#and that's exactly how i think it would feel for lyta

[two-hands-toward-the-sun]

Besides Daniel, who else could have become Dream of the Endless 2.0?

So, I don't have a full copy of The Kindly Ones on hand right now so I may be remembering incorrectly, but my impression is that Daniel was passed the mantle of Dream of the Endless because of his unique connection to the Dreaming via Lyta being pregnant with him in dreams, and because Morpheus chose him and gave the emerald dreamstone to him (and he likely chose Daniel because of the aforementioned connection). I also like to think these two factors acted in conjunction to each other—the Endless do get to pick who their successor is, but that person has to be someone with an especial bond to their realm.

All that to say! Taking those factors into account, I started playing around with ideas of who else could have become the second Dream, in the context of the Netflix adaptation, and here's three possibilities I came up with:

1. Unity Kincaid

Unity spent over a century in dreams!! She’s a mortal human who spent almost her entire life there—that’s a damn strong bond. Also, when Morpheus was planning to kill Rose, he told her that she could stay in the Dreaming after her death, if she wished. I imagine Morpheus would have extended the same offer to Unity. If she took him up on it, she would have had a double connection to the Dreaming.

There is SO MUCH potential for some really zany humor if we start thinking about Desire’s relationship to Unity. Like. Imagine if your baby mama got reincarnated as your sibling. How weird would that be. Even Desire would be thrown by that, I think. And I can't imagine Unity would take kindly to finding out Desire only seduced her as part of a revenge plot on their brother, and also given how much she ADORES Rose, knowing Desire was just setting Rose up as a sacrifice for their own selfish reasons...oooooh, Desire, watch your fucking back honey. Family dinners were already hilariously fraught, and to add this to the shitstorm? I Would Like to See It.

Also Sandra James-Young would serve cunt in that pirate's outfit Morpheus rolled up in during the Season of Mists family dinner

2. Rose’s unnamed grandmother/Unity’s child

(In the intro I said this post is based on the show and I’ll stick with that for consistency, but this idea would really work better if we mashed comic and show canon so it’s Miranda Walker who’s Unity and Desire’s child, so feel free to imagine as such)

OKAY SO. Daniel was gestated in dreams, and you know who else was?? Unity’s daughter! It would give her a similar “claim” on the Dreaming in that sense.

The family drama is RIFE in this possibility, and you know I’m always a slut for Endless family drama. The kid that Desire sired purely as a revenge plot against their brother…has now taken the place of said brother. And is none too happy about finding out about the truth of why she was conceived.

And! There’s the added fact that Unity’s daughter is the grandmother of Rose Walker—a vortex. An incredibly powerful mortal with the power to tear the Dreaming apart. In the show, Gilbert posits a theory about why vortexes exist at all: “When a human is at the center of the Dreaming, is it not to remind us that we exist because humans dream, not the other way around?” That would be an interesting thing to think about when you become the sovereign of the Dreaming, and your granddaughter was a vortex, and your mother was who the vortex should have been all along.

And that brings us to the last possibility I’ve thought of, and one who is so dear to my heart…

3. Lucienne

*visibly struggling to present my thoughts on my beloved calmly and professionally* So, the two factors: connection to the Dreaming, and being chosen by Morpheus. It’s quite possible that Lucienne is the being who has spent the most time in the Dreaming besides Morpheus himself. “Dream of the Endless always has a raven.” Hell, it’s hard exactly what “always” means to an Endless (Death talks about being present for “the first living thing” and ravens are far from one of the first living things to die or dream—much younger than, say, sea sponges, or cockroaches), but it’s safe to say Lucienne’s been around for a longass time. She was the steward and caretaker of the Dreaming while Morpheus was imprisoned. The residents trust her and go to her for counsel. Her bond with the Dreaming is one of the most powerful save for Morpheus’s own.

As for the “chosen” component…you’ve seen the way Morpheus looks at Lucienne. He’s already chosen her twice: as raven and as librarian. And other than that, he chooses her every day, as his advisor and confidant. I’m thinking here of how Dream says “we have work to do” to Lucienne in Imperfect Hosts, and how she accompanies him to Cain and Abel’s houses when she didn’t technically need to be there: they’re a team, and they’re stronger together.

Also…there’s this added element that in becoming Dream, Lucienne would gain all the memories Morpheus had. Including memories he had of her, of everything they experienced together. She’d know everything he’d been thinking at the time, whereas before Lucienne the librarian could only have guessed. And I think that would be strange and emotional for her.

Conclusion

If anyone made it to the end of this post—thanks for indulging me! Additional thoughts and other possibilities are absolutely welcome. Please feel free to tag me if you make any posts related to this concept! <3

#me redstringing this post together surrounded by: sandman issue 62; the doll’s house volume; transcript of the lost hearts tv episode #the wikipedia page for TKO; daniel hall’s biography on a dc website; dms from a few months ago where i talked about this with a friend #the sandman netflix #the sandman #the sandman meta #unity kincaid #lucienne the librarian #lucienne the sandman #lucienne and dream

[gourmet-trash]

this is probably gonna be less cohesive than the silly shit i usually post but i cannot stop thinking about it! as always highly, highly self indulgent.

So over the course of the last few months? Years maybe? Human time is ridiculous, frankly. But for however long it's been, it's obvious that they've developed some sort of function in their dysfunctional little group. Corinthian wouldn't say family, because they're not. Not him or Gadling, at least. And frankly Desire is closer in the bloodline, but they're all still tiptoeing around that point.

Well the rest of them are tiptoeing. Corinthian has made several very loud, very clear threats to indicate exactly where he stands on that front. It's one of the few things he and Dream readily and wholeheartedly agree on, actually.

Not the point.

The point is that whatever the hell it is they have, it's something. And it's...good, actually. Caring for things is something Corinthian knows he doesn't do well; it's either not at all or far, far, too much. To a point where it's usually better to shove it back down into the 'not at all' category. But the Walkers have wormed their way under his skin and burrowed too deep into whatever sort of heart he may have for him to deny that he keeps them there.

Sure, he's technically supposed to be doing the work of a Nightmare, pushing other humans to confront their (outrageously well founded, it turns out) fears of dentistry or some shit. But instead, he spends most of his time pushing the Walkers to overcome their fears of other things.

"Why the hell wouldn't you get that scholarship, Rosebud? I've seen the stuff you've written, and what you end up writing in the Library, and it's better than anything those other hacks would submit. Their prose is fucking awful."

"Jed, so help me God, if you spend one more day moping about that boy who looks like a damn toe, I'm gonna make him disappear so you might finally forgot about him!"

He figures he's all right, since Dream hasn't shooed him back out of the Waking World yet. Though there was a close call when he finally figured out about the whole "stabbing the immortal" thing. Apparently having explicit consent still wasn't enough to stab a guy? Ridiculous.

Gadling still lets him, of course. It's their thing.

It's also the only reason he continues to put up with the amount of stupid shit Gadling always feels compelled to talk about. Definitely the only reason.

"Stop making that face at me," he says without turning his head back towards the bar, instead watching Jed hurry to the back to get his bookbag out of Gadling's apartment. With a fucking key, mind you, because they're finally locking the damn door.

"Not sure what face you mean," Gadling lies, and sure enough, when Corinthian finally turns back, he's smirking at him. That annoying expression that says Gadling knows more than he should. Or, at least, that he thinks he does, and is wrong, which is more likely. Really.

Corinthian clicks his tongue, annoyed, and takes another sip of his beer. "You know, I think I remember you being less annoying when we met."

Gadling laughs outright at that. "Oh, really? Because that isn't how you acted."

"Didn't say how much less annoying."

Still chuckling, Gadling leans across the bar and kisses his cheek, because he's a pathetic sap. And Corinthian lets him, but only because why shouldn't he accept the attention of his hot bartender?

"I think it's sweet, is all," Gadling says when he leans back, of course after he's out of easy biting range.

Corinthian would roll his eyes if he had any. "What? Telling the kid to get his shit? Rose is gonna be here to pick him up any minute now."

Gadling is smirking at him again. "So?"

"So?" he repeats, scowling across the bar. "They're meeting that Lyta woman for dinner, and if Jed waits for Rose to get here to get his bag, she's gonna get distracted talking to you about some school shit, and then they're gonna go sprinting out of here late."

The way Gadling's expression softens does not make him any happier to be having this conversation.

"I know, Cor," he says, eyes crinkling in the corners, crows feet he's had since the fucking Middle Ages creasing the skin.

"Then why the hell are you--" the bell chiming over The New Inn's door cuts him off, and sure enough, Rose walks in, checking her watch as she goes. "Hey Rosebud," he calls, grateful for something else to talk about. Or at least someone else to talk to.

"Oh, hey! Is Jed ready?" she asks, looking around the pub.

As if summoned, her little brother -- who has gained several inches in height and will probably need new pants again, Corinthian realizes -- comes barrelling down the stairs and into the main room. "I'm here! I'm ready!"

Rose relaxes, smiling at him, but she turns towards the bar regardless. "Oh, by the way, Professor! I wanted to ask you about that--" "Rose, come on! I'm hungry!" Jed protests, pushing her towards the door.

"Ugh, fine! I'll email you, Professor!" she says waving at them both.

Despite all his previous urgency for dinner, it's Jed who turns around at the last minute and rushes back to the bar.

Corinthian raises an eyebrow. "You forget something kid?" he asks, only to find two gangly arms hooked around his waist in lieu of an answer, squeezing briefly but tightly.

Before he has a chance to figure out why the hell he's getting hugged, much less move to ask (or return it?), Jed is already rushing back out after Rose, calling over his shoulder, "Bye Uncle Cor!"

And just like that, they're out the door, bell jingling behind them, the chime of it ringing in his ears longer than he's ever heard it ring before. Corinthian doesn't even realize he's been staring, dumbfounded, at the spot where they'd last been until there's a warm hand on his forearm, seeping through his jacket and up to his elbow, drawing his attention.

Gadling's expression is soft again, but he can't find it in himself to be irritated by it. There's no room. Not when something else has started bubbling in his chest, effervescent and sharp and too hard to make sense of for him to try right now.

Gadling doesn't say anything, but when he leans across the bar again, Corinthian dips closer, feels lips against his forehead and warm, warm, warm.

