#ugh we have so many potential timelines it’s so!!!!!

[cr1msonpeak-a]

◟ ▍ ‎₁ . —— @symbion [ henry ] said: i never picked a fight in my entire life.

in any other circumstances, sophie would consider him a coward. perhaps part of her did. however, where her usually harsh tongue would throw stones and cast great judgement, her face resembled something one might call soft... which wasn't too inviting by lady bone's standards, just a tad less furrowed and cemented than usual. besides her brother, henry was the only man to witness such tenderness in the light of her features. deeply rooted in her inheritance was her father's sharp tone and calloused soul, but more importantly— she'd been blessed with her mother's empathy. it was merely closed for the public on most days: about as common as a blue moon... but that wasn’t to say it was non-existent. ❝ why not? ❞ there is little condescending nature to her speech ( a rarity! ) taken over by wavering curiosity. or is it a demanding thirst to know? to understand why he hadn't once raised an objective hand in his entire life. when she, oh, when she'd fought tooth and claw against everything thrust upon her in this unwanted, sorry excuse of survival. screamed at the injustices of it all until her throat bled, spine severely bent, endlessly forced to bow down. to men and their so-called sensibilities.

she'd no doubt have assumed the same of henry if met outside foreign childhoods, outside the cursed wedding day etched into her very bloodline. he was certainly intriguing— she mightn't ever fully comprehend him, but for now, she's almost content. he was company, good company, to say the least. ❝ you never had anything worth fighting for? ❞ or were you simply unwilling to try? did it mean henry actually achieved some token of happiness? sophie was conflicted as to whether she felt joy regarding the notion, ( that old empathy proven ) or if envy reared for his perceived luck. likely the latter.

[allophonicmess]

Too Sweet

Logan Howlett x fem!Reader

Act 3

Warnings: spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine

This is a fluff chapter. Gotta give you guys some candy after all that angst

Word count 4.1 K

Life resumed as normal after that. Or as normal as it could be when you are suddenly placed in the new timeline. Logan kept getting confused by little details that were different to the life he had lived before. Professor X ? Sure he exists but he had hair. Cyclops? Oh yeah. He was just as annoying as he remembered. Who are the fucking Avengers and what sort of rich nerd was Tony Stark? And what about Jean?

“A hot red head with the telekinetic powers?” Wade hummed, pretending to be lost in thought. “Uh, no. UNLESS! Charles used to have a beautiful flowing mane that I don’t know about. He is turning grey, you know… but it suits him. Silver fox”              

So Jean was out of the picture. That was good, right?

Logan groaned at Wade's bad joke. He shifted his focus outside, watching the landscape change from looming tall skyscrapers to even fields and trees that started changing colour with the season. It reminded him of home.

“Just to get this straight.” Logan shifted in his seat. The car that Wade had bought from the dealership had been heavily discounted and Logan now understood why. You would think it can’t get worse than the Odyssey? Oh boy, were you wrong. It was too small for 4 people, let alone 2 mutant men. He already felt sorry for whoever might have to sit in the back for whatever reason.

“Y/N has powers?” Logan asked, trying to play it cool. The whole drive had been a big Q&A.

“Yup,” Wade said with a pop. One hand on the steering wheel and the rest of him laid back in his seat.

“They call her Osmium, too?” Logan didn’t like this dependency on the wanna-be hero. But he had to make a good first impression.

“Osmimimum? Uh no. She is called Atom” Wade laughed “Don’t if she actually does stuff with atoms… It's more like…” Wade groaned as he tried to think of an example.

“She manipulates density.” Logan pointed out. They had trained together many times. But Y/n was never allowed to use her full potential with the X-men. They condemned violence and so she was often left out on mission and focused on keeping the school running.

“Ugh- I guess? She once told me in great, boring detail why ‘Atom’ is a bad superhero name for her but they kept it for the marketability. “ He shrugged “Oh! I remember that one time we stopped a child-mutant trafficking and she got mad, like REAL MAD, and then she turned this one guy into goop.” Wade nodded fondly, thinking back at that moment. “And I mean like Nickelodeon kids choice award goop, like slurpable slushy goo, like-“

“Okay, alright! I get it.” Logan groaned in annoyance. Shaking his head at Wade. He was thankful for the man’s support and friendship but god was he annoying. Constantly.

“I wish she would do that to me sometime. It’s on my ways-to-die bingo. But she keeps refusing!” Deadpool hit the wheel dramatically.

“You are disgusting,” Logan stated dryly. “The most disgusting person I ever met.”

“Don’t forget the most annoying!”

...

The decision to go back to teaching was not made out of fun or for the joy of doing it. Maybe partially, even though Logan would not openly confess so. It was made out of necessity. Living with Wade and Al became tiresome after the first few weeks. It was always the same antiques, the lack of schedule as well as a constant state of chaos that made him crave the ordered life at the school once again. He hoped that it would give him a sense of belonging. The X-men might be different here, with a few quips and details that didn’t match with his reality. But living at the school would tie him to a strict schedule and by god, he needed some structure in his life.

 But all in all, it meant home.

“Okay, peanut. Today is a big day. But I know you’ll do great and meet a lot of new friends.” Wade joked in a motherly tone as they arrived at the Mansion. “And no hair pulling or biting unless they ask for it, okay?”

“I can’t wait to be rid of you” Logan groaned as the car came to a halt. He exited the car with a low groan, stretching to lose stiffed muscles. Not having to constantly ride in Wade's joke of a car was another reason that he preferred living at Xavier’s Institution. Speaking off:

“There you are. Welcome, welcome.” Xavier rolled into the mansions yard.

“A pleasure to have you, Logan. I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised when I received your response to my inquiry.” He moved towards Logan, offering his hand for a handshake.

Logan inspected the man. He was older, in his 40s maybe. But younger than the Charles Xavier he had worked with. He sported shaggy longer hair that was starting to thin out. Soon he would need to get it trimmed to keep his professional exterior. Along with a beard that was rather spotty and seemed too reminisce of his look in the 70s. Xavier looked like a mix of the two versions that Logan got to meet during his time at the school and it made him wonder how time worked here. Events seemed to play out in different order, they didn’t happen at all or much later than seemed correct.

He shook Xavier’s hand, thanking him for the offer. “Of course. I was surprised when you contacted me.” Logan confessed. His gaze shifted towards the grand building in front of him. It was the same old English style build that he knew, with a few modern elements added here and there.

“Is it familiar to you? The school? I assume you have experienced quite a few dejá-vus since arriving here.” Charles observed Logan.

“I do. Some things are the same. Others don’t match what I know or didn’t happen at all.” He confessed. Already feeling the brother connection build, similar to the one he had with the other Charles.

“You will find your answers. I am sure of it.” Charles turned around motioning Logan to follow him inside. “I think it is best if we continue this conversation in my office.” He looked over his shoulder at Wade, who had waited in the car, listening in on the conversation.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be on my way. You call me if you need to get picked up, Pookie!” He waved at Logan in a motherly way.

“You aren’t coming?” He asked, somewhat confused. But then he saw Charle’s face, the intense stare he gave Wade.

“Uhhh, no I technically have a house ban for no apparent reason-“

“You burned down the west wing” Charles answered dryly.

Wade clicked his tongue, “Right, okay. Yeah… But! It’s very modern now.” He chuckled weakly. “You’ll still call me up for a mission, right?” He tried to persuade the professor.

“If the mission takes place outside of my building then yes.” Charles agreed, focusing back on Logan. And leading him inside. Neither of them commented on the cheer that Wade gave as he drove off.

Being back at the school felt surprisingly good to Logan. It was like coming back from a long holiday. Most everything was the same: Students running in the hallways, playing games in the gardens and-

“Fancy seeing you here!”

Logan turned around quickly, looking for whoever addressed him. Some children were buzzing along the halls, none of them too interested in him. Then he spotted her by the stairs. Leaning onto the dark wooden rails of the gallery. The light from the window behind her illuminating her figure.

“Y/n”, he breathed.

“Hi! Charles told me that you wanted to start teaching again.” She made her way downstairs, focus shifting between not falling and keeping her gaze on him. She seemed pleasantly surprised to see him.

He turned more toward her, watching her get closer to ground level. With each step he felt his excitement grow “He contacted me, actually. Asked whether I wanted to work here…”

“Oh really? What a coincidence ”She grinned mischievously, stopping at the end of the stairs and leaning on one of the bannisters. She kept a little space between them. There might be some familiarity between them but she didn’t want to push him too far yet and give him the chance to get closer to her if he felt like it.

But Logan stayed in place: “Do you have anything to do with that?”

She smirked,  and he felt some of his charm return to him . He might be rusty but some things were just engraved in him.

“Maybe” She shrugged, smiling softly with a playful sparkle in her eyes “But I’m assuming that you won’t be teaching history, right?” Y/n teased carefully. The multiverse situation was a thing she wanted to be careful about. Wade had told her a little bit about what had happened to Logan before he transferred but she didn’t know any details.  

“No, I teach PE and defence classes. You do science, right?” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, hoping to lose the tension in his body. He threw the tidbit of knowledge into the conversation, hoping that he was right and that the two versions of her had that much in common.

“Chemistry and Literature, yeah.” She smiled. She then looked at her watch before pointing towards another corridor with a sigh “I’d love to talk more, but I need to get to class. Maybe we could meet sometime.” She secured the book in her arms.

“Yes.” He answered with a stiff nod, his hands were getting sweaty.

They stood In awkward silence.

“Maybe over a coffee?” She asked, looking up at him, her lip curled upwards. Her look became more expecting as he watched her in silence.

 He would catch the bait she just threw, right? Scott had laughed when she asked him about what Logan had been like; What this version might be like.

 ‘He’s an asshole’ He said ‘a cocky asshole and who thinks he can charm any girl he likes’ she blushed at that comment ‘But he is into the dark, mysterious type if that is what you are after’

“Maybe”, Logan gave  cold and curtly.

He regretted his demeanor when he saw her smile slip for just a moment.

Fuck.

Her face slipped for a moment “Oh.. okay.” She huffed softly. “See you around then.” Y/n nodded quickly before running off.

...

A routine established itself after the first weeks back at the school. The work there itself was the same. Teach the children standard curricula, training them in controlling their powers and some extracurricular activities.

He would spend some evenings with the other members of Team X ,as they called themselves here. Sometimes he would meet Y/n in the hallway but he didn’t work up the courage to stop and talk to her beyond a quick ‘hello’.

What is wrong with you? You used to sweep women off their feet. She is offering herself to you at any chance and you still can’t manage to ask her out?

He sighed as he changed back into his regular clothes. The class had just ended. It was Friday, still fairly warm for October and the trees looked beautiful in all shades of red, orange and yellow.

 Would be perfect for a romantic walk… A charming, rugged man could ask a woman out for that.

“That guy died a long time ago…” He mumbled to himself. Picking up his bag and closing the locker.

He exited the gym, making his way to his room or rather apartment. Wade managed to burn down the teacher's quarters along with the kitchens and cafeteria in some wicked stunt. No one knew what happened and that was for the best, he guessed.

However, that incident resulted in a modernized reconstruction with more spacious rooms for the teachers and a communal cafeteria that students and members of Team X shared.  Great for extroverts but Logan had to pass it every time he went to his rooms, much to his dismay. To make it worse,  the communal space was separate from the hall via a glass wall, allowing for a perfect view of everyone who tried to sneak past. Which led to uncomfortable situations such as this.

“Logan!” Piotr called, waving his huge metallic arm to get the other man's attention. Logan's initial reaction was to ignore him as he had done many times with the members of his old team.

No, he wanted to do better. He needed to. It was that kind of behavior that made him spiral in the first place. So he took a deep breath and channeled all jolliness available to him after 6 hours of teaching and a generally low level of it to begin with.  He slowly made his way towards the teacher's table.

“Come, eat with us.” Piotr offered him the seat next to him on the thick wooden bench. A seat opposite of… fuck- of fucking course he was in on Wade’s plan to play matchmaker.

 “We can’t have you get scrawny, eh?” he joked.

“Not that that would be likely to occur” Y/n joked as Logan sat down. His look snapped towards her and her eyes widened in shock at what had just come out of her mouth.

A knowing, wicked grin spread across Colossus's face. That fucking asshole…

“What are we having?” Logan asked, ignoring the situation that had just occurred. He tried to keep his gaze on Piotr who was busy filling a plate with whatever was in the big metal pot on the side of the table. His eyes shifted to Y/n every so often.

“Pierogi. I am trying out new recipes for a cooking class with my students” He said proudly, placing the plate in front of Logan “Y/n said, they are very good. Right?” He asked her, putting the woman on the spot.

“Oh, uhm…yeah. I like the new… stuffing.” She said, the answer sounding more like a question, carefully looking at Logan when he tried it. She was thankful for Piotr’s brotherly demeanor and gentle nature. Yet sometimes he would tease her as any older brother liked to do. And they sure liked to do it in front of people that the younger sibling might fancy.

Logan nodded in agreement, complimenting the man for his cooking.

“You cook here regularly?” He asked with a mouthful.

“Of course! Cooking is a very important life skill. As well as baking. You should join one of Y/n’s baking classes, she is very talented.” Colossus complimented the woman, making her grin.

“I plan on holding a workshop on the weekend for older students and alumni. You should come.” She offered, a hopeful look in her eyes. Maybe she was too discrete the last time she tried to get Logan to ask her out. So this time she tried to be more direct with her offer.

“I don’t bake,” Logan answered in a backhanded comment as he continued to eat. He didn’t think too much about it. He had planned to ask her out after lunch. He was overly focused on what he would say to her once the others left to notice how he had sounded.

It only occurred to him when he saw how Y/n visibly deflated. “Oh, right” She hummed, swallowing another bite of her food, eyes looking anywhere but towards the man who had once again rejected her so swiftly.

Piotr, just sighed with disappointment, leaning back in his chair. His hard elbow bumped into Logan’s side.

You fucked it up. Again.

...

“Okay, stop. You mean to tell me that she tried to ask you out not once but TWICE and you rejected her?” Wade paced through the living room. Trying to make sense of what his friend had just told him. “You mean to tell me that you now spend 3 months at that school? Being in her proximity 24/7 and actively avoiding her?”

Logan sat on the familiar black couch that looked even more beaten up than the last time he was at the flat. With disgust, he realized that he didn’t even want to know what caused the new damage.

 “I don’t avoid her”

“Oh no? And yet the few times she does catch you creeping in the halls you manage to scare her off.” Deadpool said down one of the rotatable bar chairs. Swirling dramatically.

“No wonder the girl’s not interested in a sad drunk fuck like you,” Al commented from the table where she sat, carefully packaging her newest acquisition of sellable goods.

“ No, Al that’s the thing! The girl wants him DESPITE being a sad drunk fuck!”  Wade jumped from the chair to pace around some more. He had to come up with a plan to get the two to spend time together, and get to know each other better. Create some closeness to let the sparks fly and catch on.

