#bc he's a kid who seems to be happy to say 'we' when it involves what is technically His Inheritance

[fahbee]

Theory: Why did Aziraphale agree to the Arrangement?

There's two moments in Aziraphale's and Crowley's history together that we haven't seen yet, that I think have the potential to change the way we see them and their relationship to each other.

They are: The Fall and the Arrangement.

This post is about the latter.

[Slightly edited because I completely forgot the Good Omens book states that the Arrangement began "somewhere around 1020".]

Here's what we know about the Arrangement:

It started around 1020.

By the time of 1601 it had been in place long enough for them to have used it "dozens of times". I take this to mean at least 30 times, but probably closer to at least 50 times. I assume that the upper limit is likely under 200, else I would have expected Crowley to say "hundreds of times" rather than dozens.

The parameters of the Arrangement are that they "stay out of each other's way" and "lend a hand, when needed." It involves both of them performing blessings and temptings.

Crowley proposed the Arrangement under the justification of convenience. No sense for both of them to be uncomfortable in damp places only to cancel each other out, etc.

Aziraphale rejected the Arrangement because he didn't want to lie to Heaven. This was centuries after Aziraphale already lied to Heaven in order to save Job's children, so we know the problem isn't with the act of lying itself.

From this, we can deduce that Aziraphale is willing to lie to Heaven/other angels when he considers the matter important and/or righteous enough, and that sparing himself inconvenient travel and accommodation, etc does not rise to that standard.

By 1601, we know that Aziraphale no longer worries about lying to Heaven ("dozens of times now") but that Aziraphale does worry about the risk to Crowley if Hell were to find out what they're doing. "They would destroy you." Yet this protest seems more like a routine warning than a truly serious objection, and Crowley rolls over it easily. "Nobody ever has to know."

While it's possible that Aziraphale could have changed his mind about the Arrangement solely due to decades (centuries?) of Crowley asking him to reconsider every time they encountered each other while on the job, that would be a boring waste of an opportunity for character and relationship growth. IOW, I don't see Neil choosing to write that Aziraphale finally decided to go along with the Arrangement just because he got tired of Crowley asking.

No, the better, far more satisfying choice is for something to have happened that changed Aziraphale's mind. And it couldn't have been something to do with the actual work of the blessing and tempting. In 1601, the job involves a few minor blessings and tempting a clan leader to steal some livestock - nothing at all like the life-and-death, killing-children-to-win-a-bet circumstances which led Aziraphale to lie to Heaven for the first time.

There has to be some other reason then for why Aziraphale grows comfortable enough with lying to Heaven that it doesn't even warrant a mention as a token protest in 1601. But what does merit a mention? "If Hell finds out... they'll destroy you." Crowley's safety.

So what could possibly be so important, so righteous, as to justify not only lying to Heaven on the regular, but also risking Crowley's very existence? What could have possibly happened to make the Arrangement, with all its attendant deceit, risk, and danger, something that Aziraphale willingly participates in, over and over and over again, for centuries?

My theory? He does it for Crowley's happiness.

We know that as far back as 3000 BC at the flood/Noah's ark, Crowley had no stomach for the death of children. 500 years later he defines himself as a demon who goes along with Hell as far as he can and killing Job's kids (both human and goat lol) is going too far. He not only refuses to kill them, he performs miracles to save them and return them safely to their parents. And before Aziraphale figured out the trick with the goats, Crowley was clearly determined to keep his actions secret from both Heaven and Hell.

I think Aziraphale finally agreed to the Arrangement in order to give Crowley an excuse to do good. I think something happened in 1020 to make Aziraphale realize that Crowley sometimes needed to do good, but couldn't allow himself to do good unless he had an excuse for it.

The Arrangement is just another dance between them, another ritual they perform for seemingly plausible reasons but which actually has a much deeper meaning behind it. On the surface, the Arrangement allows them to cut down on redundant and/or unpleasant tasks. It's true purpose though, in my opinion, is to give Crowley the excuse he needs - even if it's just to himself - to balance out his demonic work with good deeds. Either Aziraphale does his tempting for him and he's spared from having to do evil deeds at all, or he does his own tempting but gets to cancel it out by doing blessings on Aziraphale's behalf.

Does Crowley realize it, though? I don't know. Prior to s2 I would have said of course he does. But we know now that Crowley has a huge blind spot when it comes to Aziraphale. He didn't even realize how clearly, obviously in love with Aziraphale he was until Nina bashed him over the head with it. Aziraphale's motivations and feelings, especially as regards Crowley himself, seem to be a complete mystery to Crowley. It would not surprise me to learn that Aziraphale made up some flimsy excuse for why he changed his mind about the Arrangement, and Crowley simply accepted it and never questioned it further.

In conclusion, I think Aziraphale entered into the Arrangement for Crowley's benefit whether Crowley realizes it or not.

#Good Omens #good omens meta #about 'the arrangement' #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #aziracrow

[wwinterwitch]

safe space - steve harrington x fem!reader

summary: steve was afraid to admit his feelings for you, until the fear of losing you to someone else was stronger

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 1,895

warnings/what to expect: angst and fluff, insecure!steve, jealous!steve, mentions of alcohol, house party, kissing, the fruity four is featured bc why not, sharing feelings

a/n: this was also requested so thanks to the lovely anon who requested it!!

a comment and/or reblog is always appreciated

masterlist | AO3  

"Well, I'm gonna get drunk."

"Eddie!" Robin exclaimed.

"What? It's the only reason I came to this stupid party."

"I'll go with you then," she insisted, grabbing his shoulders to push him towards the backyard of the house. "I'll make sure he doesn't fall into his self-destructive tendencies!"

"You're being dramatic," he argued.

"Am I?" Robin asked. "Remember last time we had to drag you to Steve's car and you kept trying to get out, saying that you wanted to walk home 'cause the moon was pretty?"

"That was a one time thing."

"Well, this is me making sure it is a one time thing."

"Children," Nancy muttered when she saw Robin and Eddie walking away, still bickering. "Actual children."

"Yeah, I think we need to stop being friends with that many children. It's starting to become a pattern."

Nancy laughed at his comment as they both walked further inside the house. She could tell Steve was already looking for you, scanning the entirety of the place in hopes to see you somewhere.

The two of them went to get a can of soda each. Nancy didn't feel like drinking and Steve was, as always, the designated driver of the friend group.

"Maybe she's not here yet?" tried Nancy, looking up at her friend who continued to look around.

"She? Who– who are we talking about here?"

"Oh, right. As if you haven't been looking around like a complete maniac to find her," she joked. "Are you going to finally tell her?"

The answer was very clear. Despite having a massive crush on you, Steve would never in a million years tell you. He's better off dating random girls here and there that he's not really interested in at all. That's his new security system, apparently.

Because it's so easy dating someone you don't care about, and even tho Steve felt terrible for pretending with all these girls he had dated, they make him feel safe. He doesn't expect anything from then or their "relationship", because he just doesn't care. He doesn't get his hopes up, he doesn't get his heart broken.

But with you, things get complicated. He is going to expect something, he is going to get his hopes up, so he's inevitably getting his heart crushed into tiny pieces.

Steve can't go through that again. Even when him and Nancy are now very good friends and they both love each other in a platonic way, Steve could still remember how difficult it was for him to get over her. That relationship was terrible, and it left Steve thinking he wasn't meant to ever get his happy ending with someone else. It's just Steve. Steve the babysitter who's surrounded by kids. Steve the lonely guy.

So if he's not meant for serious relationships, why even bother? Might as well suffer in silence because it seems far more tolerable than having to suffer for someone else that doesn't want to be with you.

Though it was difficult, because even tho you didn't hang out most of the time, you happened to be one of the unlucky people in Hawkins that know about the Upside Down, which mean you have hanged out sometimes.

Your family is very close to the Byers, you and Jonathan practically growing up together, so ever since Will got missing you were very involved in the search, quickly becoming part of the group. You knew about what was happening even before he did.

So every time something Upside Down related happens, you'll be there. And Steve has to pretend like you're not the most beautiful girl he has ever seen, or that you're practically all he can think about whenever you're around. Problem was that you never seemed to show any interest in him that passed the barrier of a simple friendship. You treated him the same way as you would treat everyone, so he knew his feelings weren't reciprocated in the slightest.

It'd be much better if you didn't know about any of that, because that means you two would never hang out, making it easier for Steve to try not to think about you.

Nancy and Steve eventually found you. You were just entering the house with your group of friends, all of you immediately going to the backyard as you said hi to a few people along the way. Meanwhile, the two of them remained in the kitchen with their non-alcoholic beverage.

"For what it's worth," she continued since Steve wasn't replying. "I think she might like you back."

Steve looked down at Nancy, who was flashing a sympathetic smile at him. "I don't think so, but...thanks."

"Maybe you should try talking to her tonight and see where it goes?" she tried once again.

"Yeah, maybe...I don't know."

Nancy simply nodded, letting the subject go. Eventually, Eddie and Robin joined them in the kitchen. Robin immediately grabbed a can from the counter and put away the beer can she was holding.

"Thank god," she muttered. "I needed this."

Eddie grabbed Robin's unfinished beer, making sure to drink it after he finishes his. "Hey, Harrington. We talked to your girlfriend outside."

"She's not my girlfriend."

His friend smirked. "Well, the fact that I don't even have to say a name kinda says it all."

"She asked about you," Robin said this time.