He'll pick it all apart later, he knows. Tear at the nuance until there's nothing but shreds and doubt left behind. And further down, tucked away and rarely looked at, he suspects the Walkers will unknowingly bandage all those little shreds back together until there's nothing left to do but accept the way they've rebuilt their world and built all of them (him?) into it.

Whatever the hell it is they have is something good. And maybe even better than that.

[ ← prev ]

#I JUST DON'T THINK HE WOULD KNOW HOW TO DEAL OKAY? #fucking sad monster man getting called 'uncle' by his favorite child #he's going to use hob's credit card to overcompensate for his feelings #yes they live in a little apartment but maybe jed WANTS a basketball hoop? #hobrinthian #hob gadling #rose walker #the corinthian #jed walker #the sandman #fanfic #long post #again i'm so sorry for the length of these things

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

So since watching The Sandman on Netflix, I've been struggling to comprehend how exactly Dream works with regards to his realm and also how exactly dream vortexes work. But after thinking about this entirely too much, I've come up with something that makes sense in my head.

So after reading a fanfiction, there was a particular sentence that gave me the idea to think about the Dreaming and Dream in terms of like gravity. You know those pictures of like a sphere causing a dip in a plane as a model for gravity, the theory of gravitation and all that. So I'm thinking that it sort of makes sense that Dream would be like the point in the Dreaming that everything else there revolves around. But also, since Dream is still the Dreaming, everything in the Dreaming that revolves around him by nature of being in his gravitational pull, to differing extents, is still part of him. So Dream is like the highest concentration of Dreams in the Dreaming and so has a gravitational pull.

I thought of this and then realized that it makes even more sense when you consider that he is the prince of stories and I remember in one of your posts, you mentioned that by his nature, he can't help but pull everyone around him into a narrative.

Then I was also thinking about dream vortexes. I don't have quite as developed idea on this, but I was thinking about what Fiddler's Green was saying about reminding everyone that humanity should always be more real to people than dreams. Most of my thoughts on this are very jumbled, but I'll try my best to try to put it into words.

So the reason that Daniel was able to take up the role of Dream of the Endless was because he spent so much time in the Dreaming before he was born. So he was human, alive, and also from the Dreaming. The thought has occurred to me that perhaps a dream vortex could be capable of taking on the role of Dream of the Endless, but that doesn't quite make sense. Then I remembered the bit about destiny defining free will, death defining life, and dreams defining reality. So if dreams define reality, such that reality will always be more real than dreams, then there would be danger in reversing that. So since a dream vortex brings down the walls between dreams, it makes them more real than reality. So of course a dream vortex could not ever take up the role of Dream of the Endless because they are by nature the opposite of Dream. They make reality define dreams by being from the Waking World with the powers that they were born with.

I have no idea if any of this makes sense, and I do only have limited knowledge of the comics due to being unable to get my hands on them yet, hopefully I'll be able to read them soon. I'm well aware of most of the spoilers though. Anyway, I'm sending this ask in hopes that you can make more sense of my thoughts than I can. If this makes no sense at all or I've like missed something in my very scattered understanding of the comics or something, feel free to ignore this or call me an idiot. But I would like to hear your thoughts on this, I quite enjoy reading your meta posts. Idk hopefully this is worth reading.

oh i'd never call anyone an idiot even if i totally disagreed, fiction is what people make of it, whatever that means to them

but yeah i can have a go at straightening this out for you! (or at the very least sharing my own opinion on this stuff)

(i'm, actually also gonna put a readmore on this, bc wow this got long. hopefully interesting though)

so let's start with daniel. he's, yeah, half dream by nature, he says as much. (which, in the comics is due to lyta having such a long gestation in the dreaming, in the show they've explained it as the entire pregnancy was a dream, which honestly i like better and think makes more sense for what he is)

similar to a dream vortex in that he has innate control over some aspects of the dreaming, and can navigate between dreams while asleep

but different in that vortexes are human. (or, you know, in the dcu they have been alien before, but they are of the mortal population, they're not dreams)

(rose as a vortex who is also part endless is the first of her kind, and even that was manufactured)

gilbert's theory on why vortexes exist, is that they remind the endless that the mortals who dream are why dreams exist, not the other way around. they are naturally occuring phenomena, dream has no control over them, and while they pose an inherent tragedy for dream, they are also that humbling force

(i do wonder if something like this exists for all the endless, since death takes human form for one day every century, to remind her why she exists, and that's described as the price she must pay for being the barrier between life and death)

(dream's price is that there has never been a vortex he has not loved, and never one he hasn't had to kill)

daniel, on the other hand, is something new. as far as we know, he's unique, and he's certainly not a natural phenomenon. half human, half dreamstuff. and even then, he didn't ascend to dream in that state - loki murdered his human side. he was fully a dream by the time morpheus died. and daniel's also unique in being an existing being who ascended to endless. we know it can be done, even without the former endless dying - dream asks destruction why he never passed on his sigil, if he didn't want to be destruction anymore. destruction tells him that he didn't want to condemn anyone else to this fate, and the concept of destruction doesn't need a master to exist. but most of the endless are still in their original forms - the only other who isn't is despair

and this is where we get into my own headcanons (though supported by some canon evidence) - we know when an endless dies, that loss leaves a hole in reality that needs to be filled. gravity isn't a bad metaphor honestly, because that's what happened in overture - only one facet of morpheus died somehow, which shouldn't be possible, because he's only one being, just in many different images, it's like saying the you in one particular photo is dead, but the you in every other photo taken of you is still alive. but the universe has to do something with that weird glitch, so it dragged every other facet to where that facet died, to try and get one of them to plug the gap. but once they're there it becomes evident that that wasn't necessary, and also impossible, they're all the same being

and it took me a while to figure out how that happened and what makes that different to when morpheus died for good. but i think the key here is in tales from the sand (the first issue that gives us nada backstory). and it tells the story honestly to what the dream we know remembers. but it's told as a folk tale that has become a rite of passage between the men of a certain tribe. and at the end of that issue, it says this is one version of the story. the way the women tell the story is very different

and i think about how there's a dream for every single species and culture out there. why would dream's story be confined to earth? and what is dream, if not an amalgamation of stories?

so my best guess is that the important story beats, the things that actually hugely affect every single dream, those are consistent across every facet. they all found themselves in some tragedy that let to their death, for example. but the details of the story? those change. it's like translating a story, you can do your best, but you can never get every detail exactly right. the dream of an alien species halfway across the galaxy is not interacting with earth specific people. but they're having similar experiences

(and this means that the kinder nada story exists somewhere. just not from the human dream)

and that's how one facet can die, but it's also the first time a single facet has ever died - normally something like that is a big enough story beat that it should be happening uniformly. but it didn't, this story ended in death where no other story did, and that glitched the universe enough to pull every other facet down the plughole

back to despair, all that considered - i think when an endless dies normally, they will reincarnate, but they have to essentially reincarnate from scratch. it's gonna be like when they first came into being, and it's gonna be messy and a difficult transition (it is said that that was hard on her)

daniel gave dream an opportunity he wouldn't normally have. he puts his duty before everything else, so even if he was pretty suicidal all the way through, he's not gonna do anything that would endanger the dreaming. and his death would do that, because it would take the new dream time to acclimate to their new responsibility, and people would get hurt in the meantime. but daniel is an existing being, who dream can explain things to, give a dreamstone to as a guide. and because he's half dream (and dream's appointed successor, he did that in season of mists), when the universe registers a hole where dream should be, it reaches for the convenient being already present, before it has to resort to forming a new one

all of which is to say - if anything, daniel's kind of the opposite of a vortex. manufactured perfectly to take over the heart of the dreaming while causing as little damage as possible, vs natural phenomenon that if left unchecked will tear the dreaming apart

dream, though. i think dream and vortexes are very alike. like, the whole thing with the heart of the dreaming and that constant debate over what it is, is that the dreaming has a lot of hearts, there is no singular center of gravity. but dream is one. dream's palace is one. fiddler's green is one. and vortexes also become one, once they become active

all of those things drag other dreams and stories and dreamers to them, but most are in stable ways. vortexes are not, and there's nothing dream can do to make them stable. so to the detriment of everyone involved in this situation, they're going to collapse the entire universe into a single dream, getting bigger and bigger with every night they spend asleep

and dream may be stable now. but i don't know if he always was. because he's spent billions of years working on his control, this is something we get in hints throughout the series and something tom sturridge talks about in basically every interview - the amount of power he wields over people's minds, and being literally constructed from the collective subconscious, if he doesn't keep a tight lid on that at all times, it will explode and it will hurt everyone. in the comics whenever something happens that makes him lose a little bit of that control, it immediately impacts the state of the dreaming, and every single person in existence will dream about whatever dream is thinking about

we call him emotionally repressed but to an extent he's got no choice, if he lets himself feel something without his hundreds of layers in the way, everyone else will feel it too. he's pulling them all into the same dream

this may also be why dream appointed daniel rather than letting a new dream form on their own - it's very possible that dream right at the start of his life was very similar to a vortex. less destructive, perhaps, but extremely emotional and easily influenced by anyone around him, and putting those emotions into dreams before he learned how to not do that. and that's not something he wants to inflict on the dreaming

#hopefully this answered at least some of your questions i went on a couple tangents here about things i wanted to talk about #but you're always welcome to send in a more specific ask if you want me to talk about something i missed #the sandman #dream of the endless #daniel hall #sandman comic spoilers #mine #meta #ask

[abronzeagegod]

ETS WIP Chapter 12: Here's The Problem, It's a Big One

[first]|[more]

"How do you know I'm the real one?" Aeth asked Lyta as they looked down at the dead body of the nightmare.

Lyta looked at Aeth. "Really?"

"There are weirder things out there. I can be anyone! Anything!"

"There's only one of you and you're it."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because the Aeth I know and love doesn't have a body that looks like a shed skin and eat and consume people. And you came first."

"But-"

Lyta cut off their existential crisis with pure, simple, concrete statement. "You are you. That's how it works. This thing is not you because it couldn't be by virtue of being itself."

"What?"

"Exactly," Lyta said firmly.

"But-"

"Nope."

Aeth clearly wasn't allowed to have a moment of self-doubt with Lyta around. Not about their nightmares becoming them.

"Why is my apartment so cold and covered in snow?"

Lyta finally faltered. "That's a longer story."

Several minutes later when Aeth had recovered enough and get into a shower, with Lyta outside cleaning up she explained.

