#think I spent way too long thinking of which three characters to add for 12 and 13

[skarkkk]

1. Buck & Maddie

I will never get over the Buckley siblings and their bond. Little scenes, dialogues, bigger things, parallels with romantic partners, their upbringing. In this case, Maddie raising her own brother. All of it. Who they are, individually and as a family. 

They are, in a way, each other's support. Sure, Maddie has Chimney and Buck has Eddie (yes, we love the fact that we compared a couple to best friends) but still. They are always there for each other. And this is the second time that means searching for their kidnapped sister. Which means trying to survive the trauma of being kidnapped.

Therapy is, without a doubt, the only option for them.

And, particularly Maddie and the fact that they are not going to simply ignore her trauma. As hinted, little, in this episode and in the promo for episode 12.

It's already something that she is out of the hospital, considering she had her fucking throat slit by a psychopath.

According to the timeline, the kidnapping would have happened and Eddie would have left a week later. So she spent, I speculate, at least a week in the hospital. Which, even so, doesn't seem like a long time considering the severity of the injury. Speaking with a degree in House, Hannibal and books.

I believe that this, the recovery time, will be shown more in episode 12 because of her return to work and when she loses her voice answering that phone call.

2. Ravi Panikkar.

First, I was right. A stopgap. Always. And they're showing more about Ravi. Which leads me to consider that he might die or have an episode talking about his past. Which, considering the cancer, will be lovely to watch ( I'll unlive myself ).

Attachment issues. Insecurity issues. I consider it canon. The first because of his past ( I decided I'm going to do a character analysis of Ravi ) and the second, because of, but not only because of, that he's always called in as a replacement in shift A.

From what I've counted, badly, because I was in a constant state of freaking out, Ravi was called Eddie at least three times. And he said he was used to it. So, either this thing of being called Eddie already happened that time he left because of Chris and it wasn't shown, or because of the simple idea of not belonging.

I liked that they showed Bobby being affected by Eddie's departure too, and I loved that this also adds some depth to Ravi.

— Buck, Eddie you're on the flanks.

— I think you mean Buck and Ravi.

— It's okay I'm used to it.

Now, what shocks me the most is: 4 years. I don't even know where to begin with this.

1. The 118 can't be considered a real family to him, because they don't know him. So what was that episode in season 6 about Chimney bringing our princess home like Bobby planned? Creating a sense of family reunion and getting back to friends. Mainly creating a bond between him and Chimney, and also between him and Hen ( about cancer )

2. None of them bothered to try to get to know him. I understand that in the first moments. A newbie ( S4 ), Chimney out ( S5 ), Eddie out ( S5 ) . But later? When they were all together as if on a single shift? When we know that they, the 118, meet up even outside of 24-hour shifts? When we know that they include Ravi in more family-oriented things? Like Madney's wedding. And friendly ones, like Chimney's bachelor party. Besides the iconic episode of the author who faked his own death. They've even been through traumas together. Like the bridge that collapsed ( S6E18 ) The fucking prison ( S5E6 )

3. In four years, as a firefighter and within the 118 and still, we barely had him? Yes, king of the shifts, but STILL. Could we have had our princess as the protagonist for so long and that's it? We had almost nothing. Sure, there was the change from FOX to ABC and like, timeline, but still. In a big picture, in four years we could very well fit him as a protagonist character.

4. I remembered the prison scene ( S5E6 ). And the aftermath, in the hospital. The scene where Bobby invites him to breakfast. Which, given who Bobby is, definitely creates a line of fatherhood, familiarity, you know, the comfort of a mentor figure who cares about you ( I don't know, but you get the idea ). And then it cuts to him mistaking Ravi for Eddie and it's like, understandable, of course, but also sad. Because he misses a friend, a son-in-law, a son, and Ravi feels out of place where he shouldn't feel. Where family should be.

I hate to think that for Ravi, 118 are just friends and colleagues, it would make perfect sense, but still. He's part of 118, the fandom considers him family and you go there and try to show that he's not? I don't accept it. Which leads me to the idea that something will happen about this. This issue with him. At least I hope so, because I tend to read too much into things. But focusing on a secondary character is always trauma or protagonism, and protagonism always means trauma. He had cancer, damn it, he grew up in hospitals, he likes cricket, he has a good relationship with his family, he doesn't have much of a brain/mouth filter. He has trauma, depth, EVERYTHING to be a protagonist. Including and especially the love of the fandom.

I hated and loved Buck going after him, but being kind of cut off. Ravi is more than right, especially because he knows that Buck is only getting closer because of Eddie's departure.

— I am a funny guy. But did you just notice that now? 

And all the looks, because yes. Four years. FOUR years. And you don't bother to get to know your coworker? Now it's not even about family, but camaraderie. And also family, with 118 it's always about family.

I loved the bar scene. And I thought Ravi was amazing, throughout the entire episode, but anyway, him reminding Buck that yes, he did something illegal like an army silver medal. And then leaving Buck with his ex. Wonderful move. Iconic move.

I'm pretty sure Ravi's favorite sport was cricket. And I'm pretty sure I read a fic about it, on ao3. Of him talking about this game with Eddie. But again, constant state of freaking out, no subtitles, and no rewatching of the episode.

This is more of a wish, or a fanfic idea. I need Ravi's ep to be after Eddie returns to LA, but when he's not back on the team yet. And then Ravi feels left out, and gets injured on some call and ends up in the hospital, almost dying. So when he wakes up the team is super worried.

And something like:

— I didn't think you'd be here.

Of course, we'd also have the opportunity to meet Ravi's family. Which would be great because he seems to be the only one in the 118 with a really good connection with his parents.

3. Bobby Nash.

I had completely forgotten about his mom, Ann, in the promo that had been released, so it was kind of a shock. But if there's one thing I hate, it's how they simplify any relationship between family with that excuse that it's family, and therefore you should forgive. That's not how it works.

It's a bit fucked up, and not in a good way, that everything "worked out" because she almost died, when she wouldn't have tried to work it out if it weren't for Charlie ( Bobby's older brother ).

I don't blame her for abandoning Bobby's father, Tim, it was completely fair, but leaving her son, a child, behind with his alcoholic father wasn't. It wasn't Bobby's responsibility to take care of his father, just as it's not any child's responsibility to take care of their parents. Of course, Bobby was the one who chose not to abandon his father, but that's one thing. There was a way to still be present in her son's life and ignore her ex-husband.

I just think it sad, and maybe I've never talked about this in another episode review, how Bobby was a child when he started developing a certain addiction. And that the only parental influence he had was his unstable father.

— Dad would be so proud of you.

Who cares? He was a shitty alcoholic. It's not the fact that he's an alcoholic that makes him a bad person, it's not his fault that he can't stay sober, and that doesn't mean much either. Because it would be disregarding the strength of people, like Bobby himself, who deal with alcoholism and stay sober. The guy is a firefighter, he lived under pressure, he coped with it with the help of alcohol. Like Bobby kind of did. And, just like Bobby with the loss of his family and the fire, his father had a reason to try.

His family.

Alcoholism is more serious than just a black or white representation, obviously, and in a way it's portrayed that way in the series. Not black and white, but that gray area. Which shows Bobby's guilt with the fire and sobriety, the woman who drove drunk with her son in the car and still tried to sober up ( S4, pre and post Eddie being shot ), the man who also drove drunk and sought help in Bobby's AA group ( S6, post-Wendel ) and, what creates this most important link between act and consequence, the nurse, Amir Casey, who lost his wife in Bobby's fire ( S7E8 ).

4. Buddie.

I really don't know how to start. I procrastinated writing this because I would just freak out when I was going to do it.

So, starting in general. They really did this. They talked about the possibility of Buck being in love with Eddie. Something very different from what happens on screen with Buddie because there is always unrequited love and I'm trying very hard to have an objective and not personal view. Which is very difficult. 

It wasn't once, it wasn't a little joke like Maddie talking about “boy crush on Eddie” in season two. It wasn't even twice. The whole episode was practically about Eddie, and he wasn't even on screen. He definitely sneezed a lot. 

— I just though you are staying at Eddie house not here.

Chimney, as always, a well of reason (hmm) and acidity. I love him. But yeah.

The point is, from basically buying his best friend's house to 'living' with his sister just shows the issue that he couldn't stay there. For what reasons? Who knows ( we know )

The point is, GHOST.

— It’s just feels like Eddie home. 

— My beastfriend’s gone.

And this is all about Abby again.

And him living in a house/apartment that wasn't his and being haunted by memories and hopes that she would come back. And waiting for her. And him being the ghost.

And then with Eddie. Living in his house, with all the family memories and this isn't just about Eddie. Think of him living in the house where he took care of Chris after Eddie got shot, where he went to pick Chris up for all those zoo days, or visit his Diaz's or just think of him willing to live in his family's house without her there. Buck doesn't seem as hopeful that Eddie will come back ( like me ). And Abby didn't come back, so maybe Eddie will. And Abby came back with a new romance, and then maybe Eddie will create a new romance in LA ( with Buck, please. )

We talk about creating romance and let's talk about Mitchell and Thomas.

— You don't find it, son, you make It.

And then the shitty SEVEN years they lived together. And their whole connection and the FACT that Buck is legally Chris' guardian.

Let's talk about David and Michael. Let's talk about Bobby and Athena. Karen and Hen. Let's talk about Maddie and Chimney.

And yes, I can think of at least one Buddie parallel to each of them.

Mavid? The elevator scene, door closing (so... where did we leave off? / At least it's not a tsunami). Plus Michael's big, HUGE connection to Eddie.

Bathena? Watching the person you love almost die.

Kahen? Second chances. An actual betrayal, and the process that felt like it.

Madney? I'll try to pick just one. Karaoke. 

I picked Mavid for the obvious. Bathena too. Kahen I confess I can't think of many, but I like the symbolism of it. And Madney, I picked a younger one, but one that speaks volumes to those who know him.

And we don't need to speculate ( we him, and fits ), but if you want something concrete, just bring Tommy Kinard into the conversation.

I want to make it clear that I have no opinion about the character because I simply don't care ( besides Lou Ferringno Jr. be a hottie ). At the same time, I love him in the sense that he was the one who helped Buck discover himself. That's it. That's all.

Now, Tommy.

First, I loved that Eddie stopped talking to him after Tevan's breakup because it shows a lot about Eddie's friendship and loyalty. It also leads me to believe that Tommy wasn't that important to Eddie.

Of course, he would never be on the same level as Buck, but if you like this friend, it's possible to still talk to him and still be on Buck's side. There was no betrayal, it wasn't a particularly bad breakup. But he didn't make an effort.

And I love this because it just makes me think that Tommy was supposed to be with Eddie and not Buck, in the planning. And then, in the series, he obviously wanted Eddie. For god's sake, Tommy took Eddie to see something he liked in a helicopter. And then as a gift to Buck he gave him a basketball ticket. I won't even start on Tommy's surprise when Buck said he wanted to get his attention. Honestly? It seems more like if Tommy had the chance, he would get both of them at the same time. Which, well, I've already read, and liked.

And also, Tommy was insecure about Eddie the WHOLE TIME. We knew that, but now it's CANON. Canon.

That he (C), was jealous of his boyfriend's (A) best friend (B) and that's such a couple move that ends and then A and B get together and C thinks, I was right to be jealous.

I talked and talked but didn't really present things, 'proof', of why he pulled Tommy. But this episode is the entire example, basically.

From the beginning.

Buck having a relapse with his ex (thanks Ravi). And I didn't mind that, because I got more queer hookup scenes ( like Kahen ), even though it was dark I could still see it, and it was beautiful, especially Buck's movements and face ( man, seriously, JESUS ). Then I remembered that it would be Eddie's house and I felt kind of dirty. Because I did the math. There are two bedrooms in that house. One for Chris, one for Eddie ( as we saw when Buck took care of Chris after the shooting, because if there was a guest room he would sleep there and not on the couch ). He certainly wouldn't do that in Chris's, even though it wasn't his for a while. So that leaves only Eddie's. And you get what I mean. It was like, illogically, watching a boyfriend cheat on the other with an ex-lover. It was also pretty hilarious to freak out about it.

Which brought me to Tommy, wanting to try it now that Eddie is gone. So they really brought up Tommy wanting to try now that Eddie is gone.

— Now that the competition is out of the way.

Which is pretty ridiculous when you stop to think about where they were, but I get it.

— Wait, Eddie?

And I love that there's no other point of view about them because Tommy was also Eddie's friend, so it wasn't about not trusting or not liking. It was jealousy, and insecurity.

— I'm your first. But I won't be your last.

And why would he feel insecure about that? Huh? Why? Because he knows more than Buck, more than Eddie.

He's the first male character in a romantic point of view that comes between Buck and Eddie. And I love that. For example;

— And Eddie is straight.

The sound Tommy makes, like he knows something we don't. Well, that Buck doesn't know, because we do. Or him realizing that's Buck's excuse.

Because at every turn, Buck dodges these ‘claims’ of being in love with Eddie by continually saying “he’s straight” and “straight best friend”. And my dear, I, even in a universe where I’m not a writer, could find a thousand ways to deny MY feelings about my friend.

The first would be to not point out that she/he isn’t gay either. Because it gives an indication that you want him/her because you can’t. Which is not good for convincing people that you don’t.

The whole kitchen scene was like watching a fanfic. Or maybe a jealous, healthy episode of Queer as Folk ( I started watching it today, I need to talk about it ), only with implied sex.

So skip to Maddie. That woman needs peace. I’m not going to talk about all the trauma, poor thing, but always in the middle of Buck’s outbursts about Eddie or romantic partners.

— Just by living in his house I must be in love with Eddie?

— Are you?

— In love with Eddie?

— It wouldn't be so crazy.

I swore, in this scene, that Maddie would ask if he was in love with Eddie. Because it's just like her. And because she always knows. She acted surprised with the pronoun thing, with Buck being bi, but Maddie knows the brother she has more than anyone. Because she's also right. It wouldn't be crazy for Buck to be in love with Eddie. And that's just being rational, I don't even need to be a shipper ( but I am ).

You have this best friend who is basically the closest person to you, more close even of your family ( except Maddie, she's amazing ) and you basically raise a child together. You have seven years of friendship and a special connection that understands each other by looking at each other, that protects each other, that knows each other's pain. And then you realize that you're bi. And you date this guy, Tommy, that guy you were super jealous of when he approached this friend. And then this guy breaks up with you with some weird talk. And your friend leaves. And this guy comes back. And people start talking about you being in love with this friend. And oh, maybe you are.

Of course, not every queer person falls in love with their same-gender friends even after years of connection, that's pretty wrong to say, but I'm talking specifically about Buck and Eddie. And within the fandom we know that these moments of connection are more than just deep conversations, it's literally feeling the taste of his blood in your mouth, him knowing how long your heart stopped beating until he came back, being named legal guardian of his son, ALL of that. Everything else.

And the couch. The fucking couch.

Every Buddie shipper comes up with the couch theory at some point while watching the series. And we consider Eddie to be the right couch ( ha, you'll feel it on him, huh ), that dark blue couch in Eddie's living room. So Buck starts living in Eddie's house. And he trades the couch for his. And what the hell does that mean? That house is the right house. Because when Eddie comes back, and he will, that's going to be their couch. He chose Eddie's house to put his couch in.

God, I can't think anymore without freaking out or getting lost in theories and assumptions. So, that's basically it.

HOLY SHIT THEY TALKED ABOUT BUDDIE.

[foxglove03]

I am on a flight across the North Atlantic back home. The border guard asked me what I had bought while in Ireland and I felt strangely compelled to tell him a lie. Instead, I said I had only spent money on clothes and it was not a lot. Three hours into the flight and I sit completely afraid every bodily ache is a sign of impending doom. All the things I am, to add being half a hypochondriac to the list makes a varied mix. Since I learned how the author of “Goodnight Moon” died kicking her leg up as a sign of good health to her nurse, you can’t be too careful. I said all my tacky goodbyes to the people in my apartment, promised to talk, said the time I spent with them was nice. None of them believed me probably. I have a compulsive need to convey my true feelings and they’re all not idiots. Everything got so spoiled in record time. I was going back to look at pictures from when I arrived. In just a few months, an opinion can be formed so solidly. And I think we all had such unmoving thoughts two to three weeks in. My roommate made me promise her several times that hang out with her in the future. It’s an absolute miracle who you’d hug if that’s what the social convention calls for. I hugged my least favorite roommate goodbye though he never cleaned and only produced miraculous mess after mess, and of all things slept with the one girl I liked. Also fought with me frequently after the first month of arriving to our apartment. Everyone looked at me to hug him so I relented.

The sick feeling in my stomach during the last few days of getting my things together has finally stopped for the most part. It was no definitive transition. It was there and the next second I thought about it, gone. Probably went somewhere with the Dublin train. On the train I finished reading “Stoner” by John Williams and cried very quietly making my face all sticky the way tears do. Particularly it was the last twenty or so pages that got me in William Stoner’s story. He was a character that longed for a passion he didn’t possess himself and never got quite a hold of in his life. This made his death rattle in the final pages a painful one. Although he seemed to extract joy from teaching, it was never with a memorable fire to me. The book is exactly what my parents always accuse me of indulging in too much. Bubbling misery in every movie, book and song. I did like the book, but I think it’s funny it ever reared its head out of its fifty-something year old obscurity.

Now I won’t be confusing this alleviation of semester stress for a tranquility in my personal life. Most of those details mustn’t be thought of for pure continuity’s sake. Plus I have a nightmarish paper to be completed in the next 12 hours on whether or not Greek figured pottery can offer any information on the Athenian economy. It can’t, I’ve beat the horse in 150 ways and have about 1/4 of the paper to go. I downloaded the 2011 version of Twin Fantasy which I think I’ve only listened to briefly before. I was watching the version of “Sober To Death” Will Toledo does on Tiny Desk and it’s fantastic, completely love it. Looking through the comments someone says a bit about how they preferred before his changes made in the re-record. Since I’m an all-out media purist I had to listen. I think I should do some drawings just on the parts he cut out in all the songs. I’m such a sucker for long drawling speaking parts. It’s completely different but it reminds me of the song “Waking of The Witch” by Kate Bush. Absolutely nothing alike other than a song with no singing involved, incantations, monologues and exclamations instead of singing.

