#There is now a random gay subplot and I love that for me. Also a werewolf character decided to exist

[olive-riggzey]

I love when I'm writing and the plot completely derails itself. Like yes, I had a plan. No, it was not this.

#Zeta Rambles #I have been writing the stories for 25% Crisis and hoo boy. What on Earth happened #I know the plan was to not have a plan technically but this has become a series of sitcom episodes #There is now a random gay subplot and I love that for me. Also a werewolf character decided to exist #If he keeps showing up I might have to add him to the intro page haha

[br1ghtestlight]

random thought but i love eugene mirman's gene sounds ESPECIALLY when gene is sleeping. they're so good & cute

louise tina bob and linda looking @ gene literally exactly like this when he forgets how his song goes at breakfast LMAOO

love that tina and louise seem to actually pay attention to what songs gene is writing and what they're about despite the fact that there are SO MANY. supportive family <3

gene's dream.... bro that was god speaking to you. like for real wtf

also im only a minute in and there are SO MANY good screenshots already he's such a cutie i love him so much!!!! <3 gene episodes my beloved

"Now I'm going to change into last night's pajamas, AKA my only pajamas, and brush my teeth with Tina's toothbrush because that's what I accidentally did last night."

"Wait, what?"

gene and tina are so silly?? 😭

me and gene share many similarities including waking up in the middle of the night every two hours for no fucking reason. like THATS relatable

MR AMBROSE APPEARANCE LETS FUCKING GOOO‼️‼️ why does his voice sound slightly sped up is he okay. does he have a new voice actor?? he sounds slightly off not like in a bad way its just strange

THERE WAS A NEW VOICE ACTOR BCUZ BILLY EICHNER WASNT CREDITED maybe bcuz its such a small appearance but thats very weird. i feel like mickey fans in season 12 episode 6 when loren did that horrible mickey impression 😭😭 also whoever did his voice in this episode wasnt credited so it was somebody from the main cast doing an impression of him. will try to figure out who. sorry episode review cancelled i need to figure out who the hell voiced mr ambrose in this episode

based on the fact that u cant obviously tell who it is i dont think its eugene mirman and probably not h jon benjiman?? dan mintz can only do one voice so its not him either. probably either john roberts larry murphy or a random crew member who they didnt bother to credit

(most likely billy eischner just wasn't avaliable to voice mr ambrose due to his movie career etc so i dont blame them but it was noticeable enough to ME that i needed to figure it out. not even a bad impression honestly the average fan wouldnt notice)

"What do you lucid dream about?"

"I do revenge stuff on people who were mean to me in high school, some fantasy and science fiction, some adult stuff I can't tell you about."

this is literally the gayest thing mr ambrose has ever said omg FHFMDDJKSKS i cant believe this drama club ass nerd was bullied in high school who could have guessed. not me thats for sure

(now somebody has to write a fanfic about mr ambrose having Adult Stuff dreams about mr frond. i want this on my desk by 3pm tomorrow)

love mr ambrose and his gay ass curly hair..... mr ambrose my beloved <33 kisses u

i dont have anything to say im just strangely invested in gene's lucid dreaming plot at this point. Love all his silly little dreams and its incredible he never seems to have any nightmares or anything!!

this is reminding me of the movie where gene had a dream and he was scared that he wasn't good at music and that people weren't going to like his performance and the aliens came down to told him to stop 😭😭💔 his insecurity that he might not be that good a musician literally makes me cry. he's so sweet and kindhearted my babyy boy

CAN I SKIP SCHOOL AND GO BACK TO SLEEP LMAO

"Even successful musicians went to sixth grade, Gene."

"That's a MYTH!!"

weirdly mr ambrose started sounding completely normal at some point like did his voice actor come back and just wasn't credited?? or whoever did this impression was REALLY good jfc

mr ambrose HATES these fuckign kids bro

HES SO UNHINGED LMAO 😭😭

NOT THE STARING AGAIN. why are they literally just this image every single time gene plays music in this episode im gonna cry

love this specific frame of gene running his hand through his hair

awww bob is such a good dad

sidenote but this subplot with tina and louise is so stupid it actually made me laugh LMAO the fucking girl cricket. thr female cricket. like what if he's gay huh what then

"or if she's not his type she also makes a great best friend. she's a good listener" THANK YOU louise for acknowledging the cricket might be gay. she's an ally 🙏

AWW GENE WRITING HIS SONG <3 eugene mirman isnt a Good singer (not hating he literally says that all the time. they have to record each line seperately bcuz he cant sing on key) so its hard to tell when they're trying to make gene's songs seem good or not but this is really sweet. u can tell he just loves music so much

why is gene's song kinda making me emotional..... like this show is usually 50/50 on if it actually wants to take gene's songwriting ability seriously but in this episode its so clear how much he LOVES music and songwriting and how talented he is at it. he has trouble with focus and commitment sometimes but thats never an issue when it comes to his music and he'd happily spend an entire afternoon writing a song from start to finish (even skipping out on dinner) because he was so hyperfocused. love how much respect they give gene in this episode tbh

deeply appreciate the "larry murphy as teddy" credit despite teddy not having one single line in this entire episode. Literally just a legacy credit at this point

I LOVED THIS EPISODE 😭😭💕 i dont think it'll be as widely popular as some other episodes this season but as a gene fan and an artist this episode really resonated with me. the ending sequence was actually really beautiful (gives me the same vibes as "your heart's not broken its only growing" tbh) and i loved gene's song and all the different costumes they put him in for his dreams!! tina and louise's subplot was really cute too. very enjoyable episode if you're a gene fan or just a casual viewer who wishes he got more focus. he's SO SWEET and so passionate <3

#txt #bob's burgers #episode review

[karmathehalflander]

Broad character rewrites in MV in quick bulleted list form: -Michael, Taylor, Ostin, Hatch, Sharon (Michael's mom), Zeus, McKenna: Broadly fine as they are, but willing to play by ear for taste

-Jack: The plan was to rewrite his introduction to come from the opposite angle where instead of a bully, he has a reputation of the school 'fixer' who can get you what you want if you pay the price, he has more of a criminal-y vibe early on but it turns out he's really not bad and he waives the fee for the drive to California upon hearing it's to rescue Michael's mom. He still has a military big bro who he learned a lot from but make it less of a 'man, the Marines are so cool!' thing just because I don't like US imperialism

-Wade: Backport most of his RotE/BotA characterization of being slightly more cowardly into PoC25's events, make it clear he's got a gay crush on Jack that he keeps to himself until the blog is revealed in BotA

-Quentin: More early screen time (have him tag along with Tara when she's giving Taylor the tour? Make their relationship shockingly healthy despite the whole sitch?), ongoing subplot, maybe explain why he's the leader of the group more/earlier

-Tara: Play down her earlier sadism, make it clearer that her might-makes-right worldview is something she's adopted to make Hatch happy/like her

-Nichelle: Also downplay the sadism a hair, though don't erase it because I still want it to be there when she joins the Electroclan later for a 'well I'm glad she's on our side now' moment-possibly give her some occasional check-ins at the taco job we find her working at during HfJD? So she comes less out of nowhere. Maybe introduce RESAT tech in development during PoC25 that makes her nervous about being tossed aside so that explains why Hatch dumps her so quickly. -Tanner, Grace: They're probably mostly fine, Tanner has an interesting little arc as The One With A Conscience even if he's not used much, and Grace is Fine as a flat character, not everyone can be fleshed out.

-Bryan, Kylie: Just give them a bit more than 'the dumb one' and 'the materialistic one'. -Ian: He really needs more to do. I mean, he does a lot, a lot of spotting and info-giving, but he has the least personality of the Dungeon Trio. I'd honestly play up his role of the pessimist of the trio to balance out McKenna's optimism and Abi's hesitancy.

-Abi: I do like her role as the nervous one who doesn't like fighting but i feel like that sidelines her into the Shy Healer (kind of) archetype. Maybe play her up as the moral core of the group a bit, make her more able to stand up for her beliefs?

-Torstyn: Absolutely make him less of a maniac so his heel-face turn goes down smoother, give him a few mentions as being Away during PoC25 for foreshadowing purposes (Tessa and Cassie, I need to swirl around in my head a bit more. and I do have random other thoughts, this is just like, basic stuff 2 me)

I love that angle for jack! It would make me much more sympathetic to his character and make him much more interesting overall. I think he would be a nice guy but kinda fall into somewhat shady stuff out of necessity.

Wade needs more character and his death would affect me much more if he did. 

I genuinely didn’t feel like Tara had a redemption arc it was like she joined them and everyone just forgot how sadistic she acted. 

I love Nichelle and any more characterization would be awesome!

Ian desperately needs more character! I love him and there’s so much missed potential! He would tell dark jokes and be pessimistic but I imagine he would be generally pretty chill in serious situations. 

Abi would work well as a moral center I feel like that kind of character was desperately needed. The story would have been much more balanced that way.

#Sorry it took me so long to respond to this one lol #michael vey

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Dr. Strange 2: Witness the power of this fully armed and operational Disney VFX budget!

I liked the movie. The multiverse/magic stuff looks great, and if you watch Strange 1, then Far From Home, then this, you can see a pretty clear progression.

As someone whose knowledge of Sam Raimi is literally just "Saw all 3 Spider-Man movies and Darkman," I appreciate his directorial flourishes. You can tell he's flexing here, especially with the bigger budget.

I like Wanda and Strange’s arcs.

I do have some issues with America, though.

SPOILERS

There's an LP channel called Spoiler Warning. They once MST3K'd Mass Effect 3, and mocked the halibut out of the blatant attempt at pathos in the first level. "But Shamus," Josh would snark, "a kid died!"

In case you aren't familiar with the game, Shepard tries to save a random little kid hiding in a vent. The kid refuses to come out. Then later, as Shep leaves, they look down and see the kid, hopping on the last shuttle out of Vancouver.

The big bad space squid enemies laser it, and then Shepard has bad dreams for the rest of the game. Because a generic kid died.

And that's what America is. She's A Kid. Extruded teen product. Servicable. She the meat and potatoes of characters.

The movie examines Strange's pride. In the first movie, he was an egotist who thought it was All About Him. In this movie, he doesn't, but he still thinks it's on him to fix the problems-

Sorry, I just had to take a moment to make sure they didn't mix up a few script pages from Iron Man 2.

Kid sidekicks are supposed to bring out new character traits in the main protagonist. Robin contrasts Batman's dark grittiness (Well, except for Damien and Dick, where Damien was the dark one and Dick was the lighter one.). Jimmy Olsen contrasts Superman by just being A Guy who keeps getting caught up in super-shenanigans.

America can't use her powers on command-

Sorry, I just had to take a moment to make sure they didn't mix up a few script pages from Into the Spider-Verse.

And the climax of her arc is to learn how awesome and powerful she actually is-

Sorry, I just had to take a moment to make sure they didn't mix up a few script pages from Captain Marvel.

Jokes aside, "believe in the me who believes in you!" is a perfectly...functional plot here. It works. She works. It’s...kind of a contrast with Strange’s arc? But she's a pretty flat character. Maybe if the movie started with her trusting only in herself. I don’t mean the weaksauce stuff we got, I mean straight up paranoia. She only trusts herself, which is a dark mirror of Strange’s arc. And Wanda’s too! She’s only going with Strange because she’s out of options.

Now, the cynical part of me says this is because of woke shenanigans. The optimist says it might be because they want to give her a full arc of her own in some other series or movie. Or because they already had two major character arcs in the film.

Incidentally, it turns out America’s power has been taking her to the ‘correct’ universes all along. Which includes universes where good things happen to her. Which explains why she’s so relatively-well-adjusted.

Incidentally, America is gay in the comics. I hoped they wouldn't try to include a subplot about a 15 year old's sexuality. And they didn't.

They did something...else.

So, in this film (and maybe the comics) America is apparently from an idyllic, peaceful lesbian(?) commune-

Sorry, I just had to take a moment to make sure they didn't mix up a few script pages from Wonder Woman.

-and accidentally knocked her moms into some unknown other dimension when her powers kicked in-

Sorry, I just had to take a moment to make sure they didn't mix up a few script pages from Inhumans.

Oh, right, Inhumans. Black Bolt is on the Illuminati. I was hoping for the Tom Cruise as Superior Iron Man. John Krasinski as Reed Richards was

They also finally gave Professor X the iconic yellow wheelchair. Maria Rambeau is Captain Marvel, like her daughter was in the comics for a while.

(Aside: I loved Monica in Nextwave as Kermit to the team's Muppets, and know nothing else about her regular appearances.)

And they bought back Anson Mount as Black Bolt, which was

Was it fanservice? Yes. Was it fun? Yes. Was Reed Richard useless? Yes.

Oh, and it bugged me how many shots seemed framed specifically to show off America’s Pride pin. Which I could ignore if it wasn’t that new racialized version I dislike*. Maybe it’s in honor of her moms, idk. She is also, quite possibly, the most special person in the multiverse, because there is apparently only one of her, likely for plot reasons.

These minor things aside, yeah, worth a few bucks.

* Ironic how a flag about bringing people together is now implying some LGBT people are more important than others.

#marvel #mcu #spoilers

[winemom-culture]

Stuff I messaged my group chat about throughout the day watching Season 3

-First and foremost I feel like they could’ve written around all the Russian subplot. Felt very unnecessary up until the last 2 episodes when you really get into the underground lab stuff. Got very tired of watching Hopper get chased around by big baddie Russian guy for 10 minutes every episode.

-Cherry Slurpee

-Hilarious when they used the little girl to be like I Don’t Agree With Communism 

-I made a note of it when I THOUGHT Robin was making a poorly timed love confession to Steve on the floor of the lair here

-Murray is like one of the best if not the best character in the whole series 

-They really got me with Robin being gay tbh. I thought they were just leading into a cheesy setup with Steve and then boom, plot twist.

-Alexei deserved better!

-Dustin actually getting in contact in Suzie to save the day was hysterical and the Neverending Story song felt SO random in that moment lmao

-Billy was pretty much an unredeemable dick but his little arc before he dies was pretty sad.

-Which brings me to the move!!! What the fuck.