“That’s even worse.” Al laughed, snoring.

“Thank you for the compliments… Reassuring.” Logan groaned, regretting to even have answered Wade when he asked him about how things were going with Y/n. Maybe he wasn’t ready to be with someone again. He liked her and wanted to get to know her but something was stopping him. The urge to protect her from danger and he still thought of himself as the greatest danger to her and his team.

“On the other hand, she is still interested after being rejected TWICE. So you still have a chance, Pookie.” Wade said, sitting down next to Logan, yet again way too close.

“I’m gonna help you, buddy, Don’t you worry.” He leaned in closer, his lips brushing Logan's ears “Act three needs some lovin’ and I make sure you get all the loving you need, baby” He whispered towards Logan. And with dread, and a bit of disgust,  Logan accepted that he had no chance of stopping the man.

...

By the time the midterms rolled around, Logan had gotten familiar with the schedule and his  profession once again. He slept better, tended to snap less at people and even his drinking tendencies seemed to get better. Being part of a community felt good and it made him angry at his younger self for rejecting the people who loved him out of some ill-placed ideology: that to keep them safe, he had to distance himself from them.

And yet you are doing it again.

He sighed as he trotted into the community kitchen. He broke his coffee maker in a fit of frustration last week and hadn’t found the time or energy to tell Charles to get a new one. He stayed out of the professor's way for the most part, not wanting to be roped into some conversation about ‘needing therapy’. So he sourced his caffeine intake from the machine that sat in the big, homely department kitchen. Another benefit was that there was always a fresh pot ready and waiting for him. Downside, there were almost always people in the kitchen, waiting for others to join in for conversation and breakfast.

This morning he should be safe from conversation. Most students and some staff went home for the fall semester break, leaving the school running on a minimal level to accommodate those who had no home to go to. There were no classes, meaning that the school apparatus calmed to a halt.

In practice that meant that almost everyone slept in with no pressure to get up early. And for Logan, that meant that he could enjoy his drink in peace before people tried to talk to him.

Lost in thought he strolled into the kitchen. It seemed empty, thank god. He sighed in relief, stretching languidly. The air exiting his lungs in a low groan.

Then a soft click sounded through the room.

A fridge being closed.

“Oh hey, you’re up early.” Y/n appeared behind the full-size fridge door that had previously shielded her from his view. She looked a little tired, not yet fully awake and a bit tousled from sleep.

Aww C’mon. Maybe Wade was right about the universe wanting them to come together. But primarily to annoy him and allow for Wade to give him the ‘I told you so’ speech.

“So are you.”  He answered, leaving on the door frame and watching her pour some creamer into her cup. Upon closer inspection, she did look younger than her other iteration. Her features were softer looking with fewer wrinkles and scars. He needed to ask her about that at some point.

She leaned onto the counter to reach for another cup, taking it out of the overhead cabinet. Proceeding to pour some coffee in it. “How do you take your coffee?” She asked, turning towards him.

“I’ll take two sugars” He answered, moving towards her with slow even steps. The threat of Wade’s ‘help’ kept looming in the back of his mind, pushing him to be more open towards her and to come out of his shell. Who knows what that maniac had in mind?

Y/n hummed in agreement, dropping in two cubes of sugar and stirring the dark liquid before handing it to Logan.

He thanked her softly, holding the porcelain with his much larger hands. He had moved quite close to her, both leaning against the kitchen counter. The closeness and difference in height between them meant that Y/n had to look up to him, to make eye contact.

With a grin he noticed how she shifted her stand, one hand bunching up the material of her cardigan.

You still got it if you let it happen, man.

They stood in comfortable silence for a moment, enjoying their drinks and watching the sun paint pictures onto the kitchen surfaces, colored by the stained glass windows.

She was the one who broke the silence. “Are you ready for the training session today?” She asked, turning towards him, shifting her position so that her hip was pressed against the counter.

“Training?” He asked confused, setting down his cup to cross his arms over his chest, the muscles shifting visibly under his skin.

That’s right! Show her what you got!

“Yes, staff training? We got the call from Washington about a mutant security threat. Charles wants us to be ready just in case. Do you read your emails?” She teased, watching him over the rim of her mug.

“I don’t know how that stuff works if I’m honest with ya.” He shrugged “Do you go on missions regularly? On Government orders?” He remembered that Xavier had mentioned something along the lines of that. Some complicated struggles between heroes about government regulation and so on.

“Yes, after the blip it was decided that an X-team force should be established to take care of mutant-related threats or endangerments.” She explained.

He had heard of that, too. “Right. What was that blip again?”

The energy in the room shifted suddenly.

Y/n huffed, almost spilling a bit of her drink. “Ha, that’s a bit of a heavy topic for morning coffee talks.” She looked around uncomfortably. Logan seems to have hit upon a heavy subject.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” He apologized quickly. Beating himself up for screwing it up once again.

“No, no it’s fine.” She shook her head, setting down her drink to cross her arms as he did. Only that she seemed to do it defensively. “Half of all life stopped existing for five years and… that left a few scars.” She explained somberly, softly nodding to herself.

Logan blinked, his mind moving at high speed to get the conversation on a good topic again. Anything to turn it around and to prevent her from having a bitter aftertaste to their first proper talk.

Yet it was her, once again, that stepped up. She noticed how he got nervous, eyes wandering, shoulders sagging.

“I’ll explain it to you later. When we are not so pressed on time.” She reached out slowly, placing her hand on his arm, squeezing it in reassurance. Y/n smiled at him softly, moving around him to exit the kitchen and prepare for the day ahead.

Without thinking Logan placed a hand over hers, just in time before she pulled hers away. It had her stop in her tracks. Her eyes moved to where his rough callused palm warmed the back of her hand, up to his eyes. He was watching her with intention.

She was nervous. This was either going to be an invitation to finally get to know him or he had enough of her and told her to stop fancying him.

“You can explain it to me on a walk to the lake? Tonight?” He asked, one eyebrow raising in question. His hand squeezed hers gently.

A second of silence followed.

She exhaled, the stress leaving her body but she had to keep her composure. A grin spread across her face “Sounds like a plan.” She held eye contact for a few beats, then let her hand slip out of his hold as she left.

That’s how you do it, Tiger!

Her lips pressed together to keep from smiling too hard as she exited the hallway.

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[desparaic]

Imagine Rengoku's son traveling to the past pt.2

Rengoku X Fem! Reader

Also in the future, there’s a long pause after red light arc. Hence tengen already retired in Future Son’s timeline. and [spoiler alert] yes we will absolutely ignore the mark curse

read part 1 here.

“Oh, what breathing technique do you use?”

You ask your…. son? kid? dang you never thought you would be able to say that to a teenager this early in your life, especially when you’re not long into the marriage

“Flame breathing!” He says with a proud grin (why this kid so cute you wanna coddle him to death)

“Following your father’s footstep, I see! Did he teach you personally?” You smile, thinking about your husband teaching your son swordsmanship. Ugh the thought of it makes your heart melt.

“Nope. From Grandfather!”

h

huh?

tafa???

Grandfather??? Like Rengoku’s father??? Your father in law???? The man who can’t even get up and do something else other than drinking and yelling at other people?????

He taught your son flame breathing?????

You are confusion

You ask why didn’t his father teach him instead

“… Anyway! Do you want to spar?”

This kid—

okay, well, clearly he doesn’t want to talk about it. Maybe he’s on bad terms with his father???

But you can’t imagine Kyojuro being a bad father or someone who has a tense relationship with his kids. The last thing he wants to be is to be like his father. You know that. He himself told you that before.

So maybe he’s just in the middle of an argument with his father??? Like… a really long one…

yeah that could be it

So you decide to spar with him (you don’t have anything else to do anyway other than walking around the nearby village)

you kick his butt

It feels refreshing and fun. not because you’re beating your future child.

You never have this feeling sparring with anyone before. It’s cute. You’re experiencing a mother-son time except…. you ain’t a mother yet… but you are— will??? idk

In the middle of sparring (how many rounds has it been??), Kyojuro appears with a big grin, before it fades and he tilts his head confusedly.

“MY LOVE! WHO IS THIS PERSON??”

Hooo boy

Both of you whip your head to see him

“HE LOOKS JUST LIKE ME! HAHAHA!”

Bless your husband, he isn’t even phased that there’s a rando lookin like he’s his clone

BUT YOU HECKAAA EXCITED, about to tell Kyojuro that he’s—

You see your (future) son’s conflicted face contorted to anger, then calm. “Ah. I’ll take my leave right now. I’m thirsty.”

He leaves just like that.

You’re confused

has future you ever taught him manners

Is… Was the argument that bad????

Poor Kyojuro is so confused, looking at the boy leaving.

“Who was that young fellow?”

You explain that that’s his son

His face shows a split second of surprise before it immediately switches to excitement

(he doesn’t even ask how that’s possible like ok)

“HE’S MY SON??? OH WHAT JOY! S/O. THAT IS OUR SON!”

Yes, yes you just told him that of course you know lol

But you’re so confused as to why your son would just leave like that. You honestly expect him to be just as excited to see his dad like he did with you

and so

the chaos and conflicts and confusion and everything related ensues

Practically everyone knows your future son is here

They’re dying to meet him

Uzui is proud of what he has become. Man’s flamboyant. can even take a hard pat on his back! (he nearly died)

Mitsuri is so excited!!! She keeps giving him sakura mochi and all other snacks and talks to him a lot!!! Sees him as her lil bro ngl (tho technically it should be nephew)

Shinobu too is very sweet towards him and tells him he’s welcome anytime to the Butterfly Estate to just have tea and chat (every time they interact your son’s face turns tomato red. does he have a school boy crush????)

Tomioka is just happy the boy talks to him often

its cute. you can tell he admires the water hashira a lot

Sanemi scoffs and thinks he still has a long way until he is strong

like who tf think does this kid think he is

but he supposes the kid has potential

Obanai acknowledges him and greets him even though he scares your son sometimes

Gyomei. Cats. lots of pats. lots of fluff. nuff said

Muichiro always forgets his name

Tanjiro is super shocked but is happy to get along with Rengoku’s future son!! Nezuko takes a liking to him immediately and warms up to him (Zenitsu seething rn)

surprisingly inosuke oddly silent around him at first…. before he inevitably challenges him to a fight

The son ofc know who they all are (he still does not like young Zenitsu)

Also, he nearly spilled Tanjiro and Kanao’s future relationship oops ig at the present they aint tgt yet 🤷‍♂️

They all think he’s great!

But… there is one thing for sure

And what confuses them the most

is that he absolutely hates the mention of his father

Whenever someone brings up the fact he looks just like Rengoku or they compare the father and son, boy gets real upset and angry

Like??? huh???

You’d thinking a kid would be proud to have someone like Rengoku as their father

Apparently not

Kyojuro catches on to this.

I mean, its hard not to tell that every time he approaches the boy, he just pretends the hashira never exist

Kyojuro kinda concerned and worried

And frankly, he’s kinda sad too.

He wants to spend his time with his future son before who knows when he’ll return back to his time!

Eventually, Rengoku catches him a place where the kid can’t escape easily

He asks the kid what is wrong and what is really going on

Dang… it really hurt seeing your own kid (even though technically not yet) glaring at you like that

The kid only grumbles excuses and that’s it

Kyojuro gently tries to push him to open up

Really wants to know what’s going on poor man please give him a break

“I can tell you don’t like to converse with me… why is that? I would love to get to know my own son!”

Rengoku Kyojuro would never expect that sentence would completely make his own future kid snap.

“Son??? Hah. Sure.”

???????????

The??? Audacity???

My man Kyojuro isn’t even phased (again, bless his patient heart) he’s just confused

What does that mean?

“Did… I do something…?”

“Something???? Something…?????” the boy clenched his jaw, “Don’t act like you care.”

… But he does tho.

At this point the flame hashira just wants to know what he did wrong to make him so mad

“Oh, you really wanna know what you did?” He says in such a bitter tone. Whatever Kyojuro did, he musta pissed him reeaaal off.

“Y…Yes…?”

“… Fine. Not like it’ll change anyway considering how easily you threw us away.”

p-

pardon?

“You hurt Mother. You left her when she needed you the most. You left us! Because you think your job is better than this little family!”

….huh?

“I’m… I’m sorry, I don’t und-“

“When she needed you the most, you just up and left her! Just like that! What do you think I’ll feel about that, huh?”

Kyojuro… did that? He can’t even fathom leaving you for a split second! What was future him thinking?

“You left Mother! When I was still… When she was still pregnant and needed you… You chose to go on a mission instead of being there for her!”

“Do you know how much my mother begged you not to go? How she endlessly express her worries and concerns, even though she never doubted you before??”

“Do you know how much it hurt her when you promised her nothing will happen, only for some crow to announce that you died in a fight with an Upper Moon, a fight you could’ve avoided! A FIGHT THAT YOU SO SELFISHLY WENT ON AND JUST DIED?!”

…

Hold on…

Hang on—

What?

—————————

I was supposed to finish this all in one post, but I reached the limit… Gonna post part 3 soon

[wannaeatramyeon]

Can we get lookism boys seeing their s/o for the first time?

Literally love at first sight and maybe their reactions?

Thanks,

Thanks for the ask! I've written a few slightly more fleshed out 'Meeting for the First Time' listed here (Gun, Goo, Jake, Johan). But let's do some other scenario for my usual suspects.

Umm...I actually really dislike the love at first sight trope. But I do like the double-take at first meeting trope, yknow what I'm saying? Here's a mix of everything!

Love at First Sight Double-Take at First-ish Meeting: Gun, Goo, Jake, Sammy, Vin + Taehoon!

Gun Park - Ultra Instinct

Gun is not ashamed to admit that it was the sashay of your hips that turned his head at first. He is a hot blooded male after all.

And then when you whirled around, asking "See something you like?"with a confident smirk and your own jet-black eyes staring back, moments before landing a throat punch.

Well. Gun is a goner. Head over heels, lying-awake-thinking-of-you obsessed.

Maybe he should have gotten a name. But two UI users meeting each other can't just be a coincidence, he must be destined to see you again.

Who would have thought Gun Park would believe in something as ridiculous as fate.

.

.

Goo Kim - Reflection

Goo detested you on first meeting. How can such a pretty face have so much venom.

All double-edged and saccharine, nothing to be taken at face value. You even had the audacity to ask if the weapon wielding was compensating for something.

And to add insult to injury, Gun had laughed. Goo didn't even realise Gun was capable of such emotion.

Ugh. Goo does not like having a taste of his own medicine.

As the day dragged on, Goo's obsession grew. It really was like looking into a mirror. Sure this reflection isn't as sexy as his usual. But. It's still pretty sexy nonetheless.

Huh, he wanders the corridors with a sly grin, wondering about you, Let's see how well you can keep up with me.

.

.

