#wouldn't be surprised if the writers just chose that name because it sounded just as 'silly' as their nicknames

[kaontic]

*Crawls outta the rabbit hole*

Spike! Czy ty rozumiesz po polsku? O_o 🧺

Welp, congratulations.

You know just as much Polish as I do. 🫠🐇

[ye4gerism]

This has been on my mind for a while and I’m kinda surprised no body really wrote about it but could you please do one were reader basically gets into curly’s ass about jimmy but it kinda leads into a lil heated argument you can chose if it ends on a good note also have a good morning, day or night 😊

𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐊, 𝐄𝐆𝐆𝐒, 𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐓𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 - 𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

author’s note sorry for the radio silence. i’ve been suffering from writer’s block. working retail during the holidays will do that to you. anyway, enjoy this ficlet.

You were starting to wake. Through your eyelids, you noticed how the room around you began to brighten up. You let out a groan and turn onto your side before proceeding to tap your hand on the side where Curly normally slept…and yet you felt nothing there. Your eyelids flick open in horror.

Curly's side of the bed was empty. You sit up, frantic. Where was he? You look at his dresser, then yours - no note. You scan the room and there isn't any sign that he's gone.

You scoot off the bed and go downstairs. As you descend, you can hear his voice. You follow it into the kitchen where you finally see him standing there, still in his boxers, one hand on his hip, and the other holding his phone against his ear. He looks frustrated, must be that pony job he always complains about.

Curly acknowledges you with a smile before focusing once again on his conversation. "No, that makes no sense! I already told you I was coming here!"

You walk up behind Curly and lean against his back. Your hands run up his torso, feeling up his pectorals and his abs.

“Alright, Jimmy,” he says.

Of course.

You pull away at the sound of that name. You didn't really like how Jimmy presented himself; there was a strange amount of jealousy from his end and he could just never be happy for others. There was already a mutual dislike for each other but your boyfriend, Curly being Curly, takes his job too seriously and lets it spill into his personal life. He thinks he can H.R. his way into making you and Jimmy friends or, at least, respect each other.

Curly hangs up and turns around to greet you. "Good morning, sweetheart." He lights up with these words, no sign of being bothered by his conversation. You decide not to say anything at first. If anything, you were a little annoyed - if he was going to wake up before you, you'd at least hope he'd go out on a run or maybe surprise you with a sweet treat or flowers. You open the fridge in search of something to eat. Milk, eggs, leftover pomegranate.

"Babe?" Curly's head pokes over the fridge. "I said good morning."

You decide to eat the pomegranate for breakfast. Wouldn't want it to go bad.

"I bet it is. How's your boyfriend?" you ask. Curly's face drops. You close the fridge and take a seat by the island counter.

"Hey, don't walk away from me. What's up with you?" he asks. You shoot him a look, then your eyes move to his phone. Curly eyes follow yours and it hits him once his eyes settle on his phone.

"Please don't start. Not this morning."

"Oh, so you're aware. Perfect!" You place your cut pomegranate back in the bowl. "My question is just why? Why do you give him so much...control?"

"Control? I am my own man, you know. Captain of my own ship." You must have hit a nerve because Curly normally doesn't get defensive like this. Using his title to make him seem better? Not a usual practice of his.

"You deliver shit! People at NASA get to brag about going to space to explore! You don't. So don't let your ego get in the way of me questioning your relationship with your idiot friend."

He was Persephone, Jimmy was Hades, and like Demeter, you only had Curly for the spring and summer.

You both stare intensely at each other for a moment and it was the 'let's just hop in the sheets and fuck it out' intensity. You both were genuinely pissed at each other. 

"I'm going to step out," Curly says breaking the silence. He starts to make his way up the stairs. "Yeah, avoid the question of Jimmy, like you always do!" you yell at him.

"Shut up!" He's halfway up the stairs. Your head cocks back. "Did you tell me to shut up?" He's never spoken to you like that - you're not even sure he's spoken to anyone like that.

Curly realizes what he's just said and is equally as shocked by his own mouth. He rushes down the stairs and reaches out to you. When he's close, you turn your body away. "Hey..." he pleads.