-I would be way more fucked up by the overall finale if not for the fact that it was already spoiled for me that Hopper is still alive in 4. And there was the little after credit thing that implied it pretty heavily of course but also I think if I were watching that without the context I already have that “not the American” thing might’ve gone over my head.

 I’m like halfway through the first episode of season 4 which is REALLY all I’m watching tonight and they really are doing this with half of them in a different place now huh. I’m sure they eventually come together but it still sucks. Other than that season 4 seems like it’s gonna go pretty hard.

[tang0mang0]

2, 7, 11 for the ask game

2. Wow I was giving this a lot of thought of who it could be, but I stumbled upon one that I very much believe would be better as a BroTP canonically, and that’d be Snowing. It would’ve been a really interesting story element if the writers continued with the conflict between Snow and Charming that sprouted in the early seasons with the adultery going on. David was being stupid and wouldn’t tell his wife that he didn’t love her anymore which spiraled Kathryn and Mary Margaret against David, and there was a real moment where Mary Margaret despised David. I think this is an important element even for when everyone gets their memories back and we’re back with Snow and Charming, because it shows deeply how rocky their relationship is. They are given another life where marriage isn’t dealt as something that is forced upon women to tie noble families together for allegiance, or for carrying on lineages. They are given a chance to love each other just for the sake of it, with nothing holding them to that, and it doesn’t work out. David and Mary Margaret are still Snow and Charming, even if they have different memories. They are the same people who make the same decisions. Their relationship was given a chance to sprout from the start and it fell heavily. Also, when they do get their memories back, Snow and Charming still have distrust with each other, and have an unhealthy relationship. Their relationship is very forced just because they are Snow and Charming and “they will always find each other”. Would’ve been a lot more interesting if they were just pals, because Charming and Snow are both enjoyable characters when they are not interacting with each other.

7. Honestly my memory of the early seasons is very iffy, hence me saying early seasons and not specifically one of them (Need to do a rewatch). Since most of my likes to dislikes would have happened there, I’m going to answer this flipped around. I used to hate Hades when he was introduced because I didn’t feel like he captured the essence of Hades at all. There was no flaming gay pizazz and his tone was way too serious. He is depicted as this evil brooding character, which for one, Hades should not be cast in an evil light. Hades isn’t evil just because he was the God that got chosen to be the guardian of Hell. All he does is decide who goes to Hell and who doesn’t. Don’t shoot the messenger. Anyway, this tone still somewhat persists while he is still around, but his actor really lightens him up as a bubbly personality that I came to really enjoy. I don’t know if I was just biased against Hades at first due to the evil casting and the broodiness that I saw and he was interesting since the beginning, or if the actor really did improve in his character’s performance and display. Either way, I changed hearts on Hades for sure.

11. I could answer this in one sentence by saying Hades since I mentioned him in the last question, but I’ll choose someone else. I’ll go with Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. The reasoning for hating these characters (character? Character, I guess) seems to mostly be that he was a villain that came and went quickly and didn’t add much to the story, but honestly. That’s like every villain that the show introduces other than Zelena, Regina, and Rumple. And that’s not saying that the other villains are all bad, some were, but hating a villain because they didn’t add much to the story could be said for basically all of them. Cruella was amazing for example and she basically followed a strange subplot with Rumple which I don’t even remember where that went. But anyway, Dr. Jekyll and Hyde I really liked. Now, call be biased because I think Hyde is very hot and I love his voice, but other than that, I really enjoyed seeing his story line play out. I’ve never read Dr. Jekyll and Hyde for one, so that might be why, but also it was just a really interesting subplot to me. Of course, they added in random shit to try to tie it to the main cast, but I still really liked him and wish he stuck around a bit longer.

#askme #salty ask list

[skateboarding-poet]

Some poorly described A3! plays

Romeo and Julius: Two bros chilling in their hometown, one balcony apart 'cause they're not gay

Water Me!: Random man refuses to succumb to the rules of capitalism and wants to be his own boss by becoming The Rich. He also falls in love or sth

The Roman Episode: Mafia AU, enemies to lovers, 100k words

Sympathy for the Angel: Proof that Azuma deserved wings more than any other Winter Troupe member

Alex in Wonderland: My cousin is trying to give me a summary of the story he heard at kindergarten yesterday but I'm pretty sure that's not how the story goes

The Great Sardine Search: Your Nyan Cat OCs put in a kind of story you would write at 13 y/o

The Stranger: Proof that Taichi needs to play more female roles

My Master's Mesmerised by Mystery: Dude with exactly one friend makes a new one but is betrayed by him (mood)

A Clockwork Heartbeat: Dude with exactly one friend makes a new one. Literally. At least he isn't betrayed by him. Still doesn't end well tho

Captain Sky's Pirates: Greedy pirate tries to force his friendship agenda down his crew's throats so he doesn't have to pay them

Ginji the Wanderer: I don't remember much about this one sorry

Nocturnality: Dude misread a vampire hunting guide book and now he's having dinner with a Dracula wannabe and having Gay Thoughts

The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz: Criminal who is into DnD ends up adopting a kid who's really into DnD

Love Out of Left Field: Every Sports Anime ever in a stage adaptation (yes, subtle accidental homoromantic subplot between the two main characters included)

DEAD/UNDEAD: The Walking Dead's surprisingly better spinoff

Le Fantôme de L'opéra: Somebody tried and failed to make Phantom of the Opera a Very Platonic story but ended up just making everything Gay

Knights of the Round IV The Stage: Well at least it's not a horrible Hollywood live action adaptation

Shinobi Adventures: The Butterfly Effect explained in the most entertaining way possible

Fire Up, Mantou Fist!: Master Chef Meets Every Jackie Chan Movie ever through Big Bro Gordon Ramsay

Die by the Sword: Tsumugi has had the most villain roles out of the entire Winter Troupe, what's up with that

#a3! #a3! act! addict! actors!

[badapricot]

Lovely Writer—1x10

This episode felt a bit slow and oddly paced compared to the last one, and I think it’s because it’s obviously a builder episode or the calm before the storm.

I loved the scene with Gene and his Mom making tea. He looked really small and young in his robe and I think that was the point. It was a really good metaphor for the fact that Gene needs to take care of himself now if he’s going to make the adult choice of entering a gay relationship in public. Because his Mom and his Dad can’t protect him from it, and they know that he’s fragile and anxious in comparison to Nubsib, despite being older.

Teep made me cry when he cried in Run’s arms and it really made me curious about Pop. I wish we got even one flashback showing them or even showing how Teep met Run. He confirmed that he loves her but I don’t know if he loves her as much as Pop, and that’s pretty interesting because it shows how understanding Run is.

I was touched that Teep was still worried about Gene not eating and wanted him to have a better life than the one he did, even when Gene thinks he hates him.

Nubsib’s scene with his parents was great because it showed the adult dynamic with his family which we haven’t seen before. Nubsib closes business deals for his father and his father recognizes his own hereditary stubbornness in Nubsib, which is why he doesn’t try to push the Gene issue. He knew that if he kept denying Nubsib, he would work even harder to go against him, and he also loves his son, despite how much he cares about the family’s image.

Teep asking Gene if he really loved Nubsib and then talking about his own lost love was a beautiful scene. Besides being a father-son moment it was also the first time Gene could relate to his father as a queer person, and not feel so alone. I highly doubt his father ever told him about the man he loved before that moment.

Nubsib trying to get some from Gene right in front of Gene’s Dad made me scream. Time and place sir.

Nubsib telling Gene that he was worth far more than any land deed he could give his father, and that his father would never trade him anyway, was a sweet moment. I like that the difference between Nubsib and Gene’s fathers is highlighted too because we see these differences in Nubsib’s and Gene’s personalities. Nubsib’s father loves him but at the end of the day he’s a business man who cares about image and what he can get from people. The deciding factor for allowing Nubsib to date Gene? Nubsib getting him the deed for a valued piece of land. Gene’s father would never “give” Gene to Nubsib in exchange for anything, or allow Gene to bribe him. The only reason he lets Gene be with Nubsib is because he loves Gene and he trusts that Nubsib will take care of him. That’s it. And that’s why Neung and Nubsib are prepped to take over their family business while Jap and Gene are living at home and working as a fantasy writer.

Something I noticed as an undercurrent throughout the episode was Gene caring more about Nubsib’s approval and treating Nubsib like a bit of an authority figure even when Nubsib is being bratty. Like when Nubsib asks him why he didn’t dry his hair well and if he was looking at his TV or the phone. Before, Gene didn’t care about those comments or he brushed them off, but now he mostly obeys. This was also shown when Gene texted Nubsib his cake to let him know where he was, and when he didn’t go into the sea just because Nubsib asked. He even complains to Tum but he doesn’t repeat himself when Tum asks what he said, because he’s too shy to admit that he’s allowing Nubsib to bar him from anything. It feels like the dominant-submissive power balance in their relationship has flipped now, where Nubsib isn’t working hard to get Gene’s approval because he’s more comfortable being himself, while Gene really wants to please Nubsib so he’s become more submissive to him.

The Tum-Tiffy subplot is cute but I don’t think it makes sense or that it’s a lesson that we all need to be taught, because it’s so unrealistic. Tiffy is bisexual herself. It makes no sense for her to not believe Tum to the point where he needs to rap to prove his sexuality.

I loved the sensual sunscreen application and Nubsib scooping Gene into his arms and taking him into the sea. The whole scene was lush and pink and it was so nice seeing Gene being doted on by Sib. Also to see him so giddy and in love without the usual holding back that he does because he’s embarrassed.

I have no idea who the woman who snapped their picture is. The female producer and Tiffy were in the room in the promo scene where Gene is brought inside. Bua wouldn’t sabotage her own author or show. The only other woman under the age of forty who’s a main character would be Earn, and that’s a long shot unless Aey is making her run around for him to repent for what she did to him. So it’s most likely a random fan.

Aey fake crying on camera in reaction to SibGene getting outed gave me hives. I don’t see redemption in his future unless he clarifies that he was lying to the press and the fans and I can’t see him doing that for Nubsib or Gene, unless Gene is harmed by this.

#lovely writer #lovely writer the series #gene x nubsib #text #meta

[melon-kiss]

This is just going to be a ramble about everything Sherlock. You’re most welcome to discuss or just ignore it. I needed the space to vent.

I watched Sherlock. Again. I think it’s beginning to become my annual tradition. And I have a crisis. Don’t get me wrong, I am always Sherlollian at heart. It’s just… I have doubts sometimes. And what triggered those doubts this time was the fact that Sherlock calls Molly “John”. Twice. And then Irene Adler. And then one post on Tumblr. And many, many more.

OK, these are just my random thoughts. Enjoy if you’re willing to read them.

 1. “John”. “Molly”.

We often mix up names of people we consider to have the same place in our lives. Which is good, right? Right. Only, in Sherlock’s case, we’d have lean into the theory that Sherlock does love John romantically and feels the same way about Molly. Or concede the fact that he loves them both platonically. Neither of these options is really satisfying, isn’t it? Well, that’s why I’m struggling… One could say he’s in denial of feelings for Molly and identifies them as friendship, as this is the strongest, purest relationship in his life, the only one he describes as emotional and the closest he’s ever had to love. Besides, Molly and John are similar in one way – they both share the same – medical – knowledge. Of course, Sherlock doesn’t realise her other qualities until The Reichenbach Fall when she says she can help him whenever he needs it. It’s not until she’s honest with him again and tells him, without a shred of grudge, that she knows she means nothing to him, that he realises he has at least two friends. He calls her “John” when his mind is busy with something else, so there’s no room for any purposeful confusion. The same thing happens in The Empty Hearse. What else can it mean if not friendship?

 2. Nothing Hits Like Irene

Irene Adler is created as the love interest for Sherlock. Is she, though? Well, we see Sherlock utterly confused upon their first meeting. We also see him flirting and creating an atmosphere of sexual tension for the first time. OK, he saves her but then she vanishes, he got over her, I thought. And all was fine until The Lying Detective came and Irene Adler sent a text to Sherlock, first in such a long time. John, of course, suggests that if Sherlock should be romantically involved with anyone, it should be her. And then it hit me.

Irene Adler is the symbol of chemistry in Sherlock’s life.

She’s a dominatrix. She’s all about sex, that’s obvious. At the critical point of The Scandal in Belgravia Sherlock says: I believe John Watson thinks love’s a mystery for me but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very distractive. Sherlock discovers that he, indeed, can have chemistry with people. He doesn’t mention love, he merely says sentiment, referring to the crush Irene Adler had on him. She is, indeed, a simple distraction – you can see it clearly in his memory palace when he yells at her to get away. But Molly… Molly stays. She leads him through the entire process of surviving a shot.

And then Irene Adler returns in The Lying Detective. John confesses to Sherlock about texting with a stranger met on the bus. And that he wanted more. Sherlock says everyone gets to be human sometimes. Even he can’t resist the urge of replying to Irene Adler sometimes. It was all about attraction again.

And that’s why she’s not considered a romantic relationship in his life. John rambles about love changing him, to be more specific, the love of his woman changing him. But he says Irene’s a dangerous criminal. How would that change Sherlock in any way?

In The Final Problem, upon deducing the coffin, John suggests Irene Adler but she’s not his first thought in general once they all hear that this is about someone who loves Sherlock. Sherlock’s response is very telling: Don’t be ridiculous. Look at the coffin. It seems like Sherlock pieces the puzzle at once – the coffin, plus the “name” on the lid – it couldn’t have been Irene Adler.

And that’s why Sherlock calls her The Woman. As a symbol of his sexuality. The Woman who’s woken up certain impulses in his life.

 3. Makeshift Gauge

Who is she?, Sherlock asks John in His Last Vow.