"My magic font was all rage and vengeance and with this Swwarm app doing something weird to everyone is was super mad, I was super mad, and I was basically overflowing with magic. When I finally snapped out of whatever was happening I raced over here," Lyta explained as she tried, and failed, to mop the snow up.

"Why did you choose rage and vengeance?" Aeth asked loudly from within the shower.

"I didn't really, I built a font and kind of had to figure it out."

"Why is your rage cold?"

"Look, we can get into this all day later, and I'm happy to talk about this with you, but there's a whole thing with this App that seems terrible and I'm covered in magic power, and your nightmare got out. This all feels bad."

"I was looking into it before... everything," Aeth said as they finally turned the shower off.

"What did you find out?" Lyta asked from her position outside the bathroom door. She had given up trying to clean up the snow. She hadn't fully managed to desummon her sword and it wasn't helping so she just kind of gave up and leaned against the wall outside Aeth's bathroom.

Aeth exited the bathroom with a towel around their head and a fluffy bathrobe on. Whatever they said was lost on Lyta.

Even though it wasn't an especially sexy look, or anything even remotely revealing, Lyta was still a bit stunned. Aeth was here, they were back, they were looking cleaned and better, and that made Lyta so inexplicably happy.

"What? Do I have something on my face still?"

"No. You look fine. I'm just happy to see you."

Aeth moved quickly into their room because suddenly they felt very hot despite the freezing temperatures in the apartment. "As I was saying. I went looking into the app and it's all very suspicious."

"Suspicious how?"

"It basically has no listed creator, team, company, or anything that would indicate it was actually an app that was made."

"As opposed to what?"

"A virus."

"To like harvest data or something?"

There was silence before Aeth came out in their favorite worn overalls and black tank top. "This is my new crazy idea, so hear me out."

"Always."

"I think this app is a ritual, something to make people tense and on edge."

Lyta stopped to consider it, and to consider Aeth. "For what purpose?"

"Chaos? Maybe? Or to feed off our anger or something."

Lyta frowned, "I don't know this feels like we're missing something."

"I have notes I was making, some of them are still open on my phone."

"You remember what they were?"

Aeth shook their head. "I don't everything has been a bit fuzzy the last couple of days."

Lyta frowned. "Just be careful. I still have a terrible feeling about this whole thing."

Aeth went to find their phone, itself a small task, since 3812 didn't use the thing and Aeth couldn't remember where they left it since the whole vent started. When they did eventually find it underneath the the dining room table.

They reached for their phone, put in their password, and things immediately went wrong.

A purple-pink tentacle reached out of the phone screen and swiped at Aeth.

They quickly dropped the phone as the tentacle drew blood. The moment the phone hit the floor another three tentacles drew themselves out of the phone screen and started to flail around madly to prevent anyone from getting close.

Lyta, without thinking, summoned and threw a frozen spear at the phone. The fractal blade cut the device in half and embedded itself in the floor.

"What the hell?" Lyta asked.

Aeth rubbed the back of their hand. The cut wasn't that bad. Their heart was pounding though, and wasn't showing any signs of slowing down.

"What do we do now?" Lyta asked. "Is there somewhere we can go? Someone we can talk to? This is getting so far out of hand that I don't even know what to do."

"I have one idea. It might not be the best idea though."

"Am I going to hate this?"

"No. But it might be awkward."

Several minutes later, and inside of Lyta's car, that mercifully hadn't been ticketed or towed, Aeth gave their friend directions.

The drive was the opposite of pleasant. It was deeply terrible actually. More so than usual it felt like no one was able to drive. The road rage was heightened and Lyta was holding on to the wheel with both hands and a grip that could crush glass.

They were cut off constantly, with people driving recklessly and distracted.

Lyta's grip on her anger was tenuous at best, if it wasn't for Aeth being next to her she might have lost it and succumbed back to the anger spiral.

The drive took entirely too much time, but they finally made it.

Their destination was a small, cozy looking house. It felt like a home.

A small child runs out of the house to greet them as Lyta parked the car in front.

"Hey!" she screams in the bright voice of a happy child that can only communicate the sheer level of happiness via screaming. "Sir Lance Corporal wanted to see you! He's gonna be so excited to see you!"

"What the fuck is happening?" Lyta whispered to Aeth.

"It's a very long story, but this is a place where we might be able to get something to help us out."

i have a kofi if you'd like to leave a tip to encourage me to write more

#eldritch tech support #everyone has magic! #and everyone has problems some of which are more dire than others

[mathiwrites]

the justice league's moms' book club's guide to vampire slaying, a martha kent, alfred pennyworth, atlanna & hippolyta fanfic

Chapter 4 - Hippolyta

The surface holds no fond memories, only enemies. She dares them to hear of her return and encourages them to come find her. Nothing would make her happier than to settle old debts. It’ll help work off the nerve of being here—it does not feel good to hide this from Diana, but her daughter had disobeyed her. The Amazons of Themyscira are not to leave their home of paradise. She had long come to terms with the existence of Wonder Woman and her plight to liberate man. The problem is—

Hippolyta had broken the rule first. Over a century ago, she had come to the land of man and played her part in the World War. She does not talk about that time.

She had asked the others for secrecy. While she trusts them not to flaunt her arrival, she cannot promise that their children would not be obliged to tell Diana. How can she justify being here? 

“Lyta!”

Atlanna’s voice is a siren song, even above the water. Her smile is bright and after all these years, she has barely changed. She is, and always will be, the one who got away.

“My darling,” Hippolyta coos, pulling the other Queen close. She leans in, a breath upon the other’s rosy lips. “How I have missed you.”

Atlanna slips a finger between them, silencing her friend. “I am married now and we do not share.” But she embraces her anyway. The two of them have survived far too much to let this come between them.

“Surely, it’s not too late to challenge that man of yours.”

“Unfortunately, it is. I’m fond of him, Lyta. Truly. He takes care of me and my children, both of them.”

It feels like they are girls again, meeting for the first time and gossiping between one another. Except, at the time, Atlanna had been fond of another man and he had hurt her. If she hadn’t disposed of him herself, Hippolyta would have waged war in her name. 

“Fine,” she sighs. “Antiope will be so disappointed.”

“How is she?”

“Same as always. That’s the beauty of paradise, it’s everything we ever wanted. Why look for change?”

The look Atlanna gives her is incredulous. “And yet, here you are away from the island you swore you would never leave for… what, exactly?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are as beautiful as you are irritating?”

“Mhm. Someone needs to keep you humble, your highness.” Atlanna smirks, turning on her heel and crooking her finger for Hippolyta to follow. And follow she will. 

In her old age, and in the secret lives she lives, it’s hard to find others who will understand her, much less challenge her. Much less other regents that she can stand. She loathed Atlanna’s usurper, that foul man—the pinnacle of his gender. 

She trails after her old friend, mischief on her lips and wondering if Atlanna will ever change her mind about the questionable decision to love a man. Until then, she will shower Atlanna with the adoration she deserves, and the admiration that can only come from a true friend.

“Now, tell me while we travel. What was this book about? What are we to discuss exactly?” Hippolyta asks, hooking an arm around her friend’s shoulders as they head towards Atlanna’s rental. 

“You are impossible!”

***

Her complaints and her disdain for the world of man are endless. She once thought that this place could not get any uglier, and yet, Man finds a way. Hippolyta ignores most of the sites, flipping through the book she claims to not have read. 

Despite it all, there is a flutter in her belly, like a thousand flying pegasi. She is nervous to meet her new friends. What will they think of her? How will she like them? Will she be trapped in making conversation because she does not want to offend the life her daughter has built here, away from her? It has been so long since she has left the island.

Atlanna reassures her that everything will be fine and she will have fun, even, but Hippolyta has learned to keep her expectations low. This way, she can be pleasantly surprised, and the inevitable disappointment will not hurt as much. At the very least, she gets to spend time with an old friend.

The drive up to Martha Kent’s farmhouse is unsteady, unpaved and dusty. Her home is dwarfed by the corn fields and the sunflower fields. It’s beautiful, truly. The distance between this place and the city reassures her. They won’t be interrupted; the quiet is reminiscent of Themyscira in the night. 

Hippolyta nearly flies out of the car once it’s parked, eager to stretch her legs after the long drive. She waits for Atlanna, then marches up the driveway with grace and determination.

“Atlanna, Hippolyta! Oh, should I be calling you your highnesses?”

Before Hippolyta can answer, Atlanna gently smacks her and tells Martha, “No need. Lana is fine, and Lyta as well.” 

Hugs are exchanged, no matter how awkward, and the human woman beckons them in. Hippolyta doesn’t know what she expected from the mother of the famed Superman. Even the Amazons have heard of him. They have seen him dart across their skies, but he has never noticed them through the veil of their magic. Martha Kent is older and she is clearly a working woman. Her sleeves are rolled up to the elbows, and her hands are as rough as a warrior’s, though a lot less scarred. While Atlanna and Hippolyta are free from the signs of age, Martha wears her imperfections with pride, and for that, Hippolyta finds her even more beautiful.

There is a strange moment where she reaches out, and cups Martha’s cheek. Her blue eyes search’s Martha’s brown ones; they speak without exchanging a single word. Through a touch, Hippolyta expresses gratitude and empathy for all that she has given to this world. The women who still live on these lands are the strongest of their kind. 

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Martha says softly, smiling up at her penpal.

Atlanna seems to understand as well, for she mirrors the happiness and nods at them both. Then, she motions to the last remaining member of their book club. “Lyta, this is—”

“You,” snarls the Amazon Queen. Her pointed finger contains all the curses in the world as she directs it to Alfred Pennyworth.

#my fics #dc comics #dc fanfic #wonderfam #wonder woman #hippolyta #aquafam #atlanna #martha kent #alfred pennyworth #batfam #superfam #older characters #parental figures

[branmer]

@themuggymuggingmug​ tumblr refuses to let me reply to this ask so i am reduced to this asdkjsad. i can't give you a specific number on that, but i think they are pretty significantly stronger. humans are supposed to produce the most powerful telepaths out of all the aliens iirc, and it takes a whole group of minbari telepaths to block bester (i mean it also takes a whole group of human telepaths to trick him in another episode, but blocking is probably easier than say... hacking his mind so he sees something completely different from actual reality)

I’ll put this under the cut because it got long

I will take this opportunity tho to talk about a couple of telepath/minbari headcanons I have. The first is that the narn telepaths were pretty powerful, perhaps as powerful as human telepaths, and that’s why the shadows targeted them for destruction. Also kind of vibe with the idea that the ancient Narn might have figured out telepaths were a danger before everyone else and got wiped out for their bother.

