#this is like Elena and Peter kind of how I picture them when they got married yk like their outfits specifically Elena’s

[valeovalairs]

Angelstone my beloved

[darylandbethfanforever9]

Downfall Of Us All: Chapter 13

Downfall Of Us All

Chapter 13

AN: Sorry, for the wait. I’ve been feeling down recently. I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter.

"Yeah, we know her, she's the bitch who stabbed me and killed our two children. I'll deal with her," Clint said darkly, a dangerous expression on his face. Something told Lilia that Clint would not make Laura's death quick, no he'd make it painful and slow. "Her real name is Ekaterina Kravchenko, she was born in Russia, Stalingrad which is now known as Volgograd. She was born on the 4th of July 1986," Lilia said grimly, showing a picture of Laura on the screen.

"We don't have a lot of information on Laura, what we do know is that she's dangerous and she's a master spy. We believe that these two are operating the program together, and we need to be careful. These people are dangerous." She said warningly, when she heard her phone ring.

It was her father, Mihai Dumitrescu. "Excuse me, I just need to take these phone call." Lilia said quietly, moving out of the room, causing everyone to stare. "Who's that on the phone to her?" Scott Lang asked curiously, Tony shook his head at him warningly. "Her dad, Dr Mihai Dumitrescu. He lives in Romania, Budapest but he does a lot of volunteer work in third world and war-torn countries. He's in Sokovia, at the minute." Tony explained quietly, as he took over the meeting.

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"Papa, are you alright?" Lilia asked worriedly, her father wasn't exactly a young man anymore but that didn't stop him from helping people. God bless him, she was proud of her father and his kindness. "I'm fine, Lily. I've just finished a surgery, it's complete chaos over here again. Serbia is fighting for control of Sokovia again, people are terrified." Mihai said concerned. Lilia felt her chest tighten at his words, and she heard alarms going off, she frowned. "Papa, what's going on?" She asked anxiously, worry surging through her like a firestorm. She felt worried for her father's safety. "It's nothing, that explosion wasn't anywhere near us. I love you, Lilia," Mihai said quickly, knowing he didn't have long. "I love you too, papa." Lilia said bravely and wiped her eyes as the line went dead. She sat still for a moment, before sobbing quietly into her hands. Her dad had to be alright, he had to be. He was her hero, he always came home safe and well.

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"The Extrimis serum killed this woman, the baby was born stillborn as a result. Given what they've used, it seems they're improving because the latest victims gave birth without any complications." Helen informed the team, and Fury. "So, what killed them?" Steve asked wearily, Helen sighed grimly and pulled down the sheet, so they could see the third victim's throat. "Yulia Zarhenkova's throat was slit, minutes after giving birth. The same MO was done to Nadia Nadarević, and Elena Nikolayev." Helen said grimly, and swallowed. "Tony, there's no easy way to say this but Pepper is pregnant with your baby. When we explained to Pepper's doctor what was going on, she informed her doctor that she was pregnant. She was.... scheduled to have an abortion today, at 2:30 PM." Helen explained gently. Tony's face turned cold at her words, he'd always wanted children with Pepper. It was why he'd become like a father to Peter, and Pepper was planning to abort their baby? "Could the baby survive? Despite the Extrimis?" He asked quickly, urgency in his voice. "It's possible, you did have the Arc Reactor and it could have genetic impact on your baby," Helen said carefully. Tony nodded, and swallowed as he looked at the rest of the team who were in shock. "I need to be alone, just for a few hours." He said numbly and headed to his lab. No one stopped him.

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"So, patient twenty-five is pregnant along with patient twenty-six, and you're sure our candidate isn't the father?" Dr Lozchenko asked intently, Laura nodded. "Positive, the fathers are Iron Man and Thor. The two women were scheduled to have abortions, neither of them wanted the child." Laura confirmed smoothly, a smile on her face. This was their advantage. Once the two women were in the late stages of pregnancy, they would induce them. The Avengers would be distracted. It was perfect.

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"So, you wanted to kill your baby with Tony Stark? And you wanted to kill your baby with Thor? Looks like you two aren't such nice women." Rumlow said cruelly, eying the two women who were hooked up on IV drips. Jane sobbed openly, she didn't want children and that was why she'd broken up with Thor for the final time. He wanted children, she didn't. Pepper said nothing, she was too busy staring at Rumlow who was absently running his hand over her stomach. "None of you three are like my girl. She's beautiful, she's got light blonde hair, and big china blue eyes. Plus, she's got breasts that I'd loved biting and cutting. You should hear the sounds she made, and she put up more of a fight then you two did." He said viciously and pulled out a video camera. He looked at her coldly and forced her out of the bed. She got up shakily, feeling nervous. "Strip for me. And I'll give you a taste?" He offered teasingly, Pepper was shocked at what he was offering.

"What?" Pepper stared at him in shock. Rumlow grabbed a handful of her strawberry blonde, dragging her out of the room and pulling out the IV while she cried out in pain. Dragging her into the next room, with sterile white walls and a narrow bed, he slung her out into the floor. "Let's make a deal," he told her, grinning. "You want to make things easier for yourself? You tell me things about Tony and you tell me things about a certain…" Looking at the phone in his hand, he read, "Lilia Dumitrescu." Pepper stared at him in confusion from the floor. "She's a new employee at Stark Industries… I interviewed her, but I don't know a lot else. She's a new addition to the AI team." "Whatever you've got," he told her, "whatever you know about her. About him. Tell me and make things easier for me here and things will go better for you." "So tell you what I want to know and… not fight you?" Pepper wanted to make sure she understood what he was saying. "Yeah," he smirked. "The intel I'll get from you either way. The easy way or the hard way?" Pepper started to quietly cry, wanting an end to this nightmare. "I… I thought you liked it… when we fought you." "I have the other two for that," he said, seeming amused. "Besides, that can't be easy on an older gal like yourself. What do you say?" Shaking, Pepper thought over her options. It didn't take her long to reach a decision. She nodded. Rumlow's face lit up. "Stand up." Pepper climbed unsteadily to her feet, trying to stop her tears since they were pointless. "Now, strip," he ordered. Pepper pulled the hospital gown off and sat down onto the bed.

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Sophie, since she was little had used cooking to calm her nerves. It was barely working today but it was working. With each day bringing some fresh horror, she needed to do something to feel normal again. Grace caught her making dinner, smiled and jumped right in. They were so used to working together in the kitchen, long hours side by side and it was a small bit of comfort for them. Natasha came to grab the remains of her green smoothie from the fridge, grinning at finding them there. "What in the world are you two up to?" the gorgeous spy asked with a grin. "It smells wonderful." "Dinner," Sophie told her. "Something so I can feel like me again." "It doesn't hurt that we have everything imaginable in here," Grace told Nat with a wink. "Beef Wellington," Sophie told the spy. "With brussels sprouts and baby carrots. Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce. And a cake to die for, pun intended, for dessert." Nat raised a brow but still looked very happy. "Let's talk portions, have you seen how much these guys can eat?" Nat wondered aloud. Sophie nodded. "Well, I've been thinking about that. I'm sure with their enhanced metabolisms, the super-soldiers have quite an appetite." "Bucky does," Nat winked at Sophie. "Clint, however, is the bottomless pit. At least he was before… Okay, let's make a plan here." "You cook?" Grace asked. "Hell, no. I can burn water. But no one has ever been able to out plan me," Natasha assured them. "Fair enough," Sophie told her with a grin. "Let's make that plan." And what a plan it was. It involved adjusting numbers and thank goodness they had time to pull more off, coming up with a salad, and the perfect wine. "We should have a movie night," Nat told them. "It would be a perfect way to finish up a meal like this. What do you think?" The sisters nodded, happy. Steve happened by as he came looking to see if anything had been planned. His face lit up to see the bustle in the kitchen. "What's going on in here?" he came to stop, hands on hips. "Dinner, Cap," Nat told him. "A home-cooked meal," he told them. "Sounds great. What can I do to help?" Steve started carrying platters out to the sideboard and table in the dining room. Nat winked at Sophie. "You couldn't have come up with anything better to charm Bucky," Nat told Sophie. "Good job." Sophie felt her face heat up. "I thought everyone would maybe enjoy it." "Especially Bucky. Come on. You know he likes you," Nat told her. Glancing past the spy, Gracie was nodding her agreement.

Sophie said nothing but smiled happily, as she started focusing on the dessert while Grace and Natasha helped with it. The large Beef Wellington was cooking in the industrialised, oven in the large kitchen. The Beef Wellington finished cooking, and she took it out of the oven, before putting it on a plate. It was steaming hot, and the pastry was perfect. "The Wellington's done, and so are the vegetables, and sauce. Just need to get the cake in the oven," Sophie said relieved, Grace and Natasha smiled. Once the chocolate cake was prepared into the baking tray, they put it in the oven, and set the timer. Natasha, Grace and Sophie put the food on the table. "Holy shit, that smells good." Tony said hungrily, he and Lilia had been looking over all of the files, Clint and Grace had found in the HYDRA base but so far had no more luck. "The cake will be ready after we've eaten, it's just in the oven." Sophie said softly, seeing Bucky sitting down next to her, and she gave him a shy smile. He smiled back, and passed her the plate with vegetables as she put some on her plate. She then passed it to Grace, who had some and gave it to Clint. It was like a proper family having dinner.

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Bucky honestly thought he would burst out of his jeans, after eating the deliciously cooked Beef Wellington with steam cooked vegetables, asparagus and hollandaise sauce. He had to unbutton his jeans, but he still had room in his stomach for the chocolate fudge cake that Sophie, Grace and Natasha had cooked. "Damn, that meal was better than what restaurants serve up," Bucky said amazed, Sophie smiled at him as the timer went off, and she went to get the cake out. The smell of dark chocolate wafted through the air, causing everyone's mouths to drool in hunger. Bucky actually felt his stomach growl in hunger. "I don't usually eat chocolate, but I'm letting go for tonight." Bruce declared seriously, and Sophie came out with the cake. It sat on a cake stand, smelling and looking delicious as she cut slices for everyone. Bucky bit into it, and felt the fudge melt on his tongue, bringing back memories. His mother and Steve's mother, both baking cakes for them on special occasions. Or, when it was their birthday, or to celebrate something. "This is delicious, dolls. You three knocked yourselves out." Bucky said impressed, causing them to smile. And Sophie smiled, her blonde bangs falling over her forehead. He smiled back at her.

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Unsurprisingly, there was still a lot of chocolate cake and once everyone got changed into their pyjamas for the night. The team were trying to decide what movie to watch.

