#they’re canon 2 me ok. hold my hand….that’s what matters don’t ever let them tell u anything different….

[rollercoasterwords]

Are you telling me right now that kenstewy isn’t canon ? I literally started watching the show just for them… are there at least a gay kiss somewhere in the show??

scream this is the funniest ask i’ve ever received. there is a tender hug with an air of faggotry & canon confirmation stewy boykisser….if that makes a difference….

[wenellyb]

Is Sambucky Canon or Not?

TL;DR: Yes, it is

I've seen some people saying that they only see friendship between Sam and Bucky, and I can understand that. Because depending on your education, the environment you grew up and the kind of media you’re usually exposed to, you will have a different interpretation of different situations, in real life or in TV. Just let me insert a short story before I dive into the Sambucky topic:

My best friend's uncle is in his fifties and has been living with his roommate (a man) for more than 10 years. They lived together, went on holidays together but officially were just roommates. My best friend wondered if they were a couple, but never talked about it to her parents because it wasn't her business. Two years ago, they decided to come out and get married. My best friend's parents and his parents were genuinely surprised, they were not expecting that, at all, not even a little bit. Let me tell you that it didn’t even cross their mind that it was a possibility, at all. For them, it had always just been two men who had decided to live together because they were single. And preferred to have a roommate rather than living alone.

What I want to say with this story is that people will see what they want to see, or what they're used to see, or what they were raised to see. It’s human.

What I mean is that you will have different perception of a same event, depending on your own circumstances. And I think the writers of TFATWS were counting on that a little bit when it came to Sam and Bucky’s relationship. They obviously didn't want to make some big announcement or big love declaration.

And yes, of course, I have my own circumstances as well, influencing the way I see things. I have shipped SamBucky since Civil War, when they were supposedly enemies. I never expected anything to happen between them on screen. But then they got a show together and I was so so happy about it but I didn't expect anything other than friendship between them.

I was perfectly fine with that because a show was already more than enough: my man Sam Wilson was becoming Captain America, the show was great, the characters were great, their interactions were great, and this wasn't a love story anyway but a superhero show. I thought that here was no way the showrunners would ever go there. I changed my mind after episode 5. I tried to stay objective, but it was clear to me that the writers were hinting at a relationship that went beyond friendship between Sam and Bucky. In some of my previous posts, I explained that there are some scenes and writing choices that make absolutely no sense if you read them as a scene between two friends. I can link them if anyone’s interested.

Side note: I would like to know if one person on this website can tell me what was up with Bucky's behavior with Torres (in episode 5)? What other explanation is there, if not jealousy? It's a scene they chose to keep, so it was probably written this way, there must be a reason. Please I’m begging someone explain it to me. I'm genuinely asking, because otherwise that scene alone is canon Sambucky.

After episode 5, I was convinced they would make Sambucky canon, one way or the other and I started speculating about the ways they could do it. What I said was that if they did make Sambucky canon, they would do it in a very subtle way, in order not to make it too obvious because that’s generally how Marvel movies deal with love stories. And also because they wouldn’t want to scare away their homophobic audience ( I guess Disney needs their money...who knows)

So here are the scenes of how I imagined SamBucky becoming canon and the comparison with reality:

1.

- What I thought we could get : AJ and Cass calling Bucky "Uncle Bucky" - What we got: AJ and Cass running up to Bucky and playing with him. This point is interesting because it’s also related to the point I made about how the environment you grew up in influences your perception of things. I grew up in a big family and I know that, at least in my family, kids don't run up to an adult like that just because it's their uncle’s friend or just because he's nice... There's a real bond there. They haven't seen Bucky just that one time when he slept on the couch. They're obviously close. But some people might just see this as kids being kids. Also, if you watch at how the kids were fake punching him, they were really coordinated with Bucky. They have done this plenty of times. 2.

What I thought we could see: A non-explicit scene where we were supposed to draw our own conclusions. I thought they could show us Bucky staying over for the night, and the last scene would be an empty couch, meaning we would have to understand that Bucky slept in Sam's room this time.

-What we got: Bucky arriving in Sam's car ( A few people on Tumblr pointed out that it was the car Sam was driving in episode 1) So here again we have a scene that a lot of people will not notice. But they still chose to put it there. 3.

What I thought could happen: Sam asking Bucky to stay in Delacroix

What we got: Bucky wrapping things up in New York, as if he was leaving the city for good and coming to Sam's party as if he already knew everyone there. You can read my take on this here. 4. What I thought could happen: The scene in the trailer where we see them looking in the same direction and then we get a shot from very far away where they're holding hands but it’s not so obvious because they are being filmed from a disctance. -What we got: The scene in trailer and then a blurry shot of Sam holding Bucky and then fondling with his neck to find the best spot to rest his hand on. So none of the scenes I was imagining happened exactly like I had imagined, but it felt like all of them happened but in a different versions, which is still crazy to me. If it had been only one scene. I could probably understand the people who see them as just friends. Actually, I still do understand the people who see them as just friends, because everyone has their own interpretation. What I am saying is that they are NOT being portrayed as just friends. There are TOO many scenes in the 6 episodes for it to be a coincidence. One or 2 would be ok but friendship doesn’t explain everything:

The therapy scene (not the therapy scene itself since it was improvised) but the therapist saying she had heard a lot about Sam and wanting them to do a couples’ therapy

Bucky following Sam no matter what

Sam saying ok as soon as Bucky says "do it for me"

Sam asking "what about Bucky?"

Bucky starting to touch Sam whenever he has the chance

Bucky being the one to bringing the suit for Sam

The boat repairing montage

Bucky wanting to stay at Sam's place, when a hotel room would have been more comfortable than a couch

The second day of boat repair in closed quarters with an intense staring scene.

And there are so many other scenes, soft touches, looks,...

These writing choices are not a coincidence, it’s not involuntary, and it’s not fan service ( Fan service is the roll in the flower field scene, or the therapy session). This is them telling a story.

Let’s not even talk about the scenes in Endgame:

Sam comforting bucky at Tony’s funeral

Sam looking up to Bucky for approval before accepting the shield from Steve.

So yes, Sam and Bucky are canon in the sense that Peter and Gamora were canon in the first movie, or Wanda and Vision were canon in Captain Civil War. Meaning that there was no big moment, kiss or anything, but the show is consistently throwing elements clearly showing Sam and Bucky as a romantic item and hinting at a lot more than friendship between them.

It is normal that some people have a different opinion. Because it is extremely rare, in big productions like this to have two male leads with romantic feelings towards each other, so not a lot people who see it will interpret it as such (I don't think it ever happened). You’ll see what you’re used to seeing.

I guess it also depends on what you expect from a love story. For me, the storyline between the characters, their scenes, their chemistry, the way their feelings towards each other are described, are the most important. The kiss scene is just there as a bonus, but I don't need it when the love story is told perfectly. If you’re used to seeing love stories with many kissing scenes, that’s what you will be expecting to see in most love stories.

If you're only used to seeing male friendships in superhero or action movies. The 1000th time you see men interacting in that type of movie or show, you are more likely to assume it is a friendship and nothing more, no matter how many codes and tropes usually associated with romantic movies, the writers and show makers are using.

Add to that the conviction that Disney would never approve Sambucky in a million years, and there you go, I can understand the people who see only friendship.

But, just think about it, if we had the same show, same scenes, same dialogues, but minus the action scenes and the project was being marketed as an Indie movie, would you think they were just friends or a blossoming couple?

If you read Sambucky’s relationship like a friendship: some scenes don't make sense. If you read it like a developing romantic relationship: it all makes sense. "When you hear hoofs, think horse, not zebra" If a writer or a film director chooses a last scene with a romantic setting and the two leads are staring at a sunset, smiling repeatedly at each other and then walking away together with one of them touching the other's neck, with a love song in the background, maybe friendship isn't the first thought they had in mind.

Some people may say “I see them as just friends” and other people may say “ I see them as lovers” and both are fine, because people have different perceptions, and that’s ok.

What I am saying is this post is that the show and the writers are portraying them as more than just friends, they’re portraying them as two characters who are romantically involved.

Perceive what you want but that’s how they are being presented in the show.

Bucky’s therapist said that the exercise she gave them was for couples who want to figure out what kind of life they want to build together. Then, the show ends with Sam and Bucky, staring at a sunset together, looking in the same direction.

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. “  - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What else do you need???

This show had more romance than half of the Marvel projects out there. Not every love story needs a kiss (for now...)

We'll see in their next projects which direction the writers want to go with this. But since it was said that the writer on the movie is the same as the writer from episode 5, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll keep seeing this dynamic. I don't think they would have made the same choices if this had been a movie. But I won't complain that we got this. I hope they keep this going even if it stays subtle like in the show. Just hope they will add one explicit scene where one of the characters acknowledges their relationship. But even if we only ever get this show, it’s already a great love story. Let me know what you guys think and sorry for the typos and grammar mistakes, I was tired when I wrote the last part. I hope it still makes sense!

If you think they're only being portrayed as friends let me know why! I would also like to know about the way you see this!

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

“Let’s BTS” asks about “I like you the most” and Jin’s reaction

by Admin 2

First of all, I want to wish you all, far away in the world of Vmin and BTS, a healthy and peaceful Easter, if you celebrate it, and a nice weekend for those who don’t! Since Admin 1 is quite busy right now and currently also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, I (Admin 2) will take over our blog for a little while though Admin 1 will still be lurking and checking comments etc. I want to emphasize right away (you will probably notice it anyway) that I have no literary talent compared to Admin 1. I'll try to worthily “replace” Admin 1 for the time being and talk to you about Vmin and more.

Unlike Admin 1, I am not so careful with shipping discussions (and I even like them) as long as everything is done respectfully and we’re all sticking to the truth about the BTS members. I don't like criticizing other shippers because I understand that other fans may love their favorite members and ships just as much as we love Vmin or Namjin, but sometimes it’s inevitable that I have to say something.

So, I invite you to a discussion. I am open to discussion.

We got two interesting questions about “Let’s BTS” and specifically Jin’s reaction to vmin and I want to discuss them.

From anon: Hi, just wanted to see what you made of Jin’s reaction to Tae’s message to Jimin on the Let’s BTS show. I’ve seen some people say he looks so done and even annoyed with it. I can understand him looking apprehensive at first because Tae is a bit of a loose canon, but everyone’s reaction after is to laugh and smile and shout but Jin is very stoic. I’m kinda new and wondering whether he isn’t a fan of Vmin’s brand of declaring their love on national TV. Although when I think of how he behaves with Joon - I’d struggle to wonder why he doesn’t like it. Any thoughts?

From anon: Hi, I cannot believe what I’m reading about Tae on some platforms. What is wrong with people? Anyways I wanted to ask you what you thought of Jin’s reaction to Tae’s message for Jimin? I’ve started seeing people saying that Jin hates the fact they’re close that’s why his reaction was weird. I’m a vmin shipper but Jin is my bias and I can’t get my head around the fact that Jin doesn’t love them both dearly. He did look “apprehensive” perhaps but I’d say with Tae being Tae; that isn’t surprising.

In order to answer these two questions and to form my opinion on the matter, I’ve looked at the situation with regard to Jin and other members several times.

I admit that I’m surprised myself that Taehyung went this far. Actually, it's not even about the content of his words, but about the whole circumstance and the atmosphere that he created around his "confession". I don't know who added the music, whether it was a Taehyung hint or simply something the editors and PD thought of, but the whole situation and phrase gained even more "meaning" and "seriousness" through it.

I seemed as though the background music was supposed to make the moment remind everyone almost of a scene from a K-Drama (or one of vmin’s playful roleplays), but it only added to the effect of this being a serious, sincere and weighty moment instead.

Taehyung joked around by turning the table and pretending the envelope was not intended for Jimin, but this just led to an increase in the tension displayed by the members and the moment itself, and yet still Jimin was immediately convinced that he was the one for whom the envelope would be. Everyone was acting (which makes it sound like they were faking it which isn’t what I mean) like they were curious, but you could clearly see everyone's tension and nervousness, especially when looking at Jimin. Taehyung added that the contents of the card within the envelope were for Jimin's eyes only, emphasizing the seriousness and intimacy of what he was about to say. As a result, Jimin’s reaction led to uncertainty, nervousness, and at the same time an awareness of the sincerity and seriousness of Taehyung's words.

The words "I like you the most" are (on a superficial surface level) nothing big when compared to "I love you", but they still had the biggest reaction. Jimin wrote "I love you" to Suga and absolutely no one reacted nervously, everyone joined in on the declaration, and the situation was relaxed and even funny. Why did Taehyung’s words cause such reactions then? Why?

My thought is this: When the envelope was revealed to be for Jimin, it was met with tension by both members and Jimin. We all know that Taehyung can be a bit of a loose cannon sometimes, even on national television, when it comes to Jimin.

Jungkook immediately commented that "it’s about friendship", Suga laughed nervously and loudly, as if he wanted to end the situation quickly, and Jin had a serious face that didn’t seem all too positive or eager about what would happen next.I'm not going to go into Jimin's reaction here, but rather Jin’s, since that’s what the anons were wondering about.

In my opinion, Jin doesn't like situations that slip into seemingly too private matters. He is definitely the kind of person who gives up the least private information. The situation with Vmin clearly didn't suit him. And not because Jin doesn't like Vmin (because that’s simply not true), but because he knew this program would be broadcast nationally and streamed worldwide, that it would be debated, that every word would be analyzed, and most importantly, because the team that recorded the show wasn’t their own but one that belonged to KBS. Jin doesn't want anyone to have access to BTS's private life, after all he even asked the You Quiz editors to cut what he saw as too sad/depressing about his answers so clearly he thinks about and considers many such things. I think Taehyung didn't care all that much, but Jin did care.

Perhaps I will go too far in my analysis and imagination here, but let's not forget that in the near future Jin is going to have to leave for his military enlistment in the highly conservative Korean army, which holds very homophobic views. Any shadow cast on any of the BTS members (even if some of them are already suspected to be queer) can endanger Jin or make it even more difficult for him to perform his service well and safely. The suspicion that two of the members might be in a relationship with each other would make Jin an accomplice, since they belong to the same group and would lead to him also being suspected of being queer, guilty by associating basically. This is my opinion at least.

Jin is the oldest and feels responsible for BTS, much the way Namjoon does as leader, for everyone including Taehyung, because Jin is aware of the wave of hatred that will be/is poured onto Taehyung across sns after such a public statement. According to Jin, in my humble opinion, this is neither the time nor the place to take such a step in such serious manner. As long as everything was done in form of jokes and witty answers, Jin was joining in and having fun, but when it was Tae's turn his face became serious, as if to warn Taehyung. Jin knew that "Taehyung's atmosphere" could/would fluster Jimin and the entire team, and could become the subject of rumors spread by the staff that isn’t their own.

So no, Jin’s reaction wasn’t because he hates vmin or anything like that, because that’s not true on any level, but because Taehyung’s words about liking Jimin the most were perhaps too sincere for the setting they were in, raising too many brows, and that’s potentially why he reacted the way he did. After all, if you watch the 5th Muster concerts, and especially the one in Seoul, when vmin stand at the very end together, Jin approaches them and throws water at them as though to pull them out of their bubble and back into reality. All in good fun and because he simply cares a lot about them.

Also, an alternative and even more simple answer could be that Jin’s face has no relation to anything I just said and doesn’t tell us anything about what he thought about Taehyung’s words. After all in some interviews he also just sits there quietly and watches/listens to the other members and that doesn’t mean anything at all, or at least nothing negative. But since you asked for my thoughts, here they are, though they don’t have to be right.

I actually have no idea what the reactions are to this show in Korea and among the general public, but I've seen the reactions to Tae’s words across various sns, which one of the anons also mentioned so I’d like to talk about those for a moment as well.

My hair stood on end when I read some of the responses/posts about Taehyung. I never thought that people who call themselves ARMY or fans of BTS would have such opinions about any of the members. A wave of hatred literally flooded Taehyung, like Admin 1 previously mentioned in their answer to an ask.

I just wanted to cry. It shocked me how far shipping can go (literally playing with actual, living people with no regard to their own words and thoughts) that it can cause such extreme emotions in "fans". It's hard to say which is more negative and alarming for some, Taehyung potentially really having (romantic and reciprocated) feelings for Jimin, Taehyung's feelings not being for the “right” person, or the mere fact that Taehyung's feelings are for a person of the same gender.

It’s also interesting to see how deceptive some are. I don’t even mean that “Taehyung and Jimin like each other most” is ignored, which it is, but rather that those mutual feelings were manipulated to twist them into a completely different direction and to another person, or turned into mere jokes or sarcasm. As if all of this simply never happened.

On the other hand, the fact that Jungkook unbuttoned his shirt before going on stage for “My Time”, as opposed to him not doing so during rehearsals, has become very important and an example of J*k*ok being in a relationship, how that’s now even clearer than ever before and is an indisputable fact, according to shippers. Apparently, J*k*ok were flirting with each other throughout the entire segment and show and only had eyes for each other. Somehow Jungkook imitating Jimin is the final piece of evidence to prove everything shippers ever claimed and thus, according to them, everyone must now see that they love each other romantically.

I've carefully watched this show three times, this particular segment and everything else too, and frankly I haven't seen anything that could be called anything even close to flirting when it comes to the two main ML ships. I'm mature and I think I know what flirting is and I can “read” the simplest human behavior, but I really couldn’t see any of it. In my opinion, Jungkook imitating Jimin is clear and open and not a secret. I fully understand Jungkook, I would also follow Jimin in his place :-) Jimin's dancing and looks, as well as his professional work ethic, are truly breathtaking, inspiring and worth imitating. However, this has absolutely nothing to do with romantic affection or a romantic relationship between them, in my opinion.

Hence, I fail to understand these behaviors which in turn lead to a wave of hatred against Taehyung and the, repeated, disregard, belittlement and erasure of Jimin’s and Taehyung’s friendship and relationship bond, and even some going as far as pretending anything vmin was simply not there at all just to make their ship seem more real, booo.

[the-music-maniac]

I got sucked back into Ever After High, so hoo boy get ready for a long ass analysis about a ship

Did I mean to get sucked into Rapple? Uh, no. Fuck no. I usually make it a point not to sell my entire soul to small fandoms because the inevitable lack of fics will just break my heart. But here we are.

I'm low key distressingly neutral about the canon/popular ships for Ever After High. Namely Dexter x Raven and Apple x Darling. I have absolutely nothing against them, cause they’re both really adorable. I don’t know if appling is canon actually but it is strongly hinted at, and while I’m ecstatic that there’s some form of lgbt rep (however small), and that Dexter isn’t sadboi anymore cause he’s with Raven, I’ve always just liked Apple x Raven way more.

I guess I’m posting this cause I want to analyze why I like Rapple specifically? This isn’t meant to attack either of these ships or shippers in any way btw! This is just my personal opinion, I just felt the need to mention dexter x raven and apple x darling cause they are (for the most part) canon. :))

Tbh i really didn't mean to make such a gigantic analysis about this, but I got carried away lmao.

1. Rapple has a lot of narrative tension and weight:

I feel like rapple has more narrative weight as a ship then most I’ve seen in the Ever After High fandom. These two characters are undeniably the focal point of the story, and while all characters in the show have backstories and well developed characterizations, Raven and Apple are the "leaders" and the main main characters.

Raven with Apple could make for a really a complex and interesting storyline. After all,  Ever After High is ALL about breaking free of your pre-determined destiny, it would be the perfect twist in the story for Apple to fall for Raven and vice versa. There's so much more to write with that kind of turn in the story; the growth of a relationship, character development, the backlash they might recieve from a hero and villain together, fighting what everyone else tells them they should be. Honestly if we're gonna go there, it kind of mirrors what lgbt people have to go through on the daily. In my eyes, appling and dexter x raven (I'm sorrryyy I don't know the proper ship name) pales a bit in comparison, just in the amount of weight they carry (not that it HAS to have narrative weight to be a good cute ship of course).

Darling for Apple is also unconventional and a plot twist, cause it no longer follows the stereotypical hetero-normative fairy-tale, and I absolutely ADORE Darling as a character, but in the end she is still a Charming. Apple is still pre-destined to fall for a Charming, she's still following what her destiny tells her she should be, and while that's good on one hand, cause Apple wants to follow her destiny, I feel like when she pulled Raven back from the brink in Wonderland, she realized that destiny is not so set in concrete and what matters more is the people behind those destinies. I think Rapple would really drive in that point; destiny or no destiny that’s not what matters. So while appling does have some narrative tension as well, it doesn’t make me gleefully go “oh my god FUCK, you wonderful DISASTERS, now you’ve gone and done it. Now you've fucking stepped in it. AMAZING.”, y’know? Dexter and Raven is the exact opposite.  Destiny-wise it's pretty unique and frowned upon, but again, heterosexual romance (not that I expect all the characters to be lgbt, that's not what I'm saying) so it also doesn't hold as much weight as Rapple. I'm greedy ok? I want both. I want aspects of both. Maybe I'm just a shit-stirrer though lmao, maybe I just need a ship that fucking destroys all expectations and fucks shit up in the process XDD. It's possible *shrugs*

2. The amount of growth they go through together.

So it's pretty undeniable that Apple at the beginning is....um. Selfish, if we're gonna go with mild language. Kind of a bitch if we're gonna go with stronger language. She doesn't give a shit that Raven will have a horrible life if she follows her destiny, all she cares about is her part of the story and her happy ending. But the thing is, Apple doesn't stay like that. She becomes Raven's roommate and friend, and when it really came down to it, during the Wonderland part of the story, even though Apple is the one who gives Raven the book, she doesn't push and shows her support in thinking that Raven is too good to become the evil queen. And then when Raven was almost lost, Apple is the one who pulled her back and told her to choose who she wants to be. She let go of her need for Raven to be evil and saw her as her own person; someone she cares about deeply. Raven on the other hand starts off unsure and kind of insecure. She was still figuring herself out, and trying to resist what everyone is trying to tell her; that she has to be evil. I feel like through her personal growth and Apple's influence she starts to be more settled, confident. And Apple's support before and after she signed her storybook in wonderland definitely helped. This mutual growth actually brings me to my next point:

3. Rapple has a very strong basis for a relationship

So there's a definite reason why I love the concept of enemies to friends to lovers SO MUCH, and despite what people say, no it's not just because of UST (i mean that's a bonus but far from the only reason). What I care about is again, the mutual GROWTH.

What enemies to lovers does (healthy enemies to lovers btw, rivalries and stuff, not abusive shit) is force the two people to confront the worst parts of each other first and foremost. Meeting someone for the purpose of dating/because you like them means you'll put up a fake, mellower version of yourself to impress them, but there's none of that if you start off hating each other. Clashing is also often because of some underlying issue or sometimes because of a weakness in character; there's numerous reasons, pettiness, unhappiness, jealousy, anger, but it's never because everything is perfect. This means that, in order for these two characters who dislike each other to end up together in any capacity, they have to grow as people first, become better versions of themselves, and in the process they help each other achieve that. They also have to learn each other and let go of whatever was nagging them and compromise. It takes work and I love that, so much more than just a kiss to fall in love, or love at first sight or any of that fairytale stuff. Because that’s exactly it, relationships take work. It takes people repeatedly choosing to stay and work things out, and compromising, and that’s, in pure essence, exactly what you’re doing in enemies to lovers. Not only that, but it means they willingly choose the other person despite their setbacks, because god knows they're not the easiest option, means they see the worst in each other and want each other anyways.

Raven and Apple already have that set up in Ever After High, the only difference is, canonically, they're only friends (which honestly is just as good, not everything needs to be romance but this is a shipping analysis, so, I’m gonna stay on brand here). They disagree with each other, and they annoy each other, and they fight sometimes and they're still best friends despite it all. They really truly know each other, and that I feel like is such a strong basis for a relationship. Other than Maddie, I don't think Raven truly is as close to anyone else as she is to Apple, and the same goes in reverse. They even live together. *leans forward creepily* oh my god they were roommates.

I don't know, I just feel like, with other Raven and Apple ships, there's always a hint of potential for a relationship that the show and books never really explored or developed extensively, while Rapple already has these solid af steel foundations that could be built on and made into something amazing.

4. We know the most about Apple and Raven respectively

This is a rather minor detail, and more about me personally, but I'm the kind of person that has to really know a lot about characters in order to ship them. I also have to like both characters but I feel like that's kind of a given for shipping. If I know very little about the characters involved I lose interest. I know the most about Raven and Apple, we follow them closely throughout the series, and in the books, we see things from their viewpoints. In contrast, I just don't know as much about Darling or about Dexter.