Almost immediately, Steve's features soften and his eyes light up. "She did?"

"Yup. Asked if you we here."

"What? And what did you say?"

"That you are?" Eddie replied as if it was obvious. "She was all smiles and heart eyes when she heard that. Just like you're looking at us now."

Nancy immediately nudged Steve with obvious excitement. "I told you! Go talk to her!"

"Yeah, okay...yeah, wait– what should I tell her?"

Eddie scoffed. "You're the Steve Harrington. Isn't talking to girls kinda your thing?"

"She's different," he explained.

"So romantic," commented Robin sarcastically. "Look, just be yourself. Ask her how she's doing, what are her plans for the summer, invite her to dance...you know, basic human interactions."

"Everything will be fine," Nancy said, being the only one actually trying to be supportive and serious about this. "If she asked about you, it means she's interested."

Steve gave his three friends a look before finally deciding to do something about his crush for you. Deep down he was still scared, but talking to you one time at a party doesn't mean anything, right? That wouldn't hurt him (or so he hopes).

When he got out of the house and into the backyard, he struggled a little to find you because there were a lot of people at the party. Eventually, he spotted you, but his heart sank when he noticed you were talking with another guy.

He was saying something, standing very close to you, and he couldn't bare to see you laughing at whatever that guy just said. Almost immediately, he felt anger rushing though his entire body. This shouldn't be happening. It should be him the one talking to you, maybe saying some silly joke to get you to laugh because he loves your smile. It should be him the one standing so close to you, not...whoever that was.

And maybe Steve should've got back to the house and settle with the idea that you were already talking with someone else. That he lost his change of getting your attention tonight. But he didn't do that.

It was unclear to him what possessed him to walk towards the two of you, clearly interrupting your conversation. "Hi," he said very awkwardly.

At the sight of him, your smile instantly disappeared, wondering what the hell he was doing. "Uh...hi, Steve," you said. It's not like you're not happy to see him, but his approach was definitely unexpected.

"Thanks for keeping her company, man," he added shortly after, smiling at whoever it was that you were talking to. Then, he grabbed your hand to drag you away.

"What was that?" you asked, genuinely confused.

"I, uh...I don't know. Looked like he was bothering you."

"He wasn't."

"Oh, well...I just know that guy from around. Terrible guy."

"Yeah, I know him too. And he's actually really nice," you continued, looking more and more confused. "Is there something going on? Shit, please tell me we don't have to go through a portal again."

"No, no. That's not it."

"Then what is it?"

"I...I just– I guess I wanted to talk to you? It's kinda important."

You nodded, waiting for him to continue. Steve's heart was beating so fast, he thought he could actually have a heart attack any minute. To be a so called "ladies magnet" he has absolutely no game when it came to you, which completely terrifies him. It makes him vulnerable, which is the last thing he wants since the last time he allowed himself to be vulnerable his heart was broken.

"Well, I don't know if I was too obvious or not in the past, but...I kinda have a thing for you?"

Your face showed you weren't expecting that. "You do?"

"Yeah," he says, nothing but obvious relief in the way he let that out. He felt like the biggest weight was lift off his shoulders. "God, I mean...you are the only thing I can think about all day."

"Why– why didn't you say anything before?"

"I was scared," he shrugged, the look on his face made your heart melt. "As you probably know, I'm the worst at keeping a girlfriend. Thing is, I'm so bad at it because I never allow myself to get too comfortable, you know? I put a barrier up because I'm so scared to let someone in just to watch them disappoint me."

His confession was truly hard to hear. To know Steve had feelings for you but he never wanted to talk about it because he was already thinking you would break his heart without even giving you a chance. After what he said, you couldn't help but lift your hand up to his face, resting your palm against the skin of his cheek. It was adorable to see him lean into your touch, as if he has been waiting years for this to happen.

"Steve, I would never hurt you," you said, meaning every word.

"You promise?" he asked barely above a whisper. You noticed his voice slightly breaking, his eyes shinning a little more due to the few tears starting to pool in his eyes.

"I promise."

The smile appearing on Steve's face has got to be the most beautiful thing you've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. He couldn't hold himself back any longer, leaning into you to kiss you. You quickly melted into the kiss, gladly accepting it as his arms wrapped around you tight. His kiss was sweet, yet needy. He has been waiting for this moment for a long time, the kiss being a perfect indicator of it.

As soon as the he pulled away from you, he rested his head against the crook of your neck, hugging you.

At that moment you felt it. The way his shoulders would relax, his head resting on your shoulder, he was so at peace. He allowed to let his worries go as he pulled you close to his body, trusting that there's no safer place in the world than being in-between your arms.

And you hugged him back just at tight, hoping that would let him know you are a safe place. That you'll always be there to care for him and protect him. That the last thing you'll ever want to do is to see him hurt.

For once, he believed it. He believed he deserves to be comfortable and put his guard down. He does deserve to be happy with you.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #stranger things #stranger things x reader #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fic

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

I mean, seeing what the ISU Awards has become... do we really want Shoma (and Stephane) to be involved in that mess? It's so... self-celebratory, lol. The phrase "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine" comes to mind. Saw a FS fan who was at Zurich tweeted that the crowd don't even know or care much about the skaters when they were given awards... honestly even Stephane, a Switzerland citizen (!!!) chose to go to Tokyo this week to do dance classes and watch the Paris Opera Ballet. Anyway if people really want to watch a really good ice show, Daisuke's ice show KASSOUYA in Fukuoka was also running this weekend and they allow fancams... from what I can see on X/Twitter it's much better than AOI, sorry not sorry.

KASSOUYA seems indeed a wonderful ice show. The snippets look very cool. I wonder what brought them to allow fancams and if they keep it that way or only because they wanted to promote the show in sns 🤔 In Japan ice shows are growing. I am glad for every opportunity for the skaters.

In a way Shoma is involved in the award anyway. He was in the nominations, even if he didn't win. Not that this award has any sort of negative or positive impact on anyone really. I think Shoma would just deserve more recognition by the ISU. That's all, not that the award itself is worth anything. I guess nobody will be remembered for earning a skating award. Yet Shoma and Kaori not winning against Ilia when Ilia is here for two seasons and did get one title only feels odd. If it's solely on social media engagement well than Adam's backflip gained huge attention at Euros, Kaori's SP last season was literally retweeted by Janet Jackson herself, Livia Kaiser's FS was retweeted by Rachel Zegler and beside that it shows that ISU is not aware of what Shoma did for the sport. OPOI brought another crowd to figure skating. (SOI in the US just got canceled for the season for a lack of interest as it appears btw) But ofc this whole award show is playing into the hand of those ppl who always had a say in skating North America and Europe. Ilia's management is practically involved in the show, so winning an award two times in a row - one which was just invented for him last season - a devlish thought may come to mind 🙃

I think the crowd for an ice show is different than for a competition. At Nebelhorn Trophy usually the arena is more packed for the gala than for the actual competition. Those ppl there don't come bc of the names of the skaters, they come for a fun evening like going to the circus. I also went couple of times to Holiday on Ice, I was also at Disney on Ice (ice shows that come to my hometown are an easy choice to go to). At Holiday on Ice last year Papadakis/Cizeron were invited and I totally chose a date where they would perform in the show bc of them, however in the crowd most ppl didn't know who they were and didn't care. They liked their performance but you could see just a few excited fans. You can see by the reactions to the jumps (which are usually just doubles) that the cast performs there that ppl don't come bc of the sport but bc of the show. They would clap as enthusiatically for a double than for a triple. So I am not surprised the ppl didn't care much for the winners at Art on Ice, most ppl there probably didn't even know them but came for an ice show.

Stephane performed often on Art on Ice so I don't think it had anything to do with that, probably didn't rather fit his schedule. Makes you wonder though if he would have won if he would have performed there. Because very comically all winners were also present at Art on Ice...🙃

Maybe Shoma didn't win because he would not attend Art on Ice at this point of the season 🤔😂 just kidding...

I am not against those ppl that won at all, even happy for Deanna Stellato Dudek, she deserves the world as a role model. Just being the only Pairs skater to even get anything is showing how much ISU cares for all disciplines. Also the nominations of most categories just show that ice dance and Pairs have no value.

#figure skating #replies #skating awards #i am giving this award a lot more attention than i intended...

[funnywormz]

really random thought but i rlly like how lister is tough and brave and deeply masculine but he also has an empathetic and nurturing side to him and does some things that are traditionally considered "feminine". it doesn't come up a lot but when it does it makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside like man........ i adore him so much......... he's a rough and tumble messy gross little guy but he's also sensitive and sweet and caring and an artist <3 he might not always have particularly high emotional intelligence or know the right thing to say but he absolutely tries his best i think.

side note but i rlly like how he mellows out in the later seasons as well (like rimmer does too), it's just rlly sweet to see him become a little more gentle and try to take the feelings of his friends into account more often. like how in tpl he genuinely tries to encourage rimmer and comfort him when he's upset bc he cares abt him........ yeah it's kinda clumsy but he tries his best and speaks from his heart and it works! it's sweet

another side note. i think he would have been a great dad and it seems like a big part of his depression/feeling of lacking purpose in the show is tied up in him not being able to be a proper dad to any of his kids and it makes me so sad.......... i think he'd be great with kids and i can totally imagine him just lighting up and being so happy around them. yeah he wouldn't be a perfect dad by any stretch of the imagination lol but i know he would be so loving and try his absolute hardest. it makes me rlly sad that he never got the opportunity to be a parent to jim and bexley (and himself) :-(

also it would have been so funny to see him and rimmer try to be dads. i think it would be so fun if a little role reversal happened and lister was more of a "mother hen" type to his kids and tried to advise them against being like himself or making bad decisions (if "fathers and suns" is anything to go by, strict dad lister is a very real possibility imo), whereas rimmer is the "fun dad" who lets the kids have sweets when lister isn't looking and tells lister he doesn't know where they are when he knows full well they're in the cinema watching r-rated horror movies and covers for them when they cause trouble, bc he enjoys seeing them have fun and let loose in a way that he never could as a child......

of course, there is always the fact that deb and arlene raised jim and bexley, so for all we know this kind of thing may well have happened with them. i like to think that the experience of caring for the twins may have brought them closer together as well, and i may or may not be working on a short little comic involving that premise atm 👀

anyways sorry this post got off topic as hell lmao

[atopvisenyashill]

What is Corlys loyal to, during the Dance? What are his ambitions, as you see them?