Second is that each of the different alien races have different psy connections/talents aside from differences in power. My reasons for this are a) the centauri have this weird precognition shit going on (which i feel must be tied to telepathy somehow but idek) and they also have stuff like the emperor’s telepath companions who are all linked with each other even out of line of sight and light years away from each other which is … weird and not something we see even in human telepaths except maybe Lyta?

And b) we have the minbari telepath in Legend of the Rangers, Dulann, who sees visions/remnants of the dead crew of the ranger ship through his psy talent. In a couple of episodes human telepaths mention feeling the acoustics of the room through their power and I sort of see this thing Dulann does as an augmented version of that. So idk I had the idea that maybe the Minbari, despite being weaker generally, also have this specific way of connecting that allows them to see… echoes in a place I guess or something anyway. (on a side note i have ideas about how this might make Minbari telepaths good trackers, which is one of the ways the warrior caste use them in bmwf)

We don’t see any telepaths from other races unfortunately :(( so who knows if we would have seen other random psy powers (or if my ideas would have been totally jossed), but I vibe with this headcanon because it a) makes sense of these differences we see and b) works with the vorlons having created telepaths or interfered/experimented to encourage/guide their development. The minbari weren’t quite what they wanted (what use is seeing dead people to dealing with shadows eh??? I mean the brakiri would love it but not the vorlons) but the humans were exactly what they wanted - powerful, adaptable, and easily augmented (as we see by Lyta going from p5 to p-kosh-knows-what)

#TUMBLR IF YOU EAT THIS POST I WILL COME TO HQ AND UNHINGE MY JAW AND DEVOUR THE ENTIRE BUILDING WITH STAFF INSIDE #as always feel free to disagree with my headcanons they are simply that: headcanons and i am not an authority on anything #except my own clownery #i think ive discussed some of these elsewhere before idk

[dstufabtstufr]

Some more backstory stuff and relationships I have

I do not have a tulkun because I missed my ceremony to my special one for being future T'shaki from being captured at 6 years old by the sky people, i would have met her when i got back except for the fact that she was kiled and payakan was blamed for it. It is something I am relentlessly bullied and mocked for especially by Aonung. Her name was Tunne'lyta, lyta for short.

Technically I'm not blood related to Tonwari and Ronal but they try their bests to make it feel that way. T'sireya has always felt like a sister to me and is my sister no matter what blood says. Aonung is the worst out-of all of them he has always made it known that I will never be related to him that he never wants me to be, it seems like he had always hated me and I've been by it really hurt for a long time even before I left and continuing after I came back, he's always been an ass.

Roxto is a good friend to me even tho he is just as close friends with Aonung. But isnt mean to me like Aonung.

Me and Jake are pretty close I see him in a father way especially after the war. He always knows how to comfort me and gives great advice to me in my times of doubt and worry.

Neytiri is the closet person I have to a mother and we have a strong bond. She has always known I would be close to her and her family ever since she heard me defending lo'ak and neteyam after their fight with Anoung and his friends. But she seen me as family during and after the war because of the way I fought for neteyam. She truly does she me as one of her children.

Tonowari is another person I kinda see as a father. I know he cares for me alot. When I was missing every year annually he would have a big sreach for me. I can tell he loves but has a hard time showing so I got used to the small things he does to so it. Like listening to my stories, gives me soft eyes and hugs me.

Ronal is a completely different story from all. I know she cares for me but definitely not as much as her own child like tonowari and the sullys do. She is nice to me but doesn't love me and I am fine with that because it's a mutual feeling.

Lo'ak isnt like a brother to me he is my brother no matter what blood says. We can confide with each other abt our deepest feelings and not be afraid of judgement at all. We are also each others wing man's cause he likes t'sireya and I like neteyam.

Kiri is a really close friend and we love each other alot she is a great person to be around even with her sassyness but we bounce it off each other.

Tuk is the cutest thing ever and she is like the little sister I never had. She is really sweet and love to play tag and hide and speak with me.

T'sireya is a very close friend like kiri I'd say they are my 2 bestfriends but not as close as my brother lo'ak.

Neteyam is my soul mate through and through. We know exactly how to treat each other and sometimes it feels like we are one because of the love and trust we have for one another. He is a very big gentleman and is very sweet to me. Even Neytiri believes it, she told us one night how she thinks we are the more intense soulmates call the soul " The story goes ewya made one soul so beautiful and so loving that's when all the other mates and lovers even seen or thougth about the soul they would fall out of love because they knew they'd never have such a deep and intense love like the soul So ewya decided to to separate soul into 2 different bodies which is very very rare to find the other half of And I think that You 2 just so happened to be the soul that is finally reconnected."

Only after the second war with the Skype people were I saved Neteyam does Aonung start treating me nicely it was kind of weird at first but I really appreciate it it's nice actually having a brother.

My daily (unless it's the weekend) chores are getting up really early and going out on the water to scout out good hunting spots by using tracking techniques to see what animals are going threw certain places and when it is good to hunt there.

Once I get to my dr I tell lo'ak who is completely u understanding and wants to know more abt nature or whatever I can remember of her. The 2nd biggest reason I told lo'ak other than I trust him the most is one would believe him and he wouldn't be able to prove it which we joke abt in private all the time.

Once we all get back to the village after the war. I decided To go flying to clear my head, while circling around this one small island I see someone getting dragged out the water by this pink thing I go to land on the island right next to the rocks they are on to see what is happening. It's spider and quartich. I become in raged with knowing that miles just saved his dad. I wait till quartich leaves to offer miles a ride back to the village. "It's a far swim" i say with the best fake smile ever " plus we should properly meet now" "thanks..." "Nal'rhi" " oh thanks Nal'rhi"

[lananiscorner]

The Sandman rewatch - episode 7

So I like to do this thing where, if I didn’t consider a show a complete waste of time and if it does have an actual arc spanning the season, I watch the season twice–once as a binge watch and then once more episode by episode, because it helps me notice things I didn’t notice at first, especially in cases like this where I’m almost entirely unfamiliar with the source material.

Anyway, any and all chronological thoughts and ramblings about episode 6 of The Sandman beneath the cut, because spoilers.

Well, we’re starting this episode off on a lovely note. Rose’s dad can get fucked for all I care.

You know you’re messed up when the anthropomorphic personification of Despair tells you that you’ve gone too far.

Oh, so the whole business with Nada was Desire’s fault too? I guess there’s one in every family…

Rose has guts going straight from “sure, I’ll pay you” to “you’re not hiring by any chance, right?”

It’s nice to see Lucienne actually being wrong about something for a change. Also, I wanna know what’s residing in Abel’s basement. lol

Wow, Dream’s castle is looking nice again. Took him barely any time to fix the place up, huh?

Aww, Matthew is volunteeering to help out Dream by watching over Rose in the waking world.

Lyta and Rose’s banter about the annoyance of getting asked for ID or not XDDD. Relatable.

I remember watching this episode for the first time and being very impressed by the way they had handled setup and payoff in this show, and honestly, I still am. Quick story writing lesson: setup and payoff refers to introducing a plot point/item/character etc. early in a way that doesn’t disturb the plot and immediately scream “hey this is is important—remember this!” in spite of it becoming important later. If done right, the audience will go “oh wait, it’s plot point/item/character X from that earlier scene/episode!” when they get to the important part. This show is excellent with setup and payoff. So many things that may seem like filler/fluff actually make sense later. Good job, writers!

I love how Unity was so worried Rose would just be like “you’re crazy, I’m leaving”, yet the first thing Rose does when finding out that she’s got a great-grandma is hug her. ;_;

Omg the serial killer get-together! I love how this starts out like a totally normal conversation, then they mention the Corinthian and you might think “okay, maybe they’re talking about a different Corinthian or maybe he is like… a super famous chess player or something whenever he’s not murdering people”… and then she pulls out the picture of an eyeless murder victim and calls it exquisite and your brain just screeches to a halt like “what the fuck did I just walk into?”

And I just realize where I remember Rose’s friend Carl from—he was the doppelgänger on The Witcher!

Jesus Christ, the Good Doctor. XDD She’s not crossing the line, she’s dancing back and forth over it.

Oh hey, the fates are back! This can only end in tears.

“Beware dreams and houses”--that’s gotta be the most useless advice ever lol.

Unity just casually dropping the “oh btw, our family is loaded” bomb XD.

Lmfao, Carl here just casually seducing a walking nightmare.

Oh, that’s a picture of the girl from two episodes ago! Judy, I think?

“Any unusual behavior.” - “Said the pumpkin to the talking bird.” Lmao, please don’t ever change, Matthew.

I swear to god, Hal looks exactly like one of my former co-workers. I had to look up his actor to make sure my ex-co-worker hadn’t gone to Hollywood.

Also, I adore Zelda and Chantal. Fun fact: there were exactly two sub culture groups for girls in my middle/high school (in Germany, we don’t separate those two)--you either went with the fake tan bitches, or the goth rock punks. The latter were infinitely more inclusive.

I genuinely do feel for both Rose and the foster care case worker in this scene. There’s only so much you’re allowed to do by law and it’s just an all around shitty situation for everyone.

That said, the moment she mentioned the money, I knew where this was going.

Gilbert is amazing. And so much of his demeanor makes sense once you know who he really is.

Oh great, the Corinthian has found his people. This cannot end badly for anyone, nope.

Rose just casually strolling into Dream’s throne room and you can tell from the look on his face that he’s going “aw damn, so much for her not being an active threat—I might actually really have to end up killing this girl”.

Yep, Jed’s foster father is a piece of shit. Now we know where those 800/month are going.

#The Sandman #episode 7 rewatch #kind of a live blog I guess

[fairfaxleasee]

DADW

So this is another prompt I accidentally gave myself for @dadrunkwriting from my OC Questions on Twitter:

Cullen/Lyta

Modern (Coffee shop) AU (this totally got away from me, I'm going to have to follow up later...)

Lyta Adaar glared at the abominations that were being passed off as croissants in the display. She'd made the mistake of trying one during one of her breaks and they were not fit for human (or dwarf, elf, or Qunari) consumption. Well, they might be fit for Qun-adherent Qunari consumption but they weren't fit for anyone who should know what a croissant was supposed to taste like.