I can’t wait to get coffee in a vat. A comically large, pissing your pants type of size they have in the states. Being handed that will have me singing God Bless America backwards or break into cartwheels of patriotism. I’m hoping to avoid any serious thought over the course of the next few weeks and using my time to just draw like a maniac and read twelve books and absorb the contents of this lovely, terrible app. I have to complete a commission of many different dogs which I’ve been putting off. The woman who’s paying me will totally give me a lot more money the work’s worth so I’m nervous about delivering something a good quality. I’ll need to draw more dogs.

I’ve also got some zine ideas in my head which’ll be great for a punk art event thing I’ve been invited to in February. One zine’s already done, it’s just a matter of printing.

I’m so paranoid about getting a blood clot that I have this image in my head of touching the ground and bursting like a ballon. If you’re reading this, that did not happen 🫡

(An aside, glanced at the woman reading right next to me and a line from her book said “I can live with her being happy, even if it’s a fucking dickhead causing it.” A beautiful example of 21st century prose lol)

[rastro-writes]

Rastro, I will always love to help feed your plot bunnies <3

7, 16, 20 & 21!

7) How do you edit your fics? What do you look for in your edits?

I read through them as I work on them to make sure it still makes sense. Not everything I write when I’m tired makes sense in the morning when I’m less tired and it needs fixing.

Most of my edits are changing what words I use, and spelling mistakes. Sometimes I’ll rearrange sections so they’re in different orders. Usually if the POV isn’t cooperating.

16) Do you have a method for getting characters to sound/feel in character?

Remind myself of their core traits and motivations that are either established in their canon or that I add to in my work; which can be simple, or are influenced or motivated by their trauma, which can also wind up being relatively simple in its own darker way.

20) What is your favorite thing about writing fanfic? What about writing in general?

I love conspiracy theories in fanfiction. Just taking simple things and connecting them in ways that they probably weren’t intended for. But they make sense to me and most of the time it’s really cool. I try to stay in existing canon for plausibility but other than that I play around.

In general I just love worldbuilding. Like probably too much. My brain has like 12 original worlds or AUs floating around inside of it, most of which I’ve written very little or nothing for, so they’re only in my head. But that’s fine. I still enjoy thinking about them on occasion, and sometimes add to them.

21) Writers choice -

17) Do you have any wips that you can tell us about? What are you most excited for in you wip?

I have one long one, that started as just a Wildlight mutual pining longfic. The plot bunny got zoomies and it has actual story now too. Also the plot bunnies multiplied from one, to three. For now.

Only 8 in the chain in this one atm because for the life of me I have no idea how to write Four. Sorry buddy.

I had a moment of plot inspiration the other day and spent ten minutes talking to myself. I’m gonna be sprinkling it in places and see how many people figure some of it out before the reveal.

Three one shots, two Wildlight, one gen. No spoilers for those heehee.

And then I’m planning to participate in Linkshipping week 2024 in January so that’s seven shorter one-shots. See @linkshipping-week if you wanna participate.

I’m most excited about the longfic, title pending, just with how much backstory I’ve already pumped into it.

Thank you for the greats asks @lolabearwrites !

[tg-headcanons]

How would you go about writing the Sunlit Garden plot if you were the one writing tg:re? Personally, I thought having so many half-ghoul characters was just too much, and Arima especially was done dirty in the end.

For me, I would SCRAP THE FUCKER

The sunlit garden is, to put it nicely, sopping garbage. I think that the plot was built up to point to an upper class as the real driving force behind the violence, and the sunlit garden was convoluted weird shit put in place because rather than adding a statement that people can disagree with, it adds shock value that can add interest at the expense of a rational plot. And since even more early parts of RE, that’s just what’s happened, worsening plot and giving it more shock value. Now there are parts of it that could have been good, but there are so few that it can really just be plucked from canon and added into A Better Plotline

Even if we ignore the implausibility of a secret organization that does this shit, there’s a huge reason that it would be stupid to do. That is the FUNDING it would take. And they have no actual need for half ghoul super soldiers. Sure having a hybrid who can fight longer and harder than either species sounds good, but think of the cost to do that. They would have to not only find ghouls and humans who are both willing to have a child, but have one that can cause countless pregnancy complications and requires cannibalism to have even a chance at being born. Then they would have to keep the secrets, so either they’d need to kill the parents, potentially bringing investigation upon themselves, or they’d need to pay them enough to give away their child and keep quiet the rest of their lives. Either way, both the bribe to the parents if they live or the bribes to employees if they’re killed will need to be huge.

Then there’s the cost of raising a child. Food, medical, clothing, household supplies, and those are just the materials. There’s also the cost of teachers, doctors, even just childcare workers who, again, would have to be paid a SHIT TON to work there and not say anything. Add in that hybrid biology is a mixed bag and the amount of allergies, medical needs, and just behavior is a toss up for every single child, which makes any prediction for what they’ll need in terms of physical and behavioral health almost useless.

Speaking of their health, that’s a crap chute. There are so many risks involved for hybrids, anything can get weird when mixing two species with a different number of chromosomes and they’re dealing with dozens of children all with unique needs. And many of those unique needs will be because of health problems. 75% of hybrids do not have a Kagune, and are considered half humans instead of half ghouls. Half humans don’t live long. They’re strong when they’re alive but after 25 years their deterioration is visible and by 30, they’re dead. They have ghoul cellular regeneration without the safeguards of cellular senescence ghouls have, and their survival rate past 30 is at 1 or 2%, and those one or two percent aren’t exactly making it to retirement either. So that means that the handful of half humans that are successful are only good for their purposes for around 12-15 years, but the success rate for the half ghouls they’re trying to make is 25% AT BEST

So then, after all these years of creating, raising, and training these children, you have maybe 9 or 10 that are going to be used. Because between physical and mental health problems, a lack of care for unique needs, and regular old injury and, let’s be honest, suicide, plenty aren’t even going to make to the day they’re told they don’t have what it takes to do what they were made for.

So now they’ve spent, say, 15 years on these kids, and best case scenario one in four was useful and made it to the point they can start working, with at least three failures for every single usable soldier. And each one of them cost a fortune. The place they were raised cost a fortune. The staff cost a fortune. The training and education cost a fortune. And what do they have?

Nine or ten teenagers who can fight very well, and if they’re lucky maybe one or two will make it past 30

It would have cost less to just hire a couple new platoons, and now you also have some teenagers with powers far beyond that of a normal human or ghoul that know all their secrets that can and HAVE turned on them

And all I have to say about breeding more washuus is that if they really did go about it that way, and somehow the washuu men really aren’t infertile like all every other hybrid, even then with the small amount of personnel on hand they would be so, so inbred

In all, the sunlit garden is a stupid, stupid plot point and any government agency, no matter how single minded they are for their cause, would NEVER pay a fraction of what that would cost. So If I could change it, instead of the sunlit garden plot be about breeding super soldiers and new washuus, I would have it be a facility in which yes, they do train half ghouls, but they hunt down half ghouls born outside of it to bring in and train as doves. As rare as they are there are interspecies relationships and sometimes that results in a kid, and it serves their purpose well to kill anyone who knows humans and ghouls can live together, and turn the evidence into their own weapon. It’s so much cheaper, so much less work, and would explain so much in their world. It could have been a great plot showing a deliberate and vicious facility dedicated to taking living people who are the result of love between the species, and turning them into weapons to destroy any chance of it

[grelleswife]

*quickly sends you an ask* Mey Rin for the ask game please frien?? 🥰🙏

Sure thing! 🥰

1. My first impression of them. Sweet and adorable, albeit rather klutzy.

2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like). I liked Mey Rin right off the bat (the Phantomhive servants add a lot of heart to the storyline), and that appreciation only increased when she revealed her badass sniper skills during the circus arc! I love it when kind characters also have a ferocious side. 🔥

3. A song that reminds me of them. “almost home” by mxmtoon (which I first heard on @catraears ‘s wonderful Mey Rin playlist here on Spotify)

4. How many people I ship them with. Grelle, Sebastian, Hannah Annafellows, Paula, Agni, Ronald Knox, Madame Red (the three red ladies could make a very cute polycule!)

5. My favorite ship of them. Grellerin, because the vibes are immaculate. You have Grelle helping the maid embrace her femininity after a childhood and adolescence spent stifling it, and offering Mey Rin a passionate romance that surpasses anything found in the pages of her novels. You have Mey unconditionally loving and staunchly supporting Grelle, affirming the reaper’s identity even when so much of the world refuses to understand her. If they fought side-by-side, death scythe and rifle at the ready, these queens would be an unstoppable force! Sebagrellerin is also great…the perfect bisexual trio. 💖💜💙

6. My least favorite ship of them. I seem to recall spotting some nasty nonsense like Mey Rin/O!Ciel in the AO3 tag a while ago; anything like that is a hard pass from me, for obvious reasons. 🤢

7. A quote of them that you remember. “I obey young master’s command to the letter! To greet my master in a tidy manor every day—that is a maid’s duty. The housemaid shall purge the filth from this manor!”

8. Your favorite outfit of them. This dress from the official Gfantasy Sebamey cover!

9. Your least favorite outfit of them. Mey Rin looks fantastic in any outfit Yana chooses for her! 💕

10. Describe the character in one sentence. Though she presents a cheerful countenance by day, the Owl bares her talons by night!

11. What’s the first thing you think about when thinking about the character? How cute she is and how badly I want to cuddle her. 😭

12. Sexuality hc! Bisexual. 💖💜💙

13. Your favorite friendship they have. Her bond with the other servants; I’m a sucker for the trope where outcasts and misfits join together to create a little found family. 🥰

14. Best storyline they had. Her backstory in the maid arc. Those chapters gave us a better understanding of the harsh times that shaped her into a fearsome markswoman, as well as her resilience and ability to retain a beautiful soul despite those trials. Mey Rin’s come a long way from the bleak life in which she was trapped, which made it even more rewarding to see her thrive in the present!

15. Worst storyline they had. I wish she’d been aboard the Campania during the luxury liner arc. It would have been epic to watch her take out those bizarre dolls! 😈

16. A childhood headcanon. When she felt sad or discouraged, child!Rin would hum fragments of the tunes her mother used to sing to her in order to calm herself down.

17. What do you think their first word was? The Chinese word for “flower”

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc). Based on the glimpse of babey Mey in canon, I’d say she was a naturally sensitive child forced to toughen up fast in order to eke out a living on the unforgiving London streets.

19. The most random ship you've seen people have with them. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen many ships involving Mey that were too bizarre, though I’m sure those crack pairings exist somewhere!

20. A weird headcanon. Maybe not weird, but spooky…Mey Rin loves telling ghost stories with the Bard and Finny on long winter nights, even though she often ends up scaring herself in the process. 😂👻

21. When do you think they were at their happiest? Those times at the manor when there are no attacks or other catastrophes to worry about, and she was free to enjoy picnics, fun outings in the city, and other bonding moments with the rest of the Phantomhive household.

22. When do you think they were at their lowest? Working as the Qing Bang’s assassin. Mey was surviving, but she wasn’t living.

23. Future headcanon. Partially as a consequence of working with her during their undercover mission, Mey Rin eventually becomes good friends with Ran Mao. At one point, the other woman gifts Mey a panda plushie identical to her own, which the maid treasures.

24. What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone? The exact number of people she’s killed over the course of her work. That death count comes with the territory, but Mey Rin doesn’t like to dwell on it.

25. When do you think they acted the most ooc. Her character’s been pretty consistent (at least in the manga), though I wish Yana had let her show her true colors earlier on in the story.

26. When do you think they were being "themselves" the most? After becoming a maid, because she could finally express her identity as Mey Rin, rather than being callously treated as Rin, valued only for her keen eyes and deadly aim rather than her personhood.

27. If they could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who would be the most fun for them to meet? I’d love to see an AU where she could interact with Jeanne from Vanitas no Carte because they have a lot in common—wonderfully endearing ladies who also have an intense side, past trauma, a well-deserved reputation for being frighteningly talented at putting enemies six feet under, in service to a young master who offered them a brighter future, etc. I just think they should eat macarons together and be besties. :’)

28. The most unnecessary thing they ever did? Nothing really comes to mind? 🤔 Anything my girl does is significant to me! 💖

29. How do you think they would be as a parent? (and if they are a parent, how do you think they would be if they weren't?) An amazing mom. Since she’s prone to anxiety, Mey could definitely benefit from a partner to lend a hand (raising kids is stressful work), but her fierce protectiveness and warm, affectionate demeanor would carry the day more often than not. She’d be patient and gentle, and give the best hugs!

30. The funniest scene they had? Her stunned reaction to Finny’s spine-breaking tackle! 😂

[defilerwyrm]

⭐️ Bei Mir Bist Du Schön

FIC SPOILERS AHEAD!

Bei Mir Bist Du Schön on AO3

He opened his mouth to thank Essek but what came out instead was, “Deine Augen sind wunderschön.”

Essek stared at him, perfectly neutral save for the subtle rise of stark white eyebrows. “I don’t speak Zemnian,” he said, flashing his customary, placid little smile.

This is early Essek, well before c2e097, so this is a fully calculated move. That stare is him running simulations in his head, as it were, weighing his options, and he finally decides that he can learn more about Caleb if the guy thinks he doesn’t understand these little asides.

And boy did he ever just learn something juicy.

The second time, he was feeling petulant. Essek was normally a very patient and talented teacher, but there came a time when they butted heads over the best way to work a spell: Essek’s experience and Caleb’s contradicted each other, and neither was willing to admit that he was wrong because they weren’t. Caleb couldn’t have said why they were getting spirited over it. It was unlike them to lock horns this way, and the condescension chafed fiercely.

To my understanding, Wildemount never—at least post-Calamity—had a continent-spanning culture like the Roman Empire that would standardize learning across regions, and the Empire and Dynasty have utterly lacked in cultural exchange pretty much throughout their histories; so I reason that their approach to magic must be very damn different right down to the fundamentals. But, I also reason, magic is like math, in that there’s more than one way to come to a given conclusion—so the same spell cast by an Imperial mage might use different theory and somatic/verbal components with the same results.

I love fic that plays homage to cultural differences, so I figured that there must surely come a point where Caleb and Essek quibble about how to do a thing, with the crux being that they’re both right.

In a fit of pique, he muttered, “Du hast Glück, dass du abartig schön bist, denn du bist so ein Arsch.”

Essek’s head whipped up so fast that, for a moment, Caleb thought maybe he understood after all—but Essek just squinted at him without recognition and said, “I beg your pardon?”

Essek’s poker face is doing triple duty here because Caleb just said he’s hot af but also a dick, and this isn’t a sentiment Essek hasn’t heard before, but it hasn’t really gotten under his skin like it does this time.

Caleb passed a hand over his face and scratched at the beard he desperately needed to shave off. “Nothing,” he lied, “just annoyed with myself. This should be a moment of discovery, now that we know this can go either way. A door has unlocked and we’re both pulling it shut. Can we start again?”

The slip, and Essek’s reaction to it, made Caleb realize that they were both being dillweeds about the whole thing and it wasn’t going to move them forward at all.

It was—of course, of fucking course the intonation mattered. “A tonal shift,” he breathed. He took Essek by the lapels of his robe and shook him gently, and blurted out, “Ich könnte dein Gehirn küssen und dann deinen Mund.”

“What the hell is going on,” Nott squeaked at the same time as Essek chuckled almost nervously, “Caleb, I don’t—”

Hot boi damn near let the cat out of the bag right here. It’s certainly not that he specifically did not want to be smooched at all, but more that 1) Nott was RIGHT THERE so it would be mortifying, 2) he’s still very D: about physical contact and this point, and 3) he’s still very privately going “fuck fuck fuck WHY a HUMAN” about his own attraction to Caleb. There is very much a part of him that Wants That, but the rest of him is just not coping with it at all just yet.

The following morning, though, all he could think about was Dein Bett wäre besser and Essek’s careful fingers touching his face.

Both of them are fully mortified with themselves. They’re ridiculous. I see Caleb heading back to the Xhorhaus with shoulders bunched up, brow furrowed, and wide eyes glued to his own feet as his brain screams “DEIN BETT WÄRE BESSER” at him, mockingly, over and over. Slipping up and confessing your attraction to your crush is relatably horrifying (gods, I’ve been there, it’s awful) and Caleb is predisposed to beat himself up to begin with. Add in the rest of the party making a big deal over the fact that he spent the night over at Essek’s towers and you’ve got an abject storm in that little ginger head of his.

It did not help matters that no matter how much he insisted that nothing happened, the Mighty Nein were dead set on believing that he’d slept with his mentor, and they spent the next three days teasing him about it, none of them aware that he was simultaneously tormenting himself.

Okay so I try to be good and not talk shit about my own work these days, but that sentence just landed in a belly flop for me. I’m not sure it actually gets across what I’d meant, which was that Caleb was beating himself up for a different reason than what they all thought.

In the midst of a messy ambush by three of the wolf-cat eye-beasts, one of them managed to get the drop on Caleb, and it pinned him, screaming, to the ground. Its claws dug fiery punctures into either side of his chest. He thrashed, trying to get both hands up to cast, but it would be too late—his reflexes weren’t good enough. His body had never been nearly as sharp as his mind, and he was about to pay the price in the form of massive, dagger-like fangs lunging towards his throat. He screamed again, chest nearly frozen with fear, when—

Adventurers are generally made of tough stock, but I really wanted to dig into the POV of someone who’s being attacked by a terrifying cerature intent on ripping them apart. “You take 12 piercing damage and are knocked prone” is mechanical and dry; I wanted to show the full in-character implications of those mechanics.

Another fic that represents game mechanics narratively to absolutely stunning affect is Hard Mouth by road_rhythm, which I cannot recommend highly enough. I wrote Bei Mir before Hard Mouth started posting but had it been the other way around, it 100% would have been an inspiration in that regard.

He could not help but murmur, “Götter, ich bins so verschossen in dich.”