"Curly...please go. Go anywhere. I don't know. Go call Jimmy or something. Just get out of my sight." You push your bowl of fruit away from you. Still refusing to face him, you continue, "I will not allow you to talk to me like that. Especially, especially, if we're talking about Jimmy. You must be out of your fucking mind."

He lingers before finally giving in. "Ok...I'll step out for a bit." Curly hesitantly places a hand on your back. You don’t tell him off or recoil. “I’m sorry and…and I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

Of course, he wasn’t going to acknowledge the actual problem - Jimmy. So you choose to let it go because it’s all you can do. Curly gives you the day to yourself before coming home for dinner. A bouquet of your flowers and tons of kisses make up for the quarrel for now.

[sparklegemstone]

Loki Series S2E1 Ouroboros

My thoughts (only a week and a half late 😋) --

That was...HONESTLY GREAT??!! I'm so surprised how good it was given that my expectations were set pretty low.

When I looked at creative leadership for S2, I wasn't expecting much of a departure from S1 because Eric Martin and Michael Waldron carried over as the writers from S1 to S2, but I guess what I missed was that, correct me if I'm wrong, it sounds like Waldron is really just billed in name only and didn't contribute much because he got pulled onto other Disney projects, and since Martin was 2nd to Waldron in season 1, perhaps Martin with more control is able to bring a different perspective than he did for S1? Also, directors have changed, we have the Moon Knight directors now, and perhaps most of the positive changes I'm seeing I can thank them for, since I loved Moon Knight (until it got comic-book-silly in the later episodes with the purple alien-looking world ™ that's become a Marvel crutch that seems to be surpassing even the "sky portal/beam" now as an overdone device). Actually, it makes sense that a change of directors would make a bigger difference than a change in show runner / writer since again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Marvel Studios has been running their TV show productions more like films where the director's creative voice is king, whereas in typical TV show production it's the showrunner/writer's creative voice that is king and directors step in to carry out that vision on a per episode basis.

Any-hoo...

This episode worked so well for me because the setup and stakes were serious and all this episode needed to do was keep the tone serious and execute on the setup from the previous season finale, and it did! Excellent execution, yay! Serious tone, yay! I think the episode probably benefitted in my eyes from the fact that it didn't need to accomplish any character stuff (TBD whether this season can improve on that aspect) and so could not fall short in that regard, it was very much a 'doer' episode of having a concrete threat / conflict to solve and the characters just went about trying to tackle what was in front of them.

Loki's face when he genuinely thought he was going to die? They did not have to go THAT HARD with the drama and emotion and I love that they chose to go hard and set Hiddleston's acting chops free. So much emotion on his face.

Speaking of how I thought the more serious tone was handled really well, I think Mobius's recurring fixation on the "no skin" thing is a really good example of that. Obviously the fact that Mobius kept bringing it up multiple times was done for comedic purposes, and it could have been played more hokey and jokey, but the directors did a fantastic job of incorporating that while also at the same time keeping the tone serious and keeping the tension up.

Season 1 did not make me believe that Loki and Mobius would be such close compatriots as this episode portrays, the previous attempt at character work did not do it for me, but I guess I'll just try to do a mental reset, take it as a given that they very close for some reason, and see where this season goes from here.

I liked Ouroboros. He was entertaining and a good change of pace for another support TVA character since I don't really enjoy Casey. And the whole sequence of Loki talking to Ouroboros in the past while Mobius was talking to him in the present was very well-written and a clever idea. I really enjoyed that.

Almost no Sylvie was also a plus for me that I know is not going to last, but might as well enjoy it in the meantime. I even thought the actress did just fine in the mid-credits scene and wouldn't have minded her if only Sylvie was just her own person and not a Loki variant, but I'm so done with seeing her in a reproduction of Loki's armor.

For me the only weaknesses of the episode were:

Sound mixing -- I had a hard time making out some of the dialog

I wasn't really following all the sudden exposition about why both Loki and Mobius were going to die and this thing they had to do with this piece of tech to not die...I think the setup for that could have been clearer.

So I'm feeling more hopeful that I could like this season better and my interest is definitely up. I think the test will be how the new directors handle more character-focused scenes when it's not running-around-under-a-time-crunch to see if this season will improve on that.

