#there will always be a part of me that ships this

[impactrueno]

ok stop. stop. i'm gonna stop you right there because why in the world are you telling me this? where is this even coming from? what did you see on my blog that would make you come to me with this? i didn't ask ANYONE to justify their feelings about beetIebabes, positive or negative. you don't have to explain anything to me. i don't ship them, and i don't care whether other people ship them or not, or their reasoning why. my ask box is not an open letter column in a magazine, it's part of my blog. i'm a person. this isn't "beetlejuice fandom central" or anything like that.

i already said i do not want any shipping discourse of any kind brought into my blog. respect that.

just know that you're allowed to dislike things. you're good. no one is making you like the ship, i promise. i support you, you're perfectly valid and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. i'm very sorry that happened to your friend, but that's not a "proshipper" thing, that's a groomer thing, and groomers can be ANYWHERE. to see it as an exclusively "proshipper" thing is just going to put you in danger because kids have gotten groomed by shippers of "safe and wholesome" pairings as well. i've seen it happen and it's why i distanced myself from a previous fandom. so please, if YOU are a minor (or just young, adults can get groomed too) please stay on your guard no matter what circles you're in, and yes, even around "safe" shippers. i can't stress this enough.

let me tell you something before i shut this topic down.

this fandom i distanced myself from, i did it because i kept seeing adults pressuring minors to draw certain things. some 16yo kid drew suggestive art of a character under the pretense of a shitpost, and people went crazy over it and demanding more. and kids are always going to give into peer pressure, so of course they continued doing it and escalating the tone of the "shitpost" drawings.

this wasn't a "proship" space, quite the contrary, these were all very "anti" types as you may call it (once again i loathe these terms and shipping discourse is a fucking circus i don't want to involve myself with) the types that enforce safe, appropriate and unproblematic shipping and content. but here they were, hooting and hollering and with a terrifying lack of self-awareness and pressuring the kid to draw more suggestive art. IN PUBLIC. ON TWITTER. everyone thought it was hilarious but i was standing there like "wow! i want to get the fuck out of here" and i tried to remind everyone to NOT give in to peer pressure to do anything you're not comfortable with, but no one was listening because "sexy art of a popular character"

you can be manipulated and peer pressured to do things you're uncomfortable with at any age. especially if you're kind of a people pleaser like i was. people got nsfw art out of me that i didn't want to draw when i was 20. i got used and manipulated by someone who shipped "the correct things" to ship.

you won't realize you're being groomed until it's too late. that's why i insist for kids to stay safe and make wise choices, keep an eye out EVEN IN "SAFE SPACES" and i repeat do NOT let ANYONE pressure you into doing something you're not 100% comfortable with (and even if you are, think it over)

once more: stay safe, guys. no matter who you think your friends are. groomers can use anything to groom you, not just "problematic" ships.

that's all i'm gonna say. don't talk to me about shipping discourse again, please. won't be posting asks about this if i can help it.

[marlynnofmany]

Little Legends

Eggskin leaned out of the medbay with both scaly hands full of disassembled electronics. “Are you free to run a quick errand?” they asked with the air of someone hoping the answer was yes.

“Sure,” I said, stopping in the hall. “Did something break?”

“I thought it was fixable, but no.” Eggskin rotated a couple pieces and fit them back together, revealing what looked like part of a medscanner. “Waste of time. At least this isn’t the good one for diagnosing, just the one for checking boxes. But we do need a replacement if you can get it.”

I mentally ran down the list of stores I’d spotted on this space station. “Yeah, I think I saw an electronics place that should have those. And we’re not going to leave for a while yet.”

“Excellent, thank you.” Eggskin looked relieved. “I’d go myself, but I have several other items in need of a tune-up.”

“No problem. I’ll let the captain know, then be right on it.” With a wave from me and further thanks from Eggskin, I headed off to find the captain.

Warm light spilled from the crew lounge as I passed. I mentally patted myself on the back for moving my sun lamp in there for everybody to enjoy. Humans may need their vitamin D, but Heatseekers craved warmth, and didn’t always want to ask for it. Paint was currently curled up on the biggest couch, along with Telly: a pile of mottled orange scales and mismatched fur. The cat had also started in just my quarters but moved on to spend time in the rest of the ship.

They looked awfully happy there in the light of the tiny, hovering, artificial sun. Maybe I’d bring a book in and take a seat on the other couch later. Right now, I had a bio-scanner to find. And while it would have been perfectly ironic for Captain Sunlight to be basking in the lounge as well, she was elsewhere.

I found her in the cargo bay, double-checking a new stack of boxes with Zhee. She held a clipboard in her scaly yellow hands while he moved things with his shiny purple pincher arms. They were a study in contrasts. When I told her where I was going, she was glad to hear it.

“Eggskin said there was something wrong with that scanner,” she agreed with a nod. “I wondered why they were using the good one earlier. Go ahead; I’ll make a note of the payment.”

“Righto.” I left the pair of them to rearrange the boxes, trusting that the captain would remember to note the payment later. Her memory was good, and she’d been in charge of the finances even before getting promoted. (The previous captain had only been good at delegating. When he got politely booted off the ship for incompetence, everyone agreed that Sunlight should take over. She hadn’t felt like giving someone else more work to do when she was already familiar with the ship’s record-keeping, so she just did both.) (She was good at both. It worked out well.)

I was good at other things, and one of them was recognizing when human-run stores were likely to have quality products. Luckily there was one such store in the nearest commerce sector.

I left the ship and strolled along a moving sidewalk at a delightfully fast pace, passing station-goers of a range of species, many of which were content with regular walking speed. One Mesmer rushed past in a blur of coppery bug legs, exoskeleton liberally decorated with metal inlays and their attitude suggesting they were late for a flight. The various Heatseekers, Frillians, and others gave them a wide berth.

The hum of a high-end jetpack made me duck, worrying I’d get accidentally kicked in the head. But no, it was higher than I’d thought. And the human using it only had one leg, which probably helped my odds anyway.

I wonder if that came from the same place I’m going, I thought. It seemed likely, since my destination was just coming into view past the big media store. Under the space station’s vaulted ceiling and silver-and-blue color scheme, the “Earthly Electronics Emporium” was an eyecatching collection of green circuitry. The big front windows had a whole section on jetpacks and hover-belts. I wondered if they were made by the same manufacturer as the ones Captain Sunlight had been looking into for a client.

Possibly. But we didn’t want to wipe out all the stock in this place, not when the client was content to wait while we gathered the rest of their order from the planet we were scheduled to visit next.

All in good time. Right now, bio-scanners.

I stepped off the moving sidewalk with a careful eye for momentum, and I didn’t stumble. Upholding human reputation, go me. With my head high, I entered the Earthly Electronics Emporium.

It was very green inside too. Not quite as bright as the outside, but somebody had really decided to lean in on the color scheme. I strolled between green shelves designed to look like circuit boards, on green tiles that glittered with LEDs, under ceiling lights that were mostly white, just with enough green paint around them that they could have been green too. At least the labels were easy to read.

There were a few other people in the store: mostly a group of humans chatting by the counter. It sounded like one was teaching the others a space shanty, which just made me smile.

Then I found what I was looking for, and I grinned in triumph. Got it. Let’s see here … “Good for everything from fleas to termites to truly exotic problems.” That sounds promising. I read the label thoroughly, and decided it was exactly what our courier ship needed for checking the crates we brought onboard. We hadn’t had to deal with an accidental infestation yet — well, not one that a cat or two couldn’t solve — and we didn’t want to.

I took it up to the counter.

When I got there, I was surprised to recognize the guy singing the shanty. When he caught sight of me, he broke off with a smile. “Hey, good to see you! Thanks so much for the advice; the animal calls and the caffeine went perfectly.”

“Awesome! Good to see you too!” I set down the scanner so I could return the handclasp-and-hug while he introduced me to his friends, including the guy behind the counter.

He told them, “This is the one I told you about, the human who’s done everything!”

“Well,” I said humbly, getting immediately talked over as Oscar told the others about how his large and intimidating alien crewmates had been disappointed that he didn’t live up to all the stories they’d heard about human antics, which had all, somewhat embarrassingly, been about me.

“But then she told me that imitating animal calls was impressive — and it was; I called in things for them to hunt, and they were amazed — and she’s the one who told me that the Mighty were lightweights on caffeine.” He grinned while they all chuckled. “You already know how that went!”

I was privately glad to see him so animated and social, since the only other time we’d met, he’d been pretty dejected about his lot in life. I asked for details on his adventures and he was happy to tell them, with the other humans chipping in to add that they touched base regularly now, since Oscar’s ship was making regular stops at this station, and most of them lived here.

“Are you staying long?” Oscar asked me. “You should really meet Aster. He’s been writing songs about human stuff, and he’s probably got some of your legends in there. He just started one about caffeine, thanks to me!” He beamed in pride.

“That’s great! I’d love to, but we’re leaving in a little bit,” I said. “Maybe next time we stop by.”

“I hope so! His songs are really good. I was just telling these guys about the new one. Have you heard it yet?” He launched into a melody. “Thiiiiis pirate ship was the scourge of the spaceways, stealing goods with their threats and their gunplay. The scariest ship that you ever did see … Until they met the skunk.”

I snorted and covered my mouth, eyes wide. I didn’t want to say it, but somehow he guessed.

“Don’t tell me,” Oscar declared, stopping the song. “Somehow that was you too.”

“Not directly,” I protested. “And maybe there are other skunks out there! Keep going.”

