#the big twist is that her abduction doesn’t have anything to do with her relationship to Gale

[mollywog]

🐑 send me a fake set of fic tags, and I’ll try to come up with a summary for it! mafia/ballet dancer!AU baking angst with a happy ending

Thank you for playing @oenothera5!!

I’d like to preface this with - I know nothing about mafia AUs- so here’s a trouped up abomination

Fandom: The Hunger Games

Pairing: Gale Hawthorne/Madge Undersee

Summary:

The mafia is the only life Gale’s ever known. Bearing the weight of supporting his ma and three siblings, he doesn’t have time to waste on frills or distractions; That is until Panem’s prima ballerina Madeline Undersee pirouettes into his life.

When Madge is abducted, he’ll have to decide where his loyalties lie and who he can trust in his mission to rescue the woman he loves amidst growing tensions between the Snow and Coin families.

Fake fic ask game

[sailormoonandme]

Why does Usagi think Mamoru might leave/cheat on her?

Occasionally during Sailor Moon R, S and SuperS Usagi seemed to have these moments of insecurity where she was concerned that Mamoru was either interested in other people or else other people might make a play for him.

The real life reason for this I suspect is simply because Sailor Moon has a lot of sitcom sensibilities alongside it’s romantic elements, so milking comedy from a romantic topic by having our lead act over the top or goofy is a logical writing tool to reach for. Especially when you have such a large quantity of episodes to produce.

However, I have a more in-universe explanation to propose.

In real life Usagi’s behaviour would most likely be connected to trust issues with her partner, with other people or else concerns about her own inadequacies. However, I don’t think that’s the case here.

Rather, I think it’s actually far more connected to the numerous times Usagi has loved and ‘lost’ Mamoru.

Back in the Silver Millennium days there was this low key implication that romantic mingling between the Moon Princess and Earth Prince was somehow forbidden. After all when Endymion came to the Moon and tried to warn Serenity about Metalia and Beryl the royal guards chased him away and he needed to disguise himself. So from Serenity’s POV the social system she was living in was limiting her ability to be with the man she loved and made their future together at best uncertain.  

Now, I admit that’s perhaps a bit too big of an extrapolation to draw from, especially for the anime version of the characters where we got far less info about their past lives. However, the more significant part here is the fact that Endymion was taken from her when he was killed by the Dark Kingdom. Seeing her lover murdered in front of her whilst her home were also being destroyed (and her friends killed) would obviously be very traumatic, particularly if Serenity was mentally and physically the equivalent of a fourteen year old like Usagi.  

In her next life she was crushing very hard on Tuxedo Mask who routinely showed up to aid her and then rarely lingered. That’s not exactly traumatic, but the early days of their relationship would’ve still been founded by Usagi seeing the person she wants to stick around and spend time with her leave her when she wouldn’t want him to.

She also feared Tuxedo Mask had died in episode 13 when Jadeite announced that he’d killed him. True, he was revealed as alive and well shortly afterwards, but the horror of that moment (however brief it may’ve been) could’ve stuck with Usagi.

Then, in the iconic 34th episode of the show, Mamoru was violently impaled right in front of her. We can debate if he died and was consequently revived by the Dark Kingdom or if he was merely close to death before his abduction. But either way that’d inevitably be an instance where Usagi once again traumatically lost the man she loved, or at least came extremely close to doing so if not for the emotion of the moment re-awaking her old memories.

Speaking of which, as episode 35-36 make clear, the mere act of abruptly regaining all her memories would be emotionally wrenching all on it’s own. When combined with the tragic and traumatic nature of those memories, it’s far from unbelievable that subconsciously this would further mark Usagi’s psyche.  

The reveal that her lover is alive but no longer remembers her and is actively a threat to her now would obviously compound this. As would the fact that in episode 36 he uses a rose to hurt her. It’s not a serious wound at all, but he still hurt her and used an object that up until then he’d used explicitly to help and protect her. Within Usagi’s mind his roses would’ve likely been ‘coded’ with positive emotions, so seeing them used in that way would’ve been further upsetting for her, in essence a perversion of what they should  mean to her mind. The roses now being black are an apt metaphor for this point.  

Of course during the final stretch of episodes in season 1 Usagi almost  restores Mamoru. But that’s the key here, she almost  succeeds. First it the ski episode where he briefly seems to break out of his brainwashing and then again in the episode where Ryo (and the other Rainbow Crystal hosts) returns. In the latter she actually succeeds in restoring him to normal but he’s abducted immediately once again. Not only did Usagi lose Mamoru a few more times but her active efforts to bring him back to her failed.

We then come to the most traumatic events in Usagi’s second life (up to that point), episodes 44-46.

In episode 44, not only did she once again re-experience the tragic destruction of the Silver Millennium, but she got a ‘bird’s eye view’ of everything that happened, including the specific moments she, Endymion, her friends and even her mother died. True, her sadness or trauma over everyone else isn’t specific to her losing Endymion/Mamoru, however because these events happen so close together and are connected it’s not unbelievable that Usagi’s mind might’ve created an association. So her pain over seeing her mother die is associated also with her ‘losing’ Endymion as well. By that same token, the death of her beloved friends in episode 45 might’ve consequently become associated with what happened next.  

In episode 46 Usagi is outright attacked by a brainwashed Endymion. First she sees him loyally serving her enemy who (by proxy) murdered her friends like an hour ago. Worse she might’ve picked up on the obvious romantic undertones between Beryl and Endymion, including him kissing her hand, and let’s not forget in the flashback from episode 44 Beryl clearly desired Endymion. Whilst intellectually Usagi might know he’s not in his right mind, emotionally seeing him like that with Beryl in that context could emotionally upset her, almost as though he was betraying their love in the worst possible way.  

Endymion’s efforts against her are also significantly more violent and active than anything he did before since episode 36. Dashing a rose across the back of her hand pales in comparison to ensnaring her and shocking her with his roses. Not to mention trying to slice her up with the very same sword he would’ve used to defend her in the Silver Millennium. Even if you don’t buy into my point about perverting these symbols of their relationship, the mere act of him hurting her and trying to murder her like that is going to obviously be emotionally arresting.

In a sense in those horrible moments for Usagi Endymion/Mamoru really was ‘lost’ to her, he merely looked  like her lover. This I think is why it was significant that she actually fought  back against him with her tiara. But since he still looked like her lover and intellectually she knew he wasn’t to blame (and emotionally hoped he was still salvageable) her own act of self-defence horrified her.  

Of course she does save him, but then he dies again. Depending on how you look at it, from Usagi’s POV this is at least the second  time he’s really died and that number climbs higher if you include his presumed death in episode 13 and the number of times she had to re-experience his death in the Silver Millennium. And that isn’t even counting traumatic dreams about him dying in the aftermath of episodes 34-35. It doesn’t help that his mortal injuries in episode 46 are eerily similar to the ones he sustained in episode 34, namely a violent impalement.

We might even argue this is categorically the worst  instance up until this point of Usagi watching her lover die or seemingly die. In the Silver Millennium she herself died seconds later. In episode 13 they weren’t nearly as close as they’d become by episode 46 and she at least had friends and family in her life she knew she could lean on. This equally applies to Mamoru seemingly dying in episode 34 and even his abduction in episode 35. In fact with Minako, Makoto and Artemis Usagi had an even larger support network than before. In episode 46 though her lover has died in her arms, she’s left to go on and the Inner Senshi are dead, Luna and Artemis aren’t around and the end of the world is imminent. She’s truly all alone in her grief and intellectually she knows that even if somehow she resolves the crisis her support network has been mostly gutted. THEN she herself dies  to defeat Beryl/Metalia and save the world.

She gets her fondest wish, to go back to a normal life, but that’s also taken from her due to the arrival of Ail and An. Yay for Usagi, she gets to have ALL of those traumatic memories from the Silver Millennium rerun through her head AGAIN. And this time they’re complimented by the Hell she went through in losing her friends, her lover and dying herself in the Arctic.  

But hey, at least now she and her lover can finally be together right? Nope. He literally doesn’t know her. He isn’t Endymion. He isn’t Tuxedo Mask. He isn’t the Mamoru she knew and doesn’t even want to know her. Meanwhile a prospective romantic rival is sniffing around him and for all she knows he may well be interested in her. She gets a tiny ray of hope when Moonlight Knight shows up but that’s abruptly squashed when she receives (seemingly) hard proof this guy who seems oh so similar to the man she loves definitely isn’t that man. So her tiny hope of maybe  getting him back is taken from her almost as quickly as it came.

After Ail and An depart Earth Usagi finally   has what she wants…until two episodes later. This time in the cruelest twist of fate for her, it isn’t external forces that tears Mamoru away from her. This time he  takes himself from her. From a certain point of view this is sort of worse than him dying. Usagi knows death and reincarnation are a thing and that magic exists. She already knows that, as traumatic as it might’ve been, the pair have been given more chances than most people to get together. But how is that to happen when Mamoru, in his right mind and fully possessing all his memories, clearly conveys he doesn’t want her. In the same way Tuxedo Mask pulled a disappearing act early on, now Mamoru in normal life begins actively avoiding Usagi and even saying hurtful things to her.  

It is in episode 61 (the break up episode itself) that we arguably first see this insecure side to Usagi where she questions if Mamoru prefers a child under 10 years old to her. From there we also see Mamoru try to hint to her that he’s seeing Unazuki.  

Of course Usagi eventually learns that it WAS another external force pushing them apart again (well sort of but that’s for another day). However, to lose Mamoru again after all she’d already gone through to be with him was emotionally going to be a serious twisting of the knife for her, in addition to his efforts after episode 61 to push her away. The fact that his own desire to be with her caused him to still help and even hang out with her on occasion would’ve further confused her.  

But even after  this mess is cleared up, in Sailor Moon R The Movie: Promise of the Rose Usagi has to witness Mamoru nearly die for her again. And like on other occasions it comes via an impalement right in front of her and a consequent abduction to boot. And the abductee happens to be someone she and her friends suspect might harbor romantic feelings for Mamoru as well, someone who actively insulted her, actively tried to dissuade Mamoru from dating her and who literally  pushed her away from him.  

When taken collectively, I think all these traumas associated with Usagi ‘losing’ Mamoru or otherwise being prevented from being with him would make Usagi subconsciously on the alert for the next  thing that might take him from her.

I propose that this is the actual reason for Usagi’s concerns that Mamoru might like Chibiusa more than her, for why she gets concerned when Ami and Mamoru chat together in S, for why she goes all ninja in SuperS, etc. Deep down she does  trust him and deep down she trusts her friends and doesn’t actually  feel threatened by anyone who might try to hit on Mamoru.

It’s in reality a case of her gripping too tight precisely because the object of her desire has slipped through her fingers far too many times in the past.* Or if you like, from Usagi’s POV destiny might’ve pre-ordained that she fall in love with Mamoru but she may well be concerned that it’s also pre-ordained that they be allowed to enjoy  being in love, not for too long anyway.  

However, I think this in turn set up a great example of character development for our heroine.

First of all, in episode 132 we have Chibiusa outright warning Usagi she has a romantic rival and that if she doesn’t shape up she will  lose Mamoru to her, and yet Usagi shrugs this off. 

Of course, we could argue that this is Usagi trying to simply one up Chibiusa in this moment, or else she is dismissive of the warning precisely because it comes from Chibiusa whom is both a child and someone who makes a point of trolling her. On the other hand we might view this as an example of how Usagi has in fact grown and is more at peace with the idea that she isn’t about to have Mamoru taken from her for the umpteenth time.  

Granted her over reaction in episode 136, wherein she dresses as a ninja to ensure Rei and Mamoru don’t get up to anything, goes against that idea. However, we could just as easily argue that Usagi’s reactions in that episode were an example of her backsliding precisely because of Rei and Mamoru’s history. She might not worry about Rei and Mamoru deep down, but the idea of them living in the same place when they used to date and when she knows how active  Rei was in pursuing him back in the day? It’s not beyond belief that in these specific circumstances Usagi’s resolve faltered whereas she’d have been less concerned if it’d been a stranger or someone with no romantic history with Mamoru.ffff

More significantly though is Sailor Stars. Once more Usagi ‘lost’/nearly lost Mamoru. This time this was due to Queen Nehelenia, whose efforts poisoned the Earth and by extension endangered the life of her lover. Then she did that AGAIN, this time outright brainwashing and abducting him. 

Even if this didn’t remind Usagi of her horrible experiences with Evil Endymion and Beryl, it would’ve still been disturbing and upsetting, especially when Mamoru developed a mirror fetish. Usagi went through Hell and physical torture to try and save her lover and this time the stakes were even higher. Because this time losing him would also mean losing the other person she loved the most, (Chibiusa) a horrible event that she eventually witnessed happen.

Sure, she saved the day and got both her future husband and future daughter back, but she still had to live through those horrible experiences to get to that point.  

And yet, despite these fresh traumas regarding losing her lover, in episode 173 Usagi handles Mamoru leaving for America surprisingly well.

It’s made clear she’s upset by his departure and doesn’t want  him to go. But she comes mere inches from seeing him off with a smile as she intended, demonstrating her increased strength and maturity. 

And despite her tears, despite her not wanting him to go, she still sees him off, she doesn’t try to dissuade him, she isn’t worried that he’ll meet other people or that their relationship will get torn asunder once more. She is sad because they are going to be physically separated by a long distance for a long time, but that’s the only  thing that’s of concern to her. And her reaction even then is relatively reigned in (by her standards) even in the privacy of her own home.  

And from a narrative/emotional POV it is almost like the universe rewards  her for that growth via Mamoru giving her a promise/engagement ring, saying he loves her and kissing her in the airport.

Whilst the significance of the ring is obvious (albeit not to Usagi) we shouldn’t undersell Mamoru’s words or the kiss. 

I’m willing to be corrected on this but I’m fairly certain that episode was the first time Mamoru (not Endymion, not Moonlight Knight talking about  Mamoru, etc) had ever told Usagi he loved her. Of course, his actions spoke louder than words on this front. Even before Usagi knew Mamoru was Tuxedo Mask she suspected the latter rescued her because he was in love with her. Nevertheless, having your partner actually look you in the eye and say the words can be incredibly emotionally significant for a lot of people. In a sense it is the ultimate unambiguous proof of the other person’s feelings (in theory anyway). Even if Usagi hadn’t been waiting to hear him say the words (personally I think her expression implies she had been) it would’ve nevertheless been a significant development in their relationship all the same.  

And as for the kiss, I admit I only vaguely know about Japanese cultural norms regarding PDA, but it is to my understanding that kissing in public is frowned upon. Even if I’m wrong about that, Mamoru (as evidenced by the R movie) certainly doesn’t like to kiss Usagi when anyone else is around. If you go back to check most of their kisses, either they are alone or else it’s obvious Mamoru doesn’t think anyone is observing them. The fact that he kisses Usagi not only in a public space, but an airport of all places (when there are crowds there for three big celebrities no less) is a huge deal for him. And in turn it’s a huge deal for Usagi because, whilst Mamoru might have more reservations, Usagi clearly cared a lot less about PDA, typically being the one to initiate their kisses.  

Consequent episodes further demonstrate Usagi’s growth regarding her old insecurities with Mamoru. Putting aside how we never once see her worried about him seeing other girls, in episode 181 Seiya outright raises the idea of him seeing other people. Usagi casually, without a hint of aggression, dismisses the idea.  

The irony is that it is Usagi  who’s in the situation she so often worried about regarding Mamoru. She is the person being pursued by  romantic rival to her lover, namely Seiya.  

The cruel  irony is that Usagi having matured enough to accept Mamoru leaving (despite being deeply upset and lonely about it) actually had  lost him yet again.  

She just didn’t know it.  

*Not to mention…she is a teenager. Those people tend to be ever so slightly prone to emotional over reactions at the best of times.  

[sanzoumon]

**FIRE FORCE FIC PROMPTS**

Note: A good chunk of these are smut prompts, featuring various ships (mostly BL ships). There are noncon prompts at the end, clearly marked where they start. I threw in some purely platonic SFW prompts for those of you who are into weird stuff like that lol

Please, if you like any of these prompts and are going to write them - tell me. Also some of these prompts are super detailed while others are like one sentence long.

Ships Included:

Konro x Benimaru • Joker x Benimaru • Viktor x Joker • Burns x Joker • Shinra x Sho • Shinra x Arthur • Charon x Haumea

————

-PLATONIC-

- Arrow & Sho. Sho gets upset and cries into Arrow’s chest. He’s so upset he calls her “mommy” without realizing it.

- Charon & Haumea. “Unconditional love” is what his thoughts told her. What she doesn’t understand is why. No matter how much she tries to find out, the answer alludes her.

- Shinra & Sho. Bed sharing and cuddling.

-SHIPPING-

Konro x Benimaru

- Teenage!Benimaru confesses his love for Konro when he’s drunk after having drank Sake for the first time.

- D/s. Benimaru loves giving up control to Konro when they have sex.

- Rumors about them being in a relationship spread, leading to so unsavory comments about Konro regarding their age difference. (Ex: suggesting Konro took advantage of Beni when he was young; that it’s creepy since Konro was an adult while Beni was a child when they first met; etc) Needless to say, Benimaru gets pissed anyone would dare think that about Konro.

- Doppelgänger!Konro x Doppelgänger!Benimaru. Hell’s a little nicer when you have someone you love to have sex with. Even Doppelgängers feel love.

- Doppel!Benimaru manifests and wreaks havoc because his Konro is dead. Now he wants Konro to replace him and he won’t let Benimaru get in the way of that. (Doppel!Beni is Yandere for Konro [both if them] because that’s how people perceive Benimaru to be... and turns out it’s correct, Benimaru IS Yandere for Konro).

- Mourning. Doppel!Benimaru finds out his Konro is dead. All of Adolla quakes from the outburst of his sorrow.

- (past noncon) Teenage!Benimaru tries to thank Konro in the only way he knows how - with his body. Konro is, reasonably, freaked out and finds out why it is Beni thinks this is appropriate.

- Benimaru is a bit of a submissive masochist. Konro is happy to help with whatever Beni needs.

- Their first time together wasn’t gentle. It was passionate, overwhelming, aggressive, heated, rough. All their pent up feelings for each out came rushing out violently and they were both happy to get caught up in it. Benimaru never felt so content in his life as when Konro was manhandling him that night.

- Benimaru does something special, and embarrassing, for Konro. Puppy-play.

- Konro is a bit of a voyeur. Those pictures he took of Beni for the calendar are not the only pictures he has of him. For Konro’s birthday, Benimaru supplies him with extra special pictures that Beni took of himself. As it happens, Benimaru is an exhibitionist.

- The world is on fire and Benimaru has nothing left to give. Before the flames take him he has to tell Konro he loves him. (Sad fic, death fic)

Joker x Benimaru // Benimaru x Joker

- They each have their own shit to be frustrated about. They take it out on each other when one of them needs it. It’s fine, they can take it.

- It’s not love. They don’t even like each other. They irritate each other. But they sure do love angry fucking each other.

Viktor x Joker

- Joker loves how fascinating Viktor finds him.

- Unlike any other partners he’s had, Viktor treats Joker gently when they have sex. He’s not used to it and gets flustered.

- After killing the captain at the Holy Sol Temple, the reality of the situation hits him. The man who violated him for years, who continued to haunt his nightmares into adulthood, was dead. All of a sudden he needs to see Viktor no matter what. (Hurt/comfort)

Burns x Joker

- (past noncon) Joker cries during sex and Burns really doesn’t know what to do about it.

- 52 has a crush on Burns and comes onto him one night. Burns can’t bring himself to turn him down, knowing what 52 goes through, and opts to make him feel good instead.

- Joker mourns Burns’ death.

- After all these years, Joker has daddy issues. It doesn’t surprise Burns’ in the slightest when Joker calls him “daddy” in bed. What surprises him is how much he enjoys being called that.

Shinra x Sho

- Sho has zero sense of personal space and Shinra’s been having some very uncomfortable thoughts about his little brother.

- Sho is in love with Shinra and doesn’t understand why everyone says it’s “wrong”.

- “Let big brother take care of you.”

- (past noncon) Arrow confesses to Shinra about all the terrible things the White Clad did to Sho since they abducted him. When he got old enough to start questioning things, they broke him. They did it again after Shinra’s Adolla Link with Sho (which in turn Shinra feels guilty for). [this one could be romantic or brotherly but either way hurt/comfort]

- Shinra thinks Sho is the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. An angel too perfect for a devil like him.

- A little bit of brotherly playful roughhousing, making up for all the years they lost, leads to something much more heated. Neither stops to think about it, it feels too good to finally be together.

- Shinra likes it a lot when Sho cries out “big brother” while they make love.

Shinra x Arthur

- A stupid argument about something pointless ends in Shinra pinning Arthur to the floor. Before either knows it they’re grinding against each other, kissing harshly.

- (attempted noncon) Doppel!Shinra tries to force himself on Arthur when Arthur confronts him about the real Shinra’s whereabouts.

- Arthur knows this isn’t the real Shinra, but there’s something alluringly taboo about being taken roughly by a devil like this.

Charon x Haumea

- The world is about to burn, but before she fulfills her duty she wants to show Charon how thankful she truly is for his devotion to her all this time. She figures she’ll kill two birds with one stone, rewarding him and indulging in pleasure herself.

-NONCON-

Mob x Benimaru

- Before ending up in Asakusa, being found and taken in by Hibachi, Benimaru lived on the streets of the Tokyo Empire. There’s a good reason he resents the Tokyo Empire and doesn’t like to leave Asakusa. A child alone on the streets is dangerous and he was so weak back then. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be cornered in some alley and sexually assaulted, left in the trash once they were done with him.

- Benimaru doesn’t know how this happening to him of all people, why he’s unable to fight off his attackers. They’re mocking him, degrading him, humiliating him, and they’re forcing him to get off on what’s being done to him. At some point he starts crying, begging for them to stop, which only makes them enjoy his torment more.