Fun fact: I got myself the book Talking Dirty German specifically for writing Caleb dialogue, and it really came in handy here. This idiom is from that book, as did abartig schön. The literal translation is “Gods, I am so shot into you,” which coming to think of it sounds a wee bit dirty but is figuratively very sappy.

Speaking of sappy….

“Das Gefühl ist Gegenseitig,” came the warm and sleepy reply.

Part of this is Essek being barely-conscious, but the bulk of it is this—and this is basically giving away the whole way the fic progresses: pretending not to know Zemnian began as a manipulation tactic to get intel, then became a game of “Let’s see how long it takes you to figure this out, smart boy” as their bond grew and Essek stopped deliberately trying to throw Caleb off, and finally when they were a couple he figured it would be cruel and pointless to keep up the ruse, especially since he’d been growing to appreciate pet names in their mother tongues.

Caleb took a deep breath, set his tea aside, and launched himself at Essek, who yelped, laughing, and danced out of his grasp. Essek led him on a merry chase around the kitchen and held out as long as he could before crying mercy at Caleb’s vicious tickling.

You know, I probably shouldn’t point this out in case my readers hadn’t cottoned onto it yet either, but it wasn’t until like a week after publishing this that I stopped and thought, “WTF happened to Essek’s teacup? Did he take the time to set it down? Did it get dropped and shatter? Did he show off and levitate it?? Did he bring it with him and get tea all over the place and himself?!” Smh…. Choose your own explanation, I guess, lmao.

The rolls were a little burnt that morning, but Caleb had no regrets.

Part of me feels like this is kind of a weak ending, but I justify it to myself by remembering how hard Caleb regretted his slip-ups over the course of the fic. He spends a good bit of copy beating himself up over them, so ultimately I think it fits, even if it kinda lacks punch.

[i-know-my-value-darling]

Supernatural stars reflect on the show's undying legacy

Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins discuss 15 years of fantasy, family, and flannel. 

"We only get one shot at this." Sam and Dean Winchester are surrounded. The monster-hunting brothers are standing on the edge of a cliff. They look to Castiel, their brother in arms — or is it wings? — but even he can’t help. One move in the wrong direction could ruin everything. After years of fighting demons, going toe-to- toe with Satan himself, and saving the world multiple times, they once again find themselves in a position of having to perform under pressure. But this situation is unlike anything they’ve ever dealt with before. All eyes are on them as they have one shot…at getting the perfect picture.

It’s a dry, hot August day in Malibu — when people were still allowed to gather outside — as Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins prepare for the last setup of their final Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. With a bottle of champagne in each of their hands, Ackles once again reminds them they get “one shot” to do this right. But if their characters can shoulder the weight of the world, surely these three can handle a photo. Read the whole story below

The champagne soaking is meant to be a celebration of 15 years, of making television history. Supernatural, the story of two brothers destined to save the world, is the longest-running genre show in the history of American broadcast television. (So old, the first three seasons shot on this thing called film.) What started as an underdog story, living its first few years on the verge of cancellation, has become an institution, a milestone to which other shows aspire. Supernatural not only survived the move from The WB to The CW after its first season — it’s now the final WB show left standing — but became the backbone of the now highly successful CW network. Over the years, the sci-fi series has aired on every weeknight, helping to launch shows including Arrow and The Vampire Diaries. The network moved it one final time, most recently, to Mondays, to help Roswell, New Mexico expand its audience. “Supernatural is a major link to many of the shows that we have successfully built to market,” The CW’s chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz says. “Almost every one of our shows has had it as a lead-out or a lead-in.”

And to think, it all started as a promise to bring horror to television. After Supernatural creator Eric Kripke had finished working with Warner Bros. on 2003’s Tarzan series, he pitched the idea of a reporter who travels around hunting urban legends. As he puts it, it was a Kolchak: The Night Stalker rip-off. But when he realized the story would benefit from having brothers at its core, he started writing. “At the time, The Ring and The Grudge were huge hits in theaters,” Kripke remembers. “We said, ‘We’re going to take that experience and we’re going to put it on TV,’ and the initial goal was to be scary.” After Warner Bros. passed on his first, what he calls “uptight,” draft, Kripke had to reassess the kind of show he was creating. “I canceled all my Christmas plans and wrote that second draft in three weeks,” he says. “That was when the show got its sense of humor, because I was locked alone, over winter break, in my office. I couldn’t do anything fun, so I started entertaining myself.”

The show was still scary, but it was also funny and, over the years, would continue to evolve. Sure, you could say it’s a little bit X-Files — in its early days, the show often used the line “The X-Files meets Route 66” — and there were definite Star Wars influences (Sam and Dean were originally based on Luke Skywalker and Han Solo). But no combination of pop culture is going to perfectly describe Supernatural because the show has managed to do something remarkably rare in the age of peak TV, where audiences are so overwhelmed with content that an original idea seems foreign: It’s created a truly one-of- a-kind experience.

For starters, it’s a show about two flannel-wearing, beer-loving, blue-collar dudes from Kansas who for a good chunk of their lives traveled from cheap motel to cheap motel, paying for gas and greasy diner food with a mix of fake credit cards and money they earned scamming people at the pool table. “Almost all television is about rich people or, at the very least, middle-class people,” co-showrunner Andrew Dabb says. “The fact that we’ve been able to take this Midwestern blue-collar approach to this genre feels like we’re breaking the mold.”

But the mold-breaking didn’t stop there. Supernatural might’ve started out as a horror show with some snarky one-liners, but it evolved into some of the boldest, most experimental (and certainly strangest) stories on the small screen. “We’re a show of big swings,” co-showrunner Robert Singer says. “I used to say, with every idea, ‘This will be a home run or they’ll cancel us,’ but every year we wanted to do something really nuts." And when he says nuts, we’re not just talking about the episode with the talking teddy bear or the murderer targeting imaginary friends. Those are just some standard monsters of the week. We’re talking about the black-and-white episode shot like a classic Hollywood monster movie, or the episode that introduced Chuck (Rob Benedict), a prophet — who’d later reveal himself to be God — who was famous for writing a book series called Supernatural. That, of course, led to Sam and Dean attending a Supernatural fan convention as the show continued to redefine what it meant to inject a series with meta humor. And the swings never stopped. Season 13 featured a Scooby-Doo crossover as an animated Sam, Dean, and Castiel solved a case alongside the Mystery Inc. gang. And in season 14, after giving God a sister a few years prior, the show made the Big Man Himself its final villain. “I don’t think any idea, barring some production concerns, has been viewed as too crazy,” Dabb says. “Because we know that our fans are smart and that they’ll follow these guys anywhere.”

So long as each episode features Sam and Dean — and the occasional heartfelt talk on the hood of the Impala — the show can do just about anything, which is another reason Kripke had to rewrite his first draft of the pilot. Originally, Dean was the only brother who knew about monsters growing up, bringing Sam up to speed later in life. It wasn’t until Kripke figured out that they needed to be in this together that the series snapped into place. Because at the end of it all, they’re two brothers bonded by the loss of their mother and a life spent on the road with an absentee father. (It just so happens that their mother was killed by a demon and their father hunted them.) The familial dynamic — the irrational codependency, as the angel Zachariah (Kurt Fuller) once called it — is the most important part of the show. “The first inkling I had that we had something special was shooting the pilot,” Kripke says. “It was the scene on the bridge when Sam and Dean talk about their mother. It was the first time that you really saw their chemistry and their connection as brothers on full display. Because I’ve always said this show begins and ends with whether you believe that sibling relationship.” But Sam and Dean weren’t just the center of the show. For many years, they were the show.

Supernatural has never been an ensemble drama. For the first 82 hours of the series, Ackles and Padalecki were the only long-running series regulars — Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan briefly joined for season 3, appearing in 12 episodes combined. But Sam and Dean weren’t just in every episode; they anchored every episode. (They skipped table reads because there would’ve been only two actors there.) “I had many moments of not only questioning, ‘Can I keep this up?’ but an answer of ‘I cannot keep this up,’ ” Padalecki, 37, who’s been vocal about his struggle in the early seasons, says. “I borrowed strength from Jensen.” But even Ackles, 42, admits it was a tough job. “The 23-episode seasons were nine and a half months of filming,” he adds. “It was a lot of work, but I always came back to: I still enjoy it, I still like telling the story, I still like these characters and the people I work with.”

Not only did the guys stick around, they built a reputation of having created one of the warmest sets in the business, with a number of crew members staying with the production all 15 seasons. It all dates back to a talk Kripke had with his stars during the filming of the series’ second episode. “I said, ‘The show is about your two characters, and with that comes this responsibility,’ ” Kripke says. Padalecki remembers the exact setting of what he calls their “Good Will Hunting moment,” a bench in Stanley Park in Vancouver, where they film. It was a chat both actors took to heart. “We’d both been on other sets,” Ackles says. “We knew we wanted to enjoy it, to have fun with our crew; we wanted them to like us and us to like them and to have fun doing what we do.” It’s an attitude Pedowitz hopes bleeds into other CW shows, an attitude that launched an annual tradition where the CW chairman/CEO takes his new casts out to dinner with the Supernatural guys, a chance for the vets to share advice. “It’s always the most flattering situation,” Padalecki says, recalling a moment he had a few years back with the late Luke Perry, who was a part of the Riverdale cast. “Luke was sitting next to me and he was like, ‘What y’all have done and what we hear about you guys, it’s really cool to be associated with y’all in some way, shape, or form,’” he recalls. “And I’m sitting there pinching myself.”

It’s a behind-the-scenes legacy that’s perhaps just as impressive, if not more so, than the onscreen legacy. Collins, 45, who started as a guest star and the show’s first angel in season 4, has become the show’s third-longest-running series regular, and he still remembers walking onto set his first day. “When you’re coming onto a show as a guest star, it can be a little bit nerve-racking,” Collins says. “Coming to this set, it was an immediately different vibe. Think- ing about working on other shows in the future, that’s something that I aspire to bring with me.”

A similar reputation extends to the fans as well. Not only is the #SPNFamily one of the most dedicated fandoms out there, it’s also known to be a pretty nice one. (Not many fandoms can say they’ve helped launch a crisis support network for their fellow fans.) But their dedication isn’t just about seeing what crazy twist God throws at Team Free Will next. Thanks to fan conventions and social media, the viewers are just as invested in the lives of the actors. Supernatural’s not just about the words on the page, it’s about the actors saying them. “When you’re dealing with the public taste, there’s an alchemy of great writing, a great idea, and the close-up that’s required,” Peter Roth, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, says. “You need stars who you want in your living room.” And you need stars who want to be in your living room, and who, even after 15 years, care so deeply that they get emotional while taking photos in Malibu.

"It's going to be a long eight months," Ackles declares. Standing on that same ledge, an hour before the champagne shot, Ackles, Padalecki, and Collins walk away from a group hug after unexpectedly starting to tear up. It might be the setting — looking out over the ocean — or the occasion: their last-ever photo shoot. Or maybe it’s the fact that they’re almost a month into filming their final season.

It had been a question posed to the stars for years: How long will this show continue? How long can it continue? “Even my mom and dad were like, ‘When are you going to be done with this?’” Ackles says with a laugh. It was a decision the network and studio had ultimately put into the actors’ hands, and it was a conversation they’d been having for a while. Back in 2016, Padalecki told EW, “If we don’t make it to [episode] 300, I think Ackles and I will both be truly bummed.” But in season 14, they hit 300…and then kept going. While filming episode 307, they announced the upcoming 15th season would be the end, which will bring them to a total of 327 episodes when all is said and done. “[Jared] and I were always married to the fact that we never wanted to go out with a diet version of what we had,” Ackles says. “We wanted to have enough gas left in the tank to get us racing across the finish line. We didn’t want to limp across.” Padalecki remembers the moment it hit him — not the decision to end it, but rather the opposite. “We had that moment where he and I both realized that we didn’t want it to end,” he says. “It finally got to a point, ironically, where it was like, ‘I never want to leave this. I could do this until the day I die, and then if I get the choice when I’m dead, I’ll re-up!’ But you never want to be the last person at a party. We just knew. That’s not to say there haven’t been vacillations, but we all trust the decision that was made.”

Starting in July 2019, the cast and crew returned to Vancouver to begin filming the final season, but in March 2020, with two episodes left to go, they were sent home. For years, fans had wondered what, if anything, could stop the Winchesters, and now it seems we have the answer: a global pandemic. As sets closed amid social-distancing measures due to the spread of COVID-19, it didn’t take long for fans to start connecting the dots, sharing relevant GIFs from episodes that featured viruses, most notably Chuck telling Dean to hoard toilet paper “like it’s made of gold” before the end of the world in season 5’s “The End.” (Did we mention that Supernatural is also kind of psychic? In a season 6 episode, Dean calls Sam “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which just so happens to be the role Padalecki has lined up after this ends.)

When production paused, it all felt a little like we were living in an episode of the show, just waiting for Sam and Dean to drive up in Baby, open those creaky doors, and save us. They might not be able to do quite that, but the thing with the Winchesters is that they never stay down for long. When Supernatural is able to safely resume production, it will. And though there are only two episodes left to film, fans will enjoy a total of seven unseen hours, including the return of Charlie (Felicia Day) and a mystery woman who visits the bunker and, for some reason, gives Sam and Dean all the holidays they never got to celebrate. “She makes Christmas for them and Thanksgiving, birthday parties, and all that. It’s a very good episode,” Singer says, adding, “I don’t know when it’s going to air.”

That’s the thing—no one knows, not even the guys who took out Yellow Eyes, stopped Leviathans, defeated Death himself, and are supposedly destined to be the messengers of God’s destruction. But Sam and Dean do know the value of a good plan B. “Obviously it’s a horribly unfortunate situation we’re in, but the silver lining is that it gives us an opportunity to recharge,” Ackles says. “We had just finished episode 18, we shot one day of episode 19, and I was reading these two monster scripts thinking, ‘It’s like we’re at the end of a marathon and they want us to sprint for the last two miles.’ I feel like this almost gives us an opportunity to refocus and go into the last two episodes and hit them with everything we got.” Because when they do return to set, shave their quarantine beards, and step back into Sam and Dean’s shoes for the last time, they’ll have one shot at ending this thing…and they’re determined not to miss. 

Photos: Peggy Sirota for EW 

https://ew.com/tv/supernatural-stars-cover-ew-to-reflect-on-the-shows-undying-legacy/

[melisa-may-taylor72]

Accolades such as “greatest single long-playing achieve­ment since Sgt. Pepper” and “the most important record album ever made” fall over Queen’s latest album as easily as butter melt­ing on a hot potato—but few realize what a hot potato the album actually was in its pre-release days. It took a bevy of high-powered attorneys, some low-life finagling, and more than the usual amount of wheeler­dealing just to get the album out without its being hacked to death by defamation-of-character suits.

Guitarist Brian May explains: “I’m in real difficulty here because I’ve been threatened with libel because our old management had a good go at stop­ping the album coming out. They thought “Death on Two Legs’’ was about them. They wanted us to take the track off and we nearly had to, and in fact they got a load of money out of our publishing company be­cause it supposedly was libelous, but it’s never been proven. It’s all very stupid—they wanted to sue Freddie, the band, the publishing company, and the record company.”

All very dramatic stuff, but a band like Queen survives not on operatic finesse alone, but on gut-level melo- dramatics in the business department as well. When you produce your rec­ords, write the songs, play all the in­struments, and do everything your­self, chances are you’re going to have to pay some legal dues, too. But ah! the rewards—such as the single, “Bo­hemian Rhapsody,” hanging into the #1 spot in the British charts for seven weeks in a row!

“We’re a bit more in the public eye now, we’re starting to get recognized a lot more,” says Brian May. “We’re carrying on working just as we did before, but obviously we’re very pleas­ed with how the record’s doing. It’s sold more than a million copies in England— can’t believe it.” But it’s true: Queen’s stature in England has risen from that of The #1 teenage hard rock band to that of the-group- that-made-the-single-that-every-house- wife-knows-by-heart”.

What propelled Queen in that di­rection is their Night at the Opera album, a slight departure from what Queen fans know to be the Queen sound. The hard rock screams have temporarily subsided, replaced by ex­perimentation with different voicings of instruments and production tricks. Those who found Queen’s approach overdecibelled can relax to the quiet “ ‘39” or “Good Company” and tap their feet to “Lazing on a Sunday Af­ternoon” without fear of being gui- tarred to death. “It’s just what came out,” says Brian. “They’re offshoots of our main direction. There’s plenty of time for the rock.”

“The album wasn’t really supposed to go in the direction that it did, it was just the songs we had. While we were making it we were thinking, ‘Yeah, it is getting a bit light,’ but rather than fight against it we de­cided to do it properly and then think again afterwards. So instead of try­ing to heavy up the lighter things, we pressed on. We had a few things we didn’t use, but we’re getting more demanding of ourselves. There are a few heavy things kicking around, but we may use them on the next record.”

The two strongest forces in Queen have always been Brian and Freddie. With A Night at the Opera, where experimentation and branching out in new directions are the most obvious characteristics, the personalities of the band are often obscured by the newly emerging elements. “Some­times I feel that Freddie and I are going in different directions, but then he’ll come up with something and I’ll think, ‘My God—we do think alike.’ When I’m working on one of his things I can tune in very easily to what guitar part he wants, and vice-versa. In terms of what we’re trying to do in songs, we are moving in different directions, but I think that could be a good thing.”

QUEEN II: Critical response to the band is now almost unanimous­ly favorable in both Great Britain and the United States, which is quite phe­nomenal when you stop and think of how anxious many critics were to pan them two years ago.“I’m not going to take it too seriously,” Brian says, “because I remember what the critics said about Queen II. It would seem that everybody is beginning to like us. … very much. I can take it at that level, but there’s no doubt in my mind that sometime in the future there’ll come a time when we get slagged for everything. Queen II is still my favorite of the Queen albums, certainly the most daring. Especially for the time. I think we’re still finding our feet now, and the way I feel about the new album is that we’re searching for new directions and most of them are sort of half-formed. We’ve got the Queen II feel in some places, and in others we’ve got the Sheer Heart Attack polish. I don’t think we’re quite sure where we’re going”.