@delyth88

[katerinaaqu]

Hehehe likewise

I am surprised that people feel like they can no longer say something just because it goes against popular beliefs. To me it is not just the thunder saga thing. It's the whole musical exactly because I had high expectations from it and ended up being yet another "loosely based on" story.

The sirens were NEVER about Penelope. They were about Odysseus's thirst for knowledge. It is just that many people who interpreted it (including the classic movie of 1950s "Ulysses") who thought the best idea would be for the sirens to sing like his wife and son. Someone else actually had a brilliant idea that the sirens were singing to Odysseus the story of his life; the most alluring and terrible thing you can hear. Either way we do not know what the sirens sounded like but we know the concept of it. It was Odysseus being thirsty for knowledge even if it hurts him. He could have blocked his ears like all the others. He chose not to.

Well I cannot hate HATE Agamemnon because all Iliad characters have flaws and all. Likewise Achilles is another disliable brat. Hahaha however Agamemnon was also a key point (something I use to my stories as well) he says to Odysseus "beware of your wife for mine killed me" so that could work as a lever of doubt to him like that analysis I made about Achilles telling him about how terrible death is but of corse Anticlea too. Odysseus knows in the original that she didn't die of old age or sickness while waiting she died out of sorrow. So what if the clock is ticking for his father indeed? Or his wife? Absolutely I agree it was a deadline. Plus the tender scene of him trying to embrace her. If was just scrapped off in the musical. Which worked against even the whole "monster" pattern that they wanted to force on the audience.

There is a big difference between "creative liberties" and "fucking up ghe whole story" especially the modern ones. If someone feels so uncomfortable with ancient literature then why choose it in the first place? Start an original story without needing to butcher the classic. Well the Trojan horse was touched in the Odyssey but yes it was expanded more in post homeric sources in the Epic Cycle. There are contradictions in the Epic Cycle but still one follows the writers and local traditions. And yes many people painted Odysseus as the bad guy almost but yes (I wouldn't say they actually work. But yes people visit them curiously to say the very least)

I would say indeed from the Cyclops Saga we began to lose every contact with what Odyssey was all about. Again if one cannot handle a story then why choose it for "adaptation" in the first place? They stripped Odysseus from his most traumatic experiences (who ironically would have assisted this whole "monster ascend" theme immensely) in the name of "monogamous relationship" even if Odysseus was a victim there and they stripped the story of what made it great in the first place and so interesting even to this day. And I felt much closer with Homer's Odysseus than I am with this "modern adaptation" because Odysseus was simply HUMAN. A complicated human being like all of us. Now much of the forced drama takes a lot of that relatability from me.

I would disagree that music is difficult medium. Music is what made Odyssey popular in the first place. Music is very stimulating. I get stimulated yo write my stories by Music alone. But I see how you mean it. Anyways okay I could also say that the songs are catchy in Melody and of course the singers are doing their best and even he himself is very passionate with creating everything but apart from that I cannot say I am really impressed though. I am impressed at how much it spread that's for sure. And I got into this for the exact opposite reason

I thought "fucking finally someone is faithful to the source!" And then after the storm I got massively disappointed that we get YET ANOTHER unfaithful fanficyion that claims is inspired by the original. I hoped that I would get something accurate. But I got crushed. There were even operas based on the Odyssey that were sang among others. So yes I was massively disappointed.

For real...Poseidon was angry because Odysseus was TOO KIND?! like what the heck?! And yeah Zeus later makes no sense being so cruel. In the Odyssey he freaking loved the guy bevause he was so religious!

Well Polites is mentioned only once and he is mentioned as "Odysseus's best friend" and "the kindest" so I guess that was the aspect. Why the hell did they wanna kill him off in the beginning? For dramatics I'd say. In one way remove Polites from the whole thing and you have no real plot. Polites became the lever for dramatics. My answer is; because the plot wasn't working without the drama. Polites had to die early because of the drama. Polites was mentioned only once and that was on Circe's Island. The choice to kill him off in my opinion was to give an epinephrine to a weakening plot.

