#this fringe character who has been in almost every season of the show

[simpsonssimp]

He’s kinda, maybe, definitely all I want to draw

right now 🖋✨

[utilitycaster]

like actually it's wild to me as someone who mostly exists on the fringes of the D20 fandom, since CR is by far my main one, that a lot of the really popular voices there are popular fanartists who low-key hate like 99% of what D20 is and tend to fixate on like, ships between barely-seen side characters. Like okay, so you don't like D&D as a system and think it's inherently imperialist and violent; you don't like that they no longer do hour-long Adventuring Parties (which started when they were in full lockdown and quickly ended once the industry was back on fairly regular footing); you don't like that they joke around in the talkback show even though that's true of every AP talkback show and I listen to at least four of them; you don't like the D20 formula of ending with a big combat at the end; and you don't like that characters weren't redeemed because you feel as though the narrative didn't give them time to be redeemed and this season should have been longer despite it being standard length for an Intrepid Heroes season and "the narrative" is shaped by Brennan Lee Mulligan, DM, as well as the cast's choices.

Like, real talk, I watch/listen to a lot of actual play and at least four talkback shows (for CR, NADDPod, WBN, and sometimes D20) and when fans get mad that the talkback has too much joking around it's an almost flawless litmus test that person hates the show but their blorbo is on it or their fandom identity rests on it or some other sunk cost fallacy. And if they start talking about the story as if it is not driven by the DM and the cast, you know they're really mad about the DM-ing and the cast choices but are too cowardly to say "Hey, I disliked what Brennan did here." And if you add it to the fact that D20's fandom in particular has a real problem with "liking the right stories is activism :)" and this story doesn't spell out Capitalism is the BBEG (thought it does, hilariously, take some very good shots at Evangelical Christianity and the hypocrisy of the religious right) you get this. I really think a lot of these people don't like D20 much; they like some platonic ideal of D20 mixed in with no small dose of their own personal desires and it's like, if you want a more than 20 episode series that's low combat...why are you going to D20.

[droughtofapathy]

The Gilded Age's Broadway Divas: Amber Gray (Bea)

While her Hadestown co-star Patrick Page is terrorizing workers' unions (as per usual), and her Comet co-star Denée Benton is the star of this show, Amber Gray gets one scene where she's terrorized by white men. As a restaurant proprietress, Amber enjoys an elevated place in society, all things considered. For plot reasons, Amber cannot enjoy this victory. Instead she gets manhandled and probably assaulted. Justice for her.

Amber Gray has enjoyed an eclectic career in the off-Broadway and fringe theatre spaces before making her Broadway debut in Great Comet alongside Denée Benton. She also originated Laurie in the pre-Broadway run of that reimagined Oklahoma revival of 2018, and has been Persephone in every iteration of Hadestown. She left Hadestown in 2022 after several years to join the Daniel Craig Macbeth happing just across the street. This last year, she has performed in the benefit concert of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris in Tangier, and now delights audiences as the vapid and tech-obsessed Claudia Bursik-Zimmer in Sondheim's final musical, Here We Are playing at The Shed through mid-January.

Her character is only ever referred to as "Bea" by the white man who gets physical with her, and IMDb incorrectly attributes her character as the one she played in The Underground Railroad so I don't really know what we're doing here. God forbid HBO put end credits that list everyone and their characters.

#1: "Charming," Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (2016)

Released as a series of music videos on the show's youtube channel, this staging of Amber Gray's solo number is not what happens in the show, but it's fun, and fabulous, and I was obsessed. Amber's signature growl can be heard across her discography.

Playing Countess Hélène Bezukova, a "Queen of Society," she attempts to woo Natasha (played by Denée Benton) on behalf of her brother in this homoerotic little number.

#2: "Our Lady of the Underground," Hadestown (2019)

In a jazzy, capitalist critique adaptation of the classic Hades/Persephone & Orpheus/Eurydice myths, Hadestown is quite possibly Tumblr's most recognizable musical based on all the best musical polls that completely disregard-- You know, I won't get into it here.

Hadestown is a great musical. I've seen it twelve times (which was probably seven times too many, but 2019 was a weird time for me). Amber Gray is a marvel as Persephone, the disillusioned lush of a wife to Patrick Page's Hades. She was nominated for a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. And I'm not mad about who won, necessarily, but I would have cast my vote in Amber's box.

#3: Here We Are (2023)

Naysayers turn away because I loved Here We Are in all it's messy, unhinged, utterly deranged glory. With the death of Stephen Sondheim, it will never be fully finished, and the second act is almost entirely bereft of music, but I still consider the euphoria of sitting in that first preview audience and hearing the first notes of that music one of the best experiences I've ever had in a theatre.

As Claudia, Amber Gray is serving cunt and there is no other way to describe it. Now, I don't have the time nor the room to explain the plot of this show. Because of its style and lack of traditionally formatted songs, it's unlikely Here We Are will get a cast album, or that the score will become cabaret hits. Thus, we'll just have to work with the bootlegs I've clipped.

Also featured in the show is Tony-nominee Michaela Diamond, who played a non-speaking shopgirl in one scene during Gilded Age's first season.

LINK TO MASTERPOST

[thefringespod]

A year ago today I released the first episode of Tales From the Fringes of Reality. It was one of the scariest and most exciting things I've ever done in my life and it turned out better than I could've hoped. This show started in my dorm room in the middle of the pandemic and it grew and changed with me. It's the first piece of work I've ever published with the name I *chose* on it. I got my name from writing this show, stealing it from my main character and taking it for myself. I've poured all of myself into this show and love it so much

Then this year I was able to invite more people into this world I've built and ended up with the most wonderful cast I could've dreamed of. I couldn't imagine a better group of people to bring this story I wrote to life and im so grateful for them. To my phenomenal cast: thank you thank you thank you. Thank you for gifting my writing with your voices and for taking such great care of these characters I've created. I truly couldn't have done this without you and cannot wait to share what you've done with everyone

I also need to shout out Tay and Tot specifically for trusting me with their voices and letting me pack bond with them and drag them into even more podcasts. I cant believe how lucky I am to know yall and to get to be your friends over the course of this show <3

And I'd be absolutely nowhere without my friend Percy who has been my biggest fan through this all. I wouldn't have been able to do this without his support and will pepper in that fact whenever I can. Thanks for everything, Percy <3

And of course thank you to everyone who has listened to this show! When I started publishing episodes I wasn't sure if anyone would listen or care but people did and im so incredibly grateful to each and every person who's listened

Season 2 started yesterday, almost exactly a year after this show started. I'm so excited to keep sharing this show with y'all and for everything that's coming for the Fringes moving forward.

Happy birthday to the Fringes! It's my absolute pride and joy <3

[threewaywithdelusion]

Steve, Tommy, Carol

I've been really into the Steve-Tommy-Carol dynamic lately, especially stories that write them as real friends and complicated people, so here are some fics that I think do it really well.

Twin Souls by Gottllphi (61k, incomplete)

Steve and Robin become friends in middle school and Steve, Robin, Tommy, and Carol become a friend group. The story focuses a lot on their middle school and early high school experience as they grow up and try to figure out what's important to them and how to be a good friend to each other. Robin realizes she's a lesbian fairly early on, which creates friction between the four of them but also leads to some really beautiful moments. Tommy and Carol are both still flawed people, but they are very human and multidimensional and entirely lovable. They also become involved with the Upside Down during Season 1. This fic captures friendships, especially the ones you have growing up, better than almost anything I've ever read.

Jackrabbit Underneath by Grey_Lark (210k, incomplete)

Steve is Seven and has the power to sense people's emotions, but he doesn't know he's a number and thinks this is a skill everyone has. It leads to some extremely interesting (canonical) misunderstandings between him and other characters because he assumes they understand how he's feeling, even if he doesn't say it. His friendship with Tommy and Carol is a big part of the early chapters and though they don't get involved with the Upside Down, they stay on the fringes of the story until post-Season 3, when they return to Steve's life. This fic does a stellar job of showing how Steve, Tommy, and Carol fight for their social status and how all their actions seem perfectly rational and justifiable when viewed from their points of view.

every mistake was made purposely by birthdaycandles (27k, complete)

Post Season 4, Tommy's mom gets flayed. Tommy and Carol end up at Steve's house, with the rest of the monster-fighters and accused murderer Eddie Munson. This one is actually from Tommy's POV and it's so interesting to see the situation from inside his head. I love a good outsider POV, especially when it's from someone like Tommy, who once knew Steve really well and still loves him but is also a complete stranger to him. Like everything by this author, this fic is beautifully written and and will tug at your heartstrings

[apple-grass-and-smiles]

Hello! The ever-sweet and wonderful @marthaskane tagged me to share eight shows that define me/help you get to know me. Without further ado, the shows!

Alias (2001-2006)

Alias has taught me the value of old LiveJournal pages and the Wayback Machine more than any other show I've ever loved. I discovered this show in 2013 when it was on Netflix and then I spent a few months in Germany, where I spent too much money buying almost the entire show on iTunes because I could not comprehend going more than a day without Sydney Bristow with me.

2. The Clone Wars (2008-2013, 2014, 2020)

I remember when this show first aired and my siblings and I had a square dance at our school (very American, I know) so we had to DVR it. The next morning we snuck down early to watch it with the volume super low so we wouldn't wake up our parents. Few shows have continuously come back into my life the way this one has. I can track a lot of how I've changed as a fan through the different ways I've viewed this show over the last 15 years.

3. Fringe (2008-2013)

I've been rewatching this show since January of this year and can confirm: it is still a nearly perfect 100 episodes of TV. Fringe manages to perfect a lot of the plot lines and dynamics that appear in Alias (both are J.J. Abrams/his collaborators projects). It manages to walk the line between a procedural and a mythology-driven show beautifully and so clearly knows what message and themes it wants to share from the very first shot. If you like exploring messy family dynamics, action, and the X-Files, Fringe is a good option for you.

4. Gotham (2014-2019)

I historically have no cared much at all about Batman. He struck me as pretty boring in comparison to every other person he interacted with. Gotham change that for me (turns out he just needed to be put next to any even more boring guy, but I digress...). Loving this show is a lesson in looking past weird choices, wacky inconsistencies, and learning to just trust that writers will give you a fun ride, even if you understand less that 15% of it. It helped me remember that the sentence "I love this show" does not always mean "here is a perfect example of perfect storytelling" and just how freeing that can be. It also gave me a beautiful little group of friends who continue to make me smile on a regular basis.

5. Blindspot (2015-2020)

While this show may not be one I post about often, it was foundational for how I interact in fandom now. It was one of the first times I was active in a fandom from the start of the show. It was the first time I was in a fandom group chat and my Tumblr friends broke containment into being people I followed on Instagram and texted. I organized a Secret Santa. It was the first time I remember actively freaking out of promo photos (1x09 IYKYK) and synopses. Almost all the confidence I have when interacting in fandoms is from these experiences. And the plot is stellar.

6. Iron Fist (2017-2018)

I can't tell you how I ended up watching this. I do not know what prompted me to turn it on but I'm really glad I did. This show has so many amazing nuggets of amazingness and its shortcomings brought me together with two of my favorite people as we tried to understand what had gone wrong and where. (This is not a good ad for the show.) I love getting to play with stories and characters that have seemingly infinite potential and getting to do it with other people who are just as committed to the story as I was meant the world.

7. The Rookie (2018-present)

I fought against this one so hard. I did not want to get into it, but as my dash filled with those gifs of Lucy in the green dress and I had my wonderful friend pitching the show to me over and over, I caved. And I'm really glad I did. The experience of watching a long season over months, one week and one episode at a time, is so different than streaming or rewatching shows and I'd forgotten how much I missed it until I got to do it again for this show. My Tuesday livestreams with my lovely friend single-handedly pulled me through so many rough spots over the last year. For a procedural dramedy, The Rookie continues to serve up some of the best characters on TV right now and consistently delivers some of the best cold opens.

