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safyresky · 1 year

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Hullo bestie, it me. So sorry for the late(ish) ask but since the weather's been warming up I have a question about CS. Specifically about how a Beach Episode would go lol.

Cause Away with the Fae is kinda almost like that considering that they go to a beach at one point. But I wanna get inside your head and wanna know how a true to form Beach Episode of Crystal Springs would go.

Considering that the Frost Fam aren't exactly beach people (I wouldn't think) this has gotten me curious as to how this would play out. Would there be snowball fights at the beach? Would the twins try and make glass by super heating the sand? Would they make it such a mess for every other beach goer? Idk, just a fun thought that I thought you could answer 😌

ANDIE GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I HAVE BEEN THINKING OF A BEACH EPISODE OF CS ALL WEEK! (probably bc of the post I saw earlier this week that mentioned how gr8 filler episodes are tbh)

And this isn't the FIRST TIME I have thought of the Frosts at the beach >:). this shit's been BREWING!

First off, surprisingly, the Frosts are beach people! 5/6 are, of course. Three are Summer Sprites and enjoy the day spent on the sunny shores of the Southern Province; and for the other two, the summer sprite blood gives them a penchant for occasional tropics, and this includes beach days :)

The only Frost that ISN'T a beach person is Winter, but she goes anyway because she does enjoy her beach ritual. BUT I AM GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF, OF COURSE! FIRST THING'S FIRST.

WHAT. DO. THEY. WEAR.

I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS FOR SO FREAKING LONG, BEHOLD!

I cannot decide for sure if both Blaise and Jack wear that old timey stripey shorts tank top one piece swimsuit, or if it's funnier if only Jack does and Blaise goes for the swim trunks and open Aloha shirts, or vice versa, or they BOTH go for the funky shirt and swim trunks combo!

The mental image of the pair of them in this number absolutely sends me tho, tbh:

Though when I picture beach episode they are both in the funky shirt and swim trunks :)

but GOD if the old timey trunks aren't funny as FUCK

Winter covers tf UP. She wears a HUGE sunhat, absolutely GINORMOUS, and just as big black shades, probably like Gucci or Prada or something, to shield her eyes. She burns SO easily (being made of snow and ice and love would do that to a gal, she supposes) so she covers tf UP

Something victorian-esque for her as well, like this:

but with longer pants and a longer skirt, if not a full on bathing gown from way earlier like the lady behind the first one there, lmao

Jacqueline is ALSO in big sunhat mode, but not as big as Winter's. She does not burn as easy as Winter does, but does burn--usually the tops of her shoulders, her cheeks, and her nose! Her aviators are PLANTED on her face, they do NOT come off

She and the Twins are more modern in terms of swimwear. She wears a one piece, with your typical asymmetrical long beach sarong

The Twins are pretty versatile! I think usually they BOTH wear swim shorts and tops, though Fiera will switch out for a swim skirt every so often! she deffs prefers the shorts, though, since they are always running around on the beach and in the water like the wild hellions they are

SO LET'S GET INTO BEACH DAY ITSELF! AGAIN! SINCE I IMPLODED THIS ASK LAST NIGHT IN MY EXCITEMENT AND LOST THIS PART COMPLETELY!!!!!

AND UNDER THE CUT SINCE I WENT AHEAD AND UH, GOT EXCITED ABOUT ✨✨FASHION✨✨ AND THIS WILL BE V LONG

but in point form because I'm not that much of a monster!! ANYWAY, BEACH DAY

Winter's beach day ritual is as follows:

bundled up as breezy as can be when you burn as bad as she does, she finds a nice, shady corner, preferably up against a rock side or cliff face

sets up her umbrella, which Blaise has enchanted to keep her out of the sun at all times (like moving solar panels but opposite)

lays her blanket down beneath the umbrella, sits down with a good book in one hand and sunscreen ready to attack all four kids with it if necessary

She stays put in her shady corner ALL DAY.

Blaise, meanwhile, goes to the bar, gets himself a drink, plants his reclining beach chair with attached umbrella that is never deployed down right beside his wife, sits down with drink #1 (tells the bartenders to keep them coming when they see it empty) and does not move at ALL.

he sinks into the chair, kicks his feet out into the sand, and BEACH BUMS. He melts into the ground. he becomes one with the beach. he is in MAXY RELAXY mode and the ONLY THING that could move him is if Winter, in a moment of cloudy weather, asks to go for a walk or swim with him

he'll be out of that chair SO FAST

But that's IT

Some say he COINED the term beach bum; he INVENTED it! He is the OG beach bum

He will also on occasion substitute the sand for the water, and his chair for a beach floaty

these leads to a fun game Jacqueline, Fino, and Fiera enjoy called TIP DAD INTO THE WATER! They never win. Unless Jack plays. Jack always wins

(Both of these Blaise scenarios work best picturing him in the trunks and funky shirt >:)

If Summer finds out that her sister is at the beach, she will put everything aside to go hang out with Winter! The pair will spend the ENTIRE day chatting up a storm (literally on one occasion. the resulting tsunami was surfed by Jack and averted by Summer being the literal season and the one with the fastest reflexes) and lounging about together for the day while Blaise melts beside them

I never thought about the twins trying to make glass out of sand, but I am thinking about it now! Summer shows them how. They have yet to master it, but they're getting close!

(Summer fears the day that they learn she can do much the same but with diamonds, as they both will want to learn it immediately!)

The Twins are the most active people you'll ever see on a beach! They spend a LOT of time swimming, mostly splashing the crap out of each other (and the cold front if they join, but Jacqueline is really good at splashing them BIG TIME)

They make HUGE sand structures and run amok, with NO concept of beach spot boundary etiquette which means a lot of people have to deal with, you know, messy blankets, sand flying up as the pair rush by, sparks threatening to set fire to their dry beach towels, and so on and so on. The lucky ones only have to deal with a sand structure potentially cropping up beside them!

Aside from that, most people actually don't mind too terribly when the Frosts hit up the beach! Which is gr8, bc they be in situations a LOT, and Blaise deals with the dumbest people sometimes, so they're more than happy to see them chillin'

A lot of magibeans are quite happy when the twins are in the water! It warms up NICELY. Not that it's FREEZING. I mean, the South is HOT so the Arctic Sea can be refreshing, and Summer pulls some strings to take the edge of that portion of the CS shoreline--it's just nice to have warm water knowing it is because of magic children gifted with fire manipulation and not, you know, PEE

Though Fiera sometimes snickers when people say that, which gives Fino cause to be SUS

Fiera gets buried in the sand at some point by Fino and hangs out there, watching her twin wading in the shallows, trying to catch some minnows with a little net

Like. The Twins try to do ALL the beach things at once!

ALL OF THEM

And if they make rivals via sand castles or any other beach sport, it's an EXPERIENCE

Since Blinter is checked out, Jack usually takes up the "parent" part, but in the most big brother way you could imagine: very irresponsibly, encouraging the rivalries and participating until all four kiddos end up defeating said rivals

This has happened more than once. Jacqueline has lost count.

SPEAKING OF THE FROSTY BASTARD HIMSELF, He camps at the bar! He gets ALL the local gossip on beach days. ALL OF IT

Later he shares with Blinter and when Blaise gets into work the next day, my GOD do people get OWNED and does shit get DONE.

Everyone's like wow Blaise! Relaxing looks good on you!