Corlys wants

To keep his family safe

Access to power

To prove he’s as good as a Targaryen

His family name on the Iron Throne

A dragon rider in his family

Very similar in many ways to most of the other adults during this time, especially Otto Hightower. I think in many ways, he’s kind of an echo of Tywin here - he’s trying to prove that the Velaryons are worth just as much, that they’re just as Valyrian, just as special, just as ~chosen by the narrative~ as the Targaryens are. To him, proving that means he has to have a Targaryen wife, dragon riding children & grandchildren, and in a perfect world, his own family on that ugly spiky chair.

[not quite a sidebar but - while I do think Aegon makes all the right choices in his initial conquest of the seven kingdoms, I think the Velaryons resented not being made a powerful, Paramount house in their own right. Installing them as overlords for the Riverlands or the Reach would be a bad idea the same way that both conquests leaving a Tyrell in Sunspear to help take over is a stupid, malicious idea that probably made both wars worse bc it pissed Dorne off. AND YET. they’re a valyrian house! one of the last lines of valyria left!! but all they have is driftmark!!!! i do think this sticks in their collective craw a bit but it seems to especially bother Corlys!]

I say “family” and not “blood” because Corlys is clearly willing to stretch the definition of “family” if it means he gets continued access to power. It’s why he is extremely forgiving in the Laenor/Rhaenyra marriage - I do think he realizes to an extent that he put them both in a weird situation and is willing to look past it a) because looking past it gives him access to power b) because Rhaenyra didn’t do it to sleight him, as shown by her friendship with Laena & the betrothals of their children and c) he grows to genuinely love and care for Jace & Lucerys, and probably Joff as well. There is that theory that it was Corlys who killed Harwin & Lyonel and I think it has its merits! Despite his affection for the boys, I do think he takes insult at the way Harwin & Rhaenyra so publicly carry on - he himself has a long(ish) standing love affair that he keeps hushed up and I imagine he felt Rhaenyra should be more discreet, and was insulted when Joff was born because like, you already have an heir and spare stop cuckolding my son jfc. Do I think he actually killed Harwin? Eh, up in the air about it tbh (seems more Viserys’ style if I’m being honest) but I can absolutely see the justifications he’s making here that Jace & Luke are necessary sacrifices of his pride but Joffrey is a step too far.

Now, while I put “keep his family safe” first because I DO think it comes first, notice I used “safe” and not “happy.” He doesn’t give a shit if they don’t like his decisions but Corlys does actually keep an eye on all his kids to make sure they are not being harmed. He doesn’t just wash his hands of Laena when the sealord he betroths her to turns out to be a dud, he actively puts off the marriage, and allows Daemon to get involved. He turns against Rhaenyra when Addam and Alyn are put at risk, then turns against Aegon II, even making the extremely risky move to kill the king, in an attempt to protect Baela.

I shittalk him a LOT for completely usurping his own daughter/granddaughter as well as counseling Rhaenyra away from a more proto-feminist stance, but I have to commend him here the way I do the Tyrells. Aegon II has gone mad with grief over Sunfyre, he’s probably in a lot of pain, high off his ass, we get that convo about him taking the black so he’s also running out of steam, which makes him erratic and dangerous, and he turns all of those built up feelings on Baela (if there isn’t snot and tears and spit dripping down both their faces when he takes her to the block in the show i’m suing!!!). Corlys attempts to calm Aegon but when it reaches a certain point, he doesn’t dick around trying to rationalize with an irrational person when it comes to the safety of his granddaughter - he just fucking offs the problem. Power and the Throne mean little and less if his entire family is dead and he knows this. It doesn’t mean he’s not willing to gamble, not willing to force his kids into shitty situations, not willing to usurp his own fucking granddaughter because a son is worth more, but in the end, Corlys really does love his family. It’s why he rages when Rhaenys dies. It’s why he’s devastated when Jacaerys dies. Corlys is very much A Man Of Westeros but in conversation with others like Tywin, Ned, Doran, Jon Arryn, Robert, etc., Corlys is willing to admit when he’s in over his head, grab his family, and get the fuck out of dodge. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel here on what a good father means, but well, that’s Westeros!

#and also that’s fathers! 😁 #i do love him my lil misogynist king #corlys velaryon #asks #anons #rani attempts meta

[brightmalcolm]

I'm so happy I found your blog! This show has been my hyper-fixation ever since it came out and it's nice to find people who still talk about the show :)

ANYWAYS, I just started reading The Count of Monte Cristo (for totally normal reasons, and not so I can deeply analyze S1E13 "Wait & Hope") and I wanted to know your thoughts on the fact that The Count of Monte Cristo was Malcolm's favorite story growing up. Because this book, like said in the episode, is about a man murdering for revenge (take this with a grain of salt I'm on page 73). And I can't help but think about Martins though process of reading this story about murder to Malcolm. Because in the episode, We get a flashback of Martin reading the story to Malcolm, and He's acting out a scene from the book where I think the Count kills one of the men who betrayed him (again I'm only on page 73 I'm not completely sure). And he makes the act of murder seen fantastical, fun, and light-hearted. Which makes me think that when he reads this story to Malcolm, not only to get Malcolm used to the idea of murder, but to also prematurely downplay his crimes. So when Malcolm found out that Martin's a Serial Killer as a kid, Martin could then say, "Well you didn't have a problem with it when I read those crimes to you, why do you have a problem with it now?" And we see the adult version of this when Malcolm is an adult, Martin brings up the fact the he never killed anyone on his operating table, he only killed people when off the clock. Which of course means that his crimes aren't as bad as they really are because he could have done so much worse!

AND THE WAY MALCOLM WOULD HAVE LOOKED BACK AND THOUGHT HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BECAUSE OF THE BOOK!!

because of course Martin the Murder would read a murder book instead of a normal Fairytale, of course Martin would only act out the murder scenes from the book. It just gets the trauma ball rolling, like give my guy a break please he's had enough.

hi omg it's nice to hear from you!

so obligatory I have not read the count of monte cristo so take everything I say with a big grain of salt bc I am just going off the wikipedia page and conversations I've had with people who have read it. I like to think everything (or at least most things) with this show are intentional so I enjoy looking in to these kind of details to see what they might mean. I think one way to look at it is the writers trying to do a short hand for malcolm being an intelligent and precocious child and a bit kind of like "ha ha of course malcolm's favorite childhood book was an old french classic about revenge and not like the magic tree house bc he's so eccentric and pretentious." also it ties nicely into a murder investigation that they can base on the story to give malcolm more reasons to know a bunch of random info to help with the case.

but when it comes I think with martin basically anything can be used as a tool for manipulation, even if in another context it wouldn't be by someone else. like the count of monte cristo doesn't seem like something super out of left field for a parent to read their child in my opinion, yeah it involves murder but a lot of books involve heavy subject matter and are still read at any age. so I don't want to imply it's like bad or odd for a child or their parent to read something like that, I was reading things like the outsiders and the hunger games around malcolm's age which are both kids/young adult books but also contain death and violence. BUT I think with martin he definitely could have had some more ulterior motives and again, the show deliberately made reading the book a memory malcolm had with his dad so I think the writers definitely had intent behind details like that.

so yes I get what you're saying and could 100% see it being used that way in martin and malcolm's dynamic. I think it's in the vein of how malcolm collects murder weapons in that it demonstrates how death and murder kind of consume his life even in to his interests and hobbies and how martin's shadow is always there (again, not saying reading about murder or being interested in it mean you're a serial killer obviously but in the context of like themes in the story, a reoccurring one is malcolm's preoccupation with death and how it relates to his trauma from his father). like the example you gave, martin is very good at justifying what he has done, especially and specifically to malcolm bc he knows his son is already traumatized by his actions and desperate for some logical reasoning behind them when there just really isn't one. the way martin acts out the story is also an interesting point. again, not trying to imply this is like inherently something bad or problematic but specifically in the context of this show and this relationship it definitely shows how martin kind of presents murder to malcolm. like it's all about the larger context for me; what does this mean with the information we already know by episode 13 and what conclusions should we draw from it. and I think it makes sense how you interpret the episode!