"You know glaring at them isn't going to make them taste any better, right?" Dorian, the owner, had appeared at her right shoulder with a wink.

She shifted her glare from the 'croissants' to him, "Nothing is going to make them taste better! We shouldn't even have them here! It's -"

"Now, Lyta, dear - trust me. I know how you feel about the pastries, but we're a coffee shop, not a bakery."

"We could be a bakery if you'd just let me bake!"

"And be denied your riveting company?"

"...you don't want my company, you just want me to deal with customers you don't want to flirt with and bus tables."

"Exactly! Riveting company. And great teamwork."

She narrowed her eyes slightly more at him, but that just provoked an even bigger grin and another wink. "We'd sell more of these if they didn't taste like cardboard!"

"Lyta, sell the coffee. Coffee is just ridiculously expensive water with a much better profit margin than -"

Lyta cut him off with one of the sugar cookies from the display (which somehow tasted worse than the croissants).

After several minutes of sputtering, glaring, and drinking entire glasses of water in one gulp, Dorian said, "I'm tempted to dock your pay for that cookie..."

"That wasn't a cookie and you know it!" Lyta opened the drawer where she'd put her pack at the beginning of her shift and pulled out the tin she'd brought for this debate. "These are cookies." She opened it to reveal a pile of her snickerdoodles."

Dorian sighed, "Lyta, we've been over this before -"

She shoved one of them in his mouth.

He chewed for a few seconds and said, "Throw out those abominations in the display and put these in instead. Congratulations, you are now our official baker. Wait here while I adjust some prices a tad."

Lyta shook her head slightly but decided to focus on finally being able to get rid of what was (somehow) by far the worst-tasting item in the display (just how the company Dorian had been buying from managed to mess up sugar cookies still didn't make any sense to Lyta). She turned her head at the sound of the door opening and called out, "I'll be right with you."

"That's fine. I'm... not quite sure what I want to be honest."

Lyta froze at the voice.

No. It couldn't be. There was no possible way for it to be...

As slowly and quietly as possible, she shifted to peek out over the counter, only to see the golden-blonde curls, honey eyes, and chiseled jaw of Cullen Rutherford.

Ahhhh! What is he doing here?

She let out a slightly terrified squeak and tried to duck under the counter (even if with her back pressed against it she could tell her damn horns were sticking out over the top... again!). She'd seen him around the neighborhood and was fairly certain he worked nearby, but she was entirely unprepared for the man she had a crush on just walking into her coffee shop.

Of all the coffee shops in all of Thedas he just had to walk into mine...

"I... uh... maybe you can help me... Lyta?"

She looked up to see Cullen leaning over the counter and directly down at her.

He knows my name? HE KNOWS MY NAME?!?

It took a few minutes of them staring at each other in utter silence for Lyta to remember Cullen had asked her a question.

"I... uh... I'd love to... I mean I'd be happy to, but it's my break so I'm just going to go and not stare at you, so bye!"

She stood and tried to make a run for the employee's area, but before she'd taken her first step she felt a tug at the back of her apron. She turned to find Dorian with the worst grin imaginable on his face.

She shook her head at him.

His grin got worse and he nodded, winked, and inclined his head to Cullen. "Lyta, dear. As your manager and friend, I'm not going to allow you to take a break right now. Help the gentleman out." He pushed her in front of Cullen.

"I... uh... I can't. I need to finish the display," she tried to move towards that.

"No you don't." Dorian stood her in front of Cullen again.

"I need to bus the tables?" she tried (Dorian hated bussing tables).

"No you don't. You want to help the intrepid Commander here."

Cullen flushed slightly and scratched at the tip of his nose, "Please, the title's not necessary. But I do need a bit of help ordering. I admit, I feel like I should be getting something other than just a black coffee."

"My dear Commander," Dorian said, "I would never allow anyone to leave here with just a black coffee. Now Lyta will get you all sorted out. Won't you Lyta?"

"...you're doing this on purpose!" she hissed at him.

"Of course I am. You can thank me in your wedding toast," Dorian didn't bother to try and whisper. At the word 'wedding' Cullen coughed slightly and looked away, but his flush had become a full-on blush.

"I... uh..." Lyta's mind spun as she tried to come up with something she could say that would get her out of this. "I'm suddenly feeling sick?"

Dorian chuckled, "Well, you do seem quite, shall we say hot under the collar. But in my expert opinion, the only thing to be done is to talk to the utterly gorgeous man you've been infatuated with since you first saw him walk by months ago."

A grin was pulling at Cullen's lips. Lyta focused on glaring at Dorian in an attempt to forget about Cullen's lips.

Dorian clapped her shoulder, "Now, Lyta - unless you want your strapping Commander to walk out of here with the most expensive coffee we serve and a sugar cookie, you're going to help him with his order."

"You wouldn't!" she all but shouted in horror.

"Oh, I very much would." Dorian shot back immediately. "But seeing as I'm such a wonderful human being, I'll let you give him one of your cookies on the house. Well, in exchange for a plus one to the wedding, but for now on the house. Oh, and I'm an autumn so do keep that in mind when you're considering color schemes. Now, take the man's order." Dorian made one final adjustment to the angle of her shoulders and walked away.

Lyta tried to laugh but gave up fairly quickly. Cullen was still grinning and looking at her very intently which was far more enjoyable than it should be. After several attempts, she caught his gaze and held it as she asked, "So, um... what can I get you?"

"Could I have your phone number?"

She laughed. "I, um, yeah - I think I could manage that."

She really hoped she'd be able to remember it by the time she slid the napkin over to write it on.

#dadwc #da drunk writing circle #fanfic #dragon age #cullen x adaar #cullen/adaar #cullen/female inquisitor #cullen x female adaar #modern au #coffee shop #dragon age cullen #cullen rutherford

[windona]

for prompting night: Seg El gets to meet Jon and Jordan Kent.

Those who were in Kandor had been frozen in place for an eternity.

There was little way to measure time, not when everyone was kept in place and unable to even blink. Seg had the fortune- or misfortune- of having glanced up at the dome as stillness fell. The towers of Kandor looked exactly the same, as did the hair of one person tall enough to remain in Seg's field of vision. Others were distantly in it, but unable to turn his head or focus his eyes more they had remained blurs.

The one way Seg had known time was passing was from the uncomfortable feeling of another presence rifling through his mind. Brainiac occasionally made some musings, and asked some questions to see how Seg's thoughts reacted. Mostly, it was as if spindly fingers had slithered into his brain and poked around before withdrawing. Physical pain could not match the anguish of being utterly helpless to such intrusion. The only warning he sometimes had was of the hazy image of Brainiac himself beyond the dome.

One day, other images flickered beyond it.

There was a man in a suit with features blurred, fighting at a speed and strength any Sagatari would envy. Then Kandor jolted. A wave of light passed over the city, and the outside blurred.

Seg instinctively moved his eyes, then his head, to keep track of where they were going. Then he realized what he had done.

"We're free!" a voice exclaimed. Turning around, everyone hugged the person nearest to them. There was laughter as people wept.

Seg grinned, searching over everyone before heading to the area the High Council would be. He had hoped Nyssa and Lyta had made it out, but if he hadn't he knew they would be trying to get control of the situation. It had taken longer than he expected with everyone hugging each other and asking each other where friends, relatives, and acquaintances were. Sagatari were trying to set up stations for people to ask, but were whispering into their communicators and asking as well.

As he made it to the High Council chamber, he saw a familiar face. "Dev Em."

"Seg El. There you are. Primus Zod is waiting, there's a message for you." Not even military posture and the gun at Dev's side could harshen the delight in Dev's smile.

A message! Seg practically ran to the communication station.

Jayna stood there, and rose her head at his arrival. Her eyes were pinched and worn.

"Well, I can see how delighted you are." Seg walked over and grinned. "I think that today's celebrations will outshine any Nova Cycle."

"For now." Jayna gestured to a hologram viewing area. "Seg, it was one of your relatives who saved us from that monster."

Frowning, Seg walked over to the controls. Hovering his finger over it, he said, "Jayna, you know how many relatives I have."

"How many you had. I'm afraid we were in stasis for quite some time."

Cocking an eyebrow, Seg accepted the call to see a hologram with a man and two boys. The man had the features of an El, wore the colors of an El, and had the El crest brazenly displayed on his chest. Yet Seg did not recognize any of them.

"Hello grandpa," the man said. "My name is Kal-El. I am your grandson. And these are- well. My sons, your great grandsons, Jordan and Jonathan."

The two boys waved with hesitant smiles. One kept his eyes on the ground while the other was a smidge too stiff.

"I-" The shock rolled over Seg. "I have a grandson? And great grandchildren?"

Kal-El shrugged and smiled. Right, stupid question.

Family. He had family, and they were proud to be Els.

"Well then when are we going to eat together? I don't know how the food situation will work just now, but we can figure something out." Seg grinned. It was a day for celebration. Tomorrow he would mourn all the time lost with the others he loved.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Kal-El said.

The one looking at the ground finally looked up. "When Brainiac took you, he shrank the city as well as froze it. Dad unfroze it, but you're still shrunken. Grandpa's hologram is trying to work out a solution, but we have to also find a place to put you guys, and the DoD would be nervous about that so we're keeping you a secret-"

"But dad has a friend who might be able to shrink us so we can come in," the other finished.

"See you in about an hour," Kal-El said. The line cut off.

Jayna looked at him. "We have a lot of work to do."

Seg nodded. "But I have a feeling we'll have some help."

She grinned. "What is it you Els like to say? Always believe in a better tomorrow? I think it's time to build it."

#prompting night #Seg El #Jayna Zod #Kal El #Krypton #Superman and Lois #this is OG timeline where 'if Adam hadn't time traveled' #so Seg doesn't know about Kal-El and Jayna has no idea about her evil grandson #yet

[erin-gilberts]

susan/talia and lyta/g'kar for ship bingo!

We'll do a Babylon 5 blue instead of a Ghostbusters green for this one!

Susan/Talia:

OTP/OT3+ / I'd die for them - Maaaaan, Susan and Talia were my original OTP. I had gone hard for other fandoms as a kid, but never before Babylon 5 did one particular pairing occupy so much of my energy and braincells. I found Susan and Talia at such a critical age (12/13) that many of the things which have become crucial to who I am manifested because of Susan and Talia - they were what motivated me to look up fanfiction and to begin writing it; they were also what led me to discover the real gay fanfiction if you know what I mean while I was realizing more and more I was gay.