Horror films were out of the question, considering what they'd found out. Clint didn't feel like being scared tonight and sat on the velvet sofa next to Grace. Lucky sat on his dog bed, with Salem, Starling and Custard all dosing off, while Tom sat on the armrest. The fluffy black and white cat, lightly snoring. The other cats, were sitting on people's laps, or on the sofas. Wanda had Patch on her lap, while Bruce had Paul on his chest. Bucky and Sophie had Bonnie, and Jack. Thor and Loki had two Norwegian Forest cats sitting on them, both were so fluffy it was like fluff mania. Loki stroked the cat affectionately. Sam, Sharon, Steve, Natasha, and Helen were all sitting comfortably on two other sofas. While, Tony and Lilia sat next to each other comfortably, and her ginger cat sat by them, Rubio. "Can we watch a funny film? I really don't wanna watch Alien VS Predator." Scott said uncomfortable, the film had always freaked him out. "How about Star Wars?" Peter suggested optimistically.

"Star Wars." Tony raised his brows. "Original trilogy? Prequel trilogy? Or sequel?" "No," Clint called. "I veto the prequel trilogy. It sucked!" "The one with Qui-gon? That one's good," Peter argued. "Which one had the teddy bear planet?" Wanda asked, snuggling with the cat. "I liked that one." "What is Star Wars?" Thor asked curiously. Tony rolled his eyes. Natasha got up from her place, walked by Tony to the console and simply typed in an entry. Tony turned around to see Jurassic World load up. Then he looked really excited, clapping his hands together. "Yes! Watch this, guys," he said, further typing into the console. When the room darkened, Grace looked around, seeing minor projections behind them, all around the room. As the opening sequel started it looked completely 3D. "Oh wow, Tony!" Clint was excited. "How the hell did you do this?" "Well, as I was developing B.A.R.F, I thought wouldn't it be neat to use this for 3D movies for that fully immersive experience?" "Wait, can we do this with pornos too?" Clint teased, Nat slung a pillow that narrowly missed Grace and hitting Clint in the face. "It's not a bad idea," Sam threw in there prompting Sharon to shove him off the couch. "Children!" Nat yelled. Steve and Bucky looked fascinated by the technology, especially one of the four raptors appeared to have walked around the couch. Thor looked around with wide eyes, trying to decide if any of it was really. Loki, shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

By the time, the teen and his younger brother were stranded in the park, Nat had snuck into the kitchen and made three huge bowls of popcorn, passing those around while everyone watched the action all around them, the sound lending an atmosphere that truly was immersive. Steve kept his eye on Bucky who seemed a little nervous at first but who came around pretty quickly, only occasionally ducked and dodged. Grace noticed him grin at them later, then she saw why. Sophie's hand was tucked into Bucky's. That was a good thing she thought. Grace had curled into Clint's side, so he threw his arm around the back of the couch, so she could be more comfortable. By the time the new mutant dinosaur came on the scene, his arm was just wrapped around her, pulling her even closer. Feeling so safe and comfortable wasn't something Grace felt a lot since the loss of her parents. It was nice, and she enjoyed it, letting it lull her in a happy place. She dozed against Clint, catching him looking at her in her peripheral vision.

He smiled at her, and she smiled back as they watched the film. It was very suspenseful in parts, particularly when it was revealed the mutant dinosaur had raptor DNA. The film ended with Claire and Owen left the hospital, bit Grace couldn't wait to watch the sequel. It had been enjoyable, and the team wanted to watch another film. So, they decided on Star Wars: Return of the Jedi with the cute teddy bears. 'I can get used to this, I can,' Grace thought peacefully, and leaned into Clint, who held her close.

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Sophie sat next to Bucky as Star Wars: Return of the Jedi played, she could see Grace drawing cake designs on her sketchbook, and she had ideas too. Like plans for an Ewok and C - 3PO cake, or just generally a Star Wars themed cake. She fondly remembered for Peter's tenth birthday, they’d hosted a Star Wars themed birthday party for him. "Aww, these teddy bears are so cute. Look at how cute they are," Wanda said adoringly, Lance Hunter rolled his eyes as he watched the film with them. "Darth Vader redeemed himself, I believe." Thor said quietly, as they saw Darth Vader grabbing Palpatine and throwing him into the electrical grid. Everyone nodded in agreement, Bucky sat next to Sophie as they watched the ending of the film. Luke cremating his father and celebrating with the others. "And the moral of the story?" Loki asked intrigued, he had secretly enjoyed this film, as much as it pained him. "That people can always change, Loki." Sophie answered softly, and squeezed Bucky's left hand tightly, Bucky felt his heart swell with emotion towards her. She was a very special dame.

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Sophie and Grace took the team to visit the Melnychenko Drăgoi cake bakery and were shocked by what Tony's renovation team had done to their store. It was beautiful, and it had that homey feel around the shop that only their parents could bring to the store with Zach. Three framed photos hung behind the store, of their parents and Zach. Grace felt tears of happiness sting her eyes, as she stared at their beloved store. She looked at Tony who had his hands in his pockets and pulled him into a hug. Sophie joined the hug, and the two women hugged him tightly. Tony seemed to understand what they were saying silently, and hugged them back. "Tony, we can't thank you enough. How much do we owe you?" Sophie asked thickly, trying not to burst into tears. The store felt like home, like their parents were here with them. Tony looked at them both seriously and smiled genuinely at the two young women. "Could you make me a cake? Anything that had chocolate and coffee in it?" He asked hopefully.

"Every day if you like," Sophie told him, swiping at her face with the back of her hand. Grace ducked behind the counter with her and they got to work while the others took a look around the bakery. Bucky caught Sophie's attention, pointing to Zach's photo on the wall. "Is that Zach?" Sophie nodded quietly, not wanting to draw Grace's attention while she helped her to get the cake started. Bucky stared up at the image with sad eyes, studying it for the longest time. "You knew him, didn't you? Rumlow?" Sophie asked quietly. Bucky nodded. "He was part of Pierce's S.T.R.I.K.E. team. I knew him very well. Fortunately, Zach has Grace's eyes." Sophie knew that was true. "What is he like?" Grace had cut them a glance, but Sophie was reasonably sure her sister didn't know who they were talking about. Bucky moved closer as she got out flour, baking powder, and eggs. "World-class combatant," Bucky said keeping his voice low. "He could street fight, knew martial arts. He was a tough son-of-a-bitch. At least he was until the Triskelion fell. He was supposed to take out Steve, with my help. That didn't work out so well for him." Bucky watched her work, while Grace chatted happily with Nat, Steve, and Clint. "You worked with him?" Sophie wanted to know. "I wouldn't word it like that, doll," Bucky explained. "I wasn't his equal. I wasn't even his subordinate. I was a tool he wielded like the rest of them. I wasn't even considered… human." Sophie's heart sank. "You know that's not true, right? You are so much more than they made you believe." "Was I?" Bucky dropped his gaze, looked embarrassed to be there. "You're a hero," Sophie told him. "No matter what happened during those years HYDRA held you captive." "I don't know what your history books told you, doll," he whispered. "But it wasn't that I was a hero." "Don't argue with a lady," Steve said quietly as he passed by, winking at Sophie. Sophie grinned at that. "Not that I'm one to disagree with the captain, but I think your status as a hero or not is dependent on perspective. You're a hero to me." "What did I do to earn that?" Bucky asked, a corner of his mouth tipping up. "Well, you're my mentor, aren't you?" Sophie asked, beginning to mix her dry ingredients. "You didn't sign up for that. At least, I know you didn’t. But you had to take on a scared, unwitting child of HYDRA agents. All you've done is watch over me, try to comfort me, keep me safe. What is it that a hero does again?" Bucky fought a smile, wasn't quite successful. "So how long have you had this shop? How long were you working in here?"

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"We've owned the store since we emigrated here from Ukraine, Odessa. Our parents were worried about the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster, so we moved here in 2001. My parents had saved up money, and we opened the Melnychenko Drăgoi cake shop." Sophie said fondly, thinking of her parents.

Bucky smiled at her words, he could see how much she loved her parents and she wiped her eyes.

"The third and fourth photographs are of our grandparents, mama's parents and papa's parents. We never got to know them, they died before we were born," She explained quietly, seeing his questioning look.

Bucky squeezed her hand tightly, his own maternal grandparents had been killed during the Holocaust for Jewish and Romani. It left a bitter taste on his tongue. Because once again, children were being ripped from their mothers, and fathers. He hated the new President, and what he stood for

Tagging list: @jtargaryen18​, @marvelfansworld​, @sapphirescrolls​, @nomadicpixel​, @queenoftheunderdark​, @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​, and @my-favourite-fics​ 

[mtvswatches]

Jane the Virgin 2x11 Chapter Thirty-Three

Spoilers disclaimer (please read before sending messages or writing comments.)

Click here for previous recaps!

Stray thoughts

1) So, the opening flashback has Jane giving Xiomara grief over not having a regular job and not giving up her dream in spite of not being able to offer her daughter proper living conditions. I guess this will be somehow connected with Jane’s motherhood and her dream of becoming a writer? Maybe?

2) As per usual, Rogelio continues to go overboard when trying to help either Xiomara or Jane. In this case, he brought a whole team of stylist, hairdresser, and photographer to get Xiomara’s picture taken. He couldn’t remember the names of each of them, but for some reason, I can’t hold any of this against him. I think it’s because he… tries, you know? He doesn’t do any of this on purpose. And now he’s jumping at the opportunity to babysit Mateo, which, let’s be real, is a show I’d watch the hell out. Jane reluctantly accepts.

3) The duplicitous bitch continues to milk the Solanos tragedies for views. Shocker.

4) Jane is lusting over her professor, and I couldn’t be less invested or more bored.

5) The moron seems to be dating Michael’s partner, whose name I just learned is Susanna. Again, I couldn’t care less.

6) Elena is Rose’s stepmother? So that makes Rose… Rafael’s stepsister? And the moron’s, too? That’s… twisted…

7) Now Jane has blurted her professor’s name in the middle of her smut reading, and I guess she’s considering dating him? And I’m like, why? She’s been going back and forth between Rafael and Michael since episode 1, and it hasn’t worked out with either, so maybe… be single? There’s nothing wrong with that.

8) Xiomara found Rogelio’s mother’s ring in his bedroom and Jane blurted out that Rogelio was going to propose. And while I’m glad Xiomara didn’t freak out and seems to be absolutely happy with the idea of marrying Rogelio, I can’t help but feel she and Jane are making a lot of assumptions here. Yes, he kept the ring, but there haven’t been any indications that he was about to propose in the near future. I don’t know. I think he was going to wait it out a bit, which I completely understand.

9) Okay, Jane and Xiomara came clean immediately. But instead of proposing, he gave it to Jane? Proves my point, though.

10) Weird flex, but okay…

PETRA: You really think you can charm a woman about to get married? RAFAEL: It worked with you.

I liked that the flashback showed that they were both playing each other. It’s a wonder that relationship didn’t last…

11) Yep.

12) The professor is not taking any hints and instead, he wants to get a free tour around Rogelio’s set. Okay, I’m still zero invested in this storyline.

13) “The Trophy Wife”!

