoyed it, but probably not my favourite. I think the whole 'immortal being falls in love with high school student' would have resonated with me more in my Buffy fandom days.

34. Cross Fire - Apparently this year is the year I watch all the esports dramas. This was nothing at all like what I expected. It had loads of twists that I didn't see coming and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

35. Our Flag Means Death S2 - Loved it. Just what I wanted from a second series. No notes.

36. Good Omens S2 - It was fine. I enjoyed it. It's not one of those dramas that I go feral for but the two leads are fun and it had some nice surprises.

37. He's Coming to Me - A very sweet BL that doesn't entirely resolve the fact that one of the protagonists is dead but it's left with an openly hopeful ending.

38. Stay By My Side - Another sweet ghost related story but both protagonists are alive in this one. One of them can hear ghosts, and the voices only go away if he touches his roommate. Feelings happen. It's adorable.

39. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon - I think I expected to enjoy this more than I did, but I think my disatisfaction comes from me wanting the drama to be resolved with an OT3. Instead there was just a lot of queer baiting where the two men almost kissed but they were drunk so no homo.

40. Fairyland Lovers - I was way more invested in the side couple than I was in the main storyline. The main couple really didn't interest me at all even though one of them was Bai Yu.

[lottetheraven]

getting more upset by the hour over the last scenes of roy/keeley/jamie together. like clearly there’s arguments to be made on either side of how it was out of left field and sexist and a major regression of character, but also how the show has never shied away from showing how progress isn’t linear and people make mistakes. but that feels like something you put in the middle of a season from a writing perspective, what’s frustrating me is that that is the note we left the season (and quite possibly the show entirely) on after all the growth between each of these characters.

between roy and keeley never having any kind of heart to heart where they both express how they felt about breaking up, it being kind of unclear up until the end whether jamie was still interested in keeley romantically or just saw her as a good friend (plus the decision to add them going to brazil together??), the transformation in jamie and roy’s relationship from day one. then to end on a ‘you have to choose’ scene after sexist remarks leveraging their histories with her + physical violence with no vulnerable, honest conversations between any of them and all this unfinished business just feels like none of them were done sufficient justice. sure, a show shouldn’t spoon feed its audience or spell everything out for them, and I love that the show has rarely done that, but without any of the meaningful interactions between these characters that the show had seemed (at least to me) to be leading up to, the ending it left on is just deeply, deeply unsatisfying. I love this show, and loved a lot of this season’s episodes and the messages about found family, change, love, believing, etc. but i had trusted that the doubts I had at the beginning would be resolved by the end because the show has always been delightful in its surprises, but in many ways the overarching storyline of this season was a mess and these characters’ endings largely fell flat as a result.

who knows, maybe ted’s note of it never being about him really is a hint at a spin off, maybe jason sudeikis will change his mind and endorse a fourth season, but with where things stand at the moment, i really hope this isn’t how they meant to end things.

[marshunter06]

I love your Trentney fanfics and prompts! I get sad sometimes cause I remember they never actually interacted in Canon. If you’re not too busy, could u do prompts 10 and 11 for our fave crackship? It’s ok if you can’t. I totally understand.

Sorry, I meant to post two separate fics with these prompts to continue my storyline but that did not pan out. But thank you for asking! I will be filling them together!

Comfortember Day 10: Breakdown & Day 11: Holding Hands

Prompts from @comfortember

It happened. After groveling over this case for months, with this as the result? The guilty verdict still rings in her ears despite her best efforts to keep her client out of prison. The sentence was reduced, but she feels hollow. She lost. The first case she’s ever lost. It’s a miracle it even took her this long to lose a case in a justice system that heavily favors the prosecution. Now her once perfect reputation is once again smeared. She is at a loss.

Flashes of online trolls calling out her stupidity during her teenage years come back full force. With everyone making judgement, all secretly waiting for her downfall. She has to grow thick skin in her line of work, and she has. She would’ve never graduated from law school at the top of her class if she didn’t.