- Benimaru is drunk off his ass and someone decides to take advantage of the situation. How often do you get the chance to have Asakusa’s “King of Destruction” begging for you to fuck him?

Mob x Joker

- 52 still isn’t learning his lesson. To break him further, and to reward the rest of the shadows for their hard work and dedication, the captain has them punish 52 by letting them do whatever they want to him (nothing that will cause permanent injury, at least). 52’s entire week was spent as a plaything for them all, torture, rape, humiliation, degradation, all manner of creative punishment. It came damn close to breaking him.

- The criminal underworld isn’t a nice place. Sometimes Joker messes with the wrong people and he got taught painful lessons, no different from what the captain did to him.

- Forced Burns x Joker. The church calls it a bonding ceremony. Burns knows it’s just their way of attempting to break 52 by having the one person who hasn’t mistreated him hurt him. If Burns refuses, it won’t end well for anyone involved. So he forces himself on 52 and hates himself for it.

Mob x Sho

- (Extreme underage) Sho was just too tiny and cute. Only 5 years old. So soft, so sweet. Naturally, they had to beat that out of him.

- Haumea x Sho. She dresses him up like the beautiful doll he is. She plays with him like the toy he is. She violates him like the object he is. She makes him cry, cry out for his brother, his mother, Arrow, anyone, like the child he is. She makes him spread his legs for other White Clad members and then hurts him when he gets his dress dirty, like the useless slut he is. She leaves him hard, needy, alone for hours, until he’s begging for release. She tells him if his brother could see him now, he’d be disgusted by him. He agrees.

Kurono x Nataku

- Kurono loves every pathetic thing about Nataku. Or it’s as close to love as he’s capable of. In his own twisted way, he shows his affection for the boy.

- Nataku is such a masochistic boy, it’s impossible for Kurono to resist him.

Doppel!Benimaru x Konro

- Doppel!Benimaru manifests and infiltrates Company 7 while Benimaru is away. He tricks Konro into fucking him.

- Doppel!Benimaru promises to leave Asakusa alone in exchange for Konro fucking him.

Doppel!Konro x Benimaru

- Konro wasn’t there when the Demon Infernal showed up. Benimaru attempts to fight it on his own but the demon gets him on his back and starts ripping off his clothes. Benimaru is too confused to register just what’s happening until he feels white hot searing pain splitting him in half. He’s afraid, too shocked and in too much pain to do anything. In spite of it all, he gets hard. The demon notices and its grin gets wider. He remembers a burning hand jacking him off and feeling liquid fire inside him. Before he blacks out he hears Konro call out his name. When he wakes, the demon is gone and Konro is hurt.

Doppel!Benimaru x Benimaru

- Doppel!Beni captures Konro and forces him to watch while he rapes Benimaru. Beni can’t fight back because he and his Doppelgänger and too evenly matched and Konro would be hurt. All the while his Doppelgänger taunts him and Konro, describing how “his Konro” (the Doppelgänger) used to fuck him - finding all of Benimaru’s sensitive spots easily because he had them too. Tells them how it’s obvious to everyone how in love they are, that everyone suspects they’re together, because Doppel!Konro has been fucking Doppel!Beni’s brains out since he was a teenager. In spite of the situation, Konro ends up getting hard.

- Benimaru is haunted by dreams of hellfire. In them he always sees himself, a version of himself engulfed in flames. He’s had these dreams since the night before he discovered his powers. In them his other self violates him. It hurts. The dreams always feel so real, even in the morning. Nevertheless he chalks them up to just being nightmares until the discovery that Doppelgängers are real.

- They were evenly matched but his Doppelgänger blindsided him. His head is bleeding, Asakusa is burning, he doesn’t know what’s become of Company 7, and his damned Doppelgänger takes time out of his destruction to rape him - just to add insult to injury.

NOTE: If you’re unaware what “mob” means, it’s a doujin term basically meaning their only purpose is to assault whatever canon character. It’s not an OC, self, or reader insert. It can be an individual nameless character or a group of them.

Also yeah you can clearly tell the kinda stuff I’m into and I don’t care. I put all these prompts in one list because laziness.

May or may not update this list as need be! Enjoy the naughty stuff I know y’all really want as well!!

[langernameohnebedeutung]

ok so i'm mid-episode-7 right now and I'll just try to take a little break and wrap my head around all of this a little and collect my thoughts before I move on (spoilers!)

So far, episode 6 and Amenadiel's storyline is my favourite because it had actual emotional impact for me. I actually wish they had started this plot in the very first episode of the season so that we could spend more time on the problem.

Overall, I feel like the show really lacks the established structure it had since the beginning. Which were the murders and solve them. Most episodes were contained by one case with two sides: The actual police work which is where Chloe had her time to shine and then Lucifer dealing with whatever issues he is tackling in that episode, doing his projecting thing and maybe undergoing some personal growth. So we get a fully story per episode while the stakes of the season arc become higher and higher in the background. With Chloe and Lucifer no longer solving cases, this structure is gone. It feels like we're just spending time with some characters going this way or that at random, moving from plot-point to plot-point with very little pay-off. Everything just...blurs.

The stakes aren't really getting higher at all so far, there is no rising action as far as I can tell?

Like, in season 5 everything hit the fan constantly - Lucifer is actually Michael! Chloe gets abducted! Big battle at the precinct and God is there! Mojo switch! God is retiring! Vulnerability is gone! Lucifer is goign to become God! Dan dies! -- it was actually too much for me, towards the end, to the point where everything felt meaningless because the stakes were high beyond the frame of comprehension the show gives us, but this time...it's just seemingly not moving towards a climax.

In fact, they seem to be going down.

Rory is introduced as this big, bad mysterious figure who really, really wants Lucifer dead - and now it feels like she's just been an emo teen hanging out with him and Chloe for weeks? months? doing random stuff - until she remembers that she's pissed at Lucifer again and stomps off and it kinda f eels like it's been going on for ages. Which is okay, I actually like her but it kind of falls flat from her original introduction.

I could live with that if they gave me something to actually worry about. Show me Rory actually getting used to the world around her, finding out things about the people she thinks she knows - or thinks she knows. Going back in time, that's a gigantic premise! I actually really loved seeing her talk about Trixie and knowing immediately where she would hide her chocolate - I would love more stuff like this. I would love to see more stuff about what it was like for her to grow up knowing her father is/was the devil! About growing up as a half-angel. About Charlie who is also a half-angel but actually has a father. Stuff like that.

Then we have the "becoming God"/"becoming Queen of Hell" thing that the entire last season build up to, the biggest fattest finale they ever had- that was a really huge deal. But now both Maze and Lucifer just kinda decided they'd rather not do that and found reasons to hang around. And when a frog started coming from heaven and Ella says she can't feel god anymore and Lucifer runs to Linda so that she can teach him how to care- I thought things are building up now and we're going to have some WandaVision style reality collapse at our hands, I was hyped for that - buuuut nah, they're just all kind of hanging around.

Actually, pay-off in general seems to be kind of a problem. For example, Rory not calling Maze 'aunt' and not knowing Amenadiel appeare to set off an exciting little mystery - and considering that we're now no longer solving crimes, I would love if they really delved into the celestial side of mysterious. I would have loved to figure out some time-travel sheningans - buuuuut it was a joke.

See, I love Dan but honestly I'm kind of at odds with how to deal with his characterisation rn? Because he's been in hell for a thousand years, hanging out with demons and stuff and it's been a thousand years down there, that is torture even without the torture and I would have expected a bit more anything. The same thing with Chloe and the blade, tbh, I feel like this could have been so much bigger?

Overall, I feel like there are missing so many opportunities that I think the show would not only not have missed in seasons 1 or 2, but would have actively used:

The whole thing was always Lucifer projecting his problems on the cases and (maybe) learning something about himself on a good day. Now, let's take the Jimmy Barnes episode. I loved when Chloe looked at the throne and was like: "It looks so lonely" and Lucifer says "it was" - that was such a great moment. - because so far, Chloe doesn't know hell. She doesn't know the reality of hell or what it meant for Lucifer to rule over this place and it seemed like a great set-up for her to finally see his world and to understand what it meant for him to leave this place - but also to be sent back down there again and again. And also for Lucifer to actually see one of his most painful experiences acknowledged by the woman he loves and to actually...talk to her about that. After all, this is the big reversal: So far, Lucifer was the consultant on Chloe's cases, and now Chloe became the consultant and helping Lucifer tackle his celestial issues. So to see her go to hell and actually learn about the place seemed like a really cool start - and then we learn that Jimmy Barnes' backstory is about a son left behind by a parent! And Chloe even talks about how horrible and alone he must have felt! And let's not forget Chloe's own backstory - her father didn't leave, she lost him because he was killed, but she also once sat at home and realised her Dad wouldn't come home and then she got a phone call and realised he would never come home - but for entirely different reasons than Lucifer who was cast out or Jimmy Barnes who got left behind. It seemed like exactly the kind of threads that this show would bring together and have the character discuss and reflect on at the end of the episode. But they didn't. They...rarely do that, this season and it just feels like something is missing from the format - and its emotional impact.

Sometimes I actually used to feel like the show had a tendency of spelling out too much, being too direct - but this season around it's not like they're less subtle. It's just not really acknowledged and it doesn't feel organic.

Another example is in the episode where Lucifer seeks out his old lovers to find out whether they're Rory's mothers.

This obviously gave me vibes right from Stewardess Interruptus which is one of my all-time favourite episodes.

Stewardess Interruptus is one of my favourite episodes because it told us so much about our characters. Also, our characters learn about each other and themselves here: Along with Chloe, we learn Lucifer isn't just a person who really likes having a lot of sex, but that he actually has a pretty dysfunctional relationship with sexuality. We also learn how much Chloe, while actually trying to date Lucifer, struggles with the sex-life he has because for her its symptomatic of their very different lifestyles and it makes her wonder how compatible they are. We go from Chloe asking Lucifer's ex-partners whether he "basically used you for sex and then moved on" to realising that actually...it's kinda the other way around. Lucifer is the one who's letting himself be used because he doesn't know how else to connect with people. That was a good episode - - - now that we went on a similar journey in the season 6 episode, I was actually very interested! Especially now that Lucifer is in a proper relationship and I would have loved to see that brought up - for example if Chloe had been presented with the "meaningless"-thing again and we actually had a moment where Lucifer and her talk about what it means to have a "meaningful" relationship. Like, Chloe tells him that it's okay if he had a relationship before her or loved one of these women - which yes! of course it is! - actually, it would have been interesting to see them discuss what it means that he didn't have that kind of connection before despite being almost old as time.

I was especially interested in Esther as a character - who says she became a Rabbi because of Lucifer which is...something really, really interesting. For one, because this show has such a long history of acting like Christianity is the only religion in the world or at least as if the Christian take on the devil is universal (Amenadiel even says in the first season that "every religion has its version of the devil" and that he's always a "rebellious son" which...no. That's not true. At all.) when really, it's not. (I actually remember reading a really good fic once about Lucifer meeting a Rabbi and discussing the different ideas of evil but that's a whole different matter.)

In this episode, Lucifer is now confronted with someone who didn't find the encounter she had with him meaningless at all - she literally changed her life because of it. Also, when she says she became a Rabbi because of him and he's like "oh yeah guess I got that from your desires..." - much like in the Jimmy Barnes episode, I prepared myself for the classic twist at the end of the episode that the show would usually have had. The moment where Lucifer's immediate assumptions would be challenged. I was expecting that by the end of the episode, she would say something: "Hey, it was not actually your mojo, but ---" and we would learn something about her and have Lucifer reconsider his assumptions - For example her saying he seemed lost and that it inspired her to take on a role where she could offer people guidance. Or it would have been interesting if, like Father Frank, she actually realised at some point that he's really the devil and that made her think more deeply about her faith. That could have been really interesting. Like...I feel like in the first seasons of the show, this would definitely have lead to some emotional twist and impact, even in one of the weaker episodes. Some revelation or insight. Something memorable. But here...it's not.

In a similar vein, that kind of emotional twist is something I would have loved to see in Lucifer's interactions with Rory.

One of my favourite moments in the show was when Maze gave Linda that blanket for Charlie - and says that she got him something that she wished she had as a child.

That was so simple! So effective! Strong story-telling! We understood and learnt so much about what made Maze into Maze in just a few lines of dialogue! It's heart-wrenching! It was amazing. - and honestly, it would be so simple to give Lucifer and Rory a similar moment. Again and again we hear Lucifer insist that it cannot be true, he would never abandon his child but it's very "tell" and not much "show" - when Lucifer tries so desperately to find something that he can give Rory it would have been a really strong moment between Christmas-es and driving lessons and parties, if we had a scene where Lucifer tries to do something similar to what Maze did for Charlie:

Have him actually talk to Rory about what he felt like being abandoned by his father and try to give her something that he would have wanted or say something the would have wanted to hear. We would have learnt more about Lucifer, we would have more of an emotional impact beyond him just saying over and over again that he wouldn't abandon his child, we would actually see some development in the relationship between Lucifer and Rory, Rory might actually get a similar opportunity to shine when she reacts to that - giving her more depth and illustrating her pain in a new way rather than just the same thing over and over again. Their relationship has been seemingly stagnant for ages now. It would have been good.

Another example: Adam kidnaps Linda, Maze and Eve work together to get their hands on Adam because they have no idea what he did to her - and then get a really, really long scene discussion their wedding and relationship and stuff. And then, right at the end of the scene they're like: "oh uh btw we have to find Linda"- that one was...almost funny, because it was so bad and weirdly paced. This is Maze we're talking about! Maze who throws hands with everyone who even looks at her friends funny! And who just recently learnt what it felt like to lose a friend!

I feel like there is a similar tell vs. show problem with Eve and Maze and her family. I really, really liked the dinner-scene in the first episode of the season where Linda keeps asking Eve about what she was going to do in hell, about what her role would be, how she sees hell - and Eve keeps being really light-hearted and seemingly naive about it.

Because Eve's entire character flaw (by which I don't mean that it's "bad" or "evil" - but that it's actually something that causes Eve a lot of pain and holds her back) is that she always 100% adjusts herself to her current partner. That she wants to back them completely and be perfect for them. That is what made her so great in season 4: She was neither "the mean new woman ruining things between Chloe and Lucifer >:( " nor was she someone dangled over Chloe as "here is how you are a really good girlfriend to Lucifer" - no, the reason why she was seemingly perfect for Lucifer was was because she was making herself be perfect for him - to the point of self-negation where he cannot get her to break up with him, because she keeps and keeps and keeps adjusting to him. That is why their relationship was dysfunctional and eventually toxic. When she says in season 4 that Lucifer and her will simply go to hell and keep the party going there - that was the pinnacle of her self-deceit, that was the shining moment where we could tell just how desperate she is for love and acknowledgement and companionship that she's literally willing to go to HELL if that's what it takes.

When the dinner scene in 6.1 started, I was very excited to see this issue build up and then be resolved between Maze and her. I was looking forward to see Maze realise what Eve's actual issue is and to come to some clever solution over the course of the season, but so far...that's not really happening.

And yes, Eve wants to get to know Maze's siblings while Maze keeps saying that no, demons are evil - which would also be a super interesting conflict but it's again lacking the emotional impact because we know so little about the demons on the show and what the world-building is. It's much like with God and the fam in the last season: Up to that point, they were really, really wrapped in huge mystery but that's really why it falls kind of flat. But whereas God and especially the angels fell flat for me because I had them build up in this big, uncanny celestial mystery and they couldn't live up to that once they appeared in the flesh, here it's the opposite. I know so little about the actual horrors of hell that I struggle to sympathise with Maze's fears. If I knew literally any demons' thoughts on Maze being the new queen or having a human royal consort or anything, there would be real stakes. But this way, they can just shake anything out of their sleeves and that's it.

[jess-rewatches-prodigalson]

Bad Manners (S2, E5)

My time-stamped thoughts for this episode. As always I reference Malcolm’s mental health. A lot. So if that’s going to be a trigger for you, don’t keep reading.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

0:35 - Martin totally thought John Watkins abducted and killed Ainsley. Mark my words. 

0:44 - Holy. Shit. Ainsley is FIVE years old (or younger) here right? A five year old with that much determination?!?! She literally stayed silent in that clock for probably hours......and no one was concerned about this kid when Martin was arrested because...?

1:09 - Anyone else impressed with Malcolm’s aim here? Just me?

1:20 - Gil and Malcolm talking about sleep and murder is so freaking sweet. <3 Honestly, they’re acting like friends instead of co-workers and it warms my cold dead heart. 

1:29 - Does Gil become a grumpy old man when he doesn’t get 8 hours sleep? I really want to know now. 

1:39 - OMG. Gil pointing at Ainsley here is hilarious. He’s totally acting like some weird mix of a stern pissed off high-school teacher, and a step-dad trying to discipline an unruly teen. hahaha AND MALCOLM’S FACE. Look how done Malcolm is. He looks so so tired, sad, and exasperated. 

1:44 - Wow. Girl power. Ainsley has those camera guys bending to her will. I honestly would’ve thought they would just read the situation and turn the camera off themselves. 

1:47 - “It’s not a game.” Yikes. I have thoughts about this:

Malcolm is right - it’s not a game. 

Malcolm is a bit of a hypocrite for saying that to Ainsley. Although, to his credit even when Malcolm is excited/inappropriately happy about murder it’s always pretty clear that he thinks murder is wrong, and that he has sympathy for the victims and their families. 

Ainsley does not have that same sympathy for the victims. That much is clear later in this episode. 

Pretty sure the writers are trying to turn Ainsley into a serial killer this season. 

2:13 - “You know I like to share these things with my friends.” .....does this mean Malcolm thinks Dani and JT are his friends now? Last I checked (Ep 1x05) Malcolm didn’t have friends. This absolutely melts my heart. <3 I’m honestly so happy that Malcolm considers someone other than Gil to be his friend.

2:18 - “We lost Dani to vice.” .....What is vice? AND WHAT IS THE REAL LIFE REASON THAT DANI WASN’T IN THIS EPISODE?!? 

2:19 - Edrisa has a medical degree right? She has to know how dangerous consuming that much caffeine is right? Plus aren’t energy drinks super dangerous if you drink a lot of them (or maybe that’s just what adults in my neighbourhood told kids)?

2:30 - Edrisa SHINES in this episode. She’s so funny and awkward and I just love her. 

2:36 - hahaha Gil has adopted the whole team. Look at him throwing the “Dad warning stare” at Edrisa. 

3:31 - Why does Edrisa start bouncing around looking upset when Malcolm says, “rejection is a powerful motivator”?!?! Has she recently been broken up with or something? Is this a reference to how she has a crush on Malcolm (who doesn’t reciprocate)? I WANT MORE INFORMATION.

3:47 - TWIZZLERS!!! <3 Damn I love how this tiny detail about Malcolm’s character keeps coming up. 

3:55 - Ainsley is on a rampage this episode. She’s so determined ...actually she’s acting a lot like Jessica (think girl in the box bracelet). However, unlike Jessica, Ainsley’s motives aren’t about justice or the safety of her loved ones.  Ainsley is chasing personal gain (career) with a side of (a subconscious?) need to be exposed to murder and her father’s twisted world. 

4:05 - This whole interaction between Ainsley and Malcolm is really interesting. Ainsley is knowingly manipulating Malcolm to get the answers she wants. We’ve seen her do it in 2x4 and 1x19. She knows her big brother would do anything for her. It makes sense, they’re five years apart and after the trauma they experienced as children Malcolm felt responsible to protect Ainsley. He never wants to disappoint Ainsley. Not a burden he should’ve had to deal with but I digress. PLUS Malcolm looks weary of Ainsley here. He knows what she’s doing. He’s scared that she’s turning to the dark side. But he still gives her the answers because if he doesn’t - that means something has changed. He thinks that would make Ainsley suspicious and then she might remember what happened to Endicott. He’s scared of and for Ainsley. 

4:32 - OKAY. I’ll say it. The thing that annoys me the most about this episode is that it suggests that Ainsley was a debutant when in 1x6 AINSLEY TELLS MARTIN SHE WAS NEVER A DEBUTANT. She went to etiquette school - I guess that doesn’t strictly mean she also did debutant balls but it sort of suggests it in the context of this episode? Did she actually graduate from the etiquette school (there was bullying, maybe she was expelled/dropped out similar to Malcolm and Remington?)?

4:59 - “No stabbies” OMG. How is this show not classified as a comedy?!? Istg I laugh harder watching this ‘drama’ then I do watching most of the shows that call themselves ‘comedies’.

5:35 - It’s honestly kind of amazing that Ainsley and Malcolm are as ‘sane’ as they are. They were raised by a stubborn predatory psychopath and a stubborn rich meddling socialite. They had no chance of normalcy. Look at the amount of pleasure Martin is currently getting by throwing his son under the bus with regards to Jessica. 

 5:45 - “No actually, I cleaned it up.”.....does this have a dual meaning? Did Martin do something to make Malcolm dispose of the body? We already know that Martin has tried some sort of conditioning on Malcolm (remember ‘C’mon boy!’ from 1x14? The stabbing?). What if Martin said some sort of trigger word to control Malcolm and coerced Malcolm into getting rid of the body? What if this isn’t the first time?

6:05 - Ainsley is a sociopath. I’m calling it again. I called it when I first watched Q&A (1x7) because the way she treated Malcolm was more than just selfish/careless. It was cruel and she didn’t feel any remorse for literally broadcasting her brother’s private health details on television. That is messed up. I honestly won’t be shocked if the writers make Ainsley a full blown serial killers (although I’m not sure I want that because I don’t know how Malcolm would remain the main character if the story goes in that direction?). 