“This album, at the very least, ne­gates all the comparisons to Led Zep­pelin that we’ve been living with for the past three years. I think Physical Graffiti is amazing, by the way. I saw Zeppelin at Earls Court, and I met Pagey afterward, for the first time. It was great, he was very nice and gentle. I respect him a tremendous amount for “Kashmir” and “The Light,” for being able to put his brain on record—- it wouldn’t matter if he couldn’t play a note.”

Economic criticism has been less favorable, however. A Night at the Opera was wide­ly rumored to be “the most expensive album ever made” when it was released, a point which Queen’s management denies. Nevertheless, Queen has been taken to task by quite a few English journalists for spending so much money estimated at £30-40,000—making one record. Brian has a retort: “We wouldn’t have spent so much money if the studios weren’t so bloody expensive!

The album was recorded in seven of them, sometimes three at once.” We weren’t mucking about for any of it, it was four months of solid work. It came down to having the equipment available for four months, and we didn’t begrudge the amount of time spent in the studios, but it comes to a fair amount of money. There’s a lot of things that seem light, like “Good Company,” which actually took a great deal of time and care. All those trumpets and clarinets being fashioned from guitar sounds—I took it quite seriously because I wanted to do it right, even though it was a light­hearted thing. We worked too hard for our own health, we got a bit down and depressed.”

While Queen was laying about England between record and tour, a few of them got going on some independent projects. Brian and Roger produced an R&B group’s single, but there were some record company hassles and it may be some time before the record gets released. And on the eve of the Amer­ican tour, Freddie Mercury went into the studios with a singer/songwriter managed by the Rocket Organization (which manages Queen as well) to try his hand at production. “Eddie How­ells is the guy’s name, and he’s man­aged by David Mead, and they’re do­ing a single for Warners. I’m play­ing some guitar on it.” Brian re­strained himself from going out on any limbs before the American tour in order to get himself physically fit. His health had been a crucial prob­lem on an earlier American tour, and he’s not particularly anxious to spend time in hospitals when he could be on­stage instead. “I actually get more tired offtour than ontour,”he admits. But I am in good health.”

HAIRY LEGS: Once the English leg of the tour did get started, word started to flow very quickly back to the States about Queen’s dramatic stage show—a stage show to end all stage shows, with Mercury donning short-shorts to add a bit of the hairy leg to Queen’s otherwise pristeen pre­sentation. “The show is the same, but different,” Brian says confusedly. “We’ve merely developed what we did before with some new material from the new album. It’s a bit of re­shuffling. Plus we do “Doing All- right” from the first album, which we’ve never done onstage before. And “Seven Seas of Rhye,” which we’d do in England but never in America be­fore. It’s quite a lot different, ac­tually.”

American audiences got their first chance to sample the new presenta­tion on January 27 in Waterbury, Conn., when the first concert of Queen’s scheduled 32-date, 21-city American tour got underway in the Palace Theatre. After arriving in the States at Kennedy International on January 20 and spending a couple of days in New York for interviews, Queen began five days of rehearsals at the Palace to ready their show for American fans across the country.

After Waterbury they dove headfirst into the intensive six-week tour, which featured extended runs in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles before its scheduled end March 12 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Despite the novel direction of the new album, onstage Queen proved to be the same rocking outfit they’ve always been, letting loose with the same kind of guitar-bass-drums-piano barrage they’ve delivered in the past. “We don’t do “39” or “Lazing on aSunday Afternoon” in our show,“ Brian explains. He seems a bit defensive of Queen’s rock spirit, which is kept intact in the live set by “BohemianRhapsody,” “Sweet Lady,” “Prophet Song” and the deletion of the “experimental tunes” from A Night At the Opera.

By the by, those who missed Queenon earlier tours but want to see how they’ve changed now have the means. Queen bave joined the prestigious ranks of the Zeppelins, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones whereby sorne illegal entrepreneur has issued a boot­ leg album of one of their American concerts. “I hate those things-they rarely give an accurate picture of the group,” Brian states unequivocally, and in this case he’s right. The Queen bootleg has transistor radio fidelity, and the only truly audible members of the band are Brian and Freddie. Yet the fact that a bootleg exists confirms the fact that Queen is now well on their way to the top.

CIRCUS MAGAZINE, APRIL 1975

@natromanxoff, @mephisto92, @moviestorian, @x5vale, @39-brian, @onegoldenglance, @crosmopolitan, @an-abyss-called-life, @his-majesty-king-mercury, @i-live-for-queen, @brian-39-may, @toomuchlove-willkillyou, @brimaymay, @sail-away-sweet-sister, @drummerqueenrmt, @old-fashioned-roger-boy-deactiv, @briianmaay, @l-over-bo-y, @inui-mycroft, @deacytits, @iminlovewithrogscar, @drowseoftaylor, @brianmayislongaway, @balticlover, @astrophysicist-guitar-god​, @miez-lakatz, @brianmayoucease, @jesus-in-a-life-boat, @roger-taylors-car, @silapril, @sherrifanciesfriskyfreddie, @tenderbri, @brianmydear, @thosequeenboys, @millionairewaltz-carpediem, @painandpleasure86, @bribrifrenchfry, @xlucylennonx, @a-night-at-the-abbey-road, @inthedayswhenlandswerefew, @madformeddowstaylor, @queenrogertaylorfan, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @queen-for-life, @rethought, @darlinginnuendo, @mymakeupmaybeflaking, @old-but-still-a-child, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @warriorteam1924, @funnydressesweirdhairanddance, @painkiller80, @thefanhuman13, @yourtieddownmother, @hgmercury39, @brimi-stardust, @thefairyfellermercury, @retroromantics, @foxmonkey, @sophiaintheskywithdiamonds, @holybrianmaywritingbear, @lydiannode, @39-yellow-daffodils , @ure-gonna-loveme-when-u-seeme, @kaykaybeachgirl, @rhysjoejoshtomfarisblog @redspecialandclogsandcurls, @briansrainbowsocks, @delilahmay39, @ohmybribri, @bless-the-queen, @infunitehearbeat, @sketchiesscketches, @everythingaboutfreddie, @doitforthevine67, @recordsoftheseventies, @tenementfunsterwithpurpleshoes, @drummah-in-a-rocknroll-band, @beatlegirl1968, @maylorsqueen, @shearrehartatacc, @gralto, @alittlepeoplemagic, @rainbowsockbrian, @sailawaysweetbrimi

[magnoliapip]

Ranked: Mother of the Year (Choices) Main Characters

I can’t sleep so that means I need to make another list that I’m not going to proofread before I post, right? Of course it does. But before we start, please remember this is my opinion on who I liked best. Not who impacted the story the most, not who was the best written fictional character of all time, yada yada. This is my personal opinion of the characters I liked best.

Spoilers WILL be featured below. You have been warned.

#13 -- Tallulah Copeland

Tallulah is a parent to a child at Bernhardt Academy, a friend of Vanessa Blackwood, and an active member of the PTA. Hugo is her partner.

This woman. I would flat forget this woman existed until she would show up again just to wreak havoc on MC’s day, usually at someone else’s urging. Every single time she spoke, I just wanted it to be over and she is just an awful, AWFUL person. She’s also the only awful person in this book who never pretends to be nice and/or never apologizes for her actions. Just an all around nasty person.

#12 -- Hugo

Hugo is a parent of a child at Bernhardt Academy and an active member of the PTA. Tallulah is his significant other.

If you’re actually reading these little blurbs, you have to be wondering “MagnoliaPip? How in the hell is Hugo ranked lower than two other unmentionables in this story?”

Thank you for asking, no one ever.

Put frankly, Hugo just annoyed the crap out of me. I know that’s supposed to be part of his character, but it went above and beyond the scope of acceptable annoyance. I grew to hate every second he was speaking. He never really contributed anything to the plot other than some irritating drivel. He wasn’t an antagonist, but he also wasn’t a pleasing good guy. He’s also the reason I’m considering not re-reading this book again right away like I want to.

#11 -- Guy Ledford

This man. This. Man. THIS MAN!

This part is going to include major spoilers, y’all, so if you haven’t read it and are still intending to, skip away now!! Again, major spoilers from here on out kids.

Guy Ledford is your main character’s ex-husband who has been absent for four years since the start of the book and wants to reconnect with his daughter. He is also a CEO of a snack food company/app, Nomme. He is the main antagonist of the book.

The reason I didn’t rank him lower is he genuinely adds something to the plot. He IS the plot. He’s the reason this book exists. However, he is such a scumbag he deserves nothing. He feels like a trope for quite a lot of the time, but at least he’s not physically abusive like a true trope could have been (at least, I never noticed him being physically abusive). Just, you know, a gaslighting, manipulative, arrogant, rude, selfish son of a-

I also love that they named him “Guy”. I’ve only ever met one man named this in my life, so it’s funny to me that they named this jerk “Guy” so it’s not only the most generic sounding name (did his parents also get a dog named “Dog” and a cat named “Kitty”?), but also one that a lot of men won’t likely have so they don’t have to get name checked in relation to him.

I like that you can get a good outcome (Guy ends up with joint custody with visitations  every weekend and having to back pay) without spending diamonds in this game as long as you make the right choices, but for those who DID spend all of the diamonds, I would have liked to have seen Guy end up with worse. I would have liked to see, if you made most of the right choices and bought all of the diamond stuff, him ending up with every other weekend or maybe just visitation. I know he’s trying to be a good dad (but still an absolutely terrible human being), but every weekend seems like so much when your daughter is in school.

#10 -- Augustus Blackwood

August Blackwood is one of Vanessa Blackwood’s sons and is a student at Bernhardt Academy.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this one. But he hurt my daughter and that’s enough. I would have liked to have seen him fleshed out a little bit more beyond being basically just a schoolyard bully. His motivations for his actions are hinted on, but nothing is really ever done and he’s mostly just a prop for something to hurt your daughter.

#9 -- Vanessa Blackwood

Vanessa Blackwood is the president of the PTA, a single mom, and a lawyer and becomes an antagonist to your character.

I’m probably going to get hate for this, but I want to like Vanessa. Obviously, she’s hateful and offensive, in some very, very unredeemable ways, but there’s something about characters like that which makes me want to forgive them and teach them how to be better. How to rehabilitate their bitterness. I felt it with Olivia Nevrakis, I felt it with Victoria Fontaine, and I know certain people in the fandom felt it with Becca Davenport and Poppy Min-Sinclair. 

**DISCLAIMER** Keep in mind, I’m not trying to excuse homophobia and racism here. They are both despicable things and should be accounted for. However, after having grown up in a homophobic and racist home and learning to leave that shit in the dust by the time I was eighteen and SLOWLY teaching my family to do the same over the course of the last 10 years, I believe people can change if you give them room and help to. Not everyone will, not many people will, but I believe in giving the chance. We need to force people to take responsibility and learn from their mistakes. Should the book have been approved as a series rather than a stand alone, I think this might have been a very real option within book 2.

#8 -- Ajax “AJ” Blackwood

Ajax Blackwood is one of Vanessa Blackwood’s sons and a student at Bernhardt Academy.

AJ is the quieter of the Blackwood boys, AJ is a shy kid who hates that his brother is mean just as much as your daughter does. He finally has enough within the book and stands up to him, which was more than a little satisfying and he does seem to have a genuinely good heart. I think it would be so cute for him, your daughter, and Luz to be their own adorable trio of friends. 

#7 -- Levi Schuler

Levi Schuler is your neighbor who helps save the day for MC early on in the book and becomes a friend to both her and your daughter. He is also one of your love interests.

And if this list is going to invoke hate from the masses, it will be this entry that does it. I know how loved Levi is. And I love him too! I just find him, and his musician plot, to be a bit tiring. He’s a wonderfully supportive friend/love interest, just about one of the nicest people, and he’s great with your daughter. I swear, all of the love interests in this book would be god tier in any book. It’s truly unfair to the others that we got three amazing ones here along with a great cast of characters. However, since that did happen, Levi will sit here at #7. He can have a consolatory rugelach while I continue on.

#6 -- Faye Devore

Faye Devore is your ex-husband’s new girlfriend, a younger social media influencer.

I loved Faye. Right from the start, I loved Faye. I prayed they weren’t going to make this into one of those books where we were supposed to hate the “other woman” because those plots are old, outdated, and overused. Thankfully, MOTY lets us skirt right around it and we end up with a wonderful character like Faye, who is the human definition of having the best intentions.

She gets on well with your daughter, even pointing out to MC at one point that she thinks of her like a little sister, and goes above and beyond to make her happy. She is genuinely upset about going against MC’s wishes about your daughter appearing on social media and doesn’t appear to want to cause any harm or hard feelings with MC at any point during the book. In fact, she wants to be friends. 

I would have loved for this and for it to be fleshed out more, again, if we had ever gotten a book 2. I’m also that jerk who would have totally romanced her in a replay and would have emptied my wallet to get a scene in that hypothetical book 2 where Guy finds out. Take that homophobe!

#5 -- Dr. Eiko Matsunaga

Dr. Eiko Matsunaga is a science teacher who teaches at the private school your daughter goes to and becomes friendly with MC because of your daughter. She is also one of your love interests.

If I would have had a teacher like Dr. Matsunaga when I was in school, maybe I would have cared about science at any point during my childhood. Eiko is so incredibly smart but has a heart of gold. She could be off teaching at colleges or writing published journals, but she’s teaching elementary science at a private school and honestly enjoying herself! She wants to see children succeed and will give any child who wants to do so, like your daughter, all of the help they need.

I want to romance her. I want to be her friend. I want it all because I’m selfish even when I don’t because I could never possibly be worthy of the supremacy that is Eiko. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#4 -- Your Daughter / Zoey

Your daughter is 9 years old at the start of the book and desperately wants to be an astronaut. She is a science whiz and moves from public school to Bernhardt Academy at the beginning of the book to kickstart her education.

It makes me so sad that I will never actually have this child. “Zoey” is just so smart and funny and sweet and I love her so much. I spent so many diamonds on her. She’s a pixelated little bundle of amazing and I would die for her. That’s it.

#3 -- Alma Velasco

Alma Velasco is your neighbor, best friend, and (for part of the time) co-worker.

What did our character do to deserve such an amazing ride-or-die friend like Alma? She never disbelieves MC, is forever supportive as a shoulder to cry on and a supplier of good wine, and also helps MC out of more than one pinch. Seriously an amazing friend, and I wish we could have done something equally amazing for her to reciprocate.

#2 -- Thomas Mendez

Thomas Mendez is a lawyer and a single dad who becomes friends with MC very early on in the book. He is also one of your three love interests.

A big reason for why Thomas is at #2 is because of who #1 is but we’ll get there in a second.

There’s also something about Thomas that speaks to me as a person. It’s more than just being interested as a love interest or as a friend. There’s something about who he is. His awkwardness, his humor, his kindness and his generosity all make him someone I envy as much as I admire.

He takes on MC’s case pro bono when he doesn’t have to. He shrugs it off like it’s no big deal, but stepping back and looking at the it, by all accounts he was walking into a handily losing situation. He was also super busy at this time being a single parent himself and working on his class action lawsuit. That’s not even saying anything about him still grieving for Soledad.

However, the biggest reason I love Mr. Mendez is...

#1 -- Luz Mendez

Luz Mendez is a student at Bernhardt Academy who becomes best friends with your daughter early in the book. She is a soccer and art fan.

This little girl is the best thing I have ever read in my entire life. She made the entire book. Every character that came before her pales in comparison to her majesty. She is a goddamn queen and deserves everything.

Every scene with her is gold and I wish we had more. This little girl was completely willing to curb stomp someone with her cleats at the courthouse if something would have happened to your daughter. She is so aggressively herself and it is a joy to see. The relationship between her and her father is what really kept me going through the book’s more difficult spots. There is such true love and acceptance there, as well as the drive and desire to do better for the other than I just...There is really no way for me to properly explain the perfection that is Luz Mendez so I guess you’ll just have to read it yourself.

---

I’m not sure why it took me so long to start reading Mother of the Year (MOTY), but I’m so glad I did. In 3 days flat I binged the entire book, wasted so many accumulated diamonds, and had the time of my life. The cast of characters in MOTY is perfect and I wanted to rank them according to my opinion on which ones were the best. I ranked all of the characters I found to be profound enough to matter to the storyline or that MC or “Daughter” had enough interactions with to matter. As a result, there are several characters who didn’t make this list. 

Sound off below if you wish.

[allthesapphicstars]

In the books it's Mrs Coulter who decides she doesn't want anything to do with baby Lyra after the scandal, that's why she's given to Lord Asriel, not the other way around. The show changed this (and her character) completely. After the trial Lord Asriel is declared unfit for parenting and Lyra is given to a nunnery, but he decides to 'kidnap' her and brings her to Jordan College. And it's not like Lord Asriel is not left crawling as well, he used to be as rich as a king, after Lyra he had to swallow his pride and go beg colleges for funding (even 12 years later), whereas Mrs. Coulter (now a widow and free) is given funding by the Magisterium itself, so again, in the books she does achieve what she wants, in unconventional ways maybe, but she has her own research department and is never seen as subordinate to any man, until book 3 at least. And most importantly, in the books she subdues to no man, let alone Boreal. He's literally her puppet in the books 😔

I think you raise some good points here. But I want to say that my post about Marisa and the patriarchy was very much my own opinion and interpretation of both the books and the show from my own perspective as a woman having lived the experiences I have. That being said I do think I should go through your points and explain my own reasoning behind my interpretation.

1) Who got to take care of Lyra.

I never actually said that Asriel didn't want anything to do with Lyra. I do believe that both of them, in their own ways, do love and care about Lyra. They're just not very good at it.

But in terms of who took care of Lyra after she was born that responsibility immediately fell to Asriel. And there are probably lots of reasons for this. But, for me, I don't think that it was ever really a consideration or much of an option for Mrs Coulter to do so because of the environment of their world.

Marisa was married and had an affair that produced a child. In their world, women are second class citizens in comparison to men and as such any power or financial security that she may have would have been derived from her position as a wife. And a wife to a powerful man. To be able to keep a child requires resources that she would have only been able to get through her husband.