Jake Kim - Business Unit for Rent

Jake, for some bizarre reason relegated to realtor duties, shows you around the vacant Big Deal Street business unit. A long empty store that, fingers crossed, after today would no longer be a drain on the finances.

"All this can be yours for 2 million won a month," he flashes his most dazzling smile. Charming and toothy that he knows few could resist.

Unfortunately, it is completely missed by you as you continue casting an astute eye over the premises.

"Ah look at the state of this. The ventilation system is awful."

Jake blinks, looking at whatever the hell you're pointing at. "It is?"

"And the walls! It'll need plastering and floors completely redone."

"Um. Maybe it has been a while since-"

"I heard the footfall is terrible here. Constantly declining. 23% down on last year?"

Your sharp eyes peer into his and he freezes. Where the hell did you even get those stats? Not even Lua or Jason would know this.

"Well..." he scratches the back of his head, thinking of what to say.

Half an hour later, after a whirlwind of complaints and pointing out flaws, you've signed a 12 month contract for less than half the initial asking price.

Shit, Jake thinks, Jason is going to kill me. Actually... Fuck. This unit had been recently renovated to attract potential renters. And footfall figures? Must be plucked out of thin air.

You completely twisted his arm with your bullshit.

Jake can't even bring himself to be mad, he's impressed. Who the hell are you? He's looking forward to seeing more of you and your smart mouth.

.

.

Samuel Seo - Tattoos (let's ignore the timelines here)

Not many people pass Samuel's exacting standard on first meeting, but you do. He's frankly impressed with your work.

Someone similar to his age yet already amassing an impressive portfolio with impeccable linework and pristine colouring. No wonder you're booked out for months.

"So," your hands graze over his pecs, all strictly business yet his skin prickles at your touch. "You're thinking of your first tattoo here?"

"Yes."

"Cool, and you want it to eventually be a Sak Yant full body?" He nods. "Ok, it's going to take a while and quite a few sessions."

You give him a smile that leaves his throat dry. "Guess we're going to see a lot of each other."

.

.

Vin Jin - My name

Vin holds out his phone and with his most charming smirk, asks for your number.

"Sure," you fold your arms, showing no intention of reaching for the device, "You can have my number if you tell me my name."

"What?"

"I'm waiting," And now it's your turn to plaster on your smirk.

Fuck, who the hell do you think you are. Vin storms into the corridor, ego bruised and mood soured. Ugh, whatever. He has plenty of chicks interested anyway. He doesn't need to-

The lightbulb goes off over his head. Mary must know. She knows goddamn everything going on in this school.

Vin dashes off in search for her, thoughts from seconds ago already completely erased and giddy at the thought of finally getting your name and your number.

.

.

Seong Taehoon - Taekwondo

The first oddity is having someone your age show up for their first lesson. Then it turns out it's not your first.

The second oddity is when Taehoon tells you to show him what you got, you execute a perfect 1080 kick.

The last oddity, which really shouldn't be an oddity at all for Taehoon's ego, is that you are a fan of his from his UFC days and you think Taekwondo is the best.

Damn. And all that punctuated with a perfect 90 degree bow and 'Master Seong' too.

If that isn't the perfect way to worm yourself under his skin. Taehoon's going to be keeping an eye on you.

[gwyns]

I’m the anon that asked about Gwyn & Az! It’s nice getting to talk about things like this! I don’t go on twitter as much, because the e/riel’s there are truly unhinged. I don’t know why e/riel’s think it’s stupid that gwynriel’s are fine with Azriel saying “I don’t have a mate”, but we are because we’ll get to actually see it on page. Why would they want their ship to develop off page where you can’t read about it? Makes no sense. One of the best things about romance is getting to see the two characters slowly become enamored with each other.

I don’t think they have crushes on each other either (Gwyn might think he’s attractive) or are best friends (yet), but I think they are very good acquaintances. We will get to see their friendship develop on page, as well as their romantic feelings which will be so nice to see. I definitely agree that there is a mutual respect and trust between them. Azriel sees the warrior in Gwyn. He doesn’t see her as a victim. And so far, he treats her with respect and his interactions with her feel healthy compared to his interactions with Mor & Elain.

Do you think Gwyn and Azriel will become lovers/a couple first and then will have sex/explore it, or start exploring sex and then become lovers? I have a lot of thoughts on the sexuality aspect. It grosses me out how some e/riel’s think survivors of assault can never have sex or have sex that might be more kinky. I honestly feel like there’s a lot Sarah can do with them not only as lovers/a couple, but their friendship build up and them as individual characters. I don’t think Gwyn is going to fix Azriel, but she will help with his self worth and help accept parts of himself.

hiii i'm so sorry it took me awhile to get to this!! i agree it's very nice to be able to talk about this <3 i understand your avoidance of twitter they're... horrid on there. i've gotten to the point where i just drag any of them i happen to see on my timeline and they usually block me so, it's been fun!

i grow more and more convinced every day that e/riels have never read books before. when a character says something like "i don't have a mate" in a fated mates series that's the author telling us "yes he does, he's just too stupid to see it right now". of course he has a mate, sjm loves her happy endings. it's a little something called dramatic irony and i believe the greeks coined the term. like it's obvious to us, the readers, where this is going but he's oblivious to it. it's not hard to figure out

yes, yes, yes! i definitely think that by the end of acosf they're both on each other's radars. gwyn is comfortable being alone with him and az admires and encourages her. they're not super close (yet) but they find themselves liking one another's company more and more. it'll be such a seamless transition from acquaintances to friends to best friends to lovers and i can't wait for it!

now that's where this gets tricky. it's hard to tell when sjm will introduce their physical relationship but i hope it's more towards the end. i want their friendship to be at the front of their relationship for awhile. i do think that they won't become "official" or anything until after they have sex. i think they'll realize they're attracted to each other, and gwyn will be curious enough to ask him about it and az would be willing and... well you can guess the rest lol

oh definitely. azriel needs to self reflect a lot and realize he's worthy of love as is. he doesn't have to constantly try and prove he belongs when he already does. i think gwynriel have the potential to be one of sjm's most beautiful couples. the comfort they'd find in each other, how they'd help one another to see that they're worthy of everything they have and want... ugh i love it. they really do share many similarities and parallels and that's not a coincidence on sjm's part

as for e/riels being gross, nothing about their behavior surprises me anymore, unfortunately. i have to believe they're younger, stupider people that don't fully realize how harmful their thinking is. gwyn can and will have a healthy sexual relationship in the future, if that's what she wants. she's more than her trauma and assault, she's even said so, stop reducing her to only that and reflect on how your words can harm real people who have experienced similar things

[jelly-fish-wishes]

Yeah, I have never played any of the Paper Mario games, but I have heard good things about The Thousand Year Door. I was reading your comic "The Tears Won't Stop" based on Super Paper Mario and was rather surprised that it had a compelling story in the first place. Obviously the actual game wouldn't be anywhere near as dark as you comic but a main character being corrupted by a dark force and then fused with the villain as a boss is something that I'd expect to see in something like Digimon Tamers, not Mario. And I'm all here for it! Series that can switch from being bright and cheerful to dark and dramatic in a way that makes sense is just *chef's kiss*

It's really a shame, the Mario series has SO MUCH potential for great storytelling and in many cases already does have good narratives.

It would be so cool…

If the next 3D Mario game had the best story ever (since Galaxy anyway). And it doesn’t even need to be dark (but I kinda want it to be).

A cool concept would be if Mario was either accidentally sent to the past and he has to find a way home without interrupting the timeline, or maybe he goes to an alt dimension where he lost a battle that caused a chain reaction (this may or may not be partially inspired by Sonic Prime lol).

….oh my…what a neat idea….

Imagine Luigi in Tails- no - Nine’s place hehehehehe.

Ugh I would kill for a serious Mario game. Odyssey kinda felt like it at times. It was a nice breath of fresh air. But the paper Mario games take the cake. There doesn’t even need to be a chronological order for you to play, but when you pay attention to some stuff, like the difference between Luigi before and AFTER Super Paper Mario, it feels dark.

OOOOHH IMAGINE THIS!

We already have an evil Peach (that’s the one spoiler I have from TTYD), evil Luigi (Mr. L), and a Nice Bowser (from Superstar Saga).

Mario….when are you next?

[antonio-chandranis-dream-blog]

TODAY'S DREAM. EARTH YEAR 2005 A.D.

Um.

My name is Antonio Chandrani-Rivera. I’m 15 years old and my alchemy has been fluctuating, so I somehow. Can be. Here.

Via my gorgeous abode!

Yes. Through that. Shut up. Why do you sound more girlish than usual?

Though… I think I’m dreaming. I must be.

Oh, darling! You certainly aren’t.

So I am… Only in a dream would I worry this much over Alejandro of all people. I could be with Diego right now. Or doing oceanic combat with Layla or Raj. Even if I’m in the [UNKNOWN COORDINATES], isn’t it better just to find Leo?

I read in my history books that Earthians in the year 2005 “blog.” I guess we have something in common even after 100,000 years… Weird as shit.

I need a private place to talk about this one idiot. As far as I understand about the more emotional(?) humans in the year 2005, they love “comms” and hate “epic fails.” But this place seems like it has no comms and has a lot of epic fails.

Historically, in the year 2005 A.D., when elemental prowess among humans was still burgeoning, the renown dumbf*ck of 100,000 years ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ fell in love with a beauty. ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ kept hanging around that annoying beauty and the two along with L̶͉̹̩̞͗̔͆̀͐͌͐-̸̡̞͇͍͇̼̬̪̤̘͖̗̪̟͆̀̀̽̐͋̐̒̓̏̌̐͂͠ͅ-̵̛͈̲̲̹̩̩͒̎̌̈́͑̈́̓̉̈́̆͑͋̀͝ĺ̴̟͍̟̘͚̼̿̃͆̄͑̉͒ą̴͇̩̫̮̮͈͍̰̊̾̐̑͆̈̈́͝͝ simply ACCIDENTALLY protected the fated child. I can’t stand it… Thinking of them.

But I’m not ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒… I’m Antonio Chandrani-Rivera from 100,000 years in the future. I’m alright. I’ll be fine.

The truth is, I can’t remember.

What was I thinking about? That’s right.

Alejandro Caldera gave me a historical artifact. Not anything from 100,000 years ago and especially not from Earth, and instead from our own planet. Obviously. Still, it’s something quite old.

He said I give him too much. Too many…gifts. I can’t believe he even called them that. Is he stupid? The last thing I gave him was a nail clipper.

It’s a gorgeous book. A pretty green even with the glitzy gold. It’s from his own family’s archive. The family that despises me…

Don’t you even worry, young Nasir. If you have trouble, I can ascertain you might get some answer… Or zero. I have to admit, it’s a bit spotty for me here. Only that one’s very over-besotted over your potential in that era… In a timeline like this.

What the fuck are you talking about? Why are you able to interfere with my posts to this level? This wasn’t worth it, was it…?

It’s never worth it with Alejandro Caldera. What should I do? Can people on Earth decode runes yet? There’s runes all over this thing… Alejandro says he hid something for me in this book. He was too playful…! Whatever it is, it seems like such a gentle thing.

You should avoid someone that gentle, Nasir.

I will never listen to you, djinn. And like usual, my name is Antonio.

What should I do…? Ugh, I’m so annoyed…

This odd dreamy blog has a poll function, so I’ll let someone else decide! If no one decides, I guess I’ll have to figure something out on my own.

[burnsopale]

Same anon as before! I'm glad the ask was helpful, but I totally share your frustration with Orczy's take. Like... I guess there's an argument that she always meant for him to be a Marquis, since she named him after one, but I just cannot reconcile Chauvelin's character in TSP with how he's written in TEP. This is the same guy who 1.) fervently wanted all aristocrats dead and 2.) was openly fantasising about the Pimpernel's death by guillotine? And now suddenly he's a sensitive noble who's disgusted by having to spend time around the bloodthirsty revolutionaries? The way she describes it as him having "cast his lot" with the Revolution in that bit makes it seem like he doesn't even believe that much in it, and like he's only going after Percy now for his own wounded pride, and it's just... ugh. It doesn't match with him in TSP at all. It's comforting to know I'm not the only one frustrated. But I'm really enjoying your fic writing so far, so if anyone can spin this part of his backstory into something good, I've got faith in you!

Yeah, it's ... it's ... I dunno. I do have to finish Elusive and also probably read TSP again to speak more confidently about this, not to mention that I haven't read Eldorado yet, but ...

Our comfort and our frustration is that Orczy wrote this series over the course of about 40 years, and did not care about continuity, which means that the series is messy in a lot of ways, including characterisation and themes, and you kinda have to pick and choose what you care about. Like, Triumph (1922) and Sir Percy Hits Back (1927) can't even exist on the same timeline, and basically offer the reader two different endings for Chauvelin, so it's a pick-your-own-adventure!

The messiness means that Chauvelin being an aristo is good because

it's an example of an aristo who chose to abandon his title and fight for the cause of the third estate, taking the edge off Orczy's worship of the nobility

it's an example of an evil aristo, also taking the edge off Orczy's worship of the nobility, just from a different angle

But these two things work against each other, and Orczy probably didn't intend either of the effects.

Also it's bad that he's an aristo because giving Chauvlin money and a title reduces the massive power-discrepancy between him and Percy which made Chauvelin somewhat of an underdog and therefore more sympathetic (though he's obviously still very much the bad guy). So we get less representation of the third estate within the recurring cast, but on the other hand, it's less negative representation. All of these things are true at the same time, and my head is spinning.

As for Chauvelin being after the Scarlet Pimpernel for personal revenge, I like that, because it's a classic nemesis-thing, where the villain tends to be personally obsessed with the hero, and it leads to such a tragic and juicy ending for Sir Percy hits back, but I also love that Chauvelin is contrasted to many of his colleagues in that he is genuinely in this for the cause, not for personal power (though he does enjoy it) or for blood-thirst. It makes him a more complex villain. And I think those two things can co-exist and even make each other more interesting, for instance if his personal vendetta makes him lose sight of the cause, only for his obsession with Percy to give Percy the power to shame him into opening his eyes in SPHB. There is potential there.

[thelinkbetweentheears]

lemme tell you this (i said this with a melancholy tone, SPOILERS for sure)

the dragon tears questline is…. heart wrenching. soul-draining. confusing, even.

Heart-wrenching: you realize that Zelda could not tell Link to save her in the past so she made the ultimate sacrifice by becoming a DRAGON! a full blown immortal dragon that stands over many iterations of Hyrule, until we reach the modern era. Talk about the amount of trust that she has in him. UGH, im such a sucker for the “ultimate sacrifice” trope when its done right.

Soul-draining: Link probably thinks that Zelda either died or is in the dark pits of the depths somewhere. If it was such a shock for the Hylians to find out Link was alive (with a dope new arm), imagine the shock when Puppet Zelda keeps showing up outta nowhere. Its even worse when you consider that Hyrule was jussssstttttt getting over the calamity, finally rebuilding to its fullest potential and then BOOM, castle goes in sky with gloom and monsters.