6:12 - Poor Jessica. I honestly feel really bad for her. Sure, she’s a headstrong alcohol dependant crazy rich woman. She also has a good heart. She’s been dealt a pretty shitty hand when it comes to relationships (minus Gil but she ruined that because she’s a MORON) and now she’s terrified that her own children have become monsters and she blames herself. She definitely hasn’t been a perfect mother but I don’t think she’s to blame for Ainsley and Malcolm’s obsession with murder. If these kids had a different bio dad, they would probably just have a low-key drug problem or some other common rich kid baggage. 

6:15 - “You know that’s not how cancer works right?” LOL. hahahaha

6:33 - Martin kind of has a point. There’s no rehab for murder. That’s why he’s been in jail for 20 years and he still wants to kill people. In my opinion, given what we’ve seen of Ainsley’s personality: as soon as she fully remembers that night - she’s gone. She’ll go full serial killer and Jessica and Malcolm will lose her forever. 

6:40 - Jessica’s little jazz hand finger twinkle as she spins on her heel and leaves Martin kills me. It’s so extra. It’s so funny. And it’s sooo Jessica. 

6:47 - Damn. Martin is pissed. I’m worried. That’s murder-level rage. If he escapes ISTG Martin is going to try and kill Gil. For so many reasons 1) because he hates Gil, 2) it’ll hurt Jessica, and 3) killing Gil will eliminate his ‘Dad’ competition. 

6:54 - Edrisa on caffeine is AMAZING.

7:43 - I love Edrisa but her blatant, unreciprocated crush on Malcolm is honestly getting a little creepy. 

7:52 - Gil spent all last season drinking out of a Yankee’s mug. Doesn’t that mean he’s a baseball fan? Why doesn’t he know this pitcher guy?

7:56 - hahahaa “Where is JT?” Because obviously JT is the team sports fan. 

8:22 - Does Gil get nightmares about cases? He always seems really uncomfortable around the dead bodies. 

8:45 - “And suddenly I’m wide awake” SERIOUSLY - is anyone else laughing every 60 seconds when they watch this show? Is my sense of humour just super dark and messed up?

8:54 - YES. The liquorice is BACK.

9:00 - I love Malcolm talking to JT about his obsession with candy. I love how Malcolm doesn’t even hesitate before giving JT an honest answer. Malcolm is acting like JT’s annoying little brother and I am here for it. One thing I did notice though - Malcolm specifically mentions candy+dopamine but doesn’t mention his depression/anxiety. Processed sugar can be a short-term (unhealthy) way to boost your mood. It’s why some people eat their feelings. I really want more backstory about Malcolm with the lollipops and licorice though. 

9:19 - “But you didn’t do anything wrong.” Awwww Malcolm is so soft here. I love how much he genuinely cares about JT. <3 I love how JT is comfortable enough with Malcolm to give him an honest answer. <3 THEIR RELATIONSHIP HAS GONE THROUGH SUCH A GLOW UP. <3 

9:32 - “Like toy dolls?” hahaha the way Malcolm perked up here. All I could think was “SQUIRREL!” hahaha. 

9:41 - Malcolm is doing better than he has been the past few episodes? I mean he’s still suffering and he’s still in a terrible mental state. BUT he also seems happier? IDK maybe he’s just entered the more manic nervous energy stage of his emotions as opposed to the depressed and scared stage. 

9:49 - “Deep childhood trauma”. So we’re looking for a debutant killer with childhood trauma who is chasing perfection? Debutant = rich lady culture. Like Ainsley. AND Ainsley went to the same etiquette school as the first two victims. The writer’s wanted us to assume the killer was Ainsley for the first 15 mins of this episode right? I’m not the only one seeing it?

10:04 - “My sister went there too.” ....why is there something super attractive about the way that line was delivered?

10:08 - I’m so done with this absolute tom foolery. Why does the team keep splitting up into two teams - where one team is JUST MALCOLM. The one who is unarmed and technically a civilian?!? This makes no logical sense to me (except for plot).

10:25 - Was Martin just about to say, “Just like the old days”?!? Is Martin referring to Endicott? OR is Martin referring to something that Malcolm’s repressed from his childhood?

10:30 - “I always root for the bad guys.” .....finally some truth from Martin.

10:40 - Soooooo I guess Mr. David doesn’t know? I promise you Mr. David has suspicions though. How could he not?!?!

11:24 - “It was brutal for Ains.” Look at how sad Malcolm is! Ugh. This hurts so much. He clearly loves his sister so so much and what she’s done is slowly killing him. I honestly think that part of the reason Malcolm helped Ainsley dispose of the body is that Malcolm doesn’t want to loose his sister. His sister is one of the only good things he’s always been able to count on. If word gets around that she’s a killer - Malcolm’s fragile world gets shattered a little more and I don’t know if Malcolm can recover mentally from that. 

11:36 - “Teasing made her capable of...stuff.” C’MON. There’s no way Mr. David doesn’t know. 

11:45 - Sooo is Martin saying that he recognized that Ainsley was a sociopath when she was a small child? Or did she just respond to his (or John Watkins’) grooming much ‘better’ than Malcolm?

11:56 - “Because she’s her mother’s” Okay. So I see the point. I can see that Ainsley is driven and stubborn like Jessica. BUT it feels like Martin is suggesting that Jessica is capable of murder? Which - I honestly don’t think she is. If anything - Malcolm is more like Jessica than Ainsley is.

11:59 - There was a look in Martin’s eyes when he was comparing Ainsley to Jessica that really freaked me out. I can’t figure out why. It makes me wonder if Martin still somehow views Jessica as ‘his possession’ (he refers to her as his wife all the time but I always assumed that was just to get a rise out of people?). Martin’s dream from 2x4 certainly suggests that he still wants Jessica romantically. I honestly think he’s going to try to escape and rekindle the romance with Jess; and it’s going to go very poorly when Jessica rejects him. 

12:06 - Preach JT. Preach. This is creepy af. 

13:00 - Ugh. Of course this creep has a history of indecent exposure. Now I understand why Gil and JT were hostile with the dude right from the start. 

13:12 - Man. People will use the Bible to justify anything. No wonder people hate Christians ( I say this as a practicing Christian).

13:18 - JT is such a good dude. I’m so glad he’s a dad now. <3 He’s going to be such a good one. <3

13:26 - “One phone call and this place will be shut down.” OH SHIT. GIL THAT IS VICIOUS AND I RESPECT THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

13:35 - I soooo thought that dude was going to sprint out of that room. 

14:30 - THIS. YES. This is why I have a problem with Ainsley’s enthusiasm for murder vs. Malcolm’s. Ainsley’s enthusiasm is centred on her nee to ‘get the story’. She’s obsessed with forwarding her career and as a result she’s treating crime like a competitive sport. Malcolm’s obsession (while it can border on creepy and reckless) is always centred on his need to find the killer and stop the murders. Malcolm is seeking justice and his heart is in the right place. I can’t say the same for Ainsley.

14:31 - “We’re brother and sister, everything is a competitive sport”.....whoever wrote this doesn’t have a sibling they experienced trauma with as a kid (and as a result was raised by a single parent). Seriously, my dad was abusive he lived with us until I was 10 and my brother was 7. Then my parents got divorced and my mom was a single parent (he didn’t pay child support or see his kids after the divorce). Are my brother and I competitive? Sure sometimes. But the way we grew up forced us to become partners. Annoyed with Mom? Let’s rant about it together. Is he struggling in math? I’ll tutor him in exchange for a Reese cup. Am I struggling at daycare because I have massive social anxiety? He’ll include me in whatever he’s doing so I’m not sitting alone in a corner. My point: siblings who experience trauma together don’t have the typical sibling relationships that are widely televised in North America. There’s a lot less fighting and competition and a lot more teaming up and commiserating. 

14:39 - “It. It’s terrible.” - Notice how Ainsley didn’t actually say how it made her feel? She gave the standard “TV response” to a murder “a terrible/horrific/tragedy has occurred”. She doesn’t feel bad that these women are dead. She’s too consumed with getting a story to even stop and let herself feel anything. I’ve been saying it since last season - the way Ainsley shows no regard for other people and their feelings when she’s obsessed with her job is concerning. 

14:50 - “Remind me of the people who cut us off after Dad’s arrest.” ...Are you kidding me?!? The whole fandom has been speculating about this since early season one and they’re not going to elaborate on that line?!? I’m going to need some more information about this and it better be in the upcoming episode where Jessica’s younger sister appears. 

15:40 - She thinks of her students as family? Sooo what does she think of Ainsley? Wasn’t Ainsley bullied at this school? Did she do anything about it? 

16:00 - this is like a ‘weekend/evening school’ right? Kids aren’t living in this house like a boarding school/summer camp?

16:01 - “Mr. Whitly” UGH. This bitch preaches etiquette and she doesn’t even have the common courtesy to call Malcolm by the name with which he introduced himself? Nah. I don’t like her. 

16:13 - Ugh. Ainsley, seriously? Why don’t you help your brother solve the case. AND PREVENT MORE MURDERS. Why are you indirectly but purposely obstructing justice?

16:37 - “Of course.” Huh. Do you think Martin might try and manipulate Ainsley into killing Malcolm? Ainsley definitely capable of it. She doesn’t actually seem to care about Malcolm nearly as much as he cares about her. 

17:17 - WTF?!? That’s creepy af. How did no one in this show think this assistant was a suspect? She has a super creepy doll that she ‘forgot’ on the floor the middle of a hallway. AND THE DOLL WAS STANDING UP. Not sitting, not dropped carelessly, STANDING UP.

17:30 - Look at Malcolm’s face. He’s definitely going to be having nightmares about that doll. 

18:25 - OMG. This was amazing. JT just totally bulldozed his way into catching that dude. Very badass. Also kind of funny (maybe that’s just my messed up sense of humour again?).

18:44 - Ugh. This dude has a thing for dolls. I don’t want to kink shame but - no. no. There’s something really gross about that.  

18:48 - I’ve seen some people say that this doll looks like Ainsley and how that’s supposed to be some sort of foreshadowing/symbolism. I kind of see it? I mean the hair colour is similar and if you pause the screen at 18:48 the angle kind of looks like Ainsley? It would be an interesting metaphor though - Ainsley played with dolls as a little girl. John Watkins gave her angel statues. She is Watkins’ and Martin’s doll’ in the sense that she was the object that murders manipulated/groomed. 

18:53 - Then again, pause the screen here and there’s something about the facial structure that looks like Dani to me. 

19:00 - Jessica lets Ainsley work in the murder office?!? No. No she doesn’t. This is garbage. Jessica would’ve forbade it. Jessica would’ve bordered up this room immediately after Watkins.

19:57 - Poor Jessica. She’s clearly terrified that she’s losing Ainsley and terrified of Ainsley. BUT Jess, sweetie, running to Europe won’t fix this. 

20:16 - “She wanted the dolls to look like her students.” AND PEOPLE SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO HER?!? WTF?!? NO. NO. NO. NOT OKAY. 

20:31 - HAHA look at Gil’s face when Trevor tells him he can make the ‘perfect woman’. Gil’s like WTF - can I arrest you for thinking you can fabricate a ‘perfect woman’?!!?

21:06 - Malcolm is having so much fun playing with Trevor’s doll head. Look at how excited he is. It’s kind of adorable but his manic energy is showing which is concerning. 

21:10 - Why is Trevor giving his doll fancy 1940s(ish) names? 

21:31 - Props to LDP. I honestly believed Gil was annoyed with Malcolm for barging in on the interrogation the first time I watched this. 

21:42 - “They got a word for everything.” hahaha OMG. This is so reminiscent of a teenager explaining some new tech to their tech-illiterate parents. 

22:00 - I can’t tell if Gil feels sorry for this creep or if he just thinks the dude is really gross. Probably a mixture. 

23:00 - Oh we’re bringing up the chloroform again. At least Malcolm knows not listen to Martin about this nonsense. 

23:25 - “It doesn’t feel fun.” - THIS. This is why I honestly don’t think Malcolm will ever become a serial killer. His guilt complex is just too big.

23:56 - Are. You. Kidding. Me? This is next level. Ainsley is so out of line here. AND SHE SHOWS NO REMORSE. SHE DOESN’T THINK SHE’S DONE ANYTHING WRONG. THIS GIRL HAS GONE DARK SIDE (she was already halfway there).

24:17 - I’m getting papa!Gil vibes when Gil is talking to Ainsley and I want more scenes of them interacting. Seriously, did Gil have a relationship with Ainsley when she was a kid? I MUST KNOW.

24:45 - Ainsley has no conscience. I honestly don’t think Ainsley has a conscience. 

25:00 - “Who is that!?” Malcolm is totally acting like he’s Ainsley’s father-figure right now. I’m here for it. 

25:22 - SORE LOSERS?!? I’m sorry. What? If you weren’t concerned about Ainsley you damn well should be now. That is seriously messed up. People are dead. This is not a game. Do you know who else thought murder was a game? Martin Whitly.

25:31 - Okay. Ainsley has a point. Malcolm lecturing anyone about being reckless is pretty hypocritical. But at least Malcolm cares about her. 

25:54 - Heart. Shattered. Look at how terrified Jessica is. Look at how gentle and reassuring Gil is. UGh. WHY DID SHE BREAK UP WITH HIM??! I mean, I know why I just think she’s a moron for doing it. 

26:00 - Poor Gil. He’s so confused and so concerned. The whole Whitly family is acting crazier then usual and he doesn’t know why. 

26:11 - “Both you and Malcolm are at an 11 and I’ve never seen Ainsley like that.” FIND YOURSELF A MAN WHO CARES LIKE GIL AND NEVER LET HIM GO. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Seriously. The love and concern he shows for this family warms my cold dead heart. 

26:16 - “Her father?!” Oh shit. Now Gil knows there’s something BIG happening. Jessica would never run to Martin unless she absolutely had to. 

26:19 - annnnd Gil’s also being a prideful man who’s feeling are hurt. “You went to him?” He’s right to be though - the woman he loves went to a serial killer for advice before going to the guy who practically co-parented with her. 

26:33 - “I’m here. Whatever you need. I’m here.” <3 <3 Gil is the definition of a good man. <3 I’m in love with it. 

26:48 - “You were right on time for me.” ....*snort* subtle Gil (and in front of JT!!)

27:08 - Edrisa is hysterical on caffeine. hahaha. This whole scene is perfect. 

27:20 - You know someone is acting manic when Malcolm Bright is concerned about their eccentric behaviour. 

27:34 - Annnnnd Tom Payne was a split second from breaking character here. I don’t blame him. hahaha

28:05 - EDRISA flipping and dropping that pencil. HAHAHAHAHAHA

29:10 - “Absolutely not.” hahaha this is funny but also really sweet. Malcolm knows that Edrisa hopped up on caffeine isn’t safe to have near an active killer. Who knows what’ll happen. I wish he’d care that much about his own well being. Looks like calling for backup last episode was a one time thing. 

30:37 - I’ll give the writers one thing - Miss Windsor makes a convincing murder suspect.

31:22 - GIL. STANDING. UP. FOR. JT. IS. EVERYTHING. Where is O’Malley’s back up? Oh yeah, they’re not brave enough to defend him.

32:00 - Huh. Bright texted for backup. This is growth. I’m proud of him. 

32:15 - YES. This JT arc was handled right. Sure JT could’ve complained. It would’ve been episodes upon episodes of bureaucratic nightmares and injustice. This show isn’t about racism. They showed enough to portray that the system is broken and they had JT act like a responsible adult. It’s not fair that JT had to go through this or that he’ll likely experience something similar to it again. But the fact that JT is acting like a bigger person is perfect. JT will protect his family. Always. That includes Malcolm. So JT avoids putting through a formal complaint because he knows that will take time away from doing his job, from protecting others, from hanging out with his wife and kid. JT’s taking the higher road, it might not be gratifying or fair but I respect the hell out of him for taking it. 

32:28 - Gil is so so proud of JT. Look at him. <3 <3 

33:40 - Look, Miss Windsor is a bit of a stuck up bitch but she has a good heart. Look at the way she immediately tells Malcolm where Ainsley is when she realizes what’s happening. 

34:14 - This confused me during the first watch - Ainsley obviously didn’t drink any tea - so why is she drugged? (obviously I know now). 

34:17 - Big brother Malcolm frantically looking for Ainsley is so so sweet. <3 

35:42 - The music, the dolls, and Miss Windsor’s speech here. There’s something about this part of the episode that is strangely reminiscent of 5x16 of Criminal Minds.

36:20 - ......does Miss Windsor have some sort of mental illness? She’s talking to herself and ranting erratically. Is this just emotional stress or something deeper?

37:00 - This is why Malcolm’s not a serial killer. Even now- looking at a killer - he’s trying to sympathize with her. He’s trying to understand why. He’s trying to calm her down, diffuse the threat, and get her mental help. 

39:00 - Oh yeah. Ainsley was definitely going to kill without remorse. Again. I’ve seen some theories that Ainsley only ever tries to kill to protect Malcolm. I disagree. I think Ainsley’s trying to protect herself. Ainsley is pissed off that this girl tried to drug her and kill her because she thinks Ainsley is wicked. Ainsley was pissed at Endicott for whatever he did to Ainsley before Malcolm got there. I think Ainsley felt threatened and scared so she reacted. I don’t think this has anything to do with protecting Malcolm.

39:41 - Malcolm isn’t a killer. Look. He smells gas but he takes the time to carry an unconscious murderer (who literally just tried to kill his sister) out of the building. 

40:00 - The drama. Holy hell. What a weird ending to this case.

40:48 - Who gave Ainsley a police jacket and let her keep it?

41:14 - She almost died and she’s still obsessing over ‘winning’. This is seriously unstable behaviour. Way more concerning than anything Malcolm’s done since 2x1. 

41:45 - “My father was a serial killer also.” Anyone else super irritated by that phrasing?!?  Just me?!? Something about the ‘also’ feels super wrong to me.

41:53 - Oh sweetie. I’d argue that you are more messed up than Malcolm. 

42:06 - Jessica went to see Martin twice in one episode. THIS IS BAD.

42:15 - “Maybe even more so than Malcolm if that’s possible.” Jessica knows her kids. I’m on her side here. 

42:20 - Martin is way too happy about Ainsley showing signs of serial killing. 

42:30 - Jessica? You married an act. That man never existed. He’s always been a serial killer. You just didn’t know it. He’s manipulative and you were a victim to it. 

42:50 - “A partner.” OH THIS IS NOT GOING TO END WELL. ESPECIALLY FOR THE GIL/JESSICA ARC.

Okay....so definitely the weakest episode of the season so far. AND the fact that we got no mention of Tally and/or the baby this episode is a crime. 

BUT I’M SO SO SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT EPISODE. It’s going to be a televised fanfic and I can’t wait. 

[tlkfanficfest]

TLK Fanfic Fest Prompts - Round 2

Round 2 is here! And the fandom has DOUBLED the amount of prompts since Round 1! That’s right, we have 126 prompts for this round. AMAZING!

This round will be open for two weeks and be closed on July 26.

All the prompts are alphabetized below, into different categories. Anyone can write using any prompt and all prompts may be filled by multiple people!

Please remember to tag your completed prompt fill with #TLKFFF2020 and @tlkfanficfest so they can be included in the Fill Post.

If your prompt fills are also on AO3 please add your fics to the The Last Kingdom Fanfic Fest Collection.  

If you wish to submit an anonymous submission, you may do so here. All submissions will posted at the discretion of @tlkfanficfest. We will not post anything involving incest or anything involving minors. 

And now, without further ado, the prompts:

PAIRINGS

Aethelflaed/Erik cute moments

Aethelflaed/Uhtred. Domestic (similar to early episode 4x05) either at cookham or saltwic/droitwich

Aethelflaed/Uhtred. Edward's thoughts on uhtred and his sister 4x04 when he walks away from his sister after the battle and they are embracing (if he were to turn around and see them)

Aethelflead/Uhtred, there's many ways for Aethelflead to have pleasure without risking to break her oath of chastity

Aethelfled/Uhtred. Uhtred retakes bebbanburg and aethelfled comes to join him.

Aethelfled/Uthred break the vow of chastity. Many times.

Aethelfled/Uthred. Aethelfled is wounded in battle, and Uthred nurses her back to health.

Aethelfled/Uthred. Aethelfled was already pregnant before her vow of chastity.

Aethelfled/Uthred. Fill out the time between the first kiss and the beginning of Season Four. How did the romance/ courtship take place?

Aethelfled/Uthred. Her mother mentioned Alfred looking down on what was happening. What would alfreds thoughts be of uthred bedding his daughter and their love for one another (also no chastity vow was made)

Aethelfled/Uthred. Uthred will do whatever it takes to get Aethelfled back. He won’t lose the woman he loves.

Aethelhelm/Haesten - Aethelhelm finds out from Haesten that Osferth is Alfred’s bastard child.

Aethelwold gets it (“it” either being some sex or a slap in the face. Preferably both)

Aldhelm - Modern AU where Aethelflaed sets up Aldhelm with her friend (OC female) – progressing through to cute romance and proud Aethelflaed when romance works out between Aldhelm and OC

Alfred/Uhtred Alfred likes to watch Uhtred fuck, Uhtred likes to put on a show. Power play

Alfred/Uhtred unresolved sexual tension. May or may not spill over like the wax on Alfred's candles. Wax play would be perfect

Alfred/Uhtred, "it is customary to kneel"

Alfred/Uhtred, patching up battle wounds

Alfred/Uhtred, sex in a church

Brida/Cnut - AU where Brida does tell Cnut she’s pregnant.

Brida/Ragnar - You distract me

Brida/Ragnar, Brida gives Ragnar her permission and affection.

Brida/Ragnar, Dunholm is a fortress but not yet their home. It’s time to mark their territory.

Brida/Ragnar, on Ragnar’s ship and sailing to wealth and freedom, Ragnar begins to notice Brida... and she begins to notice him back.

Brida/Ragnar, Ragnar loves Brida. But a man must have a son.