And Blaise chuckles like thanks, but inside he's just a gossipy old man and so is his son >:)

BUT ANYWAY Jack deffs wades into the surf, ankle deep, sipping his drink and freezing the water as people drift by. He gets a kick out of it; it's very amusing, even more so when they can't tell why it's happening, AND DOUBLY SO when he does it to the Twins

who THEN proceed to warm it up again, only for him to freeze it again, and it goes on and on and Jacqueline watches from her chair like "Fino and Fiera are two halves of a whole idiot"

Jacqueline would be the person roped into a volleyball game and kicking ass with her new magibean pals

She also will go for swims too! And beach walks! And she'll hang out in the shores with Jack to shoot the sleet as he antagonizes the swimmers

That's how Jack gets his Legate gossip >:)

Joke's on him, bc that's how Jacqueline gets the latest goss on the Legends

>:) >:) >:)

SOMETIMES DITE APPEARS! And when this happens, it's bc she heard there was a beach day and jumped at the opportunity to stare at her beautiful curvy lil girlfriend in one of her fave locations

Jacqueline LOVES when this happens bc then she can spend the entire time staring at her strong gf bc Dite goes full bikini and Jacqueline is positively ENTHRALLED with her all day

And vice versa with Dite @ Jacqueline 😂😂

On these occasions, Winter scoots closer to Blaise's chair, rousing him from his zen mode to try and once again figure out where on earth Jacqueline gets her curves from

"You're curvy," says Blaise. "Well yes, but also, not quite; I have some unfortunate lankiness here and there. Perhaps she gets it from your mother?" To which Blaise SCOFFS and says "That woman was ballroom gown shaped, I am convinced. She may not have even HAD legs." And Winter giggles and says "Well, it shall remain a mystery, I suppose."

the things parents discuss about their kids! (my parents have this discussion about my nose quite often. I think wedding photos finally put that debate to rest tho)

Jacqueline, funnily enough, actually gets the curves from her maternal grandmother, the Snow Queen.

She was a very curvy woman, so much so that the Winter Warlock called her "Bodacious Bianca", and, well, Bianca simply didn't have the heart to tell him that "bodacious" doesn't quite mean what he thinks it means.

(had she, he would've replied like so: "Ah, yes, but you see, that's the beauty of words! They can mean whatEVER you want them to! And that's why I'm one of the best Warlocks there has been >:)" and she would laugh in kind at her silly little warlock)

(Queen Frost probably HATED him, given that she considered herSELF the best Warlock and did NOT appreciate this man in dress pyjamas and bunny slippers and pointy hats bouncing around claiming to be better than her)

(it was a very one sided rivalry, for certain)

(Unless Winter Senior knew she hated him and hammed it up just to piss her off more, which, goofiness aside, is highly probable)

BUT YEAH

BEACH DAY

I think that about cover all my musings! Honestly, a CS beach episode would go SO well. The Frosts would just have a very good time, probably at the expense of a couple of disgruntled magibeans but hey, can't win them all, Blaise always says.

but yeah! It'd go VERY well! An enjoyable day for them all! I think in an actual beach episode, Jack would be gossiping, Jacqueline would be chilling, the Twins would have a BEACH DAY BUCKET LIST and try to do it all, upsetting a few people on the way. By the end of the day, they have a small angry mob and Fino and Fiera look at each other like >:) because guess what the last thing on their list was?

When it's time to head home the Twins are soaked (crowd tossed them into the sea and they love every second of it), Jack is burnt af bc he BURNS BAD, Winter is chipper, Blaise is seven shades darker and so relaxed he's actually slouching, and Jacqueline has a first place volleyball trophy in her hands, a group of magibeans waving bye to her, one of them miming CALL ME.

They return later once the beach is clear to collect abandoned/forgotten sand toys, bc I used to do that with my cousins and our grandfather and I can see Blaise walking on the beach in the sunset, twins skipping ahead and collecting loose toys, tossing them into their big red bucket!

When they get home, the Twins pass out bc long, energetic day, and Blinter enjoy a quiet evening with Jack, who they chat with all evening while Jacqueline sleeps on the couch!

#dani answers #alpharra #crystal springs FACTS #ask box shenanigans #crystal springs #cs beach episode #THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN UP LAST NIGHT. BUT MY EXCITEMENT COMBINED WITH THE FACT THAT TUMBLR IS A FUNCTIONING WEBBED SITE #CAUSE TWO THIRDS OF THE REPLY TO VANISH #I think I remembered all my points! some of them last minute lol #nappy jacquie and chatty blinter and jack were originally in the list with the gossip section #and i am too excited to share this to try and fight the formatting again #I'M NOT LOOSING EVERYTHING FOR A THIRD TIME #NO SIRRIE #anyway! plz enjoy the official dani's notes of a cs beach day!#i should doodle the mental images of them on the beach that i have for you guys #i should doodle more #may be a good way to kick away the perfectionist thing #tsc #tsc3 #ps - not late at all. i am a night owl. bedtime is 1am. i need to fix myself

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radlegowaffle · 1 year

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replaying kais mini episode for dialogue and it kinda made me think, is there also going to be a mini episode for midori? the silhouette lady in kais mini episode does look like midori (similar hair and the lil pony tail, or could just straight up be midori. he was a nurse in qtaros flashback) but that kind of got me fearing of like, midori having a sad backstory, and i really hope that doesnt happen. one of the things i love about your turn to die is that they have a batshit antagonist for the sake of being batshit, the farthest we get with his backstory is from sous flashback and even then he was kinda. strange? and then with shin ai and he was still. weird. so my fear is just. introducing midoris mom being the reason hes batshit and i just really hope that isnt the case gashu was also a good antagonist and they still managed to make me feel sympathetic for him, im positive if they do that with midori, ill actually feel bad, but i just want midori to be a batshit antagonist for the sake of being batshit without anything that pushed him to that point

#does this make sense?? im kinda just rambling #also probably an insanely unpopular opinion. i just really like well written antagonists that are just. batshit for the sake of #yttd #yttd spoilers #your turn to die #i praise yttd for the antagonist just being an antagonist for the sake of being an antagonist #and hes fun! hes a silly lil guy and also just. weird :D #idk how to explain it like #he kills for fun but then you see him doing a lil dance in the classroom in chapter 3 like #idk i like it a lot #midori isnt my most *favorite* character but i do appreciate how they wrote him #i guess in terms of fucked up protagonists hes one of my favorites #its kinda hard not to like all the characters in one way or another #anyway this all kinda happened cause i wanted to draw angst of kai and sei #also shout out to someone on here that pointed out the light in kai and gashus eyes vanished. i never noticed #interesting to see what happens in other peoples mini episodes #the thing that sucks about these mini episodes is that i want more 😔#rad.txt

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goldenorder · 2 years

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luckuki replied:

what if she... knocked the teapot off the counter... consider...

“Please do not.” He lives there.

#WAIT HOLD UP THOUGH THAT'S A GOOD POINT #would someone inside just vanish along with it?#NEED THIS ON AN EPISODE OF MYTH BUSTERS #ic #v: consultant #luckuki

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the-tubort · 2 years

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My DonBrothers Episode 9 Thoughts

#donbrothers #super sentai #avataro sentai donbrothers #tuborts thoughts #donbrothers cannot keep leaving me on the cliffhangers #last week it was kiji literally killing someone #this time its an entire bus of people just straight up vanishing into the wind #and then oni sister is going to learlearn about the points and leave for an episode before her dramatic comeback #im not emotionally ready for this #im having so much fun with donbros legitimately #i dont even care about the cgi anymore not that i cared much to being with #also im really looking forward to the robotaro forms being used #i love that they are used in normal form and not only as giant monster fights #gives the suits a lot more freedom to do more complex movements and action #reminds me of how human like kishiryu oh and other solo zords get to do more fun stuff #so so excited #also this image refers to how i feel about digimon ghost game amphibia and owl house #what even is this past weekend

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mikiruma · 9 months

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i still have the mlbfgaf url claimed on here..... i want to post about it there at some point.... since the target audience is kind of vague i wont have an age limit for who can follow..... and since i dont rly have any canon stuff completed yet i could probably double it as a character askblog..... does that sound like anything interesting????

#talking #i just rly want to make canon an actual cartoon so the ask segments would take place in the nebulous space between 'episodes'#and i gotta finish the pitch bible at some point. and i want to assemble some sort of production team when the bible's done #also you can follow it ig but its extremely barebones and needs to be updated #but the app is doing this cool think where editing blog descriptions makes the text vanish so. gotta wait til i get home for that

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bogleech · 2 years

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If you’re not keeping up, Cartoon Network sold off most of its original programming over the last few years to run exclusively on HBO Max, but after a merger with Discovery, HBO has taken them all down, including those that were still in production, for what is long story short a big tax write-off.