He sang the rest of the song, which told the story of some foolhardy pirates who didn’t believe the rumors of a merchant vessel with a hazardous Earth creature onboard. They wound up having to abandon their ship and let it fall into the nearest sun, ending their days as “the smelliest ne-er-do-wells that planet had ever seen.”

I applauded along with everyone else. “That is a great song! And I don’t know if that’s the skunk I knew or not. I did give one to a human on a merchant ship. But it had its stink gland removed, so maybe it’s a different one.”

An older woman laughed. “Or maybe Aster took some storytelling liberties with the song. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Oscar shook his head, still grinning. “Maybe!”

Then it turned into a storytelling session about skunk anecdotes, and while I could have happily enjoyed that conversation for quite a while, I did have a ship to get back to.

The guy behind the counter rang up the sale for me, charging it to the ship’s account successfully. “What a great name,” he said, reading off his screen. “Gotta love a ship called Slap the Stars.”

I told him, “It was named after the human tradition of high fives!” That derailed the conversation even further, and it was with real regret that I had to leave.

A couple of the others said they had places to go as well. Casual hugs for everyone, and suddenly it was like being back home for the holidays. After several tight embraces, I realized I’d been missing that and not realized.

I said goodbye to my fellow humans and promised to check in next time I was in town, then took the bio-scanner back to the ship. The moving sidewalk was just as quick in this direction.

Paint and Telly were still in the lounge when I passed. I gave Eggskin the scanner, checked in with the captain at the cockpit, then grabbed a book from my room.

“Mind if I join you?” I asked Paint.

“Sure; there’s plenty space!” She uncurled enough to wave at the broad expanse of couch.

Telly made a feline “Mrrp,” then put her head back down.

I found the sun lamp’s controls on the table, next to the box of accessories, and turned it up just a smidge. Then I lay down between Paint and the back of the couch, with my book above her head.

She made happy noises about the extra warmth, and Telly mrrp’d again.

From the door to the hall, something hissed, then Zhee’s voice complained, “Why is it so bright in here?”

Paint didn’t look up as she declared, “Basking is a time-honored form of enrichment.”

“I fail to see the appeal.”

“Hang on,” I said, sitting up long enough to grab an effects adapter from the box on the table. I’d checked before; these would stay in place even with just half of the cover. I clipped on the most colorful and glitterific galaxy adapter to the far side of the sun lamp, turning half of the lounge into a space disco that any self-respecting Mesmer would love.

Zhee was no exception. “Now that is lovely,” he said, clicking his way into the room. “Why didn’t you do that to start with?”

He made himself comfortable with a media screen while I settled back into place with my book and cuddle puddle.

Mur’s voice said from the hallway, “Why is it so bright in here?”

Zhee said, “Enrichment.”

Paint said, “You can join us if you like.”

I smiled. “I have a great new space shanty that I think you’ll enjoy.”

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[tothebestofmyabilities]

Cmon cartoon network give me the teen titans ip i prommy i wont make beast boy a gay little creature with kitty cat paws

[velkynkarma]

My typical strategy is the following.

FIRST, write a nice review.

This is very important! Talk about the things you liked about the fic. Demanding updates with no explanation as to why is really insulting!

There are a ton of good guides out there on how to comment on fic, but try to explain what it is about the fic you like that leaves you yearning for more (without asking about the next update).

Ex.

"I really love the way you write [character], you really nail the way they [talk/act/interact/whatever]"

"This line especially really made me [feel things/think about the situation/envision the imagery/etc]"

"I really enjoy the plot so far! I especially like [plot detail]"

"You write my favorite ship so well, I love the way you have [Character A/Character B] interact!"

Now that your review is written, part 2:

The Non-Pressure Inquiry

It's very important to NOT pressure the writer into feeling like you're demanding more fic. Fic writing takes a lot of time, and it's easy to feel discouraged if people just ask when your next update is. Especially if Life is getting in the way (fic takes time and inspiration to write after all!)

For WIPs I've enjoyed, I always finish a review with this general comment:

"It looks like you haven't updated this fic since [UPDATE DATE], so I'm not certain if you plan on continuing. If you are, I look forward to the next update! If you are not, then thank you for sharing what you have with this story, because I really enjoyed spending my time reading it."

That last line is very important. It makes it clear that you aren't demanding anything of them, and that you still enjoyed what you got. Between that, and the nice comment beforehand, it's a nice pick-me-up for the writer without them feeling pressured to update more.

And sometimes, it's even enough inspiration TO update more! Sometimes a work can get abandoned because of negative responses (or no responses at all), or life gets in the way, or there just isn't that motivational push to do more. This kind of no-pressure inquiry comment can sometimes give writers the spark they need to get back to writing! Sometimes after leaving comments like this, the fic I commented on will start updating again shortly after.

And remember: even if it doesn't, appreciate the story you got so far! If you enjoyed your time with it, then that time was never wasted, even if there might not be more.

Hi, what is a polite way to ask authors if they will be updating? Or questions that could be taken as you the reader being negative or criticizing

Here’s my hot take on this — they’re either updating or the story is abandoned, right? There’s only two options at the end of the day. Maybe three, if you count plans to update. So what we’re really saying, as readers, when we ask that question, is I’m excited for this story and I’m worried I won’t see more from it soon. Right?

Getting the “is this fic abandoned?” question on a WIP I haven’t updated in a bit stings for some reason. There’s a lot of reasons why that fic might have stalled! Instead of it feeling encouraging, it can sometimes just feel like a reminder of failure, at least to me. Like oh god, I felt terrible about this writers block and now other people are noticing too.

My advice is, if you truly want to see an author update — talk to them about their fic. Send praise, send commentary, but most importantly, send questions! Ask them why they made certain choices. Ask them the inspiration behind a certain scene or event. Get their brain clicking back into that writing mode! I can’t count how many times a good ask on here has reminded me that I love that WIP and want to continue it.

I would not send negative or criticizing questions to authors unless they’ve made it explicitly clear that they are open to receiving it. If the question can be rephrased into something more neutral like “you did X — I didn’t quite understand that. could you explain why?” that works, in my mind.

[tempo-takoyaki]

Hey! I'll be at Y/Con this week-end for my very first convention as a booth artist! For the occasion I'll have a limited amount of merch, including prints, stickers and the awaited physical copy of "Almost TGCF" also known as "I haven't read TGCF"! Not only that but I'll also be part of a Danmei Rally with @rakiah @gunpys @alyna-cherry @pillow-boi and @/auroramaeno.auma (on instagram)! Don't hesitate to pass by! (^^)/

Here are some additional infos about my time at the con, but if you have more questions, don't hesitate to directly go to my askbox: it's always open!

About the merch:

A5 prints will be 7 euros, square prints will be 5 euros. Stickers are 3 euros.

Due to personal circumstances I can't give an actual price to the fanzine yet (know that it should at least be between 12 and 15 euros).

All fanzines as explained will come with two free prints and a free sticker. You can also ask me to sign it with the character of your choice in the style of "Almost TGCF" (can be from another mxtx book!).

I won't be handing out the prizes of the rally. Please go to the designated spot to receive your prize if you've completed the stamp rally!

No, I won't do discounts.

If you're an artist and want to exchange merch with me, please do so before the actual con starts. I won't accept exchanges during the duration of the con.

I'll have a card reader but please bring some cash too just in case.

About my availability:

I'm sharing the booth with Pazemma. And a friend of us will also be here for when one of us two has to leave. I'll share a photo of myself insta stories before the con starts so you can recognize me.

I'll share on insta when I'll be leaving the booth and when I'll be back. Again, if you want something specific from me like talking or have your fanzine signed, don't hesitate to come back to my booth later on during the day!

I'm okay with small talk as long as the booth isn't busy! If there's 3 or more people lining up already I'll have to cut the conversation short. Thank you for your understanding!

About the merch for after the con:

I'll try to open an online shop around the beginning of 2025, and hopefully make it so I can ship the merch wordwide.

Pre-order worldwide for the fanzine after Y/Con should starts in January. Know that it'll be a one time thing, and after that, I won't produce any more physical copies of this fanzine.

[coraniaid]

Reverse Unpopular Opinion: Amy Madison

[Reverse unpopular opinion meme.]

This is an interesting one because I think there’s a solid argument to be made that the character of “Amy Madison” does not, in fact, actually exist on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

By which I mean … look, okay, yes, obviously, there is a character in an early Season 1 episode called Amy Madison, played by Elizabeth Anne Allen.  And there’s a character with the same name in a Season 2 episode, and [in an admittedly weird coincidence] she’s also played by Elizabeth Anne Allen.  And there’s one in Season 3, and a one in a few episodes of Season 6, and one in an episode of Season 7, and all of them are played by the same actor.

But … I mean, come on.  There’s no way these can all be the same character, right?  They don’t have the same basic back story or the same relationship to magic or to Willow; they certainly don’t have anything resembling a definite personality or set of motivations or a consistent character arc.  No, surely what’s going on here is that there are several different “Amy Madisons” in Sunnydale – just like there are several different characters called Anne or Nancy on the show – and in a bizarre in-joke the writers simply decided to cast the same woman to play all of them.

Now, ordinarily, simply being written inconsistently over a handful of episodes and not having anything resembling the same personality from week to week would be no obstacle to having a few die-hard fans.  But – as far as I can tell, anyway? – there’s no “fandom Amy” either.  She never really gets mentioned when people want to talk about how all the Scooby Gang had awful mothers [even though Amy actually did, explicitly and inarguably, have a very, very awful and openly abusive mother!].  There’s very little in the way of Amy/Willow shipping going on here or on AO3 [even though witchcraft is heavily coded as a metaphor for being a lesbian and Amy, one of the first witches we meet on the show, is repeatedly linked to Willow throughout the show’s run].  There are no adorable drawings of Amy as a rat staring out of her cage at Willow and Tara (or if there are, they aren’t getting as many notes as they should be getting).  