Based on what Mofftiss duo said about Molly, she was supposed to be featured in two episodes top. Yet, she stayed. The uncanonical character not only stayed but became fans’ favourite. I think she became a useful tool for Moffat and Gatiss. I think that not only she represents Sherlock heart (of which existence he has no idea at first) but later becomes our makeshift gauge. For what? For measuring Sherlock’s progress. See, it’s like when you live with someone, you don’t notice when they put on weight or grew a little but those who see less of them will notice all changes right away. So, when Sherlock runs around with John, we don’t notice the change in his behaviour at once (also because he’s always been nice to him, from the very beginning), we need to focus to see that. But Molly pops by once per episode and we see how Sherlock’s perception changes. In season one, he has good intentions, but they turn out bad. In season two, he’s more neutral but doesn’t restrain himself from rude comments. And Molly is being Molly – tells him he’s rude in her natural, soft way and he says sorry. For the first time. Without anyone making him do that. Almost the same happens in The Reichenbach Fall – but this time, Molly doesn’t let herself be fooled by Sherlock’s arrogance and just ignores it, going straight to the point. She says: “I’m here for you” and lowers his defences. In season three, he spends an entire day with her, smiles at her and is the sweetest, softest Sherlock we’ve ever seen. Moreover, when Lestrade asks him about her helping him solve cases, he says: [John] is not in the picture anymore, implying that she not necessarily had to be a temporary replacement. In season four, he says I love you to her.

What can we deduce about his heart?

 4. The Eurus Conundrum

We could write an entire book about Eurus and not even be able to grasp her spirit. I’m not going to do that right now.

I have issues with what happened in season four finale. I mean – Molly, of course. Mycroft says Eurus and Jim Moriarty met five years ago, so before Moriarty revealed himself to Sherlock. They both planned the entire game for Sherlock. Does that mean Sherlock never really won with him? Does that mean Moriarty let him use Molly to “win”? Since she was included in Eurus’ plan, we can safely assume Jim knew about Molly back then. At first, when I saw Moriarty saying We both know that’s not quite true [that you don’t have a heart] in many Sherlolly fanvids, I was like naaaaah. He didn’t see her as one of the important people in Sherlock’s life, it couldn’t have been a reference to their meeting. But now… how deeply back in time was Eurus’ plan allocated? Which events did she predict?

Or maybe I’m missing something? Any thoughts on this?

��5. Sherlock Evergreen

I once came across a post here, about how BBC Sherlock is literature, about sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s struggle with his own genius character. He was over with him, didn’t feel like writing any more of his stories so he killed him, but fans demanded more. He kept writing, although he hated it from the bottom of his heart. Season four, so often considered as the worst of all of them, is a way of saying that Sherlock character is, unfortunately, invincible. Immortal. He will live forever. We can’t kill him, no one can. Even his creator couldn’t have done it.

In season four, Sherlock goes back to the start. He is a clean slate again. He went through the entire process of change – became a good Sherlock, considerate of other people’s feelings and emotions, appreciative, supportive, loving, ready to mend what he broke. That interpretation, although very good, kind of killed my Sherlolly spirit. But I guess every interpretation like this would do it. If we stop treating characters like real human being, we’re left with what they really are – a construct, tools, puppets in the author’s hands.

Based on this, I think we’re safe to say there will never be a fifth season of BBC Sherlock (gosh, how I wish I was wrong!). Why? Because, despite what Moffat said in an interview once (after season three finale he said they’ve plotted out the entire fourth and fifth season – liar, liar, pants on fire!), season four had the perfect ending. As mentioned above, Sherlock became a good man and Mary Watson summed up what Sherlock is all about: two man, a genius junkie and a former soldier, who solve the weirdest, the toughest of cases together in flat on 221B Baker Street. Now, Sherlock is ready to be taken over by other artists who may find a new way to tell his story (though, I don’t think so) all over again.

And that’s a big, big shame… I think I speak for at least most of Sherlollians when I say we’d like to see Sherlock and Molly’s first encounter after the call. The finale really closed all the story arcs and subplots, except for this one. I mean, c’mon. You don’t have to be a Sherlollian to be annoyed by this – just remember that it was such a “biggie” that Moffat was asked about this in an interview. And this may be another reason as to why we won’t ever get a fifth season of Sherlock – because that would mean taking a side. And none of the creators will do it because Sherlock cannot be an open-and-shut case. It has to be like literature: big, open, twisted, unclear and full of room for interpretation. As long as there’s no certain explanation – yes, Sherlock loves Molly, no, Sherlock is gay – we create more and more content out of the need of closure. Thanks to the room for interpretation, the story lives. I mean, it’s been four years since The Final Problem airing and here I am, discussing BBC Sherlock still.

 Coming back to Sherlolly… don’t worry. Though I’m still not sure that we can harvest any hard evidence for Sherlock’s feelings for Molly (other than friendship and respect), I’m still a Sherlollian. There two new fics waiting for me to pull myself together and write them. I think it’s good to have doubts – it means my brain hasn’t rotten yet and I can still be critical, I’m able of having my own opinions.

 Thank you if you managed to read it all! I’d love to discuss if you have any conclusions. If not, that’s fine, too. I just needed it get it out of my system.

PS WHY DOES MY POSTS IN ENGLISH SOUND SO SOPHISTICATED IN MY HEAD BUT WHEN I PUT THEM IN WRITING, THEY’RE SO SHITTY?!

#bbc sherlock #sherlock #sherlock holmes #john watson #irene adler #molly hooper #sherlolly #molly x sherlock #thoughts #eurus holmes

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "Eda's Requiem" from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

...

...

...HOW IS SEASON TWO SO GOOD?! WE'VE HAD SEVEN EPISODES SO FAR, AND EACH ONE OF THEM WAS A HIT!

Take "Eda's Requiem," for example. It's yet another episode where I have NOTHING bad to say about it! That's two weeks in a row where that happened! HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!

HOW!

HOW!

...But anyways, "Eda's Requiem." It's another fantastic episode, and I'm about to dive into explaining how and why. Just keep in mind, it's gonna require spoilers to do so, so be wary of that as you keep reading.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Eda’s Checklist and Grom Photo: Within the first second, "Eda's Requiem" perfectly sets up Eda's central conflict in the episode. Despite spending years being on her own and looking after herself, she now has two kids that she's constantly caring over. Eda can try all she wants to say that she doesn't care, and I bet she has in the past. But given the hard work she's putting into getting King and Luz what they need and having a grom photo of the three of them together pinned in her mirror, it's pretty clear that those two knuckleheads wormed their way into her heart and are never getting out.

Eda’s Worried About King and Luz Leaving: And thus, that's precisely why something like this bothers her so much. Eda inadvertently adopted two rambunctious rapscallions (Yeah, I know. I'll get to it), so the idea of them not being around her anymore is going to be terrifying. That is a situation most parents, especially mothers, can identify with. It’s called empty nest syndrome and it proves just how much Eda loves Luz and King that she can't stand the thought of her babies leaving the nest. It's yet another well-made, wholesome, found-family moment that this series continues to excel at each week, making me extra excited for more like it to come...while also readying myself for heartbreak when one of them eventually does leave Eda.

Eda and Raine’s Music: Ok, I don't know the exact instruments that were played during this episode, but I also don't care because it was all (for lack of a better term) music to my ears. Every time Eda and Raine played resulted in melodies that are so beautiful and filled with so much emotion and feeling that I'm honestly tempted to listen to them again, multiple times, on repeat. Shows rarely do that for me, as background music doesn't always draw me in as much as lyrical songs do. Usually, it takes something so extraordinarily composed to give me the desire to listen again, and that's the case here. So huge congrats to Brad Breek for doing so. Seriously, the man's been killing it this season.

Eda’s Bard Magic Causing Things to Turn to Ash: This was assuredly a surprise side-effect of the curse. The fact that Eda can sort of do magic at all was its own shock. To then reveal that a specific type can do dangerous things to people and environments is...Well, it definitely brings up its own fair share of questions. Like, how can she do this? Will she do it again, one day? And are there other types of spells that can be negatively affected by Eda's curse? We don't get answers for any of these questions, and odds are, we never will. But that's alright with me. Because if a show makes me consider these many possibilities after a brief amount of time, it is a show that has to be doing something right. Even if I don't get the answers I want, the fact that it caused such a reaction makes me less willing to care.

Raine Whispers: Hey, would you look at that. Another fun, interesting, and compelling character added to the list of this shows' other fun, interesting, and compelling characters...how is this series so good at this!?

Joking aside, Raine's pretty good. I like Raine. They could have been this super serious leader who lost all their fun after years apart from Eda, but I'm glad that they're not. There are moments when Raine takes their job as leader of the BATs seriously, as one would, but I still prefer the fact that they kept a jovial nature despite how grim their situation is. It's an admirable trait to have, and it avoids the trope of making leader characters boring just because they're the ones who have to take things seriously.

Oh, and also, Raine's Disney's first non-binary character who has a stake in the plot. This is a tremendous deal, as you don't usually see that many non-binary characters in children's animation, let alone ones that hold importance to the story. So it's pretty cool for the writers to feature Raine, as it helps several kids feel as though they're finally seen and respected. And the fact that Disney of all companies gave the thumbs up is even more impressive. I hear people say that Dana Terrace should have pitched The Owl House to more progressive networks to avoid pushback, and while I absolutely see your point, I'll have to respectfully disagree. Disney is the largest entertainment industry of all time, so if you want to make LGBTQA+ representation normalized, you gotta stop making splashes and start making waves. Because if the same company that made three racist cats in the span of a few years manages to say that being gay is a-ok, then you know there's something wrong with you. Yes, Disney ended up screwing over the show anyway. But for that one moment, when kids felt pride after seeing a character like Raine, then, in the end, it's kind of worth it.

Also, if you're still having issues with more representation like this popping up in kids' shows, then allow me to redirect you to the complaint department.

...I made that post earlier today for this bit. YOU HAVE BETTER APPRECIATED IT!

Day of Unity is meant to be a Secret: At least, that's what I got when Raine stumbled over their own words. So if it's true, then I wonder why? Why does Belos want to keep the most critical change in the Boiling Isles a secret? Does he want to make it a surprise for his grateful subjects, or does he not want to spread worry and fear amongst the wild witches? It has to be something big if he doesn't want his followers to even say the words "Day of Unity." Whatever reason he has, we most likely won't know until the future. A future that I grow more and more afraid of each week.

Hooty Eating Echo Mouse: My heart sank in that brief moment when I thought that Hooty intensely screwed Luz over in getting back home. But looking back...it is pretty funny.

Just the suddenness of Hooty eating the poor creature that Luz desperately tried to earn its trust is priceless in how shocking it was. And also, Luz's expression.

That was the look of a young girl who immediately shoved her hand down an owl demon's throat the second the scene cut away. The Owl House may not always be a hit in the comedy department, but scenes like this prove that when it's funny, it is hilarious.

Luz and King Entering the Grand Prix: Not much to discuss here. It's just a cute subplot that adds frivolity to the intensity of what's going on through Eda and Raine's story. But I will say that I love how both stories occasionally interconnect with each other through the many moments of Eda being worried about King wanting to leave to find his father and avoiding any conversation about it. It helps both plotlines feel like they belong together, without being something like "Through the Looking Glass Ruins," whereas both stories could have been in their own episode. Which is neat.

How Bard Magic Works: I really love how this season is diving into how the other magic types work. More specifically, the ones that seem a little vague. I mean, stuff like healing, potions, and plants are easy to figure out, but what does it mean when a witch's talents are construction, beast keeping, and bard magic? We've been getting a lot of clearing up lately, with bard magic looking like a witch can control their environments and enemies through the power of music. Which is fair. Music is pretty powerful in the metaphorical sense, and I actually love that it's powerful in the literal sense when in the Boiling Isles.

The BATs: Not much to comment on these three either. The BATs have the potential to have an entertaining dynamic, but they do very little in this episode that I can't say much other than I hope they make a return in the future. But I will make this claim: Amber is my favorite. I'm sorry, but her screaming "You're not our mom!" to then go, "Bye, mommy Eda" is just too precious for me not to love.

I'm a simple man who falls for cute s**t. Leave me alone.

Raeda (RainexEda): Well, EdaxCamila, you were a fun crack ship while it lasted, but I'm afraid that this is now goodbye. The current canon has provided an incredibly adorable and believable relationship that I would be a monster not to support with my whole bi-heart. It's been real.

Ok, back in serious mode: I love these two together. Eda and Raine are grown-ups, and they still act all flustered near each other as if they were still Luz and Amity's age. It's definitive proof that you're never too old to get flustered near a crush, and seeing them interact adds a sense of wholesomeness when seeing them together as well as heartbreak when they're forced apart. Plus, we get confirmation that Eda's LGBTQA+! Whether she's bi, pan, or whatever, now that we know Eda can catch feelings for someone like Raine, it's yet another case that The Owl House is the most important series to the community. Because having the main character be queer is fantastic in its own right. But having the same apply to the motherly mentor figure? That's is an extra bit of normalization that anybody would be willing to appreciate.

Unique Guard Designs: Not many fans are going to appreciate this, primarily compared to everything else this episode does perfectly. For me, I actually like that you see a few Coven Guards looking differently from the others, as it helps make them less like clones and makes it seem like anybody of any body type could be a part of the coven.

Gus Looking Uninterested when Presenting Grand Prix with his Dad: I am positive that you didn't notice this (I didn't even notice it until someone else pointed it out), but there's something to dissect here. It hints that perhaps Gus isn't as interested in his father's field of work as one might think. If he did, he would look a lot less bored and much more excited to be helping Perry Porter present the race. It could just be the race itself, but judging from Gus' expression, it really seems like the kid would prefer to be anywhere but there. And why would he have that reaction to a race that his best friend is competing in? To me, this seems like an inkling of what Gus' relationship with Perry could be, which may not actually get time to shine, what with how little wiggle room the series has now (Thanks Disney). Regardless, it is interesting to notice, and it will certainly have fans thinking for a while.

Bump Being Smug of Luz Being in the Lead: That's it. Principal Bump looking smug as his human student is beating the students of his rivals is yet another moment that proves why Bump is easily the best cartoon principal.

Darius: First of all, this guy is f**king fabulous, and I love him. *Snaps*

Second, he is definitive proof that you do NOT want to f**k around with Coven Leaders. Lilith may have had her intimidating moments, but none of them compare to the guy who can turn himself into an abomination monster where only magic that hasn't existed before can take him down. It's genuinely scary to see Darius lose control, and I fear for the day when Luz inevitably ends up in his crosshairs.

With that said, Darius' still a ton of fun! He may be threatening, but he's just a flamboyant guy that hates the idea of getting his outfit the tiniest bit dirty. And I love that. I love that these Coven Heads have actual personalities instead of being generically evil. I consider it preferable to make villains entertaining rather than blatantly scary as I'll remember the personalities first and the villainous acts last.