Brida/Uhtred, Brida's pregnant and alone and desperate to get laid when she comes across Uhtred and his pretty boys on their way north

Eadith/Finan, Eadith and Finan's first child

Eadith/Finan, Osferth walking in on Finan and Eadith humping in a closed room

Eadith/Finan, that awkward flirting that leads to smut phase

Edward - Edward makes a friend (OC female)

Erik/Uhtred Erik has a better way of trying to persuade Uhtred to join the brothers than a talking corpse.

Father Pyrlig/Osferth - they are forced to fight each other.

Finan is far from home and missing Uhtred, he masturbates thinking about what he'll do to Uhtred when he gets home.

Finan, Finan is badly hurt after a battle and reader takes care of him. (Bonus if they are married and it adds even more angst eheh)

Finan, The Irishman is in love with Steappa's daughter. But it doesn't stop the two men to continue to annoy each other

Finan/Eadith: firsts. First touch, first hug, first kiss, first time, first child. Anything do do with firsts.

Finan/Gisela (implied Finan/Gisela/Uhtred relationship - no cheating), Uhtred goes to Winchester leaving them in Coccham. Gisela is pregnant and Finan helps her with her cravings.

Finan/Gisela/Uhtred, the days Finan and Uhtred return from travel are Gisela worship days (it's all about her).

Finan/Osferth, Osferth is stabbed by Finan while trying to wake him up from a nightmare.

Finan/Sihtric — domestic moments

Finan/Sihtric: Finan watches Sihtric sleep.

Finan/Uhtred - Hickeys

Finan/Uhtred modern barber shop AU, including some 21st century sexy times

Finan/Uhtred orgasm denial

Finan/Uhtred pledge their lives to each other

Finan/Uhtred Uhtred has always been taught that to be fucked by a man is shameful, so why is he so desperate to be fucked by Finan? Uhtred wrestles with lust

Finan/Uhtred Uhtred is cock of the walk everywhere he goes. Except in bed where Finan rules the roost

Finan/Uhtred, a lone wolf is harrying Uhtred's sheepfarming tenants in Northumberland. Finan and Uhtred go on a wolf hunt.

Finan/Uhtred, Battle of the Somme au

Finan/Uhtred, choking

Finan/Uhtred, Finan hears Uhtred calling Gisela's name in his sleep

Finan/Uhtred, Finan is Uhtred's ESL teacher.

Finan/Uhtred, Finan pays tribute to the new Lord of Mercia

Finan/Uhtred, Finan took the contract, but watching Uhtred with his kids, he finds he can't pull the trigger.

Finan/Uhtred, Finan wants to kill Aethelwold, but Uhtred talks him out of it.

Finan/Uhtred, In the middle of winter, Aethelstan falls in the Thames. Uhtred dives in after him. Finan warms him up.

Finan/Uhtred, King Uhtred of Northumbria watches as Abbot Finan of Irland enters Bebbanburg... and after the feast, gives him a very warm welcome indeed.

Finan/Uhtred, meet cute at a marathon start line

Finan/Uhtred, planning a battle for Alfred in bed

Finan/Uhtred, recovering Skade is the first time they've been on a boat since the slave ship, and Finan doesn't react well. Uhtred wakes him from his nightmares.

Finan/Uhtred, Saxon Stories/Temeraire crossover, Uhtred and his dragon rescue Finan and his dragon from slavers

Finan/Uhtred, stolen moments

Finan/Uhtred, Uhtred figures out that Finan can read

Finan/Uhtred, Uhtred gets caught in the rain on his way back from Winchester and feels very sorry for himself. Finan makes him feel better.

Finan/Uhtred, Uhtred is on a mission for Her Majesty's Secret Service. Finan is his contact.

Finan/Uhtred/Gisela, Uhtred returns a changed man, but Gisela doesn't mind the Irish warrior he brings with him

Finan/woman (OC or Canon character, early morning sexy times.

Gisela/OC, Whilst Gisela is in the nunnery waiting for Uhtred’s return she has an affair with a fellow nun. Bonus if the other nun looks like Jodie Comer

Gisela/Uhtred, Uhtred loves Gisela's post baby curves.

Haesten/Uhtred, deep down Haesten wants to be one of Uhtred’s pretty boys.

Osferth, Osferth wants to kiss the reader all the time.

Osferth/Finan/Sihtric, Osferth plays a prank on Finan and Sihtric.

Osferth/Sihtric - they get lost in a blizzard.

Sigtryggr/Stoirra - getting to know each other by talking of their favorite things.

Sihtric, Sihtric takes his wife for a moonlight stroll.

Steapa, Steapa helps the reader with a twisted ankle.

Stiorra/Sigtryggr and their first kiss.

Uhtred, Reader dry humps Uhtred while he’s injured.

Uhtred, Uhtred spends time with his children.

Wihtgar, A crack ship fic featuring Wihtgar and one other character of your choosing.

NO SPECIFIC PAIRING

Aelswith gets her heart's desire

Aethelflaed and Alfred - Cloud watching

Aldhelm gets adopted/abducted by the Coccham Crew, who take him for a night of drinking to get him to loosen up

Coccham crew in a naturist camp

Cookham crew bathe after battle. Lots of nakedness is encouraged

Dane vs Saxon biker gang rivalries (modern au)

Edward, Edward reflects on his father’s death.

Fantasy AU (elves, dwarfs, maybe magic etc). Maybe with some Finan freaking out about the other races of creatures he meets

Finan - domestic Finan

Finan - Finan gets adopted by a kitten that follows him everywhere. Everyone learns to love the kitten (even Aelswith). Finan becomes protective of the kitten

Finan diet coke break

Finan likes to play games

Finan, Finan gets a concussion. Each of the guys take turns talking to him since he can’t fall asleep.

Finan, lays hurt after battle, and you are there to care or him.

Guthred, Guthred learns of his sister’s (Gisela) death by childbirth. He’s kept tabs on her.

Magic Mike AU

Osferth, he tells people he loves them (platonically) by the food he cooks.

Pokémon AU - Danes and Saxons battle via Pokémon

Ragnar Ragnarson, Alone in Ireland, Ragnar hears rumours of a Saxon uprising at Loidis, a slave who killed his master, Earl Ragnar the Fearless.

Ragnar Ragnarson, becoming a big brother to a younger brother.

Ragnar Ragnarson, conversations with Alfred while a hostage.

Ragnar Ragnarson, learning Uhtred is a slave

Ragnar Ragnarson, leaving home in Loidis to go and make his wealth

Ragnar Ragnarson, searching for Uhtred at Alfred’s command

Ragnar Ragnarson, teaching his new brother Uhtred how to use a sword.

Ragnar Ragnarson, watching his father fight in battle.

Ragnar Ragnarson, when his father tells him that the crops will not grow and so they will leave Denmark and go to Northumbria to make their wealth and build a new life

Sihtric, Sihtric has cold hands and he likes to tease his friends by putting them on them with no warning

Sihtric. Sihtrics gets comforted by Uhtred (not pairing). Bonus points for extra Coccham Squad feels.

Steapa, Steapa’s thoughts on Finan.

Thyra, Thyra’s family greets her in Valhalla.

Uhtred, finding his children after he finds out about Gisela's death

Uhtred, growing up in Loidis, remembering Bebbanburg

Uhtred, it's canon that Uhtred talks to his horses. Maybe one day, someone overhears him talking.

Uhtred, putting Bebbanburg to rights again

Uhtred, slowly realising that Gisela has been buried

Uhtred, watching his kids sleep when he gets home from battle

Why Finan is always tugging on armor collars.

Young Ragnar, let the games begin

Young Ragnar: sword play

IMAGINES

Clapa, reader humps Clapa on his lap.

Finan, Reader, Sihtric: Reader finds herself in a poly relationship with Finan and Sihtric

Finan/Reader, Finan comes home to find reader gone. They had gotten into a fight that day before he was to go off to battle with Uhtred. She told him that if he left she wouldn't be there when he got back. Lots of angst with a sad ending. (it was from the last round and I missed the submission :'( sadly. I'd love to try and post it this time)

Finan/Uhtred - To keep Finan and Uhtred quiet the reader halfway undresses while spying on Danes.

Sihtric saves the reader from drowning

Sihtric, the reader dares Sihtric to lick her on the neck.

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 138: Kevin Party

“Did you guys break up? Can seven-year-olds even do that?”

Remember Doug Out?

The 125th episode of Steven Universe is a small but very fun story about Steven Universe and Connie Maheswaran, two best friends who work as a team to solve a mystery. Steven is already a teenager, and if Connie isn’t thirteen yet she’s awful close (she’s twelve and three quarters on Steven’s midsummer birthday, and school has been in session since Mindful Education), but this feels like a pair of children on an adventure. They’re chaperoned by Connie’s dad, they wear silly disguises and use sillier aliases, and they outright say that their goal is to “ruin some teen’s night.”

Doug Out ends in a cliffhanger, which leads directly to Steven’s abduction, which leads directly to Steven’s journey to and escape from Homeworld, which leads directly to the Breakup Arc, which ends here. That’s fourteen consecutive episodes telling one long story, which happens to be the same number of episodes between Catch and Release kicks off Peridot’s conversion and Hit the Diamond ends our barn adventure. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Act II and Act III of Steven Universe have similar sweeping midpoint storylines: both see a radical change occur, and while our middle act’s is more obvious (two new Gems join our crew and Steven saves the dang planet), Act III has the more important development for Steven himself. Because at the beginning of its sweep, Steven and Connie are kids, and at the end, they’re teenagers.

Granted, I see anyone under the age of 25 as a “kid,” but Kevin Party is a distinctly adolescent episode. The Breakup Arc as a whole covers new ground that a typical kid’s show wouldn’t, and even the one episode without much angst for Steven is about a bunch of teens starting a band. But it’s a whole new step to set an episode at a high school party, complete with drinking (age-appropriate drinks, I’m sure) and no adult supervision. 

After five episodes watching Steven either stressing about Connie or working his way through his guilt, it’s wonderful and devastating that when we finally see her again, she's having a blast. Her new look is one thing, but her effortless mingling with strangers is my favorite thing about Kevin Party. This isn’t a new aspect of her personality. She’s probably been like this for a while. But it’s the first time we’re seeing it, because it’s the first time Steven is seeing it.

In Bubble Buddies, Connie started out so shy that she feared dying without making a single friend, while Steven was so gregarious that he couldn’t help befriending everyone he met. Now he’s the awkward one, reduced to asking the likes of Kevin for advice, and she’s bloomed out of that social anxiety. And it’s not just a matter of her friendship with Steven changing her, even though that’s a major inciting incident: after he helps her come out of her shell, she’s able to practice interacting with peers on a regular basis in a scenario that’s way more helpful in understanding normal human interactions than anything in Steven’s life, because Connie goes to school.

There’s an unstated and uncomfortable truth that Connie needs Steven to have access to his magical world, creating an uneven power dynamic that’s easy to ignore because it fits into the general role of how a main character and side character work on a show like this. But Kevin Party‘s biggest reveal is that just because she needs him if she wants to have cosmic adventures, she doesn’t need him to have a fulfilling life, and she doesn’t need his friendship to be happy.

Thank. Goodness.

Codependency isn’t something to aspire to, and while Steven isn’t intentionally possessive of Connie (yet), their fight boils down to him treating her like a sidekick, someone who gets to do magic stuff with him under his terms. We don’t get to see what she was up to during the Breakup Arc, but I’m so glad her laughter here isn’t performative. She has enough self-worth to not define herself by the boy she likes or the adventures they share, and even if she’s upset that they’re in a fight, we know from our first look at her that she’d be okay if they never ended up reconciling. And that makes her choice to reconcile so much stronger than just shoving them back together because they’ve been apart long enough and the status quo demands it. She doesn’t need Steven in her life, but she wants him in her life, and that’s the difference between an episode about Connie remaining a sidekick in Steven’s mind and an episode about Connie establishing herself as an equal.

Steven and Connie’s affection has always bounced between platonic and romantic, and I love that even now we keep it ambiguous. Steven wears the shirt Connie got him in Steven’s Birthday, which is a gesture of friendship but occurs in an episode that dances around their mutual crush (complete with actual dancing). The moment of seeing each other again is shot like running into an ex, with time slowing down to let the absolute horror set in as the rest of the party fades, but Steven still refers to her only as his best friend. Kevin makes some of the subtext text through his confusion over the status of their relationship, but even if they’re teens now, these two are still young enough that don’t know how to express their deeper feelings.

Sadie Killer gets our guard down just long enough that Kevin Party’s new surge of drama hits like a truck: this is the original show’s most direct predecessor to the tone of Steven Universe Future’s latter half, where the anguish of watching Steven flounder in his relationship with Connie comes to a head. He makes the same mistake here that he’ll make in Together Forever: he’s so desperate for advice that he doesn’t question its source. Which is doubly frustrating because Greg Universe, who has told several stories on-screen about navigating a new relationship, is just a phone call away! I’m not saying I wish Steven actually called him, because all teens make mistakes and there’s any number of reasons he wouldn’t want to ask his dad in the moment, but it speaks to Steven’s inability to think straight when it comes to Connie.

In his final appearance, Kevin shows the closest thing he’s got to depth by helping Steven the only way he knows how. And unlike Beach City Drift, where he makes up a tragic backstory just to be a troll, it’s clear that the mysterious Sabine did a number on Delmarva’s biggest jerk. But I’ve got no patience for the notion that this episode is anything near redemptive for a guy whose idea of being helpful involves emotionally manipulating a vulnerable fourteen-year-old boy into emotionally manipulating a vulnerable thirteen-year-old girl.

Here more than ever, Kevin contrasts Steven’s self-destructive selflessness by being a black hole of self-importance. He only cares about Steven inasmuch as Steven can help him be more popular, not even bothering to ask for his name until it serves his needs. He’s so oblivious to his surroundings that he confuses Lion for a dog (saying that he’s allergic to dogs is a somewhat funny joke, but talking up Connie’s new life by saying she has a dog now is hilarious), and goes out of his way to antagonize his guests. To Steven, other people exist to be helped, which has noble roots but is catastrophic for his self-image. To Kevin, other people exist to admire Kevin.

“Psychopath” is a strong word, and I don’t wanna exaggerate Kevin’s villainy because that takes away from what makes him so insidious: unlike the Final Boss feel of the Diamonds, there’s an abundance of regular people who do the same awful stuff that Kevin does, and acting like he’s some extreme case detracts from the mundanity of everyday evils. Moreover, I remain unqualified to be an armchair psychologist, and the Hare Psychopathy Checklist has plenty of valid criticism, so take any diagnosis using it (or really any psych profile that involves a checklist you can do from home) with a grain of salt. But with all that said, I’ll just leave a link to it right here and let y’all do what you will with it.

The Big Talk gets five and a half episodes of buildup, and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s so perfect that Connie’s reaction to negging is to do what she always does when she sees someone behaving badly: she gets mad and calls it out. Steven’s typical approach to unkind behavior is to double down on his friendliness, but Connie will always put her foot down and demand kindness, whether you’re her best friend or a galactic tyrant. New hair aside, Connie isn’t the one that changes over the course of the Breakup Arc: it begins with her making it clear that she’s hurt while Steven ignores her, and it ends with her making it clear that she’s hurt while Steven listens.

I love that Connie requires no prompting to explain why she didn’t text Steven back, because Full Disclosure shows that she understands how much it hurts to try and connect with a friend who won’t respond. I love that she did go back to talk with him in person while he was on vacation (meaning all of this could’ve been worked through way sooner) because adolescence is suffering and we needed one last little twist of the knife in this arc. And I love that Steven is wise enough to just admit what he did instead of try and defend himself, because their whole fight hinged on his refusal to acknowledge the gravity of his actions, both to Connie and to himself. He doesn’t say the word “sorry” until the very end of his admission, because he means it and wants to provide context for the apology rather than just say “I’m sorry” a bunch.

And it’s so perfect that they don’t end up forming Stevonnie during their reconciliation, and not just because that would’ve given Kevin a win. They make up, but it still takes time to let the lingering pain go away, and it makes Stevonnie’s reappearance in our next episode way more meaningful. After one last display of their fundamental contrast—Steven expresses sympathy for Kevin’s situation with Sabine, while Connie shrugs it off because having a backstory doesn’t mean it’s okay to be a toxic douche—they leave the world of teen parties behind, at least for now. They’ll go back to more adventures right away, traveling to space in Lars of the Stars and Jungle Moon, but they’ll never truly be the same.

Thank goodness.

I’ve never been to this…how do you say…school?

I love that Stevonnie’s disdain for Kevin is here for us even when Stevonnie doesn’t show up in the episode.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

It’s not just the catharsis factor that gets this in my Top 25. Kevin Party is incredible at capturing the dread I associate with this type of teen party as someone who often felt like Steven as a kid (three traits that don’t work well with teen parties, even if like me you were a fairly social teenager: clinical depression, teetotalism due to the double whammy of that depression and family history of addiction, and having a bad ear that makes it impossible to hear people talk when the music gets loud enough). Beyond the personal connection, we also get one last look at the show’s greatest villain, and an episode that respects Connie so much more than a normal cartoon would. This is how you end an arc, folks.

Top Twenty-Five

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Back to the Kindergarten

Steven’s Dream

Kevin Party

When It Rains

The Good Lars

Lars’s Head

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Room for Ruby

Lion 4: Alternate Ending

Doug Out

Are You My Dad?

I Am My Mom

Stuck Together

The Trial

Off Colors

Gemcation

Raising the Barn

Sadie Killer

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Dewey Wins

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

Tiger Philanthropist

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Nov 15)

BOI, I HAVE A MIDTERM ON TUESDAY AND TEST ON WEDNESDAY. SCREW THAT. I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE ANIME I’VE BEEN WATCHING IN BETWEEN STUDY SESSIONS! Yeah, the studying is like 2% while the anime and games are like 98%... I’m working on that, okay? Anyway, I’m going to cover mostly seasonal stuff with some other stuff.

Let’s go over the seasonal stuff first. Summer had so few anime coming out whereas Autumn/Fall came in like, “OPEN THE FLOODGATES! LET’S GO!!!” I haven’t even gotten around to all the anime airing this season that I want to like Yuukoku no Moriarty, Majo no Tabitabi, and Adachi to Shimamura. I missed some last season too like Deca-Dance which I just didn’t want to commit to if it was only for the good animation.

Taisou Samurai (DROPPED) 

I dropped it after two episodes. MAPPA has two major series this season, but they clearly gave more time and attention to the one that was actually going to make money here (which I’ll talk about later). This one seems like a passion project without the passion in it anymore. It’s like opening a bag of chips and finding out they went stale long before you even reached into the bag.

Taisou Samurai, at its core, has a premise that I found really promising. I happen to like watching gymnastics sometimes, and the idea of an athlete who doesn’t want to retire is interesting. They went wrong with the execution. I don’t know what they were trying to pull here, but with unlikeable characters and a terrible run at it, it’s like they weren’t playing with a full deck of cards here.

Also, if you don’t know what a gyaru is, one of the supporting characters will look like a racist caricature. Also, this bird has no other point than to try to make up for this show’s lack of usable humour by using Kappei Yamaguchi’s range and going, “Please, save this show. I beg you.” 

I didn’t even bother giving this show three episodes to drag me in because I just couldn’t see myself wasting another 20 minutes here. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart, but for now, I should be having better things to do.

Munou na Nana (WOULDN’T RECOMMEND)

I know everyone has made this joke already, but this is really just My Hero Academia x Among Us. I feel like if there was some more... budget put into this anime, they could’ve made it a lot better. The manga had a lot more detail, so a lot of the gruesome scenes with zombies or killings, etc. were muted and toned down beyond belief. Not to mention, I guess watching it after I read the manga just made me feel stupid. This is such a junkie show that pulls tricks that everyone knows is coming. Nonetheless, I can’t find some big reason to say “do not watch this” because it’s still a very mediocre show. It has its good points, but its presentation devalues it, the voice acting is meh (especially since Yuuichi Nakamura is playing THREE overpowered main cast characters this season), and the jig is up after the first episode, so the twists are just to make you sympathize more with the imposter. I haven’t seen a show like this for a while though, so I guess you can watch it if you want something refreshing like that. I don’t think you’re supposed to like this cast of characters, so I won’t say anything against not liking this cast. 

Kamisama ni Natta Hi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

Jun Maeda... the man who manages to incorporate baseball into every anime he does... seriously, every anime I’ve watched by him has it from Angel Beats to Charlotte to that unfinished Little Busters I just left on hold. Anyway, Kamisama is no exception. Jun Maeda has a reputation for building touching stories that start off strong then really lose their footing once he realizes that he’s not going to get 24 episodes and needs to squeeze all of those 16 episodes of story left into 4 episodes or so. It also doesn’t help that sometimes he goes off on useless storylines that pay no use to the story. 

Hina is really funny sometimes (but can be annoying). Narukami is funny. Really, everyone has some valid point about them that makes the show better compared to the previous entries. 

Seriously, some little kid comes up to you and goes, “The world is ending, I am God, and I’m going to stick by you.” Meanwhile, you’re just a simp that’s trying to get your childhood friend to fall for you.

Honestly, I’m still having a blast watching this. As much as Maeda’s writing can really suffer from tonal shifts (mostly in the end), I still wanted to watch this anime simply because I always like his storytelling in the beginning, and the laughs it brings can sometimes still muddle out the bitter taste that’s left in your mouth when the series finishes. I can already feel this train going down a slide and off a cliff. I already paid for my ticket though, so I’m obligated to stay on this shootshow until the end.

Seriously, I do not like where some of these relationships are heading. 

Maoujou de Oyasumi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

This anime is relatable. It can get stale fast for a lot of people, but every time I think I’m going to get sick of it, it pulls one of the same gags that makes me go, “This. This is why I’m sticking with this.” I’m not sure how much more there is to say. It’s just an abducted princess who couldn’t care less that she’s a hostage and instead, takes this newfound time to take some good ZZZs. What a life.