Confusing: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE EVENTS OF BOTW? Are there now two Zeldas? Does the ever confusing triple timeline split even more? Does each iteration of Link, Zelda and Ganon keep finding each other in this loop of events and reincarnations? Nintendo, answer me please.

Give me a whiteboard with magnets of each iteration of the trio and i’ll have the entire room painted with lore.

anywho, its such a great questline. This game keeps surprising me at every corner i see.

[shrublike]

Oh, hey! I was the one talking about Lesson 16 like a month ago. I got memory problems and forget usernames the second I close a tab, heh. Just rediscovered your blog after clicking on the salty Lucifer pic and realized you responded to my ask.

I think that while Barbatos agreed with Diavolo's actions, he knew that it wasn't going to lead to a happy outcome for the prince (earns the respect of the Devildom, but loses his most trusted friend, and either has to harden himself in a way he doesn't want to or be haunted by the question, "did I do the right thing?").

Diavolo didn't want to kill Belphegor, but he couldn't just let him leave without appearing weak or like he considered his inner circle above the law every other demon followed on pain of death.

If he freed Belphegor, the demon would actively inspire other demons to rise up against him and try to overthrow him or launch genocidal attacks on innocent humans. Humans are like hunter's game to demons, and many demons don't want their delicacy becoming a protected species or a moral dilemma ("these creatures are innately less valuable than I am, and therefore it is reasonable to sacrifice them for my needs" vs "this person is worth the same as I am, so is the pleasure I get from killing them worth their life?").

It's easy to forget because he is so laid-back and friendly, but Diavolo lives in a strength-based hierarchy (hence why Satan is the 4th oldest when he is younger than Belphie, the 7th oldest). If he appears weak, then he will become prey to the opportunistic. Aside from challenges to his power, he could potentially face civil war as all of the demons begrudgingly following him, no longer consider him strong enough to respect and want to return to the ways of his ancestors.

While I believe the idea to send MC back in time was Diavolo, Barbatos's permission to use his powers to find a peaceful solution was likely given a broad interpretation by the demon, and he arranged the timelines on his own. Diavolo likely intended for MC to return with the revelation that they were related to Lilith, but it still wasn't an ideal outcome for him because Belphegor would resent him for locking him up without even considering his views.

So Barbatos adjusted things and found a solution that left Belphegor with the most favorable attitude towards Diavolo that they could hope for and pushed that nasty bit of attempted-treason under the rug where none but the prince's most trusted could find it.

Diavolo trusts Barbatos implicitly, so if the butler said "this is the best way", he would agree without hesitation and allow him to tidy up and cancel the timelines as he sees fit.

Diavolo: *doesn’t want it to seem like his inner circle is above the law*

also Diavolo: *sweeps his bestie’s brother’s first degree murder charge under the rug*

he’s lucky the mc doesn’t have the option to hold a grudge cause they could single-handedly start their own civil war with that lmao

I like that you mentioned the civil unrest tho, I’d be so interested for that sorta thing to be shown!! beyond Mephisto just being all “ugh stinky human peasant >:(“ only to warm up a lesson later 🙃

Diavolo literally made his government out of fallen angels - which we know people like Mephisto don’t approve of - only to chuck a human in the mix further down the line, seemingly all without a public vote!! their qualifications are that they’re his buddies, that’s it!!!

can you imagine if that happened in reality?? there would be uproar, and I wanna see that!! I wanna see how the public reacted to the brothers and how they’re reacting to the mc!!!! GIVE ME THE RIOTS!!!!!

p.s. are you a fic writer, nonnie? something about your typing style gives me writer vibes 👀

[foundationbuilt]

⭐

send ⭐ for me to choose which muses i would like to explore <3

i sincerely apologise for the ramble but this is what it came to sjsjsj. i'll put it under a read more so the whole dash doesn't have to suffer a long ass post.

scott & allison, ugh these babies like that was scott's first love and he was a stupid teenage boy with his heart on his sleeve and he made so many mistakes but allison holds so much of his heart. always. even if they break up, or don't get back together, or are just friends now, or whatever. she's so so important to him.

scott & lydia, the best of buddies. like this girl could have been like him, bitten by the same wolf and would've been part of the same pack ( even if it wasn't a pack ) but she didn't turn. she had something else going on, and scott wants to help so much with that and he feels such a connection to her anyway. and later he'll never understand how he could have ever gotten through life without lydia because she is one of the most important people in his life. i also do like exploring the idea of scott and lydia romantically ?? like, interesting how that would come around, but mostly i like them being platonic bffs.

on a role reverse for us muns, i'd like to explore dean and sam winchester interacting with scott because hunters coming across a true alpha like scott !!! that would be interesting, especially considering what part of the timeline dean and sam are at.

klaus & hayley !!!! one of my otp's, whether that's romantic, platonic, familial or enemies. i love these two's dynamics so so much, like it honestly has so much of my heart no matter what is going on with them. i love getting into the gritty realities between them as well as exploring how much they have changed and grown and evolved together. also so much potential for canon divergence's !!!!

hayley & davina's friendship !!! like these girls know what you have to do to survive in new orleans and they just ... help each other out when they can. it's all they can do. I think there's just something so sweet about this and i love it. i'd love to see hayley and davina also being like, older, and sister-in-laws, and being like, ugh, mikaelson christmas.

clary & simon, parabatai! best friends! awkward boyfriend-girlfriend! give me them all, like these two are the sweetest ever and clary loves him so much, and she needs him. he's literally the other half of her soul and, ughhhhhh! i love this dynamic.

clary & jace, another one of my otp's !! like these two angel kids struggling so much in this world with all these lies and pretences and false identifies they had been made to believe about themselves, finding each other amongst it all and finding themselves as well, and being together while doing that. as well as all the angst of course, because we can never get enough of that. but i'm good with angst and exploring that but also a happily ever after where they get to live the rest of their lives together. also would be interested in an au where the uprising didn't happen or happened later or whatever and clary and jace were both raised by valentine ... *side eye*.

jace & alec, parabatai boys!!!! that is jace's best bro, his soul, the first person who ever loved him and jace will never ever ever forget that. like alec is his soulmate and i will always scream about this dynamic. could also explore romantic jalec as well if you were interested in that.

jace & tessa, because herondale family feels !! i would absolutely adore building up a dynamic between jace and tessa like ....!!!!!!

percy & jason, these golden boys of their camps !! like there is so much potential there that's more than the macho falsity that didn't fit either percy or jason in canon that they were forced into. it is a dynamic i've explored in rp before and would absolutely love to do so again, there is so so so much potential. !!!

percy & annabeth, everything absolutely everything. like there's nothing i wouldn't write for these two.

percy & vienna, as soon as i read her about i thought of vienna helping percy control himself during a meltdown. like when he's creating a hurricane because of something that's went on and unable to control his emotions, vienna helped to control the weather even if only a little and it was enough to snap percy out of it and well, i don't know, but that's just what first came to my mind ... we could build on that.

peeta & katniss, again, everything, all the gritty details from the beginning to the end, i am so precious about these two, they hold my heart in so many ways. like they are so so damaged but aaaaaaaaaa !

RIGHT SO. i don't offically have rhode as a muse yet but i was talking with another mun about making her one tonight and then i saw kaia born in rhode island and it just ... felt like fate. rhode taking an interest in this one demigod ...

regulus & draco, like an au where regulus lives and he sees draco going down the exact same path that he did and he's like, no, stop, and that's his cousin's boy ( and he loves him, he loves narcissa, and he loves draco ) and he desperately doesn't want draco making the same mistakes !! ugh, that actually wretches my heart so much to think of regulus trying so hard to protect draco.

there are more but ... yes, i think i rambled enough jsjsjsjsjsjsj.

[esperanta-dragon]

💥🦋🦈 for the ask game?

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

The whole Shadowlands and whole narrative built around Sylvanas to make her appear she was only a victim and did not want any of it. I don't believe she did not want it. Not only it made her look weak and dumb, but the amount of effort put into breaking and twisting the old established lore to achieve this... ooof. No. It does not work and will never work. To be honest I am still not sure what Blizzard tried to achieve. Why they went bonkers with her just to pull the breaks in the last moment. Why they couldn't make her a really good villain she deserved to be? Why she had to end up being just a pawn in all this? They wanted us to feel sorry for her? Did not happen because it does not work. Not even the book made me think that. The whole book was trying to avoid the Jailer and Shadowlands plot. Now we will never know how her original story after WotLK was supposed to go. I am just sad because she did not deserved it as incompetent writers used her badly and destroyed the whole lore to make it happen... what made it happen? I don't know and will never understand the reason behind this decision. Shadowlands will never belong to WoW lore, it will always stick out as some strange spin-off and I wish Blizzard made some change in the timeline with Bronze Dragonflight and erase it or claim that it was an alternative reality. We deserved better Shadowlands. And many characters deserved better resolution.

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write? More of them.

Darion Mograine It took me 10 years to find out how to write him correctly. At first he was way too soft because I was a teenager who had this phase that all dark characters are misunderstood and they are all soft inside (yes even Arthas, Kel'Thuzad, etc... ugh). Then I wrote him way too tough, almost indifferent just to make him tough which is not true. He is not and it was shown in Legion and in We Ride Forth how much he cares about everybody even Bolvar.

Death knights are hard to write in general because you have to find the balance between their indifference to the living world but also show that they have a lot of issues, trauma, and regrets. So when I started writing RP with my friend, I couldn't be happier when she told me that Darion is incredibly complex and at first it doesn't make sense what he is doing and how does he react but when you figure out his core values, you get to understand him more and suddenly it makes sense.

Until this day, my friend who is writing Anduin still says from time to time that she can't exactly get into Darion's head because sometimes he does a lot of illogical stuff based on his moral compass and inner values. And I am not talking about how trauma and regrets and all the bad things are getting into his behavior.

And that makes me happy he is this kind of a weirdo.

Kel'Thuzad

Strange but KT is my favorite villain. When I started building my story with death knights many years ago, the Lich King was the one in the spotlight and doing decisions. Then I realized it doesn't make sense and he doesn't have the goddamn time and why should he care. So Kel'Thuzad would be the one doing all the stuff and planning before Light's Hope.

Then the book about sir Zeliek was in making. He wasn't there that much with the first version of the book. Which is absolutely pitty because I got to like him a lot. In the second version I am rewriting after years, taking out the stuff which was not working and using the potential on maximum, I can't wait to catch the drive and finish the book in a few weeks.

I just love writing highly calculating, insane characters. Which reminds me he is in one of my AU fanfics I am rewriting and I enjoyed absolutely every moment he was in. I should get back to it. He is crazy. I love working with him.

sir Zeliek

My child, hello. There are like 2-3 fanfics with sir Zeliek on the internet. 1 is goddamn good from @rabbitprint called Holding Circles. As an undead paladin, he has an incredible potential never fully used by Blizzard. So I adopted him, created his background from scratch, and connected his story with Warcraft III and WotLK so he ends up being crucial.

I've written the whole book about him in 2014. At that time it was not perfect but it helped me cope with toxic environment I was in. It was a first draft and over the years I've managed to analyze what should be deleted, what should be explored, changed and how to use the full potential of the book. My writing got better and I've managed to put a lot more details into it.

It was always my big dream to write the second version which will be finally good and translate it into English. I don't know if people will read it, if it will have at least one comment each chapter because... I tend to like characters nobody cares about.

But I hope somebody will like it and maybe people will in the end appreciate the story I've created around him. He was built from scratch. And I hope people will like him. Because he is in a grey moral zone and I've put a lot of effort into him. People realizing how big potential was missed would make me happy.

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

You wouldn't believe but Arthas as the Lich King. It's super hard to write this kind of deity which should be stoic, and calm but creepy and intimidating at the same time. Unfortunately... when I try it, he always ends up being cringe.

Maybe it's just my feeling and maybe it got better. I would have to start rewriting the AU when the Lich King won the war in Northrend because he was there for a few moments.

Still, I am avoiding him when I can. It is funny when you write about death knights and you... can't avoid it 100%

[idealisticrealism]

TCL 2x06 recap

Hahahahaahaaaaaaa get ready for more unhinged fangirling (and just so many words omg)

Also thanks so much to those of you who left replies on the previous recaps, I honestly really love seeing them– it’s awesome to know that you guys are actually enjoying my insane ramblings haha. So please keep sharing your thoughts and I’lll keep sharing mine :P

Honestly I am so happy we’re still on the same day as last ep! Though lbr I desperately wish we could have seen what happened between Garrett accepting the deal and Thony getting home– like how did she get home?? Did she drive back to the cleaning storehouse (I’m going to start calling this Cleaning Ladies’ HQ, or CLHQ for short lol) in the truck with Arman and then he dropped her home on his bike??? Or did Garrett insist on driving her home so he could chastise her about her involvement with Arman?? I mean either option would have been great to watch but lbr I would prefer the former lol. But sigh I guess that’s just going to be left to the imagination. But ugh it hurts to see her so upset– she was so steady and brave in the moment while making the deal, but now the reality is setting in, the feeling of once again being caught in a trap. And oooh it wasn’t until she told Fi just now about helping Arman move drugs that I remembered her reaction to Fi’s plan to sell party drugs for Brandon. Feeling like a bit of a hypocrite now, are we Thony?? And maybe a liar, too, considering she tells Fi that Garrett threatened to deport her unless she informed for him again– bc firstly there was zero mention of deportation (I honestly believe that Garrett is done with that threat, and also that he legitimately did actually intend to let Thony go and just take Arman in for the drugs), and secondly, we all know she begged him to agree to her being an informant, in order to keep both herself and Arman safe. But to admit that to Fi would be to reveal even more about the depth of her and Arman’s connection than the events in the motel did (and that was already plenty) and I honestly don’t think Thony is capable of facing that right now.