Eberwolf: But this one's my favorite. I told you: I'm a simple man who gets easily swayed by cute s**t. And Eber? I mean, just look at her:

She's just a cute widdle rascal! I just want to pinch her cheeks, give her a belly rub, and--

...Eberwolf is not a cute widdle rascal. She is a strong, independent woman, and I will respect her as such from this moment forward...lest I feel her wrath.

That is all. Let's move on.

Eda and Raine Attempting a Final Performance: This was the best scene of the episode. It looked gorgeous, it shows the dedication Eda and Raine have for stopping Belos, and it says so much through so little. Go back and look at how Eda and Raine regard one another when performing Eda's requiem. Through their expressions and a few short words, you know they understand that if they complete the song/spell, they probably won't make it in the end. And yet, they don't care. They both know bad stuff will happen if Belos wins, so Eda and Raine put everything to the side, both their feelings for one another and the people they leave behind if it means putting an end to a tyrant. That level of dedication...Words can't fully describe how powerful that is.

Raine Sacrificing Themselves Instead: But in the end, Raine can't do it. Not when they know the life that Eda has and the people she'll be leaving behind. It's an extra bit of nobleness to the character seeing that Raine refuses to take away a woman from two kids who need her the most. A tad bit selfish, sure, knowing what Belos has planned. But when it comes to love, the romantic, familial, or platonic, the best decisions aren't always the logical ones.

Eda Crying: Luz crying tears me up, but seeing Eda cry is a whole different level of heartbreak. Like Lilith, Eda has her emotions locked up tight, with the closest she came to weeping were those two tears in "Young Blood, Old Souls." In "Eda's Requiem," she cries but almost quickly stops herself. As if she knows that doing so isn't going to save Raine. That is...even worse than seeing Luz break down after losing Eda. The fact that Eda refuses to give herself time to mourn losing someone she loved is tragic because crying is the most natural way of showing grief. Turning that off isn't healthy, and seeing her do it with little resistance is sad to me. It's sad to see a character I love can easily shut off all emotions despite how badly she may want to embrace them. It's one of those moments that, again, by doing so little, it shows so much.

“No one watches Crystal Balls anymore. It’s all about streaming.”: Oof. Even I felt that burn towards cable.

King’s Message: King's message was the pick-me-up I needed after the heart-wrenching sadness this episode put me through a few minutes ago. Seeing King say who he is and listing all the things he loves is nothing short of adorable. On top of that, I adore that Eda willingly recorded the whole thing. She may not want King to leave, but that doesn't mean she'll sabotage the one thing he wants. Especially not after Raine gave up everything so Eda could be with her kids. The opening scene may prove how much Eda cares about a rascal like King, but this heartwarmingly sweet moment reveals just how far she'll go to make him happy.

King’s Dad Reveal: ...ok, I'll be honest, I did not think we'd get that reveal this soon. Dumb of me to say, considering the number of times I've said that these writers don't waste time getting to the s**t, I know. But still, it's pretty cool knowing that King's dad is alive and well, added with the fact that we've got a fair idea of what he looks like. At this point, it's only a matter of time before we see him figure out where the Clawthorne residence is and witness the tear-jerking moments that will follow.

King Changing his Name to King Clawthorne: Not the official adoption I was expecting Eda to make...but DANG IT, is it still diabetes-inducing levels of sweetness!

Personally, I feel like the main reason why Eda breaks down this time is not only because she shouldn't be worried about King leaving her life, but also because Raine's sacrifice wasn't in vain. Her kids really do need Eda because no matter how far apart they'll be, she will always be a part of their life...dang it, I'm going to cry too!

What those Coven patches really do: Well...that was horrifying to see.

...Writers, if you kill off the best non-binary character in animation (it's a short list, I know), we are going to have PROBLEMS!

IN CONCLUSION

"Eda's Requiem" is--surprise surprise--another A+. The emotions hit hard, the representation hits harder, Raine is a fantastic addition to the cast, and it was all surprisingly cute at times. Season Two is currently on a hot streak, constantly winning with every episode that's come out so far. When a bad episode does eventually show up (IT'S GONNA HAPPEN!), I'll be sure to sing my requiem then. For now, I'm just gonna enjoy the ride.

#the owl house #the owl house season 2 #the owl house reviews #eda clawthorne #raine whispers #raeda #king of demons #toh darius #toh eberwolf #what i thought about

[elizabethrobertajones]

Did Bobo really create the Wayward Sisters? If so, why weren't Jack and especially Cas included in that episode? That's my biggest issue with that pilot honestly, I mean, the fact that the show abandoned Claire and Cas' bond after season 10 and gave that storyline to Salmondean. Her bond with Cas is more interesting because of their connection to the Novaks. I also think that Claire and Jack would've made a more engaging dynamic and spin off together, I think they're strong characters & actors

Hi there!

Bobo isn’t the “creator” of Wayward so much as it can even have one, as it was a very organic idea, which even involved a healthy amount of fandom input. The original campaign in season 10 was for Wayward Daughters, and the idea picked up so much steam the altered title for, I guess, a mix of copyright and thematic relevance was the Sisters one. I’d say 10x08 was the real genesis of it as something that could be really solid. Once Kim and Briana were put together the chemistry and star power they could have had together was really meteoric as far as our small SPN world was concerned. Phil Sgriccia directed 9x13 and wrote 10x08 and was more of the parent of Wayward than any specific writer in that sense. Jody and Claire were pretty much common property of the show by that point. Claire was really introduced again in relation to plotlines and questions about Cas and less to do with them really going out of their way to re-launch her. I think they’d have been much cornier about it from the start and while YA protagonist diary writing her way through the end of Wayward Sisters was cute, it’s the sort of cutesy that really has to be earned. If she STARTED that way, like maybe me and 3 friends would be stanning her and everyone else would be revolted :P

(I am a YA fantasy novel author, but I do think everyone should make room in their hearts for this level of cheese)

In any case, Bobo just threw his hat into an already crowded ring with Alex, but obviously loving the characters and having his own personal wayward child to contribute did help elevate him to the prospective showrunner seat, but also all the other writers who’d written these characters except Dabb had left at that point. If Bobo was going to shepherd them through to their new show, he’d be the legacy writer, even though he was a new baby writer in the season Donna was introduced... Attrition aside, he did genuinely write them very well, loved their stories and was great with writing Jody when he could get her, so he would also have been a good choice even if all the others were left still... 

But anyway. Season 10′s subplot for Cas was about Claire and learning some stuff about himself along the way, but she was used very much for his personal development and for Dean as well, being a mini Dean herself in a season where he had lost a lot of his sense of self. It’s a total accident of scheduling but Angel Heart (10x20) being the last episode before 10x22 is a nice touch in that regard. And while Cas tried really hard with Claire and awoke his inner Dad side so that he’d be more prepared for fatherhood next time, it was pretty insurmountable between them to have anything more than a bittersweet relationship where the best he could do was make up with her and see her somewhere safe. The fact of him looking like her actual dead father is horrendous the more you think about it and while she managed to see him for who he was instead of a horrible monster, that’s more than enough trauma to inflict on an already traumatised girl for the sake of helping Cas’s manpain and tidying up the sticky question of Jimmy and Cas’s right to the vessel. 

Angel Heart very specifically ends with TFW mailing Claire to Jody because they know she’s already good with Alex in a genuine way and can handle these sort of issues and has done it before. And also because she can be a guardian who will not constantly remind Claire that her father is dead but something is walking around wearing a perfect reconstruction of his face. Carver era did a few things here and there with bodily autonomy and the problem of angel and demon vessels, but it was also really hit and miss. They’d get random waves of feeling guilty about it but then by necessity go back to stabbing angels in their still-living vessels an episode later. Claire was a way to address at the very least that whatever Cas was being put through was only a punishment on Cas and not on Jimmy as well, which is probably why we got such sappy Heaven scenes. We NEEDED to be shown he was in Heaven and largely okay with what was going on so that the show could justify using Cas at all as a character without breaking the code of ethics they tried to make their own characters adhere to. Aside from that it also gave Cas a side plot for when he wasn’t needed in the main plot, and any emotional connection to anything that wasn’t Sam and Dean.

Anyway 10x20 caused this huge fandom high which was followed by one of the lowest lows of the fandom immediately after, and both centred on female characters (in fact, now we know, 2 lesbians even! Though I’d wonder if, The Gay Agenda aside, Bobo spite-wrote that specifically because of the roots of Wayward) and I think that galvanised the whole movement of fans and hopefully some self-reflection in the show. They DID start making an effort in season 11, which shows some of the early signs of better inclusion but also backtracking or edging nervously away from the more intense Carver era stuff. Not just because Dean didn’t have the Mark any more but in general it was like someone had opened a window and let in some fresh air... Even before Carver bailed somewhere around the midseason to go do a different show and Dabb started to step up. 

All this to say that the Wayward stuff was always about the female characters and making up for the past sins of the show. It’s even a riff on the “wayward son” line which obviously centres around male protagonists and their journey. Claire stumbled into being a part of it in the lucky way of being in the right place and time, but the journey had already started even in the season 10 momentum with earlier work and it was that which suddenly made the prospect that Jody had two young women living with her now seem like a starter for the next generation of the show as it was a mirrored format to season 1 in a way, if you took Alex and Claire as the new Sam and Dean. It was exciting but people flipped out after Angel Heart because stuff had been bubbling since season 9 and earlier in season 10, so this was just pouring more candy into an already visibly full bowl of potential tasty gems. It made a possibility seem real that hadn’t before because we already had Kim bitterly complaining that the CW refused to hear the case for a Jody spin off because she was too old. The next best thing was a Jody spin off where she was the Gandalf to some CW age appropriate characters.

(the CW is and always has been garbage)

Anyway in season 13 Jack was introduced as a Claire 2.0 but as a male character with staying power for that reason, but he was filling the space she left for Cas. He couldn’t be a father to her and neither really wanted that set up anyway. But thematically it had created the possibility of Dadstiel and the space he had in his heart for that. Since the show was in its waning years they would be looking for endgame and handing Cas an easy win with a son he could unconditionally love who would love him back unconditionally absolutely filled that gap. It was a non SamnDean thing that Cas could have for himself outside of whatever happened with them. Not sure the memo came back that he was supposed to have mORE than that but oh well it’s not real if you don’t watch it :))) But yeah Jack was always going to be linked to Cas’s endgame, he wasn’t a free-floating character such as Jody who could go where she wanted and do as she pleased. He was main story relevant from start to finish and tied inexorably to another main character’s fate. Because the show wouldn’t do that with its female characters they could be bundled into spin offs but in practical terms Jack was both never what the Wayward as envisioned by fans or writers was about, nor would he have been free to go. 

Since it would have been about centering the stories of people overlooked by the main story, Claire a case in point that she had her life ruined in season 4 and it was a footnote until season ten, and then metaphorically more the concept of having queer and non-white characters in the mix of main characters, it would have represented a future of the story where the main show was unable to tread. Probably because of the CW. Also inherent biases in the writers. Bad cocktail. Jack is both too white and too male to fit the brief to ever leave SPN, and not only that but he is so as a precise mirror to the main white male characters, being passably any one of their sons if you squint, and meant to be instantly instinctively read as such... he was one of the safest bets of representing the show as the network wanted to imagine its target demographic.

So I really don’t think that Jack has any place being in a spin off of the show unless you want more of the same. They tried to give us something different and the CW didn’t like it because it wasn’t more of the same. Ironically a Jack spin off, with or without Claire, would have more chance of being greenlit and more chance of success. But the spin off they put their heart behind was Wayward Sisters as it was. And I think it was absolutely correct that never mind leaving Jack out of it after his work was done in the lead up episode to help set the table, but honestly they could have cut all the middle scenes of Sam and Dean wandering in the woods and gained precious seconds with the girls and still had a functioning story with those guys. It was like some cowardly missive was sent that the show couldn’t actually go more than 10 minutes without showing a flesh and blood Winchester or the whole thing would spontaneously sizzle out of syndication and the money tree would wither on the spot. And in the mean time, we could have been having Banter with the girls. Or Claire and Kaia holding hands some more. The good stuff :P 

[plounce]

do u have any reccomendations for how to read only comics involving rictor and shatterstar?? i used to be into marvel comics so i am immune to the usual comic shenanigans but i would like to learn more about these boys

here is a guide to reading xmen comics for rictor and shatterstar, my favorite canon comics couple! they were the first on-panel gay kiss in a marvel comic! they’re very special to me!

OKAY SO... ok. for anyone else using this, here’s a standard disclaimer that obviously there’s gonna be a lot in these that just absolutely sucks because 1. the 90s, 2. comics are an extremely cishet white male dominated industry. i do not vouch for everything written in these comics, but i think the gaycoding that eventually gets canonized is worth wading through a lot of stupid bullshit and very ugly art.

quick backstory on these two: rictor is a mexican teenager who was kidnapped by an anti-mutant terrorist group and was rescued by x-factor (the original 5). he hung around their auxiliary teen group the x-terminators for most of x-factor, being a delightful little punk (wearing a sleeveless leather vest a lot of the time!) and hanging out with boom-boom (who i love) and then got put into the new mutants for a very short time (where he had a thing with rahne/wolfsbane), before it was dissolved and transformed into x-force when rob liefeld took over the title. rictor hates team leader 90sdude cable because he thinks cable killed his dad in front of him. he tends to be the snarky asshole on the team.

the first part of this article has a lot of little rictor moments i’m not covering here. if you want the full rictor experience, check out x-factor (1986) and !x-terminators! x-factor starts very slowly but it picks up and improves when the simonsons take the helm.

rictor left the team. shatterstar was introduced by liefeld - he’s an Emotionless Warrior Guy Who Loves To Fight from mojoworld (a planet run by a despot who produces tv. it’s Commentary), where he was forced to be a gladiator from birth and doesn’t know a lot of earth customs and doesn’t have emotions (or rather, he represses them). 

x-force (1991) feel free to read through all of it, but in case you just want to skip to these two, all of these issues have one or two good little Moments - just do some skimming. i tend to focus more on rictor than star in this era because star is made more interesting than Emotionless Warrior Guy by butting up against rictor:

13-16 (rictor rejoins his old new mutants friends)

19, 21-26 (the first phase of their relationship where they don’t really get along. in one of these issues rictor stares at star’s ass. big moment of star being autism-coded in here too)

29-30 (rictor drives shatterstar around and they seem to get along better, you get to learn a bit about star’s past, adam-x the x-treme is there)

32-33 (just some little moments of them hanging out, a couple good rictor lines)

34 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor backstory issue! AND this has the first big Subtext moment: shatterstar reveals he learned spanish from tv so he and rictor can have “conversations of a highly -- personal nature” HELLO?)