anyway TLDR the way martin talks about murder with his son is a vital part of their dynamic. martin knows malcolm wants to understand his seemingly incomprehensible actions and he uses this multiple times in the show to try and manipulate him in to thinking different ways about them, whether that is by telling malcolm he is somehow responsible for him murdering people (see 1x02) or that he saved more people than he hurt (see 1x07) or that he has changed completely (see 2x13) ect. ALSO I just remembered how interested I am in how this show portrays the concept of monstrosity and wow this TLDR is getting long specifically in the episode you referenced eye of the needle 1x14 and how martin says something along the lines of "I'm the monster, so vanquish me" as if simplifying the concept down to that of a storybook, like he's a dragon to be slain and how he tells malcolm there's no such thing as monsters in the pilot, conjuring the image of like a child who thinks there's a monster under their bed or in their closet. so the lines kind of get blurred and martin will ultimately use every tool in his disposal to manipulate malcolm in different ways, even using things that are innocuous on their own or in a different context. would love to hear everyone else's thoughts especially if you've read the book :)

#omg this got LONG sorry i love this show i love overinterpetting this show #answered #anonymous #likeeee ugh makes u think

[yonderlyporcupine]

haha something I find hilarious that no one else seems to mentioning but I’m pretty sure the implication is that Alastor sabotaged that chandelier that fell right before Lucifer’s big musical number in Dad beat Dad. Hence why he wasn’t surprised when everyone else was and his really pissy expression right after it hits the ground without succeeding in taking Luci with it. 😂 he was trying to kill him 😂😂

on the subject of Al’s untoward beef with the king of hell: while I entirely understand and even agree with the sentiment that it is most likely related to his ties with Lilith, I can’t help but suggest in jest a simpler explanation. Has no one considered that he just might hold some contempt for the ruler and supposed protector of hell for folding his hand and agreeing to a mass genocide of sinners - of which, of course Alastor is a part of? Maybe he’s just a little miffed that he has to spend any amount of time contemplating his own survival once a year during an Angel blitz attack 🤷‍♀️

In all seriousness y’all know that’s why Lilith and Lucifer divorced right? Like Lil loved hell in that cute little story from the beginning. She adored her kingdom and it’s citizens and the fact that her husband just said (in simple terms bc it does seem like he fought a hard fight against heaven about it) “just go ahead and kill everyone” - that would break Lilith’s heart. And I imagine her trust in him too. I wouldn’t want to stay married to that. And if Lilith owns Alastor - and we know from experience that contractor’s beefs are transferable to the souls they contracted (the vees should have just as much of a problem with Husker and Nifty as they do with Al) then Alastor hating Lucifer makes perfect sense. And we know Al’s clever and manipulative, so the whole “your kid calls me dad” shit is 100% just him trolling Lucifer.

anyway, the flack I’m seeing that episode get is funny to me because it seems to be from the same people who like to cherry pick what Hazbinwiki facts they think are canonical and ignoring any of the rest 🤷‍♀️. I liked it, I thought it was very tongue in cheek. And I get a kick out of having the wiki trivia payoff but I didn’t feel it was necessary. For those of you wondering it is stated in his trivia that Alastor dislikes Lucifer because he finds him cloying - he thinks respectable men should act respectably and feels Lucifer does not. And he’s a word class troll so he had some fun. There is probably more to come if that as the story/show unfolds but that’s the context y’all are missing.

one more thing: Alastor was already furious when he got out to the parlor. He’s grumpy before he even sees the decorations. I would go as far as to say he even seems tired and stressed the whole episode (that sigh at “what is it” to Husk, my man was fighting for what little sanity he came to hell with). Who else do we know who’s a contracted soul who gets grumpy and trigger happy at certain times? Angel comes home from shoots usually ready to fly off the handle. Alastor is already pissed to high heaven to be involved in the hotel (or at least he seems to be at times), add a long night of working for his contractor… that temper is a trait he canonically keeps well under wraps usually. He definitely didn’t mean to let loose on Husk like that, only because he gave away far more than he meant to, not because he genuinely feels bad for Husk.

#alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin angel dust #hazbin charlie #alastor hazbin hotel #hellaverse #hazbin husk

[altschmerzes]

this might be getting too far into spoilers territory, but i'm so curious about the wriggle up on dry land equivalent of that scene in 1x10 where ted sees jamie and his dad in the treatment room after the match. because like, i can kind of understand the reasoning behind not intervening or really bringing it up again when jamie's an adult, even if that probably wasn't the best way to handle it, but i can't imagine ted would respond the same way when it's a child in that situation.

the thing about me is that if people wanna know i do not have any qualms at all about posting spoilers for my own fic slkdjfs i am happy to talk about literally whatever people wanna talk about and yes that is!! yes that is QUITE the thing. i'll get into it under a cut in case anyone else happens to care about spoilers ig! but yeah overall you're right i can sorta get what the thought process was from a like, in-universe 'trying to make sense of what went on there' standpoint in canon but it is. very different when it's a 15 year old as opposed to a 23 year old.

this is one of the major changes that had to be made to that episode for the au and specifically changes made to jamie's role in the episode's story. it is still the first time that ted meets james - though it's not actually our first time meeting james in the narrative, because we will actually see him before then in the fic - and it is still a somewhat worrying encounter, but it's far less like... violent. cause like i said while i can. sort of. get my head around ted deciding that it was a better choice for everyone to not get involved in 1x10 on the show (while i do think it was handled weirdly and this is pure extrapolation bc the show literally never addressed that or referenced it again) i can't see him seeing a kid get shoved around and screamed at and have shit thrown at him and not like. doing something about it.

so when this happens in the fic, jamie came to the match with his dad rather than being in it as a player for city (obvs). after the match, he seems like he's going to get a moment to interact with ted alone but before he can, james comes around the corner and interrupts. and is very like... he immediately makes a few jokes at ted's expense, then starts steering jamie away with a hand clamped on his shoulder. he's squeezing pretty hard but ted can't really get a good sense of what's going on, one moment jamie looks like he's got something to say the next he's being pulled away and his dad is kind of. needling him about not being happy that city won. he's actually pretty upset about richmond's relegation, though he's trying to hide it (and not having much success with that). (he still had a hand in what happened with them losing that match and with roy getting taken down, though obviously in a different way lmao.) (it's a little complex and a little 'just go with me on this one' slkdfjs)

so james is giving him shit about being upset, needling him about it in a way that's kind of like. laughing at him but not being overtly aggressive but it's a shitty kind of 'making fun of my kid for being upset' that is obviously bad news. he's being steered around by his shoulder but it's not clear it's painful or anything, just kinda. controlling. so it's overall a sense of this is a deeply unpleasant person who is not very nice to his kid but it's a fast interaction that leaves ted feeling kind of bowled over and there's... it's shitty and worrying but it's not like. Alarming to the level of being able to do anything about it like what happened in canon would be. and then they're gone.

which is when ted does the only thing he can think to do which is quickly run into his office to grab a jacket jamie left behind when he left richmond in the first place, scribble a note that includes his number (just in case), and shove it and the army man in an envelope, tuck it in the pocket, and send beard with it to catch jamie before he leaves.

#gav gab #gav answers #abuse cw #fic: wriggle up on dry land #YEAH ONE'A THOSE BIG UH.... THINGS GOTTA BE DIFFERENT HERE. MOMENTS.

[idealisticrealism]

TCL 2x01 recap

So I have many (many) thoughts about this show, and this season @enigmaticfox​ convinced me that instead of just bombarding her with them, I should post them here lol. So I hope that you guys enjoy my insane TCL spiralling, and feel free to respond to any of it if that takes your fancy lol

Firstly I loved that we got our usual cool cleaning montage set to badass music (aka the thing that is frequently used to represent Thony) and it turned out to be Arman instead?? I mean, he's cleaning, she's breaking the law-- what's that they say about couples who take part in each other's interests?? Lol. Though tbh I should have immediately guessed it was him in the montage bc the music was Spanish, duh 

Hayak's comment about laundry was interesting, and given how he repairs all their trucks too I want to know more about his backstory. Why doesn't he respect Arman when it seems he also came from a working class background? Maybe because he feels he pulled himself up and yet Arman only rose with his help?

I feel it’s necessary to mention that Arman IS SO FUCKING PRETTY.  

But maybe not super smart rn?? "I'll be running things in no time", like careful with your words there Arman, geez.  Also him calling her The Cleaning Lady was kind of hot lol.  It's like her superhero secret identity, or assassin name or something

(Okay where is this goddamn house???? Give me more landmarks, show!! I need to find this filming location dammit)

As much as I love Armony,  Thony and Fi are the real central relationship of this show imo. Their scenes in this ep were hard to watch but so good ugh. And ugh Thony saying she and Luca belong with Fi and the kids makes me so happy (though lbr there's also someone else on her mind as well as she says this....)