And it’s not a simple matter of them just airing or streaming somewhere else now. It’s a very complicated issue of rights and contracts and money but essentially it’s very possible that these shows will never be available again in official capacity and their creators will never see another penny from them again, either. Some completed episodes may also be lost media, indefinitely.

For a couple of series, such as Mao Mao and Infinity Train, Cartoon Network has gone back and scrubbed all tweets, youtube clips or other mention of the series existence, confirming they likely no longer have the rights to take them anywhere else.

The tweet today by the art director of Tig N’ Seek made me saddest.

A lot of people this week have simply given up on their industry careers, seeing years of their life’s work just vanish into a corporate vault overnight. Being able to point to your work on a streaming service had apparently even become a pretty critical part of the portfolios they now rely on to get new jobs.

Streaming media went from an optimistic new frontier to even worse than cable TV so suddenly.

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littlelightfish · 1 day

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Holm nation... I have a heartbreaking announcement to make.

We didn't get to see this panels animated.

(I wanted to see Laios helping him, this one isn't the one this post is all about)

I feel it's important to his character enough that Kui decided to dedicate three panels about how he aproaches and resurrects Kabru.

He is used to resurrecting people, his party sucks at keeping themselves alive. He walks up to Kabru's corpse with a worried look on his face. Then he kneels besides him and takes a second to process what he is seeing. He is seeing a young man, Kabru, dead. It makes him feel unseasy, a bit of shock that he can't take the luxury of process at the moment. He doesn't want to look, so he closes his eyes and focuses on his spell. He is realizing he is the only one alive from his party (he doesn't know where Mick is or how he is). He is the last one standing. The reality of it all slaps him in the face.

The panel of him just... looking at the mess Kabru's corpse is was just... It was important. It talked about him as a character. "I'm not doing this because I want to, but because I have to". He doesn't has time for emotions. He has a job to do.

It's just three panels. But they provide lots of context between the ones that came before and after.

He doesn't just rubs Kabru's head because he's being afective. He does it because he cares. He does it out of relief. "As long as I'm here, any of you'll be dying soon. And I'll always be here. Don't worry." He is far from being OK after all this. Marillier died, Daya died, Kuro died, Kabru died, Rin died, Mick probably died too (but he doesn't saw it). He... By the time he was the only one standing, the fight was over, and he could alredy resurrect them. He wants to feel sad. To worry, to be concerned, to mourn. But he can't. It isn't necessary.

He is a cleric. He for sure has a notion of dead way different than anyone and feels a certain way about resurrection. "Dying is dying, even if you resurrect." It's a bug at the corner of his mind, he doesn't pay it any attention. He gets resurrected multiple times, he is gratefull he is alive. But seeing all his friends dead? And the most of them mutilated? Covered in their own blood? He has this desire to mourn. To cry the loss. To panic. "They are all dead."

He knows they'll come back. He has to make them come back. So he does. And they are alive. But they weren't a few seconds ago. And he just plays it off, he puts his calm face on as soon as there is another party member alive that could ask him what happened that it disturbed him so much. He throws all those sad feelings under the rug and focuses at the task at hand.

They're going to be ok, he just has to do his job: bring them back from death. They shouldn't even be dead. But they are. And he's going to fix it. No point on feeling sad about them dying if they can be alive soon!

I think the concern that the anime puts here it's something that could come close to what he feels inside. Those seconds are the only ones we see him looking something akin to worried for his friends.

But then...

His worry vanishes in seconds. The moment Kabru revives, he does it in such a "Kabru" way, that he tells himself: "This is fine, they're going to be back soon, nothing to worry about, I just have to hurry". He wants them all back to live. We know for sure that in his priority list there wasn't any "reviving Toshiro's party members first". He was going to make sure all his party, all his friends, were alive before even thinking of resurrecting other people if he still had the magic.

Those three panels they didn't animate are something that was there for a reason. To give depth to Holm. This last episode is definitely the one in wich he shines the most. He isn't the main character at all this episode, but he does the most important stuff on the background. He revives them all. This all lack of something if you don't show what Kuy drew on those panels.

Here he just... goes to work. He says: "lemme handle it" and he does. No concern, no worry, no, nothing. He just does. No thoughts.

It makes me sad. Those panels were important. :(

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cipheramnesia · 2 months

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This is the process my brain goes through every time I see anything about Netflix Avatar The Last Airbender.

My first reaction is always: Why? The original, although not without flaws, doesn't leave a lot of room to improve. A good remake or adaptation usually involves an updated context or change in perspective that adds to the original work and gives it new meaning. It's a risky undertaking because it usually involves wanting to take on something established as iconic and make it your own. But Netflix is a corporation and seems very risk averse for the most part. Its only investment is in the name recognition of AtLA. It's hard to visualize Netflix deliberately taking a big risk on an expensive show.

My second reaction is: How? The original series is about 1400 minutes over 61 episodes, and it still had to rush the ending. We're looking at 8 episodes of roughly 45-60 minutes per episode for season 1, which would require Netflix to let it run more than 3 seasons, if the series has similar pacing. Historically however Netflix shows have glacial pacing, and rarely make three seasons. Not really sure how they plan to tell the story if the series is anything like the average Netflix series, meaning it either needs to undercut the story or let the series breathe for at least five seasons. But nothing Netflix has done makes me want to watch anything they make as an ongoing series? Why bother, they cancel everything I enjoy. So I wonder how. What's the hook to say "this will be able to provide something new and interesting compared to the original, and will be allowed to tell the complete story."

Which leads me to think, but you can't judge if something is good without seeing it. Except none of this is about whether it's good, I just find myself wondering what are the odds it's worth the effort? They're low, and it has nothing to do with whether or not it's even any good on its own merits.

Following this, I ask myself, what would a good version of this be. Imagine you are making a live action series with eight hour long episodes per season based on a children's cartoon with 20 thirty minute episodes per season. You are trying to encompass a story which was presented over three seasons as a cartoon, and you do not know if you will have more than those eight episodes. It's made for Netflix which, in terms of a company which will protect the hard earned fruits of your artistic labor, is the fox guarding the henhouse. What do you do?

If you are looking to make something good, that respects your audience investment and your own work, you make radical changes to the story. You change the pacing, the character arcs, the plot arcs. You make sure you deliver a complete story in those episodes with as much respect for the original work and as many new ideas as you can.

Except, at that point, what is even the point of a remake. The only way to work with it is either to trust Netflix allowing you to finish the story (which you'd need to be incredibly naive to do), or tell a story so different it may as well be wholly original. And that's where I always end up. Like, it'll probably be fine, but what's the point of it all? Another vanishing digital property to get canceled because of some undefinable failure to return on investment.

I think about it a lot because the two ends of the spectrum seem to be "dunk on every new piece of information" or "wait and see" but the only conclusion I can ever reach is "why even care?" That's been the lesson to take home from digital streaming in general when it comes to series, but Netflix in particular, and honestly for movie series too. If it can't be self contained, the companies who produce and release these kinds of series just cannot be trusted with it, and there are too many good original stories being put out to care anymore about big budget promises that one day they will definitely for sure deliver a finished story, this time for real.

I care enough to think about why I don't feel anything at all about Netflix Avatar. It'll be fine, whatever else. Just fine.

#netflix avatar

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niobiumao3 · 18 days

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Hi yes can we talk about how that episode completely recontextualizes Phee and Tech's last conversation.

They were close. As in, he told her about Crosshair, enough that she knew who he was from minimal interactions, even had a read on what he was like. Sure, probably not a full on relationship at that point, but that were getting there.

As a result when Tech does his failed attempt to leave without saying anything he is unintentionally ghosting her. He has no context for how this conversation should go so he's like 'well we should just not have it then' and he winds up distancing them which kinda obviously upsets her.

But she sorts out what's going on, more or less, and backs off. He sucks at goodbyes. It's okay.

(It's not okay he proceeds to vanish, I need her to greet him with 'next time you don't want to say goodbye please don't almost die about it'.)