35 (some little moments where you can see star and rictor are now Friends and star is affected by that friendship)

39-40 (more good friendship - rictor asks if star has been watching dating shows and they just seem close. rictor also has gotten a haircut! we learn shatterstar’s mojoworld designation! they ride some motorcycles!)

43 (VERY IMPORTANT - the two go to a club. rictor tells star he’s a virgin then asks him if he has a dick. i am not kidding this literally happens. star learns what sexual attraction feels like and says ‘i don’t know what emotions im supposed to attach to that’, and rictor tells him he’ll help him learn.)

44 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor leaves the team because he doesn’t want to have the team communicate telepathically (VERY interesting for a character who is eventually revealed to have been a closeted gay man). shatterstar begs him not to leave - “you’re my best and only friend.” rictor tells him that if he ever needs him, he’ll come back.)

cable (1993) #22 (follows up directly on rictor leaving the team - star accompanies rictor to the airport and has a lot of Feelings and has great hair. “julio. one last time. please, change your mind. what am i going to do without you?” oh so you’re dependent on your best friend who you’re in love with? oh?)

45, 47-48 (star’s weird biology, star brings up rictor as his emotional touchstone in a situation where he isn’t relevant at all. also, a plotline where tabby gets treated terribly by her friends and the narrative!)

49 (VERY IMPORTANT - star wanders around at night wondering why rictor hasn’t contacted him yet. he goes to the club he and rictor went to in #43 and turns down a girl who hits on him. he thinks “i miss julio...” (in an earlier issue, rictor tells cable not to call him by his first name - “only my mom calls me that”), then beats up some homophobes in an alley. I AM NOT KIDDING.)

51-52 (51 has more weird star biology. 52 has two pages of star and james talking that is a nice look at star’s developing emotional state - the rest of 52 is a fight with one of marvel’s extremely fatphobic villains, just a warning to skip the rest of it. although the letter page of 52 has someone go HEY ARE RICTOR AND SHATTERSTAR IN LOVE? thank you roeland looman from the netherlands)

54-56 (the start of shatterstar’s weird bad benjamin russell backstory that is quickly forgotten, disregarded, and uncared about by everybody. BUT in 54, there is some extremely loud subtext where star’s feelings for rictor are explicitly compared to a het romance subplot!)

58 (star is very chill and flamboyant for like two pages, it’s great)

59-61 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor returns because star Needs him in the midst of his identity crisis!! it’s so joyful and sweet for them both, and the subtext is so LOUD here - there’s just. so much going on, i won’t describe it all, but it’s very good content and their emotionally intimate relationship is very apparent - really excellent gaycoding. the weird shatterstar backstory wraps up circuitously and to no great effect, but the art in the last issue is very nice, and rictor’s plain and uncomplicated concern for star is great.)

63-65 (some little moments - shatterstar and rictor time travel and beat up some nazis, star has a lovely conversation with siryn,)

x-force/cable ‘97 (the team goes to asgard! the important thing is that star says some goofy “ah... warriors...” things, and then rictor teases star for liking delivery pizza. it’s very charming)

67 (they hang out with tabby in a van. shatterstar has pigtails!)

70 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor and shatterstar exit the team together to go take down rictor’s crime family in mexico! they seem very devoted to each other. shatterstar’s hair is all the way down!)

post leaving x-force:

76 (VERY IMPORTANT - ricstar return for one issue - rictor gets held captive to force shatterstar to fight domino!)

x-force annual 1999 (VERY IMPORTANT - ricstar get their own story about what they’re doing in mexico! shatterstar has an ugly little goatee, but rictor looks great! they choose to share a room rather than sleep separately and then it kind of feels like they shared a bed! rictor has learned star’s alien language! they genuinely just seem so close and comfortable with each other, it’s incredible.) (if you’re using RTO, it’s within the rest of xforce’s issues)

they’re both in comics limbo for the first half of the 00s besides a couple random flavorless appearances. shatterstar at some point goes back to mojoworld to help with the war against mojo. then we hit peter david’s x-factor run in 2006, known as x-factor investigations (xfi). this directly follows the “house of m” event - what matters is that the vast majority of mutants have been depowered by the scarlet witch. rictor is one of them.

rictor is a main character of the team from the first issue (the series opens with him about to attempt suicide), so if you wanna read the run you can start from the beginning. x-factor is... well, there are worse-written comics. it’s an okay read, but i find PAD’s writing insufferable a lot of the time (he writes multiple man as a pretty blatant self insert, and literally every girl on the team wants to fuck him at some point or another). i read the whole thing and it’s decent comics, but you might want to skip to the ricstar.

PAD canonizes ricstar, which is great! but unfortunately: 1. he writes star as  “slutty bisexual just can’t stop wanting to fuck people besides his partner who is uncomfortable with that!”, which is biphobic and sucks hugely, especially since it feels so different from xforce original shatterstar (see this post). rictor also just seems so annoyed with him all the time, which also sucks - they’re best friends!! let rictor like his boyfriend!!

anyway. if you choose not to read all of xfi, here are the ricstar highlights:

first issue of xfi for rictor's horrible mental state after m-day

14 (jamie implies that star would be jealous of rictor hanging out with quicksilver)

43, 45, 49 (star reappears!! he’s mindcontrolled, but it gets fixed, and he and rictor have the first ever on panel gay kiss at marvel!! yaaaay!! then they talk about their relationship a little)

after issue #50 it changes the numbering, so if you’re using RCO youll have to go to xfactor (1986) #200 to continue

200 (SHATTERSTAR FIGHTS THE THING!)

continue to read between here for star apparently being unable to stop kissing people. sigh. star sleeps with adult layla, which... sigh. whatever

207-208 (rictor and shatterstar semi-resolve the stupid biphobic plotline, resolve to work on their relationship, rahne discovers them (she and rictor had been sleeping together earlier in xfi), rahne is pregnant and homophobic, rahne and star fight, star is a delightful bitch)

209 (shatterstar on a pirate ship. that's it)

210 (rictor confirms that he is gay and it wasn’t legit when he’s been with women. there’s a moment where it's like "oh star makes rictor laugh" which is epic)

211-212 (star is said to be frustrated about rictor and rahne, rahne’s baby’s actual dad is revealed)

213 (rictor and rahne mostly resolve their shit)

216 (star and monet hang out, star thinks monet tells him to pee on rictor, spiderman is there)

217 (there’s a joke about the longstanding theory that longshot and star are related, monet is revealed as muslim in a very dumb way)

220 (star and rahne have a pretty nice conversation about their relationships to rictor and rahne’s faith. rictor does an offscreen internalized homophobia)

221 (star and rahne continue to hang out but it’s not as good as the previous issue.)

222 (oh my god, rictor cares about shatterstar being hurt! rahne owns up to how she kind of treated rictor like shit!)

pop over to avengers: the children’s crusade (a young avengers miniseries with good ol’ billy/teddy and i like it! but if you don’t want to read the whole thing - rictor and shatterstar appear in #6, and rictor is the first mutant to be repowered! they’re more tender with each other over their five page appearance than they are in xfi, so it’s a balm)

225-226 (PAD decides the first thing rictor does with his powers is be a scab [DEEP SIGH], rictor and shatterstar discuss rictor getting his powers back, the biphobic plotline is resolved again kind of in a very PAD-y way)

235-236 (shatterstar gets to be the main character of a mini arc. fights a mojo guy)

238 (ricstar go with rahne to help her find her son)

242 (they find her son. not as important imo)

248 (oh my god... they joke together :) they like being around each other :) also shatterstar goodboy moment. then in 249 rictor’s life is spared bc of shatterstar’s goodboy moment)

259 (SHATTERSTAR’S CRAZY CONVOLUTED BACKSTORY THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS TO HIS CHARACTER! YAHOO! and star has a cute little bob)

after xfi wraps up, there’s a couple years of limbo before they appear in secret warriors (2017) #2-3 (end of #2 and most of #3), which is a big crossover event or something. i don’t know, it’s an inhumans comic, and as an xmen person i am contractually obligated to roll my eyes at the inhumans. ricstar both have mustaches, star doesn’t speak, and rictor has the ugliest costume ever (green tracksuit with no socks??) (tabby also has a terrible costume). it’s just more inhumans trying to be a match to the xmen and utterly failing to not look & act like total jackasses (except, of course, for kamala and moon girl). rictor’s jokes that daisy johnson should get more original powers (she also has seismic powers - rictor predates her!), and then daisy blows up the xmen’s jet. while it’s in the air. this is a very neat summary of most mutant-inhuman relations.

now we enter the current era of “on again off again” relationship limbo.

rictor appears next in iceman (2017). in #9 he states that he and star have apparently broken up offscreen! and then he hits on bobby! sina grace is a cool person but this writing decision is so... aghhh. the next issue he and bobby go out on a date and he’s immediately like “yeah i only have my eyes on star”, so it seems to be more “it’s complicated” than “we’re broken up for good.” he sticks around to help out with a mission in #10-11.

they’re on again in new mutants: dead souls, where rictor is a part of the team and he’s hilarious and has so many great lines! shatterstar also makes a couple cameos throughout and they’re all super sweet! they seem very domestic and comfortable and happy, i love their dynamic in this. my favorite shatterstar panel ever is in #6, where he is making rictor pancakes and is only wearing an apron. please ignore all the big plot things that happen at the end of this, especially everything with karma. they are stupid, dumb, and do not matter.

related to nm:ds, rictor appears in multiple man #1 as part of that team and looks very very cute. and he isn’t whitewashed like in nm:ds!

off again in the shatterstar (2018) miniseries. i have a lot of mixed feelings about this because i LOVE all the rictor stuff, the first issue codes shatterstar as autistic in a very characterful way, it doesn’t whitewash rictor for once, and the covers are GORGEOUS! but it also attempts to retcon a ton of star’s emotional backstory AND arc set out in xforce, casting a black woman as his emotionally manipulative ex. also star is a landlord (ew). my advice with this one is to treat all the flashbacks as not-really-canon since they suck.

star appears in extermination (2018) #3-4 and gets mind-controlled into trying to kill the time-displaced teen o5 (timetraveling baby cable is trying to put them back where they came from), and the art looks great and i feel really bad for him. rictor makes a follow-up cameo in uncanny x-men (2019) #9-10, where you can see that he’s at the school in order to visit shatterstar since he’s with cecelia reyes. he then goes to fight nate grey/x-man, where he gets sucked into the age of x-man pocket universe/event.

around half the xmen get trapped and brainwashed in that pocket universe where there is no love or family, merely friendship and comradery (it’s an attempt by nate grey to ‘fix’ the xmen by getting rid of all the soap opera stuff - it’s a bit meta wrt how xmen are the soap opera superheroes). there are a couple different titles for this event: rictor appears in age of x-man: x-tremists #4-5. people have mixed feelings about this title due to the gay characters (northstar and iceman) enforcing no-romance laws that very intentionally parallel anti-gay laws from real life, but rictor is just chilling and running an illegal romance movies theatre, and then he gets drunk and then starts a riot and he’s just delightful in this.

everyone outside of the pocket universe thinks everyone who disappeared was killed. shatterstar is part of the team in x-force (2019) (there are two 2019 x-forces: this is vol 5, written by ed brisson) who are trying to track down young cable (baby cable, or “bable”), who killed older cable, who formed good old 90s xforce. boom-boom is the best part of this entire run, hands down. the art is expressive and interesting but i Hate how they draw warpath (the one time he’s free from comic book limbo!). shatterstar is in full “i only like fighting please let me fight i am a difficult asshole” mode, and talks about grieving rictor in #7 and #10. this is never really resolved since age of x-man is thrown over for hoxpox (BIG status quo changes & current era of xmen comics), but aside from my little ricstar heart i can’t really mind.

rictor is currently appearing as part of the team in excalibur (2019), and has been very... cozy... with apocalypse. at the time of writing (halloween 2020), it’s very heavily ambiguous what exactly their relationship is besides “intense” and i still have no clue what to think about it. he and star have been stated by the writer to be exes, but i also know tini howard is a ricstar fan so im holding out for good things! and it’s cool that rictor is getting a ton of focus and a lot of powering up. i remember reading xfi #1 and being amazed at how rictor described how soul-deep his earth powers were and wanting more of that, and excalibur has that for him in spades. (i am still withholding a lot of judgment wrt rictor’s writing in excalibur until i see how things pan out)

after reading to excalibur #12, switch over to x-factor (2020). read the first three issues because i love northstar and prodigy and rachel. please ignore a couple cringe comments towards poor daken. shatterstar appears in #3, trapped on mojoworld, getting traumatized, and breaking my heart as i write this. that last data page... free my boy!!!!

after x-factor #3, read x of swords: creation. more rictor and apocalypse being Close. after that, read x-factor #4 for apocalypse being very Attached to rictor, and then rictor looking very good and freshly resurrected. then continue reading excalibur. in may, x-factor is going back to mojoworld!!

that’s all there is so far! i think within the next year there will be even more content for us, and im very eager to get to that content. i will update this post as things come out.