Oh yeah, this princess is also willing to commit murder, mutilation, theft, and assault to get the sleep she wants. 

Tonikaku Kawaii (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

I’m not dropping this show... even if it makes no sense. The premise is astoundingly stupid, but it pulled a Zombieland Saga on me. It sounded so stupid, but once I gave it one episode, I found myself being entertained and almost rooting for the characters and their relationships. 

Imagine this: You are about to get into the high school of your dreams when you see the girl of your dreams cross your path. You want to ask her out so you jump over the barricade and get hit by a truck. You’re on the brink of death when you realize you can’t die there without confessing your love. You chase her down with blood coming out of your head and confess. She says that she’ll only go out with you if you marry her. You then... somehow survive, drop out of school, then get a job to search for her. I kid you not. This is the setup. It’s as stupid as it sounds, and the anime knows this. It doesn’t try to fool you into thinking that this series is supposed to be anything but some highway fast-track way to convince you into watching a married couple. I think what irked me the most is that the character designs didn’t change from when they were in middle school to when they were adults. It wasn’t the being hit by a truck and not being sent to another world, it wasn’t this girl who stopped the truck without ruining her hair, it wasn’t anything else but their character designs staying the same. 

Anyway, this anime is cute as long as you can jump some hurdles. It’s basically puppy-love marriage with anime stupidity through and through. I don’t know what about this series people, including myself, find charming. 

Jujutsu Kaisen (RECOMMENDED - BUT DON’T COMPARE TO DEMON SLAYER TOO MUCH!)

It’s Shonen Jump. “Will it be the next Kimetsu no Yaiba? The next big Shonen Jump series? One of the next big three? Five?” No, I don’t think so. I’m not enjoying this nearly as much as I did binging KNY. The cast isn’t nearly as likeable, but I’m still having a good time. It’s not all that fair to make that comparison anyway. The cast for Jujutsu Kaisen is passable. I like some of the main cast, but I feel like they lack the same kind of depth with its main heroine. I know she gets more stuff done in the future chapters, but her backstory so far is, “I had a friend once... No, she’s not dead. She just left our small town.”

The fight scenes are actually so much fun to watch. MAPPA gave this series a lot more time and budget than say that first anime I mentioned. It’s fluid, the camerawork is amazing, the choreography is on-point. 

The voice acting for this anime is spectacular among the main cast... when character dialogue allows it.

I feel a bit of imbalance, but Yuuji does offer a good protagonist template. Junya Enoki makes his lines so funny and gives this nonchalant approach that is the polar opposite of his performance in Tonikawa. This is definitely his season.

Junichi Suwabe voicing the main demon thing is amazing too. It fits so well, and he sounds so cool and evil. It’s great.

Gojou is also one badass mentor played by Yuuichi Nakamura. Overpowered, part of the main cast, etc. Insert your reverse Kakashi joke here. Just give him more Sharingan genjutsu, I dare you. 

Yuuma Uchida is back playing another tragic character that’s serious and uptight. I can’t say much more about him.

The opening and ending are both worth listening to even if you don’t want to watch the anime. Lost in Paradise by ALI has been on repeat for me.

Besides that, I’m going to go over some other anime that I’ve been watching.

Hunter x Hunter (AS IF THIS HASN’T BEEN RECOMMENDED ENOUGH)

Slowly. Slowly but surely. 11/148.

I know this is going to be amazing... I just want to be in the right mood to full savour it. I don’t want to be consumed by stress and not pay attention. The reason why I like a lot of those seasonal anime is because I don’t pay the same kind of attention. 

If you told me these characters’ ages, I probably would’ve believed everyone... except Leorio. The guy looks like a middle-aged money-hungry gangster.

What I would give to have the energy and serotonin of a Shonen Jump protagonist. 

Haikyuu (YEAH, IT’S GOOD)

I’m watching this one with my mom and sister as they go “OMG OMG OMG” as we watch while I’m sitting there like -_-

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good show, but sports anime are made like shounen battle anime (because they are in a way) with different stakes. I’ve felt more “nervous” about some of the Haikyuu matches than I did with some of the Hunter Exam. Worst case scenario in Haikyuu, you lose the match. Worst case scenario in Hunter x Hunter? You die. 

I knew what I was going to get into when I was watching Haikyuu, and it’s given me what I remembered (since I did watch 10 episodes of it a few years ago) and expected.

SKET Dance (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)

Unfollow me. Unfollow me right now. This is what I’m going to be talking about for the next month. I can feel it. I’ve had this show for like 3 days and watched around 33 episodes along with some of these other titles. I have a problem. I know that, but I don’t feel like fixing it. This show is just too good.

I get why people call this a poor man’s Gintama, but it’s not quite that. I can get the similarities, but it’s like eating an empanada and saying that it’s just like that dumpling you tasted last week. It looks alike on the surface... if you’re not that great at... telling the difference between things... but once you get to the meat of it (PUN HAHA), you realize that they are completely different, and you were a fool for thinking otherwise. 

That’s our main heroine! Go go go!

Dude, episode 25 hit me out of nowhere, AND I READ THE SPOILERS! I won’t say any more than that.

The cast is one of the best that I’ve seen in a while. Their chemistry is basically the entire show. Without one of the main three, you wouldn’t have the show anymore. It handles its female characters better than some of its fellow competitors at the time, and it may have what some may call a “token fat character”, but the character never makes fun of her for being fat. They make fun of her for saying “Yabasu” every single sentence. It hurts that the manga ended with some loose ends, and this anime isn’t getting a season 2.

But at its weird and mushy core, this show is about three people with heavy and complex pasts who simply want to help people work out their issues in their own... unique ways. 

I don’t want to say much else, but I wish more people would watch/read it and create/post most content for it even if it’s a bit old because it deserves it. I’m almost a decade late, and this anime still holds up.

I gave Mairimashita Iruma-kun its own post.

[imagineredwood]

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5    Part 6    Part 7    Part 8   Part 9       Part 10    Part 11  Part 12   Part 13   Part 14  Part 15  Part 16   Part 17  Part 18   Part 19  Part 20  Part 21   Part 22  Part 23  Part 24   Part 25  Part 26

Pairing: EZ Reyes x Camila (OC)

Warnings: Cursing, Cam is pissed, EZ is scared 

Word count: 5.5k 

Gif Credit: @angels-reyes​ 

***Wheew bitch, this is the longest chapter yet. Twelve whole pages. My fingers couldn’t stop 😂 Y’all wanted a Cam that wasn’t too soft and you got her ***

Translations:

“En serio?” – Seriously?

“Perdoname, mija. Lo siento.” – Forgive me, mija. I’m sorry.

“Trouble in paradise?”

EZ looked up from his cup of black coffee to find Coco to his left, taking a seat beside him at the bar. EZ looked back down and nodded gently.

“Yeah. You could say that.”

Coco nodded himself, offering a piece of advice.

“I know this shit with Adelita and the Galindos is fuckin’ with you. I get that, but don’t let it fuck up your future.”

EZ looked back over as he heard his words. It sounded like something Felipe would say. He probably had said it already. EZ chuckled sadly.

“I think it’s a little too late for that.”

Coco’s brows knitted in both confusion and concern.

“What, she broke it off last night?”

The prospect shook his head quickly, not even wanting the possibility to be acknowledged and god forbid spoken out into existence.

“No, no. She’s just hurt. She doesn’t believe that there’s nothing going on with Emily.”

“And she’s right.”

At that, EZ looked over at the Mayan who simply shrugged, his eyes locked on EZ’s.

“She’s not wrong. She doesn’t believe that you’re telling the truth because you’re not. She doesn’t believe that there’s nothing going on because there is. You threw yourself first in line to hold that kid, rockin’ him and shit. Telling Adelita that she needed to make it right. That ain’t your kid, EZ. That ain’t your kid, and Emily ain’t your girl. You have a new girl. Focus on that one. Take care of that one, before she ain’t yours anymore either.”

Coco said nothing else and gave a lingering look before he stood up from his chair and walked away. EZ looked back down at his mug and heaved a heavy sigh. He lifted the mug, gulping down what was left of the already cold coffee and stood himself, walking out of the clubhouse and going outside. He found Angel there on the phone, quickly typing into the device. Seeing him coming, Angel quickly finished up the text and tucked his phone away. Due to the current situation, EZ couldn’t help but wince as he thought about how many times Cam must’ve seen him do that. As he got closer, EZ pointed at where Angel had put his phone.

“Who you talking to?”

He rolled his shoulders and gave a playful half-smile, trying to test the waters and see if Angel was still disappointed in him. Angel’s refusal to return the smile helped EZ figure out the answer to that one. Instead of smiling, Angel leaned back against the table, eying his baby brother.

“Cam.”

EZ’s smile fell quickly.

“Does she need anything?”

“Nope.”

Angel popped the ‘p’ and pulled out his carton of cigarettes, taking one out. EZ simply stared at him and realized that he wasn’t going to offer anything else.

“Is she ok?”

Lighting the tip of the cigarette, Angel took a drag and pulled it away from his lips, blowing out the smoke into the sky as he answered.

“Yep.”

EZ rolled his eyes and pushed at Angel’s shoulder.

“Cut it out. What’s going on?”

At that, Angel’s eyes turned angry and he quickly stood from the table, glaring down at EZ.

“Are you fuckin’ serious? What’s going on? You’re the one fucking up the best thing that’s happened to you in the last decade and you’re asking me what’s going on?”

EZ stayed quiet and took the scolding, which was easy, considering Angel kept going.

“You talk all this shit about how you’re so happy and she’s perfect and you’re glad you found someone to love you the way that she does and then you turn around and shit on it because you can’t stop kissing Emily’s ass? You’re really prepared to let that bitch fuck up what you have with Cam?”

EZ’s shoulder’s squared as Angel called Emily out of her name.

“Don’t talk about her like that.”

There was a moment of complete silence as Angel looked down at his brother. He wasn’t sure what emotion he was feeling more of. There was anger, there was disbelief, there was disappointment, but most of all there was resignation. Here Cam was, texting Angel to see if he wanted to come by and help her garden to get her mind off of the distress EZ was causing, while EZ was getting defensive and protective over the women who had taken away his chance fatherhood. Angel’s mouth opened and closed, so many things wanting to pour from his lips. So many ways he wanted to beat his brother, so many insults he wanted to deliver, but his disbelief had him speechless. Closing his mouth, he simply shook his head with a humorless laugh.

“Our whole lives, everyone always liked you better because you were the smart one. You were the one with the brains, that thought everything out, that had the intelligence to take him anywhere. Mom and dad thought you were their smartest creation and yet look at you,”

Angel motioned to EZ with a scoff and a disappointed shake of his head, looking his up and down as he finished his thought.

“Dumb as fuck with no clue how to appreciate those that love you.”

Angel left it at that and placed his cigarette in his mouth once again, walking away from his brother. EZ stood in place, eyes angry and mouth tight, but he couldn’t say anything. He had caught it from both Angel and Coco within minutes of each other and he knew that they had spoken amongst themselves about what had happened at the meet. About EZ taking Cristobal and holding him, about his anger at Adelita. He knew his actions were a topic of discussion and even if Camila didn’t know, they as a couple were now in drama. Even if Camila didn’t know, Angel, Gilly, and Coco had sympathy for her and her situation. The thought twisted his stomach and he caught up with Angel who was almost back into the clubhouse. He placed his hand on Angel’s shoulder, who promptly shook it off.

“What?”

“Adelita needs to give Cristobal back.”

Angel simply chuckled and faced forward again but EZ grabbed his shoulder once more, much more forcefully this time and spun him around to face him.

“I mean it, Angel. I didn’t ask to get brought into this shit. You dragged me into your little rat side project and that’s what started this whole mess. Emily wants my help because your rebel queen stole her child. She’s a mom that wants to protect her baby and she wanted my help because she had nowhere else to turn. I can’t just stand around while an innocent child is used as a fucking pawn in a game of power and greed. Trust me, Camila would understand if I told her that I was helping a worried mother find her abducted son. Camila wouldn’t be feeling the way that she is. She would understand, but she doesn’t because I can’t tell her the fucking truth. You forced me into this shit, and you need to help me make it right. I’m not going to lose Camila because of this. I won’t.”

EZ’s chest was heaving by the time he finished, his nostrils flared in anger as he stared down his brother. Angel looked him over, his shoulders slowly dropping. EZ may not have said it, but Angel knew what he was implying.

Fix it, before I fix it myself.

Angel knew that EZ was at his wit's end and he wouldn’t put it past him to accidentally sabotage this whole thing in a last-ditch effort to save his relationship. Angel could see that EZ was giving him time to fix things before he simply came clean to Camila, club business secrets be damned. With a deep sigh, Angel nodded.

“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll talk to her. See if she can hurry up and get the ball rolling with whatever plan this is that she has going on. I’ll push it.”

EZ relaxed his shoulders some and tried to relax his face. He removed his hand from Angel and sighed.

“I’m not trying to be difficult, but it isn’t supposed to be going down like this.”

With a nod, Angel gave a sigh of his own.

“I know. She doesn’t run this shit by me before she does it. We just go along with it because, in the end, it will be good for the club.”

EZ nodded, staying quiet about his doubts.

“I hope so.”

At that, Angel flicked the butt of his cigarette and spoke out loud.

“We’ll get this fixed. We will.”

Looking back over at EZ, he instructed him.

“I can’t believe I’m even telling you to do this but call Emily and tell her that you need to meet her tonight. When you do, tell her that she needs to stop calling and asking you for shit. You check her on your side, I’ll handle Adelita on my side. That way we can get this shit settled. But make sure that she understands EZ. You made her feel like she can count on you. That was your fuck up, not mine. I can’t save you again.”

The younger brother nodded quickly, understanding. They had both been foolish in their complacency and now someone that they both cared for was caught in the middle. EZ owed it to Cam to get this fixed and even if Angel didn’t say it out loud, EZ knew he felt like he owed it to her too. They both nodded in a final agreement and Angel entered the clubhouse while EZ stayed outside and pulled out his phone, hoping that this was the last time he would have to call Emily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``

“Look how big it’s gotten.”

Angel followed Camila’s finger to the plot he had planted those months ago, now bright and flourishing. The leaves were supple and healthy, and he looked back at Cam who still sat on the bench with a smile.

“It’s big because you’ve been taking care of it.”

With a shrug, Camila argued.

“Maybe, but Abuela always said that the love you first use to plant it is what will keep it healthy, and that was you.”

At that, Angel smiled softly. Looking over at Camila, his voice was quiet.

“I would’ve loved to meet her.”

Camila’s smile stayed in place, but she looked down at her lap while she nodded. She gave a light laugh and her eyes were shining with tears as she looked back up.

“She would’ve loved to meet you too, Angel.”

Angel hesitated for a moment but spit it out anyway.

“Tell me about her.”

Camila’s smile grew even more, and she turned to face Angel just a little.

“She was amazing. I know there’s no such thing as perfect, but she was as close I’ve ever found. She was loving and warm and kind. She took care of everyone. She always made sure everyone had food, that they had a home. She was my Abuela, but she was like the neighborhood Abuela too. Everyone loved her.”

Camila paused for a moment and Angel couldn’t help but smile himself.

“She loved me. Like, really loved me. I always felt most loved when I was with her. Being with her was always my safe place. My parents were…difficult. Not very affectionate or loving period, really. They argued all the time, over petty shit. They always looked for a reason to be mad at each other, so they didn’t have to talk. I can’t really remember a time where they ever really seemed in love. Any love and affection that I got as a kid was from Abuela. I would try but they always said I was too clingy. That it was annoying how I always wanted to hug or hold hands or cuddle. Abuela would hold me forever though.”

Camila laughed again, more to herself, as she remembered being 18 and still being held the same way from when she was 5. Shaking off the nostalgia, Camila looked back at Angel who had a look of both sympathy and pride in his eyes. Leaning over, he rested his shoulder against hers.

“And I’m sure that if she was still here, she’d be holding you now too. She turned you into one hell of a woman.”

Camila’s smile was ear to ear, and she leaned herself into Angel’s shoulder as well.

“Thanks, Angel.”

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head like he always did before pulling back. There was silence for a while then, both of them just listening to the birds, feeling the breeze on their skin. They enjoyed the company and Camila felt bad ruining it, but she felt she had to ask.

“Hey, Angel?”

The Mayan looked back over at her, tilting his head and giving her his attention.

“Yeah?”

She hesitated, Angel could see it, but he didn’t want to push her. He figured it was something else she wanted to tell him about her parents or Abuela. Her question caught him completely off guard.

“Is EZ cheating with Emily?”

Angel’s eyes went wide, and he just looked at her, her eyes searching his deeply.

“I know he’s your brother and you want to protect him, but I trust you and I just want to know- “

“He’s not. I swear.”

Camila stayed looked at him as he further assured her.

“He’s faithful, Cam. This club shit just has everyone scattered and getting pushed into corners they don’t want to be in but we’re working on it. He’s going about it the wrong way, I know, but I promise. He isn’t having an affair.”

Angel’s eyes were true, no shifting or darting and Camila nodded slowly. Angel didn’t have any reason to lie. What would he get out of covering for EZ? Taking his word for it, she relented and sighed.

“I just don’t like how he’s always talking to her. And how he hides it. Why does he have to hide everything? I’m not stupid. I know there’s shit with the club that I shouldn’t know and isn’t my business but keeping up with an ex is just…”

Camila trailed off and Angel stayed quiet. To be honest there really wasn’t much for him to say. Both he and Camila were on the same page there. EZ had made it his business. He didn’t have to answer Emily’s calls or agree to meet up. That was a choice that he made on his own and he couldn’t blame the club or Angel for that. Looking back at Angel, Camila’s curiosity got the best of her.

“Do you think he’ll tell the truth? Not even only about what’s up with her but like what you do?”

Angel hesitated then. He wasn’t sure what to say. It really wasn’t his place to answer. He wasn’t sure where EZ’s head was at and he wasn’t sure how EZ was going to handle everything. He felt that EZ would keep as much secret as possible to shield her from it, but it was becoming more and more obvious that the lies had an expiration date, and it was coming up fast. She knew EZ was keeping secrets about what was happening, and she knew he was keeping secrets about what they did as an MC. Choosing his words, Angel just gave her honesty.

“I don’t know. I think he’ll tell you when he’s ready.”

Camila stayed looking at him and Angel did the same. Camila knew that EZ could keep a secret for as long as he wanted. She knew that for a fact because she had been let in on the KJ one, one that Angel was still oblivious to. Finally looking away, Camila stood as did Angel and the two said goodbye, a weird vibe coming over as Angel left her home. Camila knew that he was keeping things from her as well, but she couldn’t blame him because he was tied to the same code of club secrecy that EZ was. She understood, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get dragged into the life of crime, money, and secrets. Not again.  

Feeling as though maybe she had overreacted, she grabbed for her phone and started calling EZ, not even the first sequence of the ringing being completed before he was answering her.

“Hi, Camila.”

She smiled and laughed softly, able to picture him fumbling as he tried to answer the call as quickly as possible.

“Hey, corazón.”

Hearing her voice alone was enough to make him feel better but being able to receive her affection and terms of endearment when he knew he probably didn’t deserve it.

“I was wondering if you wanted to come over. Nothing special. Maybe just some pizza and wings, watch a movie.”

It had been three days now since the confrontation and three days since she had really spent time with him. She missed him, even if her heart was still feeling a little bruised. She wanted to trust him and Angel though, trust that whatever was happening with Emily was just a random wrinkle that needed to be smoothed out before it went away. EZ winced on his end though. He wanted nothing more than to be able to spend time with her, to chill and eat and cuddle and love her like he had been used to doing, but he had made plans to meet Emily at the shop. Angel had spoken to Adelita and Los Olvidados had worked out some type of trade where the Galindos would be getting their son back in the days to come. Now he could finally meet with Emily for the last time and once she told him they were getting Cristóbal back, he could tell her that there wasn’t any reason for their paths to cross again. He could close that chapter once and for all and move on with Camila. He couldn’t tell Cam that though since he had already sworn that he wouldn’t speak to Emily anymore. It was just this one last time, but he didn’t want Camila to have to keep worrying about it. It would all get swept under the rug then and they could start back up where they had left off.

“I can’t come for lunchtime, but I can come around later. Coco and I have to go with Angel to meet with a club friend but once I’m done there, I can meet you at home, ok?”

Camila smiled and agreed, changing the dinner choice.

“Ok, that’s fine. I might cook instead of ordering out since I’ll have time then. Just come home when you can.”

“I’ll see you then. I love you.”

EZ smiled and the boys all mocked him, making kissing noises and poking at him, EZ simply slapping their hands away with a laugh.

Camila’s voice was light, and she said her goodbyes, EZ hanging up only to be swarmed by Angel and Coco once again.

“You owe us, boy scout.”

It was true. Both really had pushed and convinced and negotiated until Adelita had agreed to return Cristobal. What happened after that, EZ didn’t really care. He just wanted things to back to normal and after tonight, they would be.

Standing from the bench and walking away just a bit, EZ called Felipe to verify that it was still ok for them to meet tonight. The old man had been hesitant, feeling as though he was betraying Camila. He loved her, everyone knew that, and he felt bad allowing EZ to use his shop, a place where Camila had always felt safe and comfortable even if it was to settle things once and for all. Felipe had agreed reluctantly, only under the condition that EZ never allow her to jeopardize his life with Camila again. EZ agreed and now that was the final piece to the puzzle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Camila grabbed the sopes that she had leftover from lunch and packaged them up, placing them gently into her bag along with some tomatoes. Tying a knot at the top, she grabbed the bag and as well as her keys from the counter. She still had about an hour and a half before EZ would get home from being with the boys and she figured she would stop by Felipe’s shop and give him some leftovers before she started dinner. It was cloudy and gloomy as she stepped out, a strong wind blowing the tendrils of hair that hung from her bun around. She squinted against the wind and looked up, the clear beginnings of a storm brewing. Not wanting to get caught in it, she quickly placed the bag into her trunk and got in the car, starting to make the drive to the carniceria.