5. I just find them cute as shit tbh

This is pretty self explanatory, they're just plain adorable. Something about them makes my heart go squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Oof this turned out WAYYY longer than I intended it to be, but anyways, stan rapple- or don’t y’know, stan appling or dexter x raven, or whatever other ships, stan ALL the other ships, ship anything and everything you want, be happy. I’ve been writing this ever since I finished my physio midterm and got this analysis idea that wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone so now my eyeballs feel like they’re about to fall out of my head, I’m gonna go pass out now, peace.

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

caryl first date headcanon

i wrote a stream of consciousness caryl headcanon i was thinking about when i couldn’t sleep last night. no i did not proofread it. yes it is rambling nonsense. yes you can read it if you want: 

so i genuinely don’t know what the timeline for canon is gonna be now that we got bottle episodes, s11, and the spin-off, but just for a moment let us pretend that it happens during the bottle episodes and then we have all of s11 to watch caryl trying to figure out how to navigate a relationship with each other

cuz like, they gon fuck right away, bc things are gonna get heated, and tensions are gonna be high, and they’re gonna snap like a trip wire and fucking ravish each other, that’s without question

so the first little while of their relationship will be mostly getting intimately familiar with each other’s bodies down to every last freckle

but once they’ve simmered down some they’re gonna need to address the “oh shit, wait, how does a relationship work?” problem

cue: caryl’s first date

it’ll take place in commonwealth, and i’ve never read the comics and i know jack all about it outside of what i’ve skimmed, but we’re gonna ignore that for the sake of my fun post

i know enough about it to know that there are definitely places to have a date

daryl knows this too, tho he doesn’t rly think about it right away. at first he’s more confused and sort of standoffish about the whole place, bc he was always a forest-dweller even before the apocalypse, so seeing this new metropolis-like place after years of living like a gd pioneer is gonna throw him way off kilter

right up until he’s chillin’ with judith and she’s talking about how she’s excited to see her first concert, and they have restaurants, and things she’s only ever read about, and then out of nowhere she’ll pull out, “are you gonna take aunt carol on a date?” 

and daryl will stare at her

and she’ll be like “rosita was telling me about how father gabriel took her on a real date and how nice it was. you should do that for aunt carol” 

and daryl will stare at her

and then will hastily change the subject (she’ll see right through him, ofc, but she’ll let it slide)

but the thought will stick with him, and suddenly he’s looking at the schedule of upcoming concerts and plays and wondering if carol would care about any of it. does she like shakespeare? the most experience he would have had with shakespeare was ripping out a couple pages of his school copy of romeo and juliet to use to light some firewood

but maybe she’s into it???

eventually he’ll reach the inevitable conclusion that the only way this is going to work is if he actually asks her to go on a date with him, which should be easy, right? like, he was ball’s deep inside her last night and told her good morning by putting his face between his legs, so surely asking someone on a date is simple

it will not be simple

bc yeah, they fuck all the time, and obviously they’re head-over-heels in love with each other, they’re each other’s soulmates, yada yada, but also daryl’s extremely emotionally repressed and has the romance skills of a fifteen year old having his mom drive him and his date to his first homecoming dance, only worse bc he never even went to any school dances

but after Dwelling On It for ages he’ll finally get fed up with himself and will vow to stop being a pussy. he’ll ask her before the day’s over or he’ll shoot a bolt into his own foot, ok, no more excuses

so the whole day he’s jittery af

you’d think he’s trying to pop the question, but all he wants to do is go eat dinner with carol and then watch some people recite lines from a play written hundreds of years ago, like, what is his Deal(tm)??? 

(his deal is, ofc, that he waited so long to have her, and now every new thing feels tenuous, bc he’d rather die than lose her, and sure she knows him better than anyone, but never in this context, and plus her last dude basically bled passion and romance no matter how obnoxious, and what if she realizes just how fucking clueless he is and decides she doesn’t really want to be with a middle-aged man who still gets tongue-tied around a pretty girl?)

(but also she deserves a gd date, alright? she deserves it, and so he’s going to give it to her, even if going face-to-face with a walker horde is less intimidating)

carol notices something’s off with him right away, but she waits until after dinner, when the kids have gone to their rooms and the two of them are alone washing dishes to ask, “hey, so what the fuck?” 

and daryl will be like, k, it’s now or never

and he will 100% make a fool of himself by stumbling alllll over his words, like, “nothin’s wrong, i’m fine, everythin’s real fine, i was just wonderin’ if mb you’d wanna, y’know, i dunno, they got all these shows and shit that we ain’t had in forever and i didn’t know if mb you’d wanna go see one? and mb get some food? with me, i mean. like, together. like i’d take you there and we could do those things, like a, you know, a date. but it’s cool if not, no worries, i get it if it’s not your thing, but i just thought i’d ask, but no, you’re right, it’s stupid, forget i said anythin’, hey look at the time, well i’m beat, gonna go to sleep now, goodbye”

and carol will go, “hold up”

and she’ll take daryl by the wrist before he can flee the room (bc he definitely intends to), and pulls him close and kisses him all sweet, and she’s gotta stand on her tiptoes to do it bc she’s in a pair of knit socks and he’s got his boots on so there’s more of a height difference than usual, and after she’s successfully managed to keep daryl from falling straight into a panic spiral, she’ll whisper, “i’d love to, let’s go this weekend”

and then she’ll just turn back to doing dishes without another word on the matter 

(bc, as previously stated, she knows daryl better than anyone, and she knows exactly what all his insecurities are and how much it must have taken him to ask her that, and so she’s not gonna harp on it or tease him)

(daryl recognizes this and loves her desperately for it)

the actual date is way easier than daryl expected

bc he spent all this time hyping it up, but when it comes right down to it, he just gets to spend a night with carol where they don’t have the kids to worry about, or any council business, and they just get to enjoy each other’s company

she even dressed up a little for him, which was unnecessary, but he most certainly appreciates it and can’t wait to tear the outfit off of her later

(it does make him regret the fact that he’s only had one pair of pants for the past ten years, but she doesn’t seem to mind)

they end up seeing a shakespeare play

daryl understands like 2% at best, but carol holds his hand and rests her head on his shoulder the whole time, and apparently it’s a comedy bc she laughs a lot, and that alone makes it worth it

they fuck like crazy when they get home, obviously

but it’s different than it had been previously, bc now their “togetherness” seems more solidified

like, they’re officially a “couple” now

like the type of couple that gets a babysitter for the night so they can go to the apocalyptic version of dinner and a movie together and then have sex and then fall asleep right afterwards bc they’re domestic af

and like, deep down both of them knows that this isn’t the life that they’re meant to live in forever, a la commonwealth/domestic bliss, and he wasn’t kidding when he told her new mexico was still out there, and he can feel a shift coming sooner rather than later

but he also knows they’ll be together when it happens, and they’ll figure out their own version of “date night” when they’re out exploring

but for now he’s content to do it the old fashioned way, though

when she falls asleep on his chest that night he rubs her back and kisses the top of her head, and he’s already planning their next night out

he might pick a show with modern english, though

but it’s not required

just so long as they’re together

the end 

[charged-wanderlust]

a beautiful hurricane, pt. 2 | jett slater x mc x remy chevalier

OK THIS IS NOT TURNING OUT HOW I ORIGINALLY PLANNED BUT I LIKE IT TOO MUCH TO CHANGE IT SO BARE WITH ME.... these fics literally write themselves i have no say in it i just start writing and black out and boom its done. anyway here's the next part of the piece commissioned by @mcira it's very jett-centric but remy will have his turn in the last part ok. it'll go out with a bang. literally. ALSO SIDE NOTE ik the s1 heists were like. quick. in the canon. but i took some creative liberties and said its taking months bc its more realistic for them to fall in love this Deep in that time ok? ok good lesgo

“You can’t do that.”

“You can’t tell me what to do!”

Heat flares up beneath your skin, which wasn’t uncommon around these particular handsome scoundrels, but this time it was more akin to an angry boil than a pleasant simmer. How dare they? You may be new to the Poppy, but you’re competent on your own and definitely capable for the task at hand.

“You don’t get it, MC,” Remy sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose - you try not to deflate at the lack of his usual pretty nicknames. When has hearing my own name from his lips make me distraught rather than elated? “You can’t let your guard down just because you’re getting closer to him. He’s a conman too, and a good one- besides, would you really leave Jett to handle the break-in alone?”

“Yes I would, actually!” You flash back, hands clenched into fists. “Because unlike you, I realise that Jett is fully capable of doing things on his own, and I don’t tell him what he can and can’t do! You said it yourself - I’ve exceeded your expectations repeatedly since arriving here. So why can’t you trust my judgement and let me do what I set out here to do in the first place?!”

Remy rolls his eyes so hard he probably got a glimpse of his brain, while Jett bangs his fists on the table. “It’s not even a matter about helping me get the painting or not, MC- it’s the fact that you’ll be alone with a notorious conman on a yacht, isolated from any witnesses, who need I mention - is definitely into you and likely will try something?!”

“Oh I’m sorry, I thought you said you weren’t the jealous type!” You hold your ground, arms crossed with frustration. “We already know the Lumiere film is on that yacht. How do you suppose we get it, if I’m not even allowed on the damn boat?!”

“Through a plan,” Remy says decisively, giving you a look that has no room for argument. “We can get him to invite both of us on board, I’m sure. Plant a camera on him to figure out where it is and any security codes… there’s ways, MC. Ways that don’t involve throwing yourself head-first into danger. You know it’s a bad idea when even Jett Slater is saying it’s a bad idea! He literally only ever comes up with bad ideas!”

“Yeah, throwing myself into danger is my job!”

“Says who?! This is just a straight up double-standard; it’s okay if Jett does it, but not me? Cause what, he’s experienced? How am I meant to get experience if you don’t let me?”

“Cause I’d rather get hurt than see you hurt, MC!”

…

…

…

“...what?”

“Fuck!” Jett flings his hands up in defeat, then stalks off to his room and slams the door shut, reverberating throughout the penthouse. Remy seems at a loss for words, too, his guard up and expression unreadable.

“You haven’t seen how dangerous this line of work gets, ma cherie,” Remy sighs, plopping himself down on the couch and running a hand through his hair to calm himself down a little. “We don’t want you to find out. You didn’t sign up for that.”

“Didn’t I, though?” You settle yourself next to him, tentatively placing a hand on his shoulder, hoping it’ll ground him just a little. “I knew you were criminals, I knew we were doing dirty work. If I hadn’t expected things to get dangerous, I’d have been even more naive than you thought I was. I’ve spent months preparing, Remy - I’ll get the location of the film and I won’t let him lay a hand on me.”

He shivers. “The thought of that… that bastard anywhere near you is enough to make me want to punch a wall,” he growls, “He doesn’t deserve you. He doesn’t even deserve to think he does-”

“Remy.” You squeeze his shoulder gently, snapping him back into reality. “I personally think it’s more satisfying to feed into his delusion of deserving me, then pry that out of his hands and leave him aching. Besides - this is for the heist, right? I think getting that film is more important than anything relating to Parker. I mean, the first ever kiss recorded on film-”

He cuts you off with a laugh that kisses your ears like a finely tuned guitar, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you to his side abruptly.

He’s trying to hide his face…?

“You go from beautifully cruel to brilliantly passionate so quickly, cherie. That’s what I like about you.”

Oh. Oh. Okay. My heart better calm the heck down before he hears it-

Before you could even formulate a coherent thought, let alone a reply, he pulls away, getting up and making for the door. “You’re right. You’re not something - not someone I can control. You’re… something else.”

Shrugging on his coat, he’s halfway out the door before he adds, “Talk it out with Jett. He’ll come around now that he’s had a moment to cool down.”

It’s jarring - he was so angry just moments before, but once the heat faded, it became clear; he cares. He cares far, far more than he lets on - than he wants to, even - and Jett does too. Nodding to Remy, you go for Jett’s room, noiselessly slipping in under the cover of his loud punk music.

Jett’s language is physical touch, that much you know. So instead of calling out to him, you approach him carefully from behind while he’s fixated on an explosive painting full of hot, blazing colours, and lay a hand on his shoulder.

Much like Remy, he instantly softens, turning to look at you with wide eyes that if you squint, were flecked with remorse. You withhold a smile - had you just cracked the code to these men? Just touch them gently and they’re all good again.

“MC, I-”

“Jett.”

He stills, letting you talk. He’s done yelling at you, done fighting; so he listens. And just like before, he’s a surprisingly good listener.

“Look. I know you’re worried for me, and… honestly I’m touched. You’ve been encouraging me to break out of my shell this whole time, and I’m really starting to embrace it. This life, too. I know I can do this because I know myself now, and… all I ask is for your to trust me. Trust that I won’t let Parker even so much as breathe in my direction without me wanting him to, trust that I can secure the location of the film at least-”

“Are you kidding? I’ve always trusted you.”

His reply catches you off guard, his face genuine, body language open. You’re silent for a moment in your surprise, so he takes that as a sign to continue.

“We wouldn’t have picked you for this if we didn’t trust you, MC. You’ve proven yourself over and over again. Just because you can do this doesn’t mean we want you to.” He sighs, collecting himself. “Maybe Remy and I were being a bit of a wet blanket. But you see where we’re coming from, right? This is your first con, and this is practically throwing you into the deep end.”

“Being thrown into the deep end is the quickest way to learn,” you explain calmly, dipping a finger in his paints and dabbing his nose with it. He snorts, but a smile is creeping across his lips and it makes something dance in your chest.

“What if something goes wrong?”

“What do you usually do when something goes wrong?”

He grins, going back to his painting and making a few quick strokes of gold across the horizon line. “I blow shit up, usually.”

“Then give me some of your bombs.”

Jett’s eyes nearly pop out of his damn hand, twisting in his stool to gape at your incredulously. “Are you serious? On a yacht? You’d sink the ship- unless it was a controlled explosion, just enough to cave in a door… or a flashbang, to stun him… or a smoke bomb…”

You can almost see all the ideas popping up in his head, his knee bouncing up and down with slowly increasing excitement. It’s contagious - you find yourself grinning right back at him, mischievous.

“I’ve always wanted to blow something up.”

“It’s settled, then!” He sets down his paintbrush and stalks over to his workbench, grabbing some things and getting to work. “You’re really full of surprises, aren’t you, love? I can’t say I don’t love it, though.”

There it is again, you think, gnawing at your lower lip. All these heartfelt compliments said so casually. How the hell am I meant to know where I stand?!

It’s almost as if the universe answers - or maybe your subconscious knew all along.

Ask.

...Deep breaths, MC.

“You sure throw around the word love a lot, Jett,” you point out, trying your best to sound casual about it. His back is facing you, and you immediately notice his body freeze over at the sudden cold shower of your words.

After a moment, it passes, and he gets back to work. “Yeah. And?”

“And?” You scoff, not believing he’d be oblivious enough as to not get the hint. “I knew you were bad at communicating, but wow-”

He shrugs it off, still not turning around to look at you. “What do you want me to say, MC? You’re Remy’s wife.”

“Fake wife.”

“Might as well be his real one at this point,” he scoffs. “Do you see the way he looks at you? Like you put all the stars in the sky?”

“We’ve literally been practicing the way we look at each other for the con, Jett-”

“I was his husband for a con, once, and I’m telling you he never looked at me the same way he looks at you.”

His voice lowers, and you’re slowly starting to piece everything together. How even his stubborn ass would agree with everything Remy said, how he’d teased you and Remy for being a good couple even more than the rest of the Poppy combined, his joking comments about joining in-

“You’re in love with Remy, aren’t you?”

His silence answers you louder than any words could, and he knows it, too. He chokes out a distraught laugh, finally casting a look over his shoulder to meet your gaze. His is glossy, and you gasp, just as a tear rolls down his sun-kissed cheeks.

“Shit. How could you tell?”

Your instinct is to go over to hug him, and he doesn’t protest, instead going back to tinker with his smoke grenade.

“I mean it when I said I’m not the jealous type, really. It makes me so happy to see you two together. So happy - even if you aren’t really together, I haven’t seen Remy smile like that in a long time. You deserve each other - and I’m glad I can see the two people I care about most-”

“-both of us?”

His voice cracks mid sentence, and he twists around in your embrace to place a gentle kiss to your forehead. “You were a more recent development. But this doesn’t have to make things weird between us - I’ll just need some space.”

You shake your head slowly, cupping his face. “Why are you so convinced that we don’t like you back? You haven’t seen the way he looks at you when your back is turned.”

Just like that, his entire world got flipped on an axis, with you at the center. Struggling to rationalize this new perspective, new information, he starts to ramble. “B-Because you haven’t- I mean he hasn’t- I wasn’t meant to share this, but he’s been in love with you since you first met. Before you even knew you met. He disguised himself so he could talk to you at a coffee shop while you were painting and-”

“Jett,” you laugh, looping your arms around his neck. “Stop talking.”

He puts a finger to your lips before they meet his, the single digit the only thing keeping you apart.

“We should talk to Remy first,” he breathes out. “And- and promise me. If you’re wrong, and he doesn’t feel like that about me - don’t let me get in the way of you two. Please.”

You nod, kissing his cheek instead. This time, he doesn’t flinch, and he doesn’t pull you in for more.

“Let’s go talk to our favourite Frenchman, then.”

He smiles, wild, wide and breathtaking.

“Let’s.”

[chuchiotaku]

Ok, first of all

HOW DARE YOU MAKING ME THINK I HAD TO WAIT UNTIL JANUARY FOR THE NEW CHAPTER!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE HEART ATTACK I HAD THIS MORNING WHEN I SAW THE UPDATE!?!?

Ok, now that, ehm... I'm calmed down, let me gush on your art piece once again.

I loved everything. I said last time that I wanted some shocking dose of angst, but I didn't knew how heart clenching would have been seeing Ron saying goodbye to... his friends, again, and for the last time. How many things not said, how many plans that will never see the light, how many... apologies, never to be make...

I'm happy that the mirror made him see (and hear) what his loved one truly thought of him, but I'm still bitter for the fact that he had to DIE before he actually got some vocal recognition.

But moving on from depressing topics, I loved seeing the sibling so tight with each other and Harry! I felt almost as if you anticipated Harry's second year summer, and now they get to see Sirius too? Original Harry would be terribly proud of his Ron and terribly jealous of that little Harry...

I really liked Pettigrew's breakdown at the end of the process. And I loved (and hated too, of course) his threats: making 'regret to be born' the same guy that fought and gained the upper hand on Bellatrix? Twice!? Ok buddy, whatever makes you feel better... But if in order to hurt Ron you target one of his brothers or Ginny... well, it has never been a pleasure meet you.

And it's also good seeing Pandora alive! Another Truespartan's Fateverse character added in the rooster, I can't wait to see her in action!

And at least this time Albus is actually ackwnoledging Ron, wonder if he's already planning a role for him in his chessplay againts Tom. I hope he will grow to love him as he'll love Harry.

And I know tastes are subjective but... I think the anon was just short sighted, Ron is totally the person that for his loved ones is ready to move mountains and seas (Buckbeak's trial proved it. How he started searching for past trials in his free time is proof how much is ready to invest himself if it means to help his friend) and I don't expect that everything is going to be all fine and dandy the whole time. Peter's threats scream 'FORESHADOWING' for an ipotetical plot in the third year (way less traumatazing regarding what happened with him in Fate... brrr). Ron is just... trying to sow the best he can, and only at the reaping time we'll see what he did right or wrong.

Keep it going! You are an increadible writer! See you next time, and happy new year!

(And give me some Daphne showtime damn it!!)

First off, anon, happy New Year! 🎉🎉🎉

Ahaha, sorry about the mini-heart attack.  I was aiming to post chapters 14 and 15 relatively close together because they’re initially planned to be one chapter but I hit some snags so yeah, chapter 15 got delayed.  But at least it’s up now, right?  :)

[Warning: Long response ahead. ]

I said last time that I wanted some shocking dose of angst, but I didn't knew how heart clenching would have been seeing Ron saying goodbye to... his friends, again, and for the last time. 

That part at the mirror was very relatable, I think.  There are things we will always want, but deep down, we know they can never be.  In order for Ron to move forward, he had to acknowledge that and let go, something he learned he had to do after that Owlery scene with Harry.  

Not that he entirely has, mind you.  But it’s a good step forward.

I'm happy that the mirror made him see (and hear) what his loved one truly thought of him

It’s a comforting interpretation, but I feel the need to remind my readers that the Mirror of Erised shows only the deepest desires of its viewer. The scene where the new life versions of Ron’s loved ones take over the older ones, telling Ron that they accept and love him, is Ron’s true deepest desire now that he time travelled. Not that it is what’s real.  That’s why Ron broke down, because he knows deep down it’s just a fantasy.  Weell, we know that’s not entirely true, but to him it is.  

(The Deluminator souvenir from Death and its visions, on the other hand...)

but I'm still bitter for the fact that he had to DIE before he actually got some vocal recognition.

You know what they say: you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.  :shrugs: Honestly, Ron is such a taken-for-granted character both in the books and in the fandom, it’s so frustrating...

Anyway, getting off the angst train!

I loved seeing the sibling so tight with each other and Harry! I felt almost as if you anticipated Harry's second year summer, and now they get to see Sirius too? 

I wanted to show the tight knit Weasley dynamic JK claims they have but never really showed because we are limited to Harry’s narrative (which is understandable).  And as what I have planned for second year summer: safe to say, it will start off like what happened in the books before it veers off canon course.  Because Sirius and Remus are there, and Ron knows it. :)

Original Harry would be terribly proud of his Ron and terribly jealous of that little Harry... 

But of course!  I’d like to think that Ron is one of the, if not THE, characters in his age group that Harry holds such high regard for.  

And who’s to say jealous Harry won’t make an appearance? When Ron’s making more friends outside the Gryffindor house, and a certain someone may get close enough to threaten the best friend position?  😉😉😉

I really liked Pettigrew's breakdown at the end of the process. And I loved (and hated too, of course) his threats: making 'regret to be born' the same guy that fought and gained the upper hand on Bellatrix? Twice!? Ok buddy, whatever makes you feel better... 

Pettigrew doesn’t know who he’s messing with, but Ron too is underestimating the rat a little too much.  Good thing that won’t cause him any problems in the future. 😒

But if in order to hurt Ron you target one of his brothers or Ginny... well, it has never been a pleasure meet you. 

Now that would make Pettigrew wish he was never born.  Haha!

And it's also good seeing Pandora alive! Another Truespartan's Fateverse character added in the rooster, I can't wait to see her in action!

Pandora is Luna’s mother’s canon name, but yes I did get the inspiration from Fate, as well as The Red Knight.  But she won’t be around until Book 2.  Don’t worry, it will come.  I hope.  :sweatdrop:

And at least this time Albus is actually ackwnoledging Ron, wonder if he's already planning a role for him in his chessplay againts Tom. 

Of course Albus will notice a smart and wise beyond his years eleven year old who became best friends with Harry Potter, managed to take on a troll then get involved in the reveal and arrest of a mass murderer who may have something more in common with him than he originally thought (coughmirroroferisedcough).  How Ron will benefit from this attention (if he ever will) or how he’ll deal with this new complication will be part of the story’s fun.  And we’re just getting started.

I hope he will grow to love him as he'll love Harry.

I think many can already tell where I’m planning to go with Albus and Ron’s relationship.  The specifics, however, are the ones I can leave you guys guessing.  It will be good!  Hopefully! 🤞

And I know tastes are subjective but... I think the anon was just short sighted, Ron is totally the person that for his loved ones is ready to move mountains and seas (Buckbeak's trial proved it. How he started searching for past trials in his free time is proof how much is ready to invest himself if it means to help his friend)

I saw it as Guest being too fixated at what happened in the books that they didn’t take into account that the second I changed something in the fic, the butterfly effect is bound to occur.  In fact, Ron’s very presence in a world that isn’t what he left behind is already creating many ripples.  I honestly also saw it as them underestimating Ron a bit.  He’s a typical boy during most of the books: lazy with his studies because he is unmotivated.  Give him purpose and you’ll get to see him really shine, exactly like what you said about the Buckbeak thing.

It’s canon that Ron is smarter than he appears.  I mean, can a normal eleven year old remember the exact names of the laws on dragons, even if their brother is a dragon tamer?  

(It’s also another good basis on how much Ron admires Charlie that he can remember that much! Sorry, Solstice Muse turned me into a Charlie/Ron bro fluff fangirl after Ickle Ronniekins)

I don't expect that everything is going to be all fine and dandy the whole time. Peter's threats scream 'FORESHADOWING' for an ipotetical plot in the third year (way less traumatazing regarding what happened with him in Fate... brrr). 

Fate is a very heavy read, combining some of my favorite Ron-centric tropes while taking their fic to a newer, darker spin.  Truespartan has done a wonderful with it so far (I haven’t finished it yet,).  But as most of you can already tell, my story will be fart different from theirs.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be some dark moments in TBA.  And I’m so thrilled that you got the idea behind Pettigrew’s threats.  They ARE foreshadowing what is to come starting Year 3.  But what exactly?  Care to take a guess?  