#ricstar #xmen #rictor #shatterstar #julio richter #chirps #anonymous

[zuzuslastbraincell]

For the salty ask game: 6, 10 and 16? <3

6: Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I never used to like kataang or maiko much, but I’m good with the former and really like the latter now.

while I’m still not a big fan of the kataang (without wanting to write an essay: ember island players ruins it for me), I’ve softened on it a lot largely just from seeing the content for it on here. they’re just honestly very sweet? I don’t know if it’ll last for practical reasons, but the idea of aang & katara offering each other hope from the beginning and until the end is just lovely. 

as for maiko, I absolutely love the strength of mai & zuko’s dynamic (platonic or romantic) just from their boiling rock interactions alone. I feel like a lot of early s3 maiko very much demonstrates that they have some communication difficulties to work through together (thinking about the beach in particular here, but also the ‘are you cold?’ scene, as well as the break-up via letter interaction, that’s the big one) and in a sense mai represents part of zuko’s ‘ideal’ life as a perfect prince that he realises that he has to break from in the first half of s3, but I’ve come around to the idea that if they spent some time working through their communication issues they could really have something lovely? I do also think mai deserves a short break from the stifling culture of nobility/time to explore herself first, but after that? totally could work. like, i’m personally really attached to the gay zuko headcanon and always have been but a lot recent mutuals are maiko shippers and i’ve become very attached to maiko as well because of them (in parallel universes of course).

16: If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

so many things....

1. less racist, more sensitive worldbuilding. crucially better south asian rep, clear south asian rep. this also means including removing the caricature of guru pathik and changing the design of combustion man (and p’li) not to include a reference to shiva. the show’s philosophies and vocabulary owes so much to south asian culture and the lack of representation in that aspect alone is shocking.

2. references to the fact that there are some air nomad survivors / descendents in hiding in various and that being a late s2 / s3 subplot. (maybe aang is still the last airbender tho? but certainly his culture won’t die with him). the culture isn’t perfectly preserved / has changed with time and enduring hardships, some things have been lost, but there are still survivors clinging on, proud. maybe it’s this community that helps with him the avatar state, not a random guru? or they could help him with his s3e1 dilemma about ‘blending in’, as many of them have discarded certain aspects of appearance in order to hide? i feel like this could add so much to aang’s arc in the latter half of the show.

3. better writing of the white lotus, with the white lotus as a international resistance org that operates in all nations, that uses old man’s pai sho club as a front. they’re introduced as opposing the dai li in ba sing se, as trying to organise resistance in secret, have ties to some local revolutionary/radical factions as they have a long standing rivalry with the dai li (& part of the reason the dai li side with azula is to crush the white lotus and resistance to their reign). iroh is not grand lotus but merely gets recruited in s2, as part of a redemption arc.

4. a subtle iroh redemption arc where iroh realises he cannot simply be passive and perhaps let the treasonous thought ”hm, maybe it would have been better if the avatar fought sozin” cross his mind - he needs to take a more active role in opposing the fire nation, and he joins the white lotus. i think he also needs to reckon quite specifically with the cost of the siege of ba sing se, he needs to make amends to those hurt from it on both sides - be confronted by fire nation defectors who left after the siege because why were their deaths less important that his son’s? as well as encounter how the siege left scars on the lower ring, in a less visible way (untrained lower ring residents formed resistance militia and generally died in huge numbers; plague and starvation greatly affected the lower ring, etc.). no iroh as a moral authority here - he’s morally grey trying to become good. also he doesn’t stick around in ba sing se, he realises the jasmine dragon, as lovely as it is, isn’t true redemption either, and at the end of the series he stays in the fire nation.

5. leading into point 3 (and 4): in s3 the gaang encounters and works with grassroots underground resistance in the fire nation. i think this is a better message than ‘oh the fire nation is a soceity ridden by class division that exploits its poorer / less privileged people and its own environment as long as it doesn’t affect the elite, and turns even its most privileged children into traumatised child soldiers and is indirectly hurt by its own colonialism and imperialistic culture, and that’s deeply sad’ - i think a better message is ‘the fire nation is a society with all those problems and you can do something about it. you can stand up. even though that’s scary.’ this resistance group is around for day of black sun (in fact they’re vital to it) and then you see a key member in boiling rock too.

6. no combustion man. honestly? weak writing. would much prefer zuko attempting to ‘stealthily’ track the gaang on the false premise of a ‘welcome home tour’ where he slips out under night to try and chase them down - this would mostly be alluded to in a few scenes. i also think this would get zuko to realise how much the fire nation itself has been hurt from war. i think the main early s3 plot points e.g. the beach episode still happens, as does the war meeting. i feel like zuko would need extra firepower to be a decent s3 threat - maybe he takes mai and ty lee with him? zuko ultimate lesbian ally takes bored lesbians from the palace for a knife throwing chi blocking field trip kjfshdj i’m joking. but seriously we could also have a combustion bender on board as well as a potential new character (i’m imagining someone like a younger p’li if i’m honest, same age range as zuko), as long as they have a character beyond being a scary assassin. maybe they defect early to the resistance group before the day of black sun, tell zuko they should too (but zuko doesn’t listen)? that’d be rad.

7. the existence of grassroots resistance would basically allow for the series to end with zuko being offerred the crown, but deciding to give it up / end the royal line. rather than a power vacuum, or iroh, the existance of resistance means there are clearly people (i.e. adults) who can fill that space. maybe this is a bit optimistic of me but i would just love to set up a scenario where zuko doesn’t become a boy-king of an imperialist nation and where absolute monarchy doesn’t continue, where there’s a clear shift in system. i understand the narrative power of zuko acknowledges he has inherited wealth and power that has been gained through exploitation and imperialism, and dedicating his whole life to undoing the damage his family has done, but i think he can do this without being the fire lord? in fact not being the fire lord is a good first step. zuko finds another way of doing exactly this.

8. talked about this a lot recently but better toph s3 representation & greater ties to the earth kingdom. also, i’d just appreciate a lot more flavour from the earth kingdom as a whole, and more prominent characters from there?

9. okay i’m not sure there is quite honestly space in the narrative for an azula redemption clearly on screen in as much depth as zuko’s but 1. i’d like iroh not to treat her horribly, thanks, and maybe even try to reach out to her at appropriate moments, maybe we see him (comically) say a lovely warm hello during her s2 appearances, maybe we see her play pai sho with him in s3 while he’s in prison in return for some secret info he’s not actually giving her while he’s not-so-subtly suggesting she should defy her father (but it’s too little too late, he already *chose* zuko in her eyes, and perhaps he did and is only just beginning to realise that) 2. i would like some hope and optimism at the end for azula. her breakdown is truly tragic but it feels like pain for pain’s sake in a sense - i would have loved for the finale scene with zuko & ozai replaced with a scene where someone visits azula and tells them they’ll be there for her and/or they love her. perhaps iroh, perhaps zuko (though i think that one would be more complicated obviously). i would love a post-finale scene where iroh sets up a tea shop somewhere in the fire nation where we see azula out the back, finishing up wiping down/mopping the patio, and before aang goes inside to say hi to his friends, we see them bump into each other - azula bows deeply, a clear apology, and aang accepts it. then we see azula runs off to go hang out with some friends before we follow aang inside as he encounters his own friends.

basically i’d rewrite a lot of s3. i’m dearly, dearly attached to s3, especially the second half, which has some of my favourite episodes of the entire season, but i think it’s flawed.

#drowning-in-cacophony #long post #sorry this ended up being REALLY long

[nadziejastar]

Is there any evidence, or even hints, that Lea and Isa’s relationship is more than platonic?

Xaldin: Precisely. That is no ordinary rose. The room is in tatters save for one corner—because to him, at least, it is more precious than all the castle’s riches. Our work here is done, Roxas. The beast's weakness is clear.

Roxas: It is?

Xaldin: To hold something dear is to let it hold you. His heart is in thrall to it, don't you see? And that, Roxas, is ample weakness.

Roxas: I'm not sure I follow.

Xaldin: Nor should you. You have no heart to love with. Come. We return.

Yes, there was definitely a lot of hints and evidence that their relationship was more than platonic. Especially in the novels. 

Roxas: Well, you were right. He does have something he wants to protect. Something he cares about.

Xion: Really?

Roxas: Yeah, but Xaldin says that's a weakness.

Xion: Why would caring about something be a weakness?

Roxas: I dunno. I didn't get it either.

Xion: I hope Axel comes home soon.

The best evidence, though, is in 358/2 Days. The whole subplot of the Beast’s Castle hinted at Axel having romantic feelings for Isa.

Day 150: Too Precious to Lose

Axel and I talked for a while about the things we can't bear to lose. Axel thinks that for Nobodies, it's our pasts, because that's all we have to remember the pain of losing something.

If Axel’s memories of his past are what’s most precious to him, then what was most precious to Lea as a human? Axel says that his memories are all he has to remember the pain of losing something.

Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It's a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don't feel like it anymore. It's strange, but I'm content with just missing what's gone. I'm not the one who changed. You did.

And his memories of his past are all about Isa. And Axel has a lot of pain over missing what’s gone between him and Saïx. The story STRONGLY hints that Isa was so precious to Lea, he couldn’t bear to lose him. There was something very special between them that isn’t there anymore.

Roxas: Love is a power?

Xaldin: None you or I will ever grasp. Nor will they, for long. The love between them will wither and die. Love never lasts.

Roxas: But you don't have a heart. How would you know?

Xaldin: I have eyes, and a brain. We have no further business here. Try not to dawdle.

Roxas: That still doesn't explain what love is... Is love fighting to protect what's most important to you? Where does its power come from?

The main theme of Beast’s Castle is “love”. Having something you can’t bear to lose is what love is. And love is a weakness that the organization exploits. Axel has a tragic backstory that is hinted at constantly. The story hints that his fear of losing Isa was used against him at some point.

Roxas: I found out about love on today's mission--that it's something powerful.

Axel: That's true. It is. But I'll never get to experience it.

Roxas: Nobodies can't love?

Axel: You need a heart, man.

Roxas: Right...

Axel: Love is what happens if there's something really special between two people.

Roxas: You mean, like, if they're best friends? Inseparable?

Axel: Well, you can care about your friends, I guess, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Just look at the way Axel talks about love. He longs for love. Love is even compared to being best friends. But Axel is very specific that it’s a different feeling. He’s always speaking from experience, like when he talked about best friends, summer vacation, etc. He’s speaking from experience here, too. He’s been in love before. That is what is being hinted at. Now, this isn’t the same as Nomura coming out and saying “yes, they’re gay”. But there’s no way they wrote the story like this on accident.

Beast: It's no use.  She's so beautiful, and I'm so...well, look at me!

Mrs. Potts: Oh, you must help her to see past all that.

All of this talk of love takes place in the world of Beauty and the Beast. That movie is all about the power of love allowing you to see past the exterior. That’s what the story of 358/2 Days is all about, too. Roxas can see Xion as Kairi because he has a heart. Axel can see her as Kairi after Castle Oblivion, and he grew a heart while he was there.

Riku: The process of putting his memory back together has gone nowhere... They have what's most precious to Sora...his memories of Kairi.

Xion is just a robot, though, and not really Kairi. She doesn’t even have a concrete appearance. It’s Sora’s memories that make it look like Kairi.

Xion’s memories were really Sora’s. But the form she had taken was reminiscent of Kairi. And that was because of Sora’s memories inside Roxas—the memories that knew Kairi as someone precious to him. Like Xion had become someone precious to Roxas.

She was created out of Sora’s most precious memories, which were of Kairi, who he LOVED. Xion is just a reflection of Sora’s LOVE for Kairi. Those most precious memories were the whole basis of the plot of CoM. They were the weakness used to manipulate Sora.

My precious existence is surrounded by memories that have been burned into my heart, as well as important memories that guide me. The more precious the memory is, the further it regresses into your heart, making it hard to remember, you know?

“Why do you always go around picking up stray puppies left and right?”

“I want to leave an impression with a lot of different people. I can live forever if I remain in their memories.”

Isa then laughed at me bitterly.

“Well, at the very least I’m sure you’ll always be in my memories, whether I want you to or not.”

During that time, we had no idea that memories could be erased. Memories are not always clear, and they can even be replaced with something else.

I haven’t seen Ventus since.

The sunset today is burning red again. We finished our training and watched the sunset from the top of the hill near the Secret Forest.

Axel’s journey in Castle Oblivion was all about HIS most precious memories, too. He said he and Sora had a lot in common, which is why he decided to help him. Axel’s memories of Isa were the equivalent of Sora’s memories of Kairi. It’s never explicitly stated, but Sora LOVES Kairi. Axel LOVED Isa. Once Axel started to remember his most precious memories, which were of Isa, he started to grow a heart.

“Do you know why the sunset is so red? Light is comprised of a variety of different colors, and within that spectrum, the red color permeates the furthest!”

“And how come you’re so versed in this all of a sudden?”

I remember speaking with Roxas about this on the 255th day when we sat on top of the clocktower. Although I know I should have had more precious memories of that time, I couldn’t remember them. I know there’s something that I was supposed to remember, but for some reason I just could not remember it.

You know how Day 255 is such an important day, it was even featured in the opening? It’s never explained why that day was so important. Axel tells Roxas about the red sunset. And just by the way he said it, you could tell that he was recalling a very precious memory from his past. Axel’s Character File story even confirmed it. The red sunset was not a random bit of trivia thrown in for no reason. It was a very precious memory from Axel’s past.

Someone had once told him why sunsets were red… Who was that?

The novel hints that Isa was the one who told Lea about the red sunset. But Axel had forgotten this by the time of 358/2 Days.

“Yeah. Have to hang on to something, right? It’s not like I have memories from before the Organization. Don’t you remember? I acted like a zombie.”

Axel stared at him as if trying to figure something out and then grinned.

Axel was trying to remember a specific precious memory from his past. It was bothering him. And it came back to him on Day 255 when he was talking to Roxas. It’s why he sounded so nostalgic. And it’s why that day was so significant.

Why did Axel remember that precious memory on Day 255? It was called “The Longest Day”. The longest day of the year is called “midsummer”. The entire story was most likely inspired by Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The most famous quote from that play is about how love makes you blind to someone’s flaws. Roxas’s love for Xion blinded him to the fact that she was just a Replica being used to absorb his power and destroy him. Xion was his weakness.

Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Day 255 was the day Saix was revealed to be “blind”. He wasn’t seeing what everyone else saw when he looked at Xion. He was like the Beast. He had no love in his heart. He couldn’t see past appearances. 

Axel: The Organization made her to duplicate your powers. She's a puppet.

Roxas: Have you gone nuts? Xion's a person, not a puppet.

Axel: She's smoke and mirrors, Roxas.

Xion was a reflection of Sora’s love for Kairi. Smoke and mirrors. An illusion made of precious memories.