Ooooh only one person uses the weird kitchen door, which means Hot Detective Flores is back!  Though as much as I like her, she does nothing but cause me stress haha. I‘m glad that the cops seem to have moved on from Thony as a suspect so quickly and easily– unless part of her reason for coming here and telling them about MMM’s disappearance was to see their reaction– but lbr it does look suss that MMM disappeared so soon after a death at his motel (sidenote, him being missing ‘over a week now’ definitely fits with the expected timeline). But aaaaarghhh I was worried that his disappearance would cause the cops to search his apartment and potentially find more videos– honestly, I’m surprised Arman didn’t look at MMM’s license for his address and then find his keys and go to his apartment to search for any sign of the Chris video. Unless maybe he did??? Honestly he’s savvy enough to think of it, and dedicated enough to protecting Thony that he’d absolutely do it. Ok tbh I am adopting the headcanon rn that he actually did go and do all that after disposing of the body, and just didn’t tell Thony bc he didn’t think she needed to know/wanted to let her just forget the whole thing. But anyway tbh it’s kind of funny to hear Flores say reassuringly “We WILL find out how your loved one died” to the three people who were literally present at/involved in his death lol. But also omg Chris how about you don’t yell “they’ll know I did it!!” literally moments after the detective walks out the door??? God you are such a teenager lol. And ok I love Thony’s certainty in saying that that the cops won’t find the body and that “Arman made sure of it”-- but like is that just her having enough trust in him to know he would have taken care of it, or did he actually tell her what he did with the body??? And if so, when??? Doesn’t this show know that I need to be privy to literally every single conversation and interaction between Armony?? C’mon writers be more considerate of a poor fangirl haha

(Also I forget to mention this every single week but I really love the new title screen thing with the soapy water washing away the red from the lettering like it’s washing away blood, leaving the pure white text behind. This show has such style man) 

My thought process as Arman pulls up to the house on his motorbike: ‘oh hey I stood right by that letterbox thing down at the end of the street! Ok wait so these guys didn’t sell the motorbike or  Nadia’s car, despite the severity of their financial issues? Also what is Arman staring at? Is there some kind of evidence that Robert has been at the house?? Omg wait did Nadia throw his stuff out????’ (*literally laughs in delight as the camera pans over his stuff on the ground lol*). Tbh I had fun pausing to check out his various belongings, and while the childhood pic of Adan is cutest, and the squash racquet is hot (I would watch him play that ANY day), the random lamps are definitely my favourite addition. Like are they sentimental lamps?? But anyway oh my goddddd this is a scene I have been hoping for for a long time, and holy shit Eva is legit giving it her all– hell hath no fury indeed. (ngl I’m giggling a little at the fact that she would have had to yell and throw those clothes right into the camera while filming this lol). But omg “What the hell are you doing??” / “What the hell are YOU doing?? I’m doing what I should have done the first time I laid eyes on you with your cleaning lady”-- honestly I love this line, because it is such a great throwback to the moment Nadia first sees them together in 1x02. (I’m ignoring their first scene all together the morning after the party in 1x01, because she was still drunk and didn’t actually see Thony and Arman interact at all; though mannn her 1x01 line “I like her. Give her everything” is particularly impactful now). But in 1x02, Nadia watches as Arman literally drops everything– leaving in the middle of an important meeting with Hayak and Knight– to disappear with a woman he barely knows, when it would have been far easier for him to get one of their guys to take her to the clinic, or even just tell her to go to a hospital instead. And I gotta mention the next time Nadia witnesses them interact as well; in 1x03 where she watches from across the club as Thony gives Luca’s drawing to Arman, and honestly she’s right with what she said– Thony really does look at him like he’s her hero in this moment, while he looks at her with an almost bashful pleasure, which (if Nadia had seen it) she would probably barely recognise, given how rare it must be for him. That was the moment Nadia started to understand something they hadn’t yet seen themselves, and was partly why she brought Thony to the wedding reception with her, to further observe how they would interact. She’s been watching this whole time, and though she’d tried to convince herself that the connection between them didn’t mean anything for her own relationship with Arman (I’m almost certain there was an interview that said Nadia has slept with other women during their marriage, so maybe they’re ~open), the truth is she’s always known that what Thony and Arman have is different. It's real, and she knows it, even if they don't.

Which is exactly why she calls bullshit when he says “There’s nothing going on between Thony and me. You know that!” And gotta say, as much as I love Arman, I kinda call bullshit too. Though while I can imagine some people would say he’s gaslighting her, I actually don’t agree. (“Gaslighting”: to deliberately manipulate someone by psychological means into doubting their own sanity). I think in Arman’s case, he genuinely believes he’s telling the truth, because to him, ‘nothing going on’ means a) he and Thony aren’t sleeping together, and b) that their relationship isn’t going to progress beyond what it is now. He’s aware of his feelings for Thony, and is also aware that she has some kind of feelings for him (even if he doesn’t know exactly how far those feelings extend), and though there is an undeniable pull between them he also knows that there is a line neither of them will cross, one that exists because of Nadia– especially since everything that happened with the prison and the debt, and how much Nadia’s safety and livelihood now depends on him as a result of that. And so that’s what he means with that line– while he and Thony are connected, that connection will never go any further (despite what Nadia clearly believes) as long as he and Nadia are together.  Hence his frustration– she’s accusing him of having the very thing he so desperately wants, but has denied himself ever having. And he genuinely does try to explain what he’s been doing/make her understand about the plan with the drugs, except she won’t let him (damn at the accuracy of her “you’ll take any excuse to be with her” line though, wow), and then just as he’s about to try to convince her of his dedication to her, he sees the ring, and the devious landmine artfully planted by Robert explodes between them. Because while Nadia sees the reality– the inevitability– of Thony and Arman’s connection far better than he does, Arman sees the truth of Robert’s actions better than she does, and that disparity only serves to push them further apart. But omg the way I gasped when she yells “There is no more us!!!” and he just stares at her because he knows her well enough to see the truth, has fought bitterly with her enough times to see that this is different– that this time it might actually be real, that they’ve passed that point of no return and that their marriage is over. He can’t entirely believe it though, doesn’t dare to; because if it’s real, then she has actually just released him from the obligation he has towards her, from the slowly-growing weight of unhappiness that he has been carrying since even before he met Thony. And the irony of it all is that by leaving him, she has given him the freedom to do what he otherwise never would have done– the exact thing she was accusing him of in the first place: be with the woman he loves.  

Okay so Armony are about to have their meet with Garrett to discuss the plan, and honestly I hate when scenes start with both of them already present! Like excuse me I need to know how long they have been waiting and what they have been talking about and how much they have looked at each other etc??? Like did they deliberately arrive earlier than Garrett so they could work out their plan? Have they been texting back and forth since last night trying to figure it out?? No matter how much this show feeds me (and ngl it feeds me well; see the above paragraph for proof lol) I am always going to want more lol. But ugh they have clearly talked it through together and are presenting their little plan as a duo and basically completing each other’s sentences and I love them. But honestly it confuses me a bit that Garrett starts the meeting by asking how they’re going to use Robert to get Cortes, and then only like a minute later he’s signing up for their plan to use Cortes to get Robert?? It just seemed like a sudden and odd priority shift, bc until this moment it seemed like he didn’t care about Robert (despite Robert’s extensive crime-ing) and only saw him as a means to getting Cortes? But tbh I don’t care lol. I just care about this Armony eye contact and the way Arman looked like he wanted to say something before Thony turned and walked away ugh. I’m gonna headcanon that after she gets in the van, he leans against the passenger door and talks to her through the lowered window, maybe arranging a time for them to meet at CLHQ and unpack the drugs from the van? (Also two sidenotes: firstly I’ve never noticed that little semi-bald patch in Arman’s beard over the right side of his jaw– is there a scar there because I would be very into that. And secondly dude I love the leather jacket as much as anyone, trust me, but it is too hot for you to be wearing it all the time! Take it off before you get heatstroke!! …. And while you’re at it, the shirt should probably go too. Just to be safe lol)

“Now that dad’s back in town you guys can get married!” Omg. I cannot describe my love for this scene, firstly for the near parent-trapping, and secondly for the fact that it literally legitimately felt SO real in terms of how a 12 year old would see and react to this situation. Like oh my heart Jazz is so cute and earnest lol, and Fi and JD were so gentle with setting her straight ugh. Bummer about the JD girlfriend, but eh, I’m sure she won’t last haha. I swear the JD and Fi ship (I’m going for “J-Fi” here because I’m lazy lol) is gonna sail by the end of the season– or at least it better, because I love them already ugh

It’s probably ridiculous that it irritates me that Arman changed the money into a different bag? Like why? Though I guess he had to take it all out of the other bag to count it anyway or whatever (also, where did he do that? La Habana??). But ugh yaaaasss that was such a satisfying power move watching him casually drop a ton of money in front of Robert and see Robert be like that meme of the lady who looks confused with all the mathematic equations floating around her lol. (That was terribly described but c’mon, you know the one.)  Honestly I was so happy for Arman here because not only is he a fifth of the way closer to freedom, but he got to show the guy who thinks he has him completely backed into a corner that there is more to him than Robert realises. Robert clearly does not like to feel like he’s been tricked (which is ironic because he’s literally being tricked right now lol) so he immediately goes to Nadia to whine like the spoiled child that he is. I definitely did enjoy Nadia’s face when she learned Arman had paid off so much– yep, he did try to tell you last night, but you wouldn’t listen! Not that that means she wasn’t justified in everything she said last night, bc she was mostly right– there is absolutely 100% something going on with him and Thony– but to be fair to Arman, she’s wrong about what lines they have or haven’t crossed. But even so, his involvement with Thony doesn’t mean he was lying about selling the drugs, or when he said that he was doing this for him and Nadia (aka, for their freedom from Robert). Two things can be true at once Nadia! 

Lol I love seeing Arman putting two relatively small boxes on the stack while in the background Thony is lugging a box off the truck that is practically as big as she is. Girl has got being self-reliant down to an art form. Ngl my brain is still very confused by the ‘how do they have both the money and the drugs in their possession’ question, but whatever, I‘ll roll with it (just like I’m rolling with Thony’s inexplicable outfit change back to what she was wearing at home last night; maybe the blue shirt got dirty between the meet this morning and now?). But who cares about these things when there’s completely unnecessary Armony touching to scream over??? I love that he holds out a hand to help her get down even though she has very clearly been hopping up and down from that van like a lil’ mountain goat all morning unpacking these meds (I also love that his other hand first covered hers on the box for like a split second before she straightened up ugh). But ugh she doesn’t shy away from him or say she’s fine– she just immediately puts her hand in his and lets him help her. Given that stubborn independence and self-reliance (like mentioned above) are some of Thony’s major character traits, I love to see little moments like this, which show that she is learning to accept help from the people that care about her, even when she already knows she could manage alone. (Bc the whole point is that she doesn’t have to anymore).

And so anyway she lets him help her down, and then ughhhhhhh they just… hold on??? And I say they bc honestly while Arman is more overtly deliberate in keeping that contact, it’s not like he’s preventing her from pulling away– his grip is relaxed, and she could have easily slipped her hand out of his the moment she was on solid ground (and without it seeming weird or like she was trying to get away from him), but she didn’t. Instead she just looks up at him, fingers still curled over his and thumb pressing against his skin, and ugh the way he's looking at her??? His fight with Nadia last night had such a feeling of finality to it, and while lbr he doesn't know for sure that she won’t backflip again and take him back when she calms down, he can’t help but let himself have this moment where he isn’t a man torn between obligation to one woman and love for another– he’s just a man looking at the woman he loves, the woman he could finally have a future with. And he shifts closer like he’s being pulled in by the dream of that future, and maybe she is too bc her eyes flick down to his mouth for just a split second– and then it’s like she snaps out of it, like ‘wait shit nope still married' and pulls back, her neck muscles tensing like she’s literally holding her breath??? And then she turns away for all of a second before she’s like  '......unless….…?' lol and turns back to bring up the elephant in the room (or rather, the belongings in the truck haha), aka the signs of the possible dissolution of his marriage??? How uncomfortable must it be for her to acknowledge them, especially when they might actually mean nothing (she's seen the way Arman and Nadia fight, and yet thus far they’ve always still stayed together), or they might mean that things are really over between Arman and Nadia this time, which would open the door for the beginning (lbr, the progression) of something between the two of them??? But despite the awkwardness, it’s more important to her to make sure he’s okay, and ugh the way he steps closer to her again, his eyes on her face and voice all soft as he thanks her…  Never thought I’d say this, but I’m almost glad for the appearance of Robert and Nadia, because oh man I can’t take this tension and all these unspoken truths. Ngl I did have a very brief moment of insanity when she said “If you want–” where I literally thought she was going to offer for him to come stay at her house ahahaha. I love that she did offer him somewhere to stay, though, because she cares about him and wants him to have a roof over his head.  She’s trying to look after him, because that’s what they do for each other; and only a moment later he’s yet again looking after her by telling her to go into the storage room (presumably to have more cover/be closer to the exit on the other side if she needs to run) and ugh the way he puts his hand on his gun, ready to do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Honestly these two and their mutual care and protection of each other are going to be the death of me. 

Anyway ughhh I am SO into this framing of Armony on one side and Nadia and Robert on the other. This is the shift I mentioned in a previous meta, with the Arman/Nadia partnership being severed and the two of them realigning with Thony and Robert (though lbr Arman and Thony were already very much aligned long before this, lol). I also love the framing of the shots inside the storeroom, with Arman behind Thony and his eyes on her rather than on Robert. I appreciate that Robert actually seems fascinated by the discovery of Thony’s actual profession, and the way his gaze flicks to Arman– whose eyes are still focused only on Thony– for confirmation. I also appreciate that he doesn’t actually sound sarcastic when he refers to her as ‘Doctor’; he’d been actually fairly respectful to her the day before, but there’s a new element to it now– maybe it’s that he feels she’s more worthy of respect now that he knows her profession (in which case, he’s a jerk), or maybe it’s just that he realises that he has underestimated the depth to her and is re-evaluating. Honestly I think she has intrigued him from the start and this has only added to that. But aaaaah I love when people who are used to being the one manipulating others– and who see themselves as the untouchable puppetmaster pulling the strings– get played themselves, and damn Armony did an amazing job at having Robert walk right into their trap. Because of course the man who wants to take everything Arman possesses would never be able to resist taking a chunk of his business away from him. (Though seriously, if one of them had been wearing a wire during this interaction, they would have had enough to hand Robert over to the FBI right away… but I guess that would have cut the episode pretty short haha). Anyway I’m so happy that Arman is now free from his deal to work for Robert (of course, so is Nadia, but lbr we all know that working for Robert suited her just fine). But ugh the look Arman gives her after ensuring her freedom from Robert– see, I told you I was doing this for you too– and the expression she’s wearing like she knows there’s more going on here than she understands, but she just can’t see it yet. I love the moment Armony share after Nadia and Robert leave– “You didn’t tell Nadia the plan?” / “No. That’s why it worked.” because a) it just further reiterates that Armony are their own team now and Nadia is not part of that (he literally let his marriage implode rather than defend himself to Nadia and jeopardise the plan), but also b) it’s gotta have Thony wondering what this little business deal will mean for Arman and Nadia’s marriage, and whether Nadia will let him come home now that she realises what he did to get them free of Robert. And while obviously the potential for Arman and Nadia making up is not at all what we want, I want Thony to realise that it’s not what she wants either. 

But ugh of course Arman is immediately thinking about Thony’s safety and trying to convince her that he should go to the meet with Cortes alone– and of course she refuses and insists on coming with him lol. Tbh her argument about being able to answer any questions about the meds is weak (Arman could literally just call her if any came up), and we know the truth, even if she can’t face it herself. Because she’s almost lost Arman twice now– firstly when Hayak blew up his car a month ago and she spent a horrific week thinking he was dead, and then secondly when Hayak had him attacked in the prison (who knows if she’s actually aware of the third time, aka the prison shower showdown)– and both of those near-misses happened at times when they were separated. Since then, she can’t face the idea of him walking into a situation this dangerous on his own, can’t help but be terrified of what might happen to him– so the only (admittedly irrational) way she can control that fear is to be there too. And maybe she’s hoping that Cortes will be less likely to harm Arman if there’s a witness present, especially a woman– after all, her time in Arman’s world has shown her that there is still honour among criminals; and now, for him, she’s staking her life on it.