Ron is just... trying to sow the best he can, and only at the reaping time we'll see what he did right or wrong.

Very true.  Although to me, it’s not a matter of whether it’s just “right or wrong”, and more of “can Ron deal with the consequences of the changes he made, and whether those consequences are worth the changes?”

Example: from a strictly moral standpoint, revealing Pettigrew and clearing Sirius’ name is the best good and what Ron should do from that thematic perspective.  However, these actions will cause some events to change from what he knew, and even cause entirely new ones (i.e. the plot of Year 3).  Is it worth the possibility of rendering Ron’s future knowledge almost useless?  Who knows? 

Keep it going! You are an increadible writer! See you next time, and happy new year!

Thank you so much for your kind words!  You guys are the reason TBA is still running even after all these years and me taking long breaks.  I hope to finish TBA Year 1 within 2021 so please be patient with me.  I’ll do my best!

(And give me some Daphne showtime damn it!!)

Oh, trust me, I have big plans for Daphne and Astoria.  Might get flak for it in the future, but for this, I’ll have to stick with my guns.  Oh dear...

💖 Happy New Year to you too, anon! And thanks for the ask. 💖

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 512

Looking for a way to spend Mother’s Day? Well, we here at Outlander have the perfect idea! Celebrate with the women you love by watching us gang rape grannie!

This episode is like the perfect storm of everything that is wrong with Outlander. The cast and crew saying it’s their strongest episode yet when it’s basically artsy gang rape. The CYA trigger warnings when the story would have worked perfectly well without including yet another rape. The kool aid-drinking fans yelling at and acting holier than thou at the fans who rightfully call out the massive problem this show has with rape and assault. The fans yelling at other fans because It’S iN tHe BoOk so it has to be included. The fans yelling at other fans for wanting to follow the books but not wanting rape every 0.5 seconds. The fans yelling at other fans to fuck off if they don’t like the show. The women in the cast throwing out trigger warnings while the men are radio silent or wanting the gladiators to face the plague and fight for their own amusement. It literally has everything.

And I am tired.

I’ve been in this fandom for six years and have had quite a journey. From first discovering the show and immediately devouring the books. The honeymoon period where I could headcanon out all the problematic bits. The getting deep into the fandom nonsense. The getting out of the fandom nonsense. The judging the fandom nonsense because it’s funny and they’re all idiots. The getting sick of the fandom nonsense because it’s not even fun to judge the dummies anymore. The becoming more and more aware that it’s impossible to whistle past the problems in the books and the show. The sticking around, holding out hope things might turn around and the initial magic could be recaptured. And finally, the giving up.

The books are trash. The show is trash. There are a handful of good scenes in each which can be enjoyed on their own, but as a whole, holy shit this stuff is not good. (Seriously, I tried to do a Fiery Cross reread before the season started. I started like a year ago and am still only at Jocasta’s wedding because I just don’t care enough to actually get through it.)

Which brings us here. I am tired. I have already ranted and raged and yelled and swore and wrote far too many words about the gratuitous overuse of rape in the Outlanderverse. It fucking has its own tag for fuck’s sake.

So here’s a recap. And then I think I’m done looking at this show in detail. Not because the idiot fans insist on coming to my notes to tell me to fuck off if I don’t like the show. Not because the crew are condescending douchecanoes. Not because the author is a misogynist garbage heap. But because spending an hour of my time for a few weeks out of the year to write these things isn’t worth it. I did it for as long as I did because it took so little time. So why not? But yeah, it’s not even worth that tiny commitment anymore.

And to the people who I know will @ me about how no one was forcing me to stick around and I could have quit any time, yeah, no shit captain obvious, I know that. Fuck off already. I stuck around because I really liked the little corner of the fandom that I’d found. I made some awesome friends. Most of those friends have since quit the fandom. I’m really glad to have them in my life outside of this little corner of the internet. And it was a fun writing exercise. I don’t really like the show anymore, but I enjoyed building an argument about why I don’t like it and think it’s bad that has valid points behind it. Especially considering how blindly overly adoring a bunch of the fandom is about it. But now I think I’d rather consume Outlander content as pretty people in pretty period costumes in gifsets. Or like, on in the background but not really paying close attention. Why not quit altogether? Because to quote the great Ron Swanson (I’m halfway through a Parks rewatch and I just love that show a lot ok.), I can do what I want. And besides, there’s like a fucking library’s worth of fics that I haven’t read and have been meaning to. And I like the characters enough to want to keep reading about them in stories that are better than the canon. (Bless you fic writers, blesssss.)

So. Was this whole ramble self-indulgent and overly serious for a fucking TV show? Absofuckinglutely. But please see the aforementioned Swansonism.

Alright, fuckos. Let’s do this.

This is a Roberts brainchild, isn’t it. *checks credits* Yup. Knew it. This feels very much like a Roberts special. In that he is probs quite pleased with himself but like, it’s crap.

Yes, we ARE doing ANOTHER rape story! But look! It’s a disassociation montage! It’s the ‘60s, get it?! There are callbacks! An orange from the king in season 2! A vase from season 1! A rabbit from season 3! An amber-looking dragonfly! Jamie with the young hair spouting off book lines! ApPrEcIaTe MuH aRt! We are so good at finding new and creative ways to rape our characters! Fuck off, twatwaffle. You are the worst.

Like, does Roger feel left out at this point? He’s only been hanged. Literally everyone else has either been raped, been sexually assaulted, or been threatened with rape and/or sexual assault.

“But it’s not gratuitous! Look! They’re all so different! Jamie’s was overly graphic and he got a half a season to brood about! We manged to not show much of Fergus’ (but still showed a thrust) because he’s a child and it was just a plot device for Jamie and not actually about him! Mary’s was about Fred! Claire’s with the king was about Jamie! Jamie’s with Geneva was shot like p0rn! Marsali being threatened by the sailors was to motivate Fergus! Bree’s was about the other people in the room and Roger! Claire’s really has no purpose because she’s already been kidnapped and beaten, and that is super traumatic, and we’re gonna wrap it up with a bow by the end of the episode!”

This fucking show, guys. This fucking show.

Bonus points* for the Black character spouting off the superstitious stuff.

*By bonus points I mean this show, and the books are absolute shit on matters of race. The books especially.

The cast and crew have 100% heard everyone’s thoughts on the overuse of rape in the Outlanderverse. And their response has been to include more and more of it. We had a whole season of one character’s arc being about her rape and literally as soon as that was resolved, they gang rape another character. It really does tell you as much as you need to know about them. Lazy. Fucking. Cowards.

Kidnapping not enough trauma? Let’s add some gang rape! Gang rape not enough trauma? Let’s add visualizing that your daughter and grandchild are dead! Just like Fred died! This show really brings trauma p0rn to a whole new level.

Called the Bree and Roger shit.

This scene with the men rallying to go save Claire is like another layer of fuck you. Bree, you stay home, men, give your hero lines and let’s have a getting ready montage. Because your hero moment is what this is really all about. And your manpain about killing someone. *screams into a pillow*

The petty side of me is happy that it was Fergus and Young Ian who are with Claire when they find her and not Roger. Her two sons...

Why yes, I am judging all of the fans who like get their panties all wet over Jamie being like “It is I who kills for her.” Like “yeah go ahead and rape and beat Claire within an inch of her life if it means the big strong man gets to come in and save her and say something intense.” Fuck off and go take a hard look at yourself and what that says about you.

“Was there an Indian there?” “Nope, he wouldn’t help you because LiOnEl but somehow was able to peace out when it was in his interest. Because he is as bad as the ones who actually raped you.”

The Bree and Claire hug makes me both sad and angry. I want to hug them both and take them out of this fucking place and tell them that they’ve been done dirty and deserved fucking better from the writers.

Glad Marsali gets in on the hug. Claire’s two remaining daughters.

Claire’s “I have fucking survived” speech is like the one time she she actually talks about herself not in relation to a man. It’s about her. Claire. HOWEVER! It is epically fucked up that a woman needs to check off all the trauma she’s endured to show she’s a strong character.

So. Fucked. Up.

The fact that we’re spending time on Roger’s manpain about killing someone also really tells us a lot about the show’s feelings toward women. Yeah, killing someone is a big deal. It’s normal and expected to have feelings about it. But the juxtaposition of Claire’s speech about all of her traumas with Roger being like yeah, I killed a guy who had kidnapped, beaten and raped your mom is like, read the room, bro/writers.

The fact that the men put Claire’s rapist in her surgery, her space, her place of healing, where she is able to be most herself, makes me want to punch each and every one of them in the throat. Like seriously. Fuck each and every one of them.

Also Lionel is like cartoonishly terrible. Not that nuance has ever been this show’s strong suit. But like come the fuck on.

Marsali killing Lionel is the one thing about this episode that I didn’t hate. The men are all like “We kill for Claire! Let’s all rally in this montage and go do the manly thing of defending the woman!” Marsali is just like, yeah, that’s my Ma you fucked with. She shows some agency. She doesn’t do it in a performative way for the other men or for Claire like the guys do. She just knows this fuck needs to die, knows it’s gonna be hard for her and might damn her soul (don’t worry Marsali, all that religion crap is bullshit), and does it anyway.

Marsali’s arc has been my favorite of this whole fucking series. The one bright spot I was hanging on to all of this season especially.

Her quick scene with Jamie doesn’t bother me like Roger’s does. Because Roger is like oh no, I killed a guy! Can you forgive me? For killing a rapist? Like fuck off, bro. And Marsali is like yeah, I killed a guy. I hope I’m not damned for it, but the guy needed to die so I did it.

Also like, Richard had potential to not be cartoonishly bad. But like nope. “He reaped what he sowed, but cLeArLy I’m gonna need to escalate this further. Because manly men can’t let shit go.”

Fuck all men, tbh.

*googles how to emigrate to Themyscira*

Jamie’s speech that’s like supposed to parallel Claire’s can fuck all the way off. Giving him the last voice over just underscores how this was all about men. Not Claire. But the men. Fuuuuck everything.

Look! Everything’s fine again! Back to normal! Peaceful for a bit! With a cheesy af on the nose storm coming! So you know something bad’s coming! In case you forgot!

And Jamie got a book line. So it’s all good now.

And don’t worry about Claire, y’all. She feels safe now. Her and Jamie fucked it out.

It’s amazing, in retrospect, that I ever let this story suck me in so much.

Happy Mother’s Day! See you on the other side of the hiatus.

[shikadainara]

an in-depth breakdown of b*ruto episode 178

sorry i’m late i was lost on the path of life

tl;dr yeah ok i can have my hopes and dreams about what specifically i would want but. BUT. honestly yeah the episode was more or less what i expected would actually be in it from the preview, so i can’t complain. i still sobbed!!! that’s all i really wanted!!

time to rewatch it! (warning: long post. LOL)

obviously this is nothing new but i still can’t get over how nice the exterior to the nara household is, good for them. i don’t think i noticed the solar panel before? good for them!

i’m entertained at how the episode does open with shikadai tying his hair as he walks, i just think it’s neat. i love how the camera frames it like seeing a nara with their hair down is something forbidden we’re not mean to see

temari has purple slippers i dedicate her commitment to her favorite color. (also i am Just Saying... purple........ the bisexual flag--)

yeahhhh ok so. i get the need for wanting to frame the narrative like this, but this really doesn’t make any sense. shikadai is 12, and is also a chuunin, like... he should know by now that his dad is always kinda a mess on this day of the year, and why that is. and even if he honestly really did just forget, the fact that he’s still asking his dad why he’s not at work while looking at the way his parents are dressed... did this not clue you in or what????

the fact that shikamaru’s up and ready (i really don’t think he gets much sleep on this day, every year...), and it’s shikadai who’s just getting up. i do think it’s cute that we do get to see a tiiiiiny bit of temari’s parenting that doesn’t involve being an out of character irrationally angry woman when she tells shikadai to not come crying to her when he’s late in getting ready, yeah that definitely sounds way more like her lol

temari says she told him about all of this the other day (shikadai blatantly forgot, he tries to pretend he didn’t but she doesn’t press him for it)... that does make me emotional thinking like. she is pretty painfully aware of how hard this is on shikamaru, and days in advance told shikadai about it, to try to make sure he understands what his father is going through........ she really does care about him so, so much.

i said this based off the preview, but... i would like to interpret that temari is purposefully doing the dishes(/rest of house chores) to give him space to grieve....... 

the fact that while explaining what today is, shikamaru has to get up, leave the room, and talk while not facing his family, as if he wouldn’t be able to say the words as easily while looking at them........ god. that. that hurts.

\

tsunade being the one to give this speech kinda feels random? like yeah she was the one that was kage during the war but...? i do feel like it would have been more fitting to have naruto say the speech since the whole entire point of the war was to protect him (and bee) but ????? ok

no one in the uzumaki family talks during this episode which is fine by me LOL. i would assume the memorial is on the day the war ended (which would also make it naruto’s birthday/memorial of the kyuubi invasion) but if it is, it’s never stated. maybe it’s the day the war started, idk

the collection of people up front feels pretty random??? kakashi as the previous hokage, sure, guy i guess because of how important his contribution the war against madara was and also because he is kakashi’s husband, shizune kinda has to be there if tusnade is, but... iruka? like yeah he is vital to the narrative, but to konoha? he is the headmaster of the academy i think now so i guess...? but then? ibiki??? anko??? i say this as someone that REALLY loves anko, she was my favorite character as a kid and i still love her but,,, huh? SHE WAS KNOCKED OUT DURNG THE WHOLE WAR!!??!?

then you see everyone that was in naruto’s class + team guy + sai except hinata is in the crowd. which of course to the narrative, to us the readers, those are the main characters (if you ignore how more or less everyone was super shafted throughout all of part 2) but!!! team guy’s only real connection to the rest of them is that they took the chuunin exams together, and neji and hinata were are cousins. that’s about it. was it that specifically all of these characters made such a contribution to the war compared to every other single shinobi from konoha that lived ??????

shikamaru staring up to the sky did made my heart clench... no matter how different he is now than he was when he was a 12 year old genin...... i do feel like he’s never entirely ditched his true self of just wanting to stare at the clouds all day.... i’m not entirely sure what the intent was here, but i’m sure there’s supposed to be some symbolism here. the sky is actually nearly entirely clear (the way is framed, there’s only a tiny cloud in the corner,) and then he closes his eyes and hums. maybe it’s supposed to be about the closure he gets in this episode...

\

ok and then here’s ao cool whatever. since i only skim through b*ruto for the characters that i care about i do not really careeeee since i won’t watch again until something interesting happens to said characters that i care about LOL

?? who voiced the receptionist they sound familiar but i can’t place it at all

katasuke is the bitch that made the scientific ninja tool for b*ruto so he could cheat in the exam right

what is ao doing here. is he supposed to be doing something evil. it sure looks that way

... who is the glasses orange scarf guy??? he kinda looks like a mix between udon and ebisu and aoba but i know he’s not any one of them lol

\

TEMARI AND KARUI STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER... i don’t think in any media they’ve ever??? ACTUALLY TALKED TO EACH OTHER???? BUT THEY SHOULD BE CLOSE FOR THE OBVIOUS REASON....... I’LL TAKE THESE CRUMBS THOUGH THANK YOU

OKKKKK admittedly like. in terms of Pleasing Me, Personally, it’s a damned if you do, dammed if you don’t situation like.... they do kinda HAVE to acknowledge that neji died during the war so. i appreciate that hinata like........ cares. i guess. i’ll try to not post the whole rant about why neji’s death was (logistically how he died aside) narratively and thematically absolute bullshit, kishi (i believe) saying that neji died so he could play cupid for naruto and hinata like!!! fuck off with that shit!!! maybe if it wasn’t for the goddamn “naruto-kun’s big warm manly hand” line i would feel a little bit actual sad but no.

WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOSHINO AND CHOUZA HELLO!?!?!?!? COULD YOU REALLY NOT HAVE PUT THEM IN THE CROWD??

ino also has an unnamed mother that the anime made up that i believe was only in like a single episode (and was cameoed in RtN i think?) but she should still be like. Alive. so her too.

MITSUKI PLACING FLOWERS IS SO FUNNY TO ME LIKE YOU DO KNOW YOUR PARENT’S SUBORDINATE/DOUBLE CROSS TRAITOR WHATEVER DID CAUSE THE WAR RIGHT BFIOBU*EHW$

\

aaand. here’s shikamaru and ino’s conversation. i’m not sure if i can put this into words, but... just... the way that they talk to each other, the weight of 15+ years of sadness about this, the way that they just!! fully know what the other is going through, the way that they’ve known each other for their whole lives and survived through everything together, the way i feel like they’ve avoided talking about this topic as much as possible over the years, hell even during this conversation the way they’re almost bickering to avoid having to directly confront their feelings, but it is unavoidable....... 

i also do wonder what their relationship with each other’s parents were while growing up: shikamaru does refer to inoichi as “inoichi-san” here, contrast to how their kids all call each other’s parents just “uncle” or “aunt”

siri play sad naruto flute.

ok since i did go back to rewatch the episode from shippuden right before watching this one for the first time i do wish a liiiittle less of the episode was about this flashback with the same reused footage like i get that they do have to put it in here but Still.

THE FACT THAT SHIKAMARU IS SMILING WHILE RECALLING WHAT HAPPENED, AND THAT THERE’S A LAUGH IN HIS VOICE........ I WANT TO CRY AGAIN

ino saying that it was so unfair how cool they looked in the end, and then giggles...... ino............. this must be so, so painful for her to recall, and yet.........

IT IS SO FUNNY HOW THEY SKIP OVER THE IMAGE OF SASUKE THERE AHAHAHAHA god i hated that so so much i can’t believe that’s manga canon. the line is perfectly fine and makes me cry just DO NOT RELATE IT TO SASUKE!!!! literally the only time they “”interact”” is when ino is introduced and ino just, for lack of a better word, glomps him???? THAT’S IT??? i feel like they might’ve changed it just because, well, you know the endgame pairings. but still. bye sasuke

damn you know what i do kinda wish they didn’t skip over the “get rid of that box before your mother finds it” part i AM curious as to what it was i mean it’s implied it’s something adult related so SP probably couldn’t show that on TV BUT!!!

ok ok all week i tried to not imagine what shikamaru and ino’s conversation would be since i wanted to go all “surprise me!!” BUT??? BUT. SHIKAMARU ASKING INO IF SHE THINKS THAT THEIR FATHERS HONESTLY, TRULY BELIEVED IN THEM?? HE’S BEEN THINKING ABOUT THAT ON EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS YEAR THESE PAST 15+ YEARS, AND SURELY IT’S ALWAYS BEEN AT THE BACK OF HIS MIND ALL THIS TIME!?!?! of course. OF COURSE HE WOULD FEEL THIS WAY!!! HE’D HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING FOR SURE OR EVER FINDING OUT!!! like of course we as the readers know that shikaku and inoichi absolutely 200% felt that way but... from his perspective... you know what i don’t even think this idea ever crossed my mind HOLD ON THAT IS THE SOUND OF MY HEART SHATTERING--

and then he just... smiles. says that he won’t let that get him down, since it’s not like they’ll ever find out anyways. sure, it’s been 15+ years, he has had to have largely come to terms with everything by now, but...... still....

then he talks about the idea that the day will come and leave everything in the hands of their sons (now looking over at team 10′s turn to place flowers) just like their dads did... it is worded like a question, but showtaro morikubo’s absolute masterful performance does. it does portray a tone like he is absolutely 100% sure that it’ll happen, one day...

i’ve said this before but. i KNOW shikamaru has definitely spent so much time thinking about this. sure it hasn’t ever really been brought up on-screen (yet), but....... i want to see him talking about a direct contrast on what his grand plan through life he thought of by age 12, ending with him passing away by old age. obviously he did a complete 180 on they type of person he wanted as a wife LOL. it is kinda brought up at the start of shikamaru hiden while he visits the grave, says he hasn’t found anyone he’d give his life to protect... (well. now he has a son where if you see the recent chapters he is very, VERY protective of.) but i would like to see this change in his character be directly be brought up and examined

........ that being SAID. i sure hope neither of them actually like. die. i’m GOOD, thank you. they sure as hell can’t until they’re ready to pass things down to their sons, at least. until then, absolutely zero narrative reason to do so, but...... still. we don’t need to make everything an EXACT copy of what happened in naruto you can let them live kthx

they both say “what kind of half-baked response is that!” and then laugh just. I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH TEAM 10 IS FOREVER

/

there is some symbolism in how ao walks over from a really dark shadowy area into the light when he decides that he has to pay his respects...

i do like how he does reflect on how he really should have come here earlier, but better late than never i suppose

i was expecting a... more elaborate explanation for how he lived??? especially since he was standing RIGHT NEXT to shikaku and inoichi... he just. happened to survive for whatever reason while every single other person died on impact

that survivor’s guilt does hurt to see

i do like seeing how he chooses to do something with his life, aside from being a shinobi, and live it to the fullest for the sake of everyone that died in the explosion. that’s nice

/

ino saying “i’m sure are fathers are happy!” AAAAAAAAAAA

IN HINDSIGHT....... I ABSOLUTELY SOULD’VE PREDICTED SOMEONE WOULD DROP A “YOU LOOK SO MUCH LIKE YOUR FATHER” AT SOME POINT IN THE EPISODE...... and. i did kinda chuckle, because like, no shit duh lmao. i’m sure shikamaru heard that all the time as a kid!!! and hell, i’m sure he still gets it from time to time over the years up to this day. BUT LIKE... SHIKAMARU’S FACE. HE LOOKS LIKE THAT, RIGHT NOW, IT’S ACTUALLY SOMETHING HE REALLY, REALLY NEEDED TO HEAR. LET ME CRY

hearing shikamaru say oyaji, and then the way his tone suddenly shifts to something very... quiet and somber? when he says “nara shikaku”..... something about that. man.... also it’s hard to see but there is a sweat drop on his face as he says all of this...

“sometimes, i end up wondering...” don’t lie to yourself. you think about this so, so much........

the flashback where ao says “listen to me calmly” when he says the bomb is coming this way sure reminds me of ino telling shikamaru to stay calm as she tells him that his son has a bomb around his neck

THE ADDED PART OF THE FLASHBACK WITH THEIR VERY LAST MOMENTS...... THE WAY THEY’RE SMILING AND JUST??? BELIEVE IN THEIR KIDS IN THE VERY END. just like how it’s described in shikamaru hiden where the narrative says that shikaku was a shinobi until his very last breaths-- actually, no. in the very end he was a father.......

“THEY BELIEVED IN YOU, WITHOUT A HINT OF DOUBT.”

AAA?A?AAAAAAAAA?A?A?A??A!??!!??!!

INO STARTS TEARING UP BUT I CALL ABSOLUTE BS THAT SHIKAMARU WOULDN’T ALSO JUST BURST ONTO TEARS ON THE SPOT, HE MAY BE 32 WHATEVER YEARS OLD NOW BUT... HE IS STILL SUCH A CRYBABY AT HEART, HIS ENTIRE CIRCLE OF LOVED ONES KNOW THIS.

you know who DID start crying though??? ME

/

i do wonder, is this the same hillside that shikamaru went to after asuma’s death...? (only in the manga tho, the anime had him on a rooftop instead)

is that??? someone watching them in the back left?? when shikadai finds him? i cannot tell what that is

i am. trying to follow temari’s logic of telling shikadai to go find shikamaru and... not also going with him?? i mean i figured from the preview that, yeah it does look like it’s only the two of them, but... i can’t come up with a reason. not a super big deal but. obviously my heart yearns for that shikatema content that’s ok i can write my own fanfic i guess!!!!

also like...... i imagine it can’t be THAT hard to find him, i’m sure that he only has a small handful of Spots Good For Coping(™) when he just needs to be by himself, that i would Think his wife would know where they are. and said wife would tell shikadai. but idk

after all of this, shikamaru wants to just treat his son to go eat out whatever he wants...!! what a good father

....... now like. the logic of “temari is currently making dinner and that’s why she’s a) not there and b) told shikadai to go fetch is father” would make perfect sense. but... if they’re going out to get food then... no?? shikadai would interject to say so if that was the case..... that makes this all make no sense seriously what the hell is she doing

i do wish that like. shikadai like.... uh. actually learned about more shikaku?? this scene is more brief than i thought it would be idk i felt like it would be part of the middle of the episode and not at the end, oh well. he’ll find out in due time

THAT BEING SAID...  STILL. THE ENDING WHERE HE JUST CARES SO SO SO SO MUCH ABOUT SHIKADAI!!!! WONDERING IF HE’S WATCHING HIS BACK!!! I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEMMMMM

/

not quite sure whatever ao is doing at the end of the episode???? IS IT EVIL??? i mean like that it’s him catching a leaf seems like he’s going against konoha but i mean konoha fucking sucks so. that is not evil i guess LOL

whatever not like i’ll care to actually find out!!!!! anyways let me know when the nara family (or anyone adjacent to them) does anything so i can care LOL

in conclusion. good shit.