The streets were empty, no one really wanting to be out in the weather that was coming. She frowned slightly, feeling bad that Angel, Coco, and EZ were going to have to ride in the storm when they were finished. She had the thought to invite them all over later but EZ had said he wanted to spend time alone with her and she wasn’t going to ruin those plans. She cruised along, five below the speed limit, simply enjoying the deserted streets. Before long, she was coming up to the carniceria and saw an escalade parked out in front of the shop. Happy that Felipe was still there, Camila pulled over and parked on the opposite side of the street, hoping it didn’t start raining before she could get back to her car to leave. She hopped out quickly, and went back to her trunk, grabbing the bag and closing the door. She checked both ways across the deserted street out of habit and then crossed, a smile on her face as she saw Felipe through the glass. He was behind the counter and looked to be cleaning up. Likely to close up early and get home before the storm. A flash lit up the sky then, thunder following and shaking the ground. The sudden noise startled her, jostling her focus enough to where she didn’t notice the Harley parked over in front of the escalade. Felipe looked up and saw her coming, his eyes widening. She hadn’t seen him in a couple of days, and she grinned even wider at what she perceived as excitement. She got closer to the door and could see him standing still but her attention was drawn by someone grabbing her elbow firmly.

“I’m sorry ma’am, they’re closed. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

Looking over, she saw an unfamiliar man in a suit standing there, an emotionless look on his face as he looked at her. She politely shook off his grip and pointed with her free hand to the door.

“Oh, no. I’m going to see Felipe, here at the carniceria.”

She took a step forward and the man reached for her again, this time Camila avoiding the grab before he could touch her. She pulled open the door and walked in looking backward, speaking out loud to Felipe.

“Hola, Felipe. Perdón, I was just coming to drop off some,”

Camila looked forward then, the sound of something loudly clattering to the floor drawing her attention. Her smile slowly fell from her face as she took in the three sets of wide eyes staring at her. Felipe was in fact cleaning, his wrinkled hands holding the stick of the mop in a vice as he stared at her. Over at the table, stood EZ, his eyes wide as saucers as he stood motionless. The chair he had been sitting was laying on the floor behind him, having fallen over when he had stood so quickly seeing Camila. His shoulders were high and squared, a tension in his body she hadn’t ever witnessed before while his face held a truly terrified look. Last, Camila looked at the other chair at the table, Emily’s eyes just as wide though holding confusion as well.

She stood slowly, her posture straightening from the relaxed slouch it had been in before. Emily visibly swallowed and then shifted her eyes to EZ. Camila did the same thing, her eyes leaving the blonde and settling on the man who had told her that he couldn’t have lunch with her so that he could be with his ex. It felt like a slap in the face as if time had stood still. Everyone looked like statues, starting at Camila silently, not knowing what to say. Camila could feel herself start to tremble, her heartbeat clear in her ears as her pressure rose. Her grip released and the bag dropped down to the floor, falling on its side, the lunch she had put together for Felipe scattering on the tile. Vaguely she could register the sound of the door opening once again, the man from outside coming in as well but it wasn’t of any concern of Camila’s. EZ’s eyes held alarming guilt and his hand slowly raised, his right foot taking a step toward her.

“Stay the fuck away from me.”

EZ stopped immediately, Camila never having spoken to him in that way, sheer venom being spat at him. He swallowed dryly, his eyes glancing down at the food on the floor. Her voice called him back.

“So, this is what you’re doing? All that shit about being done talking to her, that it was over, that I didn’t have anything to worry about. You told me that you couldn’t have lunch with me so you can come and eat lunch with her here? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Camila motioned to the table, two bags of Mc Donald’s and assorted half-eaten foods on the table where they had been sitting. Emily looked from Camila to EZ, back and forth before looking over at Felipe. Camila looked over at Felipe as well then and he winced under her gaze. Her voice was softer when she spoke to him, not ever wanting to disrespect him even in her state of shock and hurt. The hurt was clear both in her eyes and her voice though.

“En serio? You let him do this here?”

The father gulped and shook his head, looking for words but coming up blank.

“Perdoname, mija. Lo siento.”

Camila opened her mouth again then closed it, heavy searing tears welling up in her eyes. She had trusted him, trusted them all, and never in her life had she felt more stupid. She didn’t speak another word and turned around, pushing past the man in the suit and walking out of the shop. EZ quickly followed her, calling out to her. She ignored him and kept walking. She crossed the street, not even bothering to look both ways this time in her anger. EZ called out to her and she ignored him, large drops of rain starting to drop. He caught up to her by her car and grabbed her arm, not expecting her to push him away from her so roughly.

“How fucking dare you? I look after you, I love you, I take care of you, I take care of your brother, of your dad, and this is how you treat me? This is the shit you try to pull on me?”

EZ shook his head furiously, his hands grabbing her wrists and not allowing her to pull away from him.

“It’s not what it looks like, Cam! It’s not.”

She laughed humorlessly, a tear slipping down her cheek as the others gathered in her lashes.

“Yeah, first time I’ve heard that shit.”

“I mean it. I’m not cheating on you.”

“Then why are you here with her? Why did you say you couldn’t spend time with me? Why did you lie about going with Angel?”

Her eyes narrowed then, and her voice was barely above a whisper when she spoke again.

“You were with her. The other day, when you came over so late, left me to eat dinner all by myself. You were with her.”

She was speaking more to herself than she was to him, simply verbalizing the realization. It brought a fresh wave of tears then and she began yanking her arms, furiously trying to get out of his grasp. EZ’s brows were knitted together in anguish, his heart thumping in his chest. He looked over at the shop, Emily walking out and getting into the car with her driver, Felipe standing solemnly in the same place. EZ couldn’t let it keep going. He couldn’t let Camila think he would be unfaithful, he couldn’t let her think that his father or Angel had something to do with it, and he couldn’t let her think that she was stupid for letting them love her. Looking back down at her, he released her arms only to take her face in his hands firmly.

“They took her baby.”

Camila’s struggling dwindled until it ceased altogether. She looked up at him, confusion clear in her gaze.

“What?”

“Emily. They kidnapped her son.”

Camila’s shoulders settled then, ever the empath as she felt a pang of pain for any mother having their child taken.

“Who did?”

EZ hesitated, taking a deep breath and then heaving it out, realizing that it was all or nothing.

“A group of rebels based out of Mexico. They did it as retaliation.”

Camila shook her head, not understanding.

“Retaliation for what? What did she do?”

Huffing, EZ corrected her.

“Not her. Her husband.”

“Miguel.”

“Right.”

“Well, what did he do?”

At that EZ hesitated. He wasn’t sure how much truth he wanted to lay on her in one night, but he needed her to understand why he had done things the way that he had.

“He’s done a lot of shit. Bad shit. He’s…his father was the head of the Galindo cartel.”

He paused and took in Camila’s face, the shock, the confusion, the veil of slight understanding, then the confusion came back.

“What does that have to do with you?”

“The MC has a deal with him. We’re partnered.”

“Partnered. With a cartel.”

EZ rubbed the back of his neck and nodded gently.

“We do the footwork, the muscle. The rebels wanted to get back at him so they kidnapped her and the baby. They let her go but kept the kid and she asked me to help find him.”

Camila nodded, the pieces starting to fall into place, the picture becoming a little clearer.

“So you helped her get her son back?”

EZ nodded, not feeling like bringing up the whole Los Olvidados thing at the same time.

“She’ll have him back by tomorrow morning.”

Camila nodded, sighing and shaking her head. Motioning around her, she questioned EZ.

“Why all this? Why the running around and lying? Why couldn’t you just be honest with me?”

Now it was EZ’s turn to be confused.

“How could I just tell you that? That’s heavy shit. I didn’t want to lay it on you.”

“So you rather have me believe that the man that I love is having an affair?”

When she put it that way, he realized that him doing what he thought was best had actually nearly ruined everything. He hung his head, then picked it back up, letting his hands drop from her face. She stayed standing in place.

“I would never cheat on you. I love you way too fucking much. I would never do that to you. You’re everything to me. I want to marry you and have kids with you and start a family and see them running around your garden and the kitchen cooking and reading books and smiling like you. I want you forever. No one is ever going to matter more to me than you. I just…I fucked up. I didn’t show you that. I didn’t make you feel that, and it won’t happen again. I swear to you.”  

EZ’s voice was pleading by the time he finished and Camila wouldn’t have put it passed him to drop to his knees there in the soft rain if that was what it took to get her to see that he meant it. Closing her eyes, she let out a long breath and relaxed her shoulders, sudden exhaustion coming over her. The last 10 minutes of her life had been a true roller coaster and she had had many questions cleared up, while many new ones arose. The one that she cared most about though, was if EZ was being unfaithful, and now that she had the truth, it felt like she could take a nap. She felt emotionally drained and EZ pouted as he looked at her, the exhaustion clear on her features as well. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, speaking to her quietly.

“Let’s go home.”

Shaking her head, Camila pulled away and looked back at the carniceria.

“I can’t. I spilled the food all over Felipe’s floor. I have to go help clean up.”

EZ couldn’t help but laugh softly and smoothed his hands over her dampened hair before kissing her nose.

“Ok. We’ll go clean up and then can we go home?”

Camila nodded, looking up at him with what looked like the beginning of her twinkle coming back. The one EZ hadn’t seen in weeks, extinguished all because of him. He was beyond thankful to see it coming back and he rubbed his thumb along her cheek as she answered.

“Then we can go home.” 

Tag list:  @caramara3   @lostgirl219 @mrsjaxtellerfan   @actuallyazriel   @vannabanana1995   @unnecessarypineapplesstuff  @thegreat-annamaria @negansdirtygirl22 @svintsandghosts @piccasoe @tobesurroundedbysplendidthings @jadert15  @lovejn29 @may114​   @meltingicequeen

[littleeyesofpallas]

This isn’t really translation based, and I think most of the key lines I’ve pulled for this are more or less accurate (plus im getting a little tired of juggling Japanese dictionaries) so i’m gonna be lazy and just use Viz’s translations for this...

Looking over the early Arrancar Arc for Orihime stuff, one of the HUGE plot hooks Kubo built up and then once again totally ditched part way into the arc, was the nature of Orihime and Chad’s powers, and how they weren’t just random sidekicks but a part the entire Hollow-Shinigami dynamic and hybrid powers that the arc was all about.

At the onset of the arc the premise we’d originally been given for Chad and Orihime’s powers was still in play: That their powers came specifically from Ichigo.  As it happens their powers are also actually very similar to Ichgo’s and Kubo goes out of his way to make them even more so as this arc gears up...

Right off the bat Ichigo’s name is written literally as “One Protect” and in chapter 2, Ichigo’s attitude about that is explicitly laid out: He won’t let people get hurt if he can help it,but he also won’t make the abstract or high minded commitment to protecting “everyone.”  It’s an interesting way to frame a hero’s morality, but there’s a certain pragmatism to it and Kubo actually explicitly plays with this idea in the Arrancar... until he doesn’t...

Kubo also expands on this a little when he brings up Ichigo’s relationship with his mother in vol.3.  It actually makes him a little more typically heroic.  But it also establishes that he was once a wimpy kid who got strong to protect the people he loves.

So, it doesn’t feel super noticeable that when Orihime and Chad get their powers initially, they are both based on protecting people (because that’s kind of just generic heroism anyway) but the Arrancar Arc builds on the theme pretty explicitly...

Chad’s trajectory for the arc starts when Ichigo recuses him from DiRoy when Grimmjow’s gang attacks Karakura.  Not only is Chad kind of humiliated and ashamed of his weakness compared to Ichigo, but Rukia even takes note of it and chastises Ichigo for being inconsiderate and thinking he has to do everything himself.

When Chad goes to Urahara for help, Urahara mentions to himself that Chad’s powers are like a Hollow’s: specifically he trails off, but when you turn the page the first thing you see is Ichigo’s Hollow mask.  Like with Tatsuki, Kubo is playing very deliberately with juxtaposition and scene transitions, and the natural pacing of having to thumb through physical pages of a manga, viewing two pages at a time.  Then when Chad’s powers further develop as the team invades Los Noches, Chad’s powers are explicitly described as being more Hollow-like, and the true form of his arm takes on the shape of a shield, further emphasizing the already existing them of protection that surrounds Ichigo’s team.

Furthermore, Chad’s second arm form is explicitly described as the power to fight for himself, where as his first arm power is the power to fight for others.  Although Chad doesn’t appear to have the same kind of internal struggles that Ichigo does with his inner hollow and mask, Chad is actually displaying the same dichotomy that Ichigo is here, where Ichigo’s Hollow is all about self preservation and even just raw fighting instinct which is at odds with his need to protect others: Ichigo never lets himself being “selfish,” everything he does he has to do for others.  Chad learning to fight for himself is also co-related to his more/most hollow-like powers.

Orihime too is given the beginnings of a character arc early here where she feels inadequate, at first by being unable to cheer up Ichigo the way Rukia does, then in her inability to save Chad from Yammy and Ulquiorra, and finally with the way Urahara and Yamamoto try to exclude her from their war plans.  When she’s abducted by Ulquiorra, she isn’t just kidnapped, she is coerced into making the decision to save her friends with her compliance.  And once she’s in Los Noches as Aizen’s captive, she realizes that there is something only she can do to help protect everyone, and that is to use her position as a prisoner and as an asset to Aizen’s plans, to try and use her powers to get rid of the Hougyoku... which she never does....

And this wasn’t a few incidental lines just thrown around either, it comes up multiple times and even starts to develop a little bit and point in a very clear direction.  One of the big things the arc was building toward (which never happened) was the idea that Ichigo would eventually get to Orihime and she would refuse to be rescued.  Aizen specifically planned her abduction to look like she defected on her own; Ulquiorra brings up the fact that Ichigo came to rescue her based on trust and faith, but no on the certainty that she was actually innocent; and when Grimmjow talks about Ichigo not understanding what’s going on “inside” her.  It’s all pointing to the fact that Ichigo doesn’t get that his rescuing Orihime isn’t what’s best for her, because it’ll just make her feel helpless again.  Ichigo’s drive to protect people is a strength as a “hero” but it’s actually a weakness as a character.

Also Kubo repeatedly hammers home the idea that the rescue party was doomed to failure: The team splits up because Rukia and Renji guilt trip Ichigo about how his need to protect people forces him to not trust his allies, Dordonii foreshadows that Ichigo is too soft hearted to be fighting the likes of the Arrancar, Ulquiorra’s big reveal as being only #4, all Ichigo’s friends struggling through their Espada fights...  The whole Orihime rescue arc was set up like it was going to be a twist on the last rescue arc, until week after week fights with no plot development really started to drag on, and I get the feeling Kubo got some strong urges from his editor to drop the sidestories and just move the core plot along instead of introducing yet more Arrancar, leading to more and more fights that would only further stall the plot.  The Ulquiorra-Grimmjow-Szayelaporro-Nnoitra marathon in particular wasted legitimately almost a YEAR(50+ chapters) of weekly publications without anyone actually getting any closer to their established goals.

In conjunction with the explicit time frame we’d been given at the start of the arc --roughly 5 months until Winter, when the Hougyoku would be ready.  It seemed pretty clear that the sensible development would be that the rescue arc would fail, Ichigo & co. would be forced to retreat, and then they’d all complete their actual training  in the months left before the Winter War’s projected date.  And as we knew, Aizen had found a kind of hack to use the Hougyoku even before the projected date, so the eventual confrontation would mean Aizen’s forces would be far beyond Soul Society’s projections.  Orihime would have time to try and further her plans, earning Aizen’s trust and finding time and means to sneak her way to the Hougyoku.  Chad very possibly would’ve been left in Hueco Mundo during the retreat, where he could further develop the Hollow aspects of his powers in ways he couldn’t back on Earth.  Uryuu would be forced to confront his father about breaking his promise not to consort with Shinigami.  And Ichigo would actually finish his Visored training properly.

I kinda went off on a tangent here, but yeah...  Orihime and Chad plot threads that Kubo pretty meticulously set up and just didn’t do anything with...

[gra-sonas]

Howdy... Max?!

f you haven't yet watched the season 2 finale of Roswell, New Mexico, stop reading right now. Go watch it (or hibernate in an alien pod until you can) and then come back here to hear what series star Jeanine Mason (Liz Ortecho) and creator Carina Adly MacKenzie have to say about that shocking final moment.

After a season of heart problems (romantic and literal), threesomes(!), abductions, and plenty of family drama, the second season of the CW extraterrestrial drama came to close on Monday night, sidestepping a literal explosion but still managing to make our minds explode. Yup, in the final moments of the episode, Max (Nathan Dean Parsons), Isobel (Lily Cowles) and Michael (Michael Vlamis) arrived in a cave that housed an extraterrestrial cage containing another alien who looked exactly (plus an impressive beard) like Max! Is it an evil twin? A doppelgänger? A dark part of Max himself?

We asked MacKenzie for the inside scoop and all the other insight on the twists and turns of the final episode. Plus, Mason dishes on Liz's decision to leave Roswell and Max behind.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's start at the end. Can you tell us anything at all about Mr. Jones a.k.a Other Max?

CARINA ADLY MACKENZIE: Nathan wasn't working a whole lot at the beginning of this season and we decided we're going to put him to work double next year. I will say, it's been in the works for a while. That scene with his hand on Nora's shoulder was one of the first scenes of the season that we shot and it's one of the last ones that you see, so we've been building to it. I'm excited to tell the story of Mr. Jones next season.

I mean, I'm sure you can't answer but I'm going to ask anyway: Is he a twin? A doppelgänger? Some alien then we haven't heard of yet?

MACKENZIE: Yeah, I'm not going to answer that question. I'm starting a year of my life of trying really hard not to answer that question.

Were you excited at the idea of two Maxes when you first found out, Jeanine?

JEANINE MASON: Yeah, our minds were blown. What I love about the character of Max is he's all things good, decent and righteous and now to turn that on its head and make him all the opposite things... I'm excited for Nathan to have that as an acting exercise and I'm so excited to support him through season 3. Also, for fans, it's going to be really jarring and disorienting, and anything that requires us to watch more attentively and sit on the edge of our seats, and really question the things we know to be true, I think is so smart and exciting and engaging. I'm also interested to see how and when Liz will find out. She's also a prime person to be taken advantage of and duped by it.

"Howdy, partner" was such a great last line for the season. Was that yours, Carina?

MACKENZIE: That was me. I felt like it was the correct mix of amusing and menacing and Mr. Jones is going to be really fun to write because that's sort of where he lives: between amusing and menacing. Nathan loves that beard. He walks differently when he had it. His whole vibe changes. He becomes this like silver, bartender guy, who I don't know.

We saw Liz decided to move to California at the end and Max chose not to follow. Why is their relationship failing right now?

MACKENZIE: Max has had secrets his entire life. He's a very, very, very good liar because his entire life he's had to lie to everyone who loves him and he hasn't yet learned how to be a true partner to Liz. He makes a lot of promises and doesn't follow through. That said, Liz's ambition is overwhelming to her and what she's doing with the alien DNA is unethical. It's not right. In her mind, it's "I'm taking a risk, but I could possibly save so many people." In his mind, the risk is too great. You don't just get to mess with somebody else, even if she's saying it's not hurting anyone. There's this moment in the fight where she says, "I'm not hurting anyone," and he just looks at her with this searing look and it's like, no, she is. They're hurting each other. I think that politically right now, they are on opposite sides of a major issue that affects both of them. We wanted to tell a story in which the conflict in their relationship just comes from the two of them. It's not about Diego. It's not about California. It's about Liz and Max and they're not able to align right now. They love each other so much, but sometimes that's just not enough.

Jeanine, did you feel like Liz was doing the right thing by leaving for now?

MASON: I felt certain that this was what was right for Liz. I was just grateful to our writers that they wrote her in a way that feels, to me, real and mature and actually indicative of a 29-year-old woman who says, right now, this is too much and I need my space. I need to reclaim my agency and I need to go. There's a sense with them and their epic love, the energy of Max and Liz, that probably plays into her being okay with saying, right now is not the right time. I can believe that maybe it will be later because we found each other after ten years before.

Speaking of breakups, Michael and Maria (Heather Hemmens) also ended things in this episode. Can you explain a little more of Maria's thinking there?

MACKENZIE:  I think that Maria's reasoning comes from not wanting to hold anybody back and not wanting to hold herself back. She's made Michael a lot of promises. She's promised that she isn't going to leave him alone and she realizes that she can't keep a promise to herself while also keeping a promise to Michael. In her mind, she's in this difficult situation in which she's watching the man she loves go racing to save someone else that she loves, but then wants her to stay out of the fray. Rather than spend the rest of her life fighting about that, she's just got to let him go. It's kind of heartbreaking. I really loved that scene. Both her actors did a phenomenal job. They both called me and were like, "Wait! Why?" just freaking out. Sometimes I think you have to take a big step back and look at the bigger picture and the bigger implications on your life. We're not telling stories about high school kids. We're telling stories about people that are almost 30 and they're looking for life partners and I think she realizes that he's not hers and she's not his.

I have to ask about Alex's song. Did you write that, Carina?

MACKENZIE: I wrote it with Leslie Powell and Charlie Snyder and I'm super proud of it. My cut of the royalties are going to The Trevor Project, so I'm very excited for people to finally hear it. There's lots of little throwbacks in there.

How has it been having both Shiri Appleby and Jason Behr on set this season?