Well I am and I am not. I like creative liberties as long as they fill some gaps or in a way add some more stuff to half made stories (see for example the I'm just a man in the musical that was a creative liberty to the Iliou Persis plot that stated just in two words that Odysseus killed Astyanax by throwing him off the wall without elaborating the song finally elaborated which was why I loved such liberties) apart from that if they are not faithful to the source I cannot say I love them. It must be great to get my attention but I see what you mean.

Hmm since you say that I wonder if you would be interested to read my fanfictions at my pinned post here on tumblr and give me your opinions and thoughts on them. I have two big ones (3 parts each) and some one-shots. I wonder since you did read the originals maybe you can give me some insight! 🙈

EPIC THE MUSICAL:

Zeus: I am gonna appear personally to you because why not and now choose my dear fellow! Yes I know I didn't give you a REAL choice years prior but now I am being clear this time so you choose them or your sorry ass?

Odysseus: Please don't make me do this! (Because the same thing worked wonders before!)

Zeus: Nope I think I will!

Odysseus: I'm sorry guys my wife waits

Them: Wtf?!

Odysseus: Sorry guys you must now join the other souls we so dramatically saw a few songs ago in the underworld. Bye!

The Odyssey:

Zeus: *never appears personally but he works as divine retribution against Odysseus comrades because Helios Hyperion wishes justice for his slain animals*

Odysseus: Makes one last attempt to save his men by sailing out of the island and actually TRYING to go home with them despite the fact he knows they are doomed from Tiresias's words and from Circe's warnings because he ACTUALLY CARES and he doesn't want to suffer the sea by himself and he wishes once more to try the inevitable and change fate even though he knows is impossible in a way adding more to the hubris thinking he can challenge fate.

[your-brilliant-lady-m]

Part 2 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Kwami

Kwamis are a fun concept and one of the main draws of the series. They make sense story-wise because, firstly, our characters need some support system. And since a lot of conflicts are centred around secret identities, characters should be able to discuss their double life with someone. As magical beings they could also be used to expand the lore, introduce new concepts and drive forward both the plot and character development. It doesn't always happen but Kwamis are a good idea. Some people who write AU's think that Kwamis are redundant, but I have to disagree.

Origins and nature

Where do Kwamis come from? What are they? It's never explained. Oh wait, it was explained in a comic people can accidentally find. You decide to explain the origins and nature of magical beings who are one of the key elements in your magic system and worldbuilding IN A SIDE COMIC, which has zero effect on your main story. Sounds legit.

Here it is.

So, Kwamis are abstract creatures. They can become tangible and interact with the world because of the miraculous jewels. Essentially, each Miraculous acts as an anchor to the material world for Kwami. They existed since the beginning of time and were invisible observers of the universe. Until they settled on Earth and observed how humanity came to be. This is where things get interesting.

Kwamis are the embodiment of abstract concepts. But, some abstract concepts were created by people (like everything mentioned in the comic: beauty, math, love, etc).

Kwamis wanted to help humans. And then, a human, who couldn't see, hear or touch a Kwami creates miraculous jewels. And now these beings can interact with the world, use their powers and grant them to humans. Yet, they are completely under control of their holder. I'll discuss it later, but why did Kwamis accept this deal? They are practically enslaved. At the same time they care about people and generally love humanity.

According to the wiki Kwamis grant powers because of "the privilege of having the ability to be perceived by mortals". What? Did I read that right? Kwamis agreed to be enslaved and used as a power source, because they wanted to interact with material world. That's it, guys, end of the story.

We also know these things about nature and abilities of Kwamis from the show:

1) need food, but only to provide the power for the holder;

2) can't phase through precious metals (Chloe's bracelet in "Rogercop"), their own miraculous and humans;

3) they can control if they phase through things or not – meaning that if they want to, they can (this way Tikki can stay in Marinette’s purse without much trouble and Plagg sleeps on Adrien’s pillow);

4) they can perform magic without a holder but they don’t control it very well, there are certain types of things that they can’t do without a holder;

5) they are immortal but can get sick for some reason, a non-magical reason mind you;

6) technology can't detect them in any way, you can't film, photograph or record their voices (writers establish this many times, but promptly forget all about their own rules in "Optigami", where Marinette talks with Kwamis over the phone without any problems).

If I missed something important, then let me know.