We know that Mrs Coulter kept her affair and also her child a secret because it would have ruined her. But also, I don't think we should forget, that she kept Lyra a secret from her husband to protect her too. As when Mr Coulter found out about the affair and Lyra he went to Asriel's house to kill them both, but Asriel got there first.

If you consider this, then Marisa wasn't really given much of a choice about what to do with Lyra. If she'd taken care of her herself then it's likely that her husband would have banished her from his home and therefore stopped her access to any resources, or he would have killed the child. Neither of those options look particularly good if you ask me.

Asriel's decision to "kidnap" Lyra and get her to Jordan is, to me, an act of desperation to protect his child in the same vein as Marisa's decision to not care for her herself.

Don't forget, by this point Marisa has been marked as an adulterer and a widow and is a pariah to most of society. She's also no longer under the protection of a man which is why the magisterium don't allow her to take Lyra back into her custody but instead give her to the nunnery.

Neither of Lyra's parents have many options when it comes to custody because of the patriarchal structure of their world. (although I highly doubt Marisa would have been let off as lightly as Asriel was in terms of breaking the rules about Lyra)

2) Asriel also had to crawl his way back.

Yes. You're right, Asriel did have to work his way back up to respected by society again. But as you yourself pointed out, his main obstacle was the loss of his money.

Asriel still retains his title. His academic standing is relatively untouched. He may have to beg to get funding but so does pretty much everyone trying to get funding tbh. The college's still listen to what he has to say. His name carries weight.

Let's compare this to what Marisa lost in the scandal. Yes, she didn't lose all of her finances like Asriel. But with the death of Mr Coulter she lost the male presence that in their society allowed her access to so many places. Without a husband she doesn't have the same security that she did before. She also lost her reputation, which for a woman (and not just in their world) is detrimental in how she is treated.

When I say that Marisa had to claw her way back into society I really do mean it. She wasn't just struggling to get finances like Asriel, she was struggling to be listened to, to be respected, to have any form of control over her life that having power gives you. Their world is deeply misogynistic so anything that Asriel struggled to gain, Marisa would have had to work against the same odds but also factor in her gender setting her back deeply.

3) freedom

Honestly I can't agree with your statement that Marisa is more free compared to Asriel.

Ok, so yes, Marisa gets funding from the Magisterium but that is explicitly because she is doing research that they want doing (experimenting with the concept of removing sin by cutting children) that they don't want to be seen doing because it's barbaric. Her research funding comes directly from the fact that as a woman, who's a pariah and not a member of the church authority, if what they were doing was made public she's easily expendable. Someone that they can deny ever colluding with. And Marisa knows this. She knows how vulnerable her position within the church really is. That the power the church gives her is an illusion.

So she creates her own power through using what condemned her in the eyes of the church against them. Her ability to seduce. They view her as a wanton adulterer so she uses that fear of her sexuality to arouse and then manipulate the men in power.

But this doesn't mean she not seen as a subordinate to a man. She 100% is. She has to answer to the male heads of the church. And is expected to bow down to their will when they change their minds. She doesn't have this freedom to do what she wants with her research that you say because she always has to justify her actions to a man.

4) Boreal

Boreal is not her puppet. Yes, he does do what she wants but that's because of his attraction to her. He doesn't submit to her desires because he respects her. He definitely doesn't do it because he sees her as an equal.

Boreal does what Marisa wants because he thinks that as a man he has more power over her. He submits to her whims because he think that if he plays along with her wishes and appeases her, gives her the illusion of having control over him, he'll be more attractive to her. All of Boreal's motivations come from wanting to sleep with her. And actually I'd argue that even more than that, Boreal is a collector (and this is something that the show drew on in the last episode) he wants to be able to say that he triumphed by being the first man to fully get Mrs Coulter to submit. He wants to own her.

And Marisa is fully aware of this. And yes, whilst being aware of how one is being manipulated does give you some power over the person doing the manipulating, it still doesn't negate the fact that the entitlement to her as a person that Boreal expresses comes directly from how their society views women.

Marisa's sexuality is both a weapon and also a cage. And I'm not going to go further into that here because tbh it's like a whole post on it's own and this is already way too long. (and also it makes me sad and stressed to think about).

I did just want to add on though to your comment about book three being the first time Marisa submits herself to a man. As you can probably guess I don't agree with that assessment, she is constantly having to submit herself to men and you can tell that it wears her down even if she pretends she's above it.

But even if you don't see all of her interactions as reflecting this then the scenes I think your referencing to in book three really do reinforce that submission is not a new act she's had to play. When Marisa is in Asriel's fortress and talks about playing the demure and naive woman with the generals, and even with Asriel (yes I know he's aware that she's manipulating him but I also think he's not aware of just how much), shows that it's not a new concept to her. It's definitely something she's had to do before. And honestly I think it's something she's had to do her whole life.

To summarise: yes Mrs Coulter is a figure of power in the books and is a master manipulator. But that doesn't mean she isn't constantly struggling against a world that condemns her as inferior because she's a woman. She's judged harsher because of her sex.

And you can't forget we only get her point of view in book three, but throughout the series you can see how her being a woman holds her back from everything that she wants to achieve and I still believe that going up against those struggles is a direct impact on her actions and who she is as a person.

She's spent her whole life fighting. And I think there's something really tragic about that.

[the-power-of-stuff]

3, 11, and 31 for the writer asks?

(I can't remember if I left you any asks for this or not - if I did, here's 3 more.)

Thanks for the asks @krastbannert! Sorry it took me so long to answer!

3. Are there any fics that inspired you to write what you do?

This is a great question. When I first started writing for ATLA, I was so afraid of reading other ATLA fics (I’m insecure, what can I say?) that I actually got really, really into the Ron x Hermione fandom. Whenever I wanted to take a break from writing, or when there was something specific I was going for in my own writing and I wanted a good example of it, I always ended up reading Romione fic. 

There are a few authors in that fandom whose entire catalogs are an inspiration to me, and I strive to do for Sukka what they’ve done for Romione - just really genuine, satisfying portrayals of a strong romantic relationship with fun dialogue and characterization that’s true to canon but still adds depth and insight. 

Another part of the HP fandom that I get inspiration from is the whole idea of teenagers fighting in a war and all the angst and trauma that goes along with that. I’ve read a lot of post-war Harry Potter fics recently and they’ve given me a ton of inspiration for the post-canon stuff I’ve written/want to write for ATLA. 

(And, I know this is a Sukka blog, but I wanted to call out a handful of HP fics in particular that have all inspired me in a variety of ways, from post-war vibes to second-chance romance vibes to just really well-written romance vibes. Incidentally these are all rated M+ but they’re all long-ish, sometimes slow-burn, with plenty of introspection: August by @remedial-potions; Undercover by @voldemorts-tap-shoes; Stare Decisis by @unablearethelovedtodie; quarantine drabbles by Abradystrix, Australia by Ms Binns, and 12 Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Hermione Granger by @be11atrixthestrange.) 

I’m getting better now at reading ATLA fic without immediately feeling terrible about my own writing, but I still have a lot fewer ATLA-based inspirations. However! Some fics that have inspired my characterizations of Sokka, Suki, Mai, and/or Zuko are: shadows on the walls by howlikeagod, Seven Flowers by @korvidaee, and cutting through the night sky by AppleJuiz.

11. How do you come up with your fic titles?

I am terrible at coming up with titles on my own, so I always look for lines from songs or poems that I can use. Sometimes this process takes as long as writing the fic did, sifting through my music library and Googling quotes. 😅 Other times I’m lucky, and I’ll have been listening to a song while writing that gets me into the vibe of the fic, so I just take a line from whatever song that is!  

An exception to this is with my road trip AU ficlets. I’ve done three cross-country road trips in my life, and I did some amount of journaling through all of them. So whenever I need a title for a fic in that series, I look back through my old road trip musings. Which feels fitting because every installment in that series is somehow inspired by my own road tripping experiences. 

31. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

I think I have the most fun with Sokka’s voice, but...I just love them all so much. I’ve been writing some Aang for once, in that “sukka week day 4″ fic I’m always talking about, and I am having a blast figuring him out. When I wrote between the striking and the fire I was like, “What the hell do I think I’m doing? I have no idea how to write Zuko!” but now I’ve got a couple WIPs with him and turns out, I like writing Zuko, too! 

As far as whether or not that choice has been swayed...? Maybe! I definitely started out feeling more drawn to Sokka, and I still feel somehow like he’s easier to write. But I write from Suki’s POV way more than I realized. I think because of count herself among them, I’ve kinda positioned myself as more of a Suki-centric writer than a Sokka-centric writer, and so I get, like, friends tagging me in posts about Suki or the Kyoshi Warriors, and then I inevitably think about her more. 

Aaaaaand I think I spent way too long thinking about these answers. 😅 Sorry if I went a little overboard! 

[tigerkirby215]

5e Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Katie “TeaTime” De Sousa and Pan Chengwei. Made for Riot Games.)

Happy new year! For the start of 2021 we’ll be making a build that I spent all of the later half of 2020 thinking up. Yeah of all the characters I couldn’t figure out Ahri was the one who truly stumped me. Regardless we’re finally going to be rounding out the K/DA crew with yet another character that pushes that T for Teen rating.

GOALS

Find me; find yourself - Along with traditional damaging abilities we need to be able to put on a pretty face and lead out prey in. And Evelynn calls you a skank?

They've exhausted their use - Ahri’s lore has changed like 16 times but her abilities have remained constant: drain the life from your foes for some lane sustain.

Spirits follow wherever I go - Of course the most important part of playing Ahri is her Spirit Rush. Three dashes to use in a teamfight... or are they blinks? Gah translating LoL abilities to D&D is hard; can you believe there was a point that I was originally going to make this a Rogue build?

RACE

This is the part where I call a Vastayan a furry! You’re a Shifter because that’s the “half beast” race in 5e. All Shifters get Darkvision and their Shifting ability that lasts a minute and grants some Temporary Hitpoints along with an additional feature based on their subrace. Speaking of subrace we’ll be going for Swiftstride for some foxy agility!

NOTE: Wildhunt works too if you want more utility, and are willing to swap starting ASIs around with Tasha’s rules.

You get a +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to Charisma, and are Graceful to get proficiency in the Acrobatics skill. Finally your Shifting Feature gives you an additional 10 feet of movement when you activate it and the ability to move 10 feet away from an enemy that ends their turn near you as a reaction, just to make sure you don’t get caught by any melee-range stuns.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Ahri’s main ability is to charm people so much that they fall right into her murderous arms. She was essentially the founder of K/DA as well.

14; DEXTERITY - Ahri’s other main trait is her swiftness which means I can properly justify some DEX for her, especially with the +2 from our race.

13; CONSTITUTION - Sapping the life out of people means that you are pretty sturdy yourself.

12; WISDOM - Call it Vastayan magic or common sense but you need to know your way around both animals and people.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Riot finally decided to just give you amnesia, meaning that you don’t remember your math class.

8; STRENGTH - It’s on your bodyguard to do the heavy lifting, as well as any other buff allies you may meet.

BACKGROUND

Ahri’s lore has been through the wringer so many times I don’t even know what it is anymore, especially since they copped out and wrote “amnesia lol” as her lore. But she’s certainly the odd one out so Far Traveler works well enough. You get proficiency in Insight and Perception along with a Musical Instrument or Gaming Set (Music Instrument makes more sense but you can pick whatever you like.) You also get proficiency in a language of your choice: Sylvan seems natural for a lost girl on the Ionian countryside.

Your background feature All Eyes on You will make sure that everyone watches the fox. Basically: people are interested in the Vastaya, and if you chat with them you might be able to get somewhere special, seeing how special you are~

(Artwork by Alvin Lee, Pan Chengwei, and Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - SORCERER 1

Starting off as a Sorcerer because your magic is innate, after all. Also because Constitution saving throws are nice! Regardless you get proficiency in two skills from the Sorcerer list: how about the Charisma classics? Persuasion and Deception to be a master of honied words.

Sorcerers get to choose their subclass at level 1 and hey: wouldn’t it be funny if they made a Sorcerer that’s heavily based on Enchantment magic? Well the Aberrant Mind is exactly that, having Psionic Spells that can be from the Divination or Enchantment schools. Spells like Mind Sliver to get around heavily armored foes, and Dissonant Whispers which is good to freak out your foes. But we’ll be replacing Arms of Hadar with Charm Person because... hey! It’s a Charm!

You’re also capable of Telepathic Speech to coordinate ganks in team chat, or to tell Seraphine that her dress zipper is undone. You can make a telepathic bond as a Bonus Action with a creature within 30 feet of you. You can speak telepathically with the creature up to a number of miles equal to your Charisma modifier, though you must both share a language for this to work. The telepathic connection lasts for a number of minutes equal to your sorcerer level but it ends early if you are incapacitated or die, or if you use this ability on a different creature.

Oh but of course if you’re a Sorcerer that means you have Spellcasting! You can learn 4 cantrips as a first level Sorcerer:

For some harmless Fox-Fire take Dancing Lights to light up the night. For some more potent Fox-Fire Control Flames will let you make the fire grow!

If you need a quick charm and don’t care about the aftermath Friends will get you what you need.

To keep both traveling clothes and dancing clothes looking prim and proper take Mending. Those outfits are expensive you know!

You can also learn two spells of first level: full disclosure pretty much 95% of the reason this build has Sorcerer levels is so we can take Magic Missile to recreate Fox-Fire and Chromatic Orb for Orb of Deception. That’s pretty much three out of four (*five if we include her passive) of Ahri’s abilities at level 1!

LEVEL 2 - SORCERER 2

Second level Sorcerers have a Font of Magic, giving them Sorcery Points that for now don’t serve much purpose other than being able to convert 2 of them into a 1st level spell slot. Basically you have an extra spell slot for now. But you can also convert spell slots into Sorcery points at a 1:1 ration (3rd level slot = 3 Sorcery points, as an example), which will be important later.

You do get another spell though: basically I just wanted Mage Armor because a +3 to AC would be nice.

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 1

Hey what if we multiclassed after 2 levels because we got 95% of what we wanted from those 2 levels? Hey guys it’s time for good ol’ Warlock! Warlocks get to choose their subclass at level 1 and Pact of the Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Blessing for Temporary Hitpoints equal to your Charisma plus your Warlock level when you knock an enemy to zero.

You also get Pact Magic which is like regular spellcasting except instead of actual spell slots you just get Pact Slots that come back on a Short Rest. You do get two cantrips though so I’m going to recommend Eldritch Blast because it’s Eldritch Blast as well as Prestidigitation for all the special effects you want and MORE.

You can also pick up some first level spells like Command from the Fiend list for some more enchantment, but there isn’t really much else I want from the first level of Warlock. I dunno grab Hex maybe? But we’re going to swap it out come level 3.

(Artwork by Kienan “Knockwurst” Lafferty. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 2

But firstly it’s time for Eldritch Invocations to keep 닿을 수 없는 level. Agonizing Blast lets you agonize your Eldritch Blast, and Eldritch Mind from good ol’ TCoE is great to keep the magic flowing thanks to advantage on Concentration checks.

Oh and something something can learn another spell but like I said I want to wait for MORE spells from second level.

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get to choose their Pact Boon and you know: I don’t think we have enough cantrips! Pact of the Tome gives you three sparkly new cantrips to play with, and they can be from any class’ spell list! So you can take cantrips like Guidance for some help with your dances, Sacred Flame for some more Fox-Fire, and Thaumaturgy to be a spooky magic soul-sucking fox.

Honestly there isn’t much I want from Pact of the Tome but it’s the most in-flavor for Ahri. If you want to be a Star Guardian take Pact of the Chain and grab Keiko!

But you can also learn second level spells at this level like Enthrall and Suggestion for more charms, and Misty Step! For good ol’ Flash.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement and what if we got roleplay abilities before combat abilities? Well the Skilled Expert Feat will give you +1 to any stat (hey look at that our Constitution is uneven!), proficiency in a skill of your choice (which will obviously be Performance), and Expertise in a skill that you already have proficiency in. (Choose between Persuasion or Deception depending on if you want to be the good fox or the bad fox.)

You can also learn another spell along with another cantrip! For your cantrip Mage Hand will let you dash something small from the high shelf into your hand, and for your leveled spell Mirror Image will make it all the harder to hit you instead of missing a skill shot where you just were.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 5

5th level means more Eldritch Invocations! In case of emergency be sure to bring Zhonya's, or rather Tomb of Levistus to negate burst.

And it’s third level spells time! You’re a Fiend Warlock so you know what that means? Cast Fireball and nothing but Fireball! Throw a Spirit Bomb like it’s Teamfight Tactics to level the playing field!

(Artwork by Kienan “Knockwurst” Lafferty. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get 9 tails for 9 lives. Dark One’s Own Luck lets you add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw once per Short or Long Rest, so you can push your spirit for a bit more confidence in your plays.

You can also learn another spell but truthfully there isn’t much else I want from third level. There’s some that I like at second level but I’d recommend waiting for...

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 7

More Eldritch Invocations? Don’t mind if I do! Ahri has a lot of skins so Mask of Many Faces is great to play dress up. Are there better invocations? Yeah probably.

But you can also pick up 4th level spells like Charm Monster for a Charm+, or Dimension Door to pop your Teleport summoner spell.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 8

Level 8 means more Ability Score Increases: we haven’t increased Charisma yet so we should probably do that.

You can also learn another spell, and while there are plenty of nice ones at this level if we wait just a little bit we can get...

LEVEL 11 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get our last Eldritch Invocation: Ahri is shown floating in a lot of her promotional artwork and stuff so Ascendant Step is good to let you fly up with some fox magic! I mean, you could take Otherworldly Leap instead, I guess?

But you can finally learn 5th level spells, which means we can grab your ultimate! Far Step lets you teleport 60 feet, and spend your Bonus Action on subsequent turns to do it again! Definitely a step up from a regular old dash! But if you want a bit more damage along with some more essence theft then Enervation will let you do necrotic damage and also heal yourself by hurting others.