[yue-muffin]

Time Raiders (2016)

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

In my quest to consume the entirety of the DMBJ franchise available in English, I have decided to start with the non-canon movie because at least this one has an ending, unlike the train wreck that is Reboot/Chongqi’s pacing. I will probably be bitter about that for all eternity, but I digress. I heard good things about the movie from the bird app, and as I am a Pingxie shipper at heart, I decided to finally watch this one.

P A R T O N E

The cut-in animation to the title was gorgeous, I do so love the qilin in every adaptation. It’s particularly striking here with the gold outline and geometric, maze-like lines. It looks like the cards at the very beginning were being arranged in the image of this qilin.

My first reaction upon seeing white people in a dmbj adaptation is: oh no, the English, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear perfect English that matches the actor’s lips! What a miracle, haha. I remember The Lost Tomb 2 being the worst for how many lines had to be in English, sob.

These look so cool. I see we start off with a good old “seeking immortality” antagonist, and an obsessed collector who has dedicated his whole life to this apparently. As usual, he is a scumbag threatening the locals.

The old guy’s accented English is also better than TLT2, ha. The breathy/nasal quality is not at all uncommon. I don’t know what language the locals speak though.

Me, immediately: Zhang Qiling already??

I know he appears in rather early in TLT1, TLT2, and Reboot/Chongqi, but he’s so often mysteriously absent or stuck behind a gate (or in Reboot’s case, put on a bus) that I got excited, ok.

My favorite Zhang Qilings are the cold-looking pretty boy types in terms of my mental image of the character, but this one is also very easy on the eyes and as usual, unfazed in the face of danger coming at him with a knife. This is the only series in which I’m not bothered by the constant cast change between adaptations (unlike Ever Night), I suppose since it’s been this way from the start.

I’m interested in seeing how the backstories differ from canon. It’s actually rather interesting that this is pretty much an official AU, like that’s kind of wild as a concept. I’m used to the late 1990s/early 2000s anime adding new characters and changing plot points and endings everywhere, but Time Raiders takes it a step further.

Zhang Qiling being an ultra-competent badass who doesn’t even need a weapon to take the bad guys down never changes, no matter the universe. He steamrolls everyone, no questions asked.

Did he- he break the blade with his bare hands hahaha. Oh, yup, and a Zhang Qiling with a weapon is even more dangerous. I see those severed fingers. Such a good fight scene and we’re not even 5 minutes into the movie.

I love how he could have simply fired the arrow while he was still on the statue, then jumped down, but he had to be Extra and fire while he was jumping off haha.

It- the divine piece was right there?? By “beneath the statue” I would have thought it would at least be under it, not in a convenient little slot on the side of the altar area haha. So Zhang Qiling’s mission is to destroy the divine piece(s)? To, um, save the world apparently.

WHO ARE YOU? What an excellent question to ask a Zhang Qiling (and that staring into the mirror shot, too.)… I wonder if this one even knows - it’s possible he doesn’t have his signature amnesia here.

Wait- a gate? I think it’s in a cave or something in the novels, but gates have significance in DMBJ. The cinematography is really nice in these mountain shots. I know nothing about film, but I like the shots in the snowy mountains.

This Zhang Qiling knows and practices martial arts on screen! You would think he’d pull some moves normally, but in the drama-adaptations he tends to just beat people up as efficiently as possible. Sometimes with his sword. Other times he just fights ‘em. I have to admit Jing Boran looks excellent going through some forms. He nailed the force and power underlying every movement, then exploding outward with a strike. I do like the impression it leaves.

I, on the other hand, am an absolute noodle and look ridiculous when I do martial arts.

What in the world is happening in this flashback scene with the weird CGI qilin. Ah, it’s when he received his tattoo. That was super dramatic.

Wushanju is looking real edgy with the heavy iron gate on the interior, haha.

He is puzzling (ha!) over those cards so intensely you’d think it was a thousand piece puzzle instead haha. You’re almost there! Just a few more to finish the qilin!

Aw, is this our Wu Xie? Haha his facial hair is- hm. But I love his voice it’s so soft. Really fits that “Mr. Naive” vibe.

Is that. Is that the author of the series. I found out that he makes cameos in almost all (if not all of) the adaptations!

NO. ONLY I CAN FINISH THE PUZZLE. HANDS OFF BUDDY.

Why are there so many pigeons in here. Who let them inside.

A writer, who came to hear his story and turn it into a novel- HA yup it’s the author.

“This should be a story about me and him.”

Ahh I’m loving it already. DMBJ is the ultimate bromance story. Fair warning, I do ship Pingxie so my shipper goggles will be on throughout the movie. But even without shipping, you do have to admit the series is a bromance underneath all the mystery – between the Iron Triangle, between Wu Xie and Xiaoge.

This Wu Xie is a photographer and that is sort of adorable. Already there’s a theme emerging of needing to record events and telling stories. Interesting that he wants to turn his memories into a novel to record his experiences, because otherwise he’s afraid those memories might turn into a mere story in his own head. Wu Xie, that’s a worrying mindset.

Those ancient mask things always make me crack up, I don’t know why.

Ooh, background about Wu Xie’s birth into the Wu family. I’ve never read up to the part in the books where they go into his place in the family in detail. To be fair, his grandfather had three sons and only one of them had any kids – and Wu Xie is his parents’ only child. So, he becomes the only one who can really carry on the family legacy. Aw, I really like seeing his extended family present though! In the dramas we only ever get either his Second or Third Uncle, and he rarely ever mentions his parents even though they’re alive.

And there’s his namesake! The origin of his nickname, and the irony once the story gets into the Sha Hai timeline.

Wu Xie was a bit of a rascal as a kid, haha. To be fair he has a pretty sharp tongue in the novels and is mostly a pure cinnamon roll in the early dramas.

Little Wu Xie in a suit is so adorable. Nooo kid don’t go into locked up abandoned places. He’s already so adventurous haha. Seems that it’s not actually abandoned judging by all the lights on, but.

UH. MASKED MAN BEHIND YOU. I think he wants that item back. This is why you don’t go into abandoned places, kid. He definitely does not learn his lesson though. Also why are you still holding onto that thing, just drop it, I think he wants it back.

Haha he kept one of the coins.

WOAH. Every month someone in your family dies?? That’s uh- sort of traumatic. Also that would be a really good first line for a novel…Just saying. I do love the singing though.

Oh, the Nine Families exist in this universe too! They even give a quick explanation about the ranking system.

Oh yeah, I love how Wu Xie is such a nerd for all this knowledge of ancient texts and tombs. And YES HE FINALLY DOCUMENTS STUFF FOR ONCE.

Uncle Three looked dead for a moment there, scared the shit out of me too.

VAMPIRE MOTHS? Oh I hate bugs I would not be okay lol. WHOOPS. You guys are really good at reading ancient texts on the fly lol.

That’s the mask he has in the beginning of the film, isn’t it. NO DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. AHHH. So you just put it on your face?? Well that was a stupidly simple way to open the door. I’m guessing the creator didn’t care if anyone opened it.

This guy just severed his own arm, ok…and how many years later is his hand still clinging to it? UH. THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. Then he proceeds to steal the box thing.

Ah the white dude again. I am so happy there is GOOD ENGLISH though haha.

Oh, hi Zhang Qiling. Just hanging out on a rooftop I see.

He looks so melancholy. Someone give him a hug! This adaptation makes him more human, less stoic robotic superhuman, I noticed. You rarely see him eat or drink anything in the other adaptations, but here he’s just chilling on a rooftop having some drinks haha. It’s ok. I love all the Zhang Qilings.

WHAT THE HELL, LIGHTNING? What the hell is this high tech machinery haha. Eight days? Coincidentally eight days after sitting in a tomb for how many years.

That is a very Extra bookcase to hold a book that apparently has ALL the secrets.

WOW that is a fancy notebook. It looks so beat up in the other versions haha. In this one, it even gets its own hidden shelf in a giant portable bookshelf!

The props for this franchise are so cool and detailed. I always wish they would show more of the creative process in the BTS, I’m such a nerd for that stuff. The Longest Day in Chang’an was pretty good at that, which is half of my enjoyment of that show haha!

I’m also still pleasantly surprised they bothered to incorporate other languages. I’m not sure what the Snake Lady and the old man in the beginning were speaking, but at least the English is good.

I can’t believe they worked in a steampunk chastity belt this movie went all out, huh. Also with these weirdly high tech structures and lightning and moving tomb structures.

And all the pieces start coming together! So that’s why it’s believed they hold the secret to immortality. What a steampunk-looking key.

Is that a writing desk??

Oh, they’re getting a team together to go tomb raiding! Ha, forget money! You may or may not end up dying on this adventure, so who cares about money, right.

He’s so cute standing there with his camera. Look at the little smile as he watches everything going on!

It’s a desk and a storage container?? Oh, there are ~qualifications~ to going on tomb raiding. Makes sense. That is the oddest looking sword.

Must appreciate Zhang Qiling’s fingers in every adaptation. They look very strong and steady here. Let’s not talk about the slooow trailing across the handle.

Wow did you really just throw sand in his face. Have we not learned not to mess with Zhang Qiling after he trounced that first guy who attacked him. I love the fight scenes so much after the bore-fest that was Reboot/Chongqi’s second half of Season 1.

Super pretty, but why did it cause him to stop and stare in the middle of the fight?

This is like a Final Fantasy sword haha. Also I think you should stop while you’re ahead, why did you think a table would stop this dude. (Hey, it’s Da Kui! He was in the novel but not TLT1.).

It’s HERE. Their first meeting. How did he know the coin was on that cord? It wasn’t visible, I don’t think. But uh. That was a hilarious move on his part, he is so Extra?? He just casually flicks the necklace off with his big-ass sword and it drops into his hand. Then casually goes “oh, here, you dropped this” as if he wasn’t the one responsible for it coming off in the first place!!

HERE IT COMES. The unnecessarily long eye contact. Pingxie in every adaptation needs a Staring Into Your Eyes scene.

Real smooth.

Ahh this Wu Xie is such a cutie. He’s like a puppy.

WHAT. Third Uncle, I can’t believe you let him tag along so easily haha. In the beginning he was scolding Wu Xie to never get involved in tomb business, then what happens? They’re going tomb raiding!!

Next Up: to the tomb we go! This can’t end badly or anything what are you talking about.

[nachotrash]

EVEN MORE INCORRECT QUOTES

ft: me, my best friend (ISAMU, not osamu), and an online friendo (scarlett)

Suga: What’s your name? Tendou, whispering to Yamaguchi: Can I tell them my real name? Yamaguchi: No! Tendou: I’m… Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi, whispering to themselves: The ONE TIME they get my name right…

--------------

Scarlett: Bonjour, Suga. Voulez–vous coucher avec moi? Suga: No, I don't want to sleep with you. Scarlett: Is that what that means? Oh, man, I had a really gross tennis instructor.

-------------

Tendou: I was born for politics. I have great hair and I love lying.

--------------

Isamu: Man, they look like a real handful. How do you deal with them? Iwa, watching Tendou screaming, Lev trying to set a sleeping Shiyu on fire, and Suga choking on air: I don't know either.

--------------

Shiyu: honk. Tendou: WHAT. Shiyu: HONK. Tendou: WHAT DOES HONK MEAN THIS TIME YOU WHIMSICAL PIECE OF SHIT?????

-------------------

Scarlett, as a child, reading their school assignment out loud: I love my library because... Scarlett, mouthing words while writing: I love reading, fuck you.

-------------------

Shiyu: Uh, I think I got your lunch. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘I am very proud of you. Love, ’* Scarlett: Oh yeah. I didn’t think this was for me. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘Be good. For the love of God, Please be good.’*

------------------------

Lev: Between Suga, , Tendou, and Scarlett -- if you had to -- who would you punch? Iwa: No one! They're my friends. I wouldn't punch any of them. Lev: Tendou? Iwa: Yeah, but I don't know why.

-------------------------

Shiyu: What if the person who named Walkie Talkies named everything? Shiyu: Pregnancy tests are Maybe Babies. Tendou: Socks are Feetie Heaties. Yamaguchi: Defibrillators are Heartie Starties. Iwa: Nightmares are Dreamy Screamies. Scarlett: Stamps are Lickie Stickies. Lev: I hate you guys so much.

-----------------

*Everyone is giving adive to Tendou* Iwa: It's okay to ask for help. Scarlett: You're not a burden. Suga: Murder is okay. Yamaguchi: Your feelings matter.

--------------------

Yamaguchi: Noya... Noya: Oh no, 'Noya' in B flat. Noya: You're disappointed.

--------------

Yamaguchi: We’re kind of missing something guys. Suga: Cohesion? Scarlett: Teamwork? Isamu: A general sense of what we’re doing? Lev: And Shiyu is not here. Suga: Oh, and that, yeah.

-------------

Scarlett: Croissants: dropped Suga: Road: works ahead Tendou: BBQ sauce: on my titties Iwa: Shavacado: fre Noya: Miss Keisha: fuckin dead Isamu: Isamu: ...I didn’t understand a single word of that and I hate every single one of you.

--------------

Lev: You don't think I can fight because of my gender! Isamu: I don't think you can fight because you're in a wedding dress. For what it's worth, I don't think Scarlett can fight in that dress either. Scarlett: Perhaps not. But I would make a radiant bride.

---------------------

Yamaguchi: I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan. Isamu: We could attack them with hummus. Yamaguchi: I stand corrected. Isamu: Just keeping things in perspective.

-------------------

Iwa, planning a group disguise: You cannot be Blake Bortles. Tendou: Fine! Then I’ll be Jake- Yamaguchi, under their breath: Don’t say Jortles. Tendou: Jortles! And I work at the molotov cocktail department.

----------------------

Noya: Isamu is taking credit for Lev's work, getting them to deal with everything, and making fun of them! You know what they sounds like? Tendou: You? Noya: No, I meant... You know Lev. In spite of being clever and sarcastic they’re also... fragile and weird and they have trouble fitting in. And Isamu is taking advantage of their weakness! You know what that’s called? Tendou: A Noya? Noya: ...Yeah, but I’m the only one who should be allowed to do that, okay?!

----------------------

Iwa: So, did everyone learn their lesson? Tendou: No. Lev: I did not. Isamu: I may have actually forgotten one. Suga: Also no. Iwa: Oh good, neither did I. Yamaguchi: *Exhausted sigh*

----------------

Iwa: That’s illegal, right? Lev: Why do you care? Are you a fucking cop? Iwa: No- Lev: Then shut the fuck up.

-----------------

Shiyu: Are you sure Isamu's even gay? They barely even looked at me.

-----------------

Isamu: What does “take out” mean? Shiyu: Food. Iwa: Dating. Yamaguchi: Murder. Suga: It can be all three if you’re brave enough.

-----------------

Yamaguchi: There is no future. There is no past. Don't you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every fact. Suga: ...All I asked was if you wanted to cut your birthday cake first.

-----------

Scarlett: I'm usually that person who has no idea what's going on.

------------

Isamu: But what about Noya? They were my SOULMATE! Yamaguchi: You said that about a ball of yarn once!

(oop- yams jelly)

----------

Suga: What time is it? Iwa: I don’t know, pass me that saxaphone and we’ll find out Iwa: *BLASTS the saxaphone* Scarlett: WHO THE FUCK IS PLAYING THE SAXAPHONE AT TWO IN THE FUCKING MORNING Iwa: It’s 2 am

------------

Noya: Your smile? It makes my day. Scarlett: Your happiness? I live for that. Lev: A room? Get one. Tendou: Hotel? Trivago.

(LETS GOOOOOOOOOO)

------------------

Suga, about Shiyu: They're speaking some kind of French. Lev: Let me handle it. I speak Spanish. It's the same thing.

(when im speaking dutch)

-----------------

Scarlett: I give up. I am so tired. Tendou: Get the emergency supply! Shiyu: *carries Noya and places them in front of Scarlett* Noya: *smiles* Scarlett: AND I AM BACK BABY, LET’S GOOO

-----------------

Isamu: I never said I was gonna get back together with them. But I was thinking, they're in town, would it be the worst thing in the world if I gave them a call? Yamaguchi: No. No, Isamu, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would be the fourth worst thing. Number one: a super volcano. Number two: an asteroid hits the Earth. Number three: All the Evel Knievel movies are lost. Number four: Isamu calls Tendou. Number five: Suga gets eaten by a shark. Suga: I’m Suga, and I approve the order of that list.

(oooo isamu and tendou---)

---------------

Isamu: From now on we will be using code names. Isamu: You can address me as Eagle One. Isamu: Scarlett is “been there done that”. Isamu: Suga is “currently doing that”. Isamu: Noya is “it happened once in a dream”. Isamu: Shiyu is “if I had to pick a dude/gal/enby”. Isamu: And Iwa is.. Isamu: Eagle Two Iwa: Oh thank god.

-----------

Iwa: *points at Lev* A human turtleneck, *points at Suga* a narcissistic monster, *points at Yamaguchi* and literally the dumbest person I’ve ever met. Yamaguchi: And who am I? Describe me now.

-----------------

Yamaguchi: Fight me! Shiyu, standing behind them and holding a knife: *mouths* Do not.

--------------------

Iwa: Isamu... How do I begin to explain Isamu? Shiyu: Isamu is flawless. Noya: I hear their hair's insured for $10,000. Tendou: I hear they do car commercials... in Japan. Lev: One time they punched me in the face... it was awesome.

(ok but like, they aint wrong tho. also samu punches lev in the face the whole time)

------------------

Lev: If I say I love you, will you say it back? Isamu: Yes. Lev: I love you. Isamu: It back. *Later* Scarlett: Why is Lev crying face-down on the floor?

(cuz he tried to bond with his cousin but failed)

-------------------

Iwa: Suga is a perfect cinnamon scone who’s never done anything wrong in their entire life! Yamaguchi: Never done anything wrong?! They set a city block on FIRE!

(fanon suga vs canon suga)

--------------------

Shiyu, in the hospital: Will you visit me when I get out? Scarlett: Lol nah, I hate graveyards.

-------------------

Iwa: If you put 'violently' in front of anything to describe your action, it becomes funnier. Iwa: Violently practices. Shiyu: Violently studies. Scarlett: Violently sleeps. Tendou: Violently shoots pictures. Isamu: Violently boxes. Noya: Violently murders people. Scarlett: Violently worries about the previous statement.

--------------

Noya: You know, when Iwa comes over, Suga can get a little… Tendou: Psycho? Shiyu: Scary? Scarlett: Drunk? Noya: All three.

----------------

Shiyu: Love makes people do stupid things. Yamaguchi: I love everything! Shiyu: That explains a lot.

[grapefruitsketches]

Untamed Spring Fest 2020 - Days 24-30: Chapter 5, Picnic (Day 27)

(I posted this as an AO3 link only a couple days ago but my text post issues seem to have resolved themselves, so here it is! I removed the original link post)

Part of my Songxiao post-canon fix-it fic series:

XXC Prequel | SL Prequel | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Also available on AO3: link

4,827 words

Chapter 5: Now on their farmhouse vacation, Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen seek out Wen Ning’s help and expertise. 

Note: this chapter depicts something resembling therapy, but as I am not in any way a trained mental health professional, any similarities are to be taken with the assumption that I am taking artistic liberties.

Three squeezes, and Song Lan pulled Xingchen’s hand towards the soil to show…

“Zichen! They’re sprouting!” Xingchen gushed.

Song Lan smiled, but he was watching not the growing stems but the growing smile on Xingchen’s face. Song Lan loosened his grip, letting Xingchen’s hand move freely, but left his hand resting on the other’s as his partner’s fingers gently brushed the tips of the new leaves.

That smile. Soft. Unthinking. Simple.

How had Song Lan thought that the smiles of the past few weeks had been anything to match this one? Those had been purposeful, forced. Only a shadow, not a reflection, of true joy. Though of course, he reasoned, even the faintest light after years of darkness could seem overwhelming.

He shook his head, letting himself melt back into the moment, back into the smile. It didn’t matter. Here, now, at Wei Wuxian and Hanguang-Jun’s farm, Xiao Xingchen was happy. And what else mattered, truly?

“Zichen?” the gentle voice pulled him out of his thoughts, perhaps concerned at his stillness, “How are you feeling?”

Good. Love.  Song Lan played the chords on the guqin, a now near permanent feature wherever the two sat together. At peace. Relaxed. In love. All things he wanted to say, but not yet part of his nascent vocabulary. But the smile, that lovely smile, grew nonetheless. Because Xiao Xingchen knew. He knew what Song Lan could say and what he couldn’t. He knew that “Good” and “Love” meant so much more than what those two words alone implied.

Xingchen flipped his hand over, his palm now meeting Song Lan’s, and let their fingers intertwine. Xingchen’s grip was soft, strong. Just like he himself was. Xingchen leaned over and offered a kiss. Small and light, on the cheek, as kisses always were when they were outside, and around…

“Get a room!” a voice came with a laugh.

Song Lan looked up, hoping the warmth in his cheeks wasn’t too visible. Four figures had just come up into view from the direction of the orchard. Jin Ling, arms crossed but with the twitch of a smile threatening his lips. Lan Sizhui, smiling softly, apologetically. Ouyang Zizhen, eyes shining and hands covering his mouth as though he might burst if he didn’t physically hold his excitement in. And of course the laughing, jovial source of the laugh, Lan Jingyi.

Xingchen started at the sound, head swiveling towards the four, and Song Lan couldn’t help but appreciate the blush now painting those cheeks, “Ah, Lan-gongzi. I’m sorry. Zichen and I were just…”

“It’s fine. It’s fine.” Jingyi waved a hand dismissively, chuckling, “Sizhui and I have to live full time in the general vicinity of Hanguang-Jun and Wei-gongzi so trust me, that was nothing to-”

“Jingyi!” Sizhui interjected, scandalized, quieting him but still earning a snicker in response from both Jingyi and Zizhen.

“Dinner’s ready.” Jin Ling said stiffly, chin held high but his eyes twitched and he bit his lip as though trying not to laugh himself.

“It smells sooo good.” Zizhen sighed dreamily. Song Lan couldn’t help but smile at Jin Ling’s bashful sideways glance in response. Since arriving at the farm a couple days ago, Wen Qionglin and Jin Ling had cooked every meal. Each one was more delicious, more fragrant than the last (though that hadn’t stopped Wei Wuxian from complaining to Jin Ling that none were as spicy as he would like, no matter how appreciative of the meal he was once his nephew was out of earshot).

There was a sudden shuddering against his shoulder. Song Lan turned in alarm. But Xingchen was only laughing, hiding his grin behind a fist as though that could possibly be preferable to seeing a laugh light up his face.

The sun was warm. Friends waited. Crops grew.

Xingchen took the arm that Song Lan offered, more out of habit for both of them than necessity. Xingchen grew stronger by the day, and had in fact delightedly lifted and twirled Song Lan earlier that day, cheerfully informing him that he was feeling particularly good after his morning stretches.

They were happy. They were strong. There was dinner waiting. And they were going to talk to Wen Qionglin.

--

The farm was far from the humble farmhouse Song Lan had expected when Wei Wuxian and Xingchen had first mentioned the idea to him. It was much closer to the large residences their hosts were accustomed to. Bridges crossed the small river, which help budding lotus plants. The various paths and bridges led back and forth to the farm’s rooms and residences. A small bamboo grove was visible just past the central area where the kitchens were. It wasn’t Lotus Pier or Cloud Recesses, and Song Lan was sure that to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji it seemed modest, but there was never any concern for space even with this extended group of visitors.

Despite the availability of a dining hall, they took their dinner outside as usual. The Juniors had wanted to come the moment they heard there was a chance for not only more farm time, but also more time with Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. Jin Ling had even gone all the way back to Koi Tower and joined them at the farm bearing armloads of paperwork so that he could take an extended leave from his sect. After the first dinner with the Juniors, Xingchen had had to assure Song Lan that he was definitely ok eating as a group, that he liked being around everyone. It had still taken many dinners before Song Lan had believed that Xingchen was saying this truthfully and not just trying to be a good guest. Even then, Song Lan couldn’t help but smile appreciatively at the glares from Wei Wuxian and Hanguang-Jun (the latter’s being far more effective) whenever the Juniors started to get too rowdy.