#star wars #spoilers #the bad batch #tbb spoilers #the bad batch spoilers #tbb tech #phee Genoa #techphee #tech x phee

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urdepressedslut · 10 months

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Tears of an Angel

♡ Pairing: Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier x Fem!Reader

♡ Summary: You’ve been trapped at HYDRA for god knows how long, until the cell next to yours gets someone new. Who is this man, and why is he comforting you? He doesn’t even know you.

♡ Warnings: hydra, bucky’s trauma, heavy angst, hints to sexual assault/abuse, torture, literally this is so sad i’m sorry

main masterlist ✧ part two

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT | 18+

You didn’t know why it had hurt that much. He wasn’t anyone special to you to begin with. He was merely a stranger fighting for his life— just like you.

It was a silly gesture that you had let your withered mind believe. You weren’t sure if you held such distaste for him hurting you— or for yourself for allowing it to hurt that badly.

You watched the man shout with anger, dripping into fear— lastly he cried of exhaustion. You watched him shuffle throughout his little room, begging with no one in particular— to set him free. The decent sized hole in the wall separating you two— gave you a front row seat to the man’s episode. The outbursts shouldn’t of interested you, but the glimmer of silver from his arm had caught your attention. This man being different than all the others you’d seen.

He did this frequently, every episode shorter than the last. His voice would grow more hoarse, his shuffling would quiet down, his energy vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. Adrenaline would do nothing for him now.

It had been almost a full month of examining the man from your spot in your own cell. Never did you find energy in yourself to say something— comfort him. What was the point, right?

Although the more time that passed, the harder it was to not say something. The man’s faith was thinning right before your eyes. You felt awful for this man’s suffering, all which had been seen by you. You thought you could sit aside, watch him give up— then he’d leave. It’s what you did with all the others, all of them hurting as bad as the last. But this man was a fighter, he was determined— fighting towards something. Maybe someone.

It was only making things worse, the ending would hurt greater than all the others. He was different, he was strong. Knowing that, you knew they would never let him leave. He was their property now.

That’s just how things worked here. Your strength was taken advantage of.

Today he was staring mindlessly at the wall, his eyes dull and lifeless. You didn’t know why you wanted to say something suddenly, but the urge to ask if he was okay— burned at the front of your mind. It was a dumb question— of course he wasn’t.

His hair was longer, having grown out in his time trapped here.

You were about to say something, beginning to clear your throat when your cell door was open suddenly. You were shocked, the gist unexpected— you were starting to think you were forgotten in here. No one having checked your room for quite some time.

But as the guards hoisted you up— easily since you had no fight left in you. They guided you out of the room, down the hall to an eerily familiar room. One that had your stomach knotting up, dreading the pain you were about to receive.

You were so caught up in the moment, you had missed the man’s head glance over to you— through the hole in the wall.

The door swung open, the guards carelessly tossing you inside— causing you to land hard on your hands and knees.

You let out a cry— half pain, half frustration. You were unsure how you we able to endure such amounts of pain. You begged for the darkness to consume you. Letting you limbs fill with ice, your whole body sinking into a cold deep oblivion. An escape.

But it was over— for now.

You pathetically crawled to your spot against the wall, the movement causing pain to shoot up through your body.

You stared blankly at the wall, wishing you could forget the horrid events that had just happened.

Today was bad. Bad not coming close to describing the true agony your endured, the torture that you went through the felt like forever.

Your lower region throbbed painfully, and you wished that you could be numb. Wishing so desperately to not feel anything.

You felt violated— the urge to rip off your own skin. The thought of your own flesh had you revolted, wanting to throw up. You didn’t want to feel your own skin, you couldn’t look at it— you wanted it to all stop. You stayed eerily still, fearing that your deep breaths— the expanding of your chest would cause you pain.

“Hey.” A soft horse voice called.

You sluggishly moved your head towards the voice, your eyes meeting with concerned blue ones.

You stayed silent— furrowing your brows like you wanted to say something, but found your lips sealed. Truthfully, you were afraid to speak. You feared the guards would hear and punish you some more— you just couldn’t deal with even the thought.

“Are you okay?” He tried again.

You scoffed, wanting to bitterly laugh at his question— but ended up crying instead. Your body shook painfully, your hands clutching your lower abdomen. You quietly sobbed, your tears soaking your thighs as you hunched pitifully.

Your mind was chaos, you felt overwhelmed. Your body was alert, ready for the guards to enter at any moment— while your mind was exhausted.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay— I’m here.” He whispered through the gap.

You slowed your cries, the comfort his words brought you felt foreign. He didn’t even know you, you didn’t even know him— yet he was trying to comfort you. Maybe it was because you were in such a vile place, that had you grabbing a hold of the sliver of comfort.

You hugged yourself, glancing back up to his eyes now— surprised to find them filled with worry. His gaze scanning over your form, as if he was searching for the reason of you distress.

“I’m Bucky.” He introduced, now sitting against the wall, keeping his eyes trained on you.

You could finally put a name to the face.

You swallowed, trying to remind yourself that a name didn’t mean anything. You could know someone’s name and not be close with them, the walls could still stay up. Right?

“(Y/n).” You told him, your voice so hoarse— a sound barely came out. Your screams from the torture shredding your vocal cords.

Bucky smiled, although it didn’t reach his eyes.

“That’s a pretty name.” He thought out loud, and if you had any room for butterflies— you would’ve been blushing from nerves. All your body could manage was fear— pain.

Bucky watched as your body shook with a particular painful looking wave. His eyes widening in concern when your hands clutched your lower abdomen. Your face scrunched up painfully, squeezing your eyes shut— wishing for this sensation to pass.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re gonna be okay— I know it hurts now but just keep breathing okay? You can—” He paused, slipping his right hand through the gap in the wall. “You can hold my hand if you wa— need to.”

You slowly unscrunched your face, taking deep breaths like he had said— the fresh cool air soothing your lungs. Although it caused slight movement, the deep breaths were calming you.

You stared at his hand— hesitant. A part of you knew you shouldn’t— the fact was you shouldn’t even be talking to him. But the other part of you was desperate for human touch. It had been years since you last felt someone— someone’s gentle touch.

Your hunger won, that’s how you found yourself slowly scooting from your spot on the wall, towards the gap— towards his hand. The movement causes the throbbing to pick back up, a whimper of pain escape. You were close enough and grabbed onto his hand tight, squeezing it in hopes he could make the pain go away.

“I’ve got you— just keep breathing. I’m right here.” He cooed, his voice smooth and calming.

You still didn’t know why he was being so kind, but you decided not to question it any longer. You were grateful, to find comfort in such a place.

You quietly sobbed, holding onto his hand— his thumb occasionally rubbing back and fourth on the back of your hand.

“We’re gonna get out of here, I just know we will.” He whispered, and you had a feeling he was trying to convince himself.

You noticed he was peppier today, having more fight in his voice. You weren’t sure if he was only faking it for you, either way— you appreciated the motivation. He was relaxing to be around, specifically today. You wouldn’t question the leave you could find in a place like this. Hell.

“Thank you, Bucky.” You whimpered, sweat starting to bead on your forehead. Your lower abdomen starting to burn uncomfortably.

He gave your hand a tight squeeze, rubbing his thumb up and down once more.

“No need. We’ve got each other now— we will be okay.”

Oh how desperately you wanted to believe his words. Well— you did.

Months had passed, you both clung onto each other everyday— that was until he was taken one day and he never returned. You knew it was completely out of his control— but you felt hurt. You couldn’t stop yourself from feeling betrayed.

You didn’t know why it had hurt that much. He wasn’t anyone special to you to begin with. He was merely a stranger fighting for his life— just like you.

He had held your hand, talked you through some bad moments— he showed you that kindness still existed.

It was a silly gesture that you had let your withered mind believe. You weren’t sure if you held such distaste for him hurting you— or for yourself for allowing it to hurt that badly.

So for now, you’d sit against the grimy wall— counting down the days until someone knew took up the other cell. Then the cycle would repeat and you’d wish for the darkness to consume you.