LEVEL 12 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Fiend Warlocks can get some Magic Resistance thanks to Fiendish Resilience. You can pick a damage type to resist, though this won’t work against magic or silvered weapons which most people probably have by level 12. So you won’t be able to resist swords and clubs but if a fire mage is trying to burn your tails just resist that! You can swap your resistance during a short (or long) rest if you need to deal with a different enemy.

Oh and did you expect to get another spell known? Nah screw you. You do get another cantrip though: I mean I dunno Toll the Dead can be good to kill secure?

(Artwork by Ryan Ribot. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 13 - SORCERER 3

Finally done with Warlock. That’s good: I could use some coffee. Third level Sorcerers get Metamagic to alter their spells with Sorcery points. Quickened Spell lets you turn a spell with an action casting time to a bonus action, so you can have a cup of coffee and still cast Eldritch Blast. Or, you know: cast two Eldritch Blasts in a turn? If you’re sick of enemies dodging your skill shots Heightened Spell will give them disadvantage on their first saving throw, which is good to combo with spells like Enervation.

Oh and speaking of spells you can learn second level Sorcerer spells! Psionic Spells gives you Detect Thoughts which is pretty good but I’d suggest taking Tasha’s Mind Whip as your other Psionic Spell for some Hextech in your step.

Additionally Flaming Sphere was added to the Sorcerer list thanks to Tasha, and it’s a good spell to take for a little more control over your Orb of Deception.

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 4

Level 4 means another Ability Score! Time to finally cap off that Charisma for the best casting we can get.

You can also learn another spell along with another cantrip, because we definitely don’t have enough cantrips. Sword Burst will give you some much-needed melee defense to cut through minions if you’re surrounded. As for leveled spells there honestly isn’t much I want from second level. We got most of what we needed from Warlock.

LEVEL 15 - SORCERER 5

Tasha decided that Sorcerers were weak so she gave them a 5th level feature called Magical Guidance. If you fail a skill check you can spend a sorcery point to reroll the d20. You must use the new roll, but along with Dark One’s Own Luck this gives you quite a bit of reliability when it comes to ability checks.

You can also now learn third level spells. Psionic Spells grants you Sending which is nice to communicate in team chat, but I’d replace Hunger of Hadar with  Incite Greed from good ol’ Acquisitions Incorporated to charm a whole group and make them slowly approach you with lovey-eyes like they do in LoL.

You can also learn spells like Melf's Minute Meteors for some less accurate but more deadly Fox-Fire, and Haste for some nine-tailed agility.

LEVEL 16 - SORCERER 6

6th level Psionic Soul Sorcerers get Psychic Defenses for resistance to Psychic damage and advantage against being Charmed or Frightened. You’ve seen it all and they’re not going to stop us! (They’ll try but they won’t.) But more importantly you get Psionic Sorcery: when you cast a spell (that isn’t a cantrip) from your Psionic Spells list, you can cast it with a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level. If you cast the spell using sorcery points, it requires no verbal or somatic components, and it requires no material components unless they are consumed by the spell.

How does this interact with Incite Greed which requires a 50 gp gem? My bet is that they just focus on you instead. But yeah this is obviously incredibly useful as you can cast spells like Detect Thoughts, Tasha’s Mind Whip, Dissonant Whispers, and Charm Person without any signal that you’re doing it. And there’s only more to come! To top it off: RAW if you don’t show any signs of casting you can’t be counterspelled!

Speaking of more spells as well as Counterspell I took Counterspell as a Sorcerer spell, because Banshee’s Veil is never not useful.

(Artwork by Jeremy Anninos. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - SORCERER 7

Eyyy 4th level spells! Both the spells you would’ve gotten from Psionic Spells kinda... don’t make sense? So grab Confusion to make a mess in a teamfight and I’m actually going to suggest Arcane Eye as your other Psionic Spell for some wards.

You can also learn 4th level spells like Polymorph to turn into a fox in the spirit realm. Just in time for the Spirit Blossom festival!

LEVEL 18 - SORCERER 8

8th level Sorcerers get another Ability Score Improvement and honestly there are a lot of options now that your Charisma is maxed out: plenty of good feats like Tough, Lucky, Inspiring Leader, Mobile, Metamagic Adept, Warcaster, Spell Sniper, Elemental Adept, or an increase to Dexterity. (Those were listed in no particular order.) Honestly if you’ve reached level 18 you should be more than capable of making your own choices by now. Make your own character and be your own person.

Though I suppose I can still recommend spells: for a more potent and deadly Orb of Deception Storm Sphere will hit your foes with harsh winds and lightning!

LEVEL 19 - SORCERER 9

9th level? That means you can get your 5th level Psionic Spells! Honestly there’s a lot I like from both the Enchantment and Divination schools but both  Rary’s Telepathic Bond and Telekinesis are great in their own right, and I’m fine with keeping them.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to take Synaptic Static because... well it’s Synaptic Static! I love this spell and you can’t stop me from taking it. It’s got all the power of a Fireball along with a great negative effective that makes it harder for the enemy to kill you.

LEVEL 20 - SORCERER 10

At long last our capstone is... another metamagic option. By this point your spells pack plenty a punch so if you want to make sure not to hit your allies Careful Spell will disable friendly fire... Though alternatively if they’re keeping their distance Empowered Spell will let you make sure you get the maximum kick out of your spirit.

You can also learn one more spell, and one more cantrip to round out the absolute slew of cantrips you have. After a long match you can make a Teleportation Circle to go back to base, and for your cantrip? Wouldn’t it be funny if I suggested True Strike? Okay but memes aside take something else other than True Strike the world is your oyster and True Strike is bad just attack twice.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Indulge me - Ahri is arguably the most flexible caster I’ve made so far. A pure 50 / 50 split between Sorcerer and Warlock means that you’ve got a huge variety of spells, and two big spell slots that come back on a Short Rest which you can melt down into Sorcery points. Not to mention that Psionic Spells gives you an absolutely insane amount of spells known and the ability to cast several of them using Sorcery points instead of Spell Slots. And to top it off you have an absolutely ridiculous amount of cantrips, capping off at a whopping fourteen cantrips!

They're mine now - It also turns out that the coffeelock is really potent in its own right. Sorcery gives you a lot of options to make your spells even stronger, notably Quickened Spell letting you shoot out some Agonizing Eldritch Blasts after casting a regular spell.

Run faster! Ehehe! - You’re also no pushover for survival either. You have good health for a spellcaster, damn good mobility, and plenty of abilities to bolster yourself against danger... as long as you don’t mind a bit of Essence Theft.

CONS

Lingering spirits lose themselves - Even if your health is strong your defensive stats aren’t great. Poor saving throws (minus Charisma and Constitution) and bad AC (Shield is a good spell you should probably get it) means that while you can take a hit and lifesteal it back you’re still pretty easy to hit.

Don't you trust me? - You may be the queen of charms but you’re not that great outside of Charisma. Almost all your proficiencies are in Charisma skills which means you won’t be able to do anything like find hidden treasure or spot incoming danger.

Mortals have two choices; follow me, or don't - Ever heard of the concept of choice paralysis? Well with your absolutely bloated spell list it can be hard to choose what to do with your spell slots, and even harder to choose what spell to Concentrate on. Both your best moves and simplest tricks take your Concentration.

But with all your strengths what girl could want MORE? You’re a swift and dangerous mid lane mage with enough Vastayan magic to do whatever you desire. Dash in and show them what you’re made of! And be sure to be back at the studio in time to show the newbie the ropes. Don’t want that drum going dumb.

(Artwork by Horace Hsu and Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

[itsonlystrange]

STRANGER THINGS THEORIZERS/ANALYIZERS, ANSWER THIS QUESTION PLEASE!

How do you think season four will end? There’s talk of a “middle of the action” cliff hanger, having season five pick up directly after episode five with no break in between. I don’t see how that would happen as usually the end of the season has a “final battle”, and I don’t see how a season could pick up directly off of that and then immediately go back into the action for season five.

Usually with ST, the first 2-3 episodes are relatively uneventful. It’s usually one or two characters that are on to the mystery, and there really isn’t a major event until episode four.

Examples being:

Season 1: End of e3, Will’s “body” was found.

Season 2: end of e3, Will gets possessed

Season 3: end of e3, Will realizes the Mind Flayer is back.

So, there’s a pattern here. You get regular domestic, school, normal related stuff in the beginning, until the end of episode three/ episode four, where revalations are made.

So, with this theoretical “middle of the action, end of season cliff hanger”, it would be confusing as to where it could pick up, and how?

Usually with st we get three acts. The first being the relatively normal start of the season. Only one or two characters are on to something. The second act is in the middle of the season, where most characters are preparing to confront the main issue of the season. This is where discoveries are. Then the third act is where they finally confront that main issue. Then there’s a 1-3 month time jump where things are back to normal.

But for this theoretical season five ending, that wouldn’t happen. There’d be an ambiguous ending, maybe one where everyone is hanging on for dear life, and then credits. And then season five picks up right there. Which would just totally destroy the construct the writers have created for their seasons. Not only for act three of season four, but for all of season five.

There would be no “calm before the storm” or an ‘act one’ if we just pick up in the middle of the action again. It would mean that season five is essentially just a part two to season four, which I don’t see working out well for stranger things. They have a layout that they’ve used, and I feel like doing something this spontaneous, especially for the end of the show, right now, seems off. The final season of any show is undoubtedly one of the most important. It doesn’t matter if the first or middle seasons were fantastic or bland, if the final season doesn’t do better and doesn’t end with a WHAM, then the show will go down in history that way. The final season determines how a show is remembered, how the critics remember it, and doing something like this for a show as big as stranger things this late in the game seems risky, not to say they wouldn’t do it. Because if they did, it would mean they had had this planned for awhile.

I’d also like to add that I am not opposed to this idea! we don’t know how it will end which is the exciting part! This is all speculation. I think that they would 100% be able to tell a compelling story while not following the format they have previously. However, it is definitely something the writers would have to be cautious of. Especially since ST seems to take big gaps in between seasons, having season five pick up directly after season four, while in real life we’ve waited a good 12-18 months, it would definitely leave some fans feeling disconnected. Especially because a lot of fan favorite moments are those “calm before the storm” montages or episodes. Hell, the shopping mall scene from season three was so well done and almost every fan I know enjoyed it. So having it pick up in the middle of the act could potentially be jeoprodizing that, and also potentially losing character development. A lot of times in tv shows (not necessarily in stranger things, but sometimes it has happened!) a character will be so caught up In the drama or the main event of the season that they will lose their character development. Season two of ST did it best, season 3 did it worst. In season 2 (and one!) they were able to keep that compelling drama and the main supernatural events but also keep the characters developing even in the last episodes, rather than have the drama fill up the whole episode and the characters own thoughts to the point where a majority of that characters personality for the end of the season solely revolves around the drama. But in seasons one and two, they were able to have characters develop, and do better, and progress, even while the major cinematic events were happening. However In season three, we got a lack of character growth, especially in those final episodes where character growth had previously been so prevalent. Don’t get me wrong, characters DID develop, but for a season that’s tag line was “one summer can change everything.” not much changed- character wise. Sure, plot lines came and go, new ones were introduced, but the characters stayed relatively the same. No revelations were made. For example: Will had a plot line that was just utterly dropped. They spent so long building that dramatic sequence up and his fight with Mike and the destruction of castle byers and then they just left it. Which, I understand, was done of purpose. They obviously left those lose ends untied up for season four. Or how about El: she got a scene which supposedly was supposed to prove how she was independent and didn’t need mike (because she totally doesn’t and is a baddie!) but then in the end crawls right back to him, despite obviously not caring about their break up previously and seeming much happier without him. Lucas didn’t progress at all. Mike stayed the same, except he realized he totally didn’t like El at the end of season 3. But other than that, Mike didn’t change much. He didn’t get any scenes where he realized “oh! I was such a jerk!” He just CONTINUED to be that way. Max didn’t progress too much. I was hoping she would open up or allow herself to be vulnerable, or maybe she could realize why she is so harsh sometimes, other things that would have made for a great arc. Dustin didn’t change much, he just got smarter, I guess? And so on so forth. Everyone is relatively the same. We never really see Nancy and Jon resolve the fight, besides the elevator scene. When they BOTH had great points in that fight and I agree that they should both work on those issues. And the only thing that really changed was the Byers moving and Hopper ‘dying.’

Now, I may be going off the rails here, sorry. But my point is: we KNOW they can do great character development while also keeping that science fiction action and mystery we love. But we also know they can butcher it and not even realize !

There are definitely pros and cons of doing this cliffhanger thing. Of course, nobody really knows what will happen. We still have to factor in new characters, or if these new characters will even be apart of season five at all. We could be left with sort of a half middle of the action cliff hanger, similar to season one or two, where the audience knows that mr mind flayer is back, but the characters don’t. Maybe we won’t even get a month time skip, and maybe we’ll get only a few days! Maybe season five will only pick up one month after season four, instead of 6 months to a year! We genuinely don’t know!

Season three was the weakest, but it wasn’t bad. They showed their diversity, and that they could switch things up if needed. All I hope for is good character growth at this point. And if too much action jeoprodizes the character growth (like season three!) then I don’t want it! But I know it’s totally possible to have both. They did it twice, they can do it again! I have high hopes for season four and it’s ending. And in no way am I against the idea of us kinda getting a shot and fire cliffhanger ending that bleeds into season 5.

Anyways, I doubt this will happen. I feel like they will follow the format they usually use. Give us a time jump in the last 20 minutes of season four, everything seems fine, season five picks up a couple months later, everything’s fine for a few episodes, WHAM! Action, ending, epilogue, roll credits. Not to say I wouldn’t enjoy a ‘middle of the action’ ending cliffhanger or whatever, I probably would! (Hoping they are able to balance it out this time instead of jumbling all the ‘growth’ into the first and last bits of the season.) This is not meant to say that I would dislike something like this. In fact, other shows have done something similar and I enjoyed them even more then a regularl time skip! I’m doing my best to show both sides of the argument here. I know a lot of people have their own opinions on this topic.

I’ll enjoy whatever they do, but I’d like to hear your opinions on this! How do you think season four will end?

[ohlovxrr]

tater tots and chocolate shop (a.k.a. chen’s convenience store) || eddie brock x reader

listen listen... i know i’ve been gone for a long time and i legit have no excuse but i hope you guys enjoy this unedited excuse of a fic. thinking of doing a smut for this or something smut like for venom/eddie for my other smut blog tho. but we all know we can’t trust me when i say i’m releasing shit anymore smh

tags : @santa-feigh @i-just-wanna-run-hell @munalisax @spiduhgirl @hell-on-cheese-wheels @geeksareunique @violentlybarnes @imissyoualittlemoreeveryday @the-quackson-claxon @curly-haired-holland @courtneychicken @marvel_themed @heycreehere​ @min-amani​ @simonsbluee​ @delicately-important-trash​

words : 4133

warnings : not anything really, just that venom eats someone per usual if ya know what i’m saying... that came off sexual, as sexual as i am, that wasn’t what i meant, he really does just eat a guy sksksksk, also let’s just pretend that chen is single although i’m not sure

“this is venom in eddie’s head”

“this is eddie in his head”

masterlist

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

Eddie really didn’t expect anything new today - Which is something eerily weird for a man housing a deadly symbiote in his own body. Really, he never actually knew what to expect, but never anything out of ordinary; that is, his ordinary. Then again, he had gotten into the swing of things. Having scored a new job as a journalist, three months prior, spent his days at work, although that meant out and about the city of San Francisco. Then, he’d drop by Chen’s convenience store every couple of days to pick up the symbiote’s, Venom, favourite snacks (and now forcefully his too); tater tots and chocolate. For whatever reason, it made an impression on the creature, so Eddie rolled with it. 

The new thing Eddie didn’t expect, though, was the woman behind the counter. Usually, he would walk in and see Ms. Chen behind these counter, greet her as usual, sometimes even getting an earful from her about how “tense he looked” and how he should start meditating (although, that is why he loved the woman - she felt sort of like a concerning mother figure to him), pick up what he needed then pay and leave. Simple. 

Except this time, there was no Ms. Chen behind the counter. 

No, this was a young woman. Eddie thought she couldn’t be over twenty-two. Sure, the college textbooks in front of her behind the counter made it more likely, but she looked like she was practically still what anyone fairly older would call a girl in place of a woman albeit she was. 

Her head was down when he saw her through the glass doors of the store, holding a pink highlighter in her hand as she read through the open book in front of her, highlighting things ever so often. An earbud dangled from her left ear, the wire of the abandoned earbud bunching up at her front when she brought her arms around her to lean against the counter. 

She looked smart. It didn’t help Eddie that she was beautiful either. Sure, he sees beautiful women everywhere he goes every day in the city, but truth be told, the man became somewhat of a shut in since his break up with his ex-fiancé, Anne followed by the recent presence of Venom. 

Although this time, Eddie figured he wouldn’t be just passing her by like he does other women every day. No, she was new. Obviously, Chen wouldn’t just have her there for the day and leave it at that. Ms. Chen has been there every day since the damn store came to be. She was an employee now - One Eddie was probably going to have to see more often than he’d like to admit. 

Sighing, he opened the door and walked in, bell ringing as he did so. It did a good job at catching the girl’s attention, as her head shot up when it rang. 

He seemed to be the first customer in a while. Although he wouldn’t be surprised; it was fairly late into the night and Ms. Chen did recently expand the hours from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. - It was practically only ten minutes until closing. 

The girl gave Eddie a soft smile, welcoming, that he returned briefly, before she turned back to her textbook when she noticed the ease Eddie had walking through the store. It was easy to tell he was a regular. 

When he reached only the first shelf from the counter, he was unable to help himself and spoke indirectly, “So, you’re new?”

“Huh?” The girl looked over before seeing him turn his head to give her a slight smile and nod towards her, as if signalling to her, “Yes, I’m talking to you”.

Yanking her earbud out almost frantically, she stammered, feeling herself flush slightly in his gaze, “Oh yeah. Yeah, I’m… I’m new.” 

Eddie hummed. 