No, it looks like most people who are still watching and talking about the show twenty-five years later have about as much interest in poor Amy Madison as the writers did.  She’s a plot device.  A punchline.  A cipher.  A blank slate.  She’s whatever the plot requires her to be to further the stories of the actual characters on the show, and she’ll never ever be anything else.  Which is a little sad, if you think about it.  I think Amy – or, well, most of the different Amys: The Killer In Me’s smirking evil-for-evil’s-sake Amy I’m not so sure about – deserved better.

[As I write this the thought occurs to me, belatedly, that I might be one of Amy Madison’s biggest fans.  Pretty grim news for her if so.]

OK. Enough stalling.  Five positive things about Amy Madison [with, as ever, the usual caveat about the comics, which I’ve still not read anything about and still don’t exist].

Witch, Amy’s debut appearance, is a solid episode!  One of that season’s best, I think (though not, of course, one of its very best).  And I think the duo of Elizabeth Anne Allen's Amy Madison (and Robin Riker as her mom Catherine) is a big part of why that episode works: no, they haven’t got a huge amount to work with, but I think they both do a pretty good job switching between evil witch Catherine and innocent victim Amy.  Catherine’s bodyswap spell foreshadows (albeit unintentionally) the bodyswap artifact that the Mayor gifts Faith in This Year’s Girl / Who Are You? and I’ll always have a soft sport for it because of that.  And I really like that the episode ends with Amy alive and hanging out with Buffy in a way that suggests that they are going to stay friends, even if we don’t see any evidence on screen that that happened.

Sarcasm aside, I’m really glad the writers brought Amy back in the second season.  To me, part of the appeal of the high school years are the recurring minor characters – I talked about Principal Snyder before, but also Jonathan and Devon and Percy and Harmony and … yes, Amy too.  The show obviously doesn’t care about her very much, and you have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to fill in the missing pieces of her story and make her arc make sense (why is she starting to do magic in Season 2?  When does she start hanging out with Willow?), but … well, I do care and I have done those gymnastics.  At least Amy didn’t end up like Marcie Ross or Buffy’s old flame Owen or any of those poor kids who must remember eating Principal Flutie. 

I’ve been reading a few old interviews Elizabeth Anne Allen gave recently (here and here, for example) which I think have some pretty interesting insights into how the character of Amy developed.  Had you ever heard there were persistent rumors at one point that Amy was going to be one of the starting regulars on Angel?  It’s mind-boggling to think about a world where that happened.  Allen seems to have put a huge amount of thought into her character, too, at least for her first few appearances, which … uh, I guess makes me feel a bit shitty about those opening paragraphs. [Not enough to delete them though…]  Also in one of the linked interviews she says that she “hopes she won’t be a rat much longer” – and that’s an interview she gave before the Season 3 finale had even made it to air, which made me pretty sad to read.  Forget appearing on Angel, imagine if Amy had been de-ratted in Season 4.  Imagine if Superstar was about Amy instead of Jonathan.

There is a second or two in Season 6’s Smashed – no more than that – when Buffy and Amy are catching up again (“How have you been?”  “Rat.  You?”  “Dead.”  “Oh.”) and you can, if you’re quick, delude yourself into thinking that the show is going to do something interesting with the obvious parallel it’s just set up. Willow has now not only brought Buffy back into the regular human world [and left her struggling to live and find meaning as a college drop out with a dead mother and an absent father last seen on screen about five years ago], she’s also brought Amy back into the regular human world [and left her struggling to live and find meaning as a de facto high school drop out with a presumed-dead mother and a presumably-now-absent father last mentioned about five years ago].  Surely this must be deliberate?  Well, no: the show doesn’t do anything with this idea ever again, because Marti Noxon had very different [worse] ideas for Amy’s character this season, but if you pretend it might be about do something like that it’s a pretty exciting couple of seconds.

The fact that “Amy Madison” exists as a (technically!) canon character means that I can write (or daydream about writing) fanfiction in which Willow has a friend in high school who is also a practising witch. One with a vague but miserable home life, who is secretly in love with Willow but too afraid to admit it (and so she keeps professing to be interested in men who she can’t possibly ever expect to date, either because they’re unpleasantly vile toward women or openly gay or both). And I can do that while, just about, pretending that I have not created the most embarrasingly psychologically revealing OC you ever heard about in your life.  Thanks Amy!

[bad-surprise]

i find many people in fandom incredibly annoying. that is not a secret and it is not a sin. it is far better, in my opinion, to talk through these feelings privately than to approach said individuals because being annoying is a) not a crime in any way, shape, or form, and b) fully subjective. i am sure other fans find me annoying, and they have every right to talk through their frustrations privately with trusted friends. they also have every right to block whoever they’d like or to share whatever i’ve posted that’s upset them with their friends in order to provide context for their emotions. it might hurt my feelings sometimes and i may not like it, but that doesn’t make it wrong.

as a queer black woman, i find it extremely upsetting when the language of social justice is used in bad faith by those looking to evade accountability for shitty behavior. that is the context of those remarks.

everything i said in that conversation i would state publicly. i didn’t, though, because it seemed pointless at the time. conversation with those involved (not any of the accounts who have centered themselves in this discussion) had already been attempted and the deliberate misrepresentation of events, warping of words, and bad faith tactics that followed rendered the situation hopeless.

fandom is not a monolith. we are allowed to have different opinions on everything, and i really enjoy productive conversations with those who have differing views, so long as they’re rooted in a genuine desire for mutual understanding. people i am friends with are free to be friends with people i dislike, i have never policed that and never will.

i am always open to conversation and will offer clarifications if they’re requested in good faith. i would also point out that the screenshots being shared are very carefully selected excerpts of a broader conversation— it might be wise to ask why those specific quotes (which were poorly worded at times, sure— that makes sense considering that they were part of private conversations between supportive friends who understood each other’s context, values, and intent) were decontextualized and used for this purpose.

initially, this fandom was a very creative place, filled with diversity of thought and opinion, characterized by a sense of curiosity, imagination, and collaboration. the occasional bad actor popped up, yes, and there have always been issues with antis (which i define as those who believe there is a moral component to shipping, though it seems like in this case it is being applied to people who simply have differing opinions about a ship beloved by both parties) and those outside of the fandom who dislike the ship, but generally it was a pleasant space in which to exist alongside others. that has slowly diminished to the extent that it’s now very difficult to find reasons to remain involved. i worry that the point of all this is to push people out, but i also hope that isn’t the case.

there is no right or wrong way to ship sauron and galadriel. there is no right or wrong way to ship, full stop.

i’m so fucking exhausted by this conversation and by the fact that accusations of racism or homophobia in this fandom so often target black and queer individuals, misrepresenting our response to circumstances where our lived experiences are repeatedly decontextualized, devalued, disregarded, or manipulated in the service of something as petty as a ship war. it’s not leftism, it’s not social justice— it’s tone policing as an attempt to stoke moral outrage, and it feels a hell of a lot like an effort to dictate the rules of participation in a ship.

but i genuinely believe there’s enough room here for all of us, including those individuals i personally find disingenuous and/or annoying.

[last-flight-of-fancy]

Started thinking about Riku-Kairi parallels and symbolism wrt the ending of kh2 so please hold while i get needlessly verbose about it-

specifically it started with this gif

and ofc adhd is as adhd does and started going down the rabbit hole of connecting the dots.

The act of reaching out a hand/hand holding is a recurring thing in kh, the vast majority of which is chock full of meaning and symbolism, and this is no exception. This is the culmination of The Hero's Journey part of Sora's tale, the return home, and the heartfelt reunion between long-seperated friends. fun fact the heroine's journey follows the hero's journey for the first third or so before continuing on. kinda like how kh continued on long after things seemed to be 'resolved'. weekly plug to look up Howler's Heroine's Journey essays if you haven't yet

The angle from which I am viewing this scene right now is in regards to ofc Riku, and his own iconic pose that we see the first time in the intro to kh1 (and many, many times since)

And this is where my riku-kairi-are-inverted-parallels-to-each-other brain starts barking like a dog because oughghghghggh same pose opposite side completely different body language- AHG.

And this matches their character arcs (as well as their respective combined arcs with sora) to a T as well. Riku's pose is the first we see, way back in kh1, and his hand is as much a taunt as it is an offer. Very befitting his relationship to sora in that game, which was coloured by a forged rivalry and intense jealousy (to quote the ultimania; Complicated Feelings) of/for sora.

(it is also notable that to date this gesture has yet to be resolved. the closest they've gotten is when sora grasped Riku's hand in kh2 on finding him- albeit in Ansem's visage.

Symbolically this is Sora attempting to accept the gesture, but this time it is Riku who fails to meet him halfway, too deep in guilt and regret to feel worthy of it. his hand is turned downwards, limp and unresisting.

And again in DDD when Riku grabs sora's hand/wrist in an attempt to wake him from his nightmares, but this time sora isn't capable of reciprocating. like two ships passing in the night, always reaching but never quite meeting)

(this one isn't quite as strong in the visual symbolism specific to the Riku Pose, but i did think it bore mentioning)

to return to the first gif however, for Kairi her posture is much less stiff, leaning forward with palpable releif at Sora's return. Honestly the fact that she holds out her left hand (which as far as i know is not her dominant hand) marks this as a very deliberate choice to parallel her as opposite to riku. and much like the rest of kh2's ending, it FEELS like a culmination, a completion of their arcs.... and most certainly isnt.