Her chest feels tight, she’s getting dizzy, leaning against the wall to steady herself. She wills herself to power through and stay strong for her client. It’s the least she can do. She failed her. She’s a failure.

Putting one leg in front of the other, she tries to remain professional as she tells her client what to expect now. Her mind already pushing her towards appeals they could make to the court. The problem is, she doesn’t know if her firm will allow her to continue. After all, it is still a money game. Annika thanks her for her honesty, and everything she’s already done, but the mood is somber. They both know this is likely the end.

She doesn’t know how she makes it home. Blacking out before she can even put her key in the door. Did she manage to pull her key out? She did, but it didn’t work…

Trent finds Courtney half conscience at his door. His security system alerting him of her presence, he immediately rushed over seeing her on the video. She is a mess, disoriented, struggling to even stay standing up. She crumples into his arms as he tries to figure what happened. Then he remembers. Today was the court hearing.

He doesn’t ask anymore questions, simply carries her over to the guest room. He’s not sure if he should leave her alone at a time like this. She’s dazed, tears flowing out of her eyes as her breakdown takes over. No words come out, only silence as the tears continue to fall. She feels empty. Until she feels the warmth of his hands in hers. Turning over, his familiar green eyes looks at her with understanding. He knows. Her sobs grow louder now that she’s been found out. She doesn’t try to pull away, rather curling her fingers around his hand, seeking the comfort in knowing that she isn’t alone. Trent is here. He understands.

She must have fallen asleep at some point. Her body feels exhausted from all the crying. She must look as bad as she feels. Slowly opening her eyes, she’s astonished to see Trent’s face so close to her. Her heart aches at the sight of him. She’s laying down at the edge of the bed, and he’s slumped over with his head resting near her pillow, half sitting from a chair he must have moved over. It’s then she notices that their hands are still joined.

She instinctively thinks to move away, embarrassment flaring as she realizes she drove to his place instead of hers. The thought that he had to take care of her, while she was suffering from her mental anguish, is enough to make her wish she could crawl into a hole from the earth. But, there’s also a part of her that doesn’t want to let him go. He stayed even after seeing how much of a mess she was, he still stayed. He could’ve easily taken her to the room and just left her, but he didn’t. He chose to stay. Because he knows. He understands.

Her head hurts from dehydration, the whirl of emotions going on isn’t helping either. She should wake him up and tell him she’s fine. He’s going to wake with a creak in his neck if he stays like this.

Gently nudging him, her breath catches when he opens those green eyes she loves so much, she’s feeling embarrassed again knowing how she must look right now. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he smiles and asks if she slept okay. She couldn’t help letting out a chuckle.

“I think I slept fine. You should be more concerned with yourself, you should’ve just gone to bed.”

“I wanted to be here. Besides, I’m not that old yet. I can handle not sleeping in my nice comfortable California King bed for one night.”

“Your sacrifice, how could I forget about how pampered you grew up.”

“Hey, try it for yourself before you judge. I guarantee you‘ll only want to sleep in my bed.”

Their faces both flush red as soon as he completes the sentence. Their hands disconnecting as they both look anywhere but at each other. He immediately stammers, “I-I… not like that…”

He clears his throat, “… anyways, I’m sure you’re starving and need some water. I’ll go get you some. There’s clothes in the bathroom and extra toiletries that you can use if you want. I’ll start on breakfast.”

“Breakfast? It’s one am.”

“Would you rather I make some pasta for a late night dinner?”

“No, breakfast sounds perfect. I just didn’t realize how late it was. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. I’m here for you no matter what, Court.”

“I’m here for you too, Trent. Thank you.”

“Any time.”

He reaches his hand out for her to take, she smiles as they make contact. He helps her out of bed, holding hands for a few steps before she heads for the shower and he goes towards the kitchen.

A/N: I’ve been off lately, especially with winter coming. But writing Trentney helps. They truly are my comfort ship.