8. Prodigal Son (2019-I'm in denial)

The show that owns my heart and soul. The show I'd sell my organs to get new episodes of. Returning to this show, whether I'm writing fic, doing a TED Talk in my head about the psychology in the show, or actually watching an episode, consistently feels like coming home. I did not know it was possible for someone to stick their hand in your head and pull out a show custom-made for you, but that's what this is. The characters are all so perfectly imperfect and desperate to be better. The plots are just the perfect amount of bonkers. The show being a drama pretending to be a procedural is beautiful. If you'd told me in 2019 that a show about a profiler whose dad is a serial killer and they solve crimes together would be the show that would leave an indelible mark on my life, I would have rolled my eyes because that's so cliche. 2019!me had no idea what she was on about. But I'm glad she figured it out and randomly put on this little show one night that had continued to pull me through good days and bad days and everything in between.

As for tagging other people, anyone is welcome to join but I’ll specifically tag some people I know who haven't been tagged (I think): @electricbluebutterflies, @chenlucys, @shinythinx, @rojaswarren, @meandmyechoes, @padme-deserved-better, @whitesunlars, @harrows-bones, @bpdanakins, and @violetsandmagpies.

[kneelbeforeyourdogbabylon]

It's TMI Tuesday! Let’s see if I can actually finish one of these in time on the day!

Ask me anything link here! (AKA arfmarfarf)

My AO3 link

WIP list:

Intent to Possess series, made up of 2 fics (Takedown / Reversal will post this week, Hedge Your Bets will post sometime in the weeks after that once it's completed and beta'd)

Original fic

???

Got an ask for me? Here's a couple (courtesy of thescholarlystrumpet):

Send a word, any word, and if it’s in my WIP document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence or line it appears in!

Send a made-up fic title and I’ll tell you what i would write to go with it!

Some Fandom Questions memeage

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in? The first thing I wrote fic for was the Battlestar Galactica reboot, but I wasn't super involved in it overall. I got more involved in Stargate Atlantis, but still, kind of just on the fringes. I'm kind of a fringes person.

2. What is your latest fandom? Good Omens! After a very long hiatus of just reading and lurking.

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in? I have really nice memories of Stargate fandom people. But Good Omens has definitely been the most welcoming, which is fun because it seems so intimidatingly gigantic!

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms? Nope. I don't regret being more involved in some, either -- it ebbs and flows.

5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for? Good Omens, BSG, Stargate Atlantis, Firefly, All About Eve (yes, the old Bette Davis movie)

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in. Didn't really have one for BSG though my friend Sasha and I wrote a fic about Anders/Gaeta. But the others:

SGA -- McKay/Sheppard

Good Omens -- Aziraphale/Crowley

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in. I will read almost anything. I might not be into a pairing, but it's rare that I'll actually nope out of something well-written. I'm dying to be convinced, basically. Tell me every last detail. :D

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom? I watched season 2 of Good Omens (thinking, oh neat, I forgot this was coming out, hear some good things, wait, WHAT OH NO HELP ME INTERNET HELP HELP), then I mainlined all the fic I could find, reread things I'd saved from 2019 when season 1 came out, flailed in and out of various internet places until I landed on Reddit and joined the denizens of @goodomensafterdark who are my jam, to say the least.

9. What are the best things about your current fandom? It's super friendly but also pretty realistic -- everyone's going a little beyond with the theories but it's mostly in good fun. Whenever someone tries to hate on a character too hard there's good (reasonable, not dog-piley pushback). I think it helps that our canon isn't queer-baity, frankly.

10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in? LOTS. MANY. If you write it, I will come. (READ it, pervs ❤️ that's all. Probably.) Fanfic has actually been my gateway into a few shows and books that I hadn't planned on checking out. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Here are some writers tagged, no pressure, only if you wanna, and anyone else is welcome as well!

@angelictroublemaker @captainblou @adverbian @transplantedmate

TMI Tuesday!

Ask me anything!! <- (link to ask box)

AO3 fics HERE

WIP list:

Father Fell in WW2, slow burn Human AU

Glam Rock, enemies to lovers Human AU

Rocky Horror Human AU with @hakunahistata

there are more but mostly in note form right now XD

Some question ideas to get us started!

fandom questions meme!

fic writer question meme

Send a word, any word, and if it’s in my WIP document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence or line it appears in!

Send a made-up fic title and I’ll tell you what i would write to go with it!

Send an “I wish you would write a story where….”

Send an ask directly to a character in one of my fics or WIPS

Tagging some writer friends to join in and hopefully we can make it a weekly tradition (for those who want to)! @voluptatiscausa @adverbian @ineffabildaddy @mrghostrat @mrscakeishere @lemon-tart-221 @nosferatini @floofyraptor-art-and-writing @disastrouslook @kotias @theravenmuse @fishey-me @vieux-yeux @secretlywingedphantom @malachitegrey @captainblou @kneelbeforeyourdogbabylon @rhosmeinir @transplantedmate (and Hakuna - you're already tagged)

[11quillen11]

About Sky

“Was Sky fringed and, if she was, is it all that bad?” is a conversation that has been and still is ongoing when it comes to Arcane Season 1, and here’s my take on it: Sky has been fringed, but the writers probably tried (and failed) to not make it so. It is bad, but it is not that bad. Wow, way to not commit, you must be thinking. Just bear with me, because here’s the thing: I might be wrong, but I suspect that the writers didn’t know exactly what they wanted to do with her. On one hand, we don’t see her enough to establish a strong connection with her, on the other hand, we see her too much for the very point of her death to be that she was a random innocent bystander.

Sky was fringed in the sense that she is a character we hardly knew anything about whose death was used to further Viktor’s character development. It is a valid take that we were supposed to feel sad that she died, not because we had any connection or particular feelings towards her, but because Viktor, whom we know and love, did. Or that we were supposed to feel sad because she loved Viktor. Same thing. The fact that she is in Viktor’s flashback, implying that she has loved and admired him since childhood and stuck with him into adulthood, and the fact that she has two scenes establishing her (almost certainly) romantic feelings for him in Arcs II and III seem to support that theory. Arcane did not have time to go in depth on Sky’s backstory and her relationship with Viktor but tried to communicate it through those three scenes so that when she died, we were sad that it was her, specifically, who died, because she had this connection to Viktor. Arcane does similar things with other characters: for example, we see Powder have a mental breakdown only once, but we are supposed to infer from it that she has always struggled with mental health issues, and it works. For Sky, however, the result is that we are given a character – whose only defining trait is that she likes Viktor – being killed so that Viktor can be sad and grow as a person. Textbook fringing.

On the other hand, Arcane also goes out of its way to let us know that this relationship was very much one-sided: Viktor does not interact with her in the flashback scene, calls her “Miss Young” when they are adults, prioritises his work over her, has no idea about the research that she is doing and no idea what to do with her ashes when she’s dead (real question: does she not have family? Does he know whether or not she has family? Does he care? Is he keeping her death a secret to protect himself? For real, who knows that she’s dead? Does Jayce know?). Yet when she dies, the score, the cinematography, Viktor’s reaction… all of it indicates that we are still supposed to feel sad. Her death is a tragedy, but if we choose to focus on the fact that Viktor and her did not really know each other, then it is the very fact that she was a background character that we never noticed or paid attention to before that makes it so sad. It reminds us as well as Viktor that not only his life is important, that even somebody who is not a genius inventor with a tragic backstory has value, that every single death is a tragedy and that any experiment that will take life is not one worth conducting. Which is nice. It’s a nice message.

It doesn’t work though because the first interpretation can be made. Sky is not a stranger, per say. She’s a character about whom we know too little to care, but too much to not notice.

I feel like there is a simple fix to this problem; it’s just for Arcane to commit. If you want to commit to making her a full-blown character, then include more scenes of her and give her a life and personality outside of her connection to Viktor. If you want to commit to making her a nobody whose death is tragic because we don’t know her, then do not show her in Viktor’s flashback and tone down her interactions with him (maybe don’t have her speak at all until her death scene, that would be a slap in the face). I personally think the second solution is the best, simply because Arcane clearly doesn’t have the time or space to make Sky a more prominent character, the cast is already packed, and she doesn’t have enough depth as she is that we would miss her screentime.

Bonus: This is complete speculation, but I’m thinking, maybe the writers originally wrote Sky to just be there, have a crush on Viktor, and die, then thought “No, we can’t have a character just exist to die, we should develop her a little more so that her death can have more impact” and then inserted her into Viktor’s flashback. A mistake, imo.

[supercantaloupe]

i am going to attempt to put some of my feelings into words now, actually. if you don’t already know me: hi, i’m supercantaloupe, and i’m that jew who wrote a really long post about tuc’s cultural representation (especially focusing on its relative lack of jewish rep) a few days ago! if you didn’t read it (and i don’t blame you bc that sucker was Long) i stated my frustrations/disappointments with tuc in regard to its jewish representation, expressed my ambivalence/mixed feelings towards its representation of other cultures, and stressed my continuing (if slightly cautious) interest in and love for the show despite its flaws. 

i know these episodes are prerecorded, but i can’t help but feel like tonight’s episode was almost tailor-made to respond to my thoughts. the biggest issue i took in tuc’s representation of jewish people is simply the lack of it -- an issue which is not 100% immediately retconned and remedied by the introduction of rabbi mike saulters, but it damn well does a lot to improve things. 

now we have more willy content! now we have more willy content that is authentic to jewish lore regarding golems! the whole thing about being animated with the hebrew word אמת (”truth”) and disanimated by erasing the first word so it reads מת (”dead”) is a real aspect of golem mythology in judaism! from the moment willy was mentioned as not doing so well in the beginning of the season i had a suspicion he was being disanimated, and when brennan mentioned the letters in his mouth tonight i could barely contain my joy. 

and then who does kingston get to help? not just a jew, but a black, visually orthodox/conservative rabbi. this is the first fully original human character in tuc who is jewish, and jewish in very visible obvious ways. he’s a rabbi, he’s visibly jewish (he wears a kippah and tallit katan, the prayer shawl worn under his shirt with the tzitzit (fringes) danging below), he’s a kabbalist (kabbalah is jewish mysticism, a closed practice to nonjews and often considered off-limits even to those who are not already learned torah scholars -- i personally think this is a very neat way to tie judaism into the magic of the unsleeping city!), and he’s black. if jews in media are underrepresented in general, black jews are way more so; especially in nyc, with a large jewish population that is also perceived as largely or entirely lightskinned/white-passing, the deliberate choice to make rabbi mike saulter black is huge.

the fact that rabbi saulter has been kingston’s friend for so long he helped with the met mummy quest almost thirty years ago. the fact that rabbi saulter talks like a jewish person (referring to gd as hashem and having a blessing in hebrew ready to go for literally any occasion reminds me so much of, like, every rabbi i know). the fact that the theme of null erasing history and cultural memory directly thematically ties in with real issues facing american jewry today; when brennan talked about kids from the neighborhood not being able to read hebrew anymore, i felt that. null erasing the letter א to disanimate willy explicitly parallels the way pete named null in the first place, by seeing them erase the words in latin from the building in nod. that this threat of erasing history ties directly and mechanically into the lore of golems is very cool and well implemented! but also...my mother grew up going to hebrew school, learned to read and speak hebrew, went to summer camp, went to israel, actually learned the language. i grew up going to hebrew school and i only learned enough hebrew to get me through my bat mitzvah -- i’m barely literate, nowhere even close to conversational, and deeply disappointed that i never got this part of my culture growing up. this problem brought up by rabbi saulter and willy in the show is real, and i feel it. 

i cannot fully express my excitement and joy at finally seeing more jews in tuc, and seeing jewish culture tying into the story in an important way. and i’m for sure not the only one who feels this way about seeing themselves represented in the show: i watched tonight’s episode with a chinese-american friend of mine, and the excitement and joy she expressed to me hearing about and meeting the shen family was infectious. does tuc still have its problems? yeah, for sure, and one episoded of good rep does not absolve any past mistakes or retcon anything bad into suddenly being good. but as a step forward, tonight’s episode was a really big one for me. and i’m really, really happy about it.

[spnwatch]

Season 1: The Rankings

WOW it’s been ages since I’ve posted here. But before moving on to s2, I wanted to talk about my TOP TEN FAVE EPISODES. 