Xemnas: About Axel? The poor fool. How long will he keep chasing the illusion of friendship, when he himself lacks emotion? Trying so hard to retrieve what he has lost, when it may never have existed in the first place. He deserves nothing more than our pity.

Saix was ALSO smoke and mirrors. Axel’s relationship with him wasn’t real and never existed in the first place. It was just a reflection of Lea’s most precious memories and his love for Isa. Axel desperately wanted to retrieve what he lost. His love for Isa made him “blind”. His burgeoning replacement heart gave him the power to look past the exterior of Saix to see the person he loved. It blinded him to the fact that Saix was a Nort and no longer the same person anymore. Saix was being used by Xemnas to manipulate Axel. Isa was Lea’s weakness.

Everyone is free to interpret the story as they wish. I know that Axel/Roxas is the more popular Axel ship. But I do believe Lea/Isa was what the writers intended and is the “correct” way to view the story. If you view the story with this idea in mind, Axel’s character arc makes SO much more sense. 

#kh akusai #kh leaisa #leaisa #akusai #kh saix #kh axel

[danetobelieve]

In Sweetness There Is Strength || Ricky, Rio and Winston

When: 30/06/2020 Who: @ricky-corderbro​, @3starsquinn​ & @danetobelieve Where: Room Mate Squad HQ Summary: After Rio’s fight with the trolls. Warnings: medical blood tw - they clean Rio up quite a lot and there is indepth discussion of Rio’s scars / bruises / injuries, also there is abuse mentions too. 

The events of the night swam through Orion’s head in a thick, convoluted fog. After Kaden dropped him off, Rio stood outside for a while. White noise filled his head. He was trying to process what had happened, but his brain seemed to refuse the request. Probably some kind of coping mechanism. It had still been too fresh on his mind. The attack, the pain, the murder. Everything clung to Rio’s throat, threatening to spill out at any moment. But instead, Rio felt lifeless. Like he had cried every lost ounce of liquid that he could to Kaden. Kaden. Who had gotten hurt trying to protect Rio from doing something stupid. Who had no choice but to listen to Rio scream about the pain. Who had listened when he had refused to go to the hospital. And he had done all of it knowing that the two didn’t actually get along or agree on anything. But would Rio have changed anything? Would he have attacked the trolls first, knowing what was coming? Or would he have simply put the two in danger again to try to avoid the violence. It felt like a lose-lose. That no matter what Rio tried to do, he was doomed to fail. Wow, poetic. Really hit that nail on the head. Isn’t that all Rio had been doing his life anyways? Failing?

But he couldn’t stand out here forever. Winston or Ricky would find him eventually. Or worse, some random passerby on the street would see Rio covered in blood and he would end up arrested. He couldn’t avoid them forever. It seemed like now was the best time to get the freak out over with. He stepped slowly towards the door, each step another stabbing pain in Rio’s side. He hadn’t exactly figured out what to do about the broken ribs yet. But he knew that the hospital wasn’t an option. Everything else would heal fine. The ribs were a bit more concerning. Tonight, he just wanted to crawl in bed. He moved to reach towards the door knob but stopped himself. Blood on carpet? Not a great idea. Ricky was having someone over on Friday. The place needed to stay clean. So he knocked with his elbow, careful to avoid getting blood anywhere. Rio was too embarrassed to look at whoever answered the door. His eyes were trained on the ground and locked onto a single space of the porch. “I’m sorry.” Rio breathed in, a small groan escaping his lips from the pain of breathing, “Can you uh- can someone go into my room? And grab me something to change into? And maybe a wet towel.” 

Things were going good. It was blissful. Things with Rio were going slow, but even something as little as holding hands was enough to send a cacophony of electric butterflies whirlwinding in the pit of Winston’s stomach. Rio was out and Winston and Ricky were fucking around on Borderlands Three. Literally fucking around. Winston was literally lying on the sofa so that their head hung off of the cushions and everything was flipped. “Ricky, I fucking told you that if you invert everything on your controller and flip yourself over it’s basically the same as just playing normal way up. Just more s-” they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Dashing to the door, they slid to a stop on just their socks (this was a strict no shoes in the home household) and pulled the door open spotting Rio. “Hey R-” they didn’t finish their sentence. “Is that blood?!” Winston’s hands flew to their face, pushing it up so that Rio had no choice to make eye contact with them. A veritable Jackson Pollock of injuries had been forced upon Rio and a fury that Winston rarely felt filled them. “Sorry, don’t be sorry, come in….” they spoke quietly, mainly because if they didn’t whisper they would scream, “Ricky, I’m going to get Rio a change of clothes for Rio, can you get the first aid kit and help clean him up and then we can take him to the hospital…” Winston headed straight up the stairs, not waiting for a response, their fury causing them to shake slightly with each step. 

“That’s just Borderlands with extra steps.” Ricky was draped half in/half on/half off an armchair as he and Winston ran around a swamp planet, shooting absolutely everything in sight, “Can we just fucking finish this and hop to the next planet? Everything here is green which means I can’t fucking see shit. Promethea was better. Urban landscapes don’t fuck with my color blindness like swamps do; and while I”m loving the gay romance subplot here, I’m ready to be able to land headshots successfully again” There was a knock on the door, which in and of itself wasn’t weird they were pretty popular and enough people just swung by to say hi, but the knock sounded strange like it hadn’t been made with a hand. Winston managed to extricate themselves from their strange position before Ricky could and went to swing the door open. Craning his neck to try to see who was in their entryway Ricky managed to fall fully out of the chair and onto the floor when he saw it was a bloody Rio, “WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU KNOCKING AND NOT JUST COMING IN JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.” He hopped to his feet, tossing his controller onto the chair and bolted for the very robust first aid kit he kept in one of the kitchen cabinets, digging out some alcohol wipes as he came back, “Sit on the stairs” he pointed to one of the lower steps as he tore the wipes open, “What happened and who do Winston and I have to kill. I’ll do it. I’ll rip a motherfucker’s throat out. That’s why I’ve got fangs.” He used said fangs to tear at a length of gauze, holding it out to Rio, “Is it okay if I touch you? To wipe your face?” 

Winston and Ricky reacted pretty much exactly how Orion expected them to. They were concerned. Shocked. He hadn’t expected them to be so… angry. Far angrier than Rio could manage to be right now. But the two wanted the trolls to pay for what they had done. Rio wished he could explain how they had already paid. Rio and Kaden limped away from that encounter alive. Could they say the same thing about some of the trolls? Winston pushed Rio’s face up, but Rio could hardly focus on their face. His sight felt glossed over, a mix of exhaustion, pain and shock. But he was being led inside, “But the floors…” Rio heard himself mumble as he was dragged inside. Rio gasped and held his side as he stepped. He hoped they didn’t notice the injury. They would want to look at his side. And they couldn’t see him like that. “I don’t want to get blood anywhere” He tried defending himself to the two. The carpets were important right? What about those antique floors Ricky always bragged about? Still, he mindlessly followed Winston into the home, only focusing when he heard the mention of the word hospital. “No!” Rio yelled, the volume surprising him. Up until now, he had barely been able to speak more than a whisper to Kaden or them. “Please. No hospital. My dad will be there. I can’t-” He didn’t finish his sentence. Ricky and Winston may not know everything yet, but it wasn’t hard to connect some of the dots. They knew he couldn’t risk seeing his dad. Especially not like this. Winston rocketed up the steps and Ricky settled Rio down on the steps, asking him questions that he didn’t think he could answer. “You can touch my face.” Rio sighed, wishing that they had been out when he had gotten home. The desire only worked to make him feel worse about himself. As Ricky asked more questions, he dotted cloth across Rio’s skin to clean the blood. He jumped as the cloth touched his cheek, the bruising and cuts stinging his face. “You- I do-” He tried to figure out his wording multiple times, stumbling through sentences and cutting himself off each time. Because he didn’t know what to say. Or how to say it. “It’s dead.” Rio finally settled on. Not all of them. Rio remembered their threat. But the two that had done this to Rio were both dead.

Winston came down the stairs with fresh clothes for Rio and a pile of towels, not to mention more first aid supplies just in case they had run out. “Fuck, I forgot-sorry,” Winston moved slowly to Rio’s side, “Rio’s right the hospital is a no go…. I would offer to help clean you up but I don’t think my hands are gonna be steady enough, I can try some healing magic once we’ve got you all cleaned up if you want…” Winston should’ve been there. Watching Rio like that made them angry. Seeing them in pain made Winston furious. They would’ve gone out and killed whatever had done this to them if it hadn’t been already dead. Swallowing. Winston pulled out a chair for Rio and motioned for them to sit in it. “Ricky is going to need to work on you for a bit if going to the hospital isn’t an option then the very least we can afford to do is get you all cleaned up.” Winston paused for a moment, glancing nervously at their shoes and then at the kitchen wall. “What do you want to do first? You can get cleaned up and get changed and get right and talk to us, or you can tell us as you go. But eitherway, I think-” Winston didn’t want to press him, “Rio,” they slipped their hands into Rio’s and gripped them firmly, “can you tell us what happened so we can try and help?” 

“THE FLOORS?!” Ricky scoffed a little and shook his head, “If I have to pick between you and the floors it’s going to be you every single time, Rio. I don’t give a single flying fuck about blood on the floors. I care about you being okay.” he knelt down next to Rio, carefully wiping his hands clean with one swab before ever so gently holding Rio’s chin and carefully cleaning off the wounds on his face, “I know this stings like a motherfucker. Did I ever tell you about the time I had to stitch up a mermaid bite on my side? You think you’re bleeding on the floors now you should have seen that. I’m pretty sure there’s still a stain on the landing.” He attempted to keep the conversation light, distracting Rio and Winston as best he could as he cast a moderately-trained gaze over his friend, “If we can’t go to the hospital I need you to tell me exactly where it hurts and how it hurts. I can do a decent amount; I’m used to having to care for myself, but if there’s something outside my field of knowledge I’ll have to make some calls and try to get somebody discreetly out here to take a look at you.” Shoving the bloody wipe into a bag near his feet Ricky opened another one, looking over Rio and sighing heavily, “I’m sorry we weren’t there to help. With whatever this was.” 

When Orion thought that Winston was moving to touch his side, Rio jerked, flailing his arm out to try to stop Winston before they had a chance to press it. “Don’t!” Rio hissed. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut, embarrassed that he had just done that. To Winston of all people. “Sorry- sorry. Just- please don’t touch it. I’m fine. I heal quickly.” He just hoped that they healed correctly. But there wasn’t another option. Could Winston’s healing magic even work with Rio fully clothed? He didn’t have it in him tonight to have that conversation. Rio grabbed at one of the towels and began mindlessly wiping at this arms. It didn’t fix the red stains across his body, but it at least took off the excess blood. And it served as something for Rio to focus on other than the looks Winston and Ricky were giving him. They were asking so many questions. But that wasn’t the scariest part. They were… caring? He wasn’t told to brush it off or get back up. They were protecting him. Just as they always did. “I got attacked. I- You don’t have to be sorry. Neither of you do. You can’t always be there to protect me. It was so pathetic that he even needed protection. He was supposed to be the strong one. Blessed with some divine gift for protecting others. It was all just meaningless words to him. “I- It’s dead.” Rio breathed deeply, ignoring the pain and trying desperately to stop himself from crying again. Hadn’t he done that enough tonight? “I- I killed it. I tried to stop it. To get away or beg them to leave us alone. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do. And I didn’t want to die and I- I killed it. It was a troll. And it’s dead now because of me.” His breath was catching in his throat, threatening to cut off his breathing all together. Ricky was trying to distract him with other stories, which Rio was happy to latch onto in an attempt to get his mind off of things. Ricky’s story and Winston’s hand wrapping around Rio’s were the only two things keeping him grounded right now. “I- I don’t know. I think I’m okay. Just… sore. He threw me into a tree.”

This was a lot to deal with. Winston wasn’t sure what was more overwhelming. The level of endearing that Rio was managing to achieve by being concerned about the fixings and furniture of the house over their own well being, over something that meant absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things compared to Rio’s life. Maybe it was how upset Rio was that he had physically recoiled from Winston trying to touch him. “Hey, hey,” Winston could see the fact that Orion was upset and they could completely understand why, they remembered when they had killed the vampire that had gone after Ricky. They remembered when they had killed themself. They still remembered the look in August’s eyes as the energy was sucked whole from his body and used to bring Bea back from being a ghost. “I don’t know what happened, you tried everything you could by the sounds of it and you had nothing more that you could do.” Winston slowly stepped forward and held Rio close to them, pulling Rio’s head into the crook of their shoulder and running a calming hand through his hair. Leaning closer, Winston whispered quietly to Orion as they held them. “Listen, I- I saw Athena’s scars and I know that you probably got it worse then her if what you’ve said is true, but we can’t look after you if you’re gonna keep your hoodie and everything on. I know this is hard, but I can get Ricky to not bring anything up. We don’t have to talk about it right now. We just need to look after you okay.” 

Orion almost broke down when Winston hugged him. The hug was gentle and cautious. And Rio didn’t care how much it hurt because all he wanted was for Winston to keep hugging him the rest of the night like this. To run their fingers through his hair and promise Rio that he wasn’t a monster. Rio felt like a monster. Worse, he felt like a hunter. He needed to stay strong. If he cried now, he wouldn’t stop. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Rio wasn’t expecting Winston to know about the scars. But a moment later and it clicked into place. God, what an awful time to remember that Winston was probably super familiar with his sister’s scars. “It’s not- They’re not like hers.” Rio warned Winston. Athena’s scars were battle scars, won from killing creature’s and training. Rio’s were different. Unevenly healed wounds, burn marks. His scars were a punishment. But what choice did Rio have? It was Winston and Ricky after all. They knew him. Rio trusted them with his life, so why not trust them with this? “O-okay” Rio finally whispered back, making an attempt to grab at the hoodie so he could start to slowly peel it off. But the pain was way too severe to do it himself. “I- I can’t get it off myself.” Rio groaned. This was so embarrassing. This wasn’t something he should be asking from either of them, but especially Winston. They were nowhere near getting undressed near each other stage. “Can you help me please?” Rio finally asked, holding his arms into the air and trying to laugh, though it sounded more pained than humored, “This is so awkward, I’m sorry.”