Which i mean to say, it's a mid-point. And the reason I say this is because of one little thing.

The seashell charm.

There's a sort of irony here in that the charm that was meant to reunite them in this moment is also symbolically like a wedge between them. A heartfelt and meaningful gesture, don't get me wrong! i love this scene and the genuine emotions within, but i do love chewing on the way this gains a slightly different meaning in the greater context of later story beats; specifically that of kh3.

With how pointed and direct the parallel is between kairi and riku in these scenes, it did make me pause for a moment thinking about kh3. i know we've all seen a thousand and one analysis' of the paopu scene at this point, but forgive me as i must do so again under this specific lens.

'how does the paopu scene relate to the hand extended gesture at all?' i hear you ask, and on the visual surface not much. it has more to do with sora and kairi's relationship arc through the games and, of course, the lingering loose thread that was the cave drawing.

The paopu scene is a touching recreation of that cave drawing, one enacted by a pair of kids who didn't know if they would live to see another sunset. It's also probably the most symbollically dense thing in all of kh and that is saying something so I'm going to try and keep my observations limited to just what is relevant to this post- and that would be the way that the paopu scene is a direct continuation of Kairi's 'you're home' gesture in kh2.

shooting stars are also a common recurring symbol in kh, and that's the symbol that ties these two scene's together. if kh1 is two disparate stars each trying to reach the other (the cave drawing, the seashell charm, the way their hands are seperated at the end of kh1), and the end of kh2 is that of the stars finally meeting (the single seashell star charm pressed between their palms), then the paopu scene is that of the stars passing each other by and beginning their own journey's anew (two stars held by crossed arms, each now holding a small piece of the other (bitten fruit) to show that their meeting may have been brief but it was meaningful)

it is in this way that kh3 quietly and tenderly closes out sora and kairi's combined arc, as two unlikely friends who then drift apart again, shining brightly for the shared experiance, Remind mostly serves to support that finality, tying up the last couple loose ends between them, and leaving the two far more comfortable with each other than they ever were while that arc was still ongoing (which i read as them no longer being uncertain as to what their relationship is; that of friends, and not whatever so many others around them had pushed and assumed)

(seriously look at how much more comfortable they are with each other the second the pressure to be something they're not is off. the awkwardness is completely gone i love it)

All of this is ofc still in parallel to Riku, who boasts no such star imagery (instead he has the iconic Heart of KH itself), and in fact while he symbollically continues to reach out to sora, physically he has completely refrained from doing so at all- in fact most examples of the Gesture in kh are deliberately invoked by other characters in order to bring riku to mind in some way (and often more for the players benifit than sora's)

axel in CoM,

(i have given up on tumblr gif search)

YMX in DDD,

which then immidiately cuts to riku in kh1 just to make it as blatant as possible that yes the reference is intentional (i guess CoM was too subtle somehow so they had to make sure this time)

and even Riku himself to Namine at the end of kh3, representing Repliku's final wishes in a funny sort of symbolism oroboros.)

and it's not a coincidence that the completion of that connection provides definitive closure to the arcs in question; that of namine to repliku, but also a little bit to riku himself. namine still has a role to play, but that role (i think) is more or less exclusive to her relationship with sora. namine and riku's relationship arc, background as it is, is complete, and now both are connected primarily through their incomplete arcs with sora.

(which makes the way that sora and kairi's example in kh2 is a complete outlier really interesting tbh. smth smth thinking your relationship is one thing and if it was that thing then yes that would have been the end, but it wasn't that thing and thus it wasn't the end smth smth comphet metaphor smth)

which brings us back to how riku himself hasn't really reached out to sora directly since kh1, the act that set off both of their journey's. The reasons for that are many- guilt, fear, a certainty that sora will not reach back and that he doesn't deserve it anyway- but despite that the Gesture is still subtly affirmed as being Riku's over and over again, never quite letting the audience forget it... because eventually this bit of symbolism so consistently portrayed throughout the series will reach its own conclusion, starting how it began with one deuteragonist reaching out to the other, and this time the other reaching back to complete the gesture.

[l-in-the-light]

I laughed so much. So Law actually did make a blunder there, Luffy's style (I mean, can someone who ended up floating on the sea in a barrel really go and criticize others for being stupid? I'm begging you xD). I was hoping that was the case, because it makes everything so much funnier :D Law's reckless side cranked up to the max! It's always so entertaining, but this must be his biggest screw-up in his pirate career, haha. Also it gives him some extra cute points lol.

Oh, I see, I see, so he was indeed after the poneglyph! He is going after the one piece treasure after all! Why is fandom so easily discarding his statement about it in the timeskip?

I know I read One Piece away from fandom spaces when I was catching up, but some of the fandom's habits make no sense to me. No more denying facts please (neither Law's statement about one piece or his connection to Drake, because *he has* one, even if we can only speculate about the nature of it)!

I personally see no contradiction here that Law has more than one goal. Both of these goals are probably part of his bigger plan, anyway, that's my stand on this. In other words, fandom's idea that Law was "aimless" and "didn't have a goal anymore" after Mingo's defeat is false. He wanted to fullfill Cora-san's wish, but he didn't need to hide that from his crew. Hearts are his fanboys, they would do anything he asks them to do, without him needing to lie to them. Also they congratulate Law for defeating Mingo and helped investigate Dressrosa at one point (Bepo drew a map of it, so they had to visit it!), so it seems they did know some bits of his plan actually.

I also don't think it complicates Law's narrative. His goals were shrouded in mystery since the very beginning, it actually all fits in very neatly. And it didn't before, it felt way too simple, like Law has only one motivation (that's kinda shallow imo) and his plans are shit if he didn't came up with proper backup plan after spending 13 years thinking of his revenge. We think it doesn't make sense because we fail to see the bigger picture, is all.

Though Rocky Port Incident was 100% Law's fault lol. What a blow to his already low self-esteem, geez. But it definitely was an impromptu plan, not something he came up with in advance (if it was he would do a better job), he didn't even properly check the ship beforehand to make sure he boarded the right one, he was probably afraid to miss his only chance to get on it. Makes sense, even if, well, it is a stupid thing to do 🤣

I want that anime spin-off so badly omg. It would be sooo funny! You just know Koby, Blackbeard and Law would not get along well, ahahaha. It has potential for so many hilariously awkward situations :D

The Rocky Port incident... (2)

was trending in Japan last night, so here's a post magazine release follow-up.

I was looking forward to hearing japanese readers' thoughts, but the source text itself is pretty vague which didn't help them either.

At least now the JP version is available, so I tried my hand on translating it as literally as possible.

Here's a simplified summary from Japanese user @manganouA (x) :

Just a clarification that "Hachinosu" and "Pirate Island", "Wang Zhi" and "Ochoku" are used interchangeably.

A common interpretational agreement is that Law definitely got onboard the wrong ship, and very likely the ship wasn't even going to Hachinosu. Artur's translation was incorrect, Law didn't board the smuggling ship. Pew's team updated their translation with Artur's version, even though their initial interpretation was right.

Law gained information that a smuggling ship heading to Hachinosu used a specific Kingdom's flag as their cover, and mistakenly hopped onboard a REAL ship belonging to that Kingdom- full of passengers and the King himself. The level of catastrophic clumsiness you'd expect from Luffy...

Man scratch that. it was clumsy even for Luffy's standard 😔

Another point to note, the term used to describe Law-Koby-BB combo was "共闘する���", so a combative pact is more appropriate than an alliance (同盟) - which was used for Law's pact with Luffy, and later Kidd (vs Big Mom). Nothing unexpected though.

My entire timeline is people cracking jokes about Law's blunder so I'm cherry picking a few of them.

Law: Crap, I blew it up... This is the wrong ship isn't it? (Cora ghost: Gee, Law... you're also the clumsy type aren't you?)

Zen (@GOKUJOUNOMAGURO) (x). (x)

Blackbeard arrives on luxurious Saber of Xebec, Koby arrives on a naval ship, and Trafalgar Law is somehow on a passenger's ship.

No matter how big of a mistake I make in future, I might be able to console myself thinking, "well, even Law kun got on a wrong ship."

Koby: Misunderstanding? What do you mean? No matter how you look at it, it's an act of terrorism against a Kingdom!

Law: How annoying... I'm in a state of confusion myself! I've no time to deal with the marines.

I got onboard a wrong ship!!!

Koby (after having Alvida flashback): I see. What a disaster, my heart goes out to you. Let's call it a temporary truce and defeat Ochoku first.

Law: You're convinced?!

.

My favorite has to be this low - effort comic summarizing their understanding:

"Rocky Port spinoff" was another buzzing keyword last night, I hope Shueisha is taking notes.

[germesthegenie]

Brief Respite At The End Of The World

Little doodle that I imagine takes place some time either during Arc 29 or after Arc 30. Wanted to do a quick drawing of this ship that for some reason lives rent free in my brain (Does it even have, like, a ship name? If there isn’t I think either Gauntlet or Handcuff could work for if I ever need to tag it but idk)

Way Too Much Yapping about a relationship between two tertiary characters below:

Part of the reason I like this ship is because these two were surprise favorites in the latter half of Worm, and I thought the mentions of them getting together in Arc 26 and 29 were cute. Though thinking a lot on the two characters (and probably a good bit of headcanon tbh), I started to appreciate it a lot more.