If you want to be added

TAGLIST: @billy-reads @potatothots @goldylions

#bucky barnes #the winter soldier #marvel cinematic universe #sebastian stan #reader insert #buckybarnes #heavy angst #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes x you #protective bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes x y/n #james buchanan barnes #beefy bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #the winter soldier x you #the winter soldier fanfiction

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fountainpenguin · 4 months

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Secret Life finale highlights for me:

- "My strategy: Kill Skizz and Tango. Will happen at some point... Or, just maim them and watch them die in a corner." - Scar

- Scott on Grian's loyalty: "I have never seen a man drop a pair of sunglasses faster in my life [than last season after Joel died]."

- I think I reblogged someone's speculation weeks ago that at the dawn of final session, everyone's task book would just say "Win Secret Life." Congrats to them for Apollo's gift of prophecy.

- Martyn's beat of pause before saying to Joel "Welcome to the Out of Context video."

- At the start of the season, Etho said Joel was the first one he wanted to kill because "He's cheeky." When Joel is asked who he wants to kill, he says "Etho." Glad you're enjoying your rivalry, boys, smh...

- Joel, once again giving into his Shrek origins, watching Bdubs' wool globe go up in flames and chirping "My world's on fire; how 'bout yours?"

- Tango does not break his "pathetic death" curse. Just blipped out of existence. Love that for him.

- Spitting, crying... BigB panics and flees into his creepy backrooms for safety. Immediately vanishes into the tunnel maze. Scar pursues and skids to a halt because he hasn't seen it yet and is thoroughly creeped out.

- Scar coming up to surface and trying to describe how BigB disappeared. Martyn looks down at where they're standing and is just like "Oh, that's the backrooms." Mental image of Scar as that meme that goes "The. what."

- Scar describing BigB as a sneaky squirrel. "Squirrel" was the name of BigB's horse in Double Life.

- Joel's anxiety about entering a Nether portal on the final episode, specifically because of how he and Etho perma-died in Double Life

- Whatever was going on with Martyn flinging ender pearls up the ladder seconds before he died

- Additionally, people in the background commenting that they think Martyn's teamed up with Cleo and the only reason he was near them was an attempt to bear down and kill them

- Scar to Bdubs, watching Cleo and Etho from a distance: "Look at this- Mom and Dad are bringing their new ugly stepson to meet us, Bdubs." /camera pans to the warden chasing them

- Bdubs tells Scar that Cleo said he was her favorite son and Scar IMMEDIATELY, without responding or even waiting for Bdubs to finish his sentence, jumps a wall and books it to Cleo to confirm... Mental image of him swinging dramatically over it with one hand, his shawl billowing behind him

- Scar chases Cleo while they're both being pursued by a warden, asking her if he's her favorite son. Doesn't let up until she assures him she "just said it to keep Bdubs happy." what is wrong with the Clocker family.

- Joel somehow pulled off a beautiful PVP kill on Skizz despite having only 2.5 hearts

- In earlier episodes, Joel had people say "The florist sends his regards" on his behalf before striking. Before killing Skizz, he says "Scar sends his regards" since Scar really wanted to kill Skizz but bequeathed the fight to Joel instead.

- Scar trotting up to Etho and Cleo, who are watching him from a cliff, and announcing "I am not up to anything nefarious!"

- Scar's weird spiky wall design is really pretty

- slkdjfskldjfsklj?!?!?!? I had a bullet point on this list that said "Honorable non-finale mention to Scar getting both the Green and Yellow kill on Etho this season" but now I see I need to correct that:

- Shout-out to Scar killing Etho - in Etho's front yard - THREE TIMES this season. Etho rushing back to his base, tripping over his feet and saying "I'm going home, everybody- I'm dying at my home-"

- Scott to Scar: "I went down to BigB - to get him - and I see what you mean; he does just talk his way out of things so you feel bad; you just leave him." / Scar: "That's why you don't let him speak. You just inner monologue. You start talking about Star Wars so you can't hear his charms."

- As Scar drives his sword into Cleo, he says "Good-bye, Mom- This is for you telling Bdubs [he's your] favorite." Geez, dude. Scar killed both his parents; this family is a mess. Bonus points for Joel fumbling in the background like "Oh my gosh- Scar, you savage-"

- I watched multiple POVs until I was caught up to the standoff between Gem & The Scotts vs. The Mounders... So picking up from there with Scar's POV b/c his is the one I randomly started with today: I love how Joel basically went "I am once again throwing caution to the wind and charging into battle with a murderous Red rage in my eyes and no one behind me" like he ALWAYS does.

- Bdubs and Scar decide to back him up... Amazing.

- Scar has gotten 4 kills (Tango, Etho, Cleo, Impulse) and he was super close to getting BigB as well before Scott sniped the kill. Geez... The man is vicious today. During Limited Life, Grian made a comment that went something like "Of course Scar is only destructive / successful when I'm not on his team" and honestly? Yeah...

- Pearl begging Scar to kill her- Pearl warning Scar that if she perma-kills Gem, she'll go up 10 hearts- Scar refusing, insisting that he doesn't want to turn on her because it feels lame...

- Scar got Gem, he got Gem... GeminiSlay is DOWN!

- SCAR SWEEP WITH THE BOW!!

Oh my goodness, I saw his episode title ("Can Villain Scar Win?") and the words that went through my head were "Welp, that's a spoiler that he's dead." I see I was wrong.

GG, SCAR WIN!!! Man who wanted so desperately to have friends, only to trip and fail time and time again... GoodTimesWithVictor!!

My heart, Scar letting that zombie knock him down to half a heart... playing up like he didn't just watch the lightning bolt mark Pearl's demise. He wanders, calling out to Pearl, asking where she went... quietly giggling and muttering to himself as that zombie pushes at him... GG, Scar. GG.

My goodness, is this the only time we haven't seen the winner die in their perspective? Scar slams that success button for winning the game, gets 5 hearts, turns back, and that's it... That's the game. End scene.

What a LAD!!

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nobodyfamousposts · 1 year

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Why Scarlet Lady Is Better Than Canon: Lila Rossi

I had mentioned before at length regarding my distaste, dislike, and dissatisfaction with the character of Lila Rossi in Miraculous Ladybug canon. A character so horrible, so poorly written, and so two dimensional that I did not think it was possible to make any iteration of her I wouldn’t dislike.

And yet it seems @zoe-oneesama has come through for me yet again in Scarlet Lady by taking what was quite possibly one of my biggest issues and most despised characters within canon and with only a few changes, turning her into something enjoyable. Dare I even say…likable.

More than that, even. It says something when my least favorite character in Miraculous Ladybug canon can somehow become one of my top favorite characters in a different variation of it.

It’s because Zoe shows an understanding of the characters and what makes them engaging, and other than SL Adrien, it shows the most in the form of SL Lila.

See, Canon Lila Rossi is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.

Scarlet Lady Lila Rossi, on the other hand, is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.

Now I’m sure all of you are looking at those two sentences and noting that they’re the same thing. And you are right. That’s the point! Because the difference between the two versions isn’t who Lila is but rather in how the narrative and writing treat her and what Lila ends up doing because of it. And it’s why Scarlet Lady is superior in its handling of Lila.

Lila in Scarlet Lady is not a good person. Nor does she become a good person. She admits that she lies for fun and just to see how far she can take it. She’s fully on board with continuing her lies and trying to fool her mom and the school to get away with staying out of school for a year. This is all in lines with regular Canon Lila and shows that they are still the same person, it’s just the events and situation and narrative that differentiate them. It’s in how the Scarlet Lady story handles Lila and her character.

For the sake of convenience, I'm going to be using Scarlet Lady to refer to the comic itself and Scar to refer to Chloe's hero identity specifically.

Let’s review and compare Lila in Scarlet Lady to canon:

1. Lila in Scarlet Lady is NOT a plot device.

She doesn’t need to be. It’s clear that the plot is and has been moving forward on its own without her. Even if Lila were to have been removed from Scarlet Lady altogether, it’s pretty evident from everything else that’s been happening that we would still be getting to some plots and story points without too much difference or delay.