14) Oh. This sucks. Now that Xiomara has an actual shot to make her dreams of becoming a singer true, she gets shot down because she’s been prioritizing her family.

15) OMG Rogelio’s tweets as he’s babysitting…

Ten minutes looking for the perfect shoes to compliment my eyes. 👞 😤 🌈

On the phone with my agent, fielding multiple offers. #WhatWillRoDoNext. 🙈 

Exfoliating. #Loofa

Trying on all my fedoras. #HidelnAHat.

I’m 100% convinced he’s tweeting all of this because he can’t disappoint his fans or something like that, but he’s definitely taking great care of his grandson. I’d bet my life on it.

16) See?

He was taking care of Mateo, and he’s even sharing with his grandson that he is, in fact, going to propose to his grandma. But now I’m afraid Mateo is going to swallow the diamond because Jane just called in the middle of him showing it to the baby…

17) Yep. I saw that coming. Jane is going off at him, and it seems unfair. It’s so common for babies to swallow stuff, they just poop it back out, it’s no big deal. And I do feel it’s kind of Jane’s fault? Rogelio wouldn’t have been distracted if she hadn’t called because she was so paranoid that he would mess up. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Besides, Rogelio acted appropriately. He realized immediately what had happened and took his grandson to the doctor. But whose fault was it when you allowed your child to be in the middle of a violent fight between his dad and your ex and he got hurt?

18) At least she apologized the next day, so there’s that.

19) Oh, Petra, the trophy wife thing really did get to her. And honestly, I really like who Rafael and Petra used to be? They truly were a healthy couple.

20) Okay…

Yeah, I think her telenovela life and her romance writing have somehow given her the idea that every man she meets will instantly be into her. I really hope it’s not just her making the fool of herself and then it will turn out that he was really into her, though. Can a male character in this show not be in love with her for once? She’s not all that great.

21) So, Petra came up with a smart solution to secure the wedding and she had to give up a little bit of her pride in order to do so, but kudos for her.

22) I really liked this bit and it reminded of a point I’ve been meaning to make but always forget to…

I think it’s very cool how Jane is a straight-up romance/erotica writer and no one in the show has ever made fun of her because of it? Everyone encourages her and takes her seriously – her family and her mentors, too. And it’s a wonderful message to send because usually romance writers are looked down on and the genre is seen as a joke, so it’s refreshing that here it is presented as a valid, respectable career choice.

23) Oh, Xiomara feels Rogelio is not being supportive, but in reality, he’s just insisting she skips the gig because he was planning to propose…

24) But he skipped the party and went to her gig to show her how much he supports her. Have I told you that he’s my favorite?

25) The moron must have a golden pussy, how do all the girls fall for her? SHE’S A MORON!

26) Okay…

I mean, I can get behind this ship, sort of. Mostly because of Petra. But… wasn’t he like super in love with Jane two days ago?

27) Bless her. She asked him if he was over Jane. Like GTFO dude, how dare you trying to use Petra to make yourself feel better? When she’s pregnant with your child?

28) And this is why Rogelio is my fave…

JANE: And look, Dad, I overreacted, too, and I'm so sorry I yelled at you. ROGELIO: That's not why I was upset. It's just… what if it's true? What if I'm not good with kids? I mean, I want them with your mother. JANE: Dad… ROGELIO: What if I'm terrible at it? I mean, you turned out perfect without me. JANE: Trust me, I wish I had you. And you'll be great, you know? You'll learn as you go. You can't just jump in and expect to know everything. I promise. You'll get there.

And then he goes and kisses the hell out of Xiomara to show her how proud he is of her. How can you not love Rogelio?

29) This is, without a doubt, one of the sweetest proposals I’ve ever seen. And you should trust my judgment since I don’t believe in marriage…

My buddy, Ryan Gosling, said, “The only quality I look for in a woman is that she's Eva Mendes. There's nothing else I'm looking for" At this point I was going to wave to Eva, and then look at you, and tell you that you are what I've been looking for. And I think back to when we first met, when we were 16, and I think that my whole journey up to now has been about finding my way back to you. I haven't had time to have it set. It's a long story. Xiomara Gloriana Villanueva, I want to spend my life with you, and raise kids with you so will you marry me?

And that’s why it’s almost heartbreaking when Xiomara semi-rejects his proposal when she realizes she doesn’t want to have any more kids because she wants to spend the rest of her life doing things for herself. And I say “almost” because this is also a valid life choice, and Rogelio’s also is, and I applaud both of them for being so upfront about what they want.

This show tends to present Jane as the mature, level-headed person who had taken on the role of mother of her mom since a young age but to be quite frank, characterization has always shown otherwise. Jane might have been mature for her age when she was younger, but I feel she’s completely clueless. As she should be. She’s so young!

We were always told, from Jane’s perspective, that Xiomara and Rogelio were immature, sort of suffering from Peter Pan syndrome, never wanting to grow up and be mature, responsible adults. But what I’ve seen so far has proven the contrary? They might be silly and extravagant and prone to tantrums, but they are mature.

They’re probably the only reason I’m still watching this show?

30) I mean, when is Jane going to have sex, for fuck’s sake?

31) Ugh, no, she told her advisor that she needed to get someone else because what had happened was getting in the way of her writing and now he’s asking her out, and I’m here, like, NO. I don’t want this garbage.

32) So Rose’s back.. and she didn’t get a face change…

33) I gotta be honest, so far, Jane’s love life has been the least interesting aspect of this show for me. It’s been a season and a half, and I keep wondering when will it get interesting for me, you know? This is a rom-com, after all, but the rom part has been sorely missing for me, at least. I love Xiomara and Rogelio, mostly because I love Rogelio, but they don’t give me the butterflies I always get with my ships, so… *shrugs*

34) Hope you enjoyed my recap, and, as usual, if you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi.Thanks!

[jemmaginary-blog1]

Agents of SHIELD Promo Poster

Because I can never just leave things alone, below is my analysis/thoughts of the poster and what I think it could mean. I very well may be wrong as this is Agents of SHIELD and they like to keep us guessing and make us think we know what’s going to happen but I did try. Some of this may be a reaching a bit or wrong and feel free to correct me/tell me what you agree or disagree with! So I apologise if this is a mess as I’m new to all of this and new to Tumblr so the formatting may not be great.

I shortened this down as I didn’t want to annoy people with my six page ramble.

(Also credit/thank you to jemannesimmons for pointing out that Fitz wasn’t grabbing Daisy’s hand as that is what sent me on this mad spiral trying to see what else I missed and what subtle clues were lurking in the poster.)

(Also did a quick speculation of the previous poster down at the bottom as I hadn’t really seen it before!)

(Also my computer isn’t great so I may have missed things to do with the kree writing as it’s currently impossible for me to zoom in on this picture without it becoming impossible to actually look at and see something other than pixels.)

(Alsoooo need to come up with a word other than also wondering if anyone has any breakdowns of previous season cast photos? Joined this Fandom during the break between S5 and S6 and curious as to what predictions people made last year.)

(Yay it’s been confirmed that there ARE easter eggs/clues in this poster so yay for that. Though easter eggs and clues/hints are different.)

The Last Supper

The fact that it's positioned in a similar way to the Last Supper could be accidental but I doubt it as 'faith,' has been a bit of a theme in AoS and so I think with Mack being director and becoming more of a main character it would be interesting to use the Last Supper as a way to hint to what's going to presumably be a season with a lot of focus on him. So here is me breaking down that side of it first.

I think multiple characters match with the same character or could due to the smaller number of characters in AoS when compared to The Last Supper and the different grouping.

You can somewhat match them up with the identity of the apostles and their grouping, either by their reactions to what’s happening or their placement in the photo frame. Though it does change depending on which one you do.

In The Last Supper it’s broken down into four groups of Apostles:

GROUP 1: Bartholomew, James the Less and Andrew are all surprised.

GROUP 2: Judas Iscariot is taken aback; next to him, Peter holds a knife and looks stormy, while the boyish John, the youngest apostle, simply swoons.

GROUP 3: Thomas is upset; James is shocked. Philip wants an explanation.

GROUP 4: In the final group of three, Jude Thaddeus and Matthew turn to Simon the Zealot for answers.

Out of our eight I’d roughly match them up, reaction wise, as follows:

Group 1: Fitzsimmons and Deke, they’re all surprised although Deke also appears to be up to something. 

Group 2: May and Not!Coulson

Group 3: Daisy

Group 4: Elena

Mack: On a framing/position basis he matches up with Jesus. Like Jesus in the Last Supper he has an expansive pose that contrasts with everyone around him, he's the focus and the centre of the frame. The new leader and he has his agents(apostles/followers) around him. Mack appears to be positioned in a similar place to Jesus, opening up the idea of him suffering some kind of betrayal from those closest to him. Similar to how Jesus was betrayed by Judas. I don't see Fitzsimmons being the ones betraying him because of last season, he's already had conflict with Fitz and then saw him die - so I don't think it'll be Fitz and Simmons had a minor betrayal by siding with Fitz rather than following orders and helping lock him up. For me the most likely candidates are May, Daisy or Elena as they are all close to him.

Judas Candidates:

May could betray Mack for Not!Coulson, Ming hinted towards May having some kind of motive/alternate mission this season that isn't to do with SHIELD/Being a SHIELD Agent and so she could be delving into that.  If May is Judas then perhaps Not!Coulson is Peter although that could shift old Coulson into being Jesus (depending on if when referring to Peter saying he doesn't know who Christ is he's referring to not knowing what SHIELD is - like in the trailer or Coulson.)

Elena and Mack are already slightly strained, the conflict over the death of Ruby and the repeated idea that Elena seems to feel like she has to do what’s right regardless of the others opinions of it. She’s impulsive and headstrong (I love her, putting that in here as it sounds like I’m just criticising her,) which could cause problems as she’s the Directors girlfriend and she’ll probably be going against orders during the Season. He’ll not want to seem like he’s playing favourites, especially as in S2 it was shown he wanted a fair SHIELD and I’m assuming he’ll still want that. Plus Mack will be extremely busy, too busy for them to be as close as they have been. And Coulson/Fitz’s deaths will place a strain on Mack. He’s lost Coulson, been placed into the position of Director and has a hologram with the face of Coulson telling him what to do. I really doubt he’ll be in a great place during Season 6.

Daisy: To me she’s the most unlikely candidate for Judas but I will admit it’s a possibility. Similarly to May it could be a Not!Coulson caused rift as Coulson was a Father to her and she may be feeling guilty over his death considering it was a give the serum to her or him situation. Or it could be because she wants to be the Director, Coulson had been grooming her to be the new Director or at least the new face of SHIELD and maybe she’ll disagree with Mack over how he decides to run things as he will do things differently this season as he’s called Coulson out/disagreed with him multiple times.