Today, instead of seeking out their usual spot, seated on a blanket laid out in the grass under a young pear tree, Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen approached the kitchens. Song Lan knocked lightly on the doorframe. Rapid footsteps approached and Jin Ling appeared in front of them, carrying a covered bowl.

The young Clan Leader’s eyes widened, “S-Song-daozhang! Xiao-daozhang!” he stammered, “Sorry this took so long, Wen-xiong and I tasted it and realized at the last minute that we needed a bit more ginger and…”

Xingchen held up a hand, kindly as always, “Jin Ling, don’t worry. Dinner smells delicious as always. Zichen and I both trust and look forward to your and Wen-gongzi’s culinary expertise. We are happy to wait for any finishing touches.” Jin Ling beamed, and Song Lan wished Xingchen could see the effect his words had on the boy. Xingchen continued, “Zichen and I only wanted to ask Wen-gongzi if he could help us with something?”

“Oh! Uh…” Jin Ling glanced down at the bowl in his hands, then back towards the door to the kitchen proper, then back towards the two cultivators in front of him, “Uh… yes! I’ll go get him right away.”

Song Lan, able to see the dilemma Xingchen could not, reached out for the bowl. Jin Ling handed it to him, smiling gratefully, before rushing back to the kitchen. It seemed that Xingchen had heard the clatter of the lid as the bowl was passed, as his mouth made an adorable little “o” shape before returning to its gentle smile, “Thank you, Zichen.” He said quietly. Song Lan intentionally brushed up against Xingchen’s shoulder as he turned to deliver the food, letting Xingchen know he was going.

By the time Song Lan returned, Jin Ling was already passing him by with a second bowl, and thanked him again as he passed. As Song Lan approached the kitchen, he could only see Xingchen’s back, a bit odd-looking to Song Lan without Shuanghua draped across it, but Song Lan was well used to its familiar weight on his own back. He was happy to carry it whenever Xingchen had one of those days where he wanted the sword close, but not on his person. He was sure Xingchen would get used to carrying the sword again eventually. Xingchen was speaking to Wen Qionglin, and whatever he was saying clearly held its usual charm, given the earnest nods coming from Wen Qionglin.

“You’re sure, Xiao-daozhang?” Song Lan heard once he was close enough.

“Yes. Based on what Zichen has told me, I wouldn’t trust anyone’s skills more on this matter.” Xingchen replied.

Wen Qionglin’s smile broadened, his eyes squinting in appreciation, “Thank you, Xiao-daozhang. I hope you will both find it helpful.”

“Wen Ning, are you abandoning your poor old Yiling Patriarch?” Wei Wuxian and Hanguang-Jun had appeared, the former bearing an overexaggerated pout, “Just tell me if you decide to leave me for Xiao-xiong, otherwise I won’t be able to bear it.”

Song Lan looked over just in time to catch the end of the special eyeroll Hanguang-Jun reserved for his husband’s antics.

“Wei-gongzi, I…” Wen Qionglin sighed, ready as ever to apologize. Song Lan knew Wen Qionglin well enough to know that he understood that Wei Wuxian was teasing. He was only too polite to not take Wei Wuxian at his word, just in case.

But Wei Wuxian waved him off, “I was kidding, just kidding! Besides, I know you still know a lot of my darkest secrets that not even my dear husband knows about yet, so I know you’ll stick around.” Song Lan couldn’t help but smile at the frown, the glance from Wen Qionglin, back to Wei Wuxian that this inspired in Wei Wuxian’s said husband, especially when he saw that Xingchen was biting his lips back, clearly trying to stop himself from chuckling at this display.

Wei Wuxian noticed Hanguang-Jun’s expression and sighed deeply, “Ah, Lan Zhan. You worry too much. It’s nothing important. And nothing I wouldn’t tell you if you asked nicely enough,” Wei Wuxian finished slyly.

Hanguang-Jun demonstrated his eyeroll for a second time, “Wei Ying is sorry for interrupting,” he said, before grabbing his husband by the arm and pulling him towards their spot by the river.

Song Lan joined his own partner, who had turned back to Wen Qionglin. Song Lan put a gentle hand on Xingchen’s shoulder, letting him know he was there, never tired of the flutter of a smile that this brought to Xingchen’s face.

Song Lan signed quickly to the Wen healer, So you are willing to do it?

“Yes. I am more than willing, I am happy to do it, Song-daozhang.” Wen Qionglin answered. Song Lan was grateful for the deliberately complete answer, keeping Xingchen more naturally in the loop of the conversation.

Xingchen smiled, “Thank you, Wen-gongzi. Come sit with us, we can sort out the details there.”

The evening passed pleasantly, Xingchen’s laugh rang out more than once. Wen Qionglin interpreted for Song Lan. Song Lan felt warmer, more at peace than he had felt in a long time. Something about the fresh air, the budding life surrounding them day in and day out had brought back a lightness to Xingchen that the Song Lan of twenty years ago thought he would never meet again, that four years ago he thought would never live again, that two months ago he thought could never be again. Song Lan sighed happily, sweeping his gaze over the group of laughing, happy people. A word came to mind, another thing he thought he had lost for good, long ago. Family.

Song Lan and Xingchen said their good nights after dinner, retreating back to their room. The moonlight peaked through the curtains, washing one side of Xingchen’s face with a glow Song Lan couldn’t help but reach for, brush with the back of his hand. Xingchen leaned into the touch, humming contentedly.

They settled into bed, Song Lan closing his eyes but keeping the image of Xingchen’s bright, laughing face in mind even as he began to doze.

“Zichen?” a soft whisper came from next to him. Without opening his eyes, he reached over and combed his fingers through Xingchen’s hair, letting him know he was listening, a small sigh, “I’m glad we’re going to speak with Wen-gongzi. He seems… he seems like he might be just the person to help.”

And if Song Lan had somehow forgotten, if the pleasant evening had somehow drawn out of his mind, exactly why he and Xingchen had approached Wen Qionglin earlier, how there could be anything wrong, any problem that Wen Qionglin’s specialzed techniqus could address, anything more to wish for than to be here, with his Xingchen in his arms? Then the sobbing scream in the middle of the night, the quiet shaking sobs which followed in a belated attempt to keep Song Lan from waking, the hours of patting small circles into Xingchen’s back until the shaking stopped, and exhaustion lulled him back into a still fitful sleep? Xingchen would claim he didn’t remember his dream. He never did. But Song Lan would. As much as Wen Qionglin could help Song Lan speak, he hoped he could also help Xingchen talk.

--

They met in Wen Qionglin’s rooms. Song Lan had visited his friend in many temporary offices over the past couple of years, always set up just as carefully and neatly whether it was an inn more used to housing locals sleeping off hangovers than traveling cultivators, or the extravagant rooms he was provided when visiting Cloud Recesses. Scrolls piled up neatly on the table, medicines brewing merrily in the corner. Song Lan understood the feeling of picking up loose threads. Shuanghua’s weight still pressed against his back. He recognized the drive to make something meaningful out of unfinished work left behind. He clutched Xingchen’s hand harder, selfishly grateful that his loved one was back by his side, while Wen Qing’s presence was only felt in the décor which mimicked what Song Lan remembered of the Yiling Supervisory Office.

“Zichen, it’s ok. Don’t be nervous.” Xingchen said quietly, lacking any context to understand what had affected his partner. Song Lan could only squeeze Xingchen’s fingers in reply, thanking him for the reassurance even if misplaced.

They sat at the table across from Wen Qionglin, each with a cup of tea set before them.

“Should we begin?” Wen Qionglin asked, breaking the silence, which had probably only felt tense to Song Lan, given the earnest and gentle smiles on Wen-gongzi’s and Xingchen’s faces respectively. Song Lan squeezed Xingchen’s hand twice for yes and nodded to Wen Qionglin, as Xingchen agreed aloud.

“Mmm. Ok. Song-daozhang, I know you have already heard all this, but I want to explain how this will work to Xiao-daozhang, and either of you can ask any questions, ok?” They each offered their agreement again, “Good. Ok, so as I’m sure you both know, my branch of the Wen clan focused on healing, and what we will be doing today, and for as many sessions as seem helpful to you, will be a sort of healing that we were not allowed to practice openly for many years, as the… as the main family prioritized physical or spiritual based injuries over mental ones.” Wen Qionglin took a breath, looking towards the scrolls on his table regretfully, “Since I… since I have been able to, I’ve been trying to relearn a lot of these techniques. They are not perfect but… well, they seem to help people.” Wen Qionglin finished, looking up to meet Song Lan’s eyes. Song Lan nodded encouragingly. Wen Qionglin smiled weakly, “Well, as I know he’s told you, Xiao-daozhang, Song-daozhang was one of my first patients under these techniques and… and I’m glad he’s pleased enough with them to think they might help you both now as well.”

Xingchen, who had been nodding eagerly throughout Wen Qionglin’s explanation, spoke, “. I thank you for everything you’ve done for Zichen over the years. And we thank you for agreeing to meet with us. I look forward to getting started.”

Wen Qionglin smiled back, but it was a faltering one, “I appreciate your enthusiasm, Xiao-daozhang, but I do have to warn you, these techniques, they’re not always easy. In this space, you have to think of me as your doctor, not your friend. These techniques work best when these sessions are the only relationship I have with the patients, but given the circumstances, it’s me or it’s no one.” Wen Qionglin’s smile held a touch of sadness, “I will be asking things of you that you might not want to answer or do. You can always say no, and I won’t stop you from leaving, but know I’m always coming from a place of trying to help. You can trust me or not, either is ok, but the techniques work best when you do trust, so please let me know if there is anything stopping you, and I will do my best.” Wen Qionglin offered a small bow at this, at which Song Lan responded with the same, tapping the space between Xingchen’s shoulder blades gently to signal that it was a moment for him to do the same.

“I understand, Wen-gongzi, and appreciate the warning.” Xingchen answered from his bow, “I am ready to get started, so long as Zichen is ready as well?”

Zichen had no concerns beyond the ones they were there to address, and so they began.

--

Wen Qionglin was good at what he did. Song Lan had long accepted that no one could resist opening up to Wen-gongzi’s earnest face, his patient silences, his gentle pressing when his patient needed to reconsider or reframe their questions or thoughts.

The sessions had been going well, Song Lan thought. Xingchen was naturally a trusting person himself, and it wasn’t long before Song Lan thought Wen Qionglin was mostly up to date with what Xingchen was struggling with. His struggles to readapt to loud spaces, coping with a body that was only slowly getting back to being as responsive as he remembered, sleep disruptions from nightmares, and so on.

Through a combination of these sessions and the general peaceful atmosphere of the farm, Xingchen seemed to get ever closer to his ordinary self. He had more good days than bad, now eager and able to help with even the most physically taxing of farm chores. He rarely if ever had to leave a situation due to overstimulation, a milestone which Wen Qionglin celebrated with them when Song Lan brought it up. They had fallen into a routine - a comfortable routine. The Juniors had left for the lectures at Cloud Recesses. Hanguang-Jun and Wei Wuxian now spent less time at the farm, attending to various duties elsewhere but returning regularly for their guqin lessons. Either they or Wen Qionglin were always at the farm, sometimes all three at once, and so there was never a moment when Song Lan and Xingchen were completely lacking an interpreter. One was needed less and less frequently now, though, only truly being needed when Song Lan was particularly eager to share one of his new poems with Xingchen. He did not yet have quite the literary vocabulary he would need on the guqin to share his writing otherwise. Song Lan knew Xingchen still had nightmares, but they didn’t seem to interrupt his sleep too much any more, and since Xingchen told him he never remembered the dreams, there didn’t seem to be too much harm. Song Lan was content, proud of his partner for overcoming so much, for coming back to him.

Song Lan sometimes wondered if Wen Qionglin’s weekly sessions were even still necessary. Time passed strangely on the farm. An evening could last forever, but the weeks flew by: it always seemed that it was time for another session. Maybe the sessions could be reduced to monthly, like Song Lan’s had been after his first year? He suggested this to Xingchen, who smiled and said he would bring it up with Wen Qionglin.

And so, Song Lan settled into place, relaxing as Xingchen opened their next session saying, “I feel like things are going well, and Zichen and I thank you for all you have done, Wen-gongzi.” Song Lan passively observed Wen Qionglin’s soft nods and hums to indicate that he was listening, mostly thinking about the new guqin words he had learned that day rather than the session at hand. Xingchen went on, “Zichen and I have been talking and… well, we know it must be a lot of trouble to come all the way out here so often, and still have to travel to all your other patients.”

“Don’t worry, Xiao-daozhang. It’s no trouble.” Wen Qionglin replied pleasantly in the pause Xingchen left open.

Xingchen smiled, nodding in response, “You are kind to say so. We just… we were wondering whether given how things are going, we should reduce the sessions? Make them once a month, rather than once per week?”

Wen Qionglin leaned forward, eyebrows scrunching together, tilting his head as he rested his elbows on the table, “We can talk about rearranging the sessions if you want, but... What do you mean by ‘how things are going,’ Xiao-daozhang?”  

Song Lan raised his head, blinking in surprise. He hadn’t expected any push back on this. He felt Xingchen’s arm tense next to him, but he replied, “I just mean,” Zichen, now at full attention, didn’t fail to notice Xingchen’s Adam’s apple bob as he gulped, “Zichen and I, we’re… we’re doing better, I think.” Zichen wanted to help here, Xingchen never really liked talking this directly about his overall wellbeing. But Wen Qionglin had made it clear early in their sessions that if he directed a question at one of them, the other should not intervene.

Wen Qionglin remained silent, waiting. He clearly didn’t find Xingchen’s explanation satisfactory. It was painful to sit there, waiting, watching Xingchen bite his lip, looking for words to explain, to say he was ok, to tell Wen Qionglin they didn’t need as much help as they had needed at first.

“I…” Xingchen finally said, after what felt like a whole session’s worth of time, though Song Lan knew it had only been a minute or two, “I… haven’t felt as overstimulated recently?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Wen Qionglin responded, encouraging, acknowledging, but still not accepting this as a complete answer.

“I- I think… I…”

This was too much. Song Lan raised a hand, ready to sign a rather terse What more do you want? at Wen Qionglin, but had barely signed the first word before Wen Qionglin shot him a glance, still gentle, still patient, but obviously a warning. Song Lan lowered his hand, resting it onto the fist Xingchen held clenched on his thigh.

“I… feel ok?” Xingchen tried, “Most of the time?” Faint pink spots started to appear on the cloth over his eyes as he was once again met with frustrating silence. Song Lan could tell from the frown on Wen Qionglin’s face that this wasn’t what he was looking for either. Song Lan eyed the guqin lying next to him and wondered how Wen Qionglin would react if he offered Xingchen a few comforting chords, which would be incomprehensible to Wen Qionglin.

Wen Qionglin sighed, apparently convinced that whatever he was waiting for wasn’t going to come out without some prompting, “That’s good, Xiao-daozhang.” He emphasized, his praise genuine, “I can see that you have both worked very hard and have progressed a lot. I’m just worried that reducing our sessions now would be too… too soon.”

“Too soon…?” Xingchen asked, his whole body seeming to stiffen beside Song Lan, who had been unable to resist signing Why? himself.

Wen Qionglin took a deep breath, then asked bluntly, “Why does Song-daozhang still carry Shuanghua for you, Xiao-daozhang?”

Song Lan blinked, startled. He had become so used to Shuanghua over these past four years that it had become almost second nature to strap it alongside Fuxue to his back, as he had done since Hanguang-Jun first placed it in his hands, as he had done without Xingchen asking any time Xingchen left it in its place instead of strapping it to his own back in the morning. Now that Wen Qionglin brought it up, however, he realized two things. First, it had been weeks since Xingchen had carried Shuanghua, had even so much as touched Shuanghua, himself. Song Lan realized with a shock that Xingchen that he could not remember Xingchen wearing the sword since they had been in Cloud Recesses. Second, and more disturbing, Xingchen did not object to Wen Qionglin’s question. He did not try to explain or laugh it away with an easy “oh, I guess I just got out of the habit.” Instead, he had slumped, had pulled his hand out from under Song Lan’s, had turned away but not before Song Lan could see the clenched jaw, the pink spots over his eyes becoming more saturated, more red.

“Xiao-daozhang,” Wen Qionglin said evenly, “Xiao-daozhang, I think we might have more we should talk about. What do you think?”

Silence, stillness. And then a nod. Small, slight, but there.

A hesitating smile from Wen Qionglin, “Good. We can end here for today if you would like? I know we only just started but we can resume tomorrow morning after you have-“

“Why?” Xingchen’s uncharacteristically bitter tone pierced through Song Lan’s heart, but he didn’t know whether he should reach for Xingchen again, after his partner had pulled away from him so firmly.

Wen Qionglin did not have to wait nearly as long this time for Xingchen to elaborate. “Why do I…? I do feel better. I do! And you have all been so kind.” A slow, careful swallow, “And it is so wonderful here. And Zichen,” Xingchen’s voice hitched and he extended a hand, reaching, finding Song Lan’s, “Zichen, you have learned a whole language. Just for me. And I am grateful. I truly am. I don’t have anything more I want. I shouldn’t…”

Song Lan reached for the wet cloths Wen Qionglin always was sure to have available during their sessions, touching it to the back of Xingchen’s hand to let him know what he was about to do before reaching to wipe the red tracks now running down the other’s cheeks.

“Let’s go back to what you feel.” Wen Qionglin said, pulling Xingchen back, “Not why, not should or shouldn’t. Just what.”

Xingchen took a deep breath, “I’m… I don’t know. I feel,” he pursed his lips, squeezing Song Lan’s hand in a mirror gesture to Song Lan’s way of apologizing to him. Xingchen bowed his head, “I feel afraid.”

Every muscle in Song Lan’s body tensed at these words.

“Of what?” Wen Qionglin pressed.

“I… I don’t know.” Xingchen answered, his breaths coming more quickly, one after the other, “I just… I shouldn’t… I mean, I should… sorry…” He sounded exhausted.

Song Lan shot Wen Qionglin a look from beneath lowered brows, before shifting to place a hand to rub small circles into Xingchen’s shaking back. Xingchen let the hand support him but the breaths were still short, shallow. Wen Qionglin seemed to agree with Song Lan that it was time to calm things down, nodding back to Song Lan, saying, “Xiao-daozhang, let’s take some deep breaths together.” Xingchen nodded and Song Lan could feel, could hear the shuddering slow inhale his partner took. His heart ached for him, wishing he could help, but barely understanding what was wrong. Wen Qionglin had sometimes pushed back in his own one on one sessions with him over the years, but usually those were about training in new ways of thinking, not in objecting over the necessity of the treatment in the first place. Xingchen had said he was ok, so wasn’t he?

Wen Qionglin kept talking, voice steady and soothing, “Good. I… I want you to know. I think we’ll be able to get to the root of this with some more hard work, though, ok?”

Xingchen nodded, his breathing becoming steadier even as Song Lan reached for another cloth.

“Ok,” Wen Qionglin smiled, “I think we should end here for today, if you feel ok leaving it here for now?”

“I think so,” Xingchen said, voice husky.

Wen Qionglin chewed his lip.

Song Lan frowned, What is it? He signed. Xingchen turned to him and tilting his head in confusion at the loss of Song Lan’s touch. Wen-gongzi wants to say something, Song Lan explained with a few quick guqin chords before returning his hands to Xingchen’s hand and his back.

Wen Qionglin sighed and sent Song Lan a look that could only be interpreted as apologetic, “Xiao-daozhang, how would you feel about doing the next session just with the two of us?”

Song Lan gaped at Wen Qionglin, grip tightening on Xingchen’s hand.

A squeeze, another apology, from Xingchen, who replied, “I think that might be a good idea.”

Next: Chapter 6, Bliss: Life on the mountain now seemed more like a story he knew rather than a memory he had lived.

Also: sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out! It turned out to be more challenging than I expected, alongside ongoing studying. I'm not going to commit to a specific timeline going forward, but just know I am always working on the next chapter so keep an eye out!

[comicteaparty]

February 22nd-February 28th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from February 22nd, 2020 to February 28th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

How do you deal with people shipping non-canon ships for your story?

Deo101 [Millennium]

To be completely honest, I've only had one person ever ship a non canon/endgame thing. I kinda just ignored it. I think I would in general just ignore it, no matter how many people did ship a non canon thing. But it does make me uncomfortable

carcarchu

I once had a professor tell me "once you release your story to the world it no longer belongs to you" and i think he was right. once your story is shared with others it can no longer be said to be solely your creation anymore. you can't stop other people from shipping non-canon ships and even if you want to discourage it it's kind of beyond your hands at that point. other people's interpretations of your work is something you have to accept as a creator even if you find it unsavoury

Tuyetnhi

this is always in the back of my mind so uh, I let folks be and try not to search up fandom pics of my comic. at the US at least, I remember reading that creators who are currently writing/creating a story and it's not up to completion, anything like viewing fanart or reading fanfiction of alternative interpretations is not advised. So you have to stow it away till the story is thoroughly done, then you can just check out what fans are doing rip. I think it's aimed towards creators who have like NDA thing they're working on or if they're working with a publisher. still, I thought that's an important thing to keep in mind.

though I do get folks send me like single character fanart and really doesn't interfer with the story anyway so I accept those lmao

carcarchu

@Tuyetnhi that's for creators to not get sued for having their story turn out similar to people's fanfics

Tuyetnhi

aahhh :0

still er lmao. if the possibility is there, I rather not uh.... seek it lmao

especially like shipping fanfiction of my characters when the story isn't over yet lmao

eli [a winged tale]

I totally agree carcarchu. Readers can interpret character interactions through their own lenses and sometimes what we as creators intend in the story may be seen as a potential ship to varying degrees. I actually just had a conversation about this within my beta circle where a friend who hasn’t seen the whole script shipped a non canon pair and it was interesting! I personally don’t feel disturbed by it unless the pair had a large age difference/can potentially be unhealthy etc. There is a threshold I won’t cross but that tends to be quite high. Otherwise I just think it’s interesting and continue the actual story

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

I haven't come across this with mine yet, but given that my story is deliberately non-romantic and the whole cast is aroace, I wouldn't be comfortable with anyone shipping any characters romantically. But that's very specific to my comic.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

To me, there are four levels of "non-canon" with regards to shipping. 1. You were supposed to ship this and get disappointed, so good job. The obvious example is the Mizuki-Cahe-Pejiba love triangle. Mizuki x Pejiba doesn't work out in the end, but it's not like it was a non-viable ship - if Mizuki x Pejiba wasn't compelling at all, it wouldn't have been much of a love triangle, now would it? 2. Didn't think of it myself, but I get the dynamic you're going for. One surprisingly common ship in the shipping contest poll was Taci x Coruby, which isn't a ship I was deliberately teasing... but, like, I get it? Coruby is outgoing, loyal, and makes lots of dad jokes. Taci is prickly, self-absorbed, backstabbing, and was (is? probably is) literally afraid of dad jokes. I can definitely see why people would want to see more of that dynamic. 3. ...Why? An example of this is Zaxaty x Mr. Enetoro, which showed up in the poll. Even ignoring the bad age gap (22 vs 50 which is like... all right... she's half your age but ok...) and the sexuality incompatibility (Zaxaty's only into women, Enetoro's not into anyone)... these two have literally never spoken to each other either on or off screen. Literally what drew you to this pairing??? Like I'd almost believe it was a mis-click on the poll over anyone actually thinking these two work together. 4. Bad, bad, very very bad. AKA "they're related", "one's underage", and/or "i know exactly why you want this ship, and I don't like it". For a while during the shipping poll's running, the third place ship was Mizuki x Nothing. First off, the age gap there is pretty gross, but I guess I can't expect readers to know that (Nothing is an immortal demon, but relative to other demons it's a kid so... someone's underage there). And second... I know exactly why people were shipping Mizuki with the giant demon that uses tendrils to mind control people, and I do not like that dynamic.

As for what I do about the ships in #3 or #4... so far, nothing, because they've been contained to the poll. If someone drew actual art of them, though, I'd probably tell them to stop, and I for sure wouldn't post the art on my fan-art page.

kayotics

I don’t have a very present fandom, at least in the sense that there’s any amount of shipping that’s unexpected. Or maybe it’s tucked away? I think the people who read my comic aren’t ones who make their own content. Either way, I’m pretty ok with shipping non-canon ships. I’d encourage it, really. I love the idea of people having fun with my characters in a way I didn’t expect. As for ships that are taboo... as long as they’re not hurting real people, I just don’t want to see it really or be made to be part of it. It would make me uncomfortable.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, how pushy/not pushy they are with Weird Ships is a big factor for me as well.

As long as they keep it to themselves, they can ship all the ships they want, no matter how icky. I'd prefer to not know if it's really icky.