Honestly, Winston wasn’t sure what they had been expecting. They had been ready to back right off and to find another way for them to fix this without having to get Rio to take off the hoodie. But Rio agreed and gently peeled away from Winston. Winston had to admit that they were reluctant to let him go, but they did so anyway. “It doesn’t matter, they’re just scars, they’re not you.” Winston had their own scar. It wasn’t going to be comparable to Rio’s but they thought maybe they could at least try and sympathise. Winston gave Rio a weak smile before nodding. “Yeah, don’t worry Rio I got you,” stepping forward, Winston carefully held Rio’s t-shirt down whilst slipping their hand under the hoodie and pulling it up. Once they were sure that the hoodie wasn’t going to pull away at the t-shirt, Winston grasped it with both hands and slowly and carefully helped Rio peel it off of their body. It was wet. With blood and sweat and god knows what. Winston dropped it into the empty kitchen sink. Thank fuck that Ricky kept this place spotless. Glancing over at Rio, they squeezed his hand and nodded at them, doing their best not to look at the exposed skin on Rio’s. It was clear why Rio had been afraid, had been embarrassed even. Winston could tell that there had been a lot of pain and a tidal wave of sympathy and anger over took them. Tears threatened to rush to their eyes and Winston insisted on remaining calm. “We’re good okay, I’m gonna get you a soda or something, you should get your blood sugar up and Ricky is going to start looking you over.” 

Ricky remembered the first time he’d met Rio, when they’d been caught on the beach in a sudden storm and taken refuge in the workshop. How he’d had to go wait outside in the rain for Rio to finish changing because the man was so secretive about his bare skin. So, in an attempt to alleviate the pressure of being looked at and give Winston and Rio a little bit of privacy in this moment, Ricky busied himself tying his hair back and making sure his glasses were absolutely spotless. When out of the corner of his eye he could see that the sweatshirt had been removed he nodded to Winston, “Grab me one too please.” It was immediately concerning to him that Rio couldn’t manage the range of motion to remove his own sweatshirt and Ricky pushed his glasses up on his nose, leaning forward to look over Rio, “It should go without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway, inside these walls any secret we learn is safe. Nothing is going to reach anyone else. Where on your chest is it hurting? Since it clearly is.” He was very very careful not to touch Rio, who was clearly in a fragile state at the moment, “Though I think we both know that the answer is probably ‘broken ribs’ especially if you got thrown into a tree.”

Orion never knew how people were going to react when they saw the scars. For the most part, he had kept them secret. Only a few in town had ever seen them. Rio had only ever actually told one person where they truly came from. But Winston and Ricky knew enough about Rio by now. He knew they were smart enough to connect the dots. Winston went to grab drinks, something Rio realized that he desperately needed. He hadn’t even realized how dry his mouth had been until they mentioned it. Ricky paid no attention to the scars aside from ensuring that the secret was safe with him. Of course it was, because Ricky was an incredible friend. And Rio shouldn’t have been so scared about telling either of them about it for this long. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you both I- I just can’t tell anybody about it right now. Except for Blanche. She’s the only one that knows.” Rio’s heart was going haywire, never having anybody quite those close to him when he wasn’t wearing a hoodie. He felt exposed, like he was on full display to his roommates. “I’m pretty sure it’s broken ribs.” Rio nodded his head in agreement, lifting his right arm to attempt at pointing to his side, “This side has the most pain, but I hit it face forward so it could have gotten both sides, I don’t know.” He still couldn’t believe that this was actually happening right now. When Winston returned with drinks, Rio took a long drink from it, almost coughing the thing back up from pain. But he forced it down and felt the instant relief in his throat. “If- if you need to get a better look at it you can…” Rio paused, too embarrassed to speak the words. He had to force himself into a pained deep breath before rambling out, “takeofftheshirtifyouneed.” He groaned, wishing he hadn’t just offered but trying to lighten the mood as best as he could. “I trust your intentions.” He hoped that his attempt at a smile came through to the both of them. But he didn’t want to do so without warning them ahead of time, “But it’s uh- it’s worse. Under the shirt. Just so you know. The arms aren’t as bad.” He just didn’t want Winston to get too freaked out. Some of the wounds were recent. Some of the bruises were from the tree and would eventually go away. But most wouldn’t. “Someone will have to help me again if that’s the case…”

“Listen, you don’t need to apologise for not telling us anything, you don’t ever need to tell us anything.” Winston slipped Ricky’s drink down beside him and crouched besides Rio, a hand gently placed on his knee doing everything that they possibly could to be reassuring for him right now. “Whatever happened, we don’t need to talk about it right now, if you need Blanche here I can get her now, right now we don’t need to be thinking about what could or should be one way or another, what we’re thinking and focussing on is getting you patched up so everything heals right.” Winston tried not to think about the scale of the injuries. They’d started reading up on healing magic but they could do about as much as an aspirin right now, healing major wounds or setting bones wasn’t really something they were going to risk yet. “Don’t worry about your shirt, I got it.” Winston quickly and carefully slipped Rio’s less damaged arm through the hole, before tugging the shirt over Rio’s head and finally pulling the rest of the shirt off of him. Grabbing a towel, Winston carefully folded it over before placing it around Rio’s shoulders. That way Ricky could still see and at least Rio would have some privacy. Winston tried not to look at the bruises and cuts too carefully. There were clearly a patchwork of fresh wounds, but then again there was also older scars. Burns for some reason. Winston’s very soul was a blaze in that moment. No wonder Athena was the way she was. No wonder Rio never wanted to take his hoodie off even in the middle of a roasting hot club. Anger bubbled inside of Winston. White hot. Fuelled by the pain of someone who truly didn’t deserve this. Someone who had literally been thrown through a tree and needed love and tender affection and not to be burned by the people who were meant to protect and care for him. 

In the heat of the moment there was a lot that ran through Ricky’s mind, but if he had any skills it was the ability to compartmentalize so he could deal with emotions later, “I second that. You owe us no explanation for anything. You owe nobody that. The only thing we need from you right now is to let us help you however we can.” Ricky’s own chest was a fairly well covered network of scars from aquatic monsters, a tree vampire, and just being fucking stupid, but it had absolutely nothing on the novel’s worth of scar tissue that ran across Rio. He could feel the very animalistic part of him, that only ever lurked just behind the bright smile and easy laugh, raging at the story the scars told, coupled with what he knew of Rio’s family. But his anger was his own burden, not something he would ever ask Rio to help carry. “Yeah that troll fucked you up pretty good my dude.” he didn’t even have to raise his fingers to feel for broken bones, he could tell from the bruising and the swelling that some ribs had been broken. “It sounds like you’re breathing okay. It probably hurts like a motherfucker but I don’t think you punctured anything.” rocking back on his heels Ricky took his glasses off and massaged the bridge of his nose, “I can’t fix that. I could have set an arm or a leg, and I can do stitches, but ribs…. I just have field medic training. If you look me in the eye and tell me Ricky my hunter healing will take care of this just fine, I’ll believe you, and carry you up to your room to rest and heal up. But, if that’s not the case, I know someone I could call to come over and discreetly patch you up.” sliding his glasses back onto his face he gave Rio a smile, “It’s up to you, my dude. We’ll follow your lead here.” 

“It’s fine I don’t need someone else here freaking out too. You both are enough.” Orion wanted them to not worry as much. Maybe if he could convince them that he was okay, they would be too? They had both already worked magic for him. Rio had come home feeling like everything in the world was ending. Now, Rio was in pain and his heart still hurt for those trolls. But he felt loved. Accepted. Safe. There wasn’t anything more that he could ask for. “I’ll tell her tomorrow. Let her get a good night’s sleep before she freaks out.” Winston, as per usual, was Rio’s savior. They wrapped the towel around Rio’s neck to give some sort of security. Nobody had seen Rio shirtless in… years. Probably since childhood. Rio had always found excuses to get away. To hide and avoid any prying eyes. Somehow, in what was probably one of the most revealing moments of Rio’s life, he still felt incredibly safe. These two were something else. “I’ve had broken ribs before.” Rio admitted. He didn’t give any further details. He didn’t need to . “They healed.” He wasn’t sure that they had ever healed correctly, but they had stopped hurting eventually. “This will all heal. I promise.” Rio couldn’t risk Ricky’s contact being anyone that knew his parents or sister. It was a small town and the Quinn’s weren’t invisible. They would heal. They had to heal. “I- I don’t know how to thank the both of you for this.”

“You don’t need to say thank you to anyone for cleaning you up after you were put through a tree,” Winston took a step forwards in front of Rio and took both of his hands. “Here, let me try something, I hope it’ll help a little.” Grasping Rio’s hands gently in their own, Winston gave them a gentle squeeze before muttering a string of Latin that they had memorised a few weeks ago. A cascade of power began to gently trickle out of Winston’s fingers, little tendrils of light braiding themselves up and through the air before they tracked back into Rio’s hands. The light slipping through the skin. Winston could feel a brief moment of exhaustion and their eyes felt heavy. Their breath became laboured and a moment later they pulled away from the power. “I can’t really do healing magic, but that should at least help with some of the pain for a bit. It’s the only spell I can really do and… I hope it helps.” They really needed to keep a doctor on retainer, between the three of them. “Well, Ricky it seems like you still get to take the next trip to the hospital,” Winston moved over to their fridge and tapped the colour wheel that Ricky had drawn up months ago, as a joke of course, next to their house chore chart. “Yeah, says Ricky’s up next.” 

Ricky watched quietly as Winston wove their magic, seeing them grow more tired as the energy left them and flowed into Rio, quiet latin filling the room “Careful there Merlin.” RIcky gave a wry smile, “I don’t want to have to carry you both upstairs if you knock yourself out doing too much magic.” He squeezed Rio’s knee gently, leaning back against the wall at the foot of the stairs, “Rio. There’s nothing to thank us for. I dunno how to make it more clear, but I love you with every single ounce of my rotten heart. Fervently. Deeply. Truly love you. Both of you. You guys are my family. This is your home. Not just your house. You deserve to feel safe and comfortable here and I’ll do absolutely everything in my power to make this a refuge for you. But Winston’s right. You gotta obey the hospital wheel. It’s my turn next. This is why we have the rota.” Ricky pushed himself back to his feet, wiping his now-slightly-bloody hands on his jeans, “I’ll make some dinner. Y’all get upstairs and comfortable. I’ll bring a few trays up. We can watch something stupid while we eat. You’re home now, Rio. Any troll who wants a piece is gonna have to get through me and Winston. I will go full goddamn seal beast mode to stop that from happening.” 

#p: ricky #p: orion #wickedswriting #para #chatzy para #chatzy #in sweetness there is strength #abuse mention tw

[i-finally-watched-it]

The Finest Hours (2016)

dir. Craig Gillespie

The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952. (via IMDb)

Highlight/s: Those sweet sweet non-rhotic New England accents 😚👌🏻; Over the past couple years it seems that whenever I pick a movie from my list at random, or decide to watch a new movie/series instead, a wild Beau Knapp appears. I honestly feel like

whenever I watch anything these days sjfjskjhjsk and the exact same thing has been happening with Kyle Gallner for years now and they're BOTH in this movie! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, they're great! But it seems I can't escape either of them lately 😂; I finally realised who Josh Stewart reminds me of - Paul McGann sjhfkdjfjdkhf; Black queer icon & fellow Aussie Keiynan Lonsdale? In a Disney film? A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one 🥳; It's also always fun seeing other fellow Aussie Eric Bana in serious Hollywood roles because he started out in Australian comedy in the 90s and I can't help hearing this whenever I see him 😂

Will I watch it again? Hmmmmsjfjjshfhdjshfjskjsfk idk.

Rating: 👍🏻👎🏻

Lowlight/s: (under the cut)

I know the sexism & shit is realistic for the period, I know it is, but it grinds the everloving piss out of my gears regardless; ALSO why the fuck didn't we get to see Bernie (Chris Pine) & Mel (Beau Knapp) reunite at the end??? They were besties and the only reason Mel stayed behind (reluctantly) was because he had the sniffles. Do you mean to tell me that he wouldn't have gone outside with everyone else when the boat came in - the freezing cold & his health be damned for a minute - to greet his friend who could have died at any moment while Mel was busy being a human burrito sipping hot cocoa (idk) while listening to what's going on out on the water over the radio, never certain he'll see his friends again, not able to do anything to help them, in the safety & comfort of the Coast Guard station???? Uhhh bullshit. Of course he would've gone out there!!! So where the hell was he????? Asleep in the lunch room suddenly???? *desk flip*

Fellas, is it gay to say hi to your best friend and hug hi- oh, it is? Silly me haha. Then we better make sure it's crystal clear for the audience that Bernie is definitely going to marry a woman to remind them he's 110% straight and a man and has absolutely nobody else he cares about or who care about him, and we need to definitely not show even five seconds of affection between two male friends! ☹

While we're on this subject (I'm on a roll now so can't stop til I say this lol soz) I was reminded during the film how toxic masculinity limits the acceptable feelings men can express, without fear of ridicule, to anger & lust... except if they're in the middle of disasters or other traumatic events, e.g. war, then it's way more acceptable for men to be scared & to cry & be vulnerable & concerned for the emotional wellbeing of other men. And rightly so, they're human after all and those situations suck. It's scary and painful watching your friends be hurt/die right in front of you and to also be staring death in the face yourself with very limited options & chance of survival. Men more readily accept and are even moved by these expressions when they see it in these extreme situations, but as soon as it appears in the context of Normal Everyday Life the response is "don't be such a girl, grow some balls". *sigh* The patriarchy is on nobody's side in the end. Cishet dudes help us burn it down challenge!

And, of course, there's nothing wrong with the little romantic subplot - it's the fact that Hollywood constantly locks platonic love in the trunk and takes romance on a nice Sunday drive that makes my blood boil.

#the finest hours #chris pine #(the no. 1 chris. no im not taking feedback at this time) #ben foster #beau knapp #eric bana #holliday grainger #rachel brosnahan #kyle gallner #john magaro #john ortiz #graham mctavish #michael raymond-james #josh stewart #abraham benrubi #keiynan lonsdale #movie ratings #movie review #genre: drama #genre: history #genre: thriller #movies based on true events #rating: 👍🏻 #rating: 👎🏻