But anyway okay I’m confused again– why do they need money from the FBI for the drugs? They had no problem buying the drugs before with their limited funds (after all, they’ve said how cheap they are to buy from Mexico), but I guess maybe this time they’re getting way more? Idk. I love that Thony’s mind immediately went to the opportunity to steal from the FBI and take a cut for themselves (I see you’ve learned a few things, haha) and clearly Arman loved it too– ughhhh the way he just stares at her with such wonder and pride, and then abruptly looks away the moment she looks up at him lol. (Sorry, buddy, but not quick enough. She totally saw those heart eyes, but then again, it’s not like you’ve ever been particularly good at hiding them. Unlike her, who is maybe too good at it….)

Omg when did Garrett and Jefferson become such boyfriends???? “I’m an atheist” “sorry Russo, he’s an atheist” / “You’ve got nothing to worry about boss, we got this” and all the giddy little grins? Like geez guys try to be less like completely smitten newlyweds here haha. (Though lbr it’s super cute and I love it). Also my confusion about this entire Robert/Cortes situation continues, because literally last night it seemed like Garrett was going to keep his little teamup with Thony and Arman a secret– like when he said it was a false alarm and turned Jefferson away– but now he’s told the FBI all about it?? I guess maybe he was just waiting to get a clear plan from Thony and Arman that morning before he took it to Russo? Also lol at Russo mentioning Maya having met Thony– you can immediately bet Maya is going to show up at some point, despite Garrett’s assurances lol. Just like the comments about Thony being in danger if Cortes sees the FBI, and Garrett saying that nothing will go wrong. Famous last words lol…

So is La Habana gonna be like a shared custody arrangement, or…? Lol bc apparently rn Arman gets the office overnight and as soon as morning hits, she’s tossing him out. (That little finger click and gesture to get out? That was hot lol). Also I kinda love the clear way we are being shown the division between them, particularly in these shared spaces of theirs. And I love that this scene further reiterates that she was never just the pretty face around the club– they were both equally the pretty face that lured the customers, and the business sharks running the show behind the scenes. But omg, rumpled grumbly Arman all squished onto that too-small couch?? I love it so much haha. But lbr buddy ‘I didn’t have anywhere else to go’ is a lie, Thony made it very clear you were welcome to her bed… ahem, I mean the bed at the clinic. (Shhhh I can dream, lol). Also I will be 100% honest, I definitely stared at his thighs when he threw back the blanket haha, but I was totally just looking for evidence of the scar that should have been there from the explosion in 1x01. I swear :P But anyhow I actually am so happy about this fight, because unlike their fight in front of the house, this isn’t all fire and anger. The things said then could have been put down to heat of the moment, and the writers could have used this scene to have them talk it out and reconcile now that Nadia knows he was telling the truth about the drugs (even if she still doesn’t know the whole story, and she knows that there’s more to it). But instead the same argument is covered again, but with tiredness and resignation rather than furious attacks. ‘What I did was for us, can’t you see that?” / ”No, I can’t see it”-- honestly I feel like when Arman says ‘us’, he doesn’t mean them as a romantic couple; he means both of them, individually. And he has been fighting to free them both, because he cares about her and knows that being near Robert is only going to be bad for her in the long run. (Plus he just hates Robert and can’t stand the thought of Robert feeling like he’s ‘won’ her). But when Nadia hears ‘us’ she takes it to mean their relationship, their connection to each other. Which is why she doesn’t believe he’s fighting for ‘them’. But lbr these two are doomed either way– bc if they remain under the crushing pressure from Robert, they’ll crack under the strain until they shatter apart. And if they get free of Robert and re-establish the level of financial security they had before, then Arman will no longer have the same obligation to protect and provide for her, and he won’t be able to resist the pull towards what he really wants– a life with Thony.

The comment about the ring was interesting though– like whoever puts it on her hand (or more importantly, who she accepts it from) is laying claim to her? Originally it was Arman, but then the ring became Robert’s, and then he gave it to her– and so by her visibly wearing it, it’s now a sign of her connection to/acceptance of him rather than Arman. And lbr she could have put it away somewhere safe or even hocked it when Robert gave it back, but she chose to wear it, even knowing the message it would send to Arman. But ugh the way their voices get all low and he tells her she’s free of Robert, basically implores her not to get caught in his web again, and she holds back tears as she tells him that she knows that what he’s doing is for Thony. The fact that he stops trying to argue against it– he’s accepted that they both know it’s the truth now– and just tries to warn her in the only way he can that being close to Robert is dangerous, that he genuinely is trying to protect her, regardless of the state of their marriage. But ugh the quiet conviction in ‘my safety is not your concern anymore’ and ‘don’t be here when I come back’– we have seen them have many fights by this point, constantly lashing out at each other and pushing each other away, but always coming back to the safety and familiarity of their relationship– but to me, this is the point where their marriage truly ends. After this, I honestly can’t see the writers giving us scenes where they try to come back from this, aka try to ‘make it work’. I think they are definitely going to continue being in each other’s orbit– with La Habana, Robert, the drug business etc, there’s still a lot connecting them– but it will no longer be as a partnership. As allies, maybe, hopefully; but never again as husband and wife. (At least I really, really hope so.)

Omg I am in LOVE with Fi clearly just rolling with the fact that Thony is going to go undercover to meet a drug kingpin (it’s like that John Mulaney quote of “You know those days when you’re like, ‘This might as well happen’” lol), and aw she even goes all in to find her an outfit and make her look the part. Considering Fi has been the one doing most of the freaking out lately, I think it actually helps her (as well as Thony) to take a turn being the strong one, the one who says it’s all going to be okay. Thony’s feeling out of her depth, and so afraid for both Arman and herself– like I said earlier, maybe in the moment when she insisted on coming, she felt that having the two of them there must surely make it safer; as if even a high-level criminal would hesitate before killing two people (especially including a woman) because it doubles the likelihood of someone noticing them missing or knowing where they were last seen. But now she’s terrified that she might be wrong about that, and even more terrified that it might be her messing up somehow that gets them both killed. She insisted on coming because she thought it would protect Arman– but what if it does the opposite? What if he dies because of her?? And ughhh Fi reminds her of how brave and strong she is, and then gives her her ‘armour’ to wear so she can feel the part, and I just love them so much ughhhh. I have said it before that these two are the true centre of the show and I stick by that 

Okay but we were 100% ROBBED of getting to see Arman’s first reaction to Thony in That Outfit. Am I going to fic it? Look, at some point, probably lol. Because you just know that that boy forgot his own damn name for a moment there when he first laid eyes on her. I’m picturing him and Garrett tensely standing at some designated meet point, waiting for her to arrive (maybe there was a bit of final briefing to do or something, idk) and as she pulls up they’re snarking at each other over something, and then when she steps out of the van Arman literally stops talking mid-sentence and just stares. And Garrett makes some teasing comment (like "careful, that puddle of drool will ruin those fancy shoes" or "what's the matter, zebra got your tongue?" Lol) that Arman doesn’t even hear–  he's already walking towards her like he's being drawn by a magnet. Garrett huffs and then follows, then tells Thony that this outfit is much more on the mark than her goth one, but she’s not listening to him either. She’s only looking at Arman, and Garrett rolls his eyes a little and then does some very pointed throat clearing and then is all “Are we going to stand here having a staring competition all day or are we actually going to get this done?” and they snap themselves out of it. But anyway ugh the two of them driving in the caddy looking like that, with that sultry music over the top?? And the line “eye for an eye, heart for a heart, gave you my light, I’ll show you my dark” – like help??? Honestly whoever does the music for this show deserves a goddamn award. I have literally been listening almost solely to playlists of tracks from TCL for months now and I am loving it.  But anyway major kudos to Arman for being able to focus on the road and not on the amount of bare thigh on display in the passenger seat lol; that’s some serious discipline right there. (Though lbr he’s had a lot of practice at trying not to stare at Thony haha, with varying levels of success).

But ugh the way she stays in her seat for a few moments after he gets out of the car, mentally readying herself– and then suddenly he’s there, opening the door for her and holding out a hand to help her onto her feet, and I love the symbolism of him aiding her through this almost as much as I loved the prolonged eye contact and hand holding ugh. The silent reassurance and support in the look he gives her? Help. Honestly I was hoping he’d hold out his arm and she’d take it so they’d walk into the place physically connected, but then it would have made her seem like someone who was more there for decoration than as his equal partner– ugh the power couple vibes were definitely strong. Loved that he continued to check in with her with little looks as they get inside and meet Cortes– also it just further reiterates that invisibility she has when she’s in her cleaning lady persona, considering Cortes saw her literally like 2 days ago in Robert’s office and yet doesn’t recognise her at all. I’ll acknowledge that it’s partly context (even if he thought he recognised her as the cleaning lady he’d seen, his brain would have convinced him that it didn’t make sense for her to be here like this now) but it’s definitely partly that he just didn’t see her, barely even looked at her in the office– even though he’s certainly looking today. This moment definitely highlights the way Arman saw her from the very start, even despite her wearing her cleaning lady invisibility cloak at the time, and it was unfathomable to him that anyone could overlook her. Ugh.  (Also sidenote: hearing Arman say his name with the real accent during their introduction, rather than the Anglicised version, was super hot).  Also omg catch me dying over Cortes saying  “Me, I at least like a date before I jump into bed with someone, if you know what I mean” and the way Armony look at each other as Arman says “We feel exactly the same way.” Bc actually, you guys don’t just like ‘a date’ first, you like to completely entwine your lives and create an unbreakable bond of mutual trust and devotion before you get to the jumping in bed part hahaha. (and while I’m more than happy to wait for that bed part, please god let them it be coming at some point lol). Anyway I love that when they first sit down, he immediately orients his body towards Thony with his arm along the couch behind her, making the distance between them feel smaller ugh. Tbh I was surprised by how quickly their ‘date’ ended; and while he played it cool, Arman was clearly eager to wrap things up and get Thony out of there– and maybe Cortes picked up on that, or maybe not. Either way ugh this is the second time in only a few weeks that Arman has been forced to leave a woman he cares about in the company of a dangerous man; but at least with Nadia and Robert, he knew she was going to be safe. Leaving Thony must have been so much harder for many reasons, and tbh I think if he had seen in her eyes that she couldn’t handle being left behind, he would have done whatever it took to get her out of there with him. But Thony is badass and brave and did what had to be done, and that’s one of the many reasons why he loves her.

(Lol like halfway into the ep and already over 6.5k words. I am a mess. As much as I disapprove of them making Arman disappear for the rest of the ep, I do appreciate that it might be the only thing that saves me from myself haha)

Okay Garrett’s “He left her there” better not have any judgement in it, bc seriously boy you’ve seen how much Arman protects Thony– agreeing to the sting to take down Hayak, arguing for her to be let go when they were caught with the meds, etc– so don’t act like he would just willingly leave her in the clutches of a man like Cortes! Grrr. Anyway I just noticed Garrett is still wearing his wedding ring?? (and that Oliver has a finger tatt, lol). Honestly mate I think you’d be better off giving up on that one… especially since you are clearly not over Maya (wait do I ship it? Oh god maybe a little. gross)

Oh man, forcibly prolonged interactions with strangers are already so awkward, and this is even worse given the whole practically being kept captive thing. Like how much time has passed already? When did they move to sit by the pool?  What have they been talking about? Has he actually asked anything about the drugs, which was her main argument for her being brought along in the first place? (Sidenote: just noticed this actor has forearm tatts that have been covered up, and I think they did the same for the actor playing JD bc I noticed something on his bicep last ep. How rude that they rob me of my chance to be nosy lol). But anyway omg “And how long have you and Arman been together?” / “Just a few months now,” (truth) ”but we’re not together, we’re business partners.” (lie lol). Well I guess it’s not so much a lie as it is not quite the truth. And haha “You could have fooled me” – I love this line because technically they are fooling him rn, but clearly not about their relationship lol. Like seriously, even this aloof criminal who saw them together for like all of five minutes could see what was between them. Ngl everyone can see that there’s something there, including Thony and Arman themselves, but they both refuse to acknowledge it openly because they’re too afraid of what it’ll mean if they do. Because think about it– what if one of them tells the truth about how they feel, and the other chooses not to take their relationship any further? Thony’s all too aware of Arman’s sense of obligation towards Nadia, and Arman’s afraid he’s too much of a liability to be worth the risk to Thony, especially when her family has to come first. And then there’s the even more terrifying option– what if they tell the truth and find that the other wants to be with them too, but then things fall apart later on?? After everything she went through in her relationship with Marco, Thony is afraid to trust someone with her heart (and Luca’s) again, and it would just be so hard to believe that someone used to the kind of upscale, intoxicating life that Arman has led could ever be happy in the simple family life that she has. Meanwhile Arman has always viewed himself as unworthy of her, and is afraid that someday she would realise it and abandon him, like so many others in his life have done. (Isabel, his parents, Hayak, and to an extent, Nadia). And so anyway with all of that, are we really surprised that neither of them will actually step up and say how they feel???  