It drives me nuts that I know exactly where this FBI building filming location is but I couldn't take photos in these spots lol

(Skips past garrett whining about his mistress)

"Nothing's going to happen to Marco" the moment I figured he was probably gonna die lol

Ok I'm used to Nadia and Arman arguing in Spanish but holy shit them talking all low and tenderly is actually really hot lol

Arman immediately defending Thony and making it clear that he trusts her is what I live for ugh. (Also, Nadia telling him he trusts people too much could be clever foreshadowing of her eventually betraying him late in the season, but I really hope not). But ugh his unhappy little face when she says Thony could be going to the airport-- reminds me of his wounded look in 1x03 :P

Also the cut between that line and Thony actually being at the airport was hilarious lol.  Plus I love that I know exactly the spot they filmed the airport stuff in, I went into that hallway to go to the bathroom haha

Sigh Bash and Tino are growing too fast :(

God this was such inefficient searching by Thony and Garrett.  He was RIGHT THERE

Lol very awkward to try to explain to Garrett why she doesn't want to leave the country where she’s an illegal immigrant.... also lol at her answering his statement that she’s still involved with Arman with "Arman's in jail". That means literally nothing Thony and you both know it?? Honestly her and Arman tying themselves in knots trying to find a believable explanation to give others about their connection is one of my favourite recurring themes in the show lol  

I oddly loved hearing Nadia say "dammit, Thony"-- it gives the sense that they are getting closer in a weird way lol

Good job Chris dropping some truth bombs about marco being shit haha

Dude this Armony phone conversation is actually kind of hilarious when you realise that their whole "I guess I'm going to have to stay" hand-holding eye-lovemaking moment was literally yesterday, but her ignoring Nadia's calls has got him so freaked out that she's somehow changed her mind that he's now like 100x more desperate to get out of prison than he was just the day before haha

But oh god this phone call. Like seriously I'm forever in love with the pause and the shift of tone/sincere appeal in his "what's going on?", and then her trying to dismiss it with a sigh and a "nothing" bc she doesn't want to add to his burdens/ is so used to dealing with stuff on her own, but when he gives her even just one nudge to open up to him, she immediately tells him the truth. And ugh the clear  agitation in his voice when he prompts "but what??" when she says Marco tried to take Luca on the plane. He needs to know if Thony really is about to get on a plane to chase after Luca.  And then when he tells her he wishes he could be there to help her, it has that same rasp of emotion to it that was there in the 1x09 call, clearly responding to the fact she herself sounds close to tears. And THEN she says "I know you do" all gently like that???? Help???? And he asks her what she'll do now, almost like a do-over of yesterday, because he needs to know if her answer-- her plan to stay-- has changed.  It's only after she mentions Garrett that he hardens again, clearly feeling jealous and replaceable (hence his commence about her not needing his help anymore), and then he orders her to call Nadia because "I need to get the hell out of here". Very telling that he's suddenly so desperate to be out, especially considering that at this point he thinks he's safe from Hayak for now, so it's clear that his desperation (whether consciously or not) has more to do with needing to be back on the playing board where he can be of worth to Thony again.  And ugh Thony looks so sad when they hang up and I choose to interpret that as her wishing he was there with her rather than them being forcibly separated to both deal with things alone ugghhhh

(Super curious to know what, if anything, she said in response to him saying she didn't need his help anymore. Maybe nothing, or maybe she started to say something but he unintentionally cut her off when he spoke again, but ugh I bet she was definitely at least thinking how wrong he was)

Anyhow lollll at Arman's face when he discovers that the visitor that caused his call with Thony to get cut short and end on a tense note was Garrett.  He really hates this guy and it's not just because he double-crossed him and put him in prison. Of course it's partly that-- mainly because prison is keeping him from thony-- but he really hates that Garrett now gets to be the one she turns to when she needs help, the one who is there for her and there with her. But oh my precious boy you are so blind if you think that Thony would ever willingly go to Garrett if she had any other choice lol 

I feel like Fi saying Marco took Luca because of something going on between Thony and Arman– while not necessarily wrong– was pretty damn unfair? Like way to victim-blame there Fi (and lol I already posted a whole meta about this so I’ll leave it at that)

Honestly I expected Marco to call her out on the fact that she took Luca from him (and away to a foreign country) first

I'm so pleased the illegal divorce thing finally got mentioned! And it's probably nothing but I really like the way that the two times we've heard her vehemently say 'I won't!' were about 1) her refusal to betray Arman, and 2) her refusal to leave Arman  the US :P

So when she says the key to everything is getting Arman out of prison, she basically means the key is her and Arman being together as a partnership again, right? We're all hearing that, right??? 

Ugh my poor boy knows he's fucked. I bet he wishes his phone conversation with Thony had gone differently now

At first I was confused when they didn't attack him when he was with Hayak but of course hayak needs to keep separate from it to keep his hands clean

I love Nadia for not selling out Thony to Garrett.  Obviously it wasn't just for Thony's sake but I still appreciate it

Hey, it's the alley! I have a lot of pics of this spot bc I had no idea which parts would actually be in the shot lol

And aaaahh Fi goes back to the same cash place they used in 1x10! I walked right by there! 

God I love this soundtrack. Also this montage of terrible disguises is great lol.  And I think they actually even used one shot that is legit just Martha and Elodie laughing and I love it

It's funny that even when Garrett isn't being a direct antagonist against Thony and Arman, he's still fucking stuff up for them lol. But okay I assume when they say 'contact the exchange to freeze the account' they mean the site that hosts the online account, right? Because if they meant the physical place, then why wouldn't they have gone there to catch the person getting the money out?

I have decided that even though inmates get assigned their duties, Arman swapped whatever more desirable duty he got with someone else so he could mop instead, purely because it reminded him of Thony. (Shhh just let me have this.) And in which case that would mean that she indirectly saves his life because he then has the mop as a weapon when he's attacked lolll

I honestly yelped when the guy stabbed him. A beating I was prepared for, but not that! I literally yelled YOU FUCKING STABBED MY BOY! out loud and scared my dog lol

Also, this may earn me some judgement, but a bleeding Arman beating the shit out of two men?? That's hotttt lol

It's weird but cool to hear Fi say Nadia's name. The lines between Thony's worlds are blurring, indeed.

Fi and Chris insisting on coming with Thony is like that dude in Romeo and Juliet that doesn't get the message to Romeo in time. Just one of those small events that, if different, could have averted tragedy (though lbr I’m glad this particular ‘tragedy’ wasn’t averted haha).  Also at first when Thony and Marco started arguing right outside the door I was like "why are you doing this right here,  you'll wake Luca and probably other guests as well!" And then Chris came up the stairs and the shoving started and I was like "Oh that's why" lol

"It's him. Your gangster" I mean, gotta give Marco credit here bc he's kind of right?? Like lbr there's blind, baseless jealousy (like Arman towards Garrett, who is literally zero threat romantically) and then there's well-founded jealousy, and we all know Marco’s is the latter. It would be impossible to see Thony and Arman interact and not know there was some form of connection there; Marco's earlier mistake was in assuming it was just sexual in nature, but I think when he saw the way Thony pushed back against him (and against leaving the US) he started to realise it was more than that.  God I wish we'd gotten to hear what she said in response to that accusation instead of having the camera switch to Fi, but from his comment about her twisting reality I assume she found a way to deflect yet again. (And in her defence, she IS also wanting to stay for Fi and the kids, and because going back to the philippines to be trapped in an unhappy marriage would be a nightmare. But still. That doesn’t negate the fact that there’s also Arman. lol)

I yelled "BYEEEEEE!" at Marco's death and my dog wagged her tail really hard lol.  She knows what side to be on haha

God this cleaning job is NOT up to Thony's usual standard and it makes me so stressed lol.  Almost as stressed as her literally going right up to the guy in the office and showing her face aaaaaahhhh

Also Thony seriously you need to go somewhere further away and at least change clothes and put up your hair if you're going to go back to the place where you just had a face to face conversation with a guy who would still be there! C'mon where's my brilliant doctor-slash-mob-wife lol??? (too traumatised to be thinking clearly, obviously). Also Garrett if you can't put this one together you're a terrible agent lol

Ugh obviously Arman will be fine but I still hate seeing him all stabbed lol. Still, getting Thony's reaction when she finds out will be worth it haha

Ugh I am living for these mama bears protecting their family <33333

Okay so surely the first question the cops asked at the motel was 'is there camera footage' and yet they don't appear to have it (which if they did, would close the storyline very fast)-- which means Mr Motel Moustache apparently lied to police and kept it to himself??? Why???? What does he gain from taking that risk??? He doesn't know Thony is rich and basically a mob boss, so it's probably not about blackmail, and he doesn't seem the type to go that far to protect a stranger.  So why??? Is he doing sketchy stuff at the motel that he doesn’t want the cops finding out about if they get his footage?? I need answersssss lol

(Okay that’s all for week 1 haha, congrats if you made it this far lol)

#The Cleaning Lady #Armony #TCL recap #TCL 2x01 #yes I know I am DEEP down this rabbit hole lol #I have accepted my fate #TCL is life haha

[wikiangela]

it took me way too long to get to it but finally watching 911 lone star 4x07

(I enjoyed it more than any other this season tbh)

spoilers under the cut

ngl the last couple of episodes I was so bored, and then the og came out with one of the most exciting episodes, and I just couldn't be bothered to watch this one 😂😂 I genuinely thought about just dropping it ngl 😂 but this episode might've turned it around for me, it was great haha

so, here are my thoughts as I was watching:

oooh, we're getting a Paul storyline?? 👀 is that the girl from two episodes ago? 👀 Asha? right? I'm so excited - pls can we focus on Paul for many many episodes now please 😂 I've been begging for this since s1

honestly, I'm here for Owen helping with wedding planning, it's gonna be fun (once again, any comedic moments from Owen are gold, they should only keep him as comedic relief lmao)