Other thoughts:

Fitzsimmons and Daisy are grouped together, hopefully showing that at some point that rift between Daisy and Fitz will be healed. I simultaneously want that Fitz/Daisy bromance back and want Daisy’s trauma to be addressed because it got somewhat ignored last season.

May is drinking what is presumably Haig, somewhat heartbreaking.

Elena is wearing the ill-fated SHIELD jacket of death if Season 3 is anything to go by.

As mentioned in many other posts Mack has his toolbox, offically the Director of SHIELD.

Daisy appears to have different gauntlets, presumably because her powers are stronger this season (after taking the serum) this will probably affect her in some way. Also backs up how she seems to be more powerful/confident in her powers in the Season 6 trailer.

Red Lights

The red light seems to be focusing on three people: May, Fitz and Deke with a focus on May and Fitz especially. 

All people that were separated from the team in some way at the end of the last season.

May: She lost Coulson and was with him as he died. The team left her on the beach as they flew off to find Fitz and so we can assume there’ll be some distance between her and the rest of the team. She is also physically separated from them in 5x22 with the ship flying off into space, though the s6 trailer does show she reunites with SHIELD at some point it doesn’t mean it’s immediate. With her I think the ‘danger,’ is Not!Coulson and whatever his mission/motive is - he looks like the man she lost and loved and so he’s in a position to manipulate her. 

Fitz: He’s out frozen in space and the team are going to find him. Though he may have been abducted which only separates them further. There will also be emotional distance as he died, he hurt Daisy and so he’s going to be shocked. They’re dealing with finding him whilst knowing their Fitz who rescued them from space died and dealing with what happened to Fitz (mental break.) The danger when it comes to him is the physical/literal danger he’s in if he’s been taken captive and taken away from cryo!chamber the team are heading to and the mental danger (maybe why the red light covers his head - brain -> brain injury -> framework!Fitz - the whole dual personality thing) as this Fitz has been hearing the Doctor and there’s still a chance he could go through what Loop!Fitz did. Whether that be because of something that has happened during the time between Season 5 and 6 or sometime during the season.

Deke: The canary in the coal mine, their proof that the timeline changed. As far as the team know he’s gone, he never existed and so to them he’s dead. Rather than them searching for him I think it’ll be the other way around, Deke finding them or them finding him accidentally.

These people are the most isolated from the others and so are in the most vulnerable position. They are in the most hypothetical danger and have the greatest chance of being hurt/influenced right now.

Red is traditionally used to symbolise danger and so the light could be representing that, danger and anger and a warning to the audience that none of these characters are safe. Either during or at the start of the season.

With Fitz there are also alien runes surrounding him, symbolising the fact that he’s lost in space/surrounded by aliens? May’s is simply light reflecting on the metal grating of the background, seeming much more ‘normal.’ Reflecting the fact that she’s on earth/focusing mainly on earth in terms of her plot-line?

In contrast the light around May seems darker, emotionally she’s in a dark place and she’s also in the dark when it comes to the mystery surrounding Not!Coulson.

Also may be reaching slightly but Not!Coulson (how are we actually referring to him?) is looking towards her and the light follows the arrows in his eye-line heading towards May with the light increasing in brightness. Showing he’s influencing/manipulating her this season? Or placing her in danger.

With Fitz and May it could also link to the religious symbolism.

The light around Fitz almost resembles a half halo (because he died and was reborn? Angel? Or because this Fitz is innocent compared to Loop!Fitz) and his light is also the brightest shade of red.

The way the brightest red forms a red triangle almost horn shape. Indicating she could be Judas? or influenced by the devil/Lucifer (Not!Coulson) although I don’t feel as if Not!Coulson is going to be a villain after Captain Marvel (he could be but that movie changed how I felt about the Skrulls and so far I think he’ll be a Skrull.) Maybe it indicates that whilst Fitz was reborn she’s going to die (hopefully not!) or ‘fall,’ by doing some bad deed and/or betraying the team/SHIED.

Look who’s in front of the ‘D,’ and guess what word starts with D?  Doctor.

Also does anyone else see figures in the background of the pink/orange bit? Behind the writing

[misformarvel]

In every single world.

Summary: Gwen Stacy’s best friend is dead. Besides her grief, Gwen has a chance to change her destiny saving Peter.

A/N: Thinking about this since a long ago. I don’t know how many parts is gonna have, just hope it doesn’t suck way too much. 

Warnings: idk, this may be pure crap. 

Two months. It’s been two months since he died. Twenty minutes before it happened, Gwen Stacy waved him goodbye after their study-date for an important chem exam they were having by the end of the week. Peter Parker crossed the street and turned back to smile at her once more. He wanted a way much more affectionate goodbye but never got the guts to confess to her the way he felt. She knew it anyway because Peter was everything but good keeping secrets. At least, that’s what they all thought.

In two months Ned and Gwen haven’t left Aunt May’s apartment. The woman lost her husband not so long ago, and now her beloved nephew was gone too. Peter made her life meaningful, she repeated on and on, but now everything was nonsense. May didn’t want to be alone and Peter’s best friends didn’t want to let her on her own. Harry Osborn was extremely generous with May, who was in a delicate situation. She got a couple of days off of work that soon became a couple of weeks and then a couple of months. The hospital was going through a financial crisis and couldn’t pay her salary if she couldn’t cover her guards. Harry paid for Peter’s funeral as well. Mary Jane says he does it because he feels guilty. Gwen didn’t know what to think about. Ned never trusted him but was too devastated to think of another thing but Peter and the fact he will never see his best friend again. 

Mary Jane and Gwen never talked about Peter. They accorded it a long ago, the two girls were afraid of ruining their friendship if they open up about their feelings for him. Deep inside Gwen thought MJ played with Peter’s feelings for too long, and MJ thought Gwen was way too friendly with her ex-boyfriend. Losing him wasn’t helpful. Bitterness filled them hearts. “If she didn’t give him false hopes maybe Peter would move on”. 

“You know this is not good for you Gwen. You need to come clean about how you feel”. Aunt May is a wise person and Gwen knows it, but she was scared and sad and didn’t have the strength to face a fight, not with Mary Jane, or anyone, to be honest. She only wanted to see him once again. It was impossible. Not even in her dreams. May dreamed with Peter once. Ned did a couple of times and remembered him all of the time. Gwen started to forget his face, just two months after he left. She stopped at the framed pictures of him in the apartment and stayed looking at them trying to keep fresh the image of a smiling Peter, or a dork Peter, or a serious Peter. Not the last image of him, not the image of his face covered with bruises, his bleeding mouth, his broken nose. She wanted that smiling Peter back, she needed him. 

She went back to where they find him. Spiderman. No mask, tho. Peter Parker. Far from looking like the nice boy from Midtown High. She couldn’t believe it. It makes so much sense now, how many times he risked his own life to save her dad, only getting the police persecution in return. Captain Stacy found him just a couple of blocks away from his own house. He prayed for his daughter to be home, he prayed for her do not see her friend is such state. But destiny is cruel and karma is a bitch. How many times Captain George Stacy cursed on Spiderman’s name in front of Peter and Gwen? Spiderman was Peter Parker. He hated Spiderman but liked Peter far enough to call him son one day in the future. If Gwen has had arrived in her house a couple of minutes before, if she wouldn’t forget her textbooks at the library, maybe she wouldn’t have seen the crime scene, maybe her last memory of him would be he smiling at her from across the street. Not his body surrounded by a pool of his own blood, not his beaten and swollen face.

A tear started rolling down her cheek.Gwen pressed shut her eyes and took a deep breath, wishing it be her last breath. She never thought she would feel this way, but the weight of her loss was way too heavy to carry on.

“Stacy? What are you doing here?” the voice came from behind the trash dump placed at one corner of the alley. She would recognize that voice anywhere, anytime. No, it is not possible, you’re starting to have hallucinations, you got to get out of here Gwen, get your shit together. “Pss, Gwen, I’m here, behind the trash”. Scared the shit out of herself, Gwen started running in the opposite direction, heading to her parent’s house, five blocks away from that goddam alley. 

“Oh, hi sweetheart” her mom greeted her from the kitchen. “What happened? you look like you’ve seen a ghost!” she stated once she saw the petrified expression on Gwen’s face. “P-Pe-Peter, mom, I saw Peter”. Mrs. Stacy gave her daughter a confused sight. “Okay Gwen, Peter may be a little paler than others but he’s not a ghost” she joked and turned back to the kitchen. “He came here, by the way. Said something about the exam you have this Friday and left”. 

“What you mean by he was here talking about the exam, mom what the fuck!?”

“Language, Miss”.

“Mom if this is one of your jokes, I swear… it’s not funny”.

“No Gwen, why would it be a joke? He was looking for you but you weren’t here and he left because he’s doing the grocery shopping for May. He’s such a sweet and considerate boy. Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy, God knows if you don’t care enough about him another girl will”. 

“I don’ feel fine, I’d better go upstairs”. 

“Hi Gwen”. 

Mrs. Stacy heard her daughter screaming, and make her way upstairs to check if everything was alright. 

“Gwen, hija, is everything okay?” Mrs. Stacy asked behind the door. Pressed on the other side, Gwen replied to her mother: “It’s okay ma, it’s just, I, I saw a spider. But it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s not here anymore”.

“Oh, Gwendolyn, for god’s sake you’re eighteen years old, kill the fucking bug”. Mrs. Stacy leaves, shaking her head in disbelief. 

“W-what are you doing here!? I thought, I … no, it’s not possible. You’re dead!”

“Yeah, kind of. C’mon babe, help me with these” his face was muddy with dirt and blood. He came closer, putting his hands on her waist and her hips. Gwen, petrified by what she was experiencing, didn’t react to his actions. Not even when he makes the distance between their lips disappear, pecking hers softly, avoiding to add too much pressure to his swollen and bleeding lips. 

“What the fuck was that gorgeous?” Peter asked his girlfriend. His eyes traveled from her lips to find her confused sight. “I mean, it wasn’t explicit but I was asking you for some help in the alley” he chuckled, amused by the inexplicable panic expression on Gwen’s face. 

“Peter… you’re Spiderman”. 

“Uh-huh, yeah, until last time I checked. Are you fine Gwen? Did you hit your head or something?”

“What, when … how have this happened!? Peter think about May! You’re everything to her”.

“Wow, Stacy, chill dude. I’m fine, May’s fine. This… this is the correct thing to do. But now, hand me those pieces of clothing you’ve been stealing from me before your mom enters without knocking the door and sees me with the suit on. Unless you want me to stay without clothes, I wouldn’t complain”.

“Peter! What the fuck, no, stop”. Gwen covered her eyes with her hands when Peter started to take off the Spiderman suit. He laughed at her reaction. It wasn’t the first time he did that in front of her, and he had his underwear on, she definitely had seen him fully naked before. Gwen was acting weird he thought, but it was fun.

“Peter, my mother can’t see you, you have to leave now”. 