She continued before he had the chance to reply, “I’m assuming you’re a regular here? You know Ms. Chen?”

“Yeah,” Eddie chuckled and shook his head, thinking of the older woman, “Yeah, she’s a…”

“Character?”

The both of them let out small laughs of their own together before Eddie found himself turning back to the shelf and the girl back to her textbook, albeit both reluctantly. 

Once again, in true Eddie Brock fashion, Eddie found himself unable to stop and spoke once more, “So, not that I’m exactly complaining, but why exactly isn’t Chen here. I don’t think the woman’s ever missed a fuckin’ day.” 

She breathed a laugh before turning back to him with something bright in her eyes that Eddie felt he hadn’t seen in a long time, something refreshing, “I’m pretty sure she wanted to set aside a little time for who I think is the future Mr. Chen.”

“Wow,” Eddie feigned disappointment, “There goes my shot.”

A bright smile grew on the girl’s face, making Eddie’s heart start beating just a little bit faster as she went along, “There it goes.”

A small smile - a true, genuine small smile - found its way to Eddie’s face. She was cute, really cute. 

“Who is she and why does she make your heart beat fast?”

“Jesus,” Eddie jumped unnoticeably at Venom’s voice in his head, muttering to himself, “Shut up, you parasite.”

The girl’s eyebrows furrowed in both confusion and offense having heard his muttered words. “Excuse me?”

“Parasite!” Venom spoke in his head with anger. 

Eddie’s eyes widened before he took a few steps closer to the counter. “No! No. Not you.”

“O-” She looked him up and down for a split second with a frown; who was he talking to if not you, the only person in the store with him. “Okay.”

They stayed in silence for a few seconds, feeling the awkward tension get heavier with each passing by. Although, when Eddie saw the girl shift back into her leaning over the counter position from before to get back to her textbook, he pulled her away from it once more. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” Eddie spoke sincerely to the young woman, looking from her to somewhere in the store ever so often, “I guess I have this… thing where I… talk to myself. Sometimes I don’t even realize I do it. Could I just- I mean, do you think I could get your name?”

Her frown upturned into a soft smile once more. “Y/N.” 

She then proceeded to add, “I work three days a week here.”

Eddie’s gaze on her felt like the heat from one of those lights on a movie set, and it made her feel flush under it, “I mean, that’s just if you wanted to know. I’m gonna be here pretty often, so I don’t know-”

“Hey, Y/N, Y/N.” He cut her off with an endeared look on his face. “Don’t shit yourself, it’s good to know.”

“Okay,” Y/N laughed nervously as she watched Eddie move across the store once again to reach the desired shelf, “Good- Good to know. Tha-Thanks.”

Once he’d found his desired purchases, dollars over dollars of tater tots and chocolate for his “little buddy”, he took them up to the counter that Y/N sat behind. 

She spoke as she grabbed each product and scanned, eyes looking up from her actions to Eddie, “Hey, I never got your name.”

He chuckled nervously and spoke almost regretfully to the floor, “Yeah, it’s, ah, it’s Eddie.” He lifted his head to, although he didn’t intend to and it just ended up happening, gauge Y/N’s reaction - As if it would set off a bomb, especially after everything with the Life Foundation. 

“No way,” 

And there it goes. 

“I thought I’d recognized you from somewhere; you’re Eddie Brock, right?” Here comes the part Eddie was waiting for, the backlash of having dismantled the Life Foundation - people claiming what the foundation was accused of doing, what Carlton Drake was accused of doing, wasn’t actually real despite the photo evidence he’d provided. Although, when Eddie closed his eyes for a brief second to both calm himself and Venom, the symbiote probably feeling the way his nerves spiked and heart pumped faster, he opened then fairly quickly when he heard Y/N’s excited voice with what could even possibly be admiration, “You exposed the Life Foundation, right? That’s- That’s insane. It was crazy what they were doing, I still can’t believe it. I mean, I kinda can ‘cause I never exactly had a good feeling about that guy. Yeah, he was nice on camera and stuff, but it felt like he was a little too nice, if you know what I mean.”

She paused when she noticed Eddie was staring at her like she grew another head and looked to him nervously. “What?”

“Nothing.” Eddie pushes back a disbelieved laugh, staring at the girl with that same disbelief, except with something lighter that felt like a tiny spark of hope for him, which made him feel like he was getting way too far ahead of himself. “It’s just that, since it’s happened, not a lot of people have good things to say about it.”

Y/N shrugged before she grabbed a plastic bag and began placing the items into it, eyes on that now as opposed to on Eddie. “I think what you did was great. People are probably just still in their little bubbles trying to avoid any type of bad thing. It was only the poor being used during the human trials, so it’s none of their concern as far as it goes - Just like everything else. I read your papers now, they’re amazing.”

“Thanks.” Eddie smiled, practically mesmerized with this girl for reasons unfathomable to even him. 

After he handed her cash, she leaned over and handed him his bag. Taking it, he felt his fingers brush against hers, feeling adrenaline rush through his body at the mere contact…

Which alerted the symbiote. 

Knowing, Eddie turned away from Y/N, moving his head down as his eyes flashed an ominous grey, trying his damn hardest to keep Venom at bay. 

Beginning to walk out, he shouted, “Thanks, Y/N. See you.”

Y/N’s smile faltered at his sudden leave, only replying with a sigh after the bell chimed again and Eddie was no longer in the store, “No problem, Eddie.”

Outside, an argument was taking place inside Eddie Brock’s head with his symbiote. 

“She makes you heart beat fast like Annie.”

Shaking his head whilst he walked, Eddie thought to Venom, “No, she doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does.”

“No, she doesn’t!” Eddie practically shouted in the middle of the street, stopping his movement to see that he’d gained weird looks from others on the street with his outburst. Shaking his head once more, he went onto walking home again. 

“Look, I just met her-”

“We.”

“We! We just met her, and it doesn’t mean anything. She was pretty, and new, thought I was cool, and I haven’t gotten any for months now. We just got excited. That’s all. We’ll see her every once and a while, and that’s it. She’s a good girl, wouldn’t be surprised if she had a boyfriend.”

“We can eat him.”

“No-” Eddie cut himself off when he realized he spoke aloud again, frustrated with the symbiote’s quote on quote “solution”

Huffing he continued to speak with the symbiote, turning the corner and getting closer to his apartment building. 

“No, we cannot eat him. We don’t eat people, at least not good ones, and you know, there are a lot-”

“A lot of good people. Yes, yes, I know.”

“Exactly. So get over it. I will.”

———————————————

“So, Mondays and Wednesdays.” Eddie walked into Chen’s convenience store that Wednesday to be greeted with what he thought was possibly the most beautiful smile from Y/N. “You wanna let me in on what the third day of the week you work on?”

Y/N laughed, taking her earbud out and giving her full attention to Eddie, almost looking at his shyly and bit her lip, driving him insane in a way he didn’t expect from you. “I don’t know… Maybe you’ll have to figure that out for yourself, Ed.”

“Oh, it’s Ed now,” Eddie challenged with a smirk, walking past her to the first shelf. 

Her eyes followed, taking in his broad frame. “Mhm.” She nodded confidently. 

“Mhm,” Eddie mimicked her with a chuckle before nodding towards her textbooks. “What are you studying?”

“Uh,” Y/N looked down at her textbook, like she had forgotten what the textbooks were even for, eyes fluttering before she looked back up at the man. “Mostly English stuff.” Y/N shrugged and placed her elbow onto the counter, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. “I’m an English major - It’s my third year.”

Eddie gestured towards her, his front still facing the shelf and his side to her, his head still turned looking at her. “Any idea…”

Y/N snorted, voice straining as she told him, “Nope.”

Eddie turned away with a laugh when he saw her smile lazily at him. 

She sighed, “But,” Eddie’s attention turned back to her, “I am hoping to figure it out by the end. Granted I have this year and the next to figure it out, but here’s to hoping, right?”

“Yeah.” Eddie gave a weak smile. “Here’s to hoping.”

Y/N hummed then deciding to leave Eddie be, turning back to her textbook and putting an earbud into her left ear, as she always does. 

“Pussy.”

Eddie huffed, speaking underneath his breath, “Alright, you know what?”

Forgetting what he’d come to the store for, Eddie found himself marching up to the counter and planting himself in front of it, right where Y/N was seated behind. 

Obviously hearing his movement, Y/N looked up with her eyebrows furrowed and a confused smile on her lips. “Is everything alright, Eddie?”

“Let me take you to dinner,” Eddie said abruptly as to not chicken out, attempting to smile through all the nerves he was feeling in that moment, “Let me- Let me take you out on a date, sweetheart.”

Panic shot through his chest right through his heart when he saw Y/N’s confused smile falter into a frown and her face grow solemn. 

“I’m really flattered, Eddie.”

“Please, no but. Please, no but.”

“But,”

“And there it is.”

“I’m already seeing someone. I-” Y/N paused and looked at him almost regretfully, biting her lip with her eyes filled with sadness. “I’m really sorry, Eddie. You’re really cool and stuff, but-”

“No.” Eddie shook his head before giving a weak fake smile as he chuckled, attempting to not make it sound as bitter as he felt so he wouldn’t make the girl feel bad. “Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault. I should’ve asked-”

“No, it’s okay, really.” Y/N shook her head and attempted a smile to show him it was fine, really. 

“Maybe,” Eddie paused, looking around then back to Y/N, “Maybe I should go. I’ll just go. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you, okay?”

“Yeah,” Y/N eyebrows furrowed in concern before she called out as he began to walk away, “Didn’t you need to get some stuff?”

“Uh, no.” Eddie looked back briefly, then tucked his hands into his pockets before he opened the door with his shoulder and heard the bell chime as always. “Not today.”

As Y/N watched him walk away from the store through the glass, she couldn’t help the words that came out of her mouth despite a mother now walking in with her small child, “Fuck,”

——————————————————

Despite saying everything was fine, Eddie found himself not going back to the store for the next week, too, and as stupid as it sounds, scared to face Y/N after what had happened. He felt stupid; after everything, she was too good to be true - Way too good to be true. 

Although, ten days later, he found himself on his way to the convenience store on a Saturday night, half past eleven. 

Taking a deep breath before entered, he pulled the door opened and heard the damn bell again, catching, none other than, Y/N’s attention. Although, this time - This time, she saw him of course, but she didn’t take out the earbud always in her left ear, didn’t take her focus off her textbook and highlighter in hand to shoot Eddie the biggest, most beautiful smile. She didn’t give him any type of greeting. 

At first sight, Eddie would think that obviously she’s pissed. He probably made her feel bad about it, despite how he said it’s okay. Completely contradicted himself and made her feel like an ass.

As he got closer to the girl, though, he heard a sniffle she tried hard to cover. 

It sent a rush of rage through his body, and he had to try his hardest to fight against Venom’s want to make an appearance. 

“Stop it, you’ll scare her.”

“I will scare whoever did this to her. I’ll bite their head off-”

“No. Biting. Heads off. Right now, we’re focusing on her… We might be the ones who did this to her.”

Eddie then felt a flush of shame before Venom spoke to him once more. 

“You.”

“You? What do you mean you?”

“You did this to her. I had nothing to do with it.”

Eddie rolled his eyes subtly at the symbiote. 

“So now it’s just me, huh?”

The symbiote didn’t reply, and that when Eddie decided to walk closer to the counter and the upset girl behind. 

He spoke up, “Y/N?”

Eddie heard Y/N suck in a breath before shooting her head up to face him, quickly wiping away any tears that may be running down her beautiful face, and shooting him a weak smile in attempts to cover up she’d been crying. “Hey, Eddie,” She gave a forced chuckle, “Guess you figured out what the third day of the week I work is.”

Eddie stared at her, concern littered all over his face with a mix of anger, his eyebrows furrowed. “What’s going on, sweetheart?”

Her nose was running and she looked drained, her eyes faintly red rimmed from crying. 

“Nothing, Ed, I’m-” Y/N let out a shaky sigh. “I’m fine. It’s stupid, anyway.”

“Hey,” Eddie spoke softly to the girl, leaning himself as close as he could with the counter separating them, “I won’t think it’s stupid.”

Y/N shrugged before she let out a sad laugh, “It’s just the guy I was seeing.”

Eddie hummed, already knowing where this was going. Nonetheless, he let her continue. 

She crossed her arms in front of her, placing them onto the counter and leaning forward. Closer to Eddie. 

“I thought we made it clear we weren’t gonna see other people,” Y/N smiled sadly, her voice soft and light, weak, “But I guess it wasn’t clear to him. I, uh, I caught him with some girl, and I know it’s stupid ‘cause we’ve only been together a few months, but it just hurts-”

Eddie shook his head and stopped her, “It’s not stupid, Y/N. I promise you it’s not. That guy’s an asshole - Doesn’t even know what he’s missin’”

“Let’s bite his head off.”

Although Eddie chose to ignore him this time, he couldn’t help but consider the idea. 

Y/N gave a weak laugh, “Thanks, Eddie.”

“Any day.”

Y/N shook her head and looked at him regretfully, “Listen, Eddie, about the other day - I’m sorry. I really like you too, I just felt like an ass about it and wrong ‘cause I was already seeing somebody. I mean, but now I don’t feel so bad about it anymore, I guess. If you’d still want to, I’d like to take you out on a date to make up for, well, all that and the past ten days.”

“Got nothing to make up for, Y/N.” Eddie smiled softly at her as he reached over to grab her hand on the counter. “But yeah, I’d really like that.”

If Eddie Brock was a fourteen year old girl, he’d he felt his insides melt and butterflies in his stomach as you gave him the sweetest smile, but Venom would never let it go. 

The sweet moment was all too quickly interrupted. 

In came a hulking building of a man, angry and red faced. Red faced not cause he was angry, but ‘cause he was pretty fucking ugly if the three of them (mind Venom) do say so themselves.

The gun in his hand made it clear what his intentions were, and sent a jolt of protectiveness through Eddie’s body over Y/N and her safety.

The man’s voice was aggressive as he directed Y/N to put all the money in the bag, gun still at his side. She did what he said, obviously, her hands shaking unlike how Ms. Chen was usually more collected because she was unfortunately too used to it. Although, Eddie hadn’t moved when he told him to. 

“Move,” The man boomed, then expressed almost nonchalantly, “I can shoot her if you want, if that’ll make you fucking move.”

The man then proceeded to direct the gun towards Y/N’s head, making her breath hitch and stop her actions of shovelling the cash into the bag to stare at Eddie with eyes filled with frightened tears to mouth, “Move.”

This time, when all he could see was red, Eddie didn’t stop Venom. 

Surely, Eddie form became Venom’s; black covering Eddie body as they shifted. Venom stood huge and towering over everyone and everything. Tongue slid across sharp, menacing teeth as he smiled ominously at the man who now dropped his gun and looked like he was shitting bricks.

There was no speech this time like with the one guy who would continuously harass and rob Ms. Chen. No, this time, he simply grabbed onto the struggling man’s shirt, lifted him with ease to dangle him in the air before simply using him as his next meal. 

Y/N stood watching frozen, scared to make any type of movement, even breath, as to catch the attention of the terrifying creature in front of her that used to be Eddie. 

It didn’t seem to work for her though, because the creature’s head snapped around to her, making her let out a shriek and duck underneath the counter, not knowing what else to do other than cry and expect potential death coming her way. 

Although, that didn’t seem to happen. She heard the creature… talking; like he was arguing with himself. 

“No!” It said, “I want to meet her!”

She heard a final growl before she heard something else, something… slimy, then footsteps coming around the counter to where she hid underneath. Her whole body tensed as she awaited the huge creature, terrified. 

Before she knew it, she faced with not huge, inky black feet (?), but Eddie’s shoes. He crouched down for face her huddled form, arms wrapped around the legs that were right against her chest. 

“Hey,” Eddie said softly, bringing a hand to her arm and pretending he didn’t feel her flinch, “I’m sorry for scaring you. It’s okay. You can come up now.”

Y/N looked at him in disbelief before she spoke fearfully, “No, fuck you, it’s waiting for me.”

Eddie chuckled, genuinely, as his head fell to his chest for a brief second before he looked back up, into her beautiful, [eye colour] eyes. “Sweetheart, I promise, he’s not waiting for you. At least, not to eat you.”

“Okay.” Y/N nodded before exclaiming, “So then it’s to just kill me! He’s probably just full, that’s why. Ate a whole man.”

“Alright.” Eddie placed a hand on either side of Y/N’s face and directed her focus solely onto him. “I promise I’ll explain everything, okay? Just know you’re safe with me. You’re safe, you don’t have to worry.”

Y/N’s mouth opened and closed as she debated in her head, Eddie frightful of what decision she may come to. 

“Okay.”

“Yeah?” Eddie smiled. 

She rolled her eyes weakly in distress. “Yeah. Just- Just help me up now.”

Releasing her face, Eddie grabbed her hands and pulled her up with him, although the movement made lose her footing and bump herself into his chest. His arm wrapped itself her waist and there wasn’t anymore space between them, faces barely centimetres apart.

“Hey,” Y/N smiled cheekily at him, her arms wrapping around his torso. 

“Hey,” Was all Eddie said back impatiently before his hand reached up to cup her face and guide her lips onto his.

Here’s to hoping. Oh, and those damn tater tots and chocolate that gave him a reason to be there in the first place.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #86: Mysterious Heroine X

Before we get into America proper, Fate and Phantasms is taking a quick sightseeing tour of the Servant Universe, courtesy of Mysterious Heroine X! With this build, you’ll be able to sneak up on sabers and give them a taste of your Secret Calibur. You’ll also have plenty of technobabble gadgets that do whatever the plot demands, and your very own spaceship! Kinda. You’ll have most of your spaceship. You’ll have spaceship parts.

Check out X’s build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: A gold lancer?! Ooh, I bet it’s Qin Liangyu!

Race and Background

D&D doesn’t really have a Servant race (we’re waiting on that collab, WoTC!), but we’ve made a large majority of servants Humans, and we won’t stop now. Variant Humans get +1 Dexterity and Wisdom, Arcana proficiency to represent your technological prowess, and the Lucky feat. This feature lets you use your very literal plot armor to succeed when you really need to, or counter deadly attacks, three times per long rest by rolling another d20 and optionally using that roll when making a save, attack, or check or when another creature attacks you. 