Scarlet Lady has a natural progression. The story and characters aren’t so rooted in the status quo that sudden additional character like Lila or Felix are necessary to throw in just to move things along. And Lila isn’t simply forgotten about when she’s not needed to do so. She doesn’t vanish without an explanation only to return also without explanation just to be able to force the plot to move.

Events within a story can be dependent on the characters, but the plot itself should not be dependent on what feels like a third party to show up and force things to happen when they should already be happening. That speaks of bad writing.

Canon Lila existed for the purpose of getting the Grimoire into Marinette’s hands so she could be the one to take it to Fu and learn about the Guardian and Miraculous secrets, as well as to be a future helper to Hawk Moth. Up until that point, the plot had done nothing with Fu and had done nothing to move things forward in learning about the Miraculous or why Hawk Moth would want the specific two. And after Volpina, the episodes that feature Lila are the ones that display more plot progression or involve Hawk Moth having layers to his plans. Lila only appears when she’s to be used to further a plot, then disappears until needed again.

In Scarlet Lady, by the time Lila appears, it’s already clear to Adrien, Plagg, and Fu that Scar is a horrible person and that she had no business being a hero. It’s also clear that Adrien is handling the hero work on his own and needs help. This is part of what causes Adrien to know that Lila is a liar and call her out on his own because in addition to Lila stealing his book, he already knows Scar well enough to know Lila’s story of Scar saving her would never happen. Lila isn’t the reason they find this out, nor is she the reason that the book is discovered and gets to the Guardian because Plagg chooses for himself to take Adrien to Fu. And afterwards, Lila’s appearances are more natural. Plot progression happens with and without her. Her appearances involve her interacting with her classmates like a person. They don’t have to have a plot-relevant purpose.

Narratively, there are three reasons to put in a scene.

Plot

Expansion/information/character focus

Entertainment

In canon, all of Lila's scenes are plot-focused and plot-driving.

In Scarlet Lady, they vary. Some are plot (like Lila's anti-Scar attitude getting more focus and validity over time). But more of Lila's scenes are focus in on her character and entertainment. This builds Lila as a person and makes her enjoyable to watch.

Lila is not a plot device as the plot doesn’t NEED her to progress. But that’s not to say that Lila doesn’t matter…

2. Lila has a role that nobody else in the story could cover.

As I’ve stated before, Canon Lila is pretty much another Chloe and there was nothing she was used for that Chloe couldn’t have or wouldn’t have been able to do. As a rival/foil to Marinette, as another love interest for Adrien, and even as a helper to Hawk Moth—by the time Lila started any of these roles, Chloe was already there and fully capable of filling them.

In Scarlet Lady, due to Scar being the hero Lila is butting heads with and being outted earlier on, SL Lila ends up not filling those same “roles”. She’s not a rival to Scar or Marinette, just a hater/critic of the former and a friend to the latter. She was called out by Adrien so she is shown to have no further interest in trying to pursue him. And as of yet, there has been nothing of Lila helping Hawk Moth.

Instead, Lila’s scenes show her engaging with the other classmates. More of the results of her being revealed as a liar. Her being a queen of sass and snark. And most importantly, her going head to head with Chloe and Scarlet Lady in verbal lashings that prove her silver tongue is no duller for people knowing of it.

In fact, she’s a part of people starting to realize that Scar is in fact horrible and her popularity starts to break down.

Yes, yes, we do have both Adrien and Marinette who realize how horrible Scarlet Lady is and hate her, but other than some snarky comments at her expense, they don’t do much about it. Mostly because they can’t. Especially early on, it’s clear that they’re forced to keep Scar around because as useless as she is otherwise, she is the only one who can purify the akuma and undo the damage. And as Fu has told them, Scar is still too popular with the city that trying to take the earrings from her would result in more problems. The two of them have to focus on dealing with the akumas more than trying to deal with Scar. Plus let’s be real: even as snarky as they both can get, they’re just too nice.

Others are also similarly of no help. Alya is still completely wrapped in Scar’s facade of a hero to see how selfish and unheroic she is. Most of the other classmates also go along with this narrative. But even the ones who DO know like Alix and Nino aren’t that active. They know but they don’t do anything with that knowledge.

Lila has no such barriers. She’s not a hero. She doesn’t know how “necessary” Scar is in akuma battles. And she doesn’t have to worry about not upsetting Scar since the “hero” already hates her. And thanks to Marinette and the other classmates with their “we still care about you for you” bit, she now has no reason to put up a mask…or a filter.

This makes Lila in prime position to try to push more against Scarlet Lady’s popularity and talk at length about how horrible she actually is. Something she is MORE than happy to do.

Lila is essentially the first main civilian hater of Scarlet Lady.

And with that in mind…

3. Lila’s actions are reasonable. Perhaps not intelligent, but they are reasonable.

She commits a number of the same acts as canon in Volpina. Stealing Adrien’s book, buying a necklace to be a fake Miraculous, trying to claim herself as the hero’s best friend for attention, and trying to claim she is a hero herself to get Adrien’s attention.

SL Lila is not a master manipulator or an up and coming villain. We are not expected to view her as a real threat to anything except Chloe’s ego.

Sure, she wants to speedrun the popularity and attention and maybe a nice rich blond boytoy to be her arm candy, but it’s clear in the very first comic she appears in that Lila has NO IDEA what sort of people she’s interacting with or telling lies about, and so has no way to prepare for what happens. First in that Adrien is so DONE with everything that he calls her out himself from the get go. Second in that Scarlet Lady appears to “save” Adrien from Lila’s lies when it was no longer necessary, proclaims aloud to the multitude of bystanders that Lila is a fraud, and then dumps her in a fountain for good measure and further insults her to boot. And at the end of it all, Scar doesn’t apologize for her actions, doubles down, and only further insults Lila. And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, still being wet AND being on top of the Eiffel Tower results in her getting sick.

As such, Lila’s hatred of the Ladybug Hero in this version of events feels more understandable and based on a legitimate grievance. Several even. Scar’s actions go well beyond canon’s version. We clearly see how hurt and humiliated Lila is. Plus we have all of Scar’s previous antics to look back on and…well, we already came into this with more reason to hate Scarlet Lady than Lila, and Lila simply jumped on the bandwagon that was already there.

It also makes more sense then that Lila never even pretends to forgive Scar. Scar never apologized. She caused emotional and physical harm to Lila. And unlike Ladybug, Scar never tried to make an offer of friendship so Lila isn’t losing out on any opportunities out of spite. Heck, Scar’s treatment of Alya shows us that there is nothing to be gained from even pretending to be a fan of Scar. So Lila’s hatred of Scar is understandable and her refusal to be friends with Scar makes perfect sense.

When she hides away at her home, there’s a valid reason behind it due to her being sick. Her “plan” to fool her mom and the school in order to avoid going back also makes sense given the fallout she knows she would have to face if she did. (At least more sense than it made in canon for her to disappear for months just because Ladybug outted her to one guy who clearly seemed to be on her side more and neither of them did anything to inform anyone else of the truth.)

And when she returns to the school and the classmates, it isn’t out of nowhere. Once she was no longer sick, she was planning to continue some ruse. We clearly see how despondent Lila was over her situation and the feeling that she’s on her own and no one would side with her over Scar. This was deep. It shows real fears and feelings on Lila’s part. And it’s telling that it was the assurance from Marinette and support from her classmates that convinced her to rejoin the class. It doesn’t look like she would have had the willingness or perhaps the courage to do so if Marinette hadn’t reassured Lila that they had her back and had taken steps to try and help her, even when she wasn’t there and as of yet had done nothing to warrant it.

Here we see a Lila who is vulnerable and real. Who is clearly impacted by events on a deeper and more personal and meaningful level—or at least better than “GRR! Superhero revealed I was lying about her to a boy I like! I shall join the terrorist attacking the city and potentially destroy the WORLD for revenge!”