For Theo’s end of things, he’s always been burdened by expectations. His father tried to mold him into the next leader of the E88 from a young age, but Theo pushed back against that, instead wanting to be a hero. And then he got that, and a lot more than he asked for, accidentally becoming essentially a hero of prophecy thanks to Jack’s promise. Suddenly he wasn’t just a hero, he had to be *the* hero, live up to impossible expectations and save the world. And he was treated based on those expectations. His friendship with Weaver was pretty much based on the fact Taylor had to train him, try to make him the guy who could defeat Jack Slash. And then he failed, just barely missing the mark, and those expectations came crashing down around him. He distances himself from his team, and is mostly sulking in the background for the opening acts of Gold Morning, though one person does make an effort to reach out to him.

Aside from maybe Purity (who has her own set of issues), Ava is one of the few people in Theo’s life who likes and cares about who he is, not who he could be. And at his lowest point, where he feels he failed everyone, she’s trying to do what she can to help him recover and see he’s not a failure. And she does succeed eventually, as we see him up to fight a couple chapters later in the arc.

(Also it’s really funny and sweet that the meek girl from Arc 24 was able to almost convince Taylor “You can’t tell me what to do” Hebert to drop everything and talk to Golem, made a doodle of it a while back)

On Ava’s side of things, there’s admittedly not nearly as much to glean from just her characterization in the text alone. Like I said, she’s one of the few who appreciates Theo for who he is, regardless of expectations put on him by others. Their stories aren’t so different, only that her nemesis of sorts (Behemoth) was killed just as she was starting out. And after that fight she’s terrified, choosing not to attend the Khonsu fight. But Theo keeps pushing himself, trains knowing he’ll have to fight things that are arguably worse than the Endbringers when it comes to pain and fates worse than death. I like to think his inspiration is what led to the much more confident Cuff we see after the timeskip (though the Taylor Hebert Bootcamp probably also helped there). The main other thing we know is she had a previous boyfriend who she broke up with due to the pressures Weaver put the Chicago Wards under (which is probably a whole separate post to get into). So maybe their relationship is something that lets them both have a sense of normalcy in the insanity that is late Worm.

Or, you know, maybe I’m reading way too much into my two blorbos whose relationship gets like 5 lines of canon mention and 1 fanfic that I know of (shoutout again to Chartic, Off the Cuff is like a third of the reason I like this ship so much) and this is the best way I could put together why short of writing a fanfic myself (I might ngl but I do not have time atm)

[kiwiana-writes]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

A big ol' fuck you to @rmd-writes for the tag xoxo

1. How many works do you have an AO3? Lol. Lmao even. 289.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 914,620 on AO3, but that includes co-writes as well as things I've podficced where the fic and pod are in the same work. My actual personally-written wordcount, per my Batshit Spreadsheet, is 771,819.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly RWRB these days, though most of my back catalogue is Schitt's Creek. Also The Pairing and various other things scattered about.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kinda think that I might be his type aka Alex and Bea fake date coming in at the top spot, which will never not bewilder me. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely fic!! But I am always surprised that it was a few hundred more kudos than:

With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest), the Much Ado actors AU. My magnum opus, my beloved.

We were supposed to find this - baby's first soulmate AU and my first RWRB fic. The brainrot really took hold with this one lmao.

All the Lonely Starbucks Lovers, in which Henry takes 'open mouth insert foot' to a whole new level.

Warm like the glow that you feel head to toe, the age gap fic with older Senator Alex and younger Prince Henry. This is probably the only one in my top five that really surprises me, considering age gaps are... divisive.

5. Do you respond to comments? Always always always.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I mean I did write that one MCD fic in Schitt's Creek, though I maintain the other five parts in that 5+1 are in fact angstier than the MCD ending.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhhhhh, the rest? The Doylist answer is any of my fics where the HEA is literally forever rather than 'till death do us part'; so, the Schitt's Creek afterlife AU and the RWRB zombie!Alex AU. (Is that all? Am I forgetting one?)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yeah, sometimes. Weirdly, more through tumblr anons than on the fics themselves? A lot of them I just delete, sometimes I'll give them a bit of a public scolding etc. Frankly at this point if you come into my ask box to be a cunt on anon I'm going to assume you have a public humiliation kink and will indulge you accordingly.

9. Do you write smut? Who's to say.

10. Do you write crossovers? I'm more inclined towards a fusion than a crossover (love a good media fusion) but I did write a short RWRB/The Pairing crossover for VoiceTeam.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. Someone did ask recently, so we'll see!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? HEAPS. @ships-to-sail is an ongoing collaborator, but I also did a bunch of "each write a chapter" type collabs in Schitt's Creek. Currently co-writing something truly fucking incredible with @indestructibleheart.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? IDK if it's a WIP by the strictest definition, but every day the likelihood of the SC kink!verse series being completed slips further away lol.

16. What are your writing strengths? Rae, you're the worst.

Smut, I guess? Giving people new kinks, apparently. Character voice. Also a very specific type of world-building where I explain nothing because the characters already live in that world and let y'all infer how it works, which came up a LOT on one of this year's Kinktober fics in particular and led to my spouse saying "okay so you're basically the Brennan Lee Mulligan of tree fucking", which is sure not a sentence I expected to ever be directed towards me, but here we are.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Anything original, apparently. Good thing I didn't quit my job to be a writer or anything OH WAIT.

(In all seriousness, though, I am genuinely shit at, like, plotting. And action sequences.)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If it makes sense for the character, sure! I'm enlisting someone who speaks it for anything more complicated than, like, a pet name - I've seen what Google Translate tries to spit out for my second language and therefore don't trust it lmao.

19. First fandom you wrote for? terf queen mcgee's property.

20. Favourite fics you've written? The RWRB fic specifically based on the episode The Husbands of River Song from Doctor Who. Hands down the best thing I've ever written.

I also fucking LOVED the Much Ado actor AU. My love letter to Shakespeare and theatre and queer joy.

-

Tagging @blueeyedgrlwrites @cactusdragon517 @cricketnationrise @firenati0n @getmehighonmagic

@hgejfmw-hgejhsf @indestructibleheart @inexplicablymine @notspecialbabe @orchidscript

@piratefalls @sherryvalli @sparklepocalypse @stereopticons @whimsymanaged and, as always, anyone who wants to play! 

[smilesatdawnmain]

ETERNAL LMK AU (Part 3) (Interactive Story)

A little violence never hurts right? Well, violence was picked, and violence we shall have!

The rules are simple.: I will give the written passage, and then at the bottom there will be a vote on how the characters act next!

Story: Eternal

Ships: Shadowpeach

Angst: You betcha

Fluff: With enough choices, maybe we'll get there.

----------

The weight of Wukong's cold indifference felt crushing, driving him to the brink of madness. In a blind rage, he unleashes a primal scream and charged forward like a raging bull, his fists clenched tight enough to draw blood- if there was any to draw from.

He would have focused on this if he wasn’t so blinded with fury. Nothing would stop him from breaking through Wukong's impenetrable wall of apathy. The urge to draw pain from the other, to make Wukong see him, was too powerful to contain. Macaque felt the air whistle past him as he lunged, wrath propelling him like a storm flinging debris. “You think you can just ignore me?!”

The King remained still, a statue carved from granite, seemingly unfazed by the tempest boiling behind Macaque's eyes. “WUKONG!” Instead of connecting to soft flesh and silky fur as he expected to, Macaque was falling forward.

Straight through his mate, like he was nothing more than illusion.

Macaque’s screech cut into a gasp, arching out as he landed roughly.

The ground beneath Macaque's fist sent sharp pain shooting up his arm, the first real sensation he felt he had since awakening.

He recoiled, confusion washing over him like the waterfall he had just fled. In that moment of contact with solid earth, he felt a resonance, a pulse that spread through his veins. It was as if he was struck by thunder, held perfectly still in fear it would end him there and then. All with his eyes locked upward to the Monkey that was now behind him, eyes closed and at ease.

His entire body had phased through Wukong like it wasn’t even there.

Panic surged in Macaque’s chest, his breath coming in sharp, frantic wheezes. He pulled his fist back and scrambled to his feet, feeling the tremor of the earth beneath him still resonating with the energy he had barely comprehended. Wukong remained unyielding, unbothered by Macaque's conflicting turmoil as though he floated on a different plane than the one Macaque was trapped in.

Macaque blinked hard, trying to focus through the blurriness that had returned to his vision, the world around him shifting slightly like a mirage. The mountain peak seemed to shift, oscillate between reality and a fake copy.

Then it settled and he was left beside Wukong, watching him meditate.

“Poor fella. You hate to see it happen.” 

The voice floated around him, smooth and teasing like silk stretching over steel. Macaque’s heart lurched as he spun to find a third figure materializing from the shadows— an unfamiliar silhouette with wicked eyes glimmering with humor.

A second figure joined the first, “Unaware. So confused.” dressed in billowing black, the robes held a hood that shrouded their faces, small grins gleaming underneath.

Macaque tensed and turned, angling himself to the sound of the voices. Wukong, the ever unmoving rock within is quiet contemplation, didn’t stir to the sound. Only Macaque seemed aware of the presence of two strangers, eyeing them as they emerged from the trees. 

“Who are you?” Macaque lifted his hand to summon his staff. When it didn’t form between his fingers, he paled, staring at his own feet. Where once there was a shadow, always present and attached, there was nothing. 

He was nothing. 

It was like he didn’t even exist. 

The sheer alarm he felt coiled in his chest, making him stumble back in hopes of seeing his shadow- that it was just a trick of the light. There was nothing- no darkness or semblance of anything below his feet. 

The voices seemed to chuckle at his display, “It’s always pitiful to see someone come to terms with it.”

Macaque shot his head up, “What?” He hissed. 