You’re a Far Traveler, because it doesn’t get much further away than another dimension. This gives you Insight and Perception proficiencies. You can always tell when someone’s lying about being a saber. It’s mostly because they all have the same face, but still.

Ability Scores

 Put your highest score into Dexterity. You’re totally a saber, but some swords use dex! It’s fine! You also want your dex as high as possible, because a track suit isn’t armor. Second is Charisma: you can lie to paladins for extended periods without getting caught (I know she was a child, shush). Your Wisdom’s also pretty good; your gadgets have to work off something, after all. Your Constitution isn’t amazing, and neither is your Strength, but you’re not here for fair fights. Finally, dump Intelligence. Your gadgets are cool and you know how to use them, but you didn’t make them and you probably don’t really know how they work.

Class Levels

1. Ranger 1: When you become a ranger, you get proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as Athletics, Stealth, and Investigation to help you hunt down sabers without being seen.

As a first level ranger, you would normally get Favored Enemy, but Sabers aren’t a type of humanoid, so instead you get Favored Foe. When you hit a creature with an attack, you can mark the creature for up to a minute, concentration permitting. Once per turn (including the turn you mark it), you can deal an extra 1d4 damage to that creature. You can make a number of marks per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus. That’s not a lot of damage right now, but it gets better as we go.

You’d also normally get Natural Explorer, but Space isn’t an option for that either. Instead, you are a Deft Explorer, which at level 1 makes you Canny. This gives you extra languages, plus expertise in Stealth. You’re a master assas-Saber, after all.

Lastly in our list of switchups, most Excaliburs are great-swords, but your lightsaber is a pretty light saber, so we’re instead calling it a Scimitar. Don’t worry, we’ll make it a little stronger later.

2. Ranger 2: At second level, you gain a Fighting Style. The Dueling style adds 2 to single-handed melee damage, to help make up for your smaller sword. You also learn to cast Spells this level, using your Wisdom as the spellcasting modifier. Since we have Hunter’s Mark covered with Favored Foe, we’re instead going to learn Alarm and Snare to better protect the area around our ship. They create an alarm and snare respectively- sometimes it’s nice to have a spell that just does what it says it will.

3. Ranger 3: Normally at level three you’d get Primeval Awareness, and since you don’t talk to animals that’s exactly what you’re getting here. You can spend a spell slot to sense aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead within 1 mile of you, though their number and location aren’t given. The effect lasts for one minute per spell level used. Those lancer sabers aren’t particularly hard to find, but a little extra help never hurt.

Third level rangers also pick a conclave. You’re dedicated to protecting the multiverse from the massive influx of Saberfaces, making you a pretty clear-cut Horizon Walker. You can use your Portal Detector to Detect Portals within a mile of you as an action once per short rest. You’re also a Planar Warrior, letting you spend your bonus action to make your Secret Calibur a higher caliber, turning all its damage into Force Damage for one attack, and dealing an extra 1d8 damage as well. If you wanted to justify what you spent on a new set of dice, this is the build for you: literally the only die you’re not using each turn now is your d12.

You also get another spell this level, and the extended spell list for Horizon Walkers gives you access to Protection from Evil and Good. For up to 10 minutes with concentration, one creature you touch is protected from aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This imposes disadvantage against those creatures if they try to attack them, they can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them, and they have advantage on saves if they’re already under one of those effects. Most sabers either are or get their power from one of those types of creature, so this should be pretty helpful.

4. Ranger 4: Your track suit is leather armor at best, so use this Ability Score Improvement to strengthen your Dexterity. This improves you AC, sword accuracy and damage, and makes you sneakier too.

5. Ranger 5: Fifth level Horizon Walkers get an Extra Attack, letting you make two attacks per action. It should be noted that Planar Warrior and Favored Foe only work once per turn, but more damage is still more damage.

You also get another care package from the Servant Universe; this one contains your Object Locater, which lets you Locate Objects. As long as the object is within 1,000′ of you and isn’t blocked by lead, you’ll know exactly where it is and where it’s going for up to 10 minutes. If you’ve been close to it before, you can locate specific objects like, say, Excalibur, or you can locate an kind of object, like clothing, a kind of weapon (saber) or tool.

6. Rogue 1: This isn’t really an “above board” move to make, but you’re not one for traditional tactics. That probably why you’re an Assas- Totally a saber. Yup. Anyway, with this level you get one rogue skill -Acrobatics- proficiency, as well as Expertise in two skills. This doubles you proficiency in Acrobatics and Perception. You can make a Sneak Attack, dealing extra damage against creatures when you’re using a finesse weapon (you should be) and you either have advantage against your target or there’s another enemy of the target within 5′ of them. You can also use Thieves’ Cant to communicate with other rogues without being found out.

7. Ranger 6: We’ll get more rogue in a bit, but back in Ranger, your Favored Foe increases to 1d6, and you’re now a Roving Explorer. This gives you an extra 5′ of movement, and you gain a climbing and swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

8. Ranger 7: Since you’re not really from this plane, it can be a bit tricky to stay on it for long. You can weaponize this with your Ethereal Step, letting you cast Etherealness for free and as a bonus action once per short rest. The drawback is it only lasts until the end of your turn, but until then you can move in any direction (at half speed), you’re invisible to creatures who can’t sense the ethereal plane, and can move through objects that aren’t on the ethereal plane. Think of it as a short-range teleporter.

If you want to be even sneakier, turn on your cloaking device to Pass Without Trace, giving you and creatures near you +10 to stealth checks and the inability to be tracked through normal means for up to an hour.

9. Ranger 8: Moving at half speed in the ethereal plane is a bummer. If only there was some way to be even faster. Wait, there is! use this ASI to become Mobile, adding 10′ to your movement and allowing you to slip away from enemies you’ve attacked this turn. 

You also get Land’s Stride, so you can ignore most difficult terrain, as well as damage caused by nonmagical plants. You also have advantage on saves caused by magical plants.

10. Ranger 9: I don’t think we’re fast enough yet. Let’s get even faster. As a ninth level ranger you get third level spells, like Haste, which doubles your movement speed, gives you an extra action each turn, adds 2 to your AC, and gives you advantage on dexterity saves. This lasts up to a minute, at which point you’ll have to take a break for a turn. Fun fact: Etherealness is not a concentration spell, so you can speed up and blast through the ethereal plane no problem.

11. Rogue 2: Back in rogue, you learn to make Cunning Actions, letting you Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. We didn’t make you Canny in stealth for nothing, use it from time to time.

12. Rogue 3: As much as you like to deny it, you are an Assassin class servant, meaning you Assassinate people. You have advantage on attacks against creatures who haven’t taken a turn yet, and all your attacks that hit automatically deal critical damage on surprised creatures. You also get proficiency in the Disguise and Poisoner’s Kits. That track suit is barely a disguise, and it’s definitely not magical.

Also, your sneak attack increases to 2d6.

13. Ranger 10: Tenth level rangers are Tireless, letting you spend an action to gain 1d8+ your wisdom modifier temporary HP, a number of times per long rest equal to your proficiency modifier. Also, your exhaustion now decreases on short rests as well as long rests. I’m sure this makes anyone who wants to multiclass Berserker/Ranger very happy.

Again, you would normally get Hide in Plain Sight, but instead you get Nature’s Veil. Proficiency bonus times per long rest, you can use a bonus action to turn invisible until the start of your next turn. Unlike normal invisibility, this persists even if you attack someone, so have fun with that.

14. Ranger 11: Eleventh level Horizon Walkers see their Planar Warrior feature grow even stronger, adding 2d8 force damage to an attack. You can also make Distant Strikes now, teleporting 10 feet before each attack you make. If you make your two attacks against different targets, you can even make a third attack against a third target!

With this level’s spell, you can call down some fire support from your ship with Conjure Barrage. You’ll have to keep something to throw on hand, but it will deal 3d8 damage in a 60′ cone, or half on a successful dexterity save (DC 8+proficiency+wisdom modifier).

15. Ranger 12: Use this ASI to improve your Wisdom for stronger air support and better tracking.

16. Ranger 13: Thirteenth level rangers get fourth level spells. Freedom of Movement will help you break out of any restraints you may find yourself in. Sabers aren’t typically one to take prisoners, but perhaps some misguided locals get between you and your mark.

17. Ranger 14: At fourteenth level, your Favored Foe is now as strong as it’s ever going to be, dealing 1d8 damage per turn. You can also Vanish as a bonus action on your turn. This also prevents you from being tracked by nonmagical means unless you want to be followed.

18. Ranger 15: Your plot armor has upgraded from dumb luck to a Spectral Defense, spending your reaction to gain resistance to an attack. You also learn Banishment, letting you kick any errant Sabers back to the servant dimension. Killing them would be preferable, but there are days where you just don’t have the time.

19. Ranger 16: Use your final ASI to max out your Dexterity for more AC, more stabbing, and better stealth.

20. Ranger 17: Your capstone level of ranger nets you the ability to cast 5th level spells like Teleportation Circle. This allows you to instantly travel to any existing spaceport (circle) on the same plane as you that you know the combination to, and even make your own after a year of casting. You also start with the runes needed to travel to two circles chosen by your DM. It’s a shame this doesn’t work between planes, but if your DM wants you planehopping by level 20 it’s going to happen anyway.

Pros: 

You’re so fast you clip through walls. With 45′ base speed, the ability to double dash on command, and access to haste, you’re able to get where you need to go when you need to be there. Toss in your etherealness and distant strikes, and you’ll find yourself saving a lot of time. Or you’ll find out all the buildings you enter were mysteriously built on the ethereal plane too. It’s depends on how hard your DM railroads.

You’re also very stealthy, with the ability to turn invisible before you strike and your absurd stealth bonuses you’re going to be hard to find, at least until your sword is already in their neck.

Your sword may not be magical, but you can turn it into Force Damage for an attack each turn. Combine that with your sneak attack and favored foe, and you can still deal plenty of damage, even to tough creatures. Like sabers! 

Cons:

Despite being from another plane of existence, this build doesn’t have any planar travel, bar Banishment-ing yourself back home. This isn’t really a weakness, per se: if your DM needs you to be in a different plane they’ll typically help you out. It’s just really frustrating for me specifically.

Your weapon buffs all only last for one attack, making your multi-attack somewhat awkward. On top of that, your Planar Warrior requires you to call your attack ahead of time, so you can’t just wait for a critical hit and dump all your features into it like paladins can.

A lot of your spells require Concentration, and that means not only do you have to pick and choose your spells carefully, but you can easily waste a slot because your constitution isn’t that great.

[grayintogreen]

I was not technically tagged, but at least two people on my dash were like DO WHAT YOU WANT NO ONE IS YOUR GOD, and you know what? They’re right and valid. 

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

96! And 90% of them are from just this year. Can’t wait to find out what the big 100 is gonna be. Any one of my WIPS could be Disney’s next 100th fic.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

455,024 (also mostly from this year...)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

In my entire life??? Since I was twelve??? I don’t even know, man. I wrote a lot of ooc crackfic and fic for cartoons when I was on FF.net, and then I was on LJ and wrote for a TON of different fandoms, but on AO3, I have written for Critical Role (so much CR), Yashahime/Inuyasha, Guardians of the Galaxy, His Dark Materials (TV), Steven Universe, Bleach, Alias, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Pushing Daisies (the last four were all transferred here from LJ, though)

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

- turning wine back into water (Critical Role, de-aging fic with plot, 30457 words)

I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE HOW POPULAR THIS FIC IS. It beat out two of my super popular GotG fics that have been up since 2017 BY A LOT. Apparently, there was a market for the Mighty Nein being adorable cocktail brats and saving the world. Thanks, Liam’s Quest!

It is probably one of the most wholesome fics I will ever write too. I love it.

- Sunshine Came Softly (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket and Mantis friendship, 3188 words)

THIS FIC STILL GETS HITS EVEN TODAY. It was written right after I saw the movie so it hit hard and fast on the hype train. 

- Mine Is Just a Slower Sacrifice (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket-centric, 2248 words)

BOY YOU CAN TELL THESE FICS ARE ANCIENT BECAUSE I HADN’T DEVELOPED MY TITLE NICHE YET. where are the lower caps and Seanan McGuire lyrics!!

Anyway, this was written probably IMMEDIATELY after I saw the movie and had to process Rocket’s emotions during the last moments, because of who I am as a person. For what’s mostly a character study, it got some mileage on it.

- they drink dreamers up like brandy (Critical Role, 1625 words)

Back to Critical Role! I wrote this one when I was in a fucking blind post-finale haze and producing massive amounts of Kingsley content and I wanted to write a silly fic about Caleb being tiefling catnip. 

- if adversity breeds character (we’ve character enough for two) (Critical Role, Beau and Molly-centric, 1824 words)

I feel like most of my most kudos-ed CR fics are Beau-related, which is funny because I never really wrote her EVER. I guess I need to write her more often. ANYWAY, this one got jossed immediately after 141, but I needed to write Beau and Molly bantering and I couldn’t get her flipping him off after revealing her card is Rumor out of my head.

(Incidentally my sixth most kudos-ed fic is my Fjorester next gen fic, WHICH I WAS NOT EXPECTING AT ALL. IT’S A FIC BASED ON MY OC FANCHILDREN!! I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THAT!!)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Usually!! There are times when I forget and then it’s been so long that I never go back, but I like responding to comments. They make me so happy and I want to make sure the people who take the time to comment know that I see them and appreciate them. Especially if they give me long comments. You long commenters know who you are and I value you and also flail incoherently in your direction.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

God, probably this church takes no conversions simply because, like, the whole ending scenes are MISERABLE AND FULL OF ANGST and then it has the hopeful ending that is actually a bullshit lie.

But second place probably goes to what couldn’t i offer, what couldn’t i give, which is just misery porn in disguise as a character study. Sorry, Cree.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Okay, so back in the day when I was a tineh fanbrat I wrote a lot of self-indulgent crossovers featuring my friends and I in true Mary Sue format being ~saviors of the world~ alongside our favorite fictional characters and after I grew out of that, I very rarely did it again, because as someone who can only write AUs if they’re high concept and can only write crossovers if the canon welding is pristine, it’s difficult.

I have ideas for some! I just haven’t written them yet. Or they’re sitting in Google Docs partially written.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not to my recollection, which is insane, because I’ve written some things in my youth that deserved it, but also I was a kid, so maybe I definitely did not deserve it. Don’t send hate to kids!!

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

The first smut I ever posted on AO3 involved some fucking American Gods flesh horror shit, so that answers your second question.

Basically, yes, but I write smut to facilitate character development in a way that regular story beats can’t, mainly with characters who are in some way deeply fucked up and have unbalanced dynamics. 

So basically chances of me writing smut that isn’t Creecien or Lucigast? Very low. (I haven’t written Lucigast smut yet but I will. Inevitably.)

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that anyone’s told me, but one time when I was a teenager someone ripped off an entire group messageboard RP I was in and tried to pass it off as a fic they wrote.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that anyone’s told me!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I tried and it did not work out, because of (non-wanky) reasons, but it’s just not something I’d be very good at. I was the kid who wanted to work alone on group projects. I’m bad at group work.

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

That I’ve WRITTEN??? Because that at least narrows it down significantly. Sesshoumaru/Rin hands down. It’s a good dynamic and they’re fun and sad at the same time. 

My self-indulgent ass does also enjoy writing Creecien though. I’m putting it out there because I want it.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

GOD POOR SUPERNOVAS OF ALL SOUND AND LIGHT. THAT FIC COULD’VE BEEN A CONTENDER, but I unfortunately posted it RIGHT BEFORE the White Diamond episodes aired and it became so jossed by canon so fast that I gave up on life with chapter two half finished. I need to delete it but I can’t bring myself to bury my shame.

15) What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and meta-narrative and character-specific stuff. I go into every story with CHARACTER FIRST mentality, which is how I end up writing so many damn character studies or why my word counts explode. I’m just out here naval gazing because I love character stuff SO MUCH.

I’ve been told I’m good at fight/action scenes too, which... Shocks me, but I think watching and playing a lot of D&D stuff has really improved how I write fighting and action sequences.

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

[whispers] too much naval gaze. dial it back, bitch. 

I get really caught up in character stuff and forget to do important things like ADVANCE THE SCENE OR DESCRIBE THE SCENE OR LITERALLY ANYTHING. I also don’t think my prose is all that great, but I’m pretty sure every writer feels that imposter syndrome bullshit, so /waves hands. All I’m saying is I have seen some writers on AO3 who are writing some fucking vivid imagery and stringing flawless sentences together and weaving introspection and description together like beautiful baskets and they are stronger than any US Marine and I salute them and wish to be them.

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Iiii try not to. There’s times where I want to throw in, like, a little Zemnian for Caleb flair, but I try to stick to things that are either untranslatable (like German compound words), common phrases (like please or come here), or insults/curses/ pet names. Things that I don’t think Google will fucking lie to me about.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think it was a Sailor Moon crackfic about Haruka being forced to enter a beauty pageant which was just a blatant rip-off of Ms Congeniality and oh my god was it awful. I don’t even wanna talk about it.

19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

this church takes no conversions, probably BECAUSE it’s my little red-headed stepchild of a fic involving so many things that are just never going to make it popular (backstory fic, fic that is almost 85% headcanon, doesn’t involve popular characters, etc.), but godDAMMIT I love that fic so much. It was fun and I use every bit of that headcanon in almost everything like it’s my job.

shattered stage is a close second, because it was such a crazy concept for a fic that I PULLED OFF SOMEHOW and is this wonderful mix of crazy plot and character and lore and my three favorite tieflings having to work together. And also Jayne Merriweather as the main villain. 

A lot of love went into both of those fics and they are my babies. this time next year we’ll see if I add Creedemption and shoot at fate to this list- probably. All of my epic long fics resolve to be my babies because I spent so much time on them, and I have to love them and cherish them because I raised them into gigantic wordy attempts to write a doorstopper.