Something that surprised me about spn now i’ve finally watched some of it is how variable the episodes are in terms of quality. They’re not afraid to experiment either, and that flexibility is probably one reason this show lasted so long. Some things worked for me, some things didn’t. ANYWAY these are my opinions etc. just from a first time watcher!!  1.) Episode 6: SKIN. This episode, man. Where to even begin: I could be here all night. Suffice to say that the sequence where the shapeshifter sheds his Dean skin to “Hey Man Nice Shot” is just. Chef’s kiss. For the first time, the true depth of Dean’s self loathing truly came to the fore. How socially outcast he knows himself to be, all that hidden shame, that resentment he harbours towards Sam for having (potentially) a way out of the hunter life, coupled with his desperation not to lose him to the “normal world”: somewhere that Dean knows he can’t follow him. After so much posturing and bravado, that inner parodox was SO interesting to witness - he SHOOTS HIMSELF at the end -- and, for me, really steered the character into more *~ thematically complex territory ~* All the songs were good tbh. In-a-Gadda-da-Vida? Yes. 11/10 

2.) Episode 11: SCARECROW. There was just so much going on in this episode, but the thing I liked most was the setting. It looked so good!! Autumnal and pastoral. After a couple of (in my opinion) not very good-looking episodes, it was a real breath of fresh air. I also loved Sam in this episode: he looked so small standing by the side of that road. I fully understood the argument, but I also loved how dean just... called him intermittently to update him on the case?This episode really drove home to me how alone they are, how they really have no-one but each other. It also really highlighted how far Sam has drifted from episode 1: he’s on the fringes now, too. All too quickly backsliding into the role of rootless grifter, an identiy he’d tried so hard to claw his way out of. Also, there’s a tome. 10/10 

3.) Episode 12: FAITH. This. Episode. Slaps. To be honest, this is probably technically the masterpiece of the season in terms of plot, visuals, antagonist, music etc. but w/e it’s my list. Right off the bat Dean is dying and he’s like it’s fine Sammy, I’m not even mad about it, which is fucked up but then what is more fucked up is that his dad doesn’t even come when Sam leaves him a message? Dean seems to view dying as like. A thing grownups just have to do sometimes. Like jury duty. It’s extremely,extremely sad. Anyway I love the drama of Sam smashing apart the altar, I love the big tent, I love the “don’t fear the reaper” montage. It’s all, quite simply, a *~cut above~* 10/10 

4.) Episode 7: HOOK MAN. I don’t know if I was meant to love this episode so much?? I just really, really liked it. I loved the central mystery, and I thought Sam in particular really shone when it came to dealing with the townsfolk and the afflicted girl. It was one of the most thematically coherent episodes when it came to tying the monster to sublimated fear, in this instance, sex and sexuality! Damn do Americans have a weird relationship with sex. And not just with women; this episode really shone a spotlight on Sam’s sexuality wrt his guilt over Jess, his desire for normality, his coltish nervousness in Lori’s presence. There was SO. MUCH. Bonus points for ugly mid-2000s fashions. 10/10

5.) Episode 3: DEAD IN THE WATER. This was the first episode which really made me sit up and go, oh, okay. I can see why people lose their minds over this show. When it’s good, Supernatural just. Shoots a volt of pure catharsis straight into your chest. This was also the first time I really sat up and took note of Jensen Ackles’ acting chops. There’s just so much going on with him every time he’s onscreen, and each little paradoxical turn he gives to Dean’s character is a joy to witness. It was a visually beautiful episode, with a strong supporting cast. The moment I saw her in her silky lavender nightgown, twisting up her unrealistically perfect chingoin, I wished to marry Amy Acker’s character. I know she doesn’t come back to spn but she should’ve!! She should’ve!! 10/10 

6.) Episode 5: BLOODY MARY. I’ve heard tell of this episode being a bit of a fandom classic, and I support it. The last few minutes at the end? When Sam sees Jess at the side of the road in that slow panning shot, to the Rolling Stones song Laugh I Nearly Died? It was just... I think it changed me as a person, honestly. This show. It’s lower down on the list for me because how how freaking dark the lighting was at the end, but that might have just been the poor quality stream I found. But yeah, I really liked the plucky teen girl who helped them; I was pleasantly surprised to see a glamourous queen bee-type portrayed as smart and competent, and remain alive by the end. Gold star for you, spn. I know it’s all downhill from here. 9/10 

7.) Episode 15. THE BENDERS. First off, I have to give it points for the production design on that house. My brother was of the opinon it would’ve made a good video game enviroment (according to him a lot of spn is akin to a video game which... yeah). This episode also made me really acutely feel for Dean. Could it be because I’m an older sister and this was a literal nightmare scenario? Perhaps. But again what really came to the fore was the single-mindedness with which Dean acted. Sam being dead was literally not an option for him. On a lesser show that might have been left as a given, but the time was really taken to give an almost sinister intensity to Dean’s thoughts and behavior. Some really pretty car shots too. 9/10

8.) Episode 17: HELL HOUSE. What can I say about this? It’s just fun. I love the two conspiracy guys, I love the sibling prank war, I love the concept of a monster created by shared belief. The set design was cool, as was the montage at the beginning where they’re interviewing all the witnesses. It’s a briskly paced and lighthearted episode, which was a breath of fresh air and welcome break after last episode left the Winchester boys abandoned by their father. Yet. Again. Ugh. Throw the whole dad away. 9/10 

9.) Episode 19: PROVENANCE. Haunted painting! Haunted! Painting!! This is a simple lil episode but it receives points for Sam and Dean’s best and least convincing disguises thus far -- art dealers -- and a fun, sweet love interest for Sam. He’s so bashful! I thought she was smartly written and I especially liked that she took a more active role and actually helped them solve the case than other side characters we’ve seen so far. I also liked when they were standing over the grave and she was like wow, your lives are really fucked up... it’s true wtf these poor guys?? Anyway 8/10 

10.) Episode 14: NIGHTMARE. This spot was a real toss-up between this and SOMETHING WICKED, but NIGHTMARE just edged it out because of the strong supporting character Max, as well as the sheer conceptual power of psychic Sam. Something about the way Dean treats his brothers latent psychic powers as... kind of a concern, but ultimately about on a par with him developing, like, a shellfish allergy, is hilarious to me. They have so many problems, it’s just low priority! Sorry Sammy. But what really clinched this episode for me was the three second-ish sequence where Sam shoves the dresser free with his mind, Dean gets shot in his vision, and Sam bursts into the room. Brilliance. Someone call the x-men. My heart was in my mouth. BIG minus points however for the extensive heart-to-hearts. It was just too much for me. It went on for so long. 7/10 

This certainly is a show. I see that now. Anyway. Onto season 2!

[qsdblogging]

Top 10 TV Shows You Need To Watch Right Now

Now, I watch a lot of television. I always have and frankly, I’m much more of a binge watcher than a wait-around-for-a-week-for-the-next-episode kind of watcher. 

And with everything the past few months, there wasn’t all that much to do other than start rewatching some of my favorite shows and some that I’ve never seen or haven’t seen in a while.

So, that’s what I did and here I am giving you some recommendations for shows to add to your own watching lists. 

Warning, though, some of these don’t end the best way and may end up more as a disappointment. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

I. Fringe.

I cannot recommend this show enough to people. It’s got five full seasons (although the last could’ve been a little better, but it’s honestly not that bad of a final season) of high-risk scenarios revolving around almost unexplainable phenomena regarding a tear in the fabric of reality. It deals with experiments that gives superpowers (basically), advanced technology, and a parallel universe. 

Plus, there’s a cow.

What more could you want from a show?

Some familiar faces that are in the main cast or show up at some point include John Noble, who you may recognize from Sleepy Hollow and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lance Reddick, who was in The Wire, White House Down, American Horror Story, and played Charon in the John Wick franchise, Leonard Nimoy, who you should know from the original Star Trek series, and Anna Torv from Mindhunter. 

II. Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector.

Now, if you know crime books, you may know exactly what this is based off of. If not, fear not, I am here to tell. This series (which, like a lot of the others down the list, unfortunately, got cancelled and won’t get to see a second season) was based off of The Bone Collector, a first in a series of novels by Jeffery Deaver. 

If you like crime shows, you should definitely give this a shot. Don’t let the fact that it’s only one season stop you.

Things get pretty wild in just one season as it revolved around a retired forensic criminologist, who had been trying to catch the Bone Collector only to get injured, that gets back into the game three years later when an ambitious young detective is determined to help solve the case when a new body shows up.

You might even recognize a face or two, like Arielle Kebbel (the ambitious young detective) from her role as Lexi in The Vampire Diaries and Olivia Charity in Midnight, Texas, and Russell Hornsby (the retired forensic criminologist) from Grimm, The Hate U Give, Proven Innocent, and The Affair.

III. Manifest.

Luckily, this show is said to be getting a third season and so far, isn’t going to get cancelled. It focuses on passengers from Flight 828, who show up five years after their plane went missing. Some passengers start experiencing what they call ‘callings’ and try to figure out if they were chosen for some sort of duty that the callings led them too, but things get a little confusing when someone who wasn’t on a flight seems to have a year missing of their own life after being deemed missing.

Things get a little weird and dangerous along the way, and not everyone is happy about how things turn out.

It’s pretty interesting and I’m really looking forward to what else they come up with. There’s a few familiar faces that play a part in the show that includes Daryl Edwards, who you may recognize from the first season of Daredevil, Ellen Tamaki who is also in the reboot of Charmed, Athena Karkanis, who’s been in The Expanse and Lost Girl, and Josh Dallas, who one may recall playing Prince Charming in Once Upon a Time, and Fandral in Thor.

It’s a rather good show to get lost in and I definitely recommend giving it a go.

IV. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

If you don’t have an idea as to what this show is, I don’t know what to say. The title kind of gives it away. It’s the only Marvel Show (as of now since none of the shows in production have come out as of yet) to technically be connected to the MCU itself.

That’s found in one of the main characters, Phil Coulson, who you’d recognize from Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Avengers. Plus, Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) both give a cameo in the show. 

The show was rumored to have been set in a different, but similar, timeline to that of the MCU movies, but I don’t know for sure if it’s true or not. 

It follows its own set of issues, including a deeper dive into the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., issues with HYDRA, and so on and so forth. The last season, which I honestly cried during, gives such good twists and callbacks to previous seasons and the MCU movies that you can’t help but enjoy how it’s handled.

As a show, it probably has one of the best final seasons possible and I highly recommend giving the full seven seasons a watch if you haven’t already.

V. Primeval.

Now, if you like dinosaurs, this is a show for you. It’s BBC, so obviously everyone has an accent. It gave a run of five seasons (which is kind of funny because I didn’t realize that until just now writing this as the show is listed as number five on the list) with different episode amounts. 

The show centers around anomalies that seem to open up a window to the very distant past of Earth when dinosaurs still roamed the land. It causes a lot of issues, especially if one person has anything to do with it.

It’s pretty interesting and honestly has got some great characters (my personal favorite is Captain Becker, played by Ben Mansfield) and while it can get pretty serious, it’s also pretty entertaining. It’s one of the three shows on this list to get to end on a good-ish note. (AKA, no cliffhangers!)

Obviously, I highly recommend giving it a shot. It’s kind of the point of this list.

VI. Terra Nova.

Now, like Primeval, this show technically has to do with dinosaurs. Dinosaurs aren’t the main focus, but they do play a part in this one season (because cancellations) story. 

Terra Nova is focused on both the future and the past. In the distant future (2149), the Earth is dying. A group of people, researchers, and military as well as some of their family members, are sent to the past (85 million years) to inhabit Terra Nova, a colony of humans given a second chance to build civilization. 

So, obviously, dinosaurs are going to make an appearance now and then. And unfortunately, the show only got one season and ends on a cliffhanger. Which I hate, because I really enjoy this show and wish it had been able to at least get a second season.

Plus, there are some familiar faces amongst the cast. Jason O’Mara, who plays one of the main cast members, played Jeffrey Mace in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Christine Adams, who plays Lynn Pierce in Black Lightning. Allison Miller, who played Sonya in 13 Reasons Why. And Naomi Scott, who is known for her roles in Lemonade Mouth (one of my all-time favorite DCOMs) and Aladdin. And this was just to name a few of the cast members. 

Shame it got cancelled, truly, but I recommend giving it a shot.