Paul is blushing and flustered and he liiiikes her 🤗😂😂

a lady who dies if she's not upside down - that's a new one and it's lowkey hilarious - and the way they're transporting her my god 😂😂😂

damn Gina Torres is so gorgeous 😩🔥 I'm in love

I'm so happy for Tommy tbh, she deserves some happiness, and wtf is Melody's problem lol I guess that's gonna be the drama in this storyline huh

idk, it's okay I guess 😂 nothing overly exciting but it's gonna be fun seeing how they navigate that haha

also, I think I haven't mentioned it in a while but I love Grace's accent so much, I could listen to her talk for hours haha

is it unpopular opinion if I say that Tommy and Grace's friendship (or even Tommy, Grace and Judd) is possibly my fave friendship in this show? 😂 I just love them (okay, there's also Marjan and Paul, and their friendship is the best but like, we don't see them enough sns)

oooh, something's definitely brewing for Paul and Asha and I can't fucking wait

Paul is so flustered and adorable, this is amazing 😍😍 pls gimme more

"I'm giving you permission"

"you can do that? "

"Well, I just did" I fucking love Grace so fucking much ❤️😂😂😂

ending of that call was so wholesome, I hope Lance and Valerie are happy together haha

but oh my fucking god what is happening, you can't just show this smokeshow without a warning, fucking Gina Torres 🥵🥵🥵🥵

(jfc I think now I'm flustered 😂😂)

I'm sorry, how I'm supposed to focus on the plot here while she looks like that 🔥🥵

this whole thing with Paul and Asha seems like a beginning to a very interesting storyline and I'm so excited, and I hope it's not gonna fizzle out like next episode or smth

oh, Tommy, that was petty and I loved it 😂

but Melody is good oh my god😂 okay, I'm getting excited about this storyline, it's fun (Melody is a little annoying ngl but I'm loving this side of Tommy)

Paul is making me tear up, and I'm loving his storyline, I hope we explore it more later on (and I still hope he and Asha can work through it and will get together, he seemed so excited and happy before she pulled out the yearbook, and he deserves some happiness)

I know Grace is right about this whole situation with Melody but damn if it's not enterianing to see Tommy feud with a kid 😂

but their moment after Melody got her period was sweet, I liked that

okay, I love Owen being there for the team - Marjan in 4x05 and now for Paul, it's just so nice to see him actually have good relationships with them, and interact with them aside from emergencies (bc a lot of the time his storylines involve him alone and it's annoying lol)

this was a sweet episode and the ending was wholesome, and it might've been the first episode this season when I wasn't bored for even a second haha

it was fun, and I'm starting to like the storylines, it's getting interesting again, they're pulling me back in 😂😂

and next episode looks good too and Marjan is gonna be back!!! and for the first time this season I can genuinely say I'm excited and can't wait for the next episode 😂😂

#911 ls spoilers #911 lone star spoilers #911 ls #911 ls season 4 #911 lone star #911 ls s4 #911 ls 4x07 #thoughts while watching #episode commentary

[prime-catra]

Literally the only way that you can like Mike Wheeler in s4 is to believe that he’s suffering some kind of sexuality crisis/is falling out of love with El, some other major secret that we don’t know ab is affecting him, or that something major is going to happen with the plot. 

In S1, mike and el were almost like the two leads (and definitely the main characters of the younger kids), with el driving the plot forward bc of her powers/connections and mike driving the plot forward emotionally with his relationships/emotions etc. In S2 this is continued (albeit a little more blurred as Mike gets involved more with the lab and El strikes out bc of her feelings/relationship with Hopper and Mike) but ultimately those two are still the ‘core’ of the show, emotionally or otherwise. In S3, the two are finally actually together (unlike in S1 when they didn’t know each other that well), and thus the rest of the characters get more time to shine (Dustin especially as will also had importance in S2). Even though Mike and El take a backseat in being the most ‘connected’ to the lab/to the other characters, they still are important, especially in the party. 

And in S4, el is still hugely important to the plot/tied to the lab, but for the first time ever Mike is NOT the heart of the show. This had been leading up since s3, when Mike was too wrapped up in El to focus entirely on the other people, but this is the first time we’ve seen mike really suffer emotionally/ be the ‘bad guy’ in a relationship outside of his relationship with el. To have this drastic character shift from someone who was the heart of the show(/the party) to just this asshole (aka regular teenage boy) means that something major is going down — either with him, or with the show. 

In show the duffer brothers chalked up this major character shift to mike not being ready to say ily; assumed to be bc of his parent’s relationship, but not explicitly stated. If this is the case, then I’d hope that they address it more explicitly in S5, especially bc it seems that Karen (and holly?) are going to be more important. If this is the case, then it means that the entirety of Mike + el’s relationship has been built on a loose foundation, and so s5 might reflect s1 (like the duffer’s said) in terms of el and mike ‘restarting’ their relationship. It would also make sense that Mike is finally starting to really show the signs of his family dynamic at home as he goes through puberty and changes etc.

AND, if this shift is also a reflection of the show, which I believe it should be, then I think that we should be maybe more happy about s5? Mike has always been the emotional core of the show in some capacity, so the fact that he was in turmoil in s4 reflected how jancy and Lumax, the only other two well-established ‘long term’ ships in the show (except for maybe jopper) were also having relationship issues (also seen in s3). Now that mike’s thing has been semi-resolved, hopefully that means that there won’t be too many relationship issues in s5??

It can also be seen as the other way around, in that mike’s inner turmoil is only reflecting the way relationships will continue to fraction as the action ramps up in s5, to the point where even the emotional core of the show isn’t as empathic and kind as he used to be

(If it’s because of a sexuality crisis (which I really doubt will be the case in canon but idk), then the ily thing hits even harder and the comp het etc etc is self explanatory— and if it continues in s5 (esp in terms of mike/will), then it could be a reflection of s1 w mike ‘finding’ will in a new light?)

#i made something like this forever ago for dean and got one hate comment so i deleted it #so ill probs end up deleting this too #also the s5 prediction is super shitty im re reading this and it makes no sense but whatever #me #laur talks #stranger things #st s5 #st s5 prediction #mike wheeler #mike stranger things #character study #ig? #the ending is really bad #also im not even a big fan of his idk where this came from

[princesscatstronaut]

ughhhhh I'm the worst. I haven't done anything since wedn and I was supposed to get so much done this weekend and I just didn't. bc I decided to listen to the Ethersea season of The Adventure Zone bc McElboys and dnd are comforting things.

I got to visit with my friend who lives out in the suburbs (we were in college together). her life is very different than mine and she seems happy, but tired, but then she has 3 kids under 6 yrs old so like, that'll make anyone tired. she had some rough times as she built her family. but she has a big family now and (I think) all the support she needs to be ok. but it was so nice to get to talk to her. its funny, we have gravitated to the same side of tiktok (at least on the spiriuality/therapy side). we shared the names of accounts we really liked. we both think we're neurodivergent (I think I may have a touch of the 'tism).

I look at the the things I have to do to make my thesis ready for boss to read, and I know everyone keeps saying "why can't you just do it? why is it taking you so long?" and that's bc I know to my old-boss nothing is ever good enough and he will tear everything apart. and I already have ptsd from the defense itself (which was last March, almost a year ago), and opening the documents throws me into hysterical-crying-panic-attacks, which makes this difficult and scary. so like, there's reasons why its scary. but no one in my dept cares about that. they just see a loose end that needs to be tied up and don't understand how hard it is for me to find the strength to do it myself.

And I look at my friend, who I've known for over 20 years, and I try to explain to her why its so hard and I can't seem to find the right words. but she knows me. she doesn't need to understand why its hard, she can see that it is. there are a lot of things she has gone through that I have never experienced and can empathize but don't completely understand.

through tear-stained spectacles, I'm trying to work on the final analysis that I need to do for the thesis edits. my old boss will never understand why its hard for me. he will not suddenly develop empathy, I know this. no karmic retribution will show him how cruel he was to me, bc the universe doesn't care. and he will never care.

the files take a long time to load onto the vnc on the supercomputer so I occupying myself with this in the mean time. I don't know how I'm going to get through this, but I feel like the window of time I have to get it done and approved is very short (first week of Dec? and it has to get past my committee after boss is done eviscerating it).

the actual work I need to do involves aligning structures in an MD simulation to a reference structure and seeing how they compare to the open-reference structure and the closed. I have to get that data and then I can use jupyter to graph it and then that'll be done. the second task involves docking the glucose molecule with my pipeline and see how it compares to the positions of the ligand in the simulations. this is all doable I think. but the files are very large and so they are still loading. its hard when the files are so big bc I lose momentum. I mean, I made myself put the video games down and sit at my desk (and take my meds and eat something), but hopefully I can get this all done soon. I think I can definitely get the alignments done. the docking-then-alignment might be doable too. I just have to see if the web-docking interface will work for that. it probably will if its just a quick one. boss did suggest that, so I can just make it easier on myself that way. he always says to not make it harder on myself but he has no concept of how hard even simple things are to me when it comes to my thesis. and his edits are mostly about the sentence structure and grammar and rarely about the material, but then, after 6 years of abject neglect I don't know why this is still surprising to me.

I can see what life looks like once this document is done and out of my hands, and I can't wait for that. I just have to do these couple of hard things and then I'll be closer. I don't know if boss will be able to get the edits back to me in time for this semester deadline, and if not, then it'll happen next semester. I feel like I can get him something soon. everyone cross your fingers. I want nothing more than to never see/speak/interact with him ever again. I want to focus on putting myself back together. there's so much adulting I need to do that I haven't been able to do bc of this goddamn thesis.

but yeah, I don't want to be here. I don't want to do this. I don't want to participate in this life.