Look, the questions related to origins and motivations of Kwamis might not be very prominent in your story right now, but you must answer them in case you might need to involve these facts in the plot down the line. It's important to avoid contradictions in the serialised story with liquid plot, that can't be set in stone. It's a made up world for the sake of everything sacred! You can make up explanations and rules, of course as long as they don't contradict common sense.

Plausible ideas for origins and nature of Kwamis:

1) Kwamis are immortal spirits, whom humans accidentally summoned and bound with spells to Miraculous stones. They remember their existence before this. This version doesn't really explain their desire to serve people and love for humanity, however. It would be more logical for Kwamis to resent people for enslaving them. It doesn't explain how humans could create those spells and Miraculous stones either.

2) Kwamis are physical manifestations of abstract concepts who existed simply as fragments of matter for a very long time without sentience, until they were accidentally summoned through the Miraculous stones and bound by humans to serve them. Kwamis do not remember their existence before Miraculous. In this version Kwamis serve humans and love them because they have never known a different kind of existence. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any explanation on the creation of Miraculous and spells.

3) Kwamis are gods, who created the universe with all its elements and concepts including humanity (similar to Valar and Maiar in Tolkien's Legendarium). They wanted to help their creations but discovered that their power was too wild and unpredictable for that. So, Kwamis decided to give up their free will and magical independence to help humanity. Together they created Miraculous stones for humans to use and sealed themselves inside. Kwamis as gods were abstract concepts, who didn't have a body. The act of sealing their power in the Miraculous gave them an opportunity to interact with outside world (an anchor) and each Kwami chose an small animal form (because humans easily formed bonds with animals, had animal companions (pets), small animals look non-threatening and familiar). Kwamis intentionally choose certain animal forms to suit the human symbolism. Humans later used magic that Kwamis discovered for them to place spells upon small gods (spells related to identity protection and so on). This version answers most questions, but if Kwamis are gods then powers they grant to people seem to be rather small.

Feel free to add more. I would be interested to hear your ideas.

Identity Protection

In "Origins" we learn that Wayzz can sense the aura of Butterfly Miraculous, a negative aura of activated Butterfly Miraculous, to be more precise. And yet, Tikki and Plagg are genuinely surprised to discover the identities of their holders in "Dark Owl". There are several things wrong with that.

Can Kwamis sense each other's presence? They shouldn't be able to do this to protect the identities of their holders. On the other hand, they are ancient spirits. So, their inability to sense each other seems weird. Unless it's the same situation as with the spell that does not allow them to speak the name of their holder aloud.

But if they can sense each other like Wayzz did, then it means that Plagg and Nooroo were living in the same house for over a year and nothing happened. I mean, Plagg could have just come upstairs, take off the brooch from Gabriel, while he is asleep and return it back to Fu.

This question lies right here, on the surface. And that's only one massive and very obvious plothole. How to fix it? Establish that Kwami can't sense each other for identity protection. In "Origins" Fu meditates on his balcony and Wayzz sees a charged Akuma flying by. That's how they discover that Butterfly is in Paris and the Miraculous is in the wrong hands. Perhaps, Gabriel akumatizes someone for the first time to survey the surroundings and general public is not aware of this. This works better in the narrative, giving Fu time to select holders for Ladybug and Black Cat. It also establishes whether Hawkmoth can remove the Akuma from someone without Ladybug and discharge it. Maybe it depends on the circumstances (sometimes he can, but if this person was akumatized many times or their emotions are too strong and their mind doesn't want to let Akuma go then Hawkmoth can't pull the butterfly out with his magic). This scenario allows for Volpina to happen on "Heroes' Day". Silly recurring Akumas like Gigantitan and Mr. Pigeon could still happen. In this case Gabriel didn't want to akumatize the guy more than 70 times on purpose. It just keeps happening against his better judgement because evil butterflies are automatically attracted to Mr. Ramier. This way repeated attacks of Mr. Pigeon annoy Hawkmoth just as much as they do the heroic duo of Paris (I did not sign up for this Nathalie!).

Let's come back to the spell mentioned earlier for a moment. Kwamis can't say the name of their current holder out loud, but apparently, they can exploit a loophole in the spell by confirming the identity of their holder in another way. The spell doesn't work with other holders. Kwami can say the names of other holders if they know their identity. That being said, can the holder order the Kwami to tell them the identities of other heroes if they know them?