So far there is only one Potentially Viable ship in my comic, though. And that Viable ship is very, very important to me. So if anyone ships one of the involved characters with someone else, I would seriously hope it's not because I've failed to develop the Viable Ship in a compelling manner. People are free to ship whoever, but don't let that be because of my own failure as a storyteller?

I've actually had anti-shippers against that Viable ship though lol, which may be relevant to the topic. What do you do when you get vocal anti-shippers of canon ships

I do think it is related, like another variation of "people sticking to their own thing with regards to ships."

kayotics

As a shipper: any crack ships I come up with is usually just because I like to explore the dynamic. Some people are more extreme about hating ships but... idk it’s probably just because they don’t like one of the characters for some reason

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Believable crackships can be a lot of fun to observe, as a non-shipper. Like I look at this amazingly well-written crackship and I'm like, wow, this is sorcery

sagaholmgaard

I haven't had it happen yet (my comic is less than a year old and doesn't have a lot of followers haha) But I'm really open about shipping! Much like @kayotics I would probably encourage it. I'm personally aroace and in my original writing I like to explore non-romantic relationships, but I know the appeal of shipping and tbh i ship my own ocs that aren't canon to the story/don't get explored in the comic because they're background characters for whatever reason. It would be genuinely fun to see if other people started exploring those ships on their own! Or things I haven't thought about! If something made me really uncomfortable, I would likely ignore it. If someone tried to get their non-canon ship to become canon that would be worse, no matter if i personally liked the ship or not, lol.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, people need to respect boundaries, always

kayotics

Yeah, definitely. It wouldn’t make me uncomfortable unless someone was trying to break into my personal boundaries

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

It doesn’t happen so much currently with Phantomarine, because I just don’t have enough shippable characters yet (related, underage, or otherwise just kinda squicky). I wonder what will happen when I introduce more. But as long as people are interacting with my characters in a fun healthy way, but still respect my choices in the end, they can ship away in any (legal) direction. It’s honestly not a ship-heavy story. It’s far more about friendship and healing and rebuilding strength/trust after trauma - if any shipping were to happen, it would probably be in a sequel or continuation when everyone is... feeling a lot better

DanitheCarutor

Depends on the characters. 90% of the time I don't care, I may even make jokes. There's nothing wrong with people wanting to see my hideous characters getting together, although there are two things that would make me a little salty. 1. If there is a scene going on that I want readers to take seriously. Such as if there is a part in the story where someone is overwhelmed and having a mental break down, then another character comes over to help calm them down. It would be kinda rude to get a bunch of comments screaming "KISS THEM!", "KISS NOW!" Although that could just be me being a stick in the mud. 2. Anything involving Julian. They are currently not mentally stable enough to properly consent to any romantic endeavors, so when people try to ship other characters with them it's a little... eeeeh! Kinda non-con, and it feels a little gross. I try not to get on anyones ass about these, realizing no one means any harm, they may not even be full aware of the situation. (Especially with Julian since they're still functional enough to talk to people sometimes and hold down a job.) Normally I leave the comments be, they just kinda irk me sometimes.

em.rowene

Honestly, I think I'd be flattered to see more fan interaction with Fractured Magic. Even if it's a ship I don't really get, it would just be nice to know people are engaged with the story and like my characters enough to interact with them beyond just reading (though this answer's definitely coming from a place of having been publishing it only half a year and not having a huge readerbase yet) Someone making fanfic with my characters is actually a major goal of my writing, but I agree with the above people who said reading it before the story's done probably isn't a good idea. I don't think there's much legal risk to it (I actually wrote a major paper on this in law school) - there's only been one case even remotely analogous in the US. Someone wrote a Rocky fan script and sent it to the writers, and then the next Rocky movie had a similar plot and the person sued. The judge said if you make a derivative work (like fanfic), you can't sue the creators of the original copyright for infringement. But I do think it would be bad form bc it is really easy to be influenced by stuff like fanfiction of your own story, even if you don't mean to be

Mei

Thankfully I haven't had to deal with people shipping my characters from MHIAC with anybody else. But that's mostly because I've only actually introduced the two main characters, who are husbands, and one friend. I think it'd be super interesting to see how people view the character relationships once I introduce more of the cast. I'd be really curious too! I mean, I don't want people to try and break up the canon couple that's for sure... but I guess all the side characters are fair game for shipping if people choose to. I'd honestly be super flattered if people shipped any of my characters, it would feel like I'm doing something right. As long as there's no NSFW stuff because boy that'd make me uncomfortable.

chalcara

Shipping‘s fan stuff and just for fan, as long as you do it in your own space, go hog-wild. Have fun! Not gonna watch/read/view it, but have fun! People taking their headcanons as fact for the main-comic might end up a problem, but I‘ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

So far, I've only had people ship the canon main couple, so I haven't had problems yet. But honestly, I don't care who the readers ship for the most part, unless it's gross and/or illegal. For example, if they are related or underage... Other than that, I don't mind. It's all in good fun

Deo101 [Millennium]

I actually wanna add on to my comment: non canon ships only make me uncomfortable if they go against the Characters sexuality, or if it's an abusive ship or illegal. If it's not one of those then it doesn't bother me! My Characters are generally friends so I totally get someone wanting to ship two who won't be endgame

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I dunno. I just can't be bothered by stuff like that for multiple reasons. 1) Most of my characters don't talk about their sexuality in the comic. 2) Because of setting and time period, everyone expects everyone to be straight (which of course isn't true). 3) And I don't think readers typically mean anything bad by shipping people with each other that won't be together (again, unless it's gross or illegal).

One of my characters, for example, is aroace, but he doesn't even know that's a thing, because sexuality and mental health is not understood in this time period. So of course he hasn't mentioned that he's aroace at all. He is married to a woman, because of societal expectations, so likely he will be shipped with her. But their relationship is horrible, and it was definitely a marriage of convenience. So if readers decide to ship him with other people, I can't fault them, because they simply do not know.

Him being aroace is only in the subtext and in my heart.

Deo101 [Millennium]

I make my Characters sexualities pretty clear, so I consider it akin to homophobia to want to see my gay man with a lesbian

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

In your case, it's definitely a bit different, because you have made it obvious.

Capitania do Azar

Too bad @Deo101 [Millennium] i am preparing problematic ships right now (no I'm not)

I don't care about what people would ship, and I would be curious as to why people think this or that pair could work it's a very interesting way to see how people are interpreting the story and the characters

Deo101 [Millennium]

LMAO

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I'm definitely scared of people shipping incestual relations in my comic, because there is a situation where characters are related, but it isn't known to the audience (yet)

And I really don't want that mistake to be made

Deo101 [Millennium]

Lia/luke shippers before the last star wars movie came out...

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yep

I'm like... soooo nervous right now

I can just feel the bad ships encroaching

Capitania do Azar

If people don't know can you blame them?

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I think it's only bad if the ships persist after it's revealed

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I can't blame them, but I just don't want to think about it

sagaholmgaard

ack, good luck cronaj! I wanted to add that when it comes to shipping and canon sexualities i'm the same boat as you cronaj. I have my own idea that my main characters are pan and ace respectively, but it doesn't come up in the comic and they don't have the lingo for it during this time period, so I can't blame readers for making up their own headcanons and ships

I have comic ideas that are a lot more centered around sexuality and getting into a relationship. If i ever make them happen I'm sure I would mind a lot more it people's ships went against the characters' canon sexualities

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Lol, haha, I also have a pan character whose sexuality isn't revealed in comic XD

Like... A little bit of subtext, but not explicitly said

FeatheryJustice

I actually don't mind people shipping things in my comic that is non canon, because it just proves people read my comics. I myself love crack pairings and dumb things, so I treat their ships like crack pairings. I think an example in Teasday was someone joking about shipping Vander with Spyder, two characters who never met and I was like "Haha that's funny." Because it just proves they read my comic to even know the names at least.

Capitania do Azar

They never met but... If they did

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I've had more readers want to date the characters themselves then ship them with another character, so it's hard to have a solid thought on how I'd feel with ships so far That being said however, i don't really mind ppl shipping as long as it's respectful to me and the readers boundaries. There's been people honestly wanting more interactions between characters that aren't shippable in my eyes, so i most likely would advert them if i saw ships i didn't agree with. That said, go wild!

Kat - The Yuri Canon

I get a lot of non-canon shipping, mostly because there are so many possibilities. Mostly I allow it, as long as they don't get too extreme or overly sexualize my characters. But I did have to stop some when they kept insisting my Ace go out with one of my characters. I finally had to say it just wasn't happening.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Its never happened to me, but if it did that would be fine I guess. I’m not about to change plans in how I write the story to spontaneously put characters together unless there was good chemistry maybe

I would be happy overall that people were engaging with my characters on that level

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I have only had one single ship comment in the 14 years I’ve been doing webcomics, and it was over a decade ago. But it was also an intensely uncomfortable one, where a reader was trying to ship my 14yo gay character with an adult female villain. Needless to say I put the brakes on that right away, and have never had a ship comment since.

But secretly I wish readers did occasionally ship my adult characters, because so long as they don’t get toxic, I think non canon shipping can be fun. If the reader doesn’t demand their ship be made canon or fight with people shipping a different pairing, I’d be all for it.

Ash🦀

Honestly I would love to see ships. I've never really had an audience for Foxes with Machine Guns, so seeing people care that much? I think I'd just be grateful. TBH I cried when I got a comment so someone having a whole ship? Of My OCs?? I'd probably end up sobbing like an idiot. They're all adults, ship away, you have my blessing.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

I personally love shipping, and in regards to my comic, I'm excited, but also nervous. I have a main ship that I push myself that so far a lot of readers have been really receptive to (Merlow/Nocturne <3). I also have a few more ships coming up... but in the meantime, I like to see theories, but I worry that either a) the ships I end up with will make folks unhappy, or b) folks will ship things that ignore a character's established orientation. Like, it's fairly clear Diana is a lesbian, but I already had a casual suggestion from a rl reader of her and Merlow getting together and I'm like. N no. No please. Please, just let them be besties, they will be best friends I promise but Merlow is not a lady.(edited)

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

See, I don't care about people having ~gross~ ships. I might not want to hear about it -- and if you expect it to become canon, you're probably out of luck -- but if a reader enjoys imagining or exploring it on their own time? I'm not gonna police them over that.

Just because a thing is illegal to do IRL, that doesn't mean it's illegal to imagine it or write about it. (If it was, I'd be in a whole lot of trouble...)

...not that it's really come up, since with my comics it seems like most people are happy to go with the canon mostly-healthy ships anyway, but.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Same with shipping against orientation -- if some reader wants to imagine an AU where the character realizes they've been bi the whole time after all, why not? The canon representation you wrote is still there. It's not gonna be compromised or erased unless you write that happening.

(And if the reader's imagination is more like "everyone is actually straight and some people, including these characters, just get temporarily confused"...I mean, at that point they have waaaay bigger problems than which webcomic characters they like to imagine kissing.)

kayotics

I think I gotta agree with Erin here. I’m not gonna police what people want to imagine. It’s not my business. They can do what they like in their free time.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I assume most of "I don't want X" folks mean "I don't want to see X." I can't even imagine policing what people do in their own time! I mean, what are you gonna do, be like the NYC library parking sign?

(That sign is real and I have seen it)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

"I don't want to see X" is definitely true for me

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Yeah, any time someone's clear that they mean "I don't want to see X" or "I don't want readers telling me about X", that's a different story!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

And if said illegal/gross ships are perpetuated on the internet, I'll probably try to step in

ESPECIALLY WITH UNDERAGE CHARACTERS

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

...see, that's getting back into "policing what random people do with their free time" territory.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I WILL FIGHT YOU

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

um, there's a difference between things you do on your free time, and things you post where children can see

it's an important distinction

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I specifically have one character who is a small child who I do not want to see in ANY romantic situations

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I mean, we don't have psychic filters on "check this box to confirm that you are over 18" filters, so in theory "children can see" just about anywhere...

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

unless, of course, the character is aged up significantly

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

And cute ships with young characters having crushes on each other have been around since forever.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

oh young characters having crushes on each other is one thing

but there are far worse things on the internet

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yes

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Right, but we're talking about "shipping" as a general thing, which includes the cute crushes.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I don't want any weird pedo crap

keep that aaaaawaaaaay from my characters thank you

Deo101 [Millennium]

on the subject of what people do in their free time, it's pretty obvious that I can't control what people are doing but that doesnt mean I support any free time activities.

I

I'm not gonna say I'm okay with adults shipping adults and children even if they do it where no one can see

like they CAN and I can't stop them but I wont say i'm okay with it just because I can't control it

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Sure, but, we're not talking about any "free time activities" -- we're talking about people using their imaginations. That doesn't cause me any harm. And if nobody ever sees it? Geez, plenty of people have waaaay darker thoughts than that in the privacy of their own heads.

Deo101 [Millennium]

I think it causes harm to how they interact with the world, though. and just because it could be worse doesnt mean it's okay

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

If they are interacting with the world in a specific harmful way, that would be a thing we can discuss on its own merits!

FeatheryJustice

I feel like if you police people from not doing something, they want to do it more.

So by not drawing attention to it, it might be a better move? For Ships, if someone ships something you don't like, don't draw attention to it kinda thing?

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Also true!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think "I won't say I'm okay with it" and "I will actively make an effort to police it" are two very different things?

You can definitely have this... area where the distinction isn't clear

FeatheryJustice

For example, if someone is like "Don't draw this character as X because I don't like it" People might do it because you said something?

People are weird, I wish they will listen to author wises but not everyone will.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I mean, yeah, but "I won't make an effort to police it because that would be physically impractical" is also different from "I won't make an effort to police it because that's not my job."

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Well, if they do that, then they are an asshole(edited)

because they aren't respecting the creator's barriers

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

@FeatheryJustice Not spreading ideas you don't like in the first place is a smart move, yeah. Put your energy into promoting and spreading the things that make you happy.

FeatheryJustice

Yeah! Promoting things that make you happy might be better. Like "I like the fact you guys enjoy drawing my characters" Something like that that's more positive

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Sure, they can do it, but if you do something like that, which is also illegal in most countries, then you are disrespecting the creator, the character(s), and the law

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Wait, what are people doing that's illegal?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) Today at 11:19 PM And if said illegal/gross ships are perpetuated on the internet, I'll probably try to step in ESPECIALLY WITH UNDERAGE CHARACTERS

FeatheryJustice

Oh yeah that's something different. That's just illegal.

RebelVampire

I'm just admin stepping in here to remind people to remain respectful. Cause this is the sort of conversation that can quickly go out of hand.

FeatheryJustice

Got it Rebel

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Doing bad things is illegal. Writing about bad things happening isn't illegal. (Again: I have written fiction about soooo many illegal-to-actually-do things.)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I think there is a difference between writing about a terrible thing happening and putting it in a negative light and shipping pedophilia(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

I think writing about underage characters with the intent for sexual pleasure counts as CP

FeatheryJustice

I mean drawing and writing about murder is okay, actual going out and murdering someone is not okay. But I think for this context we are looking at something that is a bit more worrying.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

But I wouldn't want to read a story where murdering for pleasure is glorifed either

FeatheryJustice

Yeah, that's why I think context matters.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

and I frankly think media like that shouldn't be shared with the world

Like, i guess write it and stash it away on your computer somewhere

but don't show it to people

Tuyetnhi

i can hear the police sirens blaring from the sound of someone writing cp lmao

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Lol

FeatheryJustice

Back to talking about shipping (Sorry I got this conversation derailed here), I think there will be people who will never announce their ships as well.

Or have it so open ended no one knows what's what.

And maybe we can brainstorm good ways to tell people we would like them to not ship certain things?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Probably don't say anything unless it does become a visible problem

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

...I get that nobody wants to go into this too closely, and I sure don't either, but I also think someone should say -- legally speaking, a work is only CP if a child is harmed in its creation. If there's a living, human victim. Conflating that with other things is not beneficial to anyone, and can itself be hurtful to survivors.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Honestly, I don't feel the need to warn people not to write inappropriate ships about my underage characters, because it should be common sense not to do such a thing

I really won't say anything about it unless someone actually posts it on the internet

Tuyetnhi

rip I hate to burst it but under us law, even drawn cp is considered illegal

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

^

I think it depends on the country

but in some countries, yes, it is considered CP

RebelVampire

But see that brings in the complecation of international law. If an artist is in the US but the fanartist is in say Japan where they have a much different relationship, whose laws apply?

Tuyetnhi

it depends on the site host i think?

like if it's a US based site

and there's CP there, it's under US law correct?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

the fanartist can't be be punished if they live in a country like Japan where that's legal, but I would still try to contact them and ask that they take it down(edited)

FeatheryJustice

(I wasn't talking about CP in my post I was just like if you don't want these two characters to be shipped together what can you say? Didn't mean to spiral off like that sorry)

RebelVampire

But it might only apply to US citizens. For example, some sites specifically alter themselves so part of their site follows European GDPR laws but tell the americans they suck

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

But that is also the difference between law and site terms

the person might get banned from the site but not sued

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I can't speak for every country, but it's genuinely not illegal in the US -- and, yeah, I don't know why a general discussion about shipping had to go this far either! You don't need to go right to the most disturbing possible interpretation when thinking about hypothetical shippers...

RebelVampire

Yeah. All my point is is blanket saying its illegal just cause it is in the US is inaccurate.

Deo101 [Millennium]

also morals =/= law, and a site is allowed to say no to that even if it is legal

they are not owed a platform

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Individual site TOS can be stricter than national laws, yeah.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) I think the reason people discuss the worst case scenarios is because those scenarios are precisely what they have issues with, as opposed to other kinds of non-canon ships

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) In my case, I mentioned it because that's where I draw the line with shipping. Other stuff, no matter how much I disagree with it, I don't really care enough to do anything about it

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I get that people have those lines in their heads, but when you don't describe the distinction, when you talk about "shipping" as if "everyone should understand that I exclusively means graphic photorealistic sexual content"...that's a big leap to make!

Tuyetnhi

@Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) agreed but er.... I still do believe that the US has a law about drawn CP being illegal. it's something that I found out when I had to help a friend out from a situation (I won't go to details rip)

but yeah it's a big assumption lmao

I know shippers in good faith won't try to push that onto others

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

And it seems unfairly harsh on any shipper with literally any other interests or activities.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Honestly, even if someone only commented about a ship with an adult character with a child character, I would still ask them kindly to delete their comment, or delete it myself

Tuyetnhi

^ye

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

It doesn't have to be a visual representation for me

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

And when you're talking about your own website, I think setting rules like that is completely reasonable.

Deo101 [Millennium]

again, I wont say im okay with it even if it's only in someones head. Just cause theyre not sharing it doesnt mean I'm okay with it

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

If I have the power to remove their comment or report them, I would

but if I don't, I will ask them to refrain from such comments

That's all the power I have

And as @Deo101 [Millennium] said, I also don't have to agree with people's filthy thoughts

Deo101 [Millennium]

I understand they can think them and i cant do anything about it but i wont offer support for it i dont think

RebelVampire

As a reader, I want to second that it's important to distinguish what you mean when you say you don't tolerate specific ships. Obviously, no one think pedophilia is okay and that would be a fine ship to not tolerate. However, if all you say is you don't tolerate specific ships, readers will also jump to the worst conclusion possible, which in this context is you don't tolerate anything that is non-canon (vs. what creators think is the worst possible conclusion when they hear non-canon).

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

see, this sort of thing is exactly why i have four tiers of "non-canon"

Deo101 [Millennium]

please elaborate!

Tuyetnhi

4 tiers? :0

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Oh yes, definitely

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

i mean it's in my post a few days back To me, there are four levels of "non-canon" with regards to shipping. 1. You were supposed to ship this and get disappointed, so good job. 2. Didn't think of it myself, but I get the dynamic you're going for. 3. ...Why? 4. Bad, bad, very very bad.

with more detail explaining specific ships that ended up in my poll that fit into each category(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Even if stuff is noncanon, or goes against a character's canon sexuality, I don't really care, because fan AUs exist

and it's pretty hard to offend me

mostly the pedophilia thing is the only thing I'm passionately against

So yeah, #4 is the only place where my hair stands on end

Deo101 [Millennium]

oh sorry I did read that but I didnt realize thats what you meant by the tiers ^^;

Tuyetnhi

its helpful!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

It is indeed

I read it before, and I still find it useful

I'm sure #1 and #2 is where most of the WotP shippers will reside

And there will definitely be a few #3s

FeatheryJustice

That's very useful, the tiers XD

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

@RebelVampire absurdly late, I know, I just wanted to second that "obviously, no one thinks pedophilia is okay" is really important to keep in mind. No matter what anyone says about any kind of shipping -- people should be able to feel comfortable that nobody's gearing up to call that into question. We're all on the same side with that one.

spacerocketbunny

There's a few characters I'm a little protective over regarding their sexuality, but most of the characters are bi/pan so it's pretty free game! I'm so here for random crack ships honestly

Capitania do Azar

Get ready

AntiBunny

Personally I enjoy seeing what random ideas fans come up with. It's all part of being a creator.

meek

lmao i'll try to get one comment in before the discussion closes As a creator, a lot of my feelings about shipping is related to how I am as a reader/audience member for media? Character dynamics and relationships are one of my favorite things + what'll usually hook me for a series, and definitely exploring relationships that either didn't receive any attention or were completely non-existent in the original material is one of my favorite things to do! And that'll inspire me to create or make certain choices with my original characters based on that "Well, what if [this] happened in that story?" So with that, I don't find myself get super-attached to canon/endgame ships and I'll just do my own thing, regardless. I always respect the original intent when it comes to character's sexuality or preference (unless it's a case of 'everyone's straight' lol), but I'm a rabid multishipper in fandom anyways so I'll carry that energy over to my own works LOL And let it be free for all, even if I have an 'end' goal in mind. After all, I'm the biggest multishipper for my own characters too!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

>I always respect the original intent when it comes to character's sexuality or preference (unless it's a case of 'everyone's straight' lol) @meek Just for the sake of argument, why do you respect the characters' sexualities unless everyone is straight? Personally, I don't mind sexuality swapping in fan ships and such, but I do wonder why there is this specific stipulation for you.

meek

Also input as a reader: sometimes it's good to be completely upfront about where your boundaries are as a creator! And also being explicit about certain character details or relationships can help, because a lot of times readers don't.. really know.. I can't tell you the number of times I've started reading a comic where the ages of the characters are very ambiguous with: - specific ages are never said - the art style is stylized in a way that unless they're explicitly a child or an elderly person, everyone looks like they're the same age - the context clues on their age is limited to.. they worked a minimum wage job - in-story they are treated with the same level of respect and authority status as everyone else around them - characters that are older than them that act the same age and that's led me several times to thinking a character was at least 18-23+ and actually they were supposed to be 14.....

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I assume it's for the same vein of reason why we don't have a Straight Pride Day. This is getting into the weeds though, so I'm very hesitant to approach further

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Sure

meek

The short answer is that there's no harm in adding more gay or trans representation to a work of fiction

but erasing canon gay or trans representation to make it cis or straight is bad and homo/transphobic

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with respecting characters's sexualities or messing around with possibilities, but it just seems rather... odd

meek

also just straight up it's complete white-washed fiction that LGBT or POC did not exist in history until [convenient time here] so acting like you're being "historically accurate" by exempting them is just.. bad

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Well, depending on location, that would be incorrect

But again, I'm not particularly upset to see "straight" characters depicted as gay(edited)

meek

well i'm a queer nb person so i've encountered innumerable works of fiction where everyone is straight, cis, and white so i'd much rather diversify that then perpetuate it

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

You're not wrong about there being a numerous amount of straight, cis, and yes, white characters in media

But I feel like it's destructive to society as a whole to suddenly decide to be more courteous toward LGBTQ+ groups than toward straight people

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

This is getting too political for me and I feel it could get out of control quickly

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Maybe it is political

You don't have to participate

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It also feels off topic

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

But I think it's important to politely discuss it

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Maybe not in this channel specifically

meek

i'm going to be honest, i feel incredibly uncomfortable to be asked to continue this conversation

if you want to talk more, then write a DM but this has nothing to do with the main part of my comment or the topic for this channel

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

If you feel uncomfortable, then I respect your decision not to continue this discussion

I've said my piece

Spring-heeled Jack

Jumping in before this closes: I'm not there yet but I'm in the camp of "whatever floats your boat!" If someone ships my characters I think I'll be flattered that they are that invested in them to have those feelings. But also I'm super new to this and the only comment so far is my friend jokingly saying she ships herself with one character.