[pumpkaaboo]

man thinking about anthy and dios before everything went horribly wrong makes me so emotional bc like.

(this got way too long so i'm putting it under a cut)

as far as we can tell, they were each other's only family. which means anthy didn't have anyone else taking care of her. this is heavily implied by anthy saying that akio is "like her father", that he's probably always been her primary caregiver. and dios was leaving her utterly alone for, what, days? weeks? months? little kids need to be around people-well, everybody does, but little kids especially because they're at a formative time in their life where they're still learning how to navigate the world and interactions with other people safely. and you can see how much this neglect hurt anthy even in the show's present, how desperate she is for his affection.

we can't know for sure how dios though about his relationship with anthy, but we can probably get a hint from akio's comments in episode 15. utena asks what it means to be and older brother, and akio says that a younger sister is like the moon. something useless and insignificant, but pretty. something you usually forget about, but every so often, you think about it and feel happy. and that paints a very sad picture of their relationship.

it seemingly implies that dios only even thought of anthy every so often during his travels and adventures. that to him, she wasn't a full person with her own needs and desires, just a shiny bauble to make him feel happy while he was off saving some other princess or a reward for completing a quest and returning home.

meanwhile anthy, who is in desperate need of love and affection, was probably missing him constantly. he couldn't be both the world's prince and anthy's brother, but he doesn't seem to have even realized that anthy needed anything from him in the first place.

and when anthy proved him wrong, when she lashed out at the world that had used up everything he had to give and only demanded more, when she refused to let him die, he... became akio.

but i think this goes a little deeper than that. akio's primary leverage against anthy, the center of his abuse towards her, is that he claims to be the only person in the entire world who sees her as she is. and that he's the only person, ever, who could love her. because he's her brother. and he has to. she doesn't have to be a princess or a witch for him. or at least, she doesn't think she does.

i feel like this kinda goes the other way too (though with VERY different power dynamics involved), in that anthy is the one person he doesn't have to be a prince for. to her, he's not some idealized savior figure, he's just... her brother. this is probably why she's "like the moon", why thinking about her makes him happy. when he's with anthy, he can be weak, he can rest, he can fail. and fail he does. it's inevitable, he's only a person, and not even the best and most experienced parents in the world will never fail their children, and dios isn't anthy's parent, he's her brother, not really that much older than her.

but the fact remains that, as the result of growing up in a system that says girls are all helpless princesses who must be saved by a single prince, he abandoned anthy to play the role. an act that, if we take utena's character arc as being reflective of his, was in large part motivated by the selfish desire to be praised for those actions.

anthy and dios/akio's only refuge from their roles is each other, which means their relationship was unhealthy and codependent from the start. it's no wonder anthy idealizes those times; compared to her present, it must seem like paradise. but it wasn't. because that love was still conditional. because the terms are, "I will love you no matter what, because we're family. But no one else will, and no one else can."

and that's where utena comes in.

because utena and anthy's relationship is entirely built on choice.

because utena, at her darkest moment, saw another girl suffering alone, and said, no. i won't let this continue. i'll come back for you, i promise.

because anthy saw utena being kind to chu-chu, and decided to extend the tiniest sliver of trust.

because of so many choices they make to come back to each other, to learn from and trust each other, the egg's shell is broken.

because when she finally sees all of anthy, all the betrayal and heartbreak, utena doesn't turn away in fear or lash out in anger. she stumbles to anthy's coffin with the last of her strength and gives everything she has to open it just a crack. because even if she can't save anthy, at least they could truly meet each other, just once.

because anthy leaves, willingly, purposefully. because if love can be a choice, for anyone, she doesn't need akio, she doesn't need anyone, but she and utena want to be with each other. and even if they never find each other again, there's so many people in this world. anthy has the power to seek out friendships, a future, on her own. and so does utena.

and that's a choice, not an obligation.

sure, if they find each other, they'll have a lot to work through.

but "someday, together" is a promise, not a prophecy.

and that's exactly why they have a chance.

#WOW this went in so many directions #rgu #revolutionary girl utena #anthy himemiya #prince dios #akio ohtori #utena tenjou #utenanthy #abuse mention #ask to tag #rgu spoilers #rgu meta

[tinyyoungblood]

how ab a headcanon where the avengers all take a trip either to disney world or on a disney cruise? i’m a whore for the idea of everyone, especially peter and y/n, just acting like kids again

pairing: peter parker x avenger!reader

a/n: i like this prompt so much!! i’ve never been to disneyland, but i hope this is accurate enough lol. i also turned this into a vlog bc someone had to record this mess and since it can’t be me, i’m giving filming privileges to bruce

              ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

the avengers in disneyland

everyone is very very excited and the days before they leave pass in a flurry of excitement, but peter has never been to disneyland, so he’s THRILLED beyond means

peter’s jumping up and down while everyone’s loading the van and he keeps asking them if they’re ready for this “life-changing field trip?????”

sam is genuinely afraid that if peter jumps any higher he will bounce off earth, so he grabs peter by the middle and carries him horizontally into the car

steve gave a whole lecture on not getting lost the day before and since tony couldn’t resist it, he is dressed head to toe in neon yellow and grinning cockily

nat steps into the van, sees him, and turns around with her hand over her eyes like she’s been blinded

bruce brings his video camera with him and records everything. first thing they do is hit up a gift shop and it is better than any oscar nominated movie

everything they pick up is subjected to a thorough label reading and some kind of commentary

“steve, show them what you’re getting!!” “slippers” “what kind of slippers” “uh...soft”

thor on the other hand takes it very serious and his commentary ends up being very ~shakespearean~

peter and y/n get matching friendship bracelets for everyone

loki: “i’m not wearing that”

y/n: “that’s alright-“

loki: “no tie it on for me”

bucky wouldn’t have come along if it weren’t for steve and sam, but now he’s taking it upon himself to make sure that everyone stays in good condition so they don’t miss out on training

the whole team gets hourly text messages from him in the group chat

bucky: “There’s a water leak in Mickey’s Toontwon. If any of you slip and hurt yourselves I will kill you.”

y/n: “love you too buck”

(they know it’s his way to express his love for them so every message almost makes them tear up)

loki really wants to go on splash mountain but since he doesn’t want to get his clothes wet, he asks the guards how ~splashy~ splash mountain gets

they don’t take him seriously and it infuriates loki because it’s a perfectly reasonable question but it quickly turns into a passionate argument that holds up the entire line

“I DEMAND TO KNOW HOW HIGH THE RISK OF GETTING WET IS, YOU INCOMPETENT FOO—”

*cue y/n and nat dragging him away while bruce runs after them to zoom in on loki’s pouty glare*

they get him a green rain poncho with black polka dots from one of the gift shops, and he’s still glowering but he puts it on without protest before each ride that involves water

normally the avengers would easily get recognised but since everyone is walking around in costumes, people approach them for several other reasons

thor is just peacefully standing in life, staring at the incredicoaster like it’s the love of his life, when a little kid tugs at his cape

“excuse me sir, why are you so tall?” “good question, why are you so short?” “hmm” “hmm”

they find a micky mouse whac-a-mole and everyone is having Fun but something possesses tony and clint and they are really going for it

tony is a 5 foot tall ball of stress and competitiveness and he is yielding that plastic hammer like it’s the last thing he’ll ever do

clint on the other hand is starting to feel the numbness in his arms

y/n, with sarcasm: “you can do it, clint!”

clint, with spite: “i cannot do it, thanks”

*y/n stares into the camera*

they also make up a rule that if you are in a 5 meters radius of one of the theme park characters, you HAVE to snap a picture with them

steve, who gets constantly shoved nudged by bucky into some character’s path, ends up taking a picture with almost every single disneyland character

at some point, he’s just downright sick of it and there’s a 7 min video of steve zooming across the lot while goofy and woody run after him with wide open arms

bucky is doubled over with laughter in the background while sam is standing beside him and wiping away his own tears

the avengers also buy all the pictures that are taken of them on the rides and even stop at some photo booths so they can send them to wanda and vision who are both vacationing on hawai’i <3

thor, peter, and y/n run themselves ragged and their legs almost give out but they will not stop until they have been on every ride that disneyland has to offer

the others think it’s obnoxious but they follow and join them without hesitation

tony is secretly trembling with fear. doing loops in the air at the speed of light is fine and so is battling aliens, but getting on a rollercoaster ride is just heart-stopping horrifying

it’s not that he doesn’t like rollercoasters, (that man has no self-preservation skills, anything that resembles plummeting to death will be gazed at with big heart eyes) but he just doesn’t trust them

if he didn’t build it or prove it, he doesn’t trust it. period. but the avengers are just so excited and happy that he can’t find it in him to sit out

that quickly results in thor and tony re-enacting very impressive Shouting Contests on each ride without fail

tony is screaming and clinging onto whoever is sitting next to him for dear life because he’s Petrified™️

and thor is screaming, because he’s having The Time Of His Life

he’s feeling the wind in his hair, his heart in his throat, and if he’s not shredding his vocal chords and flinging his limbs around, what’s the point of it all

after 20 different rides, tony is sick of pretending and just trudges through disneyland, the happiest place of earth, like it’s the sole cause of all suffering in the world

nat rejoins the group after she mysteriously disappeared for a moment and her hair is tossed, there’s ash on her face, and half of her clothes are wet

bruce, startled: “where have you been??”