“Shit, you’re right, I came for you like forty minutes ago, there’s no way I could make my way upstairs without her to notice… That’s why I love you, always thinking about everything”. Peter kissed Gwen once more, this time he didn’t care about his injured face. He grabbed his own clothes from Gwen’s closet and dressed up quickly. “Remember we have this meeting with Mr. Fury in a couple of ours, that’s why I came here in the first place. But is not something I can tell your mom. I mean Hey Mrs. Stacy, can Gwen come with me to an Avengers meeting, nothing serious, just saving New York from another alien invasion, and maybe dick her down at the Avengers tower after that. Ha, I don’t think so. I’ll pick you up at 11. Suit up”. 

Suit up? Avengers Tower? DICK HER DOWN!?

“Gweeeeen, MJ is here”. 

“It’s okay Elena, I can go upstairs, she must have the headphones on”. 

“Fine Chelle, just tell your friend dinner’s on 15 minutes”. 

“I’ll do Mrs. Stacy. And thanks again for the invitation”. 

Michelle made her way upstairs, always the same, admiring the paintings hanged on the walls. Mrs. Stacy is such a talented artist, how lame it is she secludes herself in her housewife role. Gwen’s room door was partially open, so she entered without knocking. 

“Hey, take those off you dumbass” Michelle said playfully kicking her friend who was lying on the floor. As she guessed, Gwen got her headphones on.

“What the f…” Gwen turned around to find a very changed, almost unrecognizable MJ. Gwen sat up and then stand in front of her friend, examining her with curious eyes.

“Mary Jane, what did you do with your hair!?”

“Uh ehrm, I know my hair looks like shit but what the fuck happens to you!? You missed the rehearsal. Gwen if you keep doing this to us we’ll have to find someone else”. 

“Rehearsal!? Mary Jane what are you talking about!? All this is so weird. I just saw Peter, he, he came through the window and then left” And he kissed me she thought, but didn’t get the guts to tell MJ. 

“Gwen you’re starting to scare me. Okay, Pete came through the window and that’s creepy but he’s Spiderman so, we must get used to it. And yes, this is the third rehearsal you skip. I know you are busy with your superhuman duties and everything but if this is too much for you, we gotta talk about it for what is best for the band”. Michelle tried to calm her friend down, but with every word, Gwen’s confusion grew more and more. 

What did she mean with superhuman duties? And since when she knew Peter was Spiderman!? And she didn’t seem surprised or mad at the fact her ex-boyfriend entered her best friend’s room by the window. In fact, she stated it was a common thing. Does Peter visit her in the same way? Does he has clothes in her closet and passionately kiss her before leaving her bedroom by the window? Gwen felt a blinding headache, and the next thing she knew was she collapsed on her bedroom’s floor. 

“Yeah, I don’t think she can make it to the meeting tonight. She seems very confused and keeps calling me Mary Jane, I know, weird as fuck. So that’s all Petey, I’ll call you again if we have some news. Good luck with your business. Bye”. 

“Oh, look at you Sleeping Beauty. Your charming prince isn’t here yet but he’ll come after the Avengers reunion”. 

“Where am I!? Mary Jane!?” Gwen woke up from her little nap in a hospital’s bed. The bright whiteness of the room hurt her eyes, he tried to sit up but her blurred vision and shaking moves told her to stay lay down. 

Michelle looked at her friend with preoccupied eyes. “Seriously Gwen, enough with that Mary Jane shit. I’m Michelle, Michelle Jones, your best friend. Remember me?”. 

“Michelle Jones?” Gwen mumbled before blacking out again. 

“Is she going to be fine?” Peter asked, really worried about his girlfriend state.

“Sure Peter-Man, there’s nothing to be worried about. Stacy’s gonna be fine”.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark. I-I really appreciate what you’re doing for us”. Peter turned his sight to his unconscious girlfriend and Dr. Stephen Strange, placed on the other side of the room stated that she was going to wake up soon. 

“Peter, I think you should go and help May comforting her parents. Stephen and I have to talk with Gwendolyn and how weird it would be for George and Elena to find us here? Go, kid.” Peter nodded and did what Tony Stark asked him to do. 

“He doesn’t have a clue of what it’s happening,” Tony said with a bit of sadness in his tone. 

“Neither she”. Strange examine Gwen’s lost sight. She was still very shocked about everything but started to imagine what was happening. Dr. Stephen Strange presence was only confirming her doubts. But, how?

“Gwen, can you hear us?” Tony grabbed her hand in a fatherly way. He was as worried as Peter, maybe even more. He felt responsible for his web-slingers. May wanted to kill him already, he didn’t want Mr. and Mrs. Stacy to hate him too. “May we have a word?”.

Gwen sat up abruptly. “All this is so weird. I, I want to see Peter, please Mr. Stark”. 

“You’ll see our spider friend later. Now we need to talk about what happened in that alley Miss Stacy” Dr. Strange was intimidating, he wanted to go straight to the point. How this Gwen Stacy appeared in this universe and what happened with Spider-Gwen. “You aren’t the Gwen Stacy we know”.

“What are you talking about. Of course, I’m not, I don’t know you”. Gwen felt tired and dizzy, her vision started to get blurry again. 

“Calm down Gwen, we know this is too much for you right now, but we need you to tell us why are you here. If you don’t know how did you traveled to this universe at least can you tell us what is happening around there in yours”. Tony was playing the ‘good cop’, trying to gain her trust. 

“I don’t know how it happened” Gwen sobbed, memories from the last weeks fill her mind and overwhelmed her spirit. “I stopped by the crime scene on my way home. In my head I recreated the facts, Peter lying dead on his Spiderman suit. Mask off. Surrounded by forensics, my dad was there too”.

“Peter what?!” Tony freaked out, started walking around the white room as a caught lion. When did this happen Gwen? A date, we need the date” he screamed.

“Easy Stark. October 20th. Five blocks away from Gwen’s house”. Stephen gave her a sympathetic smile.”I brought you here”. 

“What the hell Strange!?” Tony grabbed Stephen’s shoulders and shook him.

“I’m not entirely sure about it, but someone exchanged our Gwendolyn Stacy, the one with spider powers, for this one. The Gwen Stacy from another universe where Peter Parker is dead”. 

“Peter’s okay here, he’s alive, he’s protected by you. I, I don’t have superpowers”. Gwen’s headache and tiredness barely allowed her to keep talking.

“That is another thing I’m not sure about” Strange found Gwen’s phone on the bedside table and made it levitate high enough to guarantee it wouldn’t survive to the fall. Gwen caught it with a web shot. 

“Gen Z, you can threaten them with killing their smartphones or their parents and they wouldn’t hesitate”. Strange smirked. “Now we know you have powers, at least since you arrived in this universe”.

“Okay, now I’m as confused as her, Strange. Can you explain what is happening?” 

“Peter’s gonna die in a month unless we do something to avoid it. And for some reason, I think the only person who can save him from his destiny is this young lady”. 

“October 20th” Tony mumbled, realizing it was, in fact, a couple of weeks to go until Peter’s death date. 

“You have to return to your universe Gwen, but first we need to make sure your powers are traveling with you this time”. Those were the last words Gwen heard from Dr. Strange before her eyes fluttered shut once more.

[collection81]

Interview: Elizabeth Glaessner, a painter living in Brooklyn, New York.

Before this visit, Elizabeth and I did not know each other but I had admired her paintings for years. I first encountered them in 2014 at PPOW, her NY gallery. Her work exists between abstraction and representation with dark human moments lurking within painted worlds.

It was important to me that the first studio visit in this series be with someone I didn’t already know but whose work interests me, partially because it functions in a realm outside of my own practice. I didn’t want to feel any personal familiarity with her work, or the comfort that comes with an inherent knowledge of that person or their process. This allowed me to be an open and inquisitive visitor.

I asked her a series of questions that address her studio practice and the associated struggles. We talked for about an hour about personal doubt, coping mechanisms, and book clubs.

The following conversations is excerpted from an interview on October 15, 2016 in Brooklyn, New York.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Palo Alto, California and then moved with my family to New Orleans and then to Houston, Texas. I spent most of my time in Houston. Texas is another world; the landscape is wild. I’ve been in New York since 2007 so I do miss the wide open spaces. Driving across Texas is amazing, you can see and feel the landscape transform from a sticky swamp to a desert.

Houston also has a great art community. My mom is a painter, she taught at the Glassell School of Art,  which is part of the MFAH (Museum of Fine Arts Houston). It offers classes like the Corcoran, but there’s no degree program. They also run a highly respected residency program called the Core program.

When I was in High school, I was on the Teen Council at the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston and one of the things we did was visit the Core artist studios. Trenton Doyle Hancock was a resident at the time, so we got to visit him there. That was a pivotal experience for me, everything in that space felt very alive and unreal in the best way and you could see that he was living his work. He was totally committed to what he was doing.

What is the driving force behind your work?

I feel like I couldn’t not do it. Growing up, it was the one thing I could always get lost in. I really enjoy the act of painting; I love that part as much as I love thinking about the ideas or the narrative.

When I am making, the small pieces especially, I reference things that I’m reading or experiencing now but then also combine that with things that have stuck with me from my past. So it feels like a natural way to reflect on the present and the past. I develop a lot of the stories in an intuitive way. With the pure act of painting the most exciting thing for me is trying something new and then being surprised with what happens. That allows for some of the content to be dictated by the process.

What is your biggest struggle in the studio?

Right now it is the size of my working space. If I had more space, I might be doing more of the larger paintings at the same time. I like to work on a lot of pieces simultaneously. Sometimes there is a positive thing in not being able to though, it forces me to put things away, which stops me from overworking them.

Put the following terms in order of importance to your studio practice:

Form, Concept, Process

I feel like they all inform each other. I have been thinking a lot about what I want the paintings to say but they aren’t extraordinarily specific. I am not totally interested in having an idea and then making a painting to show that idea. I start with vague ideas, I’ll think about a specific mood or particular landscape or color, then I start thinking about the narrative. I ask myself if it will be a dangerous painting or a lighter painting. They’re still open for people to experience them in their own way.

Was there ever a time when you felt like you couldn’t keep making work? If so, what helped you to keep going?

Yeah, there have been times when I question everything: the type of work I’m making, is the work important, etc. I’ve also had stretches where I fail a lot and I just keep making bad paintings. I make a ton of small pieces that no one sees. I was working on a huge piece earlier this summer, it’s a great example of a failure that took forever. It was haunting me. I would come in the studio and work on it every day and at a certain point I had to take it down, roll it up, and start new pieces.

This was my first large piece on canvas in a long time, and there was a lot of experimentation at the same time. I like to work fast and get it out and move on, but I got really stuck on this one. Sometimes I felt I had gone backwards that day, I would go home and obsess.

I take pictures in the studio and I would go home and look at the photos over and over again. I think a lot of it was figuring out how the materials I am used to working with on paper or panel worked on the canvas. I love working on paper, it is an amazing surface. Even though it takes a long time to prepare, it didn’t feel as daunting as painting on canvas.