VII. MTV’s Scream.

I think you can figure out the basis of this show. While it doesn’t have anything to do directly with the movie franchise, it is kind of similar and a lot of the characters reflect those from the show. Neve Campbell even said that if the show did well, she would be willing to do a cameo.

It revolves (at least the first two seasons as season three is an entirely different set of cast and premise that I refuse to watch because of that) around Emma Duval and her group of friends as they’re picked off one by one by a serial killer going around town. Things get bloody and suspicions arise amongst the crew when things are revealed as the show continues, but things eventually work out in the end.

And personally, I really enjoyed the show even when the second season ended on a cliffhanger. I have theories about that cliffhanger, however, so watch out for a possible post regarding it. 

I highly recommend giving it a chance if you haven’t seen it. 

VIII. The Society.

Now, the title doesn’t give you much. A group of teenagers, who were sent off on a trip, suddenly are dropped back off in their town to find it completely empty aside from themselves. They have to form their own society to survive and figure things out.

Once you know that, it makes a little more sense.

It seems really similar to the Pied Piper tale, but it doesn’t seem like we’re going to really know for sure. Season 2 had been given a go-ahead, but not too long ago Netflix announced the cancellation of the show.

That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the first season like I do. Plus, if you’re a fan of Supernatural and the character of Claire Novak, Kathryn Newton plays one of the main roles in this show.

It’s a shame the show got cancelled, especially on a cliffhanger, but what can we do?

IX. The Mysteries of Laura.

Laura Diamond, a Homicide Detective, cracks case after case while trying to raise twin boys and locking horns with her less than helpful Police Detective ex-husband. At least, this is according to IMBD and frankly, it’s not really wrong. 

For two seasons, it’s packed with comedy and crime. It’s more of the former, but it still gets pretty serious every now and then, and unfortunately ends on a cliffhanger. 

However, some cast members may be familiar. Like Josh Lucas, who voices Home Depot commercials (and trust me, it made my family laugh when we first heard one after watching the show), Laz Alonso who plays MM in The Boys, and Debby Ryan, from Disney Channel. 

If you like light-hearted crime shows (like Brooklyn-Nine-Nine) you should definitely give this a watch.

X. Warrior Nun.

As far as I know, this show has been renewed for a season two. I’m really hoping for it because it’s honestly kind of interesting. You can kind of tell by the title what it may be, but I’ll dive a little deeper.

After waking up in a morgue, Ava, an orphaned teen, discovered she now possesses superpowers as the chosen Halo Bearer for a secret sect of demon-hunting nuns. (Taken from IMDB). Interesting, right?

With characters like Shotgun Mary, Sister Beatrice, and Sister Lilith, you know the show’s going to be interesting. But the premise is pretty interesting on it’s own too.

There’s even a character called JC, who apparently has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, but I still like referring to him as such because it’d be pretty funny if that’s how it turns out. Also, someone gets beat up with a whole chicken at some point.

It’s only got the one season so far, but it’s pretty funny and action packed. Like everything on this list, I definitely think you should watch it and find out for yourself if you want to add it to your list if you haven’t already.

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

THAT’S RIGHT BITCH! It’s October and I am still watching and inexplicably blogging about Supernatural - a dinosaur of a television show that’s been on the air longer than most children I know have been alive. 

I know I’m An Old because I don’t think kids these days understand the struggle it was watching television before streaming. We had to wait for episodes. Hell, I don’t think kids these days even really have to wait for seasons. I mean, Voltron premiered on Netflix in 2016, capped off their seasons at 13 episodes a piece and, oh yeah - aired seasons 5 - 8  all in 2018. Was I mad about that? No of course not. Do I also say phrases like “kids these days? Yes, so who even knows if what I think is relevant anymore. 

Alright, so speaking of seasons, last time I looked at pilots and pilot seasons and how the streaming era is changing everything we know about starting a TV show. But once you’ve got your pilot down, now what? 

Not this kind of pilot. Also, based on the prerequisites for demon possession, we’re all agreed this co-pilot’s like, an alcoholic, right?

There’s a rule in TV (sort of) that the first six episodes (some might argue the first season entirely) should be a kind of rehash of the pilot. The pilot sets up your premise and once you’ve got your pilot down, your job as a TV writer is to re-establish that premise over and over again. You’re building your world, you’re writing it’s rules. You’re setting up a template, a formula for how your episodes are gonna play out. This helps your audience get to know the characters, get familiar with your world, get comfortable spending time with them. Essentially, you’re getting your audience to trust the show that they’re going to be tuning in to for at least the next 20-some-odd episodes. 

I’d also argue that this is important so that later, you can break that format later. I’m not saying you should break the trust your audience puts in you, and that’s probably a real fine line of distinction. But if you break your rules right, it can hit the audience with a big emotional sucker punch. Or, it can stand out as a real breakout, tentpole of an episode - I’m thinking specifically about Ghostfacers! In season 3, or Once More, With Feeling, from Buffy. Those episodes work, really work, because they deviate from the formula, but they only work because we know the formula so well.  And these aren’t big changes to the way episodes are done, they’re just shifted ever so slightly that they felt new again.. 

So what is the premise of the first four episodes Supernatural? What’s the formula they set up for the rest of the series? 

Brothers. I said it in my last post, I’ll say it again, Sam and Dean/Jensen Ackles and Jared Jared Padalecki are what makes this show. Full stop. I think we could have gotten 5 seasons out of a show starring two other dudes. I do not think this show could have gotten 15 seasons with two other dudes. So from the pilot through Phantom Traveler, we learn that Sam and Dean have a sh*tty home life - their mother was killed by some mysterious evil thing and their father raised them to be little demon-hunting child soldiers while they look for the killer. Oh yeah, and Sam’s girlfriend died the exact same way which we will never forget because Sam’s gonna have a dream about it almost every episode from here on out. We set up the tension between the brothers - that Sam got to go to college while Dean stayed with their dad like a good boi. We learn that everybody hates each other probably because they are deeply and unhealthily codependent love each other so damn much. 

Next we get the basic rundown of the season arc: 

Dad’s on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home in a few days. The Winchester brothers are looking for him and by extension, looking for answers as to what killed their mom/Sam’s girlfriend. We also get the basic rundown of every episode: dad is a mysterious and elusive sonuvuabitch, so every episode they go about, say it with me now:

“The family business.” I would also accept “Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can,” but why can’t I find a gif for it?!? 

Backtracking on this but you know what else gets hecking established with the Winchesters? Sam is the cute one with the people skills and the puppy dog face, so you’d naturally assume that he’s the soft one. No. Not the case. Dean is the Sofffft Boi. The SOFTest boi. Dean wants Sam to talk about his feelings, Dean wants Sam to not keep things bottled up, Dean is the one who desperately wants to keep a hold of his family and also is just deeply broken and traumatized on the inside and oh no, I told myself I wouldn’t do this but I did it anyway. Sorry not sorry. This watch, I’m really picking up on the fact that Dean is, weirdly, the Mom Friend in this first season. Like, he’s basically a Trailer-Trash-Teen-Pregnancy Mom who’ll give you spaghettios five nights a week and a shot of whiskey so you’ll quit yer bitchin’ and go to sleep faster, but he’s the Mom nonetheless. Later in this season and in other seasons, I think you even see him do his dumb-baby-best filling in as the Mom when John went off the deep end. Anyway, I have a lot of feelings and we don’t have time to unpack all of that so I’ll just move on.

RUDE.

Next we set up our Supernatural Bag of Holding - what’s in it? What are the mystical artifacts they use to kill those evil sons of bitches? First up is The Car. Damn, I am not a cars girl, but that 67 Chevy, it does things to me. 

This car has some weird pavlovian trigger for me, it’s not NATURAL. 

The journal. 

John Winchester, you journal the way I imagine a psycho killer journals and I would just really appreciate it if you could be ANY MORE ORGANIZED THAN THIS.

The Trunk Full of Weapons - I love that in these first few episodes (and possibly the rest of the series???) they give this HELLA conspicuous look every time they open the trunk full of weapons. It’s hilarious EVERY TIME.

No, you’re not being obvious at ALL, guys.

The Fake ID’s - from credit cards to impersonating feds, these boys are not afraid to break the law to save some lives and I feel like that’s...that’s the theme of the show maybe? They’re here to save people and they’ll do what they have to to do that? In a world that clearly establishes a dark vs. light/good vs. evil dichotomy, the Winchester make it their job to live in a world of grey? Basically? 

Next on the checklist for this first season of Supernatural - it’s spoopy. *Spoop mileage may vary.* I said it last time, but I’ll say it again: this first season aired at 9:00pm at night. That means it’s primetime stuff for the 18 - 25 year old crowd, but they don’t want to risk some 13 year old watching it and getting too scared before bed. 9:00pm is X Files time slots, Fringe time slots. 9:00pm says you’re gonna get something a little more gruesome and gory and shocking than at 8pm. 8pm is for Friends. Vampire Diaries aired at 8pm its first season. 9pm is for the real adult content (but not too adult because the audience is still mostly children). 

SPOOP!

But yeah, let’s look at the real horror vibe that you get off of these first four episodes. We talked about La Llorona from the first episode - this is a legit ghost that they fight. The kids at the end that literally drag their mom to hell? Pretty spooky stuff. The Wendigo in episode 2 is a literal monster of the week and so for me personally, it’s not that scary, but it is a cannibal monster that eats human flesh. Dead in the Water has vibes from both Jaws and Friday the 13th. Everything from the lighting to the sound design let’s you know this is a horror show, or as horror as you can get on network television. Listen to the scenes just before somebody dies and you get a nice creepy “Come play with me” whisper coming out of the water. I’m a little spooked just thinking about it now. Yes I know I’m a chicken, and I’m OK WITH THAT. And if we go past my season 1 disc 1 into episode 5, Bloody Mary is STILL terrifying and I STILL watched that episode with half my face covered. That’s where I am these days. It’s 2020 and the world is a nightmare but imagining Bloody Mary creepin’ out in my mirror does not need to be a part of it. 

SHE F*CKIN CLIMBS OUT OF THE MIRROR GUYS! I DIDN’T KNOW SHE COULD DO THAT!!!

Then we get Phantom Traveler and our very first case of black-eyed-demonic possession. Watching this episode now, it’s like watching someone’s home movie of their first steps as a baby. They’ve never even done an exorcism before guys! They have to read the exorcism rite out of the journal! It’s so cute!!! Let’s not think too hard about how they got that full sized bottle of holy water past TSA in a post-9/11 world. And try to ignore how poorly these special effects have aged - the smoke from the demon possession?? OMG! THIS EFFECT! I’m pretty sure I could make that effect with my first ever graphic design software on my, like, 2009 mac book pro. So cute and soooo good! I’m gonna leave that CG plane alone, they’re doing their best. 

SO cute and SOOO good!

You want to know what my favorite established staple of Supernatural season 1 is? The extras. LOOKIT these guys - 

Wendigo you have Cory Monteith who later goes on to star in Glee. 

You have Alden Ehrenreich, Debatable Han Solo, doing a lot of face work with very little dialogue. 

You have Gina Holden who is in SO. MANY. Spooky-type things! My personal favs are Blood Ties and Harper’s Island, but she’s in Fringe, she’s in the SAW franchise, she’s in the Final Destination franchise, she was in some deleted scenes on an episode of Teen Wolf! I LOVE seeing Gina Holden, anywhere she pops up. 

And speaking of Harper’s Island, you’ve also got Callum Keith Rennie who played John Wakefield in Harper’s Island, a show that was A+ Great and I highly recommend if you like Agatha Christie and/or murder mysteries. 

Honestly, Rennie looks like he’s about to murder a bitch in this episode of Supernatural, it is not a stretch to believe he’s a psycho killer.

Dead in the Water you’ve got Amy Acker, a regular in Joss Whedon and Whedon-adjacent type shows.

Good LORD, this wardrobe was SO 2000′s WB and it PAINED me.

And finally in Phantom Traveler, you have Jaime Ray Newman who also shows up in a lot of the shows that I like to watch. She was in Eureka, she was in Midnight Texas, both kind of terrible shows that I love because they are terrible, but she was ALSO in Bates Motel and Veronica Mars, which are generally considered to be more quality, so there’s that. 