In this way, Lila is portrayed more like a normal girl. Since the narrative isn’t trying to play her off like she’s supposed to be some master manipulator the way canon does, Lila for all intents and purposes IS a normal teenage girl. A normal teenage girl who was humiliated and injured by someone with more power and social status than she can fight back against. She’s less of an archetype and more of a person with her own thoughts and feelings and ultimately choices which—even if we don’t like or agree with, we can at least see and understand.

Her actions are reasonable. Not just in that we as the audience can empathize with them but that they make sense. For Lila’s character, for her personality, and for someone in her position.

4. No plot armor.

SL Lila’s plans don’t just seamlessly work out. If anything, they go very wrong very quickly. Even before Scar calls her out, Adrien already made it clear that he knows she’s a liar. This effectively ruins her plan to try and get his interest and not just in the “Adrien being nice but not in to her” way. Furthermore, as she’s revealed as a liar in front of the entire class, we clearly see some of her classmates (Alya) continue to take issue with her later on. And even the ones who don’t have such issues are at least fully aware of Lila’s personality and don’t allow her to fool or manipulate them.

Sure, she still tries to manipulate her mom and the school to avoid having to go back, but that doesn’t last that long. And in Lila’s defense at that period of time, she was legitimately sick as a result of her dip in the fountain.

So it’s pretty clear that Lila lacks the plot armor that she had in canon. But it’s not just that Lila experiences losses, it’s also in the ways she succeeds. And unlike Canon Lila, SL Lila is not reliant on the plot to accomplish anything or make things work in her favor.

Some classmates still consider her friends. She’s still welcomed back—even with a bit more trepidation than before. She gets some epic zingers on Chloe and Scar. She got to have another interview with Alya just to be able to go on at length about how horrible Scar is. She manages to get on live TV just to heckle Scar. And over time, more and more people are seeing the problems with Scar.

Lila still gets some victories. Certainly not as many and not as big as what she gets in canon, but at least they don’t feel so forced. And they’re entertaining to see.

Which delves a bit more into an additional point I wanted to make…

5. There are consequences and responses to Lila and her lies.

With Canon Lila, everyone is in this weird sort of limbo where they automatically believe Lila JUST ENOUGH to not question her but at the same time NOT ENOUGH to actually follow through with some of her lies. In Chameleon, Lila claims to have and then magically be cured of Tinnitus and Bustier believes her just enough to rearrange the seats for her at her will but not enough to require some doctor’s note or confirmation of either the presence or recovery from the medical issue—even in the event the former could be overlooked, the latter could NOT and any school or teacher worth their salt would require SOME proof to discontinue an accommodation for someone with a disability because that would be a liability. In Ladybug, Lila claimed Marinette pushed her down stairs and the adults believed her just enough to admonish Marinette but not enough to get Lila actual medical attention, which is a liability and gross negligence. In Ono-chan, Nino believes Lila’s lies about needing Adrien to help tutor her just enough to give her an opening to go to his place but not enough to follow through, check up on her afterwards, or reasonably consider that maybe the supermodel with the super strict father might not be the best person to tutor her and he should ask for help from Max or Sabrina instead?

Each and every time, Lila is believed in the exact way she wants to the exact extent that would most benefit her with minimal effort on her part when it shouldn’t work that way. Even if we disregard how stupidly obvious many of her lies are, there is something wrong when they believe her enough to trust what she says over anyone else telling them otherwise but not enough to follow through on what that belief should then involve. They believe her when she says someone pushed her down the stairs but not enough to get her medical attention? Make sure she has no broken bones or internal bleeding? This has the issue of ruining the suspension of disbelief and making it look like the problem isn’t Lila being amazingly smart and evil so much as it is everyone around Lila being infuriatingly stupid and negligent.

Scarlet Lady nixes that problem in one episode by having Lila be revealed as a liar immediately, but furthermore follows up on it and the fallout of those lies. Nothing big or major or life-ruining—it’s middle school, after all. But the impact is still there.

Even episodes later, we see effects of Lila’s earlier lies. Chloe of course keeps referencing them in their encounters and yeah, it is reason for no one to really take Lila’s word against Scar’s—at least at first. Alya and Adrien both give her some pretty evil looking stares, showing that even five episodes later they both still very much remember what she did and do not approve of her getting free jewelry. Alya in particular stands out. She is shown to bear such a grudge against Lila for lying on her blog that she holds no sympathy for her being sick. And in the second intermission, she looks physically pained when she has to ask Lila for an interview on why she hates Scar. Something she had apparently sworn she would never do again after being fooled the first time. And something Lila looks completely overjoyed to do. There are people who are angry with Lila. They have every reason and every right to be. But it doesn’t have to mean the end of the world for her. It just means that there needs to be something.

The classmates don’t have to be made out to be stupid to make Lila work. They are canonically very kind and forgiving people. But canon makes them come off that way more because the lack of continuity seems to erase the lessons of previous episodes or somehow make them forget that certain people are horrible.

Zoe fixes this and a lot of problems in canon by having not just the classmates but EVERYONE in Paris remember and respond to things that have happened previously, even if just in little ways. Given how little room Zoe has to work with, this is HUGE. Simply adding comments here and there puts the scenes from canon in a new light and makes the classmates feel more fleshed out and like…dare I say it: PEOPLE.

The difference from Canon has a lot to do with how everyone else reacts to Lila, which makes these other characters and Lila appear more real and like fleshed out people rather than caricatures who only exist and move as the plot requires. They don’t have to bash Lila or try to light her on fire for it to be clear that Lila isn’t a good person and that there are consequences to her actions.

This is all leading up to the real possibility of…

6. Character arc?

It says something that contrary to most expectations, Lila is not what one would consider to be redeemed in Scarlet Lady. Lila is not a good person here just because she rejoins the class and becomes their friend and Zoe at no point tries to pretend that she is.

Marinette and other classmates made the choice to reach out and try to befriend Lila, but unlike most other arcs in other stories, this doesn’t result in Lila being redeemed. And she in no way got Lila to admit she was wrong and try to be a good person.

Lila is not necessarily forgiven or absolved of what she did. Nor is anything Lila did magically erased. All Marinette did and all she had to do was encourage Lila to not run away now that the truth was out. She helped convince her to return to the class with everyone fully knowing what she’s done and the type of person that she is and move forward with that. She informs Lila that despite her lies, there are people in the class who genuinely care about her and are worried about her.

Hell, it’s not even all up to Marinette. We see Alix sending messages to Lila encouraging her to join the class for Marinette’s birthday party. Sabrina fully admitted to inviting Lila to that party. Same with Rose, who has also been expressed to be worried about Lila. There are members of the class who are shown to care about her and who were noted to have made an effort to help Lila even after what had happened. Because they consider her a friend despite what she did, and that’s what friends do. All they asked was that Lila stop with the lies, stop with running away, and give people a chance.

And the result is the more mellow but passive aggressive Lila Rossi we see in Scarlet Lady. Not a Lila who is a good person or who is redeemed. This is a Lila who is at least honest with everyone about the sort of person that she is. She’s not pretending like she was in canon. She’s not being fake. She’s not putting on a mask of niceness anymore. This is a Lila who is fully acknowledged by everyone to have been a liar, to still be very selfish, and in some ways...a bad influence.

With a few episodes left, perhaps there is more we’ll see of Lila’s development and who she’ll become. Maybe we’ll get to see her take the steps to become better. To be a good friend, a good person, and maybe even a better hero than Scar. I don’t know for sure just yet what Zoe has planned for a character like Lila, but I do know what I see here:

A good start.

#ml analysis #scarlet lady #scarlet lady is better than canon #lila rossi #lila salt #for zoe #merry christmas

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love4norris · 6 months

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THE SWEETEST TORTURE PT.2

ೃ༄ pt.1 here

episode two: caring

ೃ༄ pairing: lando norris x gbsf!y/n

ೃ༄ summary: where her best friend gets a girlfriend and she cant help but despise her and all of her perfectness

ೃ༄warnings: none except this not being proofread! there is some details that might not apply to you, it’s nothing big or anything just stuff to do with favourite colours and stuff but just ignore that if you don’t agree with it! i stayed up LATE to write this so i’m hoping it lives up to all of yours’s standards ( i hate the end bit but it’s like the first ever scene i’ve written like that so please don’t be to critical 🙏)

Raindrops glided down the worn down bricks of your house until they collapsed into the puddles below. The cold air being joined by harsh rainfall as if the darkness that was slowly accumulating inside of your body was beginning to leak into the faint aura of white that remained in the sky.