I love the way wet media works on paper too, so when I was working on panel, that felt like the closest thing to the smooth surface of hot press paper. Canvas is more flexible, so when I wanted to bring some of the moments that occur in my other work into the large piece, it was a struggle. I learned that sometimes I’ll build up too much and then the piece dies. I just have to approach it differently. I put it away and work on something else, that’s how I deal with it.

Do you have any routines, rituals, or coping mechanisms that you use regularly in your studio practice?

If I am frustrated with a big piece, I will just sit on the floor and work on small pieces on paper. That feels like, comfortable, play time. I think that kind of stuff impacts my work a lot. Sitting on the floor I am immediately reminded of childhood, which can be very freeing. I also have a big table at my apartment, and sometimes do small pieces there, which is a totally different environment. It’s nice to go back and forth.

My studio mate and I usually listen to music and podcasts (though when I’m by myself it’s always music, I can’t really focus on anything else while I’m working). Every once in a while I’ll be listening to a weird station on Spotify and turn it off and realize that the music was putting me in a weird mood.

If I’m really focused, it all becomes white noise so I don’t immediately realize how it is affecting me. I like listening to This American Life outside of the studio, and recently I had it on while painting. This episode that was so fucked up, I had to turn it off and listen to it later. It was too intense.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of your studio practice that help keep you sane?

I run. I have been running forever, I used to run track in high school and my first year of college but it became too much with practices. I don’t do incredibly long distances but I need to do it or I become a terrible person to be around. Because I work a lot on the floor I have been noticing I’m getting back aches and pain, so I think it’s important to be physical. I’m also in a book club/crit group with some amazing artists and writers.

A friend of mine, Jessica Stoller, who went to Cranbrook started this womens crit group with a few of the other members while she was there and a lot of them ended up in New York. They’ve kept it up here and it keeps growing. We go to one person’s studio one day and then do the book club another day. We’ve read one of the Elena Ferrante books, a scandalous book called Tampa and just finished Americanah, which is probably my favorite book so far. The author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is an incredible writer.

We, as artists, are doing so many different things. We have our home life, our studio practice, day jobs, etc. and I think that if I don’t make borders or boundaries I will just feel completely overwhelmed. So my day job is completely separated from my studio practice. But home life/studio life is a gray area for me. I have not yet learned how to not let my art affect my mood outside of the studio.

Is there anything you would like to promote? Upcoming exhibitions, projects, passions?

I just had several small works on paper up in a group show at P.P.O.W. curated by Anneliis Beadnell. I’ll have a couple of pieces in some group shows coming up. One at SVA curated by Peter Hristoff and another in Chinatown. I’ll send out an email and post something on Instagram when it gets closer to the dates.

http://www.bmoreart.com/2016/10/inertia-elizabeth-glaessner.html

https://www.instagram.com/eglaessn/

[jads1000]

Steroline Appreciation Week (#scaw17) The Snow Globe Part 2

Continued from here X

Writing this has made me feel super emo. I tried to combine all the elements of Steroline I love (friendship, teasing, angst, romance and passion). It’s basically a trip from S2 to S8 and I hope you all enjoy it.

***

Approaching her doorstep, Caroline let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. After being locked up and tortured by a pack of werewolves, all she wanted was a hot bath and a lot of junk food. Stefan followed behind, concern dripping off him, his shoulders tense with anxiety. As bad as her ordeal had been, it could have been much worse if it hadn't been for the Salvatores and creepy Dr Martin. She shivered as she pulled her key chain from her pocket. Behind her, she sensed his footsteps pause obviously waiting for her to open the door. Then she heard it.

A stifled chuckle.

Was he laughing at her? Because if he was, she was about to kick his ass, hero hair or not.

She spun around to see Stefan's grin smooth out into his more standard earnest face. "What was that?"

"What was what?" He replied, the picture of innocence.

"See, I thought I heard someone laugh and we both know that's not really your style." Her eyes narrowed. "Is being burned with vervain and shot with wooden bullets amusing?"

"No, no, no." His own eyes widened in horror. He gestured at the key in the door as yet unturned. She gave him a 'wtf?' look. "You said it was a shit gift!"

Dangling down was that damn snow globe. After having misplaced her keys several times recently, she had resorted to attaching them to something big and ugly. Funny how she never had that issue since. "It IS a shit gift, but because I am gracious, I will admit it has it's uses. Still, I don't know if I'll ever forgive you." She turned to Stefan who was grinning from ear to ear like she was the most amusing thing in the whole world. Just for a moment, she forgot the existence of vampire hating werewolves and psychotic doppelgangers.

"I'll take useful."

"Oh, shut up!"

***

Stefan had passed a fitful night on the Forbes' family couch. He was grateful to Caroline for putting him up after Elena moved into the boarding house to avoid by murdered in her own bed by Jeremy. Still he wasn’t looking forward to having to discuss their sire bond revelation with his brother. Stepping out of Caroline's en suite shower, he picked up the towel she had left him and wrapped it snugly around his hips. It didn't leave much to the imagination, all Liz's bigger towels must have been dirty. He moved into her room to start dressing.

Caroline's room was pretty and feminine. To say she was a neat freak was an understatement. Stefan hadn't really been in here before and interested to see what secrets her boudoir might give up. In one corner, there were several shelves containing cheerleader trophies, commendation medals for various good deeds and a suspiciously home-made certificate declaring her third grade hopscotch champion. Caroline Forbes really was multi-talented. In pride of place, her Miss Mystic Falls trophy twinkled and next to it, hung on a small hook, was the snow globe key chain from his one and only attempt at Secret Santa.

His heart fluttered in his undead chest.

Why would she still have this given how much she hated it?

He ran his fingertips over the rounded surface and for the first time in weeks, he smiled.

***

Stefan and Caroline stood watching the burning log shed. Even as a ghost, Enzo was a royal pain in ass.

"I have a secret for you."

Caroline mesmerised by the fire was stumped. "What?"

"I have a secret I never told Elena." Stefan grinned. "Aside from the ‘dirt on your cheek’ thing."

"Okay." She looked dubious.

"You remember that Secret Santa gift?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "How could I forget!"

Stefan looked chastised. "I had a completely different gift for you, but Damon being Damon ruined the whole thing."

"So not a snow globe then?"

Doubt etched Stefan's face. He had always figured that someone as whimsical as Caroline would love such things, maybe he didn’t know her so well. "It was a snow globe, it was just a better one." He went on to describe the pretty, glass globe and where and when he had got it. At the mention of Lexi, he glanced away as if wishing to hide his sadness from her.

"It's okay to miss her. Damon may be your brother, but he's also a complete dick."

"I'm no better than him."

"Duh, you're a 1000% better."

"I killed Enzo."

"Your brother left him to die in a fire." Caroline cocked her head to one side. "Anyway, I don't want to talk about Enzo or Damon, who is this Disney character you associate with me?"

"Tinker Bell." He replied simply.

"I've never seen Peter Pan."

"Disappointed it wasn't Cinderella?" He teased. She narrowed her eyes. "Tink is misunderstood. People see her as impatient, jealous and impetuous." She frowned at him and opened her mouth to protest. "But it comes from a place of love, she would do anything for her friends." He smiled at her. "And she has really cute shoes."

She punched him on the arm. "You're so annoying."

He smiled. "I just can't believe you've never seen the film. Youngsters of today, don't know you're born.”  And then, even though, he really didn’t want to, he added “Come on, let's go check on Damon and Elena."

***

Spending an afternoon watching movies with her mom had been one of Caroline's favourite childhood things to do. Now Liz was dying, Caroline was desperate to make as many memories as possible. Stefan had dropped off a couple of DVDs from his collection, along with some chocolates and popcorn so she decided that given how miserable the weather was that was what the two of them would do. Liz was installed on the couch, tucked under a blanket. She looked pale and worn, the fragility of life etched across her features.

One of the movies Stefan had picked was Peter Pan. Curious, she popped in the DVD in the DVD player and snuggled up next to Liz.

"This takes me back." Her mom commented. "I know it's a cartoon, but it's kind of dark. Do you really want to watch it?"

"Wouldn't be Disney otherwise. Besides..." She looked away coyly. "Stefan once told me that Tinker Bell reminds him of me."

Liz made a strangled noise, half way between a snort and a gasp.

"What?" Caroline demanded. “She’s an icon!”

"Nothing. Let's just watch the movie." Liz passed her daughter the popcorn and they settled down to enjoy the film. "He's nice, Stefan. I mean for a vampire."

"Well your comparison is Damon so..."

"Still, he made us dinner the other night, he cleaned up and loaded the dishwasher. I don't think your father ever did that."

"He's trying to get in your good books." Caroline scoffed.

"Ask yourself why he's doing that." Liz glanced over. "He likes you."

"He's my friend, that's all."

"I don't think that's true. He cares about you Caroline and when I'm gone, you're going to need someone there for you."

"I don't want think about that."

The movie continued to play. Tinker Bell appeared on screen, jingling her bells and never once uttering a single word.

"I'm going to kill Stefan." Caroline complained.

"I thought you might." Smiled Liz.

***

Caroline didn't know how long she could keep up this book club ruse. Her Nook kept her from having to explain the physical lack of books to Alaric, but even with vampire healing, her eyes were constantly red and puffy. Stefan had been gone for six long months, the twins were exhausting and Ric was frankly as much use as a chocolate teapot. Which seemed to be the default setting for most new dads, but then he had a knack of making dusty academia seem like the hardest job in the world. For all his 'you can't explain what you love' bs, she suspected Klaus had never changed a diaper in his life.

Stefan, however, would have been different. She was certain of he would have got up in the night, warmed bottles and changed diapers even the really disgusting ones. He would have decorated the nursery and child proofed the house with bitching and moaning about needing easy access to a crossbow.

She opened the glove box and took out the pile of letters tied in a red ribbon and the snow globe. The key chain was a comforting weight in her palm as she handled the envelopes. She desperately wanted to open them, to indulge in his words, but part of her was too scared to admit he was gone. What if he told her that he no longer wanted her, that he was in love with someone else. By not knowing, she could live in her fantasies of a perfect life with the perfect man.

Turning the globe upside down, she focused on the swirling white flakes. This stupid tacky gift brought her closer to Stefan, easing the ache in her heart. It gave her the reminder he had promised her all those years ago.

Home, it reminded her of home.

***

"Put me down."

"No, I said I would carry you over the threshold and that's what I'm doing, damn it."

"It's not like we're getting married, I'm just moving in." She squealed.

"Well, Caroline. It is a slippery slope. Just go with my old fashioned, traditionalist ways." He gently set her down, smiling.

She grinned back at him. "So, you want me to be a prim Victorian lady?" She batted her lashes coyly at him before looking demurely away.