Kwamis know how each Miraculous looks with or without camouflage. Can the holder order the Kwami to tell them how each Miraculous looks in disguise (I liked that Grimoire doesn't have pictures of camouflage for identity protection)? Guardians can recognise Miraculous in any mode (Su Han). Did Fu teach Marinette this? Does she know how each Miraculous looks like unactivated?

Oh! Since we are discussing camouflage, let's take a moment to appreciate the Mother Of All Plotholes. Plagg didn't recognise Peacock because of the plot.

Relationship with Holder

I absolutely loved the idea that Kwamis must obey their holder introduced in "Sandboy". This concept opens tons of plot opportunities. It's such a great idea that makes sense, has potential, can create conflict. Why, oh, why didn't writers develop it more?

Like, it was so good. It can be a great push for character development. This concept resolves so many existing inconsistencies within the plot. It's mind-blowing.

Why can't Nooroo simply leave Gabriel, so that he wouldn't be able to transform? Because Gabriel bound him with Miraculous to always stay near.

In "Sandboy" Tikki asks Marinette's permission before going to the meeting. Plagg lies to Adrien instead. This implies that usually Plagg's holders weren't kind to him or feared his power (Su Han's remark in "Furious Fu"). Perhaps, his holders were taught to keep the Kwami of destruction under constant control. So, Plagg in turn has learned not to ask, because if he doesn't ask permission then his holder can't deny him freedom with magic.

Can Kwami lie to their holder? Maybe they can't lie to their holder about their nature, origins and powers and other Miraculous (but Kwamis can't reveal the location of Miracle Box, Guardian's identity and can't confirm identities of other holders known to them in any way). Kwami would be forced to speak even if they don't want to. That's why Nooroo told Gabriel everything about the abilities of the Butterfly Miraculous and the wish secret of Ladybug and Black Cat.

But Kwamis can lie to their holder according to Plagg in "Sandboy". If Kwamis can lie about everything (including powers) then Nooroo didn't have any reason to be honest with Gabriel way back in "Origins".

Speaking of Gabriel and Nooroo. Can Kwamis harm their holder? Maybe doing so would harm the Kwami as well. Can they do it only when the holder is not wearing the Miraculous? Can Kwami take their Miraculous from their holder? Will they disappear if they try to do so? It seems like Kwami disappears only when the holder takes off the Miraculous with the intention of renouncing power, the words "I renounce you" are not necessary.

Other Kwamis can take the Miraculous from people if it's not their own (Wayzz in "Feast"). But what if it wasn't possible. Imagine what could happen if it's not possible to take the Miraculous by force from the transformed or untransformed hero. Just like Lady WiFi couldn't remove Ladybug's mask. A person has to willingly give up the Miraculous. Only in this case, it's possible to take it. For example, somewhere around the middle of season 3 Hawkmoth could have trapped Ladybug and Chat Noir and cut off any escape routes. His Akuma tries to take both Miraculous, but they don't budge. Then afterwards, every Akuma tries to manipulate the heroes using hostages, illusions or mind control. It's hard to say whether this version will be better than canon, but it's a fascinating theory.

You can use the idea of obedience to create more situations contrasting the relationship of Plagg and Adrien, Gabriel and Nooroo. I liked how canon created a storyline about Plagg learning to control his powers without a holder and Adrien helping him. However, why would you stop here? Give us some flashbacks about Plagg's previous holders, tell us what kind of people they were. Expand the lore and add some character development for Plagg and Adrien. The same thing goes for Marinette. What kind of battles did they have in the past? What kind of people past holders were? Did Ladybug and Black Cat heroes always get along well? Were they allies or enemies? Were they always lovers?

Give us more information about Butterfly and Peacock holders. Perhaps Nooroo has dreams about his past holders who were good people. Show us what kind of things a Butterfly holder with good intentions can do. Tell us more about Duusu and her past holders, sprinkle in a few bits of info about Emilie and Duusu's relationship, just a few vague hints to preserve the mystery. You have a lot of screentime each season and instead of doing filler episodes dedicated to love drama, you can use them for developing minor characters, relationships between them and lore.