Wait dude it’s lunch time rn? So this guy has already had two glasses of wine before lunch on a weekday? Sorry bud but I have some professional advice for you regarding the level of your alcohol consumption lol. Also that huge plate of spaghetti and garlic bread is making me wonder how your cholesterol’s looking haha (says the girl who would absolutely demolish that meal given the opportunity lol). But anyway live fast die young I guess lol

Aww I love that Fi called JD! It’s so nice to see her having someone to lean on other than just Thony (who, lbr, is dealing with enough of her own shit) and ugh JD is so steady and kind (and tall. and cute. Have I mentioned lately that I ship it?). Honestly I was so nervous for her when she told him the truth about Chris– the fact that she did shows how close they really must have been when they were together– and his compassion for her made me love him so much. It makes sense that she can trust him about this though; he’d never do anything to hurt Jazz, and having her mother and brother jailed or deported is just about the worst thing he could possibly do to her. And that’s not to mention how much he cares about Fi herself, and Chris too, who he would have been a dad figure to when Chris was only a few years old ugh

And speaking of Chris– oh you foolish boy. You’ve really gone and done it now, putting your face and your name out there. Such a relief that JD got him out of there in time– hopefully they can come up with a plausible excuse for his visit before Flores comes knocking, for example that he came bc he wanted to request that if they found the video of Marco’s death, could they not tell his mom about it because he’s worried that it would hurt her too much to see it. But anyway ugh JD telling Chris he needs to forgive himself for the death he caused– I can imagine that a soldier who spent years at war knows a little about that. As much as I wanted a chance to see Arman bond with Chris, I definitely want to see JD & Chris bonding more (Arman can claim the Hot Uncle role later; let’s work on Hot Husband and Hot Stepdad first lol)

But ugh omg this whole conversation between J-Fi about when they split up and why she didn’t tell him she was undocumented and whether he would have proposed?? Helpp??? I am such a sucker for stories about people who love each other but who are kept apart by circumstances outside of their control– ideally I want the barriers between them resolved pretty quickly (Armony are definitely in this category lol) but I also love those like J-Fi, who get a second chance years later.  So c’mon writers, send the girlfriend on her way and give us the J-Fi we deserve lol

Lol guess who learned something new today? I was all like ‘why does Arman call it Sportsbook when Nadia and Robert both call it Fast Lane??’ –  well fun fact, a sportsbook is an establishment that takes bets on sporting events and pays out winnings. Clearly I am not a gambler or a televised sports enthusiast lol. But anyhow damn, respect to Nadia for dictating the terms of her business arrangement with Robert; she literally rocked up and bossed him around and he practically thanked her for it god I’m starting to get dom/sub vibes here too lol. But anyway Robert makes her feel admired and respected and wanted, whereas lately Arman has (unintentionally) made her feel tolerated rather than appreciated– while he does care for her greatly, I think he holds a subconscious level of resentment towards her, as the thing that stands in the way of what he wants above all else. And she can sense that, even when he’s not aware of it himself. But oooh her expression when Robert commented on the ring and how lovely it looks on her– I think she now sees that Arman was right, and Robert views it as a symbol of her connection to him rather than Arman, proof of him staking his claim. Interested to see what she does with that knowledge– like I said in another meta, I want her to use Robert and then throw him under the bus to take his kingdom right out from under him lol, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see on that one.

The fact that none of the many many guards at this very isolated property have noticed the random car hanging out nearby is a little ridiculous lol. As is the fact that Garrett gets into the compound by sneaking past when their backs are turned– Cortes should definitely fire every one of these goons lol

Ugh Thony looking out the window as if for rescue; makes me think of her “he always shows up when I need him” statement. She knows Arman can’t come for her right now– and in fact, by getting the drug handover done, he is literally doing everything he can to get her her freedom as soon as possible– but she still can’t help but wish for him to appear. And then lol at the ‘well, shit’ expression on her face when Maya walks in. I actually really enjoy the way these two interact, and how they both try to protect the other– Maya by warning her to get out and away from Cortes asap, and Thony by trying to convince her to do the same. Totally in love with the little ‘oh, honey’ look that Thony gives Maya when she learns of her relationship with Garrett; lbr Thony can definitely relate to falling in love with someone she probably shouldn’t have, but at least for her that someone is a man who will literally always put her before himself, which is clearly something Maya didn’t get from Garrett. But while he may be a selfish asshole, Thony knows he really has been trying hard to protect Maya, and that there are good sides to him– certainly far more than Cortes, who is only ever going to hurt her worse and worse until one day she ends up dead. Honestly when Thony said she’d been with someone who hurt her too, I gasped aloud, because I have always believed that Marco (while definitely abusive in multiple other ways) was never physically abusive towards her. I always felt that while Thony accepted/tolerated a certain level of his emotional/financial/social abuse, she would never have tolerated him getting physically violent with her, partly because she has too much fire in her for that, but mainly because she wouldn’t have been able to trust that that violence wouldn’t eventually be turned on Luca, and she could never allow that. So her comment to Maya had me all like omg?!??, and then she added ‘not physically’ and I was just like jesus don’t scare me like that lol. Also later she tells Maya “The way he treats you is not love” and honestly this line says so much. And tbh anyone who judges Thony for ‘cheating’ on Marco– a man who abused her for years and put their son’s health at further risk, and who she could not legally separate herself from/who made it financially almost impossible for her to escape from– can piss right off imo

Anyway omg when Thony had Cortes’ gun to her head ugh… my poor baby deserves all the peace and happiness in the world and yet she gets so much fear and suffering instead. I loved seeing Maya rescue her though, and then Thony immediately trying to rescue her right back– as ever, this show is THE BEST when it comes to women helping other women. And ugh they looked like such a badass duo there facing off against Cortes, Thony staying close by her side and giving her her strength and support. But ugh he did what abusers do and weaseled his way closer until he was almost able to strike– if he’d gotten the gun from Maya, they’d both have been dead in seconds. Which is why I’m pretty much on Garrett’s side when it comes to shooting him tbh; I know that a cop shooting an unarmed man is terrible, but in this context it was the right call, because like I said, he was literally moments from killing them. And to allow one or both of them to be hurt/killed before he could be ‘legally’ taken out is just insane. Damn at Garrett’s trust in his aim though– Cortes and Maya were standing very close– and daaaaaaamn at Thony’s quick thinking (she has learned a few things from being in Arman’s world lol). Honestly so proud of the fact that she did that for Garrett; she and Maya could have just stood there and done nothing, and then told the FBI the truth about what happened– and they would have likely faced no consequences, while Garrett would be hauled away for manslaughter or something (I assume?). But Thony understands that legal and illegal don’t always match up with right and wrong, and she knows that Garrett just saved both of their lives– and so in return, she saves his freedom. It’s going to make their dynamic even more interesting now, and tbh I can’t wait to see more of how they interact and help each other in the future, especially now that he will literally never threaten or blackmail her ever again. 

Anyway, not sure what I’ll be stressing over more between now and next ep– Thony getting caught for her aiding and abetting (because as @enigmaticfox brilliantly pointed out, Thony put the gun in Cortes’ left hand, but we definitely saw earlier that he’s right-handed ugh), or Flores looking into Chris, or the (thankfully unlikely) possibility that Arman had a run-in with Sin Cara when trying to get the drugs and ended up in a world of trouble of his own aaaaahhhh (for once I’m actually tempted to watch the promo for next ep, but nah, I’ll just suffer in suspense instead lol)

Alright that’s all for 2x06, kids. See you in a couple of weeks with a recap which will undoubtedly break 10k based on how quickly things are going downhill with my self control lol

[ashthehermit]

Legends of Tomorrow: A Retrospective 1.14

This season should be over!  It cannot continue like this.  I remember very few plot points about the end of this season.  We won't get to the 'there are no strings on me' moment for quite some time yet.  So we are stuck in the mires of whatever this is.  

RIVER OF TIME

This does all seem rather fruitless.  Even if they do save Rip's family, what then?  Savage has destroyed the world.  We end up stuck in one of the many, bland but dire timelines.  Ah shit, not ancient Egypt again. How is there more backstory here?  We are seeing the aftermath of Rip's first attempt on Savage's life (at least from Savage's perspective).  For characters that have known each other for as long as they have, it's remarkably unclear what they even know from each other.  

'So what?  We just kill Savage and leave Carter a brainless drone?' - honestly Kendra, yes.

They deduce that the Leviathan technology is too futuristic.  They think that this means Savage has been bothering the timeline, which means they can ask the Time Masters for help.  They're cops who, after decades of stalking, have finally found proof of a crime.  

We look at the brig, and it hasn't even got a bench now.  This seems cruel and unusual.  It turns out that Savage figured out they were time travellers in 1975, which was when?  I've lost track of Savage's timeline.  I've lost track of Rip's timeline.  Kendra's is the worst.

'Do not quote Tactitus to me.  I knew him well.'

Savage claims he has held thousands of children in his arms as they died of old age.  If only I believed him!  If only he hadn't threatened his only daughter in the last episode!  Ugh, I don't care.  It takes a long time to get to the Vanishing Point.  If there's one bit of time travel hooey I'll allow, it's the idea that it takes a minute from the perspective of the crew to travel through the green swirly time zone.  What might seem like an immediate jump to an outsider, could take hours for a crew.  Again, the rules for this show are inconsistent.  The reason given here is that the Waverider was damaged, and therefore it explodes a bit.

Rip shouts 'bollocks', which was truly British of him.  They get marooned thanks to Rip's actions, though I suspect he will face few repercussions.  He implies that the jump ship only has enough for a one time trip, a rule which they will blatantly ignore in the future.  Savage does a Loki and attempts to manipulate everyone on the ship.  It does feel like they should just soundproof his cell.  Or at least play loud music over him.

Rip's actions get Jax blasted by radiation, back into a flashback.  I truly don't remember any of this.  It is of the day that he got kidnapped by Stein.  We really don't focus enough on how he was kidnapped.  He had a life!  He had a lovely mother.  Look at her, she's so sweet.  The radiation injury means that Jax is ageing at an increased rate.

'Hope springs eternal, Miss Lance.'

Is this the kitchen?  At last?  It looks nothing like the kitchen will look, but we are finally getting more sets!  I love the kitchen later.  I just like the implications of what daily life is like on the Waverider.  And the running bit about the condiments.

Rip admits that he would sell the legends out to save his family over some classical music.  He admits that he's pretty much already done it, now that Jax is dying.  Rip always had potential, but he never quite lived up to it.  Moments like these sort of fizzle out, alas.  At least this episode, despite its close confines, moves a lot faster than the last.  

Ray gets to punch Carter.  He goes to talk to Savage, which is the worst idea in the world.  Someone should at least give Savage a bean bag to sit on.  He tells Ray that Kendra fell in love with him in one of her reincarnations.  Gross!  Poor Ray, he has so many failed engagements.

We get a Ray flashback.  Oh, it's that kind of episode.  And Felicity is there!  I used to like her, at least in the crossover episodes (I never watched enough Arrow to know).  It's the night before he left.  It's not going to show us anything new to know about Ray.  

'I'm off to save the universe, not fall in love.'

It does feel like Kendra should have let Ray down before this.  I honestly thought that she did last episode where she had a 'we need to talk' moment with Ray.  There's no point in allowing Ray to stick around, when she knows that she wants to be with Carter.  Anyway, this relationship was never effective.  It's dying!  Huzzah.

Snart tells Jax that he deserves better, which is the most effective line in the scene it's in.  Snart has a good arc in this season, where no one else does.  He wants to save the team, but needs no recognition for it, and he's willing to do the hard tasks to make sure everyone gets home safe.  This means protecting poor wee Jax from their biggest enemy: Rip.  If only Rip were a slightly stronger character here.  

'I'm asking for a little faith, gentlemen.'  'Sorry.  Fresh out.'

Rip allows them an out.  He tells them to leave if they want, and the robber duo are like, bye then.  Ugh, now there's a Sara flashback with more Arrow stuff.  I don't know what any of this means!  I know that's her ex, and some people care about that, but I certainly don't.  I don't care about whatever mission Sara has to free her, because she will not pursue it in the present.  

Stein goes to speak to Savage so that he can save Jax.  It seems like a disaster waiting to happen.  Now, Stein needs to go and knick some blood from Carter.  Stein at least recognises that he is being manipulated.  It seems that he's played Savage, I think?  Stein strands Jax in the jump ship, effectively kidnapping him again.  At least this time it's for nicer reasons.  Stein thinks he's going to die now that's he's separated from Jax, though the rules of Firestorm are always a bit hedgy.  Of course, this means that no one else can escape in the jump ship.  So now Snart and Rory have a chance to beat up Stein.  They won't, but they'll consider it.  

Savage gets to taunt Ray again and of course it devolves into a punch up.  When oh when, will this season be over?  The legends will always be stupid, but at least later it will be the fun kind of stupid, rather than the shout-at-the-screen kind of stupid I am witnessing.  

'Leonard Snart, robber of ATMs!'

The next problem is trying to pilot the ship without Gideon, whilst half the team attempt to recapture Savage.  Honestly, I would be like Savage if I was stuck in the brig for that long without a toilet or even a bench to sit on.  Rip hands off the ship to Sara, deciding that he's not going to put any more of them in jeopardy.  It's a bit of a sudden turn, but at least we are moving towards Captain Lance!  

Carter gets his memories back as a bit of a Deux Ex Machina.  Savage kills him again.  RIP (no pun intended).  No wait, he's alive.  I genuinely forgot that he wasn't dead again.  

They arrive to the Vanishing Point, which externally looks pretty cool.  Rip claims that he's entirely reformed, and now he cares about them.  Sure.  Whatever you say.  

There's a neat bit of dialogue where Savage asks how Rip got out of his prison way back in ancient Egypt.  Turns out, Rip bribed a guard with a novelty pen.  I can't say why, but I just like it.  Rip's a scrappy guy who pretends to be a Time Master.  He's not good at protocol, but good at thinking on his feet.  He's not consistently written, alas.

Anyway, we are back at Starfleet.  But there's a twist!  The Time Masters sponsor Savage, he's their agent!  Aha!  It's a good twist, I admit, even if none of the parties are developed to their full capacity.  Savage reveals he knew about the novelty pen all along, pointing out how easily he played Rip, and how unprepared the latter is.  Not bad.

[nevertheless-moving]

Invisible Hand Chaos AU x 2

Star Wars Time Travel AU #31

Continuation from HERE

Anakin whirled to face his Master, “Did you know Yoda had a baby?” he asked incredulous and slightly betrayed.

“What? No. Also he could just be another of Yoda’s species. Obviously.” Internally Obi-Wan thought about the still unnamed larva in a hidden aquatic creche, but the Mandalorian’s associate even called him Baby Yoda...

“Unbelievable,” Dooku muttered. “That little green hypocrite.”

“Did you know about this?” Anakin asked the Sith Lord, temporarily forgetting about the fight in favor of the revelation that Yoda might also have a secret family.

“Of course not, the troll never tells anyone anything,” Dooku ranted, deliberately setting aside the fight in favor of unloading decades of suppressed irritation with his former Master.

“I feel we might be jumping to conclusions here-” Obi-Wan offered weakly. 

Anakin scoffed. “He literally just called him Baby Yoda,”

“Loathe as I am to admit it, your apprentice is correct. It would seem the Grandmaster of the order has been keeping some secrets.”

“This is absurd!” Obi-Wan protested as the small child on the balcony above tilted his head curiously, watching the conversation below with interest from the safety of his Buir’s arms. 

“I agree.” Anakin said self-righteously. “If Yoda can have a baby then- then everyone in the order should be allowed a family.”

“Anakin...”

“Anakin, as interesting is this all is, I’m still in somewhat of a bind over here,” the Chancellor called across the hall, irritated and somewhat alarmed by the sudden outbreak of peace in the room.

“We’ll be right with you Chancellor, don’t worry!” Obi-Wan called back. 

“We just need a minute to figure some Jedi business out!” Anakin added. 

“You there- Mandalorian” Dooku called up sharply. 

“...Yeah?” the Besker-clad warrior answered uncertainly.

“What is the parentage of the child in your arms? How did you come to possess him?” The count's question cut through everything else in the room, and the two Jedi held their breath as they waited for the answer.

The Mandalorian pulled Grogu in closer, “He is a foundling. I know his name as my child.”