This still implies that they actually LIT scenes, which is a SURPRISE TO ME. 

Point is, seeing these actors in Supernatural back in the early 2000’s felt like I was seeing the start of their careers. That may or may not have been the case, but as a viewer it was exciting to see them pop up again in other things.

So what about TV now? Do we still use those first 6 (sometimes more) episodes to re-establish the premise? Well, it certainly hasn’t gone away. Look at any network show that still produces 22 - 24 episodes a season and you’ll still see that the pilot season just keeps re-iterating the premise established in the pilot episode, specifically in anything that’s procedural - that’s you’re monster/problem-of-the-week shows. Think sitcoms like Brooklyn 99 or Superstore or dramedies like Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. The reason being that these shows play in the traditional model of television - on a network, once a week. They are not releasing episodes all at one time or relying on their audiences to stream a whole season in one sitting. These are shows that still assume that someone out there is going to tune in or stumble across their show one night while they’re surfing channels (lol) and need to be told, no matter what episode they’ve just turned on, what the premise of the show is. They need to be formulaic so that people can pick it up anywhere at any time.

But what about shows that don’t follow this traditional model? I mentioned in my last post that seasons are getting shorter and shorter, so when you’re writing a show that only has (8) episodes instead of 22, how much time do you really want to spend establishing the premise? Because of these short seasons, you’re also dealing with shows that are more serialized and less procedural than their predecessors - meaning, you’re dealing with a show that focuses on a season long story (think Game of Thrones or Stranger Things where each episode is an important chapter that you can’t skip) vs. a procedural (think the shows I mentioned above or any cop drama really) where each episode is it’s own contained story, neatly wrapped up at the end. These are shows where you can skip an episode and still know where you are in the show no matter where you start or stop watching. Supernatural is a little bit of both - procedural with their monsters of the week AND serialized with a season long arc. We’ll talk more on that in a later post. 

Not only are we getting shorter seasons, but we’re also dealing with shows that are not released over long periods of time. A few streaming channels, like Disney+ and HBO Max, make a deliberate point to slow-drip their seasons, but most streaming channels will release entire seasons in one shot. You don’t need to worry about your audience missing an episode because they have 24/7 access to all the episodes all at once. And for the most part, they’re designed to be binged. They start at full speed and they don’t slow down to keep driving you to the finale. 

Do I think the procedural is ever going to go away? No. As much talk as there is about dropping the cop drama from TV all together, I think audiences still love a good mystery series. And you can’t just think of procedurals as cop dramas either - a procedural also covers most if not all sitcoms. New Girl, Letterkenny, Parks and Rec, Superstore - these all have a premise that doesn't change from week to week. They may make tiny shifts away from what they set up in the pilot, but by and large, you know what you’re getting into any time you turn on an episode. I think we as an audience still like that kind of familiarity. We may be seeing a bigger swing towards more serialized content, but that doesn't mean that the procedural is dead and gone. 

So that’s what we’ve got for Supernatural - two dudes, driving around in a car full of spears and hand guns, killing bad guys. Some day, they may even find that father that’s missing. What could possibly go wrong? A lot. Stay tuned. 

[otp-armada]

So, as of tonight, we're approaching the end. 

It seems as good a time as any for a bit of reflection.

I know what I've wanted to see for Bellarke for the longest time- the established couple route.

I wanted all the admissions of love. I wanted every kind of kiss imaginable. Each type of hug and cuddle. All the intimacy of a long, domestic life. Tackling issues as a couple. Coming home to each other at the end of a hard day's work. Date nights. An engagement. A wedding. Surprise pregnancy announcements. Delinquent hijinks throughout it all. Raising their four kids, watching them grow up. A perfect kind of chaos making up the Griffin-Blake household. Spoiling their sixteen grandkids. A peaceful life that allows for celebrating all their milestones and all their quiet moments, just because they can. Growing old together. 

I have wanted every lovely canon-compliant scenario our talented fanfic writers have dreamt. 

If I lived in a fantasy world where I could have a 24-episode Bellarke epilogue of a complete life filled to the brim with endless love and friendship and family and peace, I would treasure it with my whole damn heart. 

But we don't live in that fantasy world to have such a gift.

In the months since August 4th, I've reconciled my hopes with Jason's measured pacing. And I won't say there isn't value in the route Jason has opted for. I don't want the show to end. But if six seasons of war sound taxing to me, God knows how exhausting it feels for the characters who endured it. As bleak as the show can be, it's never been shrouded exclusively in doom and gloom. There have been bits of light peppered in. I hope for them to achieve a peaceful, fulfilling life. Though Jason may have put them through the wringer, I think he wants the same for them too. Because of what they've had to endure, not in spite of it. Maybe it's my wishful thinking. But I can't bring myself to care. I'm going into the final season with hope, and there's nothing anyone can say to stop me. It is the year 2020. We could use a good dose of hopefulness. 

So it's not that I'm not ready to see the story come to a close.

No, it's that I'm not ready to see Bellarke's love story end, particularly not without the illustrated details above.

But you know, who's to say I won't be satisfied with Jason's ending? With every fictional work lies the risk of a disappointing ending. But this show has made a habit of surprising me, as far back as early season one. 

I started The 100 back in late 2015, early 2016, sitting at my dining room table, casually Netflix surfing on my tablet for something to fill the time until my regular programming came back from hiatus. And I happened to catch a title sparking my memory of a CW tv spot promoting its upcoming third season. With nothing else inspiring interest, I quickly gave in to impulse. 

I may be one of the few viewers drawn in by the pilot episode. I mean, I knew what network I was watching. My entertainment selections at the time usually either revolved around teenage protagonists or appeal to the demographic of a younger audience, so The 100 was right up my alley. I expected- and didn't mind- a fair bit of cheesy campiness. 

I tend to appreciate levelheaded, kindhearted characters, so I immediately liked Clarke, Wells, and Abby. I liked Octavia, the newly-freed, spontaneous, loveable renegade. I liked Jasper and Monty, our young, quirky goofs. And I liked Finn. There. I admit it. A few exchanges with our beloved Ark princess and the epithet of the foolhardy, charming heartthrob slash alleged romantic bad boy hero hoodwinked me. By contrast, I fell into the narrative's trap of initially hating our seeming antagonists- Murphy, Kane, and *cries in shame* Bellamy. I enjoyed the moral quandaries brewing on the Ark among the adults- the struggle between Abby and Kane was of great intrigue to me. It was probably the best storyline of the episode. But when Jasper took a spear to the chest, and I responded with, "WTF?! WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NOW?!?," I knew this show had reeled me in. No hesitation in letting the next episode play. Not a thought of stopping it there. 

Bellarke's transition, inching from political rivals to partners as their new world becomes increasingly more dangerous, as they recognize they need to rely on each other's strengths is *chef's kiss.* In six seasons, Day Trip remains one of the most masterfully done episodes this show has done, in my humble opinion. Taking the golden princess and the rebel king and peeling back the layers of both characters to expose their muddled greys. The meeting of two previous extremes slashing at each other's weak spots for superiority. Compromise derived from compassion and care. Strength in unity.  I started Day Trip as mostly indifferent to Bellamy and ended it loving him. 

When the characters turn light and dark and back again, throughout this winding story with its twists and turns, I've overturned previous impressions of almost every one many times for better and worse. It only became more prevalent when I began lurking in fandom and reading metas. If nothing else, the narrative has kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what comes next. 

So, yeah, lots of surprises in this show. Good ones, I think. And I expect, quite a few more in its final season.

The season 7 trailer was spectacular. One of the most eye-opening lines for me, "...the last war mankind will ever wage." Because that's the dream, right? For humanity to learn from its errors and do better. Is violence what they do, or is it who they are? Have they truly learned nothing after all this time? I guess we'll find out. But I'd like to think Jason hasn't taken his characters on this evolution for the moral of the story to be the latter. In all the excitement, I convinced myself to conduct my first series rewatch. I'm not embellishing when I say the instant I saw Clarke in the opening sequence, the nostalgia welled up in my eyes. 

Who would have thought a story of 100 teenagers dropped from the sky into hostile territory would evolve into this? Temporal anomalies? Wormholes? Other worlds spanning the universe? A chance to save Earth before the bombs, possibly? Incredible. Our babies have all grown up, and their stories have come full circle.

84 episodes down. Only 16 episodes to go before the show is off the air forever. I will be metaphorically chewing my nails to the nub for Bellamy and Clarke's fates, but, I don't know about anyone else, I want to enjoy every second we get before its gone.

I won't spiral into a panic each time Echo is in the vicinity of Bellamy. Or Bellarke is temporarily separated like in every previous season. Or Jason breathes or whatever other source that causes mass hysteria in this fandom. I exist on the fringes of this fandom, but I have stood here long enough to have ascertained that it is overpopulated with too many Chicken Littles. I've never been more grateful to not have to deal firsthand on the front lines with the antis. Because if there was ever a time to enjoy the show instead of agonizing over whatever new development fandom considers just cause for panic, that time is now. 

[shieldcodex]

Codex Judicium (2017, 2018-current)

The third and final arc of the SHIELD Codex, because my brain wouldn’t leave me alone. Continues the story directly after An Ocean Deep and Cold, however this arc returns to the original arc’s method of building to a central antagonist and finale. These antagonists (The Children of Thanos, or his Generals, interchangeably) were foreshadowed at the end of the original Codex series, back when I had no idea they’d end up in the dang movies.

This arc is, plot-wise, a little self indulgent (OCs, flerkens, and a lot of worldbuilding headcanon I wanted to play with) and revisits a lot of previous Codex events to build up to its planned finish. These connections will be listed in the notes. This is also the arc where we say goodbye to AOS series canon. The Codex fully diverges after the Framework arc of the show, and, annoyingly on my part, the Codex talks about that arc only in past tense.

The Shadows of Asgard

Synopsis:

Trapped by memories of his past and haunting his own present, Loki, the shadow king of Asgard, finds himself hunted by something far more deadly than any ghost. Without allies or any friendly word to help him, he must figure out why he’s not the hunter’s sole target - and what any chance of surviving his stolen throne might have to do with his buried youth.

Notes: On the one hand, it’s a stand-alone story set previous to the Codex and can be read without ever touching another Codex fic. On the other, I’ve built it into Codex canon and made it part of the basis for the final arc. Although this fic is about a brief, almost romantic part of Loki’s life, the resolution of this fic establishes that relationship as distant, conflicted, and probably platonic from here. While a character introduced will become recurring, the Codex will never change its listing from genfic to OC/Loki.

The Sand Knows Its Purity

Synopsis:

As Kamar-Taj's chief librarian, Wong feels love and responsibility for every sacred book in the world. Leaving the rural Chinese province of his childhood on the way towards safety for his latest rediscovered ancient artifact, Wong thinks a little about the past, about being lost, and about how much it all meant to his future.

Notes: A purely Wong-centric vignette themed after Journey To the West. Wong becomes a moderately important supporting character to the arc (I love Benedict Wong, okay?) and this fic introduces a unique character who returns in Turn the Page.

Fresh Ground

Synopsis: 

Where everyone knows your name is a fine thing if you're a middle-class drudge looking for a drink, Ted Danson, and a guy named Norm. But when you work in Stark Tower - or worse, are an Avenger - sometimes all you want is a coffeeshop that's going to treat you like a normal person.

Notes: Having never done a coffeeshop AU before, this is a coffeeshop short that accidentally ended up foreshadowing the next Halloween fic and thus became a Codex short.

The Ritual of Chud

Synopsis: 

The harvest season always brings with it a sense of ritual to pave the way for the future. It's with this in mind that Doctor Strange and Loki left Wong with a single gentle, but unusual, request: Throw a small Halloween party. Invite a handful of magical guests. Spend the evening telling tales and growing closer together. But why?

Notes: 2018′s Halloween Codex is another story within a story collection with several supporting magical characters (Wanda, Wong, Aggie Harkness, and introducing Pandora Peters of Loki’s WAND division) telling sad or spooky holiday tales. The overall story introduces the first clue to this arc’s set of villains - Ebony Maw.