MASON: I mean, so wonderful. One of the biggest gifts from this job is just how it's a family within a family within a family. That's a really unique experience to get to have and one that's been positively received by the fans, the original fans and fans of the book series. Then also on set, it's fun to see the excitement on our faces of them coming in and joining forces. There's this feeling of disbelief sometimes where I'll look over and I'm just marveling at it. I told Jason like a year ago I was obsessed with Colin Hanks. We'd been joking about it and I was like, "So, now we're at a point where if I saw him at the grocery store, I could tell him we're friends? That could be my intro?" Now he says he's trying to finagle something. I don't know what, but I'm going to die.

The show does so well at being relevant and part of the conversation. Is there one scene, storyline, or interaction your most proud of this season? The scene with Liz and Max in the diner in the penultimate episode where Liz tells Max, “You don’t get this. That’s not your fault it’s just the reality of our experiences,” really stood out to me.

MASON: It's our favorite thing about the show and that we're supported, to be honest, and have our eyes open in that way is such a gift. It's just amazing the timing of last week's episode, alongside these conversations that are happening about Black lives matter and how much they do. It was so powerful. I think that's the kind of stuff that the universe is able to reward you with, when you do something that is right and you're willing to have a conversation that maybe everybody else is dancing around a bit. It was powerful for me to sit there and work on those lines and load them up with all the feelings that I do very much share about, I can love and emphasize with you and you can love and emphasize with me, but you have to understand that it's nothing negative to say that you're not going to ultimately understand. That doesn't mean you can't be an ally.

MACKENZIE: In the current climate, I'm really grateful that we get to ask questions and have tough conversations about race and privilege and misogyny and all of these tough conversations that we're able to reflect on. We just sort of live in that world. Seeing what's been going on in the world lately, I've just been very proud of our show and that no matter what we're going through as a society, I feel like we have been asking relevant questions during our time on Roswell. It makes things feel a little bit less trivial.

Can you tease anything for season 3?

MACKENZIE: The interesting thing is that before we took our extended break, we were planning on a season about racism in the police department. So during the break, we're doing a whole lot of thinking about how we're going to take a look at our plans with new eyes.

~ EW

[hypexion]

Asylum of the Daleks is one of those episodes that’s probably not as good as it could be. While it’s got a collection of decent ideas, the execution is here and there and some of the subplots are... not good.

The episode starts with a premise that sounds like a “good“ time - the Dalek prison where the Daleks put all the Daleks that go wrong, but are too hardcore to kill. There’s the seed of an interesting idea here - why would the facist tin-cans build an asylum, when they’d normal just exterminate the Daleks that don’t work good? Asylum of the Daleks chooses not to answer this question, but rather decides to bring it up in universe, then handwaves it away by saying the Daleks really love hate.

Then the episode doesn’t really use it’s big concept that much. Asylum of the Daleks quickly turns into a regular Dalek episode, except the Daleks are all banged up. And also some of the Daleks are now actually zombies, but the whole Dalek transformation thing doesn’t even look that good. The only thing interesting thing that really ends up happening is Amy’s weird hallucination where she sees all the Daleks as fancy dressed up humans, but that doesn’t go anywhere either.

Honestly, it’s a bit of a wonder why Amy and Rory are in this episode. They don’t really do anything other than have their relationship be destroyed and rebuilt for cheap drama. It’s like Steven Moffat saw complaints that Series Six didn’t handle Amy and Rory’s reaction to their child being abducted, and decided to go too far in the other direction. Apparently Amy wants to divorce Rory because she is ashamed of being infertile, and decided not to discuss this with him. Which is, uh, really terrible character writing. We even get some fun “who loves who more“, which is honestly all kinds of terrible. Steven Moffat should not be allowed to write relationships.

But the actual big thing about Asylum of the Daleks is Oswin, the character played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. When the episode aired, it was know that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill would be leaving, and Jenna-Louise Coleman would be coming in as the new companion in the second half of the season. So it was a bit of a surprise when the new actress showed up in the first episode. Even more so when she died, since it’s kind of hard to be a character if you’re dead. As in turned out, this was part of Series Seven’s arc nonsense, but at the time it was a vaugely interesting mystery.

As characters go, Oswin is... kind of flat, really. She’s super smart and knows stuff! She gets flirty with the Doctor! Moffat can only write like three female characters! The big twist is essentially the most interesting thing about her - that she’s actually a Dalek, who used to be a human, but was turned into a Dalek. For some reason. Daleks generally don’t go around converting things. Somehow she hacks the Dalek internet to delete the Doctor, somehow, and this solves all the problems. This leads to many Daleks saying “Doctor Who?“ because Moffat is fucking insufferable.

Really, what I’m coming away with from Asylum of the Daleks is that it would work better if you did a find and replace to swap “Dalek“ for ”Cybermen“. It makes more sense for Cybermen to vote, Cybermen are more likely to keep “defective“ members while looking for a way to fix them, Cybermen convert people and Cybermen have internet. But no, the Daleks are the Doctor’s iconic enemy, and so it is they who must ask who the Doctor is.

The conclusion here is that Asylum of the Daleks starts with a bunch of potential, then sort of drops it in favour of setting up more weird arcs, having a probably offensive Amy/Rory subplot, and trying and failing to get some good horror moments. The episode looks good, with the production being on point, but ultimately what’s being produced is rather lacking.

[constantviewings]

The TV Show Trials - Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds is a police procedural crime drama televisions series that aired on CBS from 2005 to 2020. Criminal Minds revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyse the country’s most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next movies before they strike again. As the team evolves together, the Behavioural Analysis Unit continues its dedication to using their expertise to pinpoint predators’ motivations and identify their emotional triggers in the attempt to stop them.

The Big Game/Revelations

The BAU pursues a religious killing team that sets up computer webcams to record their murders and post them online. The teams urgency to find the killer increases when they realise he’s holding Reid captive. Meanwhile, Reid begins having flashbacks of his own troubled childhood while drifting in-and-out of consciousness.

I am not surprised that this pair of episodes ended up at the top of my list because…wow. The highlight of these episodes is easily James Van Der Beek’s performance as Tobias/Charles/Rafael. Biblically inspired killers aren’t anything new, but these episodes bring a different twist to the trope that I enjoyed.

Rating: 4

 Mosely Lane

The BAU is called by local authorities in Ashburn, Virginia, to profile a predator who may have been abducting children for at least eight years.

This episode is grim (in tone, not quality) and emotional to its core. This is the first episode that Matthew Gray Gubler directed and it doesn’t stray in quality compared to the rest of the episodes, I really want to know what made him want to direct this particular episode. Also, Evan Peters is always a win in my book.

Rating: 4

 Mr Scratch

When three people implicated in murders claim that they were attacked at the moment each crime occurred, the BAU searches for a man who appears to be controlling the suspects’ minds. However, as the search for the culprit continues, the life of one of the team is put in jeopardy.

This is another episode directed by Matthew Gray Gubler, and I don’t like this episode as much as the others. It’s an intense ride, but once the episode is over and you’re able to calm down, the story is pretty standard with nothing too special about it. Clearly, this is an unpopular opinion as it if is the third most popular episode of the entire show, but I stand by it.

Rating: 3

100

When the Reaper returns of Washington D.C., for a final showdown with Hotch, the BAU works frantically to catch him before he reaches his family.

I think a lot of what needs to be said about this episode is communicated through the fact that I had to watch this episode twice before reviewing it because I kept forgetting what happened, even as I write this I couldn’t tell you anything that happened. It’s a fine episode, but clearly not a memorable one.

Rating: 3

 Entropy

In its investigation and manhunt of the Dirty Dozen hitman ring, the BAU implements an elaborate strategy to try and take it down, in which Reid plays a central role.

This is my favourite episode that I watched for this review, by a long shot. Aubrey Plaza as a hitwoman holding Spencer hostage to remain one step ahead just by talking is a recipe for my perfect episode. This episode features amazing performances from both Aubrey Plaza and Matthew Gray Gubler as the cherry on top of an already perfect episode.

Rating: 5

 The Fisher King

A psychotic killer involves the BAU in an elaborate fantasy game, telling them to unscramble clues and riddles to rescue his latest victim. However, as the team continues their investigation, one member’s life is suddenly put in jeopardy.

The highlight of these episodes is the trail that the Fisher King leaves behind, it’s really unique and I liked getting to see Penelope contribute more of her non-tech knowledge to the team.

Rating: 4

 Penelope

As Penelope fights for her life, the BAU’s search for her attacker leads the unit to believe the assailant could be someone close to the investigation.

This episode isn’t anything too special, but I love that it’s centred on my favourite character, Penelope. This episode really highlights the BAU’s relationship as more than just colleagues, but as a family.

Rating: 3

 Masterpiece

A serial killer confesses to killing seven people and challenges the team to find five people he has hidden somewhere before they die.

Imagine my shock when I saw Jason Alexander playing a narcissistic serial killer; the last role I ever expected to see him in. Despite that fact that I was slightly distracted by Jason Alexander the whole time, this is a pretty good episode especially Joe Mantegna’s performance.

Rating: 3

Riding the Lightning

The BAU is sent to the Florida State Penitentiary to interview husband-and-wife serial killers set to be executed. After the initial interview, Gideon suspects that the wife may not be guilty of the crime committed.

I’m not the kind to care for fictional (or real) criminals, especially those on death row, but that’s something that this episode that achieved that in spades. This episode did what not a lot of procedurals can do, which is make me care about characters that I’ll never see again. That, coupled with beautiful performances from Mandy Patinkin and Jeannetta Arnette make for a perfect episode.

Rating: 5

 Hit/Run

When a gang of lethal bank robbers initiates its latest robbery in Washington D.C., the BAU attempts to negotiate the unfolding hostage situation when the robbery turns south. The stakes begin to rise when one of their own earns the wrath of one of the bank robbers and later becomes a hostage.

This is another good pair of episodes, what lets it down is that one episode is far better than the other. While Run is a satisfying conclusion to the episodes ark, Hit succeeds at building and sustaining tension for the whole episode.

Rating: 3

 Zugzwang

When Reid discovers that his girlfriend has been abducted by her stalker, he and the BAU band together to find and rescue her before it is too late.

This is another episode I had to watch twice in order to remember what happened in it. I’m sure this episode is a lot more impactful when watched in sequence with the rest of the series, but it isn’t anything special as a first time viewer.

Rating: 3

 Believer/300

When a former VICAP agent is found locked inside a storage unit, the BAU finds multiple holes in his investigation towards an unsub he investigated dubbed ‘The Strangler’. When two agents are kidnapped by followers of Benjamin David Merva, the BAU works to stop a murderous prophecy from being fulfilled.

If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for cult stories and these episodes are no different. Like a few other episodes in this review, these two didn’t leave a lasting impression on me, but they were fun to watch.

Rating: 3

 Amplification

The BAU responds quickly after a homegrown terrorist releases a new strain of Anthrax in Annapolis that threatens the public and puts a member of the team at risk.

The ending is what really stands out about this episode more than anything else. A final shot of hundreds of deadly bioweapons locked under federal protection is a morbid reality that I don’t want to consider the legitimacy of.

Rating: 3

Seven Seconds

The unit works against the clock when a little girl disappears in a mall, believing a serial killer has struck a second time and the first girl died within an hour of abduction.

This episode makes it into my top three with ease with its combination of single setting and intriguing mystery. Unlike most Criminal Minds episodes that show the unsub and their victims throughout, this episode doesn’t and that really made it stand out in retrospect.

Rating: 4

 To Bear Witness

The BAU meets their new section chief, Mateo Cruz, who, unbeknownst to them, shares a long work history with JJ. Cruz joins the team as they comb the streets of Balitmore for an abductor who leaves victims unable to communicate.

This was the first episode I watched of Criminal Minds and I wish I had a better introduction. The unsubs method of operation, while slightly unrealistic by 2013 standards, is unique and interesting. Apart from that, everything else about this episode is pretty standard.

Rating: 3

Did I like this show? Yes, and I’m bummed that I only started watching the year that the show ended.

 Will I continue watching? Yes, I’ve already started watching from season 1.

[admiralty-xfd]

supplication 2

Tagging @gaycrouton who sent me the prompt. This followed a fic I write a while ago nicely, so I included it here. It can be read alone. I hope you’re seeing this, anon, whoever you are, and I hope you enjoy it :)

“What do you like, Mulder?”

The question takes him off guard; he was certain they were both drifting off to sleep. Rain patters on the windows outside the motel. She’s sprawled across his chest, her naked skin his blanket, the way she has been for a couple weeks now. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” she says quickly, pulling her knee over his thigh suggestively.

“Scully, everything you do I like,” he says with one hundred percent honesty.

He can feel her smirking in the dim room; nine years of this and he can read her even in the dark. “Yeah, but… is there anything… else?” she offers. “Anything I’m not doing that you wish I would?”

Her question offends him on the very basest level. He still feels restless, wanted. And not just by Scully. His life is on the line, and even so, he feels acutely that Scully has given up her freedom to save his ass, yet again. Her freedom, her family. Her job. Her life.

Her future.

What does he like? Fuck that.

“No, Scully. There’s nothing else I could possibly ask for.” Even if it weren’t the truth, and it was his only truth, he would still say it. Because he still means what he told her four years ago in his Alexandria apartment. He owes her everything, she owes him nothing. And yet, somehow, here she is, still paying off his debts.

He twists his neck down, down, to look at her. She seems so happy, so content. How is it even possible? Everything is complete shit.

“What about you?” he asks. If he can make her any happier, he’ll sure as shit try. He’ll give her the moon if she wants it. Pull it down, hook it onto a keychain. The real, actual moon this time.

“Mmm…” she hums, thinking. Her hesitancy is confirmation of the existence of an answer to his question, and that’s promising. They’d evolved from friends to lovers two entire years ago, but the amount of time they’d spent together over the course of those two years learning each other’s bodies was relatively minimal. He’s an eager pupil, however. His cock twitches in anticipation.

“I like when…” she huffs a bit, maybe nervous, “you’re rough with me.”

He’d suspected as much. It wasn’t as if she could hide how it turned her on when he went harder, flipped her over or held her down. How her breath would quicken and her eyes would close and she would writhe and moan.

“Oh, I’ve noticed,” he admits.

“I think, I mean… it’s okay if you want to be rougher, though.”

His breath stops, in that uncomfortable way when the person you know suddenly feels like a stranger. This feature of their sex life had always been a garnish, not a main course. “How much rougher?”

“I don’t know.” She gives his nipple a pinch and he flinches.”I’ll tell you when, Mulder. Promise.”

"But I don’t want to hurt you.”

It’s not just a mantra he recites to himself daily, it’s his only reason for living. Keeping her safe, keeping her secure. In life, in love. In this relationship. He wants to shield her from harm, not be the one she receives it from. He’s torn between the part that wants to keep her safe and the part that wants to give her everything he’d promised himself he would.

“You won’t hurt me, Mulder. I know you would never hurt me.”

Her faith in him still astounds him daily, that she’s here at all, because he has hurt her. His mere existence in her life has hurt her. Yet she seems to enjoy the pain.

I’d do it all over again.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try, but only if you tell me why you want this, why... more pain?”

Her eyes flicker. He swears what he sees is not the hurt he’d feared. “I don’t see it as pain. I see it as... feeling something.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Wow, way to hurt a guy’s self esteem.”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” she assures him. “You know what we have is amazing. I just... want to do this with you, Mulder. Is that okay?”

His dominance in the bedroom has only been borne by the heat of the moment, a particular crack in time opening and allowing him to fall inside. He’s never actually hurt her, he hopes, and they’ve both always come out the other side perfectly satisfied. But she’s never sought this, made it the primary focus.

“You promise you’d tell me if I’m hurting you?”

“I promise.”

He looks up at her, her eyes sparkling with desire. She really does want him to do this. He isn’t even sure what “this” is but, as usual, they will learn together. They’ll search, discover, unravel this mystery as a team. He holds the back of her head and pulls her down to give her a soft, sweet kiss.

He pulls away for a moment, then pulls her in again, crushing his lips against hers. He kisses her so hard he’s certain she will bruise, as will he, and he doesn’t care. She bites his bottom lip hard and he relents for a moment, allowing her to set the stage.

But he knows this is not quite what she wants.

He slides out from underneath her, gripping her shoulders, and throws her back onto the bed facedown, hard. His hand slides up between her bare shoulder blades and rests on the back of her neck, where he wraps his large hand around it and holds firm. She turns her face to the side and inhales sharply.

“Is this okay?”

“It’s good, Mulder. Don’t ask every time, okay?”

He tries not to think about the pain she must be internalizing to want this as his hand covers the spot where her chip resides, that tiny thing that’s caused so much trauma in her life. He tries not to think about it as he presses her face harder into the pillow with one hand and raises the other.

The moonlight dances along the curves of her body, like a grecian goddess, a picture of perfection that he doesn’t deserve to have in his bed. He isn’t quite sure what to do but in a moment of transferred self-flagellation his hand comes down to slap her ass cheek, hard.

She yelps.

“Do you like that?” he asks.

“Yes …”

It’s kind of hot. He kind of likes it, too.

Slap!

“Yes, Mulder…”

Spurred on, he thinks of her abduction. He thinks of her sister getting shot in her apartment.

Slap!

Her cancer.

Slap!

He bites his lip as his mind races across the hellscape she’s been put through since she met him. Ending with the look on her face as she told him about giving up their son.

Slap!

He can see her skin turning red even in the darkness, and his hand stills, hovering above the curve of her ass. He can feel the heat radiating off it.

“Mmmmm…. more,” he hears her murmuring. More?

“Pull my hair, Mulder,” she whines. She sounds desperate, needy. “Please.”

Fuck. He loves it when she says please.

He throws a leg over her, straddling her back, feeling the heat from her raw backside against his erection. He hasn’t even been paying attention to how much this has been arousing him.

His fingers weave into her hair, along her scalp, her beautiful fiery tresses that to him have always represented the fire within her. She is tough. She’s the toughest woman he’s ever met.

He yanks back, hard.

She yelps, and he doesn’t know everything about her yet, but he knows these are sounds of pleasure. He jams his knee into the small of her back and she inhales sharply. He feels her hips gyrating against the bed, seeking the friction he’s denying her.

Leaning down he whispers into her ear. “Do you like that?”

“Yes,” is all she replies. She grinds her pelvis into the mattress, and he wants to ease her aching desire but making her wait is probably part of the torture.

“Do you want more?”

“Yes,” is all she replies.

Cupping her sex with his palm renders his hand soaking wet. He teases her clit with his middle finger and she whimpers in frustration, arching into his hand.

Shit. She wasn’t lying about this, that much is clear.

With one hand he collects both her wrists and pins them above her head. With the other he swipes the hair away from her neck and leans in, biting the tender flesh at her nape. She mewls next to him in want.

His mouth doesn’t stop for even a moment as she bucks frantically beneath him, seeking the contact he knows she’s waiting for. Holding her down with one hand he uses the other to part her legs wide for him.

He is strong but so is she, and she thrashes against him, giving him resistance that’s painfully arousing. The sight of her sprawled naked across the bed on her stomach with her legs opened to him is entirely new.

“What do you want, Scully?” he asks.

She shakes her head against the pillow, eyes squeezed shut. “No. Don’t ask me what I want. Just take what’s yours.”

Fresh desire thrums within his veins at her words. She is his. He doesn’t deserve her but she’s here all the same.

He wants to ask like this? Just like this? But he doesn’t because she’s already told him as much.

In a brief moment of tenderness he drags his index finger across the top of her ass, then down to her sex, so coated with arousal he groans audibly. He strokes himself a couple times, as if he needed it, then leans down to place a gentle kiss in the dimple between her buttocks. And with that he plunges inside her with one savage thrust. She cries out, her wrists helplessly restrained.

She does not ask him to stop.

He pumps into her forcefully, over and over, his body undulating like waves. He is merely a ship adrift on the surface but she is the ocean. She is everywhere he wants to be.

The bed rocks and the pictures on the walls shake. The room is alive with abandon as he pumps into her mercilessly, emboldened by her cries of pleasure, and he is suddenly a man possessed: by lust, by instinct. Possessed by a love so big he cannot know where it begins and where it ends.

Still, she does not ask him to stop.

Whatever he’s doing is working, because now she’s shrieking his name so loudly he is cognizant for the first time they are not at home, not anywhere that resembles a home, and motel guests are certainly hearing this.

She shudders in ecstasy and even from behind he knows all her signs of completion. She is quiet and prone, laid out for his pleasure, completely spent.

He feels like he’s about to come himself when he notices a tiny tear on her cheek. Shit. This is exactly what he’d been afraid of. He doesn’t know what to do, so he stops.

“Scully, hey,” he leans down, still throbbing inside her. He wipes the tear away and her eyes open. He can’t tell if he wants to stop or doesn’t want to stop more. “Shit, are you okay?”

Suddenly this feels wrong, like he’s profiting at her expense. He wants to please her but his mind battles with itself, the notion of being the one to bring Scully any pain abhorrent. This is supposed to be about her.

“What is it?” she asks. “Why did you stop?”

“Because you’re crying,” he says.

“Mulder, I’m okay.”

“But I hurt you,” he protests.

“It’s good, I’m fine,” she says, her voice heavy. “That was the point, in case you forgot.”

He shuts his eyes and lays down onto her back, covering her like the blanket he’s used to her being for him. “I hate being the one to hurt you, Scully.”

She shifts her body a bit underneath him and flips around so they are face to face. He’s lost her warmth but hears her voice. “Mulder.”

He opens his eyes, that voice his anchor. All she has to say is that single word and it doesn’t matter where the hell they are, when the world is ending, what they’ve both been through. When she says that word, he is home.

“If this is too much for you, I understand. Okay?”

He shakes his head. “I just know you. You say ‘I’m fine’ when you’re not fine.”

She laughs, knowing he’s right. “The tears are part of it, okay? The feeling. Really feeling all of it.” She takes a deep breath. “I told you I’d tell you if things went too far.”