Ash🦀

I'm in the same boat as Spring-heeled Jack- the idea that people would even be invested enough would be flattering, yes. It would be really cool, but I doubt it will happen since there's a limited cast and it's not a romance. I do have personal ships, but since romance isn't a factor, shippers... Just won't be canon, kinda no matter what they ship. Maybe if my story was more romance-centered I'd care more, but as it is... Do what you want, it's not going to hurt my feelings if you think Ren and the Oni would be a power couple or whatever.

kayotics

I’m just gonna pop in here and say this: shippers making queer content of (presumably) straight characters is a large part of how I figured out I was queer, because for the most part (especially when I was younger) that doesn’t exist in the public eye.

Spring-heeled Jack

My comic isn't romance based, it's horror but I feel that really good horror is best built off characters you can connect to. So I have some families. I have some married couples. The older two "children" (they are in their 20s) are dating. I made one of my main non-binary and their partner is ace. Another main is a transman. In my heart my characters are all pan anyway so I like just putting them with who I think works best lol

I also low key ship one of my married characters with another character that is coming in later. I do enjoy shipping so I might be biased lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

my comic is pretty romance based, it's not a romance but there are pretty strong romance threads in it, and my characters arent all pan so I feel differently, so I do see why you would feel differently than me on this subject!

Spring-heeled Jack

I can also respect a creator having an idea for a character and not feeling comfy with people going different directions with it.

Ash🦀

Oh definitely- How individuals interact and feel for their characters varies from person to person.

Kabocha

I don't mind people making changes for shipping purposes or shipping non canon stuff -- so long as they don't expect me to change my writing to suit them. And like Snuffysam, I kind of have similar tiers for ships, too. I don't want to (and can't, really) control what other people do, but I'd prefer that if a reader knows it's going to make me upset or something I've expressed wishes against, that they not share it with me. Besides, if what I'm writing doesn't meet their needs, I'd rather see shippers search out, celebrate, and elevate work that better matches the values they idealize in pairings. (and trust me, romance is FULL of it if you look. :D)

Spring-heeled Jack

I thought about my only canonically het character that I have (I only rp him now, I have a comic planned for him down the line) and even with him all I can think is "if someone wants him to kiss a boy, I super don't care."

Ash🦀

Wait, hold on, have people actually asked to change the story based on who they think should get together? Is that a thing people do? (Forgive my ignorance, I’m not really a fandom person? I’m p shy and keep to myself)

FeatheryJustice

I seen it happen. Which in itself is pretty rude soemtimes because people get angry if their ships aren't canon kinda thing

Ash🦀

Oh my. Thank you for the warning then, I’ll keep it in mind. That’s very rude! Would probably fill me with spite, to be honest. The “well now I’m not doing it” haha. I’m... disappointed but not surprised this happens. Still, it won’t change my mind. XD

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I have run into more than one person who hyperfixates on a ship (in any media, not just comics) that's... honestly, truly, never going to happen? Like, a main character crossed with a background character who had no lines and showed up in a single scene. That sort of thing. Then they implode/explode when it doesn't become canon by the end. If it happened for my own work, I don't know what I'd say. Apart from telling people not to put all their eggs in one basket, I guess I fear that kind of manic fanaticism.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Wasn't that the reason behind that infamous blackmail incident, the Voltron one

or am I mixing it up with a different fandom?

Spring-heeled Jack

Looking at fandoms in general, there are people that get over invested and become possessive. It's a shame.

Deo101 [Millennium]

the fact that it could be more than one fandom says a lot, i think :P

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

yeeeeeah ugh

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

If it's not, I'd still believe it (edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Also the needle in the cookie one (though this was given to a fan artist who drew a ship they didn't like, not the actual author)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Hoooooooly hell, I feel like I remember that, but not specifically what it was for. NIGHTMARE SCENARIO.

Deo101 [Millennium]

thought that was because they didnt draw a character fat?

again, the fact it could be multiple things

hugely concerning

Spring-heeled Jack

Just, please, never take consumables (food, drink, ect) from strangers.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, I think the "you didn't draw her fat enough" was a different one

Deo101 [Millennium]

:l

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Scary world we live in -_-

Spring-heeled Jack

There are people who get too invested in things and don't know how to process those feelings. Be smart and careful, but don't let those people stop you from making your comic, art, fanart, or anything.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

ngl, I'm honestly legit scared. Not quite terrified but lowkey fear in my mind... I'm not at all active in con circuits, etc. so I don't think any physical harm will happen to me, but I do worry about potential online harassment.

Deo101 [Millennium]

Me too, to be completely honest

Spring-heeled Jack

Conventions are usually really great. I've been at some for about three years now and everyone has been so kind. Online, however, is more of a concern because people can post anything, it's easier with that distance.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Even with a low likelihood of something happening, common sense is definitely good. Don't take food, have a buddy nearby, have an 'out' if you feel uncomfortable. But yeah, cons seem to be lovely so far. If anyone causes trouble, staff usually does a good job wrangling them

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yeah, I've had great experiences at cons for the most part. A few creepy people that camped out at my table for a bit longer than comfortable, but otherwise it's been great

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Oh yeah The campers. They mean well, but man... they CAMP.

Spring-heeled Jack

I get a lot of lingering people and returning people,. but only once so far did I really have someone just stand there and block others. But he was a bit older and was putting his change in his wallet from a sale, so I didn't want to say anything

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I love the people who return! I usually get people returning the next day to buy something (or to buy more stuff). Those people always seem so invested in my work.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, it's more the online stuff I worry about

o(-<

Deo101 [Millennium]

me too, I've been real lucky to have people mostly be very kind but theres always new fear with new readers, or every new thing i introduce that someone will be mad about it

Spring-heeled Jack

Lemme clarify, returners are okay, but the ones the are weird and linger and block the booth. That makes me a little stressed out

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Oh man, Deo, I can feel those fears in my bones.

Deo101 [Millennium]

ahahha a bunch of new people show up and youre just like thats a lotta people who could be pissed at me huh?

I had someone get very upset with me over something once, in a way i never imagined someone would, and im coming up on a scene I've been planning for like a year now which canonized my characters trans identities, and I worry some people will think i am hmmmmmm doing a bad job

or not the job they want

Spring-heeled Jack

Forget them. Do what you have planned!

Deo101 [Millennium]

yup! but if people do get very upset with me I will still be hurt, even if I think I am really doing the best job I can

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

hard same

I won't bend my story, but I sure as hell will be hurt

Spring-heeled Jack

I understand. I worry that my queer characters aren't queer enough, but then that's a worry I have about myself IRL, sooooooo, I get you

Deo101 [Millennium]

someone once got upset with me over that ;) so i worry about it too

Spring-heeled Jack

It sucks because the opinion of others both don't matter and SUPER matters

Deo101 [Millennium]

or, sorry, they said I was blase my bad

and yeah like, im gonna do what i want but it still sucks when people are mean about it, regardless

which ^ is kind of how I feel about this shipping topic. Im gonna do what I want but Id really prefer people not be upset over not getting what they want.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I think everyone's mileage varies on what 'the right representation' of relationships and characters is. Barring obvious no-nos, I don't think everyone will ever be 100% satisfied. I do very much dread that one person coming into my comments to tell me "You did this character/ship wrong, thus, you are a bad writer, and probably a bad person - gonna write an article about you now kthxbye" At that point, I would just hope enough people come to my side to go "Um... no?" because I would definitely want to recede far into the nearest dark corner and think about what I've done

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah. when I did get that comment of someone kind of telling me off about how Ive chosen to represent things. I really kind of started... not overthinking, because I dont think that worrying about doing a good job and taking comments into consideration is BAD, per se, but I started really worrying about whether or not i DID do something wrong. my friends came to my defense, which was very nice, and the person did actually end up changing their mind and kind of rescinding their comment. I think places like this and having people that support you to back you up when stuff like this happens is really important

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It happened to me and it did absolutely suck. I'm genuinely unsure I can take another one if it happens again

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah idk what I would do if someone went... that hard..

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I think there are some reactions that not even sensitivity readers could predict. Like, things that are so out of left field, but also still make a bit of sense if you really, really stretch your brain? Arguments that would make for excellent thesis papers someday, tbh

Spring-heeled Jack

:( I'm really sorry it hurt you that much, Keii. I know I can say "don't let it get to you" all day but you will feel how you feel when someone pulls that kind of stuff. I hope it doesn't happen again and, if it does, I hope it doesn't hurt you!

I hope it helps to remember that there will probably be many people out there that see your work and see the characters and go "That's me!" or "I feel seen!"

Spring-heeled Jack

<3

We get a new topic tomorrow, yeah?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think so

Spring-heeled Jack

Nice!

[truthbeetoldmedia]

The 100 6x02 "Red Sun Rising" Review

Phase 1: Survive. Phase 2: Populate. It seems like such an easy charge to fulfill but this is The 100 and if this show’s taught us anything, it’s that nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Red Sun Rising opens up 236 years in the past (for those trying to track the timeline: The current in show year is 2281, which means that we are in the year 2045 at the beginning of this episode; 7 years before the apocalypse, 3 years after Diyoza launches a terrorist attack in Washington D.C., 2 years after the Eligus III is sent to the Asteroid Colony and 104 years before the show’s own pilot episode), with Josephine (later revealed to be Josephine Ada Lightborne-and that sounds mighty familiar) and Gabriel Santiago taking in the eclipse.

I can’t emphasize enough how much I loved everything about the opening for this episode. While we spent the Season 6 premiere, Sanctum, waking up our main characters and getting them into their places for the rest of the Season, Red Sun Rising sets up the beginning of a mystery that will, I hope, propel the plot for the episodes to come-and it’s all done in a masterful six minutes of screen time. We discover several important facts in this time:

The Lightbornes are a family of 3: Simone (Mom), Russell (Dad) and Josephine (daughter), a makeup exactly the same as Clarke Griffin’s.

Simone is a doctor, Russell is an astronomer and Josephine is a taxonomist (a biologist that groups organisms into categories).

They’ve only found three evolutionary species on the planet when they arrive: Insecta (insects), Rodentia (rodents) and Reptilia (reptiles).

Jospehine names the planet-Sanctum

Gabriel Santiago is a geneticist (a biologist who studies genes and heredity).

The need for sex for reproduction is implied to be unnecessary as there are “embryos”.

They’ve been on Sanctum for 21 days before the first eclipse happens.

Josephine and Gabriel hear a sonic anomaly.

Russell, the first affected by the eclipse, kills his wife, his daughter and several others.

Gabriel escapes.

Josephine mentions to Gabriel “We both know you’re obsessed with me.”/ Mr. Lightborne states “The last thing I need is a broken-hearted geneticist.”

Whew! That’s a lot of information crammed into a relatively short amount of time, and I believe that it’s all relevant to a broader theory that I’m beginning to develop. I’ll get back to that soon enough, but for now, read on below for my review of Red Sun Rising.

On Planet Alpha (AKA Sanctum):

Sanctum doesn’t seem like much of a refuge for our homeless buddies as we crash back into the present day. Within hours of their arrival our group is attacked by locusts, Shaw is killed in a radiation barrier and Emori is stabbing Murphy in a fit of rage. We return to them in this episode, discussing what made Emori fly off of the handle and almost murder Murphy in the process. They quickly discover, thanks to the book found in the school room in the episode prior (written by one Josephine Ada Lightborne-interesting that), that the plants emit a toxin that causes psychosis in most inhabitants of the planet and Emori was likely the first affected because she fell directly into a pile of them early on. Miller’s immediate solution is to...somehow prevent the air from entering the building they’re in and Echo is quick to help him-handing him jackets to seal the open spaces around the door. The tactic is humorous in its absurdity because that’s not how air flow works, but Miller and Echo (and later Murphy) aren’t the science guys so I’ll give them a pass. Eventually, they come up with a plan to use the cuffs located around the compound to secure themselves, and it’s a solid one, I hope they’ll stick to it (can you tell that they don’t?).

I found it interesting that Echo chose to stay with Emori while Bellamy, Murphy and Clarke are together in the school room and Jackson and Miller are in an upper level, but I’ll explain why in just a bit. Everything about Bellamy screams “Dad!” during the time they spend getting situated, from forcing Murphy to put his cuffs on to holding on to everyone’s keys (although he does entrust his own to Clarke). Bellamy seems to have forgiven Clarke for her betrayal in Season 5, notable when everyone else around her is determined to hold on to their (deserved) anger towards her, after learning from Madi-and confirming with Clarke in the premiere of Season 6, that she did indeed call him everyday to maintain her sanity, but he does seem aware that he can’t force the others to forgive her, even as he comes to her aid.

Murphy’s attacks on Clarke have been relentless and it seems that he and Raven are the angriest at Clarke. I hate to say it, because I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I don’t believe that their anger is unfounded. There’s been a lot of noise in fandom about the fact that Clarke is owed forgiveness (a lot of times the complaints almost read as Clarke being owed deference) because she’s saved everyone’s lives countless times, but there are issues with this idea. As we listen to Murphy begin his listing of Clarke’s crimes, we see that he is not talking about just the issues they ran into in Season 5, when Murphy is shot by one of the Eligius prisoners after Clarke provides intel to them, but reaching all the way back to every sin Clarke has committed against him and Emori, whom he loves. Murphy reaches back to Clarke’s  willingness to force Emori into being a test subject in Season 4, stopping at the last minute when an attack of conscious hits her and her role in his Season 1 hanging (Clarke led the charge when she falsely accused Murphy of murdering Wells, riling up an already unstable crowd of teen delinquents), even as Bellamy steps in to take credit for the latter (“In fairness that was me.”). Murphy even goes so far as to label Clarke’s apparent disregard for the lives of others, he uses the word “disposable”.

Unfortunately for our girl, it’s not an unfair charge. Clarke has often been lauded for her ruthlessness, her willingness to do whatever it takes to save the people she claims as her own, no matter the cost to herself or others. It becomes a central piece of her character during the Season 2 finale when she takes on Dante Wallace’s advice of “bearing it so they (her people) don’t have to, although I hesitate to say that Clarke has ever actually born the weight of the choices that she’s made alone even if she feels she has. Although Clarke usually formulates the idea for the people-saving win each Season, an idea is nothing without implementation (usually handled by Monty or Raven) and execution (usually handled by Bellamy). Usually Clarke’s ruthlessness works in her favor, people are-seemingly-grateful for her ability to make the life or death choices, but in Season 5, Clarke’s “people” have boiled down to Madi and Madi alone after a Season spent ostracized by a combination of choice and force and thus, her actions to save Madi (at any and all costs) pit her directly against her friends-even as they were working to find a solution that saved everyone. It’s a bitter pill for them all to swallow and, although Clarke isn’t the only one who has betrayed people that she cares or will eventually come to care for, the others have had the opportunity to hash out their differences with each other because they’ve spent six years trapped together in space. What else was there for them to do? Now, it’s Clarke’s turn to face the music and it seems harsh and unrelenting because they’ve all ganged up on her at once, but their charges are not unfair and the open discussion of past hurts will hopefully be a catalyst for real development of relationships Clarke has not had the time to build since Season 1.

With all of that said, I still cheered when Clarke finally got fed up with Murphy’s barrage and accepted responsibility-however harshly-for her own failings. Eliza’s delivery of the line: “Is that what you want to hear? That I’m the bad guy? Fine, I’ll be the bad guy. When I’m in charge people die, isn’t that what you said?” is phenomenal. There’s so much anger in the line, but there’s also guilt and grief and pain. In this moment, Clarke is lashing out at everyone, not just Murphy but also Bellamy. Like Murphy she’s still upset about words spoken in anger years ago, back in Season 3 for us, but over 130 years ago in canon (even though for our characters, it’s been 6 years since that moment) and it’s telling that in this moment, where Bellamy is actively supporting Clarke and Murphy is on the attack, Clarke’s anger is reserved for Murphy’s words but her pain is reserved for Bellamy. Perhaps Bellamy’s words-years old-hold more weight for Clarke because her relationship to Bellamy has always been central to her journey and as such it’s harder to shake his truths off.

The argument is interrupted by banging and yelling overhead where Jackson and Miller are chained and Bellamy immediately prepares to head up and ensure everything is OK. Clarke isn’t going to let him go off by himself and after a quick key swap, our resident power couple is charging off to save the day, differences temporarily cast aside. When they rush up the stairs and finally get Jackson to open the door, we see Miller in the throes of a hallucination.I’d previously speculated that the dead bugs in the terrarium were meant to be used as an early warning system in the event of an eclipse,and Jackson confirms that thought process before saying that Miller, in checking out the terrarium had accidentally knocked it over and now believes himself to be infested with bugs. Miller doesn’t want to die like the Grounder Octavia experimented on with the worms in Season 5 and it initially seems as though Jackson is fine and just wants to be released to check on Miller, but as soon as he’s uncuffed it becomes evident that Jackson was caught in Miller’s hallucination from the get go. He finds a knife and makes quick work of stabbing into Miller to free him from the illusory bugs, but Bellamy and Clarke manage to subdue them.

There’s a brief pause and it’s fitting that Clarke is the one who realizes they “have no idea how to survive down here.”. She’s spent 6 years alone surviving in conditions less than favorable, have her small piece of safety destroyed, find a new haven and have it begin to destroy them immediately. They’re both mystified by the idea of joint hallucinations (which is a recognized phenomenon-called Folie a deux or shared psychosis) and, although showrunner Jason Rothenberg has stated the hallucinations are far less important than we believe them to (and I do believe this as we were saturated with psychosis from the first trailer and The 100 traditionally buries the lead), I would love the opportunity to see more episodes of shared psychosis.

Ironically, although Miller and Jackson have been tranquilized and are now out of commission, Bellamy and Clarke are now the bigger danger, both of them are uncuffed and we see Bellamy beginning to unravel as they return to the school room to find Murphy missing. Bellamy-having used his tranquilizer on Jackson-goes down to gather Echo’s in order to decommission Murphy, but Echo (probably wisely) refuses to open the door, instead injecting herself with the tranquilizer when the psychosis starts to sink in for her. This leaves Murphy on the run and our first glimpse of him is huddled on the roof of one of the buildings,clutching a gun and muttering to himself and it’s easy to believe that Murphy has also been affected by the psychosis, but Josephine’s book tells us that “ So few are safe” implying that some people are immune to the effects of the eclipse and I believe Murphy is one of them. Although Murphy has run, it makes sense that he would. Bellamy and Clarke have gone up to check on Miller and Jackson and all the others can hear is screaming and banging. Having been attacked by Emori under the effects of the psychosis and realizing it’s spreading with Bellamy and Clarke completely unchained, it’s logical that Murphy would free himself and hide to prevent being a sitting duck. He even goes so far as to shoot at Bellamy (and Clarke) when he realizes that Bellamy is trying to get into the room where Emori (and Echo) have been chained up, perhaps in a bid to protect her from Bellamy who is spiraling.

When Clarke realizes how out of control Bellamy is, she takes herself off, in an attempt to find another way to subdue him and winds up hearing Abby’s voice crackling through the radio. It’s evident from the beginning that this is the psychosis as we know the radios haven’t been working and there are specific events taking place in space that would prevent Abby from reaching out to Clarke. This is our first glimpse into Clarke’s mindset in quite a while, I’d wager we haven’t seen her this emotionally vulnerable since Season 3, and she breaks my heart. We know that Clarke has been struggling with the weight of her choices since killing Finn in Season 2 and that each additional act she commits only adds to the burden she carries, letting the bomb fall on Ton D.C., abandoning her people in Season 3, guilt related to Lexa’s death, guilt related to almost using Emori as a test subject, and so much more. All of this weight seems to erupt out of her at once, releasing a perhaps long pushed down belief that Clarke herself is the root of the problem, or in the voice of HallucAbby, the toxin. It’s striking to see how far gone Clarke is and when she holds the knife to her throat, even though I know her status as the lead keeps her safe, my heart still leapt into my throat. Luckily, Murphy comes upon her before she carries out the act and it seems that, just as Bellamy getting the insight from Madi into Clarke’s mental state during the six years she was virtually alone has helped him to reevaluate his feelings for Clarke, Murphy realizing that Clarke is hurting and lost and does carry guilt for her actions is what it takes for him to begin the walk down the road to forgiveness for her. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the two of them forge a deeper bond this Season based on their shared experiences with feeling worthless and unneeded (see Season 5 Murphy).

Because Clarke is only a danger to herself Murphy is successful in convincing her (appealing to her logic) to help him save Bellamy before he hurts himself or others. That turns out to be easier said than done. Bellamy is deep in psychosis by the time they manage to begin putting their plan into action and he’s a formidable foe, especially with Murphy already weakened by gunshot and stab wounds, and he’s determined to “keep us safe” even from Murphy. He deals handily with Murphy, almost drowning him before he hears Clarke-desperately fighting the hallucination as she tries to get to Murphy and Bellamy. It’s clear immediately that Bellamy sees Clarke as a threat while mired in his hallucination, stating “Here we go again. How many times have you tried to kill me now?”, before he advances on her. It’s such a turn from Bellamy’s previous behavior with regards to Clarke that it’s shocking. Since learning of Clarke’s radio calls he’s been kind and friendly to her, openly trying to make her feel more comfortable and a part of the group. If we’re to believe that the psychosis has something to do with inner demons (“Face Your Demons” and all that), it’s a hurtful moment when you realize that means Bellamy is not nearly as OK with Clarke’s actions as he’s tried to be, but it also makes sense.

I have a working theory that the psychosis is directly triggered by conversations that you might have had prior to the onset. Miller’s psychosis manifests as being infested with bugs and he expressed guilt in the premiere for the cruel acts he performed under Octavia’s command. Jackson’s psychosis is a byproduct of Miller’s which also fits with the conversation they’d had the previous day where Miller says that “I did things, you didn’t stop things.” This time Jackson is going to stop what’s happening. The trigger for Emori’s psychosis has thus far eluded me (if you can think of it let me know in the comments below!), but Echo’s is clearly brought on by Emori taunting her by calling her a “Good little spy,” who is “always following her master’s orders” as she is besieged by voices (that I assume to be Nia and perhaps Roan), telling her to “bring me her head” and “slit her throat”. The triggers for Bellamy and Clarke are some of the most interesting for me. I believe that Bellamy was triggered by Murphy’s use of the word “disposable” as it relates to how Clarke treats people. We hear Murphy recite Clarke’s crimes going back into Season 1 and it appears that that might have forced Bellamy’s mind to darker times.

Even though Bellamy and Clarke have had conversations about her seemingly dismissive treatment of him and logically Bellamy has even acknowledged that at times she’s had “no choice” that doesn’t mean that he’s actually fully thought out or processed the harm her actions have done him. In each Season there’s an instance we can pinpoint where Clarke has done something that would indicate that she might see Bellamy as disposable:

In Season 1, she closes the Dropship door on both him and Finn (Bellamy later acknowledges that she had no choice, but it might be something that’s still paining him).

In Season 2, she sends Bellamy into Mt. Weather after rejecting his “Inside Man” plan on the premise that he would get himself killed saying “It’s worth the risk”.

In Season 3, she apparently sides with the Grounders after they’ve arranged an attack that has left almost all of Farm Station dead and after Bellamy has just risked his life attempting to save her from Roan.

In Season 4, she holds a gun on him and even fires a warning shot after he decides he’s going to open the door for Octavia, consequences be damned.

In Season 5, she literally leaves him behind knowing that death is an option because Octavia has gone power mad.

In every Season, Clarke has shown Bellamy’s subconscious that she views him as disposable even if we as the audience understand that these actions cost Clarke a great deal. Because they’ve never actually had the time to really sit down and flesh out the actions (unlike the Space Squad with their six years in space) there’s a lot left unsaid between them. Bellamy is determined to separate himself from Clarke, even mentioning when the psychosis first began to sink it’s hooks into him that he “didn’t need her anymore”, which I believe is also a callback to Bellamy himself believing that he does need Clarke, which is strongly evident in 2 instance in Season 4, when Jaha tells Bellamy that he keeps Clarke centered to which Bellamy responds “You’ve got it backwards.” and when Clarke advises Bellamy he needs to be both head and heart and Bellamy says “I’ve got you for that.”. Bellamy has managed over the course of the past 6 years to lead with both his head and his heart, but it’s a burden to carry all of the leadership on his own and I believe that perhaps Bellamy saying “I don’t need you anymore.” is an expression of Bellamy’s own upset that he does still need her.