“Mandalorians,” Obi-Wan and Dooku muttered, Obi-Wan fondly, Dooku with exasperation.

“What?” Anakin asked bewildered.

“The Mandalorian adopted him- hold on a second, I’m going to try something.” Obi-Wan said.

“Mando! Forgive me- Have you already attempted to return your foundling to his people and been denied? If not, we can show you where to find an elder of his kind.”

The Mandalorian stiffened. “I already found one of his people. It took a great deal of time; neither of us knew there were any others left in the galaxy. By the time I met Luke...the child was mine and we would not be parted long. The three of us began traveling together. He acted as mentor to Grogu, though he is too young to be considered the boy’s senior. In time...we decided it would be simpler to raise him as a warrior together. We are one.”

“Oh. How wonderful.” Obi-Wan said weakly. 

Anakin’s brow furrowed furiously and he lowered his voice “Master did I get that right? This guy is really good friend’s with one of Yoda’s people but the friend is not the Child’s biological father and they don’t know anyone else from the species?”

“He actually said he was married to one of one of Yoda’s people but other than that your conclusions are correct. Very good Padawan.” Obi-Wan nodded, attempting to wrap his head around the various implications.

Dooku made a triumphant hum, “Then, by simple inductive reasoning, and in the absence of an alternative candidate, we can assume that the Child is, in-fact, Yoda’s offspring.”

“Exactly!” Anakin agreed with Dooku excitedly. 

“Interesting that he would give the spawn to a Mandalorian, rather than the creche. Embarrassment, perhaps.” the Count mused. 

“Unbelievable.” Anakin agreed indignantly. 

“Ok, now hold on. Foundling is pretty literal most of the time-” Obi-Wan interrupted. “Mando- was the child entrusted to you or did was there a rescuing involved?”

“...I was assigned to find him as part of a bounty, but found the imps who I was supposed to give him to...unpleasant.”

“Imps?” Anakin asked. 

“There you go!” Obi-Wan said, with just a tinge of hysteria. “Yoda didn’t abandon the child- not that it necessarily is Yoda’s child- he was kidnapped.”

Anakin gasped, “Master! We have to save him!”

“Hold on now, Anakin- He seems perfectly safe at this point and we were here for the Chancellor remember?”

“You won’t be leaving here with the Chancellor or the child.” Dooku sneered. “I can sense the force potential- and I am in want of a new apprentice.”

“Over my dead body,” Anakin snarled.

“That can be arranged.”

“Hey Luke-” the Mandalorian said into the comm as the three swordsman began circling one another “-it looks like two of the Jedi are attacking the other- do you want me to get involved?”

“...Din, by any chance, are any of the laser swords red?”

“Yeah, the fanciest dressed one has a red lightsaber, the other guys are blue. Does it matter?”

“...Red lightsaber means not Jedi. I- hold on, I think I see you!”

The three combatants jumped apart again, looking up at the slight comm echo to the sound of footsteps and the absolutely blinding force presence of the approaching Jedi. 

Had he never learned shielding? Obi-Wan thought hysterically. “Or was he just so powerful that he never bothered restraining himself?”

He tried to exchange a glance with Anakin, but his padawan was too focused on straining to see the incoming Master force user of some kind- light, but not necessarily Jedi. He instead looked over at Dooku, shrugging in confusion. Dooku grimaced back at him in solidarity.

The being finally entered. He was- significantly taller and less green than Obi-Wan was expecting, but still probably shorter than anyone else in the room.

“Din- are you two alright?” The soft-faced man asked in a remarkably gently voice, appearance somewhat at odds with the overbearing power he exuded.

“We’re fine, Luke but look! More Jedi!” He gestured below. 

Luke peered over the balcony, eyes growing wide as they passed over the faces of everyone below. “hoLY KRIFF!” He shouted.

The ship shuddered and Obi-Wan glanced nervously out the view ports, suddenly remembered that the damaged ship only had so long before it fell out of orbit.

“Do you know them?” Din asked. 

“Do I- for fuck’s sake Din, I love you but I have literally shown you holopics of my father before.” Luke whispered furiously. The room unfortunately was utterly quiet and remarkably acoustic, meaning his words carried easily to the listeners below.

“FATHER!” Anakin yelled, causing Luke to wince, slapping a gloved hand to his face.

“FATHER!” He repeated loudly, head ping-ponging between Obi-Wan and Dooku as if trying to find a resemblance, before gasping to stare at the Chancellor, before gasping again to squint at Obi-Wan. 

“DOES EVERYONE HAVE A SECRET FAMILY!” He shouted, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“Oh for force sake- I do not have a secret son. Honestly, Anakin, he’s clearly in his 20s, be reasonable. His birth would however fit into the timeline of Dooku’s withdraw from the order.” Obi-Wan said, raising a brow.

Dooku puffed out his chest, “I did not fail to meet the Code, like so many of the pathetic masses. Before I left the Order I followed the rules precisely. When my disagreements grew too great, and my attempt for structured reform were repeatedly rejected, I left for ethical reasons, not personal ones. I looked at the code and decided it was failing the Jedi.”

He smirked and lifted his chin at the chancellor, who was watching the proceedings with an inscrutable expression, “My, my Chancellor, this is an interesting surprise.”

Anakin rolled his eyes. “We’re not idiots, Dooku. Obviously the boy’s parents were force sensitive, look at him.” 

Dooku’s smirk grew wider.

“This is absurd! Again!” Obi-Wan threw up his arms and lifted his head to address the dark-robed young human, “Hello there, Luke, was it?” 

“Uh, yes. I’m Luke.” The powerhouse responded nervously. 

“My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi-”

“Yes, I know who you are.” Luke responded drily.

Anakin gasped. 

“He is not my son.” Obi-Wan muttered.

“I’m not Obi-Wan’s son.” Luke called down cheerfully.

“Oh.” Anakin slouched, oddly disappointed. He liked this guy for some reason, felt- connected to him. Maybe it was the dark robes, or the force signature that nearly rivaled his own (though it was somewhat lighter), or even the gloved hand that he suspected was mechanical. If he was Obi-Wan’s son than that would make him practically his brother! The Chancellor might be neat but Dooku...ugh.

“Would you be so kind as to tell us whose son you are? I realize its none of my business but you’ve peaked our curiosity. And then afterwards, regardless of your parentage, we would not mind help in rescuing the Chancellor of the Republic from this slowly crashing ship.”

“Right. Right.” Luke nodded. “Would you give me a second?”

He pressed his head to the side of Din’s helmet and started whispering rapidly, to quiet for anyone else to hear. 

The group below exchanged glances, beginning to tense up again. After a few seconds, the Mandalorian nodded and spoke, “Let’s do it. I trust your judgement.” Luke grinned and returned to the edge of the balcony. 

“Ok, I can help with the first, but not the second.”

“Perfectly understandable.” Obi-Wan replied.

Anakin bristled. “So Dooku is your father.”

Luke smiled at Anakin. “No. You are my father.”

Anakin blinked as Obi-Wan’s face twisted in confusion. “No...” he said slowly. “No, that’s not true. That’s impossible.”

Luke’s smile grew wider, “Search your feelings,” he said urgently, with the full weight of his force presence screaming honesty with every word, “You know it to be true.”

Anakin gasped as he reached out into the force to find...his son. Impossible, but true. The ground trembled, either with the immensity of the realization, or catastrophic engine failure.

“No.” Obi-Wan said clearly to Luke on the balcony.

“No.” He repeated firmly, snapping a finger in Anakin’s face to try and break him out of the trance he seemed to be in. “It’s not true.” He said to the room in general, incredulous it even needed to be said.

Dooku began slowly backing away. The confrontation was rapidly spinning out of his or his Master’s control; he had only stayed this long to indulge vain curiosity. Regardless if the boy was insane, lying, or a time-traveler, he was clearly powerful. The ship’s orbit was gradually decaying and with any luck he could use his dead man’s switch to speed up the crash as he departed, neatly killing everyone who could stand against him in one stroke.

“Anakin,” the lunatic on the balcony continued, “You can destroy the emperor. He has forseen this. It is your destiny! Join me, and together-”

Din cleared his throat.

Luke stopped and smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry! Sorry. Got a little...carried away there.” He coughed awkwardly into his fist.

“Anyway- yeah. I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m from the future, I guess we... time-traveled accidentally somehow? I uh- was kind-of quoting something you said to me once and you kept going along with it and... yeah, definitely got carried away. Sorry, I really don’t know how we got here but, weird stuff happens around me- one time I was on Yavin IV and these ghosts started- anyway. Long story. Surprise!”

Obi-Wan took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ok...I might believe you’re Anakin’s son.”

Dooku had nearly reached a side door when his treacherous Master called out- “Anakin! Master Kenobi! Dooku- he’s getting away.”

Skywalker’s- Anakin Skywalker’s- attention snapped over to the Count and with a outstretched arm, he crumpled the steel door, throwing a beam across it for good measure. The ship moaned alarmingly and several more red lights began blinking at the navigation panel, unnoticed by anyone.

“Luke- son- I don’t know what Emperor you’re talking about, but help us defeat Count Dooku and save Chancellor Palpatine! After that- after that I’m happy to, um, join you? And meet your... husband? And padawan? Sorry, we were kind-of in the middle of something...” 

“Wow. Ok. I’m not sure if-” Luke started to respond before being interrupted by the Mandalorian.

“Wait, Dooku! I know that name!” Din said suddenly. “The covert hated him! He was the evil Sif Emperor you defeated, right?”

“...Sith Emperor. Din, darling and light of my life, as always, your grasp of history and recent current events never fails to amaze me.” Luke sighed.

“You must stop him, before he becomes Emperor,” Palpatine shouted desperately. 

Luke sighed again, more heavily. “Fine. FINE! Kriff the timeline, I didn’t ask to be born anyway. Din- go help capture...Emperor Dooku. Grogu- Pod. I’ll go- free the Chancellor.” The floor beneath them gave a lurch. “Before this ship breaks apart. Go!” 

Luke and Din jumped off the balcony as a shiny metal pod with a transparisteel view screen closed around Grogu, hovering between them, well off easy reach of the ground.

Din landed between Obi-Wan and Anakin, helmet turning to face each of them in turn, “...I’ll follow your lead.” He finally said, arming his weapons.

Obi-Wan grinned fiercely, “Excellent, Anakin, stay with me.”

“I was just about to say the same thing.”

“Mando, you- Is that the DARKSABER- ARE Yoouu- ugh you know what, I will ask after the fight. I will ask after the fight. How did the Mand'alor- NEVERMIND. Let’s just- FORCE I have so many questions-” 

“No time, Master!”

And the battle began. 

[watcher0033]

Thoughts 💭 on The Umbrella Academy Season 3 so far:

Took a break in mid of ep3 to gather my thoughts.

Impression of this season is a bit of a mixed bag. I feel like they’re introducing too many material and having trouble keeping up with all of them while the old stuff that they had are barely or halfheartedly addressed.

My biggest hangups are Grace, Marcus, the Sloane x Luther thing,and just the wasted potential of the Sparrows in general and ofc Ben. Still I love how thematically consistent the show is with their themes.

(Now, like I said, I haven’t finished the series so I might change my mind on of these by the end. And my opinions are very subjective, aight👌)

Grace. Why did they do that to her? No clue. Is the weirdness on brand? Yes. Do I have to like it? No. Why?

Wasted potential. She could’ve been a source of tension between the two families. Addressing how the Sparrows treat her and why, and maybe having some existential discussions with each other and maybe a source of internal conflict regarding their concept of family and in the end, the umbrellas affirming that she may be a robot but she’s still their mother regardless of who their birth parents are (well I hope since I haven’t finished the season yet but my expectations are kinda low now).

Marcus. I think the creators deemed him too competent to stay in the long run tbh, which is hilarious but also annoying on how they don’t know how to address it. They better bring him back.

If he stayed, he would’ve made a good anti-villain/hero and might provide a good challenge for the umbrellas that aren’t the Commission OR some good internal conflict between the sparrows if he decided to side w the ☂ wc would then put them in the outsider’s perspective of how much fuckery the Hargreeves operate with (no matter how altered and played w totally new characters). An awareness and acknowledgment that this may have been them in another timeline, shinier and better fighters maybe, but still the issues they all have would still be there.

And maybe them realizing that they don’t want any other family besides each other cause they’re enough. “We’re gonna discover smth that would make us feel shittier than we already are but I would still want to discover that with you” kind of take (a sentiment learned from Everything Everywhere All at Once wc is climbing to be one of my most fave films ever).

The Sloane x Luther thing.

Ugh. Sighs. They have good chemistry- it’s ok- just sighs

Incestuous or not, it still feels forced and just another material added to the pile that won’t be resolve satisfactorily by the narrative. They have so much material they could focus on. In fact, I think they could take away all the romance parts and focus on just the family, their family hijinks, healing, maybe making long term friends along the way would honestly be more satisfying. Is it a Hollywood thing or Steve wanting to direct a romantic movie in the future idek

The Sparrows. They are Awesome, I Love Them, and I hope they were fleshed out more. Their Dickheadedness can remain as it is. I enjoy it. Look how they made a bitch out of Reginald! I can’t be more happier. Let them be the Academy of Mean Girls 💋

Still. I wanna see more of their inner-workings and see them act as foils/parallels to the Umbrellas istg that would be so much more fun. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them as the series goes on. I love Fei, she has this very steady and determined aura to her and you can see her ambition but you can also see that she and most of her siblings don’t think they have anything beyond the lives they were molded into which they reinforced all the way to adulthood. Sloane wants to get out of that mindset, Jayne and Alphonso are indifferent to it, and I think Christopher does it because he thinks it’s cool and his fam does it tbh

Ben. Yo, this man is such a hot mess and so mean I would occasionally clutch my hand to my heart as I feel it shatter because he is the biggest case of how the parenting affects these children. We got two Bens for comparison and suffice to say Reginald is terrible and both sets of children deserve better. I hope they focus on that.

I wish their grief was shown more. I feel like Klaus and Allison are the only ones heading to that Heavy Angsty territory this season (don’t get me wrong I love it).

Still, like I said thematically wise their incredibly consistent which I appreciate. Five and Klaus bonding was GOLDEN.

Honestly with the additions we have this season I really want to see more of Allison and Diego dynamic (what a wonderful knife-twisting that would make), more of Allison and Five (I love how softly he talks with her being very considerate w her grief but also YO THATS NOT ENOUGH he had more scenes w Lila rip), Viktor and Allison future conflict ayyy I can smell it happening

Klaus, Allison, and Viktor bonding over lost loves in the 60s, Klaus and the fam reminiscing about Ben. Them listening to Klaus’ stories of tHEIR Ben’s antics. Viktor and Klaus bonding bcoz UM HELLO?? Why are the queerest people of this family not bonding that’s a freakin crime in storytelling istg.

Well, I shall calm myself down.

Deep breaths for my fellows who feel the same. Remember canon is a sandbox Fanfiction can play in.