In a flash, she was pressed up against wall, Stefan's hands firmly planted on her hips as he raked his dark eyes down her face, settling on her lips before, meeting her eyes once again. "Definitely not." He growled. Hungrily, he pressed his lips to hers as one hand snaked up her body and into her curls. The jokey atmosphere dissipated, replaced by desire.

"I need to unpack." She murmured initiating another kiss.

"That can wait until later." He groaned back and whisked them upstairs.

A few hours later, Caroline was curled up, content in Stefan's arms, planning where all her stuff was going to go. There was some decent closet space and Stefan had cleared some shelves for things she wanted to display.

"I can hear your mind whirring."

"Shut up."

"It's getting late. May I suggest we take a shower together and I’ll help you unpack tomorrow?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She shot him a thoughtful look. "There's just one of thing I need first."

Stefan hoped that it was some sexy nightwear, preferably short and sheer that he could get his teeth into, literally. He wasn't prepared for her to open up a bag and slide out the snow globe. She proudly placed at eye level, front and centre of the shelf. "You've still got that?"

"Of course." She replied incredulously. "Now let's get that shower."

***

"I understand." She paused in her message.  "I will love you forever." She broke down, sobs wracking her body. She didn't want to get back into the car. She didn't want to be 'safe'; she wanted to be with Stefan. But she did understand. He would always choose to die if it meant protecting others, that was just him. Stefan the Hero, Stefan the Martyr. The things she both loved and hated about him.

She rooted through her handbag to find the one thing that always gave her hope. When she couldn't locate it instantly, she started to panic. Then her fingers met the cool plastic right at the bottom of her bag. Only it felt slimy.

She pulled the key chain from her bag to see it cracked and broken. The contents had leaked out and the snowflakes no longer danced. She knew, then, her home was gone.

***

Two hundred years later

The sunlight shone through the window waking Caroline. There she was, in her old room at her mom's house, laid on her old bed, dressed in a short black dress with low black pumps encasing her feet. Shards of memories flooded her brain - the crackle of magic, the screams of vampires as they were felled, the sharp spike of wood between her ribs and the warmth of Ilya Bennett’s arms as the world finally faded to black.

To die protecting one of Bonnie’s distant relatives that was a pretty good way to go.

So, this was peace.

She was surprised. She expected to wake up in Salvatore Mansion her home for the past two centuries. She got up, smoothed her dress and took a look around. The room was obviously old fashioned, but warm, neat and stuffed with childhood memories.  Her eye was instantly drawn to the snow globe, hanging on its little hook. She welcomed it like an old friend taking it in her hand and fingering the smooth surface.

There was a knock at the front door, the sound of knuckles on wood could only mean one person.

She raced down the stairs and paused at the bottom.

Standing at the door, no curtains to obscure him, was Stefan, a large toothy smile on his face. She turned the door knob, smiling back at him.

"Caroline.” He said warmly, taking her hands in his. "I see you found it."

"Well, obviously." She replied, holding up the gift.

"Who would have thought Heaven would have a Quick Stop?" He grinned, brushing his lips against hers.

"Shut up." She murmured as she pulled him into a deeper kiss.

She was home.

The End

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Vampire Diaries: Nostalgia's a Bitch (8x10)

As a person who only watches this show because the Stefan/Damon dynamic is so deliciously angsty and wonderful, I had a pretty good time watching this episode. As an objective observer who knows this show should have died seasons ago, I definitely had some complaints.

Cons:

The premise in and of itself lead to some really neat character dynamics, but it also felt really hokey. We learn that once assembled, the magic bell needs to be rung twelve times by Matt or somebody from his family line. Once that happens, it'll open, like, a Hellmouth or something, and it will destroy the Sirens... and everybody else, too. Basically, Mystic Falls is a goner if this bell gets rung. I really think this show should stay away from big destroy-the-town concepts, because it just keeps reminding the viewer that Mystic Falls hasn't existed as a concrete place in the story in forever. I've lost track of how many times all the people in that town should have been dead or evacuated forever. Why is there still a human population?

The other story that intersects with this one is that Damon has retreated into his mind, traumatized by his return to humanity. He basically needs to get people's forgiveness for what he's done wrong. Caroline and Bonnie spend some time in Damon's brain, a place where Damon died as a human. Caroline gets to see her mom, Bonnie gets to see her Grams, and then we learn how Damon's mind really works: he needs Stefan to come inside his mind so that he can forgive Stefan for turning him into a vampire.

We've already done this. This season. With the whole Siren parallel thing. And here's what annoys me: this could have been a perfectly fine idea if Damon had "forgiven" Stefan for making him a vampire, and also acknowledged that his anger was completely illogical and unfounded. I mean, yes, Stefan made Damon turn. But blaming Stefan for all the horrible things Damon has done since then is sort of like murdering somebody and then accusing your mother of the murder. If you had never been born, the murder wouldn't have happened! That kind of logic falls apart really quickly. I guess what I'm saying is that I think Damon's irrational anger at Stefan is a perfectly legitimate character trait. But only if they had admitted that the anger was irrational. Which they did not.

Pros:

Other than that rather large problem with the whole forgiveness plot, I really liked the setup that they had for Damon's return to humanity. I'm going to ignore all of the logical fallacies and just talk about the direction it pushed our characters. In essence, this episode was about how to get Bonnie, Caroline, and even Matt to a place where they might conceivably be able to forgive Damon. Not an easy task.

For Caroline, we focused in on the fact that Damon and Liz were quite good friends, and that Damon was, oddly, the person who helped Caroline the most with her mom's passing. It was a good move, and it brought us to a place where when Damon wakes up out of his psychotic break, he and Caroline can smile and be allies in trying to stop Stefan from destroying the town.

For Bonnie, the focus was all on the letter he wrote her before he decided to desiccate himself and wait for Elena. She never read the letter, but while inside Damon's head, it was Bonnie who figured out the trick of his psychosis, and brought Stefan in to talk to him. The fact that she knows him so well is really important. Later, when Damon is awake, he recites the letter to Bonnie. It's a great letter, talking about how much of a coward he is, and how much he cares for her and wants her to have the best life. Bonnie forgives Damon, which we all knew she would. It was a well-earned moment.

Matt's situation is the most complicated. Basically, Stefan compels him to ring the bell that will destroy the town. He gives him an out, though. If Matt can manage to forgive Damon for Vicky's death, he will not have to ring the bell. Stefan does this so that destroying Mystic Falls will be Matt's choice, sort of. That way, his soul will go to Cade. Matt knows he can't forgive Damon, and so he asks his father to kill him. Of course, his dad won't do that. Damon ends up showing up in time to stop Matt from finishing ringing the bell. He never made it to the twelfth time. Matt thanks Damon for saving the town, and Damon apologizes for Vicky's death. Matt of course does not just instantly forgive him, but he says he's not ruling anything out.

This was probably the most happy I've been about Matt's role all season. I love bringing Vicky back into the story, although I was a little nonplussed that Tyler didn't play more of a role. I guess the logic here is that what Damon did while under Sybil's control really wasn't his fault. What he does sans-humanity, however, he's still held accountable for. I actually sort of like that, and I like that we get to see that Matt is a good person. Of course he and Damon are never going to be buddy-buddy, but Matt has a big heart. I loved the moment when Damon apologized, and Matt's reaction was just to be like, "Oh, so you're humanity is back on." Matt knows the score. He doesn't necessarily believe Damon is going to be a good guy from here on out. So he challenges him to prove himself.

The stuff with Matt and his father was pretty intense, too. Of course Peter wouldn't consent to killing his son, and of course Matt would insist it was the only way. Thank God Damon turned up in time to stop this issue from coming to a head. Matt obviously has a lot of pent up rage issues with his dad. Hopefully we get some semblance of a resolution for this plot arc before the show ends.

Stefan and Damon. This is where the meaty stuff is. I mentioned that I didn't much like Damon "forgiving" Stefan, because the show seemed to be implying that Stefan somehow actually was responsible for all of Damon's evil deeds. But setting that aside, I love this dynamic here, with ripper Stefan still caring about his brother in some undeniable way, and Damon clawing his way back to humanity, knowing that his brother is an emotionless killer on the other side. Inside of Damon's head, Stefan doesn't take too kindly to being forgiven, and he pummels his brother to a bloody pulp, all while Damon continues to forgive him. This was pretty intense. Damon also says "I love you" to Stefan, returning the phrase to him after all these episodes. That was delightful. As the episode ends, we see that Damon is back and better than ever, and now Stefan is the one tied up.

Then you've got to throw Caroline into the mix - she has been killing it the past two episodes. This is an impossibly difficult situation, and I really admire the way she's been handling it. Basically, she decides to reward Damon for his struggles, and help him in whatever way she can, and she also decides to put Stefan in his place. I love the moment at the end of the episode, when Stefan is restrained in the Salvatore mansion, where Caroline talks about the fact that she loves the old version of Stefan, but she has nothing but contempt for the current version. And then she says the best thing ever: she's aware that Damon means more to Stefan than Caroline ever will. Caroline loves Stefan, and if Damon is going to be the one to break through and get him to turn his humanity back on, then so be it. Caroline will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Now, a part of me hopes that Caroline is right, and that Damon is the one to save Stefan from himself. But for the sake of the story, and for Caroline's character, I really do hope it's a team effort. I may not be a huge Caroline/Stefan person, but I do love both of the characters as individuals, and want them to find happiness.

Sybil and Seline are dead! I think! I hope! Cade shows up in the mortal realm, apparently called by the near-completion of the bell ringing. He decides to dispose of his incompetent former employees, and we see them going up in flame. God, I hope they're really out of the picture now. They served a purpose, both as a plot catalyst and as a foil to the Salvatore brothers. But I'm over it now, honestly. Cade can be our Big Bad for the remaining six episodes. There's a lot of intricate character stuff to unpack here, and I hope this show manages to find a way to keep us out of convoluted mythologies for the remaining weeks.

Nina Dobrev is coming back for the finale - any guesses as to how that will play out? Will Bonnie become a vampire, and Elena will wake up because Bonnie is "dead"? Will Stefan and/or Damon become human before this is all over? I'm actually pretty anxious to find out!

7.5/10

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Everything You Need to Know About 'Wonder Woman,' the DC Universe & How Gal Gadot Got Lynda Carter's Blessing

Believe it or not, when Wonder Woman arrives in theaters on June 2, it will be the first time the character has fronted her own live-action movie. (Versus Superman's 10 or so different films and even more Batman movies.) And, in fact, the only other time Wonder Woman has appeared on the big screen is Gal Gadot's supporting role in last year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. All of which is to say, you may have some questions. Like...

Warner Bros. Pictures

How similar is this Wonder Woman to the one in the comic books? Diana, Princess of Themyscira (or Diana Prince, as she's known to mere mortals) first appeared in the pages of All Star Comics #8 in 1941, created by writer William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter. Everything you know about the Amazonian warrior -- her tiara, her indestructible bracelets, the Lasso of Truth -- remains intact some 75 years later, as do many of the things you maybe didn't know. (Like her origin story, that she is a demigoddess who was sculpted from clay by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and brought to life by the Greek god, Zeus.)