I believe Clarke’s psychosis was triggered by herself, which is perhaps why she’s only a danger by herself. In that speech I mentioned above where she states: “Fine, I’ll be the bad guy. When I’m in charge people die, isn’t that what you said?”, which aligns with her psychosis manifesting as a voice (her mother’s at that) telling her that she is the toxin, because Clarke had already accepted that herself earlier in the episode. It also makes sense that it’s Abby’s voice-not just because Abby as her mother is someone who we would expect to love Clarke no matter what, but also because the moment Clarke really delved into “Survival at all costs.” was in Season 2. Season 2 had two large scale instances of Clarke deciding that the few are worth the many, the first being when she, influenced by Lexa decides that it’s better to save themselves and allow the majority of the Grounder leadership to perish in the bombing of Ton D.C. (a moment which causes Abby to view her daughter in a horrified light-even if only momentarily) and when she suggest that the only way to save her people is to irradiate the others. It’s after this moment that Abby tells Clarke that “Maybe there aren’t any good guys” a moment reference directly by HallucAbby over the radio. If we are making Clarke delve deep into her treatment of people as “disposable”, Season 2 is a really good place for that. I hope that the exploration of the feelings everyone has for each other and-importantly-giving them all the opportunity to express them and work through them together continues. It’s been an aspect of the show that’s been vastly underdone until now.  (Heather over at TVSource also has some clever ideas about Clarke’s hallucinations-find them here: https://bit.ly/2HiCUk3)

Aboard Eligius III:

Our first moments with Eligius are spent watching Octavia and Niylah spar. Initially it appears they are just training, trying to pass the time now that they’re both awake, it quickly becomes something ugly when Octavia misses Niylah and rams her fist into the interior of the ship-although its obviously painful she keeps hammering into the object until her fist is raw and bloodied. It’s not even close to our first clue that Octavia is severely damaged, nor is it our first clue as to how Octavia deals with her damage, but we’ll return to this because that transport ship that was stolen in the premiere? Well it’s docking, and the four masked intruders immediately gas their welcoming party (Jordan, Octavia, Niylah and Abby), checking Octavia’s hand and realizing that these individuals are not Nightbloods. As descendants of the original Eligius mission to Alpha (also all Nightbloods-as we see when Russell attacks his family),they are familiar with what to expect of the Eligius crew and-although they don’t encounter them-they still proceed with an almost rehearsed ease to take the ship and head directly to the bridge.

They manage to corral almost all those who are awake on the ship into the cafeteria, perhaps not the best place for Octavia to be at the moment considering almost all of her former bunkermates hate her, and Abby realizes they have an advantage-Raven is somewhere out there and, because Raven is clever, she immediately wakes Charmaine Diyoza. Poor Diyoza is still pregnant (“She kicked!”) and honestly-I’m going to have an entire bottle of wine for her this coming Mother’s Day because, wow. The banter between Raven and Diyoza is a gift! Diyoza’s first line of the Season being “How bad is it?” is something that I’ll be chuckling about for the rest of the year. Ivana Millicevic is uniquely talented and she brings an instant excitement to every scene she’s in, no matter her scene partner. Raven questions her decision to wake the former leader of a terrorist group, but she’s also smart enough to know that she doesn’t just need her brains-she also needs a military strategist and Diyoza puts her smarts to work immediately, taking care of two of the intruders (who had thus far been using non lethal force) with a simple but effective ploy-luring them into the cryo bay and stealing one of their weapons. The initial plan works but their foe aren’t fools and realize quickly that something isn’t quite right.

Meanwhile, The Breakfast Club (this is what I’ve chosen to call our cafeteria group) is calmly having lunch (the fact that Monty kept the algae on tap is another clever invention of his and a quirky glimpse into Jordan’s childhood). Jordan is willing to provide Octavia with food but Abby says that “Serving Octavia is how we got into this mess.” which is an interesting way of ignoring her own culpability, as one of the most drastic things that happened under the bunker was the forced cannibalism-something Abby not only suggested to Octavia but also encouraged-because Kane had to survive, at all costs. Octavia is tired of waiting around and decides to kick her way out of the cafeteria-which clearly isn’t very effective and when Jordan points out why, she’s quick to snarl at him-insulting his father.

Thus far, Jordan has been played as a soft-spoken, gentle man, very reminiscent of his father, but the change in him when Octavia insulted his parentage was swift and I was immediately reminded that, while his father loved peace, Harper was his mother and I’m sure she taught her son some tricks. The way he slowly unfolds his body from the bench as he stands up is threatening and it’s exactly what Octavia wants. When Jordan chooses not to engage, she eggs on one of her former followers and he lashes out harshly, slamming Octavia into the stair rail. The others join in and Octavia is brutalized but she seems to be enjoying it. We find out soon enough why-Octavia hoped they’d kill her. It’s what she wanted (in that moment). Unable to die as a hero in Season 5, it appears that Octavia is still determined to die, but unable to do it herself. It’s clear that we’re supposed to begin to feel sympathy for Octavia in this moment. I’m unable to. Octavia has spent years on a downward spiral and was honestly at her best as a character when she was an unrepentant villain. There’s nothing appealing to me about a character who has committed atrocities for personal gain (of her own accord-simply to maintain power) only to lapse into a huge well of self pity when her plan doesn’t work out. Octavia needs to own what she did and begin to make apologies and work to be better or go away. Even as she craves the pain she’s decided is her punishment, she’s unable to inflict it on herself, forcing others to sink to her level in a depraved game of “You’re just as bad as I am.” It’s unsettling and sickening and not a plot line I am actively looking forward to.

Back on the bridge, Raven and Diyoza have managed to temporarily hold the bridge takers at bay by pretending that Raven is one of them. It’s a clear fakeout and they don’t buy it at all as Raven is smaller than the person who’d originally been in the suit. Just as things are getting tense, Madi makes a hell of an entrance, dropping from the ventilation system and shooting one of their would-be hostage takers. There’s an odd exchange here as Faye lays dying. She implores the older woman (who is perhaps her mother) to “take care of” the bodies. The response? “I know. I’ll take care of it.” It’s an interesting statement and one I believe ties into a theory I’m going to share with you all at the end of all this-so stay tuned for this. In the wake of Faye’s passing and severely outnumbered, the lone Sanctum resident surrenders and is forced to take a search party out to find the missing members of the Eligius group. Jordan’s face when they land is perfect-he’s a space baby, just like our original group in the pilot episode and the awe and wonder he expresses at his first sight of land is beautiful and heart wrenching. Our original group didn’t maintain that sweet innocence for long-let’s hope that Jordan gets the opportunity to. Octavia has snuck aboard the transport ship-once again imposing her presence on a group who had no desire for her, with Raven rounding out the group. Initially our Sanctum resident doesn’t want to go with the group-she’s unwilling to leave her family, claiming it’s “not safe for them”. Interesting comment considering they’re all dead now. What other threats can harm them now?

Another offhand comment is made as they walk towards the castle. “The trees have probably consumed your friends.” and I’m sorry but what? We know the plants emit toxins but they’re also eating people? I don’t have time for that. It’s not long before they come across Shaw’s grave and Raven’s reaction is so depressingly minimal. Although she initially tries to run to him, her single tear at seeing his grave is...it’s unfair. Raven has been so beaten down that she is apparently unable to do more than cry silently at the loss of one more person who she’d permitted herself to love and be loved by. She deserves a measure of real happiness.What does she have to do to find it?

Reunited and It Doesn’t Feel That Great...

It doesn’t take them long to reach the castle and the initial panic at finding Bellamy, Clarke and Murphy splayed out in the red dirt (Bellamy and Clarke with legs draped over each others almost forming a heart) is taken care of quickly. It takes a simple caress to wake both Bellamy and Clarke, and Bellamy’s face when he feels the pain in his leg from Clarke stabbing him and then realizes why she’d felt the need to do so-call 911 because my heart is breaking. Now we know that, after the psychosis is ended, you are still aware of what you’ve done. That means those affected will need to talk to each other and hopefully make amends for what they’ve done. Bellamy’s guilt quickly falls to the wayside however, as he notices Octavia there and his “What’s she doing here?” is a reminder to all and sundry that he has in no way forgiven her for her actions last Season and doesn’t seem close to doing so either. Murphy isn’t waking up, and his veins have gone black, perhaps this is the price you pay for being able to withstand the toxins? But before we can deal with that, Bellamy also catches sight of the mysterious newcomer, but before his query about her identity can be answered-a rush of children, climb the stairs towards the castle. They are initially disquieted by the new visitors to their world, but an older girl, Rose, asks a question that sends Clarke and the others reeling: “Are you here to take us home?” It looks like they’ve been waiting on Sanctum for the Earth to be habitable again-they’re going to be massively disappointed when they realize that’s a crapshot.

And now...a Theory:

You’ve already read my theory on what triggers the hallucinatory subject matter of the psychosis (and because it’s not meant to be a huge part of the Season, I won’t add on to it here), but I hinted at another theory-sparked in the first six minutes of the episode, and I am hoping that I’m right, because if I am, The 100 will have really pulled a game changer. Keep reading for what is potentially my favorite theory ever:

When Josephine first tries to get Gabriel to have sex with her, he brushes her off, stating that they have the embryos, clearly stating they don’t need to have sex for population efforts. As a geneticist it’s likely a part of his job to maintain and develop these embryos. We also have Josephine state that “he’s a bit obsessed with her” and Russell state that “he doesn’t need a broken hearted geneticist.” In that same scene Russell also chides Josephine for twirling her hair-the camera even zooms in on her doing it. Shortly thereafter, Russell succumbs to the effects of the toxin and-in a fit of possessiveness, begins murdering the other residents of Sanctum. Gabriel is one of the only ones we see get away. My theory is that, after the effects of the toxin have worn off and Russell comes back to himself-aware of what he’s done, he finds Gabriel and the two of them work together to recreate their massacred colony. I believe that-using genetic material taken from their dead colony members, they introduce it to the embryos, thus creating clones of a sort. I think that Gabriel does indeed develop an obsession for Josephine, if he didn’t have one already, and in his grief is determined to recreate her, down to the quirk of her hair twirling, and that he will keep trying until he succeeds.

I think this is supported by the title of the next episode “The Children of Gabriel” (points to Yana of TVFanatic for catching some hints about this-read more about that here: https://bit.ly/2Ye0gOw) and the label of “Primes” for the founding families of Sanctum. Human DNA is made up of two “primes”, we know DNA to be a double helix, but when unraveled they are two clearly distinct strands, both have distinct sides, one referred to as 3’ prime and the other referred to as 5’ prime. The fact that there is a bowl in front of a picture of the Lightbornes-in which blood has been dropped is another possible clue. Perhaps this blood belongs to the clones of the Lightborne and they perform the ritual of the blood drops as a way to pay homage to their successors. This would also explain how Josephine Ada Lightborne wrote the book Bellamy finds in the school room “Red Sun Rising” in after she’s already died, because she’s been cloned. I also believe this is why Faye’s last words are about recovering the bodies and why our Sanctum Guide is unwilling to leave her family initially-saying it’s not safe. They want to get the bodies back to the lab where the embryos are kept before the genetic material is unusable because they too are clones.

I hope that this is the direction they’re going in, because if it is? We’re talking about a fun and exciting twist that would really help me believe that this new Season actually is a new “book” for us to enjoy. This might have been my longest review ever, which says a lot about how exciting this episode was for me personally.

Random Observations:

Bellamy has a choking kink: He’s now choked the Mt. Weather guard, Echo, Murphy, Clarke, an Eligius crew member and more. It’s getting out of hand sir.

Echo felt forced this episode. It seemed like-because they’d removed her from the main equation early, they felt they needed to have her verbalize her concern for Bellamy by yelling. It came off...oddly.

I’m all the way here for a Murphy/Clarke friendship and I hope that’s what’s going to develop after their shared moments in this episode.

I need all the Jordan Jasper Green. He’s a delight.

Hopefully Diyoza is delivered of that baby sooner rather than later. It’s got to be exhausting being pregnant for over a century.

It’s interesting that Octavia was able to survive walking into the radiation field (and yes, I’m aware she was pulled back), but Zeke wasn’t. Qwhite interesting.

Madi isn’t too pleased about being stuck aboard the Eligius ship, I’m guessing she’s going to wind off sneaking away soon.

Just because Josephine only discovered 3 Orders of life in their first 21 days, doesn’t mean there aren’t more.

Love it or hate it? I’d love to know more-tell me all about it in the comments below.

The 100 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

April’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝.5

[macdentrash]

I have some issues that I want to talk about...

Ok so I’ve been thinking about macdennis (as one does 25 hours a day) and I just wanna share something... so we all know Mac and Dennis are gay for eachother, as does anyone who’s seen them interact in the slightest, and that’s been apparent since the literal first episode of the show (this isn’t necessarily related but I think it’s cute that the literal first lines of the show are between these two gays but to continue on...) and the levels of said gayness have evolved over the seasons. We have season 1 twinks who are subtle (at least for the most part) in their homosexual subtext and this could be played off as two “really good friends” but nothing beyond that (not how I choose to see it but some do and that’s not necessarily invalid just because some of us disagree), moving on through the seasons the gayness becomes more blatantly obvious, it’s brought to the viewers point of focus in a more straight(lol)forward way and the climax of this really shows in season 5 with the tipping point being Mac and Dennis Break up. Other than the few scenes with Frank/Charlie this whole episode is devoted to the blatant codependency of Mac/Dens relationship, not to mention the sexual tension (which is completely unsubtle imo), they literally cannot function without eachother and there is NO heterosexual reasoning that can explain the extended scene (beautiful lips!)... as we progress further in the show the homosexual undertones only become stronger (I could site every point in individual episodes and have a thesis level of critical analysis but for the sake of brevity we won’t go there today) which can be seen in the double parter Mac Fights Gay Marriage/Dennis Gets Divorced, any Mac and Dennis titled episode really and many more (every episode or at least most of them shows some level of interaction between the two that makes the viewer go “hmm well that’s gay as fuck”). Continuing on though, I’m writing this mostly to get into the newer seasons (11/12 respectively) so obviously in season 11 we have the ICONIC suburbs episode where they literally move to a house together and take up their individual “marital duties” (i.e. honey do list, Mac staying at home and taking care of things in his way lol, and Dennis going to work, etc) and we learn a lot about their dynamic and see that the codependency has not in fact weakened over time but grown to incomprehensible levels, in the rest of season 11 there’s fairly limited interaction and Mac/Dennis team ups but in the 2 part finale of The Gang Goes to Hell there are some important pieces. To start Dennis in the beginning is the one who supports Mac’s decisions (saying something along the lines of “you don’t have to mean it, just say what he wants to hear” etc) and it shows how well he knows Mac compared to the rest of the gang, again we have limited interaction until the end of the first part but there’s some really interesting stuff once they do get to interact. I’d like to start with Dennis’ reaction to Mac coming out and how “he always knew”, he always knew and still acted the way he always has (and knowing that he knew, makes one doubt Dennis’ own self proclaimed heterosexuality), moving on, when the boat first malfunctions Dennis automatically reaches his hand out to steady Mac and doesn’t show any real concern for anyone else, fuck even after the boat steadies he keeps his arm reaching out towards him... there’s definitely more in part two but I’m going to skip ahead a little to the tail end of part two. Dennis hid the letters that Mac’s dad sent him from prison and he looks heart broken when Mac gets upset, showing that Dennis actually gives a shit no matter how much he tries to pretend that he doesn’t (this is pre onion that I’m talking about here) and I believe that he honestly was just trying to protect Mac from his shitty father (which could have to do with Dennis’ own daddy issues but we won’t get into that here), also in the end of this episode we have Charlie saying something along the lines of “send us a miracle” and Dennis looks @ Mac in that super love sick way (he is his miracle! i’m so soft i apologize). The last thing I want to touch on in this episode is that when Mac is shoved back into the closet at the end, Dennis makes a very frustrated face... the face of a man who just wants his best friend to come out already... wow ok this is long but let’s move on to season 12, that will continue in the next paragraph break for the sake of breaking up this wall of text...

Ok so in season 12 is where imo everything kind of culminates and comes to a head as far as Mac and Dennis’ dynamic goes...to touch briefly on Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer, we have “Well if Mac’s going to do it... I’m going to do it” (which speaks for itself) as well as Mac and Dennis just generally being portrayed as spending quite a bit of time together. Moving on to where everything really kicks off in this season imo is Hero or Hate Crime. We have Mac finally escaping from the closet but there’s a lot that’s woven into that, Dennis encourages Mac to come out of the closet until he actually does so (we’ll get to that in a minute) and when Mac leaves Dennis is the one who encourages the gang to just let him enjoy his first day out. The importance of Dennis pushing Mac to come out and then getting uncomfortable when he actually does is because HE NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, and when it does he makes the same fucking face as he does when he’s trying to hide his emotions during the RPG scene... after this episode Dennis becomes “emotionally distant” (to quote Mac himself) and he generally is just kind of weird about Mac being out, I personally believe that’s because he’s too scared to admit his own feelings and scared to have to explore his own sexuality and how that impacts his overall identity. Obviously next we have PTSDee and Mac’s dream/subsequent reality, so at this point it’s well established that Mac has a thing for notorious 5 star man Dennis Reynolds but now we have to ask the question “does Dennis reciprocate those feelings?” (spoiler alert: yeah he does but moving on), in this episode it’s made apparent that Dennis is aware of Mac’s attraction (and has been for a long time) but even though it comes very close, he does not act on that attraction in a substantial way and we as an audience collectively heave a disappointed sigh (in gay) and hope for better next time. Next up is the The Gang Tends Bar, which is a fucking masterpiece... so from the beginning we have Dennis trying to avoid Valentine’s day and get the gang to “just do their jobs!”. Later we have the parallel between Mac trying to talk to Charlie about Dennis and Dee trying to talk to Frank about Charlie (both convos are interrupted by that intruding Jerry) and that is really solid evidence for the Chardee Macdennis Theory™... to get to my point here we have the “I have big feelings” speech and Mac coming in to save the day with his gift. So this is where it goes off, Mac who is now openly out gives Dennis a Valentine’s Day gift and makes no move to clarify this as a friendly/unromantic gesture, and the way that Dennis looks at him (other than being hella gay) is one of realization and just realizing that someone actually loves him (our collective hearts break for the bastard man), and going back to Hero or Hate Crime, he makes that same face when he glances back at the gang which is him trying to hide his emotions and how much Mac/the RPG really mean to him. Lastly in season 12 we have DDL, imo the most crucial part of this episode as far as Macdennis goes is in the beginning when they are coming up with the plan, I’ll insert the script here because it says more than I ever could: 

Mac: Look, I think the point is, maybe we got to close the emotion door for Mandy by telling her that you're gay. Dennis: Yeah, right, but I already had sex with her. How am I gonna convince her I'm gay? 

Mac: Just go with me here. Brian's not above having a one-night stand with a woman, but he's got no room for her emotionally - because he's in love with me.

Dennis: With you? 

Mac: Well, yes, the lover is me, of course.

Dennis: Mm.

So this to me is just the writers pointing out the nature of Mac and Dennis’ relationship, they literally change the dynamic in no way and they’re almost screaming “THEIR IN LOVE YOU FOOLS”... the rest of the episode shows Dennis being confused at Mac’s actions (”why would you say you want to raise the kid?!” and showing discomfort when Mac launches into the same “he’s my bottom” speech from Mortgage Crisis) and Mac becoming more brazen with his obvious huge crush on Mr. Reynolds. Dennis leaves dramatically at the end and takes about 10 times longer to say Mac’s name than any other member of the gang, while Mac looks on with that sad puppy dog look on his face. This is how they leave it, other than Mac and the rest of the gang blowing up the Rover.

So to get to the original point I was trying to make before going the fuck off... now that we’re in season 13 we all are kind of wondering where they’re going to take this. After all the evidence I’ve discussed here, plus literally the entire roster of episodes, I just want to say that something with a capital S is going to happen. I mean, why would they be focusing so much on their relationship (to the point of it being uncomfortable *cringes and thinks about the sex doll*) and not ... take that anywhere? I mean they’ve been upping the anti since around season 10 and I feel like that character development and plot evolution is not for nothing, RCG know what they’re doing and I truly believe that we may get something at least resembling canon Macdennis this season, add in the factor of promo like “The Machelor” and it’s almost impossible that we aren’t going to get anything... also in the promo for the new episode we have Mac and Dennis holding a fucking heart shaped object between their hands...HEART SHAPED and that’s a level of metaphor that’s not even trying to be subtle... anyways I’m gonna go now but these are my surface level thoughts on the matter and if you want to hear some more specific analysis (on episodes/scenes) don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll type out something similar and not as lengthy. If you made it this far, I wish your heart luck moving further in this new season and we can all cry together

[dork-empress]

5 People who Don't Speak Claudia and One who Does

Part of my ‘100 Dragon Prince Aus’ Oneshot Collection

Read on Ao3

Claudia doesn't always communicate clearly to other people, but no one can say she doesn't try.

This is the least Au-Au on the list, but like, half of it is post-canon, so. That could be canon divergence. Potentially.

1) “Claudia slow down. Claudia. Claudia, please, just tell me what you want.” 3 year old Claudia did not listen to her father, instead reaching up to the high shelves of his magic ingredients cabinet. “Do you want the spiders? Mealworms? Poisonous Frogs? You have to tell me. Use your words.”

“UP!” She shouted, louder than Viren thought was strictly necessary.

Confused, Viren reached down and held Claudia up by the armpits, holding her to the shelf to let her just choose whatever she wanted.

Claudia pushed aside the large jars, many of which Viren watched carefully, making sure they didn’t fall with just his hopes and dreams.

She crawled forward out of his hands and sat on the shelf herself. She then laughed, clapping her hands happily. “You are a strange one, dear.”

2) “Aw, Claudia, what’s wrong?” Harrow asked of the 7 year old who ran into the room sobbing. Ignoring rules of protocol, as the King had never held them to her before, she clutched at his legs. “Claudia sweetie, talk to me.”

Claudia started babbling, barely comprehensible through her tears and clutched at his clothing. Through the mess of words, he heard the word “Married!”

“Uh,” Harrow said, “Yes, I am getting married. But that’s a good thing! You like Sarai, don’t you? She’s nice and she has a kid of her own you’ll be able to play with.”

That was a mistake. Claudia only started sobbing louder. “No no no,” Harrow said, bending down to hug her, it’s ok, it’s ok, don’t cry little one.” He made pleading eyes at his guard, who left to go find Viren.

3) “Hey, uh, Claudia. Do you...want....to go out with me? No, I can’t say that, that’s dumb.” Callum cleared his throat, looking at himself in the mirror. “Hi Claudia, I think you’re really cool, and I like you, so uh--”

“I think you’re cool too!”

“AAAAAA”

Callum screamed, turning to the ceiling to find Claudia in the large blocks, idly hanging from the grate “C-Claudia! What are you doing in my room!”

“Looking for Beeblesnouts.” She said, casually.

Callum blinked at her. “I have several questions.”

Claudia chuckled, “Anyway, I’d ask you to come help, bu beeblesnouts are scared easily, and you need to stay here and practice, so I’ll see you later!”

With that, her head disappeared. “I do not understand girls,” Callum said.

4) “Claudia you don’t understand,” Ezran said, “Rayla’s been HELPING us!”

“No YOU don’t understand!” Claudia yelled back, loud enough for the whole forest to hear her, “She’s not what you think she is! She’s a....” Her mouth moved, but she struggled to form the words, “She’s a--”

“A what?” Ezran challenged, “An elf? We knew that! An assassin? Not anymore! The child of the Dragon King’s guards? She told us already! She’s our friend that’s all that matters!”

Claudia’s eyes flared in anger, “She’s a LIAR!” she finally managed.

5) “Look, I know we got off to a rough start,” Rayla said, “but I’m hoping that, once we learn more about each other, maybe we can be friends? Or at least get along. For Callum and Ezran’s sake if nothing else.”

Claudia glared up at her. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that, elf?”

Rayla frowned, “I’m...not sure if that’s good or bad.”

“It means you’re a good snake, but I’m lookin in all the cracks, and if I find a single spot, I’ll have you thanking your uncle until the glow toads fly.”

Rayla just looked at her for a moment, trying to pick up some hint from her facial expression. “Are you...are you speaking a different language? I thought I knew human pretty well, but… but what are you saying?”

Claudia rolled her eyes and patted Rayla on the back, “Match my pace, ya weasel!”

+1) “Soren! Sorensorensoren!!!” Claudia rushed over to the one group of humans in the Xadian village.

Soren immediately went from being relaxed to on alert. “What is it, Claudia? Trouble?”

Claudia was bouncing too much to speak properly, it seemed. Instead, she started miming explosions, covering her ears, several animals, possibly, jazz hands, and then just spinning around in place.

Rayla leaned over to Callum, “Is that...sign language?”

“No sign language I’ve ever seen,” Callum said back.

“Whoa!” Soren said, “The sunforged elves made fireworks that are really loud, but once they’re in the air, they take on the image of various animals or whatever they really want, and then the sparks fall down around you like rain, but it doesn’t hurt it just tickles your skin?”

Claudia nodded vigorously, grabbing his arm to pull him towards the fireworks.

The other humans (and Rayla) stared at him in wonder and confusion. “What? I speak Claudia.”