“Such a shame,” one of the figures said, stepping forward with an exaggerated sway, “to find yourself so utterly lost. No shadow to guide you home, no tether to pull you back.” Their voice dripped with mock sympathy that curled around Macaque’s fraying sanity.

“Who… What do you want?” Macaque’s voice trembled, a feeble attempt to mask the quaking in his chest.

The second figure slinked closer, their mere presence cold enough to snuff out the warmth around them. “Took quite some time to get you to surface, Liu’er Mihou.” they tsked, shaking their heads.

“You know my name?” he croaked. The figures loomed closer, shrouded in their gauzy cloaks, flickering like shadows caught in a flame. "

"Of course, we know your name," the first figure purred, their voice curling around Macaque like a vine ready to strangle. "In the undercurrents of despair, whispers travel further than the wind. They are... persistent, much like you."

Macaque couldn’t shake the sensation of being scrutinized, dissected for their amusement. “Why have you come here?” The words came out more defiantly than he felt within. His eyes flickered to Wukong. Was he so against even speaking to him that he was willing to ignore even this? It made his chest ache…

The second figure chuckled softly, "Why? To guide you, of course." They extended a pale hand towards Macaque, fingers twisting and curling as if weaving a grand tapestry only they could see.

“Guide me?” Macaque spat, “I need no guidance from you two.”

They glance at each other, then giggle. “All souls need a hand or two when venturing to the Diyu.”

Macaque recoiled at the mention of Diyu—the realm of the dead. He felt the ground shift beneath him again as if the very earth was pulling away from him. “The Diyu?” he whispered in disbelief. "The only people who go there are those who are-” he cut off, a cold dread bubbling in his stomach. No…

The figures smiled, tilting their heads, “Dead?”

Bone chilling cold was a sensation he wasn’t pleased to feel. “I’m not-!” It was then that he remembered. Or perhaps, he had always remembered, he had just denied it. The crunch of his skull, the wail of Wukong- the cold.

The unbearable cold.

His hand lifted to his chest, clutching the fabric there to feel his unbeating heart. Unseen, unheard, no longer a presence for a shadow to latch to in this world.

"I died," he whispered.

They nodded, eerily in unison as they stared at him. “Quite some time ago, actually.”

Macaque swallowed hard, “H-How- How long?”

”By this time, years. Perhaps 10..? 20?” They stare around, ears flickering curiously. , "We would have collected your soul a while ago but you sure were stuck.” 

“S-stuck?”

”You soul had latched so tightly, we had to wait until you drew yourself from it." They held out their fingers to point 

Macaque glanced at where their boney fingers pointed; Wukong's staff that rested to the side of him. 

His visibly recoiled. His soul had latched to that horrendous thing of all things?

”Sometimes souls can get stuck. Perhaps to the weapon that killed them, or a mythical object within their vicinity when they pass. We’ve seen a lot of different reasons.”

With buzzing thoughts and an aching chest, Macaque slowly sunk into a crouch, clutching his head. He edged a tad bit away from Wukong- from his staff.

He had killed him.

His mate had killed him.

"And now that you’re free," the first figure drawled, "we can finally help you transcend this state. No more binding threads, Macaque. No more ties to this realm." The gleam in their hollow eyes sparked with a hunger that made his skin crawl. “It’s time to come with us,” they held their hands out again.

Previous part

Next:

[passionateseadruid]

Where do I start?! Okay!

So him touching her CONSTANTLY is always a good one. (Plus the fact that it’s either canon or like a generally accepted headcanon that Al hates being touched but he’s constantly touching Charlie 🤭)

Angst with a happy ending.

I once say this post about these two having a pay off to their dynamic and in this one part it was like “Charlie frees Alastor from his deal and he kneels down and calls her his queen” and that LITERALLY MAKES ME FERAL!!

The fact that they actually have CHEMISTRY (not to name ships but these cute mofos don’t NEED to have a sexy song in season 2 to display their chemistry)

The fact that they have such similar interests! Singing and dancing, pineapple on pizza (me too honestly, and I don’t even like pizza that much), the fact they both canonically like Mona Lisa by The Lonely Island! They have literally the same sense of humor!

I could go on but I will leave you with one last thing…

This… this right here is what made me start to Ship them.

This is romantic AF, and no one can tell me otherwise!

There’s a pink filter and sparkles! Like how can no one else see it?!

Attention my fellow charlastor shippers

Reblog this and tell me what your favorite things are about charlastor. This includes dynamics, headcanons, silly doodles or whatever. I just like hearing what about something that makes me happy makes others happy

[ramblingautisticman]

Why Is This Song In My Poolverine Playlist, A Series.

(I am extremely insane and make playlists for every ship/character/show I like, and yes, there is a reason each one is in there. I think of lil scenarios, situations, or straight up story ideas because of a song- so enjoy this series where I write them all down!)

(Part 1, Part 2)

Monster from Adventure Time

So, I honestly hadn't thought about this song in relation to Wade and Logan until @ohitsthemindstuffagain said about it, and now it's all I can picture when I hear it.

This is such a Wade and Logan coded song and it's insane.

"I know we'll never grow old together, cause you'll never grow old to me."

Wade knows Logan is slowly ageing, something he doesn't do, and one day, he will be alone again. One day, he will watch Logan get grey hair, his face gaining wrinkles, his muscles getting softer. He's okay with that. He's made his peace, but it still hurts. Still makes his heart ache to know that one day Logan will die of old age and he will still be here. Wade will still have the same young body he does now. His body will always be 40 years old- and Logan's will always be ageing.

"You're the pink in my cheeks, and I'm scared cause that means I'm a little bit soft."

Logan has softened since knowing Wade. He's become less gruff and angry over time. Wade jokes that he managed to domesticated The Wolverine, and what's funny about that is the fact it's true. Where Logan used to be rough and jaded, he was soft and caring. It scared him. Alot. He was so used to the anger and violence coursing through his body that now- with this love and affection slowly replacing it- he wasn't sure what to do. Wasn't sure how to function.

"We were messed up kids who taught ourselves how to live, and I'm still scared that I'm not good enough."

Wade had always survived- never just lived. Ever since he was a kid. His dad had been an abusive asshole- his mother a cold-hearted bitch- and so he had grown up teaching himself how to survive. How to hide bruises from school, how to make food without getting noticed, how to avoid getting screamed at if he didn't do well on a test. It was ingrained into him as a kid- that he wasn't good. He would never be good. He was a broken fuck up that would never amount to anything. It was something he had taken with him through the rest of his life- and it was something he couldn't help but reflect back on when him and Logan had begun dating. Logan was a hero- he had saved the world more times that Wade could count- and here he was, dating Wade. Dating the one guy he shouldn't. Logan deserved better. Alot better. Deserved literally anyone that wasn't Wade. Logan was so genuine with him though- sounded like he meant every word he said- that slowly, he was helping to break that childhood trauma. He was showing Wade that he was worth something, no matter what some asshole father had said. It was ironic, because Logan had gone through a similar experience as a child, but here he was- helping Wade like it was nothing. He supposed that after 200 years, you resolve some of your issues.

"I've always felt like a monster, long before I was big, but only seen as a monster, let's just say I'm used to it."

Logan had always been told he was a freak, an animal, a killer. Ever since he was young. It hurt- until he had heard it enough times that it was second nature. He started to believe what they said about him. Think about the fact he really was a killer and an animal, the way he slashed through people like it was nothing or the way he growled when he was angry, it was true- wasn't it? And then he met Wade, and Wade showed him praise for all of those things. He never once seemed scared of Logan- infact he seemed to like all of the things he hated about himself. Wade would gush over the claws, joke about him being a cat, shout him on as he took out the bad guys on a mission. It felt strange, being show affection for the things people showed him hatred for for so long, but here it was. The praise he had always wanted.

"Yeah, I'm used to that, but I could get used to this."

His time with Vanessa had been amazing. Wade really had loved her with all of his heart- and he really did think they would be together until the end of time- but life got in the way as it often did. He had accepted she moved on, and while it hurt, he was happy she was happy. That she was finally with someone who could treat her right and keep her safe. It had felt strange to feel that similar fluttery feeling towards someone else- but Logan had managed to slip into that gap in his life with such ease that Wade never even noticed until he found himself not thinking of Vanessa anymore- instead he thought of Logan. It took him awhile to get used to that- to realise he could feel these things for someone else- and he liked it. Love it infact. The way Logan made him feel was so much more different than Vanessa, and he liked that. Logan complelty understood him. Never judged him for his looks or about the way he acted- loved every part of him like it was the easiest thing ever- and Wade couldn't help but find that so much better than what he had with Vanessa.

And the rest of the song? I could make up SEVERAL scenarios or ideas about each lyric for both of them. It fits so well it hurts.

[rivangel]

Suffocating

summary: Kenny doesn't know why he does things for some brat he met just months ago he wouldn't do for another soul, living or dead, but here he is, sacrificing the clothes off his back and seeing his dead sister in Levi's eyes.

c/w: not ship content, family bonding!…kinda, mild hurt/comfort , hypothermia, warning for kenny being the way that he is, murder (not shown), kid!levi, kuchel haunts the narrative

wc: 2.8k

a/n: a repost from my ao3. i never make a habit of posting non-ship content on tumblr, but i still really enjoy this one so w/e

The Underground’s air is always thick—a combination of mainly garbage fumes and death fumes—but the arctic state of the city in what is now the dead of winter isn’t helping. It’s not even as cold topside as it is here, even though there’s no snow, no freezing rain. Just freezing. Kenny breathes out a white cloud. Must have something to do with it being literally underground.

Kenny bitterly muses on his surroundings as he strolls down a deserted street like he owns it, which he sure as shit might as well.