Offhand

Synopsis: 

The season of greetings and merriment has come around - for Asgard, whose princes are still children easily bored by pageantry. But when Loki has to face a pack of bullies without his brother to back him up, he ends up beginning something that will change his life forever. Meanwhile, in the future, an adult Loki takes in some holiday cheer among his friends, and makes an admission he hadn't wanted to just yet.

Notes: The first winter holiday short fic since Bleak Midwinter, Offhand has a nice but standalone flashback to Loki’s troubles with the palace weapons trainer. There is some foreshadowing about what’s to come next.

Escape Velocity

Synopsis: 

When news comes to Wakanda of a mysterious cache of vibranium destined to hit the international arms market, King T'Challa realizes his efforts to reach out to the world could complicate his role in trying to stop disaster. Instead, he sends an envoy to SHIELD to help pick up where his warriors left off - and asks a reluctant Agent Everett Ross to assist them on his behalf.

Notes: The synopsis is a swerve. Set up as a standard SHIELD op, it ends with space battles and poor Ross helping to pilot a starship. As of 2020, he’s not the first new character to return from this fic - Captain Tam is introduced, Kara is hinted at, and more suspicions about the Children of Thanos are set up. The Grandmaster is also revealed to have ties here, a plot built up from the original arc’s Darwin’s Dragon.

Cat Dads!

Synopsis: 

Minding his own business one spring afternoon, Loki finds himself approached by Nick Fury, who brings with him a most curious situation in need of advice.

It turns out that Goose is carrying a whole, uh, kit and caboodle of trouble inside her.

Notes: Arguably the most popular Codex short whether you read the series or not, Nick Fury as a cat daddy was an irresistible setup. This fic introduces flerkens into the Codex, though, with both Loki and Nebula gaining flerkittens that will become part of later stories.

Turn the Page

Synopsis: 

Torn from one nightmare and tossed into another, Loki isn't touched to discover he's Stephen Strange's first choice to run to when magical attacks strike the New York Sanctum. The goal of this assault? Reclaiming the Darkhold, held prisoner by Strange for the last few years.

Notes: The Darkhold has been the focus point of a sub-sub arc throughout the three series, from the very first Codex story, to Season of the Witch, and finally, at damn last, ending here. Aggie Harkness returns, and some old plot threads from The Janus Paradox get tied off in this one. The epilogue also builds on a hint from Escape Velocity and introduces us formally to another member of the Children of Thanos.

The Queen’s Gambit

Synopsis:

Long ago, Odin All-Father buried the secret of his first two children. Baldur, who tragically never left his crib, and Hela, who rose to power under a deadly shadow. Now an exile on the world that gave her its name, Hela hatefully waits for a freedom she suspects will never come - only to find that a visitor has somehow arrived after all.

Notes: 2019′s Halloween fic is themed after Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and has Mistress Death swapping tales with Hela, herself a would-be incarnation of mortality. This fic builds on Odin’s tale as told at the end of Ocean Deep and Cold, and will return to importance in an upcoming fic.

The Family We Choose (ongoing 4/20)

Synopsis:

Loki has been contacted by Nebula, working on the fringes of the galaxy as an intelligence broker since the fall of Thanos, and he suspects that what news she has to share won't be anything pretty. But things begin to shift beyond his predictions before he catches up with her, as two human friends latch on for the ride.

Notes:

This is where previous plot threads are starting to pull together. Building on the events of The Shadows of Asgard, Darwin’s Dragon, Escape Velocity, Cat Dads, and the entire theme of Loki trying to rebuild his life as a whole person and not just a loner easily driven to madness, this fic is ongoing.

Upcoming:

All these listings are subject to future whims.

The One About Jotunheim - A civil war will threaten to tear apart the fragile peace Queen Farbauti has forged, while Loki, unmoored by the possible ramifications of that conflict, begins to work on another family alliance of his own. This is a tentative synopsis and may change.

1-2 possible shorts, including one with Captain Tam and Kara on Earth

The One About Kings - Odin prepares to pass on his crown at last, but as usual, there are intense conflicts.

The Children’s Crusade - the final showdown between Loki and the remaining Children of Thanos... and a few awful surprises.

The future light - one more postscript.

[ventrue-rosary]

Christmas Party

Couldn’t think of a catchy title, but tis the season! Christmas cuteness featuring @theravensprince character Vander!

Ko-Fi

Amaranthe painstakingly straightens the decorations around her penthouse, making sure everything is perfectly in place before the guests start arriving.

Balthazar only just emerges from their bedroom in naught but a towel, freshly showered and reaching for the coffee pot.

'Really?' She scolds as she rearranges the candy canes on the table. 'You're not dressed! The guests will be arriving in like, twenty minutes.'

'People always come to parties late, so really I have half an hour, at least. Plenty of time. Besides.' He glances at her. 'You're not even dressed.'

Amaranthe glances down at the little black velvet dress she wears, struck by momentary panic she was in fact tidying up naked. 'Yes I am!'

'Oh, my mistake. I never thought you would host a Christmas party dressed like you're going to Halloween one.'

She pouts. 'There's no need to be mean. I thought I looked nice.'

'You look hot. Just not festive.'

'Perfect!'

Everything is ready. Now she just needs her guests. She anxiously checks her watch, then dumps herself on a stool by the breakfast bar, eyeing the bottle of wine teasing her on the countertop.

Balthazar rolls his eyes. 'You know this is supposed to be a party? Fun? Relax a bit.'

'I'm a hostess. I need to make sure everyone else is having fun.'

The intercom buzzes. Amaranthe scurries over to their intercom, the camera feed showing a snow-swept Vander huddled under layers.

'Come on up.' She pushes the button, and the automatic lobby doors swing inwards. 

'Vander's here, get dressed,' she says to Balthazar munching on a bowl of cereal.

'Fine, fine.'

Several minutes later there is a knock on the door. Amaranthe opens it with a wide smile, pulling Vander into a hug.

'Merry early Christmas! You can throw your things in the guest room.'

'Merry Christmas.' He holds out a gift bag as he sheds some of his layers, hanging them on the coat rack.

Amaranthe excitedly delves into the bag, shoving aside tissue paper to find a thin, square parcel immaculately wrapped in red and silver tissue paper. It's almost a shame to open it.

She pops open the wrapping paper, pulling out a beautiful silver frame embellished with floral carvings, holding a photo of their first Christmas together, just last year. The three of them smiling towards the camera, Amaranthe in the middle, her arms not quite looping over Vander and Balthazar's substantially higher and broader shoulders. Amaranthe's throat tightens with emotions as she holds the immortalised memory in her hands. So much has changed since then...

'Amara?' Vander peers up at her as she stands in utter silence.

She breathes out a laugh, brushing off his concern. 'Sorry, Vander, I--thank you. It's a very thoughtful gift.'

She reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. 'I'll find some place to put this, make yourself at home.'

Amaranthe holds in her tears--she's wearing makeup it would not do to cry, as she places the frame on her mantelpiece amongst the handful of others already there. Vander makes his way upstairs to stash his overnight bag.

Balthazar emerges from their bedroom, shoving up the sleeves of his wine red shirt, teamed with black jeans and a charcoal grey waistcoat. 

'Hey, where's Vander?'

'Guest room.'

He winds his arms around her waist, peering over her shoulder at the new addition to their mantelpiece.

'Hard to believe that was a year ago.'

'Mmhmm. Our first Christmas, the three of us.'

'Maybe next year there will be four of us.'

'Four?' She peers at him curiously.

'C'mon, he has got to have met a girl by then. Or guy, I'm not really sure.'

'Vander? I doubt it.'

'What, you think he's incapable of landing a date?'

'It's more that he lacks the interest rather than the ability.'

'Well, now it makes sense that he didn't jump on you when he first met you.'

'Neither did you,' she pouts.

He nips at the tip of her ear. 'Trust me, it was tempting.'

She closes her eyes under the light pleasure until the buzz of their intercom interrupts them. 

'Time to go play hostess. I'll find you later.' She trails a hand across his chest as she passes.

Within the hour, the party is in full swing. Music, drinking, laughing and plenty of accidental--and some very purposeful--kissing under mistletoe. Amaranthe makes a point to avoid it, though not with the tenacity of Vander, hunkered down in a mistletoe free corner, Elora perched on his knee with ruffled feathers. She lowers her defensive stance as Amaranthe approaches.

'Just checking in. You two need anything?'

'To go home?' He sighs when Amaranthe raises an eyebrow at him. 'I won't. It's just…a lot of people.'

'Upstairs are off-limits to the other guests if you need some peace and quiet. I'll even bring you up some food.'

'Thanks.' He runs a finger down Elora's back.

'Of course. I'm here to make sure everyone's having a good time.' She throws him a wink before turning back to the party, mainly centred in the kitchen and dining area. The guests have already left a heavy dent in the food and drink supply, but she always has extras in reserve--a lesson learnt from the first party she threw.

She piles some meat, cheese, breadsticks and olives onto a plate and takes it up to the guest room where Vanders sits cross-legged on the bed, tapping away on his phone.

'Here.' She passes him the plate, giving Elora a brief head scratch as she does.

'Thanks.'

'Sure thing. Oh, wait here!' Amaranthe suddenly recalls the gift she bought, stowed safely in her closet.

'I'm not going anywhere,' he quips.

Amaranthe rolls her eyes, ignoring his comment as she quickly dips into her adjacent room, returning with a gift bag. Vander glances dubiously between her and the bag.

Amaranthe rolls her eyes. 'It's not a bomb. It's a present, take it.'

Vander gingerly accepts the bag, his eyes widening in wonderment as he pulls out his gift: a weighted blanket bearing the design of the aroace flag.

'I had to get this commissioned. I'll spare you from the price.' She grins as he unfolds the blanket, then drapes it over his shoulders.

'Thank you...you didn't pay too much, did you?'

Amaranthe grimaces as she remembers the invoice. 'Nothing I couldn't afford…'

'That doesn't answer my question.'

'I better get back to the party! Don't be a stranger.'

He protests, but Amaranthe scurries out of the room, closing the door behind her.

She fixes herself a glass of mulled wine and nibbles on a mince pie before she makes her rounds again. She spies her manager speaking to her cousin Althea. There is a discreet glint of gold on black as she hands her a business card. Amaranthe shakes her head. Ireena never stops working.

A few of her other model friends stand under mistletoe, taking turns to kiss each others alcohol-flushed faces. Amaranthe ends up with two lipstick marks on her face which she quickly rubs away, removing most of her rouge in the process as she passes them on her way to the balcony. 

Balthazar sits besides the pool, enjoying a smoke. The glass door closes behind her, reducing the din of the party to a muffled chorus. 

He offers her a cigarette, and lights it for her. She sits down beside him, staring down into the sparkling ripples of the still pool water. 

Amaranthe expels the lungful of smoke, soaking in the silence as a party rages just beyond the glass door.

'Quite the party,' he says, breaking the relaxed silence. 

Amaranthe laughs. 'Good. I couldn't tell since I've been running around after our guests all night.'

'That explains the lipstick.' He smirks.

Amaranthe sighs and rubs at her face. 'I thought I got it all.'

'Wrong side.' He rubs at her left cheek. 'There.'

'Sorry. My friends got a bit...well, they're wasted. They dragged me beneath the mistletoe.'

'Kissed by two hot chicks. Woe is you. Did you get any pictures?'

'Shut up.' He laughs as she pushes him. Or rather tries to. It's like trying to budge a brick wall.

'How's grandpa?'

'You know he hates it when you call him that.'

'Well he's not here right now.'

'Vander is fine. Unstressing in the guest room.'

'You think he'd be used to it by now.'

'I don't think he ever will.'

'It's your fault for being so popular.'

She laughs as she flicks the ash from the end of her cigarette.

'Its strange…'

'Hmm?'

'How someone can be so popular but feel so lonely. Every party I always feel I'm on the fringe of it. They'd probably forget I existed if I didn't show my face.'

Balthazar puts an arm around her. 'You'll never be alone.'

Amaranthe rests her head against his chest. 'I know. But thanks.'

They spend a few minutes together in fragile silence broken only by the quiet whispers of the city beneath them. Balthazar gently detaches himself from her, extinguishing his cigarette.

'Where are you going?'

'To get your present.'

'It's only Christmas Eve.'