I spent so much time writing them new endings and I think it's because Babylon 5 was one of the first pieces of non-children's media I was super into. Children's media was relatively uncomplicated at the time (it's changed a bit since then - children's media nowadays has gotten way bolder about the way they tell stories), and Babylon 5 was like...my first piece of adult media where endings were frequently messy and bittersweet with no good answers. I loved it. I hated it. I loved them. As deep as I've gone into other fandoms, Ghostbusters included, you just don't ever let go of your first OTP.

They make me unwell (aka I'm gone for them) - I think they had so much potential that could've been so beautiful and powerful and fascinating. An actual relationship with Talia might have forced Susan to confront that she does need to unlearn her fear and hatred of telepaths because some of it is not rational or helpful and it actually hurts Talia that Susan hates and fears such a fundamental part of who she is. After Talia was killed off, Susan kinda stagnated on the telepath thing and never had to soul search about it or address it again. And Talia similarly could have had to come to terms with the fact that she can't / doesn't wholly hate or blame PSI Corps for doing their best within the system they were handed. Both of these women could have developed such peace with their complicated pasts by virtue of having each other.

I want to kiss them - on god they are,,,,so beautiful fsdfsdfdsfsdfs I'm pretty sure the reason I'm now dating a Russian is because Susan Ivanova so fundamentally shaped my taste in women

I'm sending them to superhell - More like I'm sending JMS to superhell for the way he wrote them off, but also YEA STRAIGHT TO SUPERHELL for how much they've left me unhinged, unwell, and undone for years

Lyta/G'Kar:

I love them / I'd die for them - I feel so universally positive about this ship and it's rare as hell for me to feel that way about a M/F ship. Like I said on another one of these - I tend to only be really invested in a "brain go brrr and silly when I see them" kinda way when it's a sapphic ship. They're just good for each other in a very uncomplicated sorta way. I love how G'Kar initially sees Lyta more or less how everyone else does - as a useful tool more than a person, see: when he suggests breeding to create Narn telepaths - but when she responds poorly, he reflects and learns and approaches her on the ground of equals moving forward. He's so willing to grow and change after all the times he dug in his heels and committed himself to grudges and I just sdfsdfsdfs I'd die for them.

Would/do read fic about it - I wish there was more fic about it, to be honest! I believe just about all of the Lyta-G'Kar fics I've seen have come from you, and I've read every one, but I wish more people saw the potential in this ship. They're very different people united by similar experiences and they would learn so much from each other and grow together.

Relationship goals - Lyta and G'Kar are exactly what each other need by the time they go off together at the end of the series. G'Kar, after being embroiled in war and conflict and the aftermath of war and conflict and awfulness for so long, is seeking out the seeds of a more vibrant future - a rebirth, a new start, a fresh approach to life. Lyta, having been isolated and used and discarded as it suits people her entire life, needs a home and someone to build a home in, as much as it might pain her to admit it. He would cherish her so hard and she would be that much-needed, long-wanted light in his life.

I really need this to be canon - I think Lyta's canon ending did her so dirty. There was no leadup to what happened to her as far as I'm concerned. I need one universally positive thing to happen to Lyta and if this is it, I'm all for it. No more bittersweet endings, no more character development through trauma, just a UNIVERSALLY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR HER FSDFSDFSDFSFD.

#erin is talking #asks

[relictraveler]

hmmmmmm. thinking about b5 today. i think its like the closest to My Tastes Exactly a tv show will likely ever get but heres some points i think it couldve stood to improve. under the cut because its long as hell and so i dont spoil my friend whos watching it with me still lol. feel free to come and yell with me in the notes

love all the characters but i feel like jms had too many to fulfill too many specific plot functions. he really should have combined some and it wouldve fixed the issue of so many characters having to choose between complex inner psyche development and actually contributing to the plot. specifically i feel like marcus’ plot/dev could have been given to lennier and explained away as something he simply hid or was under oath to hide from everyone else. it wouldve cut down too the time jms needed to introduce marcus and used it to flesh out lennier and potentially other characters. love the british bastard to death but it was the best option i think. also ivanova should have been given the “telepathic equivalent of a nuke” plot after talia left. some kinda hand wave excuse where she gives her the ironheart powers. lyta i think has the issue of having literally no relationship with any main character at all besides zack which gives her the impression of being totally seperate from the rest of the show except when they need her to do telepath things. ivanova getting the plot instead fixes this issue. giving it to ivanova would have given her more depth to explore beyond her traumatic past relationships and more to do in the plot beyond being the commander when sheridans away

franklin got some amazing fucking development in season 3 but god with the s4 compression he got to do fuck all for the main plot beyond being an errand boy with marcus. i think the easiest solution would have been to let his dad be a major contender on earth’s side of the war. it doesnt need to be a huge facet i get that they were pressed for airtime trying to fit two seasons into one. even just a few scenes where franklin struggles with it wouldve been a huge boost for his character

i havent seen this part of s5 in like 6 years but god. garibaldi’s ending in s5 fucking sucks. i feel like jms accidentally wrote himself into a corner giving garibaldi a visible family in sleeping in light, operating under the assumption it was a quick character wrap up and he wouldnt have to develop it more, but then whoops s5 happens and now he was to write in how garibaldi famous rebel and wildcard somehow settles down into a nuclear family. in my perfect world his ending would have wrapped up either one of his two biggest plot threads, neither of which the edgars industry ending really addresses: his relationship with sinclair or his relationship with the psycorps. i am more inclined toward the sinclair one because its simply a huge facet of his character jms never addresses and we never let garibaldi deal with the on-screen grief of having his best friend, the reason hes even on b5, the one who gave him a second chance at life, abandon him without a proper goodbye. this might get into fanfic territory but god i would have loved to see a subplot where as hes going through the trauma of bester’s influence he throws himself into figuring out how to go back in time with sinclair. ending with him finally reconciling with that trauma and going into the time rift with a tearful goodbye to everyone else. other option here also would just be to resolve the psycorps issue instead. i havent thought about this one too much but i imagine it would just be a mercenary arc where he systemically destroys the psycorps from the inside out and it ends with him inflicting some ironic fate worse than death onto bester as revenge fro the internal block preventing garibaldi from killing him outright

s5 main plot in general was shit i genuinely dont think any part of it was good enough to justify its presence beyond maybe like one or two episodes. telepaths got enough development and moral quandry episodes throughout the 4 seasons we did not need byron’s vampire diaries ass. also dont care for the centauri arc there we already know the ending and londo is literally already the most developed bitch on the show he didnt need a whole half season arc seeing unnecessary build up to the character ending we've already known about since war without end. i appreciate what s5 is trying to do because so few stories deal with the aftermath of the main plot like b5 does here but we couldve gone a different route. im not claiming to know what the correct answer here was but personally i think the bureau 13 thread would have been interesting. u know that thing sheridan brings up randomly in s2 and its such an interesting thing to his character and we literally never see it again. yeah i think bringing up a secret evil society within earth gov/psycorps after we dissolve the current gov would have been a really interesting plot. a narn arc independent of the centauri also would have been interesting. idk i know jms was burnt out as hell and i appreciate the character dev we did get in s5 so im not too cranky about it but god the potential

#personal

[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

August Picks

And so we’re back for another end of month wrap up! Looking back I feel like I didn’t watch too many new things; I finished a few shows that I talked about last month (the 100, Blood & Treasure to name a few). I guess it’s good I watched less-maybe I went outside more? 

Spoilers....

DERRY GIRLS SEASON 2

You all already know how much I love this show, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m starting with it I was SO EXCITED to hear that season 2 was coming to Netflix August 1st and I tried my best to drag out watching the episodes. But it’s really really hard when there’s only 6 of them (a half hour each) and they’re just SOO GOOD! So I finished in about a week, but I guess that’s better than a day. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I enjoyed season 2 more than season 1. I laughed so hard (and got a little teared up in the last episode-especially afterwards when it was over and I discovered that next season won’t start filming until 2020!) I LOVED the stories this season and how the adults got more of a major plot-line in each episode. At times I laughed harder at them (at the movie theater, Gerry making the sandwiches at the funeral). More people seriously need to check out this show. It’s hilarious and a quick watch that you won’t want to end. 

KRYPTON SEASON (SERIES) FINALE

Syfy’s Krypton ended a few weeks ago, but I was holding off watching it until last week. I know I had said this in my last review, but this season was tough for me to get into, but once I did then I was really enjoying it. However, once we got to the last couple of episodes I was losing interest again. Plus, hearing that the show was cancelled made it harder to finish. SPOILERS! So, we knew they had to defeat Zod and it made sense that he is now under the Black Mercy (like Lyta was), but obviously this is only a temporary fix. He’ll definitely find his way out; he’s smart. Then Brainiac and Doomsday are still an issue, so while things are safe for now things didn’t exactly get settled. Now I get they thought they’d get a third season so things would have to be resolved later, but this still feels like a lot. Of course I’m upset that we won’t see Jor-El getting rescued AND the next season build up with Brainiac taking him to Earth to create his very own “Superman” seems really interesting. But we won’t see it. Meanwhile Nyssa is off world and Lobo is back (he was funny so I was happy to see him again). Like I said, I’m not surprised the show got cancelled, but I think a third season would have been good. What do you think?

CATCHING UP 

ARROW

It might have been MONTHS in the making, but I FINALLY caught up and finished Arrow season 7. I was only 3 episodes behind, but it took me a very long time to complete. My main comments on this season was that the beginning was good and the rest was eh. I liked Oliver in the prison and while I was done with Diaz very early on I was happy to see that story-line resolved. Now, while I did take a very long time to watch this season in entirety (and that might be the main reason I feel this way), Oliver being in the prison feels like A LONG time ago (and a completely different season). When I look back on this season I really just think of him and Emiko who I was not a fan of. We lose Thea and welcome another half-sister who we learn knew about the sinking of the Queen’s Gambit before anyone else. The constant back and forth of trying to save Emiko got very repetitive and while I know Oliver as the hero could not give up on her fully, I wanted him to. I was also not a huge fan of the flash forward this year. At times I did like it, but I think the show did fine that one season when there was no added plot-line. The ending to this season was a disappointment. I was very curious how things with Felicity would end seeing as how she is not going to return for the final season. But overall it felt very much like a SERIES finale, which makes me worried for the last season. Will it just feel like a filler? How many people will return? Will we even be in Star City? Taking Oliver away like that sucked and I really hope he gets reunited with his children.