He ignores the sparse blips of life within buildings of various states of decay. The way they were built, the structures all seem piled onto each block. And on this side of the lower districts, they resemble straight rubble. Most of everything’s gone to shit.

Kenny stuffs his hands deeper in his pockets. But it’s deserted, too, which is why when he had some business to take care of Above, he left the brat to his own devices around these parts. He’s not old enough or strong enough yet to wander all over the Underground. Only some months ago, he met the kid at death’s door.

Which is why Kenny narrows his eyes and pauses outside the dingy stone structure where the brat is supposed to be. The door is shut, and so is the ugly drape covering the hole in the wall that is an Underground window.

No light. Huh. Sitting in the dark, in this kind of weather? That’s a death sentence.

Silent, he creeps to the door, and peers into the dark crevice beside the handle. Deadbolt. Locked. As it should be.

With a cursory glance over his shoulder, he slips the key from his coat pocket, jams it in, and shoves it open, barging his way inside in case someone other than the kid is holed up here. "Hey, ANYBODY HOME?"

A dying lantern illuminates but in an inch of its surroundings in the far corner, around it a neat lump—a threadbare blanket.

“Hah…”

Kenny peers around the door itself to find the skinny runt, who's about as tall as the knob. Defending himself just like he taught him. He wears a hood, but there's no mistaking his height. His silver eyes are fierce and his pale face stony, clutching a dagger pointed right at Kenny’s crotch.

“Oh hey, runt. Miss me?”

His glare drops all its venom at once. In fact, the kid goes from standing straight to wavering on his feet. His arms fall, his dagger nearly dropping right to the floor.

Kenny blinks. "Hah?"

“Why didn’t you…? S'you.” The dagger clatters to the floor.

A little stunned at this display, Kenny goes even more stunned as the kid wobbles forward, suddenly panting for breath. He would've fallen flat on his face if it isn't for Kenny’s pant leg.

"Uh..." He blinks in understanding then, still staring. The kid’s too cold. He’s weak.

"Kenny..."

“You dumb runt. Do I need to teach you how to stay warm?”

“…M...Maybe…”

Kenny cocks his head, then realizes that that is something the kid might have to learn when he’s freezing to death and in a pinch. He's really not doing so well.

At least he's making conscious efforts not to shiver and come off as even more pathetic than clinging onto Kenny's leg like a squirrel. He should shake him off now and teach him how to act.

Kenny narrows his eyes. No, wait, the kid’s fingertips are blue. He should’ve noticed a second ago, the kid is so pale, and his pant leg black. He’s clutching, but the fingers don’t bend. He's not shivering because he can't.

The brat could die.

He doesn’t want the brat to die.

“Ah, shit, kid…” Kenny stares down at his dark mop of hair, letting some of the tone he always uses to scold him fall. “Shit. Uh…”

Kenny stands in place a little longer, figuring out how to go about this.

The kid isn’t moving, either. He hugs his leg like Kenny is his savior, but somehow also like he's ashamed of that.

So far, Kenny has only taught him a few things, but the kid doesn’t cling like this anymore. Hasn’t but a few times. With the knowledge of what ought to happen if he does, and the kid doing it even now, well, shit.

Silent, with an unreadable look—hell, he can't even decipher what his own feelings are right now—he slides his trenchcoat off his shoulders and pulls his arms through the sleeves.

“Let go, kid.” Kenny shakes his leg out.

The kid obediently lurches back as if he's just realized what he's done, tottering dangerously on his feet for a moment. Still breathless, he crosses his arms and peers up under his hood. Dull grey eyes are unfocused when they find Kenny's, waiting for instructions.

Kenny kneels down, and makes a face to mask this strange surprise at seeing the kid's cracked, blue lips. It's like surprise, but he wants to run straight away from the sight. “Hey... Yer shitty bangs are hangin' in your eyes again. What’d I tell you?”

The kid blinks at him, long and slow, not comprehending. "Uh..." Then his eyes start to roll back in his skull.

Kenny snatches him far before he falls with a swift inhale of the icy air, holding him up with one arm. "Levi."

Silence.

Kenny groans, and starts to shake him back and forth. "HEY, brat! Are you deaf or somethin'!? Quit it!"

"...Ugh..."

"Wake up."

The kid squirms a little.

"Stupid idiot..." As Kenny says this, he takes his coat out from under his arm and drapes the heavy cotton, warmed by Kenny’s body heat, over his small shoulders sideways, like a towel.

It absolutely engulfs the kid anyway, whose sleepy eyes widen. "Wait... This is heavy. Are we carry—carrying stuff?"

“Shut up," Kenny mumbles under his breath. He's really out of it. "Just hold it. I could fit three of you in this thing. Damn.”

Kenny glances at the weak oil lamp, which has gone completely dark since he arrived. "Get your head together, kid. C’mon. Is it warm, or what?"

"Yeah." The kid clutches at the coat as if it were his own skin, eyes tightly shut.

“...So you run out of oil, or were you savin’ it?”

Levi stares blankly at the wall. With time and warmth the coat provides, or maybe just the shock of what it is, he manages to string some words together.

"It-It wasn’t warm,” he answers. “SSSo I used it for... for light. Should be lots left.”

Kenny’s brows lift. “Huh. Not a bad idea, runt. That doesn't make up for your utter failure at not freezin' to death, but still."

The kid goes silent completely, his cheeks red, staring at his shoes. "How was your trip?"

"We're leaving."

On their way out, Kenny grabs the lantern, gritting his teeth against the cold he feels biting now. He doesn’t know why he gave his coat to the brat, besides the fact that he had no other choice. But that still feels odd. He'd never do this.

The kid makes a solid attempt at picking it all up so it doesn’t drag along the disgusting floor, but it drops one second later. Then he trips over it, and hits his knees, huffing and puffing.

Kenny hates the sight. “Goddamn, boy. You better hope you gain a few inches before yer older. You're damn pathetic. Stand. Pick it up.”

He obeys, trying again. “This is stupid.”

Kenny doesn’t like the smart mouth the brat is getting—probably from Kenny himself—but he doesn’t discipline him for speaking this time, a decision that shocks himself. He just hates seeing the kid so pathetic. His shitty mouth is going to come in handy growing up anyway.

Kenny stands, wielding the lantern's handle. “You know what’s stupid? Freezin’ to death.”

The kid looks like a snail hiding in its tan shell by the time Kenny promptly scoops him up under one arm. He makes a breathy squawking sound in response. “What the fffuck, Kenny…!”

Kenny walks out with him like a football. The kid never quits wriggling.

"I don't need yer help!"

“Tch. Shut up.”

Kenny finds a relatively small and desolate wooden shed out behind a condemned hostel, just a short walk away. It’s all dark in there, so they won't be caught here.

“Sit n’ stay, runt.”

Kenny drops him down like a stone and approaches the shed, slinging the lantern in one hand as he goes, and then in longer and longer arcs.

Then he hurls it. It crashes against the rotted roof, where the shiny sludge splatters and quickly begins to run down in rivets.

“Perfect fuckin’ aim,” Kenny mutters, and digs in his back pocket for his matches. "You alive back there?"

"No, I'm dead!"

"That was easy. Yer makin' me look like a bad teacher."

He scoffs weakly, and then they lapse into silence. Silence, besides some grunting that he hears down the block to his right.

Kenny internally rolls his eyes. Maybe he should get rid of the whore and whoever’s fucking her before he does this. Witnesses are bad, but the noises are even worse.

He strikes the match in one perfect try, and steps close enough to fling it at the thinnest tendril of spilled oil. As he back-steps, he watches with a perverse glee as a raging orange flame is born and races everywhere the oil touches, until—

WHOOSH.

An explosion of light and heat causes Kenny to throw his head back with his hands on his hips, cackling. It’s like a burning flower. The flames seethe and begin to crawl down all four walls at a steady pace.

Kenny tosses a look over his shoulder at Levi, who still looks like a snail bundled up in Kenny’s coat, standing there on the pathway.

He watches the fire with what Kenny can tell is an ambivalence he’s forcing. It occurs to him that he never told the kid what this was all about. Giving him the clothes off his back probably freaked him out, too.

The crackling’s since died down, so he can now hear the whore again, who’s squealing.

“What a buzzkill… Agh. Gross, huh?” Kenny comments.

The kid peers up at him with a genuine look of something shitty. “Tell someone who cares.”

“Jeez you're boring,” Kenny grumbles, and picks his dagger from his belt. “Siddown. Get warm.”

It’s not a hard task, but it’s not a pleasant one, either. The kid is half-frozen and Kenny was in the middle of a cool moment when these two ruined it.

He wipes the silver blade clean on the hooker’s kneesocks, feeling pleased that he got no blood on himself. The thick clouds of smoke billowing up from the fire is visible a block away, but everyone else must either be asleep, missing, or hiding. That's just fine. They’d do best to from Kenny the Ripper.

The shed is engulfed by the time he returns. The heat embraces him all the way from the hostel. Good. And in the short time Kenny was gone, the kid already looks a bit better than before. Shivering violently now, he sits tucked into himself. Light brings out the thin shade of blue in his eyes. He stares at the fire with a severe expression, as one would watch a murder taking place.

Kenny drops his gaze to his boots. The kid looks like the spitting image of his sister even now, evil eyes and all. Kuchel was scary when she got mad, usually at Kenny.

"Our voyeurs are gone."

"I d-d-didn't notice."

“Still cold?” Kenny shoots him a tired look. “Should I throw you in or something?”

He eyes Kenny with distrust. “I can’t tell i-if yer bein' s-serious.”