'Well you've been a good girl so you can have it early this year.'

He leaves with a wink. She smiles to herself as she finishes her smoke at the balcony, letting the cool air run through her curls. 

Soon, the sound from inside swells then ebbs as Balthazar re-emerges. She turns with a smile that turns to slack-faced shock as he holds a small, black velvet box in his hands.

Calm down she tells herself. It could just be a gift, it doesn't mean that--

He gets down on one knee.

Oh God it's happening!

'Most people would probably take out a restraining order against a woman who broke into their empty apartment half-naked, but here I am proposing to her.'

Amaranthe feels herself laugh shakily through tears swelling in her eyes.

'You pretty much stumbled into my life, and together we stumbled in love. Messy, sweet, sometimes hot and heavy love.'

She shakes her head, but the smile wouldn't fall from her lips. Excitement and joy tremor through her body. 

'Amaranthe Darcelle, will you marry me?'

She falls to her knees, wrapping her arms around him. 'That's a stupid question.'

They part breathlessly. Balthazar pushes the ring on her finger--a perfect fit. And beyond beautiful. The gold band is not one but many twisting and intertwining like vines that taper off into a cradle holding a deep violet gem. She mentioned once she hates diamonds...he remembered.

'Its beautiful…'

'A perfect match.'

In their shared elation they might have missed the dozens of faces watching them through the glass until they break out into applause and cheers.

Amaranthe wants to hide her face, but instead dons the face of the cheerful hostess, standing and facing them with smiles and mouthed words of thanks. 

'We should probably go in and face the masses. Perhaps the party wasn't the place to pop the question.' She nudges him.

Balthazar throws his arm around her shoulders. 'C'mon, you love the attention.'

'Maybe a little.'

[mirai-eats]

Stray Spring:: Dance (Summer Romance)

Snufmin, 4,673 words, part 2/5

flower symbolism bc thats how i work i dont change, Fluff, Romance, so soft it hurts, Light Angst, Sickfic, Spring Deity Snufkin, little my is a demigod???

A deity borne of spring and summer can’t leave Moominvalley alone.

read on AO3

Moomin had a hard time getting himself out of bed today and that bothered him since today was an important day. Mamma didn’t scold him for stumbling down the stairs well into breakfast, but only wished him a good morning and gently told him to have those midnight adventures on days he doesn’t need to get up early.

Sniff was charged with distracting Little My and taking her up to a rural spot in Lonely Mountain where Snufkin had buried a box of rocks for her to find. Meanwhile, it was up to the Moomins and every spare hand to set up the extravagant party to celebrate the new season and Little My’s new age. Moomin didn’t know how old she was, and every time he asked something would always interrupt. He gave up asking and resorted to counting the candles on her cake.

The party was going to be lovely, Moomin thought. Long tables were set out with summer flowers and stakes with paper lanterns framed the perimeter they set up, strings of lights draped the trees and strung over their heads as an imitation of stars. Mamma was cooking with vigor in the kitchen, preparing enough food to keep the whole valley full through winter. In the meantime, Mamma had set out heaping plates of juicy, red watermelon and sweet berry juice for people setting up the party. Moomin took a few slices and ran down to Mr. Hemulen’s where Snufkin was helping him pick flowers to decorate.

“This is very delicious, thank you Moomintroll,” Snufkin said after chewing thoughtfully on the melon.

“You’re welcome, now let’s haul these over so we can get them on the tables and chairs. Little My is due back soon!”

It was no walk in the park bringing so many flowers in the wheelbarrows. It was a miracle they got them all placed in time right before they heard the large shouts of Little My coming from just beyond.

“Everyone get in place! She’s coming!” Pappa clapped his paws and on cue, everyone rushed to stand in attention, facing the hill Little My will climb to the top of and see the party waiting for her.

“Mymble isn’t here yet, what do we do?” Pappa fretted, his hat tilted askew in his frantic movement.

“She will come, it’ll be a grand surprise on top of this surprise when her mother comes,” Mamma soothed.

---

The party was going well, very well, but the Moomin’s were still eyeing the path from the beach waiting for The Mymble to arrive. She’ll come when she comes, Snufkin thought.

Snufkin didn’t want to admit it, but he was rather nervous himself. He kept to himself at the fringe of the party, in which most, if not all, of Moominvalley, showed up for. The record player Moominpappa had successfully fixed up was playing joyful tunes into the sweet, summer air as the day slowly cooled as the night struggled to blanket the horizons. This was the longest day of the year and sunset didn’t come until the party reached its peak, when the music grew the loudest and drinks splashed refill after refill into cups. Little My had stuck a little cosmo from the table display into her bun as if it were her crown and swung around in the middle of it all, her laughter loud and smile even louder.

It’s when the sun touched the tops of the forests and the sky was a rich gold with strands of rosy pink did a parade arrive. Thirty-four children with hair red like Little My’s and screams somehow louder than hers rushed from the beach trail and over to the party, in the midst of their chaos rose the imposing figure of their mother.

The Mymble was eccentric, a presence so loud and bright it’s hard to ignore, especially how she was taller than even the tallest hemulen. Her red hair was messy atop her head, where little baby’s breath flowers were scattered like sparse snow and her eyes glittered like sunshine on the greenest lake surface. The air felt sweeter in her presence, cooler like a gentle spring breeze dripping with honeysuckle petals. Little My leaped with a shout and ran into her mother’s embrace, her big arms holding her tightly to her chest. The party grew louder, more rambunctious, fit for a Little My with too much energy crammed in that very little body.

From the fringe of the party, Mymble’s eyes landed on Snufkin. This was the first time she’s seen him since he was placed in a basket and sent down the river. He tipped his hat and turned away.

---

He wasn’t mad at her. He couldn’t bring himself to be angry at her for letting him go when he was so young. He grew up fine, he never pined for the affections of a mother or the guidance of a father. He knew what his mother and father were, but when Moominpappa placed a name and face to their beings, shaped their characters through his stories, he ached something sharp like a cold pick of winter ice drilled into his heart.

It was a surprise when it wasn’t Moomintroll who found him first, but The Mymble. Overwhelmed with the party, he had dove into the forest and climbed up a maple tree thick with green leaves. The summer breeze hit him just right, and from here he can watch the sun tiptoe the horizon and paint the sea a brilliant, hazy orange that drove the warmth of the day away.

“Snufkin,” she said.

He nodded in acknowledgment and lit his pipe, letting the smoke waft into the air and fill the thick silence with its odor, the sweet smell of daisies and poppies on his hat was blanketed under a smokey curtain.

“You’ve become quite the deity, haven’t you,” she settled herself on the ground under his tree, her voice rising into the air as if caught by a breeze and sailed up to his perch.

“You couldn’t have done anything for me, could you?” It was a statement, not a question.

“No. I can’t raise a spirit. Those children are all demigods and I enjoy watching them grow, but you aren’t a demigod. You won’t grow like them.”

“Little My?”

“Is like them, and so is my eldest. You’re one of a kind, Snufkin.” A sigh left her lips and it was as if the whole forest took a breath of fresh air. The leaves seemed greener, the air fresher, and the gentle sweetness of the most fragrant flora, of soft sweet peas and mysterious wisteria, star-light jasmine and plump gardenias. It was as if spring came back once more for another round. Snufkin looked down from his perch and saw The Mymble as she truly is- a goddess of spring.

Flowers bloomed and died in her hair, petals dripped like soft snow onto her shoulders and the green grass that’s sprouted out around her. The collar of fur was replaced with a wreath of greenery and flowers oozing their sweet scent, her coat was now a shifting robe that seemed to have been woven from the silkiest petals. She looked up to where Snufkin lounged in the tree, her round face glowing with light only one not of this world can possess.

Snufkin lifted his robe of glamour, the scruffy Snufkin in a coat too old to count the years of and boots worn to the thinnest soles were replaced by his robes of shimmering green. His hat bloomed all sorts of flowers, from the smallest, palest buds to the brightest, largest petals. He descended from the tree with a graceful leap, draped in spring nature, falling far too high to be safe and landed gently on the freshly grown grass, his bare feet hitting the cool blades.

“What of The Joxter, my father?” Snufkin asked.

“A minor god, the personification of a lazy summer day,” she nodded. “It’s why you reign strongest in the spring and summer where the flowers bloom brightest and the sun is the warmest. You spend your days idly and freely, amongst the root of trees and grassy meadows and wherever you go, you bring spring with you.”

She looked up where he stood before him. Even sitting, he was only barely taller than her. “You need to leave earlier than that, my son. I heard from the Moomins you hang around here through the autumn. That can harm you, and it can harm the balance of nature.”

“I know.”

“Then leave as soon as the trees start to shudder and the flowers start to grow smaller. You need to bring your music to the south where the sun sits high in the sky.”

“I will.”

Her eyes narrowed, unbelieving of him. Towers of delphiniums started growing around her, pale blue and pink trumpets of flowers unraveling and reaching for their sun, their spring goddess. Pops of tiny daisies sprung at their feet and brushed up against Snufkin’s bare ankles. “You will. I don’t know if you know this, but if you linger too long in one place, you may perish.”

“I know.” He was starting to sound like a broken record, skipping over select words that would appease his mother. But he knew, he understood the risk of staying too close to winter in Moominvalley. He did it once before because Moomintroll asked him to stay until the winter solstice for their feast so he won’t miss him too terribly when he left. He was ill then, and could barely touch his food, and almost didn’t make it out of Moominvalley before the snow started to really come down. Moomintroll has tried since then to have him stay a little longer, sighing loudly, despondently, into the autumn air. He caved and stayed, and he almost died.

“Don’t do it again. For each time you do, you will grow weaker faster.”

A shout of his named echoed through the forest. A flock of birds rose from the trees and scattered into the orange horizon, the sun swallowed by the midnight blue.

Moomintroll rounded the corner and spotted Snufkin. “There you are! Are you alright? You disappeared during the party.”

“I’m okay, just a little overwhelmed with the number of people,” Snufkin said.

“Oh wow! These are gorgeous!”

The Mymble had disappeared, leaving the patch of jewel-green grass and the stocks of delphiniums at the base of the tree. Snufkin had dropped his glamour back on, his boots crushing the grass and the daisies on his hat matched the ones by Moomin’s feet. Moomintroll did not see a thing. “Aren’t they lovely? They’re called delphinium.”

“They are.” Moomin picked a couple of little daisies and stuck them in the wreath of flowers on Snufkin’s hat. “Do you want to be alone right now?”

Snufkin shook his head. “We can go to the beach and take a walk. I’m just tired of the party.”

Moomintroll’s eyes lit up, a mischevious sparkle that seemed a little too excited for a simple moonlit stroll on the beach.

“Can I show you something instead?”

---

They stole a lantern from the party when no one was looking and traipsed up the forest path. Snufkin realized it was the direction Moomintroll had been sneaking off too for months now.

“What do you want to show me?” Snufkin prodded.

“It’s a surprise.” Moomintroll was practically vibrating.

They reached a bend in the trail and Moomintroll went off the path, over a bushel of bright, yellow yarrow, and down a secret worn path that wound through the trees. He suddenly stopped at the base of a sturdy oak tree. He pushed aside some broken branches piled up at the bottom and revealed a rope ladder dangling down the side of the tree.

“What is this, Moomintroll?” Snufkin asked. He looked up and between the thick branches he could make out wooden boards.

“I built us a secret base,” Moomintroll said, his voice barely able to contain his excitement. “I read a book about spies having secret bases hidden in plain sight, where they can meet and plot their next missions. I thought it would be cool if we had a secret place, too.”

“Oh, Moomintroll, it’s fantastic.” Snufkin’s heart swelled with something warm. A moment of fear iced his veins, that this was Moomintroll asking him to stay forever, but this was a treehouse, a place for them alone and not an actual house. He needn’t read too deeply into the meaning of all this.

“Let’s go, let’s go! You haven’t even seen the best of it yet!” Moomintroll ushered him up the ladder. It took them through a square hole cut out of a wooden platform, buried in the oak branches and green leaves. There was no way someone could see this place from below, and with the thick tree coverage, it was hard to see it coming from the forest path unless someone was looking for it.