nat, beaming: “there was a ride that spat fire from all sides and people jumped out of nowhere to scare you while the whole place was filled with hot water!!!”

bruce, concerned, zooms in on nat’s excited face

“nat i think you went to hell”

sam is big on merry-go-rounds so he drags everyone with him and while some one them first don’t seem to enjoy it, they change their mind once they see bucky’s little smile

(they go on at least ten more rounds until it starts to get dizzy)

a little girl trips over her princess gown and falls close to where steve is waiting in line, and steve immediately abandons his spot to rush over

bruce zooms in on them bc steve has always been kinda awkward with kids, but here he is, crouching down and comforting that little girl, and it’s so unashamedly soft and sweet

they can’t hear what steve is saying but she’s BEAMING now and even giving him a wobbly courtesy while he claps proudly

bruce turns the camera around and both he and clint are lowkey in TEARS like “why are we crying?? we didn’t even fall down” “i KNOW!!”

nat gets a hold of the camera and she’s on a mission to get the most embarrassing greatest footage possible

“bucky, go stand next to moana” “why?” “it’s moana go stand over there” “but i don’t know-“ “bucky.” *cue bucky, awkwardly standing next to moana while nat grins broadly*

when he’s back with the team, sam just stares at him blank-faced, clearly waiting for bucky to ask why he’s looking at him

eventually bucky caves in with a long sigh

“what” “i can’t believe you don’t know who moana of montunui is. she restored BALANCE to the WORLD. put some RESPECT ON HER NAME”

no one knows why but there’s footage of y/n, thor, tony, and loki strutting up and down in the middle of the lane in minnie mouse plush shoes like it’s a catwalk

sam, bucky, and nat are holding up their fingers to score them while steve is staring at them like he’s analysing their fighting stances

bruce, clint, and peter are standing on the sidelines and cheering them on as they should be

they end their day by digging into an unholy amount of fries that even steve can’t resist because they’ve been walking the whole day

a questionable amount of cotton candy also end ups in their possession and the footage of that is just mostly everyone trying out each other’s cones while the camera is passed between them

soon after, the avengers are back in their van to drive home and bruce zooms in on the row of seats where y/n has her head on peter’s shoulder while the others are also half-lounging on each other, and everyone is asleep <3

* * *

guess what i’m about to say?

stay hydrated pals

hc masterlist

#peter parker x reader #peter parker #peter parker x avenger!reader #avengers headcanon #peter parker headcanon #marvel #mcu #marvel headcanon #peter parker fic #steve rogers headcanon #tony stark headcanon #sam wilson headcanon #natasha romanoff headcanon #bruce banner #loki #thor #thor headcanon #loki headcanon #steve rogers #tony stark #sam wilson #bucky barnes #avengers #avengers x teen!reader #avengers x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #spiderman #peter parker fandom #avengers crack

[herorps]

shadow and bone and racism

shadow and bone just came out so i can now finally break my silence bc holy shit do they go ham on the racism and me being me, i just have to tell you all about it. possible spoilers and triggers for anti-asian racism and microaggressions.

to preface, i was very privileged to receive a screener for the entire first season last month and i was actually excited to watch it bc i have friends who love the books and the show piqued my interest since it was announced. and i also have to say that i never read the books and i probably never will ( tho i’ve been told i would like soc ) but i did like the show overall. 

i think sab is a good adaptation and that the fans will like this show. i thoroughly enjoyed it and as someone who had very little to almost no knowledge about the books, i didn’t have trouble keeping up with the fantastical world. 

however that doesn’t mean i can’t be critical of it. 

i think the show can actually benefit from people being critical about it because so far, it feels like they took a very tone deaf direction and ran a marathon with it. 

what i’m talking about, is alina starkov being half-shu. 

now, i said before that my interest was piqued for this show when it was announced and one of the major reasons is the casting of biracial actress, jessie mei li, in the role of alina starkov. i can’t tell you how happy i was to see that a half-chinese actress was cast as the lead in a series based on such a beloved ip, especially since the creators of the show consciously changed alina’s ethnicity to be half-shu before casting calls were even sent out. ( for those of you who are also non-book readers, shu is the race of people from the country, shu han, and is based off primarily mongolian and chinese cultures ) 

so i was endeared with the idea that this character, that is coded white, was deliberately changed to be coded asian ( and coded mixed race to boot ) because the producers wanted to include diversity into the show. i commend that, i love that, i support that. but i believe the way they handled it, shouldn’t have been the way they handled it. and it’s because alina’s race is constantly brought up. 

obviously of course race is going to be brought up at some point. alina in the show is surrounded by white people when we first see her, and her home country of ravka does have a hostile history with shu han----i get it. racism is going to play a part in alina’s story. but it doesn’t necessarily need to go so far as to constantly remind the audience that she is shu in almost every interaction she has with someone she meets. 

and that’s a big part of the issue, is that nearly everyone she meets will bring up the fact that she’s part-shu. and a lot of the time, it’s said with hostility. now i’m not exactly sure if i’m just being particularly sensitive because of certain recent events, but the anti-asian racism hits differently these days. idk. 

because that’s what it is, at the end of the day. it’s racism. alina is often the target of very hostile racism and it seems to mainly be directed at her character and her character only. 

and honestly, on a surface level it makes sense, i sort of understand what the producers are trying to do. ravka has a turbulent history with shu han and were involved in wars with them and they’re often seen as the enemy so obviously that would affect a shu-mixed person growing up in ravka, a very white country. but on a deeper level, it reminds me a lot of the anti-japanese sentiments during wwii. the production team even created a banner that i felt called back to those anti-japanese propaganda of that era. ( mind you it was shown multiple times, in main focus, and acknowledged by characters that were coded shu ) 

but on the other hand, they’ve done a considerable job to diversify at least the ethnic makeup of ravka. there are black and brown grisha at the school and there are people of different cultures ( noted by costuming, etc. ) in ketterdam and there’s even a shu-appearing trainer that teaches the grisha to fight. so my question is, why is this very hostile treatment primarily geared toward shu people and geared toward alina specifically? it just doesn’t make sense to me. 

and when i say it’s specifically geared toward alina, i mean that it’s very apparent that they’re targeting her specifically, because mal  ( played by a possibly mixed-race archie renaux ) is also coded to be of mixed shu blood. while it is not explicitly stated that mal is shu, it is heavily implied that he is mixed, but he is never subject to the treatment that alina is, and the only times he is subject to racism is when alina is also present. in scenes where we see alina and mal as kids, they are often both referred to as “mutts” or “half-breeds”. but when they are older, only alina is continuously called those things. 

this isn’t even touching the microaggressions she faces after she’s at grisha school and this one line that made my gut wrench so viscerally i had to pause the episode and replay the part so i could confirm what i heard. [ episode 3 spoiler warning ] i’m trying to avoid posting screenshots or from spoiling parts of the show but there’s a scene where alina is being cleaned up and made presentable by servants and one of them says “I’d start by making her eyes less Shu.” [ end episode 3 spoiler ] i don’t think i have to explain to anyone how offensive that is. and i understand that the intention was to show how racist this servant is, that the entire point of of this weird racism plot is to show how the people of ravka can be racist and ignorant, but to have that line be written by a white writer, approved by a white showrunner and said by a white character to the face of an asian actor/character feels very tactless. it feels like another antagonist alina has to go against is racism itself. 

what also turns me off about this scene is that jessie mei li revealed that this scene is what actresses had to audition with. “...the sides that they sent for the audition, like Alina is talking to Genya and they’re talking about her eyes and they’re talking about her Shu ancestry.” having actresses of mixed-asian ancestry come in and act out that scene for white producers doesn’t really sit right with me. and i know that there’s an argument to be had about how it’s important to show the minutia of what it’s like to be ethnic in a world ruled by white supremacy and that it’s important to show how alina’s race affects her story, but i don’t think that going this far is necessary to the development of plot or character. 

and i don’t personally know jml, i don’t know how she feels about the show apart from what she’s probably briefed to talk about in interviews, but it is perfectly valid for me to feel iffy about the microaggressions while she feels that it’s necessary for character development ( again, this is just an example, i have no clue what she thinks of the racism ). our experiences are different, our upbringings are different, but we’re both happy to see representation and i’m happy that she’s happy to see an actual mixed-chinese character on screen as the lead. 

i’m glad that the producers were open to diversity and were open to making the lead a person of color, but it’s things like the treatment of shu characters and exchanges like “Tell her...Oh, I don’t know...good morning.” “I don’t actually speak Shu.” and “I didn’t know the Zemeni had such talent.” “She’s Suli.”  ( zemeni is a race of “dark-skinned” people and suli are coded south asian/mena/wena so this exchange is just white people mixing the brown people up )  that remind me the majority of the writers and producers are white. 

now i’m not saying that you should boycott the show or that this show is the most problematic thing to ever grace my retinas, because i really enjoyed watching it and i want to see what season 2 has in store ( more crows content please ). but, i want you all to please keep all of this in mind when you watch the series and think critically of what kinds of unconscious biases these producers had. you’re allowed to have nuanced opinions, you’re allowed to be critical of the media you enjoy so long as you understand where some people’s criticisms are coming from---where my criticisms are coming from. i just hope in future seasons the treatment of alina gets better and that she actually learns to love her shu side because otherwise it’s just going to be problematic as the show continues. 

#shadow and bone #grishaverse #six of crows