“I’m just sayin’ this won’t last forever. And that’s a nice coat yer drownin’ in. What’s the point of any of this if ya still can’t wait out the rest of the night? I could burn down that building right behind us, I guess... But the people inside wouldn't appreciate it."

“What’s d-drowning?”

“Huh? It’s when…” Kenny laughs bitterly and merrily plops down on the stone path next to the kid. “Fuckk, you don’t know a thing. She never read you any books?”

The kid is rendered silent for a long beat at the mention of his mother. Then he scoffs. “…No-Not about drowning.”

“Eh, good point.”

A bland silence. Kenny hoped that some proximity would be enough, but the kid’s skin is still ashen, his lips are blue, and he’s shivering on.

Kenny gives his back a shove. “Get closer, for fuck’s sakes."

“I j-just did what you t-told me,” he bites back, hefting up the shell yet again and squirming until he winces in the face of the roaring flames. “There’s this-this grey powdery crap. Disgusting.”

“Aw, it don’t bite,” Kenny retorts, not following. He's sweating. Even the very air he breathes is hot. “It’s just ash. It’ll wash off.”

More quiet. The kid’s teeth soon stop chattering, and he's sitting still. That’s better.

Kenny breaks the silence. “Drowning’s when you’re underwater too long. You run out of air, and eventually yer lungs fill up with water. Then you’re dead. Takes a while to do to someone else, though. Unless you got a lot of arm strength, it’s not worth the hassle if you got other options.”

Levi side-eyes him. It’s clear he still doesn’t understand the expression. “Even choking?"

"Even choking. Water drags you down."

"Is drowning for water only?”

“Whatever fills your lungs that ain’t air. Could be blood, or liquid shit, I guess, if ya wanna go there.”

“Disgusting,” he grumbles. “Can’t drown in this smoke?”

“No, you idiot. That’s suffocating,” Kenny explains. “Damn, you’re dumb. But hey, that's why I'm here."

"Hm."

"Nah, you know what? In this shit-hole, you could suffocate, I got no doubt.”

“Hm.”

“So,” Kenny sighs, big and loud. “You’re not gonna die now, right?”

A warm pallor has returned to the kid’s pale face, he’s even sweating, and the life is back in his silver eyes. Kenny isn’t sure why he asked.

“I’m fine,” he says impatiently. “You’re not my mom.”

Kenny’s lips part to retort, but nothing comes out. Apparently, the kid’s words reach the kid himself, as he stiffly shrugs off the coat, scoops it up, and shoots it at Kenny’s lap with a hard grunt. “And I got yer stupid coat dirty. Why would you do that, anyway!?"

“Levi…” Kenny drawls, his tone warning and severe. “You watch it.”

The kid whirls around, ready to shout, but Kenny beats him to it with a swift shove to his chest, causing the kid to go rocketing backwards into the ashen dust, dirt, and rock.

He doesn’t cough, doesn’t groan, just inhales swiftly like he felt nothing at all, as Kenny taught him, then climbs back up into a kneel. The brat has a lot to say, but he can't meet Kenny’s glare.

“Ungrateful shit,” Kenny says dully. He barely makes himself sound annoyed. “Just lookin' at you makes me sick. Get on the other side where I don’t have to look at you. Or go. Freeze to death if that’s what your mom would want.”

He inhales. "It's not like that... It's not. It's..."

He trails off.

Kenny pays attention to his peripheral as the kid turns around takes himself to another side of the fire.

Jeez, that was dumb. Why'd he do that? What did Levi want to say?

Kenny isn't about to chase him down and ask. He doesn’t know why. He just…

It’s not like that, the runt said. Kenny knows that all too well. His sister… Well, in a world as cruel as this one, he shouldn’t say she deserved to live and he deserved to die, but he can think it all he wants.

Kenny leaves that thought alone anyway. He should stop thinking about her. She's dead. He made his promise.

But hell, he can’t stop thinking about it. She’d be pissed if she heard him call Levi a brat, but he’s alive, isn’t he?

Nah. He wouldn’t have made it another hour. Maybe that’s why he just said what he said.

Even though dying’s not what he would want for this little brat, either.

a like and reblog is appreciated :)

| more attack on titan |

[bronx-bomber87]

Hi!! I just spent the last hour scrolling through your page and I adore everything you have to say about tim and lucy…

So I was curious (because I’m a month into the fandom and I don’t really know anyone yet) what your thoughts, predictions, expectations for season 7 would be?

Sorry if you’ve posted something similar before, please point me in the right direction if you have :)

- Loren

Hi! @moderatelydelusional Nice to meet you, Loren. Thank you for the lovely ask :) Making me all red with your nice comment. So glad you liked everything I've had to say about our lovely ship. Appreciate it so much. Before I answer I want to say welcome to the fandom! We are glad to have you here. 😊 There are so many good blogs on tumblr for them. Glad you chose me as one of them. I am honored. ❤️ I haven't really tackled s7 at all so this is a good ask. Excited to answer it. I'm a detailed woman. So imma break your question down into sections if that's alright. I legit don't know how to be brief about this show or them haha Also will do it with gifs cause that's my thing. Here is my detailed answer below. Hope you enjoy it.

Thoughts on S7- Well we've had ZERO and I mean ZERO spoilers or indicators about this upcoming season. Which I do love them keeping it close to the vest. Honestly I do. Just means they have something incredibly good lined up. They just want to make sure we are surprised. Can't fault them for that. But I'm dying for anything. The end of s6 left us wanting so much more with the scene above. We are all chomping at the bit for any content. I know Eric had a interview couple weeks back about s7. From what little he was able to divulge I am EXCITED.

Here is the link to it. Talks about Tim needing to EARN Lucy back in more ways than one. How she is the love of his life. (Tell us something we don't know haha) But I love Eric referring to her to as such. The personal development for Tim to come as well. Like I said they haven't given us much of anything yet. It's hard to have thoughts when we don't have much to go on. But it seems like it'll be well rounded season. It's always been a character driven show so I think it'll be more than just our ship. Which is fine with me. It is an ensemble cast after all.

I fell in love with this show as a whole when it first launched back in 2018. Give me more Tim/Angela, Lucy/Nyla and Wopez. I'll take all of that. I have been all in from the Pilot. I remember watching it on my lunch break on my phone when it first premiered. I was hooked. When we finally get a promo and a friggin premiere date I can probably be more in depth with my answer. Since we don't have a lot to go on it's hard to have in depth thoughts ha But from what little they've let out I'm quite excited for the journey we're going to embark on. We just need a start date for said journey. All we know is Jan but I need a hard date LOL

Expectations For S7. -I expect Chenford to get back to the softness above. It won't be easy but I expect we are headed back there. I think it's gonna be quite the journey to get us there. Both Tim and Lucy are going to need to grow before we do. They both still have shit to work out. Lucy with her career path and the rough time she had last year. It wasn't just Tim that crushed her. I mean it was a huge headliner but wasn't the ONLY one. Our girl has some communication problems and is like her soulmate in how she handles emotional distress. Expect that to be addressed on some level.

Tim obviously has a lot to make up for and he knows it. That is the first step. I expect we see Tim working constantly to improve himself as a person. To be worthy of Lucy again. He's not going to half ass his healing. He is going to be very Tim in how he goes after it. This is going to bleed into every part of his life. I expect to see that all over his character development in s7.

I also anticipate that we'll see an even stronger and more refined version of Chenford in Season 7, with their characters continuing to grow and evolve. Strong separately and even more so together. I cannot wait for the slow burn of their reconciliation. Going to make all the hurt worth it. It'll be Chenford 2.0 and we are all going to be grateful for that. While losing our minds together it's happening. I would rather have our ship and characters be real and develop. Better that than to be puddle deep like John/Bailey. I'll take the pain of growth over the stagnation of boredom. i.e. Bailian.

Predictions-Obviously I want to predict something like above. Them starting over. Kisses, hugs, and if we're lucky enough to get a repeat of 5x12 on screen. That one I'm straight just trying to manifest lol Possibly Celina catching them or almost doing so when they get back together at her place. These are more hopeful than actual predictions lmao But I mainly predict a deeper intimacy between them when they do reconcile. Stronger communication. It'll be beautiful. I also think we're about to see a side of Tim Bradford we haven't seen before. As we know Lucy brings out the best in this man. The absolute best. We're going to see that on full display.

I think he will continue therapy. I also think we’re going to see a very determined Tim driven in his quest to make amends to Lucy. Which will bring out that new side we haven't seen. It's one of the facets of s7 that has me most excited. And not just for the Chenford portion. (Which does make me giddy to no end) But for him as well. You follow me long enough you'll know I love Tim development. So this excites me so very much.

We watched Tim take strides in his mental health walk and as a person in s6 after 6x07. I expect we're going to see the fruit of that not just in his amends to Lucy. But professionally as well. Tim took quite the fall professionally after being bounced out of Metro. He has fences to mend to Grey, Lt. Pine, and those around him as well in patrol. I see him making those strides and then some.

I predict Lucy is going to finally going to get grounded professionally and personally. (She does have a new roommate. I can see development here too) Lucy got very lost in s6. I think s7 she will be righting her ship. Finding her purpose. My guess was T.O. for her with her dipping her toe with Celina in 6x08. She's so empathetic and willing to slow down and teach. I think that could be a good path for her. Whatever her trajectory is I think it's going to be be worked out in s7 for our girl. It's time for her to get some damn wins. I hope that answers your ask LOL Or maybe was too much? HA Either way I can't wait for s7. I need a promo and a premiere date. Seriously ABC, you're killing us.