The house was a simple box that was morphed around a sturdy branch. The door was a little high off the ground, and there were curtains patterned with summer yellow sunflowers (definitely Moominmamma’s work). The cabin was small, a little rickety for comfort, but Snufkin adored it. The little chairs at the table, a basket of snacks, a worn map from Moominpappa, a bouquet of small sunflowers and pale purple cosmos sat in a vase Snufkin remembered Moomintroll made when he was briefly into pottery, the sides bumpy with paw marks and the smear of bright blues made it personal. Moomin lit the oil lamp on the table and filled the small space with a wonderful warm glow. The blue light left from the twilight was chased away with the golden candlelight.

“This is wonderfully cozy,” Snufkin said as he settled down into one of the chairs. He peaked out from behind the window curtain and could see the main forest path between the branches of their tree. “Perfect for spying, but I’m afraid at night someone will see our light.”

“Then we’ll have to be extra careful and only come when everyone’s asleep,” Moomintroll said. He took the seat across from Snufkin and pulled out a book from a box under the table. “Let me show you the book that inspired me to make this!”

---

Little My bobbed through the tall stocks of gladiolus, a bundle held in her small arms. With her size, it was as if she was carrying lumber, not pink and yellow flowers. She emerged from the stocks and ran full sprint toward Moominhouse, where Moominmamma was trimming the stems of gladiolus and placing them in long vases.

“Thank you, Little My, that will be plenty for now,” Moominmamma said kindly, taking the new bundle from Little My. “Can you deliver this vase to Mrs. Fillyjonk?” She handed Little My a vase almost as tall as her with a spry of artfully arranged flowers, a red bow tied around the slim neck of the bottle.

“Sure thing! Don’t get mad if I spill!” Little My leaped from the porch and teetered down the walkway toward Mrs. Fillyjonk’s house, the water sloshing dangerously in the vase and her arms burned but she refused to put it down.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a Moomintroll-white shape flitter in the corner of her eye. She quietly placed the vase down on the side of the road and scanned the treeline where she saw it.

There! Darting between the trees was Moomintroll, his own armload of gladiolus flowers clutched close to his chest, the red pedals bobbing with his steps. The flowers won’t die if they waited out in the sun for a bit, Little My thought to herself and ran after him.

She stayed far enough away he wouldn’t be able to hear him, but close enough to keep him within sight. They wound through the trees, going off and on trails and pushing through bushes. He stopped suddenly at the bank of a river, a waterfall feeding into the quickly moving water. Snufkin sat at the shore, a bucket next to him and his fishing rod posed in his hand. Branches of green leaves and fern dripped from his hat, the single white dahlia poking from the side was like a beacon amongst the green. Moomintroll came up behind him and plucked a bud of red gladiolus and stuck it in his hat brim. The roar of the waterfall hid their words and Little My scooted closer to catch what they were talking about.

She heard “secret base” and lost face. She hopped from behind the bush and shouted, “And what are you two up to?!”

Moomintroll jumped in surprise and Snufkin turned and tipped his hat in greeting. “Little My, hello.”

“Hello to you, too. What are you talking about?” She asked again.

Moomintroll seemed to be sweating under all his fur, his eyes darting everywhere but Little My. “Nothing much, I wanted to show Snufkin the flowers you and Mamma picked.” Liar.

She tried again, badgering them for good answers, but she only got vague remarks. She got bored, as Moomintroll was giving Snufkin big cow eyes as he fished and Snufkin kept sneaking longing glances at Moomintroll when he wasn’t looking. It was sickening and she couldn’t take it. She left to go finish delivering the flowers

---

Moomin realized that he harbored warm feelings for Snufkin when the sun was at its hottest. Snufkin had stripped to his trousers and worn shirt, the white so faded it was threadbare at the hems and elbows. They splashed around a creek where a willow tree traced its surface, stocks of violet irises waved in the warm, summer breeze and spots of petunias reached for the water. It was a picturesque sight of them chasing frogs in the moving water, tripping over stray stones and tangled in weeds. The cool water felt great in Moomin’s heated skin, his fur thinned for the summer but it wasn’t enough to cool him from the hot sun. Snufkin had a peeling sunburn on his nose, new freckles sprang up across his cheeks and the back of his hands and for a second Moomin wanted to kiss them.

The shock of realization hit him as if Little My dumped ice-cold lemonade over his head. He froze in the creek, the water splashing at his waist as he stared wide-eyed at Snufkin floating on the surface, eyes closed and absorbing the sun peeking through the willow branches and warming the water. Moomin’s heart leaped in his throat and caught his tongue in a stranglehold. Never in his life had he wanted to hold someone’s paw so much.

---

The Moomins shielded themselves from the midsummer sun under their balcony, with Moominappa taking up residence in the hammock with a book over his face to muffle his snores. Snufkin sat on the railing cleaning his harmonica while Moomintroll sat next to him with a book of his own. From where they sat, a breeze hit them just right. Moominmamma was nearby repairing one of Little My’s dresses with a rather large hole in the hem. The little monster herself laid sprawled out on the porch, sweat dampening her hairline and shooting glances and Moomintroll and Snufkin.

Snufkin let his eyes follow her glances where Moomintroll was posed reading a book, one of pirates and seascape adventures. The sun hit his fur where the shade couldn’t shield him, haloing him in a white glow and Snufkin’s heart stuttered in his chest.

Moomintroll chose that moment to look and he smiled at Snufkin, his eyes glittered with mirth from what Snufkin suspects is from a silly part in his novel. He winked at Snufkin and went back to reading.

Little My snorted when Snufkin turned his back to the porch so no one could see his red cheeks.

---

Snufkin found himself napping amongst hydrangeas. They grew off the side of one spot on the road and their fragrant shade was ideal for a mid-afternoon nap. It was August, and the heat was reaching to the point of unbearable. The day before he and the Moomins wore themselves out on their own seascape adventure when they took the boat out. He could still smell the lingering salt and sand on his skin, a smell that won’t go away until summer is gone beyond the horizons.

He heard familiar footsteps coming down a road, a gait he had memorized by heart. Moomintroll caught sight of his boots sticking out of the flowers and crawled under the bush to join him.

“Hullo, Snufkin,” Moomintroll greeted. “Do you mind if I join you? The sun is very harsh right now and it smells wonderful in this shade.”

“Be my guest.” Snufkin patted the spot next to him. It was a tight fit within the sturdy branches and pom poms of pastel flowers, but Snufkin didn’t mind. He could never mind being so close to Moomintroll.

It was peaceful between them, or that’s what Snufkin wanted to say. He was enjoying the air between them, warm and fragrant. It was Moomintroll who seemed to not be able to settle down. He was tense, kept shifting in his spot.

Unable to take it, Snufkin pokes. “What’s the matter, Moomintroll?”

“I want this to last forever,” Moomintroll spoke in a rush, a crack in the dam.

“Well, summer can’t last forever. Soon it will be autumn and I’ll have to leave again, but don’t worry, I’ll always be back,” Snufkin soothed. “Then we can have a whole new spring together.”

“No, not that. It’s-“ Moomintroll gulped and sat up as far as he could with a wide branch of spade leaves in his way. He looked down over at Snufkin. “I don’t want us to change.”

“People are always changing, but we can change together.” Snufkin was admittedly a little confused where Moomintroll’s train of thought was going. He thought they’ve discussed this in-depth?

His heart lit up, fluttered in his chest in hope. He crushed it underfoot.

Moomintroll gulped. “I don’t mean it like that. I’m… I…”

Snufkin waited patiently. He sat up, too, and gripped the brim of his hat in his lap.

“I don’t know how to say this but I need to say this to you Snufkin, but I don’t want ya to change apart, can we still be friends?” Moomintroll looked anywhere but at Snufkin.

“Of course I’ll stay by your side,” Snufkin agreed easily. It was the easiest yet hardest thing he could do.

“Snufkin,” Moomintroll took a deep breath, steadying himself and pulled his gaze to meet Snufkin’s. “I love you so much, I want to stay with you, and you stay with me. I love you like Mamma and Pappa love each other, and if you don’t- don’t feel the same way, that’s okay! As long as we can be friends that’s more than enough for me.”

There was a stutter in Snufkin’s heartbeat at Moomintrolls confession.

“You don’t have to respond, we don’t have to change,” Moomintroll continued. “I needed you to know that before I exploded.”

“What if I want it to change?” Snufkin asked. His heart felt so light, pounding a rhythm into his chest. Before Moomintroll could respond, a look of pain crossing his face, Snufkin said, “What if I want us to be together, too… if you would have me?” He felt… he didn’t know how to voice his love for Moomintroll, he never thought he would ever. He wasn’t prepared.

Moomintroll’s eyes filled with starlight, a smile graced his face so wide and happy Snufkin silently filed away that memory forever. “I would love to,” Moomintroll said.

They held hands, something they’ve done countless times before, but this time it had a whole new meaning.

---

The summer heat got hotter and drier as the season progressed, the riverbed dried out and only the sturdiest flora could withstand the waves of heat. Grass shriveled to brown crisps and Moominmamma’s roses were nothing but bare stumps. In this, like everyone else in Moominvalley, Snufkin found himself dozing off more often than not. With a heat this intense, it left the air dizzy with sleep.

As Moomintroll and Snufkin would be considered officially together, they hardly strayed from each other’s sides. Their honeymoon phase, as Moominmamma called it. Despite how desperately Snufkin wanted to cuddle up to Moomintroll’s soft chest and sleep the day away under the bridge, the heat wouldn’t allow him to go closer than a few inches from Moomintroll. At night, when the air cooled to a more bearable warmth, not nearly cool enough to wear his jacket again but less like he needed to peel his skin off too, they would watch fireflies dance amongst the midnight blue or simply relax on the beach where the waves pounded their stories into the sand.

Snufkin tried not to think of the coming autumn, how the sunflowers were growing less frequently and the air lost the summer touch.

---

As if summoned, or perhaps sent by a certain spring goddess, Snufkin received a visitor on the last day of summer.

The summer left him weak and found that naps helped. Napping in flowers helped a lot. He laid in a grove of lavender brush, the first of the upcoming season and a final goodbye from summer. Their soothing smell lulled him into a deep sleep and he wondered if Moomintroll has seen this yet.

A crunch of footsteps through hard dirt and the sage leaves of the lavender brought Snufkin out of his stupor. Sleepily, he sat up and put his hat back on, the top adorned with more of the lavender stocks and sweet asters Moomintroll had found for him. A figure framed by the too-bright sun shaded his vision.

“Hello, may I help you with something?”

“I’m your dad and your mother sent me to make sure you’re getting ready to leave,” this person, The Joxter, said.

To see both his parents within the span of one season, how fortunate Snufkin must be. The Joxter was as Moominpappa described him to be, his eyes were a piercing blue and his olive coat had seen better days, the hat on his head was similar to Snufkin’s except red and looped through the cord around the brim were dandelions. From the pipe hanging from his lips and the calm disposition, Snufkin was a little unnerved by the similarities between them.

“It’s too early, tell her I’ll leave when it’s properly time,” Snufkin said.

The Joxter’s eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath of his pipe and puffed out a ring of smoke. “Okay.”

Snufkin was taken aback. “Okay?”

“Yeah.” He plopped down next to Snufkin and leaned back, his hat tilted down to shield his face. “I don’t care. You’re a grown man. She never took interest in you before now, so I don’t know what her concern is.”

The remark sort of hurt, but it was the hard truth. “Is she trying to change herself?”

“Not likely. I think she doesn’t want her only god kid to die out because he liked hanging out with the Moomins. Don’t worry, I do too. Your little boyfriend’s dad and I go way back.” His voice was muffled by his hat, the pipe lifted lazily in the air as he tapped out the ashes without care.

Snufkin stared down at him unsure of where to go from there. “They’re good, the Moomins.”

“Yeah, lay down kid, take a nap with me, then let’s go eat some of Moominmamma’s delicious food.” The Joxter patted Snufkin’s spot, the dent still in the grass where Snufkin had been laying.

He complied and found it odd to be having a cat nap with his dad out of the blue, a man he has never met before this moment. A god-like him who chose to spend his days idly, and suddenly he didn’t find it so weird so similar they were.

-----

AN: see Snufkin here!