THE FLASH

As a big fan of all the CW Arrow-verse shows this past season I had a hard time getting into most of them and got VERY behind on episodes before just giving up on watching altogether. While Arrow was one that I was just a couple episodes behind for most of the year and Legends of Tomorrow I binged all at once the Flash and Supergirl dropped off my watch-list. This was sad for me because I had enjoyed these shows a lot, so now at the end of summer we’re giving it a second go! This month I began the 5th season of the Flash and am currently on episode 5? I only remembered the first 2 episodes, which shows you how long ago I stopped watching. I remember not being a huge fan of Nora West-Allen and this is mainly because they are making the actress seem a lot younger than she is. The mistakes she makes and her overall attitude feels better suited for a pre-teen/young adult rather than someone in their twenties. I’m still holding out hope that this changes as the episodes progress. I really love this idea of having Barry and Iris’ daughter in the past (because it feels very much like something Barry would do) and how they are still addressing the headline of the Flash’s disappearance. I feel like maybe as we uncover more about Nora’s past I will enjoy her character more. This season I like the return to the CCPD and Iris’ blog. Sometimes the alter-ego jobs get pushed aside and I am happy to see the return of Barry and Iris in the field as themselves. With this addition to her character plus the fact that Nora is being completely rude to her, I feel this is the most I’ve like Iris in a very long time. I love how she stands by her decision of keeping Nora’s powers a secret even though she hasn’t done so yet, and the fact that Barry is with her. I’m glad they’re finally taking her character to places outside of STAR Labs. I think Caitlin’s story-line of finding her father is really interesting as well as the origins of Killer Frost. This reincarnation of Wells will take some getting used to, but I already like his dynamic with Ralph (baby giraffe) and of course Cisco. (They are always the best.) I’ll continue watching and see if my feelings change, but I do feel that I’m getting invested again, which makes me happy. 

MOVIES

Descendants 3

Should I be embarrassed that I am putting Descendants 3 on this list and I am a lot older than the intended audience? Nope. While this DCOM came out at the beginning of the month, it has replayed on Disney Channel dozens of times already so I feel I have watched it fully or in clips many times. Out of the entire series this movie is one of my favorites. I like the songs and the overall plot. The idea of having one of the hero’s kids become a villain was genius and really said something about people’s innermost character. My main problem with this part of the movie was that I wanted more repercussions for Audrey. In the end she almost dies and they bring her back and everything is good because she apologies. But her intentions seemed real at the start of the movie. Could they vanish that quickly? (Now I know what you’re thinking...this is a kid movie. Of course she needs to learn what she did was wrong. But I think it would be even more interesting if she didn’t or struggled with it. Either way she should have had some sort of punishment. I don’t think they should have welcomed her back so fast.) I really liked meeting new characters from the Isle of the Lost, the new addition of VKs in Auradon and Hades. I wish all the new VKs would have gotten more screen time as well as Hades. From the promos leading up to the film he seemed really important and the actual BIG BAD of the movie. I would have liked to see a little more of that. But I did really like learning he is Mal’s dad. I loved seeing Uma, Harry and Gil working with the Auradon group. Again, this drove the message home about working together now matter what your background. There’s probably a lot more I could talk about but these are really the main moments that stuck out to me/my main concerns. I know I’ll be singing the songs for a very long time.  

Miss Austen Regrets

As a Jane Austen buff, it is probably very surprising to hear that I had not watched Miss Austen Regrets (2008) until last week. I knew about it, but am always cautious when it comes to a film adaptation of the author’s life; especially after Becoming Jane (which yes is a great movie, but not 100% accurate). It took learning that Tom Hiddleston was in the film to make me watch it. (I know, but just look at him. He’s got such a baby face.) :)

But a young and always good looking Tom Hiddleston should not be the only reason to watch this film (although it is a great reason). The movie focuses on Jane’s later years as she completes Emma. She visits her niece Fanny who is deciding who she loves and how to know what love is. In her early twenties, Fanny seeks advice from her aunt as to how to spend the rest of her life. Should she settle? Or wait for the man of her dreams? But what if he’s right in front of her? Her aunt, the author of romances, should have the answer, but in fact she believes she doesn’t. You get a little insight into some of Jane’s past loves and lots of echoes to Persuasion (one of the novels published after Austen’s death). I had just finished reading Persuasion for the second time and watching this film so closely behind it mirrored that tale of maturity, friendship and romance very well. Taken from the remaining letters between Austen and Fanny the movie feels authentic. Of course nothing can be 100% but I think Miss Austen Regrets does a very good job. 

BINGEING

THE WALKING DEAD

And so the summer binge continues on. Gotta say that I feel pretty obsessed with this show now. You know you are watching a lot when you start to have dreams where you are fighting walkers. (And yes, that recently happened to me.) Currently I’m in season 5. Just finished season 4 this week, which I think might be my favorite so far. I really enjoyed their time in the prison and while I thought the episodes with the illness dragged at times, once the Governor returned it really picked up again. (Although I didn’t love the stand-alone episodes focused on him.) Then watching the group be separated and anticipating the reunions between them all was great. Terminius definitely seemed too good to be true and I am happy that (right now at least) it seems to be resolved. Now we are heading to Washington. I like seeing the new characters that I know will be a part of the regulars. It does make me nervous about some of the originals. Losing Hershel was tough. I’m not ready to lose too many more. 

#tv shows #tv show reviews #derry girls #netflix derry girls #derry girls season 2 #Krypton #krypton syfy #seg el #jor el #arrow #oliver queen #oliver x emiko #arrow season 7 review #The Flash #the flash season 5 #nora west allen #descendants 3 #miss austen regrets #jane austen #tom hiddleston #The Walking Dead #Binge Watching #bingeworthy #what you should be watching

[stormscream]

Conflux, Pt. 5

Anafenza stared up at the tree and shivered.  She pulled away from the Commander’s comforting embrace.  “I…I don’t know what else,” she began, shaking her head.

Stormy interrupted.  “You mentioned a curse.  The vines choking out your tree.  They’re red vines, bloodred vines; what is this curse?”

Ana shook her head.  “When I killed her – the other Jessika – I wasn’t in control of myself.  I was under the control of these…other mages that call themselves ‘Nemesis.’  I was trying to parley with them; I didn’t want more of my friends to get hurt, and so I approached them using an amulet of theirs we had confiscated.”

Stormy blinked in disbelief. “Nemesis.”  She shook her head.  “It’s always a Nemesis plot…”

The Commander looked over at her.  “You recognize the name?”

Stormy laughed once, humorless.  “Yeah,” was all she said, and left it at that.

Anafenza continued.  “I just wanted peace…and they rewarded me for my troubles by using magicks to gain control of my mind, convince me the only way to peace was to silence my friends, starting with Lyta.  I was attacking her when Jessika got in my way and I…”  Ana trailed off – they’d heard this part already.  “I was still trying to kill Lyta when Jessika expired; this cloud of dark aether erupted from her body and surrounded me, subduing me and breaking the magicks that were driving me.  I woke up later in the infirmary…I knew what had happened, I was aware of everything.”  She wiped her eyes – she hadn’t noticed she’d started to cry – and continued.  “I woke up with this scar on my body, the same scar Jessika had born.  Her ‘bloodvine,’ as it were.  Since then, I’ve…heard a strange song…I’ve seen her memories…I’ve begun to use strange abilities she could use…and I’d swear I could feel her presence with me.”

The Commander tilted her head.  “What is aether?”

Anafenza nodded towards the tree.  “That dark fog rolling off the tree?  That is aether.  It’s…what everything is made of.  Aether flows through everything, everyone.  It channels to us from the lifestream.”

The older Jessica furrowed her brow.  “That would explain the strange energy readings, then.  This aether, do you have your own signature of it?  A pool of aether that is unique to you?”

Anafenza nodded.  “That’s how I understand it.”

The other woman nodded. “Ana, this strange energy reading everywhere, this ‘aether.’  It is very similar to your own.  That makes sense; you likened the tree to your own life force.”  She pulled out her scanning device, waving it near Ana.  She held it over the girl’s scar; the steady beeping and whistling of the device suddenly increased in frequency.  “And the scar you ‘inherited,’ it’s practically leaking this aether into the chamber.”

Stormy snapped her fingers. “She inherited that bloodvine curse from her world’s Jessika!”

“Exactly.  And with it, it would seem, a very large chunk of that Jessika’s aether pool…which would then help anchor us all to this pocket dimension.”

Anafenza looked stunned. “You mean…I really have had a piece of her with me this entire time?  I thought I was going insane…”

“And it was that piece that allowed you to come here and join us,” Commander St. Peter continued. “Whatever this aether and lifestream are, they must have reached out to similar aetheric signatures and pulled us all together.”

Stormy shook her head. “Like the stars just aligned just right?”

The Commander shrugged. “Maybe?  But now…we know it’s that ambient aether signature that is sustaining this bubble.  Maybe we can use that to lock on to and get out of here…”

“But how do we get out? We’re somewhat limited on the resources available in here,” Stormy pointed out.

“We are, yes.  But I think I know a way.”  She tapped the arrowhead on her chest, and the small brooch chirped.  “St. Peter to Rafale, come in…”

There was static, before the three women began to just barely hear another sound cutting through. “…ter, this…have you…and unread…are you?”

The three women looked at one another, their faces immediately reflecting the same emotion: hope.

#ic #FFXIV #Aquarius #Stormscream #Rafale #Conflux

[margridarnauds]

6, 7, 10, 21, 23

THANKS AVERY

6. Answered here 

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in. 

Let’s have the SALT. (Mandatory disclaimer that my own personal feelings towards the SHIP does not inherently extend to the shippers, that I ship many dynamics that some people would call “abusive” given the ongoing debate over what “enemies to lovers” means, and that some dynamics here are things that I might have shipped under other circumstances, but things just...didn’t work out that way.)

Cats - I hated Plato/Victoria before I even knew that it was POSSIBLE to hate a ship that much. I always went with the Plato = Macavity theory to get that little skeavy dudebro off my girl. (Also, I’ll be honest, the whole “mating dance” thing is...such a fucking weird sequence anyway. Like, my ship preferences aside, ALW WHY DID YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SCENE WHERE THE CATS FUCK?) 