WATCH: Gal Gadot Breaks Down Her Intense Preparations For Her 'Wonder Woman' Role

Warner Bros. Pictures

Who else from the DC Extended Universe is in this? For all intents and purposes, no one. No Superman. No Flash. A majority of the characters in the movie should be familiar to fans of the Wonder Woman comics, though, albeit slightly modified. Doctor Poison (played by Elena Anaya) has long been an adversary of Diana -- a poison specialist whose "Reverso" plotline from the comics is loosely adapted for the screen -- although on page she is also a Japanese princess employed by Villainy, Inc. Then there's Etta Candy (Lucy Davis), who acts as Steve Trevor's secretary here, as opposed to Diana's best friend in print.

As for Steve Trevor, a WWI spy and love interest for Wonder Woman, Chris Pine told ET, "The question for a film like this for me is, 'What is it like to be the damsel in distress? Giggle giggle.' I totally get it. It is funny. You'd never ask Amy Adams that, because it's demeaning, but it's funny to ask someone like me, because I'm a man...It was fun to be objectified for a day. I was thinking this happens to women so, so much, it's about time."

So, no Batman? Do I need to have seen Batman v Superman to understand this? Most of this movie takes place during the First World War, nearly 100 years before the events of BvS. Only the first scene, set in the present day, requires some context: There is a sequence in Dawn of Justice where Bruce Wayne (aka Batman aka Ben Affleck aka Batfleck) and then Diana watch, essentially, a PowerPoint presentation of future Justice League members and future Justice League co-stars. One of the photographs included is of Diana with a squad of men during WWI, and, not to spoil too much, but Bruce mails the original print to Diana at the beginning of this movie, setting this story in motion as we see what led up to the photo being taken. Otherwise, this is a pure origin, no previous watching required.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Pine Has the Perfect Answer to Being Called 'Wonder Woman's' Damsel in Distress

Getty Images

Is Gal Gadot the first actress to play Wonder Woman? No, although she is only the third to successfully make it to the screen. Actress Cathy Lee Crosby played Wonder Woman in a TV movie in 1974, however, the only previous iteration that truly matters is Lynda Carter's run as Diana in the Wonder Woman television series from 1975. Director Patty Jenkins said that when she got the job, Carter was one of the first calls she made.

"To get her guidance, as the person who has been carrying the mantle of Wonder Woman for all these years and is the one who inspired so many of us to love Wonder Woman," she explained. "I wanted to learn from her. I also wanted her blessing and I wanted her to know we're not here to do the 'new' Wonder Woman. We're here to try to carry forth something so beautiful that she really brought into the world and we just want it to go into the future."

Did Lynda Carter give her blessing? "100 percent," Carter told ET on the set of her latest female superhero project for DC, Supergirl. (She plays the president of the United States on the CW series.) Carter also attended the Wonder Woman premiere, where Gal Gadot joked, "Lynda already thanked me for sharing the burden with her."

"I am the bearer of the torch and now I'm passing it forward to Gal and to Patty. The three of us share some sisterhood by living and breathing this character," Carter herself told ET's Nischelle Turner. "I really want you all to embrace this." (Carter later reviewed the movie as "fabulous.")

WATCH: Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot Embrace at 'Wonder Woman' Red Carpet – See the Pics!

Warner Bros. Pictures

Why is this movie such a big deal? Despite the enduring threat of developing "superhero fatigue," the last female-fronted superhero movie was Elektra in 2005. (For reference, that was before the Marvel Cinematic Universe began and there have been 15 of those movies.) Plus, only one comic book movie -- ever -- was directed by a woman, 2008's Punisher: War Zone helmed by Lexi Alexander. Wonder Woman is also the first female-directed feature to have a budget of over $100 million and it will likely become the most successful female-led superhero film, assuming it out-grosses Catwoman's $82 million.

Which bodes well for the female-fronted superhero projects in the pipeline: Marvel Studios has upped Evangeline Lily to a headliner in 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the following year, Brie Larson will star in Captain Marvel, the MCU's first female-led film, while Sony has reportedly been developing a movie with Spider-Man characters Black Cat and Silver Sable. "I'm so excited for so many other people of all kinds to be able to do that with superheroes of all kinds," Jenkins weighed in.

Is Wonder Woman, the movie, feminist? Inherently. "I'm so aware, obviously, that she's a woman and I'm a woman, but the great thing about that was I'm just making a movie about a superhero," Jenkins said, while Gadot explained, "I think there is such a misunderstanding about what 'feminism' means. Feminism is not about women against men, or they hate men or they burn their bras and have armpit hair."

"It's a nice platform to not have this disparity that has become from the word 'feminism,' as if we're shutting the men out or don't want them," added Robin Wright, who co-stars as General Antiope. "It is the antithesis of that. The word means equality. So, it's a more inclusive nature, which is what this film is about. Wonder Woman represents equality and justice and bravery and strength -- and that goes for any gender."

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Everything You Need to Know About 'Wonder Woman,' the DC Universe & How Gal Gadot Got Lynda Carter's Blessing

Believe it or not, when Wonder Woman arrives in theaters on June 2, it will be the first time the character has fronted her own live-action movie. (Versus Superman's 10 or so different films and even more Batman movies.) And, in fact, the only other time Wonder Woman has appeared on the big screen is Gal Gadot's supporting role in last year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. All of which is to say, you may have some questions. Like...

Warner Bros. Pictures

How similar is this Wonder Woman to the one in the comic books? Diana, Princess of Themyscira (or Diana Prince, as she's known to mere mortals) first appeared in the pages of All Star Comics #8 in 1941, created by writer William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter. Everything you know about the Amazonian warrior -- her tiara, her indestructible bracelets, the Lasso of Truth -- remains intact some 75 years later, as do many of the things you maybe didn't know. (Like her origin story, that she is a demigoddess who was sculpted from clay by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and brought to life by the Greek god, Zeus.)

WATCH: Gal Gadot Breaks Down Her Intense Preparations For Her 'Wonder Woman' Role

Warner Bros. Pictures

Who else from the DC Extended Universe is in this? For all intents and purposes, no one. No Superman. No Flash. A majority of the characters in the movie should be familiar to fans of the Wonder Woman comics, though, albeit slightly modified. Doctor Poison (played by Elena Anaya) has long been an adversary of Diana -- a poison specialist whose "Reverso" plotline from the comics is loosely adapted for the screen -- although on page she is also a Japanese princess employed by Villainy, Inc. Then there's Etta Candy (Lucy Davis), who acts as Steve Trevor's secretary here, as opposed to Diana's best friend in print.

As for Steve Trevor, a WWI spy and love interest for Wonder Woman, Chris Pine told ET, "The question for a film like this for me is, 'What is it like to be the damsel in distress? Giggle giggle.' I totally get it. It is funny. You'd never ask Amy Adams that, because it's demeaning, but it's funny to ask someone like me, because I'm a man...It was fun to be objectified for a day. I was thinking this happens to women so, so much, it's about time."

So, no Batman? Do I need to have seen Batman v Superman to understand this? Most of this movie takes place during the First World War, nearly 100 years before the events of BvS. Only the first scene, set in the present day, requires some context: There is a sequence in Dawn of Justice where Bruce Wayne (aka Batman aka Ben Affleck aka Batfleck) and then Diana watch, essentially, a PowerPoint presentation of future Justice League members and future Justice League co-stars. One of the photographs included is of Diana with a squad of men during WWI, and, not to spoil too much, but Bruce mails the original print to Diana at the beginning of this movie, setting this story in motion as we see what led up to the photo being taken. Otherwise, this is a pure origin, no previous watching required.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Pine Has the Perfect Answer to Being Called 'Wonder Woman's' Damsel in Distress

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Is Gal Gadot the first actress to play Wonder Woman? No, although she is only the third to successfully make it to the screen. Actress Cathy Lee Crosby played Wonder Woman in a TV movie in 1974, however, the only previous iteration that truly matters is Lynda Carter's run as Diana in the Wonder Woman television series from 1975. Director Patty Jenkins said that when she got the job, Carter was one of the first calls she made.

"To get her guidance, as the person who has been carrying the mantle of Wonder Woman for all these years and is the one who inspired so many of us to love Wonder Woman," she explained. "I wanted to learn from her. I also wanted her blessing and I wanted her to know we're not here to do the 'new' Wonder Woman. We're here to try to carry forth something so beautiful that she really brought into the world and we just want it to go into the future."

Did Lynda Carter give her blessing? "100 percent," Carter told ET on the set of her latest female superhero project for DC, Supergirl. (She plays the president of the United States on the CW series.) Carter also attended the Wonder Woman premiere, where Gal Gadot joked, "Lynda already thanked me for sharing the burden with her."

"I am the bearer of the torch and now I'm passing it forward to Gal and to Patty. The three of us share some sisterhood by living and breathing this character," Carter herself told ET's Nischelle Turner. "I really want you all to embrace this." (Carter later reviewed the movie as "fabulous.")

WATCH: Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot Embrace at 'Wonder Woman' Red Carpet – See the Pics!

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Why is this movie such a big deal? Despite the enduring threat of developing "superhero fatigue," the last female-fronted superhero movie was Elektra in 2005. (For reference, that was before the Marvel Cinematic Universe began and there have been 15 of those movies.) Plus, only one comic book movie -- ever -- was directed by a woman, 2008's Punisher: War Zone helmed by Lexi Alexander. Wonder Woman is also the first female-directed feature to have a budget of over $100 million and it will likely become the most successful female-led superhero film, assuming it out-grosses Catwoman's $82 million.

Which bodes well for the female-fronted superhero projects in the pipeline: Marvel Studios has upped Evangeline Lily to a headliner in 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the following year, Brie Larson will star in Captain Marvel, the MCU's first female-led film, while Sony has reportedly been developing a movie with Spider-Man characters Black Cat and Silver Sable. "I'm so excited for so many other people of all kinds to be able to do that with superheroes of all kinds," Jenkins weighed in.

Is Wonder Woman, the movie, feminist? Inherently. "I'm so aware, obviously, that she's a woman and I'm a woman, but the great thing about that was I'm just making a movie about a superhero," Jenkins said, while Gadot explained, "I think there is such a misunderstanding about what 'feminism' means. Feminism is not about women against men, or they hate men or they burn their bras and have armpit hair."

"It's a nice platform to not have this disparity that has become from the word 'feminism,' as if we're shutting the men out or don't want them," added Robin Wright, who co-stars as General Antiope. "It is the antithesis of that. The word means equality. So, it's a more inclusive nature, which is what this film is about. Wonder Woman represents equality and justice and bravery and strength -- and that goes for any gender."