“I want to do everything you ask for, everything you want. I just can’t let go, I don’t trust myself.”

The look in her eyes is that of pure adoration. She reaches up and gently holds his face with her hands. “But I trust you.”

He is so grateful for her being here with him. Every single day he knows she’d be better off without him, better off somewhere else.

There has to be an end, Scully.

But there doesn’t have to be. They’re finally together in exactly the way they’ve been waiting almost a decade for. It isn’t perfect, in fact it’s far from, but she’s here in his arms.

“Let’s finish your way, Mulder,” she says gently, touching his face again. She smiles with genuine affection.

His way? What the hell is his way?

“What do you mean, my way?”

“I mean,” she says, her eyes dark and wanton. “Finish. Please.” Her eyebrow lifts and his dick springs back to attention. Fuck, he loves her so much.

“Say it again,” he says, tasting her lips once more.

“Please, Mulder.”

He enters her again, slightly less rough but no less enthusiastically. And he takes what he wants, which is her. Forever, as long as alien colonization will allow them.

She takes what she wants too, her calves squeezing his ass, her nails embedded deep into his back. And before long he is indeed finished, collapsing onto her, sweaty and exhausted.

She strokes his hair and kisses his head as he breathes deeply. “Thank you,” she says, over and over.

No, Scully. Thank you for sticking around.

“What about you?” he mutters, his head against her breast. He’s never opposed to giving her multiple orgasms.

“I’m perfect.”

He’s so tired he’s inclined to believe her. “That you are.”

She grins and he again feels it next to him rather than sees it. But he sees it in his mind’s eye, the smile he would do anything to see over and over again until the world ends.

“I love you,” she says. They’ve said it but it’s still new.

“I love you, too,” he responds.

They drift off to sleep and he hopes she’ll still love him tomorrow.

[birdlord]

Everything I Watched in 2019

Movies

The number in parentheses is year of release, asterisks denote a re-watch, and titles in bold are my favourite watches of the year. 

01 The Death of Stalin (17) does a neat trick of building goodwill for Steve Buscemi’s Krushchev, then brutally pays that off in the last few minutes. 

02 Sorry to Bother You (18)

03 Support the Girls (18)

04 Paddington (14)*

05 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (16)

06 Eighth Grade (18) probably the most terrifying movie I watched all year, if you didn’t watch it through your fingers, who even are you?

07 Morvern Callar (02) much less bleak than the book, but then, nearly anything would be

08 The Favourite (18) revolting and beautiful. 

09 Columbus (17) a really lovely movie about architecture and parent-child relationships.

10 Bring it On (00)*

11 The Land of Steady Habits (18) feels wackier than your average Holofcener, but still a good watch. 

12 Spotlight (15) i was really bowled over by this, and wasn’t expecting to be. Workmanlike filmmaking, but an extraordinary story, well-told.

13 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (17) Barry Keoghan is a blank, but somehow compelling screen presence. This one has an ending that made me bark with laughter.

14 Legends of the Fall (94)

15 Moneyball (11)* if you don’t feel like watching anything in particular, you can always watch Moneyball

16 If Beale St Could Talk (18) very beautiful, but I failed to connect with it on any other level. 

17 For Keeps (88)

18 Abducted in Plain Sight (17)

19 Oscar Shorts (Animated) (18) the offerings were very sappy this year, but the winner was decent! Lots of Toronto content (weird). 

20 Oscar Shorts (Live Action) (18) *unquestionably* the worst one of these won ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

21 Velvet Buzzsaw (19)

22 Vice (18) ugh

23 Friends with Money (06)

24 Can You Ever Forgive Me (18)

25 Bohemian Rhapsody (18) haha what. was. that.

26 Mars Attacks (96)*

27 Paddington 2 (18)

28 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (92)*

29 Shoplifters (18)

30 Blindspotting (18) jacked Ethan Embry in a supporting role?! Whither? Howso? Wherefore?

31 Witness (85)

32 Harry & the Hendersons (87)*

33 The Matrix (99)*

34 T2 Trainspotting (17)

35 Blockers (18)

36 The Slums of Beverly Hills (98)

37 Can’t Hardly Wait (98)*

38 Avengers: Infinity War (18)

39 Iron Man II (10)

40 Isle of Dogs (18)

41 Chinatown (74)*

42 To Live & Die in LA (85)

43 Age of Innocence (93) Daniel Day-Lewis manages to make Newland Archer compelling, where in the novel he’s...the worst?!

44 Shopgirl (05)*

45 The House (17) didn’t sustain all the way through, but then, that’s how mainstream comedies often go. 

46 The Beguiled (17)

47 Badlands (73)*

48 Poetic Justice (93)

49 The Empire Strikes Back (80)*

50 Calibre (18)

51 The Kindergarten Teacher (18)

52 Hounds of Love (17) a nice little Aussie thriller, set in the 80s

53 Kicking & Screaming (95)*

54 Octopussy (83)*

55 Jaws (79)*

56 Lover Come Back (61)

57 Frenzy (72)

58 Always Be My Maybe (19)

59 Certain Women (16) took a while to get to this one, but it’s as great as they say it is. 

60 Baby Driver (17) all flash, little substance.

61 Sneakers (92)

62 Roadhouse (87)*

63 Bull Durham (88)*

64 Ghostbusters (84)*

65 Booksmart (19) I think this will improve on multiple viewings, though I loved the soundtrack and the mix of characters. 

66 Hereditary (18)

67 Rebecca (40) George Sanders as Rebecca’s cousin is BRILLIANT

68 Vertigo (58)*

69 The Dead Don’t Die (19)

70 Crawl (19)

71 Dazed & Confused (93)* If you don’t watch this once a summer, what is wrong with you?

72 Jackie Brown (97)

73 Talk Radio (88)

74 The Guilty (18)

75 Killing Heydrich (17)

76 Lady Bird (17)*

77 Billy Elliot (00)*

78 White House Down (13)* Channing Potatum saves the White House!

79 The Film Worker (17)

80 Whitney (18)

81 Mascot (16)

82 Apocalypse Now (79)* technically I’d only seen the Redux version from the early 2000s, so the regular cut is new to me. 

83 Apollo 13 (95)*

84 Psycho 2 (83) the twist is very guessable, but there are a couple of nice-looking scenes.

85 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (04)*

86 The Bodyguard (92)*

87 Murder Mystery (19)

88 Wildlife (18)

89 The Stepford Wives (75)*

90 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (71)*

91 The Natural (84)

92 The Other Boleyn Girl (08)

93 Speed (94)*

94 Opera (87)

95 That’s my Boy (12) haha what?!

96 The Big Short (15)

97 Elizabeth the Golden Age (07)

98 The Glass Castle (17) when I read the book, I genuinely thought it was fiction, it’s so insane. 

99 Dawn of the Dead (78)*

100 All About Eve (50) lady on lady violence is a special thing

101 La La Land (16)

102 Morning Glory (10) remember Rachel McAdams?

103 Casino (95)*

104 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (06)

105 Pet Sematary (19)

106 Clue (85)*

107 Her Smell (18) amazing soundtrack and the songs were well-chosen. Heartbreaking musical moment in the final act. 

108 Bobby Sands: 66 Days (16)

109 She’s Gotta Have it (86)

110 Good Morning (59)

111 Hustlers (19) I didn’t connect with this as much as the reviews led me to believe I might. 

112 Nocturnal Animals (16)

113 Kill Bill Vol 1 (03) I’d only ever seen the second one before, being a non-Tarantino completionist.

114 Fried Green Tomatoes (91)* I watch this more than anticipated...

115 Steel Magnolias (89)

116 Notting Hill (99)*

117 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (19) the tiny city models were inspired!

118 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (89)*

119 Let It Snow (19)

120 Frozen (13)

121 The Irishman (19) most interesting as a sort of pastiche/reckoning on the part of Scorsese about his other gangster films. Really outmoded view of unions. Definitely could have been edited down if anyone were able to come to it without undue reverence, but I did love the bit about the fish.

122 Girls Trip (17) actual plot is beside the point. 

123 About a Boy (02)* I always think of this as the “vomit and sweaters” movie, anyone else?

124 Animal House (78)*

DOCUMENTARY : FICTION - 4:120

THEATRE : HOME - 9:115

TV Series

01 Russian Doll - I think I would have enjoyed this more if it hadn’t been bingeable - would have made a nice week-by-week discussion sort of show. I loved to watch the changes between re-ups of our major characters, and I think the actual plotting would reward re-watches. 

02 Catastrophe S4 - A satisfying ending to an excellent show, with very charismatic leads (and deeply weird supporting characters). Had to write around Carrie Fisher’s death, and I’m sure did a better job of it than Star Wars did. 

03 Friends from College S2 - More of the same, which is what I was after. A show like cotton candy (but with more infidelity). 

04 High Maintenance S3 - A lot more of this season took place outside of New York City, which was a great change of pace. And a great deal more information about The Guy and his own life; both difficulties and successes included. 

05 Losers - This was a great little docuseries on Netflix that I didn’t hear a lot of people talking about - it’s about sports losses, but unusual sports ie curling, figure skating and the like. You’d think it would get repetitive, being as it’s always about recovering after loss, but it doesn’t! I wish they would make another season….

06 Shrill - a tight six episode dramedy about an alt-weekly journalist in the Pacific Northwest, based on Lindy West’s memoir of the same name. John Cameron Mitchell as her boss (based on Dan Savage) stands out of the ensemble cast, as does Annie’s roommate played by a British standup Lolly Adefope.

07 Broad City S5 - I haven’t always kept up with Broad City, but I came back to it for its final season, and thought it did a good job of setting its characters up for big changes in their lives. 

08 I Think You Should Leave - It’s easy to assume that all sketch comedy is terrible and always will be, but then you see this, and throw your TV out the window (due to all the laffs)

09 Fleabag S2 - Everything you’ve heard is true, this season is goddamn hilarious and ridiculously sexy. A huge step up from the first season, which was already pretty fantastic and incisive. 

10 Fosse/Verdon - Musicals are not particularly my bag, so I’m sure there was a lot that I missed in terms of references, but the lead performances ably carried me through all of the time jumps and various performances. 

11 Stranger Things S3 - Say it after me: d-i-m-i-n-i-s-h-i-n-g r-e-t-u-r-n-s! Maya Hawke kills it, though. 

12 Big Little Lies S2 - Unnecessary, and (if possible) even sillier than the first season.

13 Lorena - Part of the ongoing quest to rehabilitate the maligned women of the 1990s, this gave me tons of context that I had no idea about at the time, due to being a dumb kid. 

14 Glow S3 - I felt like I was losing steam on this series this year, but episodes like the camping ep kept me coming back. A great ensemble, though some unusual character choices (like a certain kiss *cough*) took me out of it by times. 

15 Lodge 49 S1-3 - I’d kept hearing about this show, so I finally sought it out. I can’t say it was amazingly compelling (I almost dropped it after the first season) but it’s definitely an oddball of a show, slipping from setpiece to setpiece with little regard for logic. For me, a background show. 

16 Chernobyl - This show really gave me the Bad Feeling, humans were definitely A Mistake.

17 On Becoming a God in Central Florida - Kiki in a trashy mode, not as infinitely appealing as the version she pulled off in the second season of Fargo, but scrappy and industrious nonetheless.

18 Show Me a Hero - I’d put off watching this for years, it felt like it was going to be too dull (housing policy in Yonkers?) but it’s great, and larded up with Bruce Springsteen songs, obvs.

19 Great British Bake Off S9-S10 - I’d also held off on watching this for a long time, out of loyalty to Mel, Sue, and Mary Berry. But I needed some comfort viewing towards the end of the summer, and the new hosts and judge do an able job, although the show’s tropes are feeling a bit well-worn at this point. 

20 Righteous Gemstones S1 - A rollicking ride for sure, with a great cast. Your mileage/patience with Danny McBride may vary, so keep that in mind, naturally. 

21 This Way Up S1 - A small show starring the fabulous Aisling Bea, about mental health and families and some nice comic physical acting. Oh, and in case you were watching The Crown and crushing on Tobias Menzies’ version of Prince Phillip, he plays a hot dad love interest in this, which gives you all the Tobias you’re looking for, without the PP racisms. 

22 The Crown S3 - This is the first season of the big cast switchover, and I thought it stuck reasonably well, once we were in it an episode or two. This season concentrated even less on Elizabeth herself, preferring her sister, husband, and (newly!) her children.

[revoevokukil]

On the character writing of  Captain Marvel’s antagonists

How is Captain Marvel’s villain game?

The MCU’s story of how Carol Danvers comes to realise what gives her the capacity to do heroic things is rooted in an intimate tale of self-discovery, knowing oneself, and embracing oneself as one is. It is not a classic story of confrontation between good and evil and therefore the classic hero’s journey formula does not apply. Carol is exactly the same personality at the end of the film as she is at the beginning of the film, with the crucial difference that by the end, she is in a position to control and honestly evaluate her own life narrative – she has regained solid ground under her feet without which no one can pass moral judgments or make decisions that affect the lives of other people.

Carol’s origin story is not about punching someone into remorse and submission, but about finding herself (almost literally) – which means that the antagonists of the film are the friends she makes along the way. The opposing force is a deeply personal one and climbs into the protagonist’s soul rather than threatens their life. That makes Yon-Rogg not as one-dimensional as people seem to think. He’s more of a foil than an outright antagonist to Carol on a personal level, but it’s hard to say whether he is overall meant to be represented as a misguided Kree patriot or a hammy villain because the former gets too vague a development and the latter just does not work – war is war, they’re all dirty, and Supreme Intelligence takes the cake here. Since Yon-Rogg’s motivations are strongly informed by his role as the poster boy of the Kree military, the Kree-Skrull plotline actually should be elaborated upon if they wanted to convey him as “the guilty party” in both storylines that push the story forward.

I’ve tried to identify with the villains of the film in order to write the following; consider that it is not a pleasant exercise but an intriguing one nonetheless.

Storylines

There are two storylines that intersect in the film and push the plot onwards: Carol’s unfolding quest to make sense of her past, and the Kree-Skrull war. The twist in Carol’s personal storyline results in a change up in regard to how to view the Kree-Skrull war, but it’s not ground-breakingly illuminating, since the war between these races is never sufficiently elaborated upon and it is not the main emotional centre of the film – how Carol feels about the Kree and her mentor is! Therefore, the antagonists’ character development unfolds in layers.

Consider for a minute, the Kree ideology. Collectivist, imperialist, hyper-militaristic, superior in technology and culture. Roman Empire seems like an appropriate comparison. They see themselves as the rightful rulers by conquest who have a duty to maintain order, safety, and stability within their empire. Realpolitiks of empires. Hyper-militaristic inclinations translate onto the individual level as well where the collective interest is set before one’s individual interests. And it translates into Yon-Rogg’s motivations and outlook very clearly, though with some interesting exceptions that add to his character writing.

·         He is a devout warrior, unshakably loyal to the Kree’s cause and their claims of superiority.

Yet     he is not fond of the scorched earth tactics of the overly zealous     Accusers.

He     avoids entangling civilians in the Kree-Skrull conflict to the very last     second (he also avoids shooting Carol outright in their very first     meeting).

He     genuinely cares about his soldiers’ lives, and they trust him a lot in     return, even when he is misleading other high-ranking officers in the Kree     army (Ronan).

He     prioritises the good of all Kree above all else (instead of, notably, personal power).

He     genuinely believes in what he is trying to teach Vers (emotions should not     rule your good judgment in a conflict situation; the Kree’s enlightened     rule is for the better for all); it is not only part of     their cover-up scheme.

He     views the Skrulls’ means of fighting as dishonourable because of their     penchant for subterfuge rather than direct combat. In another context that     would be called being “honourable” in combat.

So, as a Kree, an authoritarian space fascist, he is pretty reasonable and a more rounded than your standard evil for evil’s sake goon.

What to make of him in relation to Carol?

It’s twisted from its very beginning, since Yon-Rogg effectively saves Carol’s life by stealing it from her. He hesitates to kill Carol outright by the lake. Then, ironically, saves her life by abducting her as she verges between life and death. And then, metaphorically, the Kree kill Carol Danvers anyway. Only to “bring her back to life” through the blood transfusion from Yon-Rogg and through the presumed genetic meddling to make it stick (her entire blood supply and blood reproduction has to get replaced). A “rebirth” with no memory of past life, but with cosmic powers and superior physiology to contain it. It’s as messy as they come.

That bit of writing also establishes how unnervingly intimate a bond they share (something that comes to underlie a sense of possessiveness and ownership on his part, and confirms that this is not healthy). To see Carol succeed strokes Yon-Rogg’s ego – he made the right call as a soldier, he is part of the origins of her powers, and he is a good teacher. It also makes you think, was it (stupid) curiosity, principles, or admiration that stopped him from shooting Carol? She had almost brought him down in a plane fight, after all. And while he acts under orders from SI, I doubt Yon-Rogg protests its wisdom too much – it is highly likely the Kree see themselves as genuinely benevolent for saving this human and giving her so much by making her one of them (see their sense of superiority, again). If anything, I would expect an AI (not Yon-Rogg) not to want to risk leaving Carol alive and liable to turn against them.

It is said in interviews that Yon-Rogg both appreciates and is irritated by Carol’s “humanity” and quirks. He also seems to me as perfectly aware that what he is doing is wrong on a personal level. Over six years, he and Carol grow close – he is her crutch in Kree culture, Carol trusts him a lot (coming to him after her nightmares) and looks up to him/wants to prove herself to him, and there is even some implicit flirtation between them at the beginning of the film (“it’s me you see, isn’t it?”). That level of friendship entails some empathy. He may be ruthless, but he is not a psychopath (or is only a psychopath to the extent all devout patriotic soldiers are). For despite all that happens to Carol, she is not aware of any of it, and she ends up liking her life with the Kree by the time the film starts. She has military background, she likes to prove herself and be good at things, and the Kree never treat her badly (minus the grand deception part, ofc). From Yon-Rogg’s perspective then, as long as the lie is not found out, it is not objectively a bad life, is it? He has a soft spot for his favourite student (their relationship has been described as “tender” among other things). He has faith in her (“She’s stronger than you think!”), is (over-)protective of her, but wants to genuinely see her succeed - albeit on the Kree’s terms and not her own. He is trying to do his best as a mentor to a soldier and as a soldier to his people, and sincerely believes it will make everything easier for Carol, but because of the manner in which Carol has come to be his pupil, all of what is happening here can only become one huge poisoned chalice. However, you can see how someone like him can justify lying to a person for 6 years - longer still, had Carol not happened to crash on C53.

The truth of the matter is, of course, that Carol due to her amnesia does not have a choice regarding the narrative into which she is thrust, and that is the inherent evil that she overcomes in the film – taking back control over her life’s narrative and thus also gaining the necessary faith in oneself that comes with knowing oneself. The Kree have given her plenty, making up a big part of her (literally), but by infringing on her right to self-determination most horribly in the process. “The best version she could be” can ever only be pushed upon her in this state, like it happens so often in overly controlling families and partnerships.

Consider seriously that while Yon-Rogg’s advice to “control emotions and not let them cloud your judgment” may echo the belittling gender dynamics of our world, it is only an analogy – the Kree are not putting Carol in this situation in the film because she is a woman (they’re arguably rather progressive about their gender and sexual politics by the looks of it). It is not inherently a wrong or bad advice to drill into a soldier, and that is what Carol is – a soldier. However, as it happens, autobiographical long term memory triggers most strongly based on emotions, so suppressing them also counteracts the possibility that Carol might regain her memories. The Kree may well not even know what Carol could do if she was more in touch with herself and her powers – their foremost concern is winning “her heart and mind” so that she doesn’t turn against them. Again, they are personal, psychological villains. So, by tying her more strongly to Kree culture and ways, as well as training her according to that dictum, Yon-Rogg’s hitting two birds with one stone, really. I do not doubt that his orders from SI were, and his mind is set on, ensuring her loyalty by any means necessary. However, in comparison to, for instance, Bucky, the Kree do not literally constantly torture and brainwash her to turn her into a vegetable. It’s a “golden cage” type situation from the perspective of these “benevolent” aliens.

In that sense, the ‘enemy’ of the film is not so much the meme of a “debate me guy” or your ordinary our world chauvinist, or patriarchy (they are analogies, but not inherent to the conflict of the film), but the insidious disregard the Kree show toward individuals and their right to self-determination. As a culture, that is not their thing. And as other cultures are seen as lesser than them, they see their ways as backwards. Arguably that disregard underlies and precedes gendered readings because it applies universally (would they have done anything differently if Carol had been a man? I don’t think so) (also, it underlies the war ideology behind subjugating other races). And war justifies everything, of course, which is the second strongest ‘evil’ motif in the film. That’s pretty good, layered writing, in truth.

Both ‘evils’ are represented in Yon-Rogg’s and Supreme Intelligence’s characterisations, but only the latter remains abstract enough to be the literal representation of it whereas Yon-Rogg is still written with some “humanity” for the lack of a better word. He is very much conveyed as a product of his society, but not even a one-dimensional caricature of that. Sure, we do not get any insight into his inner thoughts, but not once did the details I have written out here give me the impression that Carol is as upset as she is because of betrayal by a lump of evil with no moving parts inside. I can appreciate that in an antagonistic force, because it adds to the hero’s internal confusion if their starting out premise is “friends with my enemy”. There is extreme pragmatism more than there is cruelty in the villain’s intentions. But cruelty follows anyway, because freedom and predetermination cannot not be in conflict, and very rarely does cruelty not follow when ends justify the means quite as brutally as in the case of sacrificing someone’s freedoms for another’s greater cause.

For Yon-Rogg that is not an issue, though he himself is as deprived of freedom under this ideology as Carol is. But Carol’s moral system hails from a different place.

I can relate to it and find it interesting, and not at all one-dimensional. Best of all, it is possible to build upon it.