Pirates of the Caribbean - Jack Sparrow/Elizabeth. 

Harry Potter - Ron/Hermione. I never saw it, tbh, and they seemed to be pretty bad for one another, even in the books. The films just took it up several notches. 

OUAT - Captain motherfucking Swan. I hated that smug, greasy little motherfucker so much. So much. 

Star Trek Ds9: Jadzia/Worf. THERE. I SAID IT. Both sides brought out the absolute worst in each other, leading to an absolute trashfire of a ship that obliterated all in its wake. AND THEN WE HAD TO DEAL WITH THE FALLOUT OF THAT. EVEN AFTER THE SHIP WAS *DEAD*. Don’t mind me, don’t mind me. I’m cool, I’m cool. 

Carmilla - Tbh...Laferry. Never my thing. I know that her character development’s a BIG part of Perry’s arc and I fully embrace character growth, but it just. Left a bad taste in my mouth. And the way shippers used to treat Laflashdrive shippers back in the day. As if shipping a nonbinary character and a flashdrive somehow makes it hetero. (#LetLafBeaRobotfucker2k19). 

Les Miserables - You know what? While I’m on the Salt Train...

Enjolras/Grantaire. Now, there are plenty of ships that are probably more deeply annoying to me, but none are as prevalent as this one. And I might like them a lot more if they WEREN’T so prevalent. But as it is, it’s like a black HOLE that’s devoured the fandom, so that you’d think the entire fucking novel/musical is about these two. And. Maybe I shouldn’t talk given what I ship, but it isn’t even like they’re THEM at this point, they’re just two generic white guys in an “uwu” relationship. And I’m not speaking for EVERY single thing given that I have neither the time, concentration, or will to read every. Single. Thing. Made about these two, but it’s something I’ve noticed, though I’m not saying that I haven’t enjoyed SOME things made about them and the whole “You believe in nothing.” “I believe in you” is...good content. 

It’s like...you’re walking in the woods (there’s no one around and your phone is dead) and you see a brightly colored pink tree. At first, it’s great. A pink tree! You’ve never seen one of those before. You wander further into the woods, and there’s another! And another! And soon enough, you’re surrounded by pink trees, in a technicolored horror realm. Where’s the sky? Where did you come in at? You think you remember seeing the sun once, but NO, it’s another fucking pink tree blocking your way. There is no God, there is no ground, there is only a technicolored nightmare blocking your every move, drowning you in visions of Barbie-esque horror. 

Terra Nova - Skye/Lucas. WHY GOD WHY? Look, we KNOW I have terrible taste in ships, some of which have...questionable dynamics. BUT EVEN I CAN’T GET INTO THIS ONE. There’s no...mutual spark between the two of them, just Lucas creeping on Skye and Skye trying to get away. Also, since I’m here...Skye is estimate to have been born in ‘32-33, making her approximately 16-17 by the time the plot kicks into gear. Let’s be very generous and bump her into 17-18. Lucas? 2124, making him...oh, 25. Not the WORST age gap I’ve ever seen in my lifetime...but....questionable. Very questionable. And I know the series wants to have us believe that people grow up faster (see: The fact they actually think Maddy’s old enough to GET MARRIED. TO A SOLDIER. WHO IS REALISTICALLY IN DANGER OF MAKING HER A WIDOW,) but NO. Like, at my CURRENT AGE, with less than four years separating me from that age gap, I can’t see it. That is still at least 7 years of experience in the “real world” that she doesn’t have. He still saw someone with THAT MUCH of an age gap with him and WANTED something, whether or not she wanted it or not, and tried to PURSUE that something while calling her “sister”. Like, I can’t stop anyone from shipping it and I have a firm “ship and let ship” mentality, but....EW. EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWeWEEWEWEW. 

B5 - I’m in the same boat as you as far as...on one hand. Byron/Lyta makes me want to vomit, but also...our Teep OC does owe her existence to her weird, hetero white goth uncle. 

Star Wars: Han/Leia. Because, as we all know, cornering a woman before you kiss her is the love story of the generation. Han would have been better with Luke and Leia with Holdo. 

The Pirate Queen - Tiernan/Gráinne. I. Hate. This. Ship. 

His Dark Materials - Torn between Ruta Skadi/Asriel and Lyra/Will. Tbh, leaning towards the latter because while the former is AWFUL and signifies the quite frankly terrible writing decisions that distinguish the second and third books, at least it didn’t involve a badass, feral girl child becoming a dainty, submissive 50s housewife in the body of a 12 year old. “Oh, Will, I’ll do whatever you say, I promise. I won’t use my awesome powers unless you say I can, you’re so fantastic, Will.” Gag me. Also...they’re twelve. This doesn’t HAVE to be an epic, tragic romance, and the fact that their “kiss” (WHAT THE FUCK PULLMAN, WHAT THE FUCK, I’M NOT A PURITAN BUT WHAT THE FUCK) is the key to saving the universe? Really? Basically, they should have been friends. 

1789 - Danton/Solène. (I KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT I WOULD SAY, BUT NO. MY HATRED FOR THIS ONE MANAGES TO OUTSHINE IT.) “But Rachel,” you might say, “You’ve been very, very open about preferring anything to Ronan/Olympe” and that’s TRUE. But the Toho version managed to push my hatred of this one with The Scene, AKA “Go back to the kitchen, Solène and let the menfolk take care of this.” The French version didn’t even really have it as A Thing, he was just a customer. And the amount of time Danton spends with Solène is always directly proportional to the amount of spinal surgery she’s going to have. Now, I can’t exactly BLAME the two Japanese productions for doing what they did, because they have to appeal to a Japanese audience in the way they see fit. It’s an ADAPTATION of 1789, not a tour of it. But that doesn’t mean I have to LIKE it. And. Like. You know there’s no way THAT one’s going to end in a way that’s good for Solène. Either (1) he’ll set her aside for his family or (2) If they SOMEHOW stay together...the Reign of Terror’s looming. 

Also: Danton/Charlotte. No. No. Just. No. There are so many reasons why. But no. 

Ace Attorney - Maya/Nick. WHY SWEET MOTHER OF HETERONORMATIVITY WHY? 

10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

We’ve both discussed a lot about how...DIFFICULT it can be to write fic for something. There are a lot of things I love dearly but just don’t have it in me to write fic for. Ace Attorney is an obvious one, Mozart l’Opera Rock, Elisabeth (though I’m trying to work on that one), Les Miserables, Star Wars, Star Trek, B5....a ton more that I could mention but it would honestly take too much time. Words hard, reading still hard but slightly easier. 

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote? 

The first thing I ever wrote, when I was five years old, was (very heteronormative) fanfiction for The Stinky Cheese Man, where he finds The Stinky Cheese Woman, which now, of course, I recognize as my own attempt to write myself into a narrative from which I’d been excluded. Or something. I think my mom still has it buried someplace, lurking...

Also, @theocraindora at some point managed to get me to write at least one full Carmilla AU during the second season, when we both must have been about 17-18-ish, if my math’s not too dubious, and that was the first thing I ever actually finished for a long time, even though it didn’t ever meet my personal standards for publishing and is likely to stay buried. For awhile, at least. 

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Since I talked about PLP’s tragic backstory, time for something happier. Paradise Lost, which I’m actually pretty damn happy with because it was my first time working with something that’s not a historical piece, and it was honestly a treat working with Mira’s voice. I think that Mira really “clicked” for me as a character here. Like, “Yes, this is why she’s like this, this makes sense.” There are some times where you can really feel a character’s voice when you’re writing and you can get things out, and this was one of those very rare times for me. Not saying that it’s going to happen NEXT time, but this time, it was rather relaxing. 

It was honestly one of the smoother writing experiences I had? Like, it only took me about a day or so, from when we exchanged PMs to publishing it, which is pretty impressive, all things considered. I’m still not tossing out doing anything more with this world in the future, tbh. That and Goosefic were probably two of the easiest to just...get out. (WHICH. 92 HITS. GOOSEFIC HAS 92 HITS. THAT IS INSANE FOR A ONE-SHOT IN A SMALL FANDOM. HOLY SHIT.) 

(From your other ask!)

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

I’ve been WRITING fanfiction since I could hold a pencil and make scribbles.  When I was younger, I could write that kind of thing easily, the shame came later. 

Finding out that fanfiction EXISTED...was probably when I was about 9-10 and found Balto x Harry Potter crossover fanfiction. Which. In hindsight. Was pretty horrible, but my young self was CAPTIVATED because Balto and Harry Potter? In the same universe? IT WAS LIKE MAGIC. 

Astonishingly, I did not read M rated stuff until I was at least 15-16-ish. I kept myself remarkably sheltered and only looked into it when I became curious. And got over my weird hyper-religious phase. 

When I was about 12-13, I started to toy with writing myself, writing my own OC crossovers for Phantom Manor (the gother, European version of Haunted Mansion that was my special interest for. Ages). Carmilla when I was 17-18 was one of the first things I wrote a full, complete Thing for, even if I never published anything for it. And from there, I’d try to write things for both The Pirate Queen and Dracula, though both projects proved to be too ambitious and I ended up cutting them off, tragically, but they gave me the confidence I needed to get into 1789, which I DID publish something for finally, on the day I was taking my GRE because. Well. I had something else I feared more than a flame. 

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

I don’t know if this is one thing or five separate things in a trenchcoat, but here you go. 

I love how we can explore things that could never be explored in canon, for one reason or another; I love that we have an experience that we can filter according to what WE want, including trigger warnings, which is honestly a godsend to me. We talk a lot about the transformative nature of fanfic, and it IS, but also, the level of empowerment that comes with being able to take back a narrative that says “hey, you’re not supposed to be in this narrative” or “You’ll like what we put out and you’ll stick with it” or “Well, if you don’t like it, create your own” and say “Okay, I will.” And, obviously the comments are lovely, having that kind of instant encouragement, and in the small fandoms in particular, it’s VITAL, but I also don’t feel like they’re inherently mandatory or that readers should feel FORCED. But I do love that, no matter what, something you write can connect with someone from the other side of the world. Like, people can argue all they want about fanfic being valid or not, but MOST people who want to be professional writers never get that. And when you stop and think about how we’ve been changing the narrative for as long as we’ve had oral stories, that this is how storytelling was ORIGINALLY done...that’s very humbling. 

#janetcarter