It however failed to be vengeful, even the sky refusing to be angry at that particular brunette boy.

Your bedroom door felt your wrath the hardest, the innocent slab of wood being pounded back into place to give you some privacy. It must of felt betrayed due to the fact when you had first been surrounded by these particular brick walls, the object had been left alone to watch your emotion flood back and forth across your body exactly like a cargo ship would if it were to encounter a strong storm. A smallest fulfilment of energy was what gave you the order to do such a thing, your brain going into overdrive and messing up constantly created the cause for the violent action as no one, not even an object with a lack of emotion, should witness such a thing.

Each emotion sat freshly placed in your body, almost mocking you as tears fought to be first to slide across your face. It was as if there was a bet going on inside you on whether or not anger or sadness would be the cause for the sudden burst of salty water.

A soft amalgam of the different textures that your clothing pieces had been made of, brushed against the nerves in your hand with every movement back and forth from the wardrobe to your bed.

Coming to a halt directly in front of the end of your bed, you couldn’t help but wonder what he would feel once you had vanished, maybe he would realise something. What? You couldn’t know but the desire for him to realise something, anything was strong.

The decision to leave had been a rash one yet you still managed to find joy in it. The ‘what if’s’ seeming more appealing than any of the concrete answers.

Strong cologne melded with vanilla as the two scarce scents fought for slightest bit of domination over the room. Lando had decided to get ready in your room that two days ago to that exact hour, his words being exactly “so we can talk” but the lack of words that surrounded the two of you in reminder of your friendships sudden depletion, spoke many words but none the same as his.

Silk felt crisp in between your skin, the once smooth fabric now falling apart as if your emotion was once again leaking onto yet another inanimate object of your choosing. Placing it into your newish suitcase, the box began to cast its memories straight into your mind, one however stood out between the rest, the sounds and scents that joined it hand in hand making you feel as though you had been invited into the most peaceful time.

“What about this one?” Lando offered, his index finger pointing directly towards the peppa pig themed suitcase.

“Oh I love it.” Your joking response made him lean forward to grab it and pick it up so his eyes could get the full view of it.

“It’s perfect! I mean even your favourite colour is pink!”

The memory was harshly cut off at his false fact, the eight letter sentence once again concocting the relentless sensations that swirled impatiently around your body. Waiting for anything or even anyone to take it out on.

For once in the many years you had lived in these particular walls, each stroke of paint covered in some form of memory, you felt as though nothing substantial had happened in your life. The brunette boy that was most likely still dancing the night away had your full attention before it was possible to say the word.

No one else could have the blame though, every chance you had to tell him your love for him, you politely declined. Muttering a small ‘maybe next time’ to yourself seemed to do the job just as well.

The scent of him joined you in your solitude long before the sound of the innocent door opening snuck its way into your room. You couldn’t see him but every fibre inside of your body felt him. Even in the absence of any words, sentences cast themselves across the room each sending a long shiver up your spine until it seemed as though the softness of his own fingertips touched the dominant bone. The feeling of his arms wrapping around your waist but it was merely the same air that carted his cologne throughout the room but there was something else weighing down the air, something far more dangerous for the human soul.

Hope.

It stuck with you just like you had wanted Lando to, with strength and determination. Determination that a good outcome would come out of this. But as you stood on the wire that had formed underneath your shaking feet, as your bated breath claimed the entirety of your lungs in fear that if you were to even let one minuscule air particle pass your lips, the wire would snap.

“What are you doing?” The normally regretful or emotion filled words had been drained out as though they were flannels, each run of water that the drain gladly swallowed representing each mistake he had made throughout the years.

“Get out.” You had yet to lift your gaze, every movement being frozen in place, but it felt as though you didn’t need to do much as glance at him to be able to witness the smirk he was so cowardly wearing across his face.

“Pardon?” Yet again, he requested that you restate the demand, he had obviously heard you correctly but the shock in which you had dared to such a thing provided a lack of effort to process the two unfamiliar words.

“GET OUT.” You screamed, the anger boiling over as your hands grasped to grab any object infront of you. The mere, unlucky same silk top you had decided to launch at him being caught before it even managed to intercept his personal space. After all these years of feeling nothing but love towards him and the pain inflicted onto your heart as a result, it was loathsome how he managed to stay so smug throughout the ordeal.

His frame was adorned with a expensive obsidian suit, the blazer being thrown somewhere onto the floor in the lounge before he made his way towards your room. The time in which he left you to cool down had obviously not been expanded long enough, his feeling evident by the shift in his mood and posture.

“Come on, talk to me. For real this time and tell me what is wrong so I can help you.” It was as though his memory had been wiped from the events that had happened beforehand, maybe he even had the luxury to block it from making itself comfortable deeper into his brain.

He stood against the door, back being supported against the abused wooden pillars that held the door in place, sealing the only escape from your possession.

“I don’t even want to look at you, let alone talk to you about what I am feeling.” Swallowing a breath, you put off the appearance of the lump in your throat, pushing it down into the pit of your stomach.

The tension was palpable in the surrounding air, his own body and the singular window not allowing it to disappear. It pricked along the flesh of your exposed skin, slowly gathering all the cold it could just so it could wrap you into a shaking hug.

“I can’t think of what I could have done to make you so mad that you are packing a bloody suitcase! It isn’t so hard to just fucking communicate with your friend.” Lando eyed you as he began to walk over to your suitcase, his strides closing the gap between the two of you before you could close your eyes in a half-hearted blink. “Because we are friends at the end of the day so you can’t just shut me out like it is nothing!”

Pressing your lips together with harsh pressure, somehow you had managed to convince yourself that such an action would keep the building emotions at bay.

“Communicate? It’s head to communicate with someone when they don’t talk to you.” You took a step closer towards him but your voice had a cautious tone, wanting to keep the knife like words in the kitchen.

Lando made no bother in understanding, instead taking it upon himself to take your neatly folded tops out of the suitcase and back open to your gaping draws.

“I cannot.” You paused the second your broken voice punctured the air, the unfathomable amount of emotion that had decided to join immediately shocking the both of you. Your throat felt tight, the tensions hands unravelling themselves around from your lower body to meet with your neck as if it were doing everything in its power to keep these words hostage. “I will not be the friend that you simply settle for every now and then because you can’t be bothered with the others.”

Although the thought had only recently brought itself to light, the evidence to support its claims were overwhelming. The friend that he has on the side to just pick at whenever he needed to.

“Y/N-.” His sentence made no effort in finishing itself, the one word drawn out enough to consume the singular wasted breath it had stolen to get out.

“The truth is, I do love you. I have forever and I have had forever to come to terms with that and I have come to terms you do not feel the same way about me. I have worked years for this and the second you find out-.” There was something depressing, something you could feel penetrating your heart as you watched Lando’s face drop in realisation, the words funnelling in through his ears as quickly as he could process them.

“You just threw it out there as if it was nothing! Like it meant absolutely nothing to you!” Bewilderment laced your tone as it turns into a sharp scoff. Any stability that you had taken years to build up departing you with lack of any second thoughts. A question shuffled itself uncomfortably into your accusation however the lack of an actual inquiry filled you with a large emptiness. “Do you care?”

“Where are you going?” Words spilled over his slightly pouted lips, each one taking its turn to break down your barriers yet none faced the question so firmly placed in-front of them.

The world felt quiet, as though the only sound that dared to echo through the used up air, belonged to the two lone people that stood in your bedroom. Your breaths heavy with words that were unable to be spoke aloud.

For, he had evidently given up on the method of stealing your clothes, instead opting to just keep a few back for good measure.

“Why are you leaving me?” He tilted his head to the side as though it would help him gather the answer to his inquiry, his eyes peering slowly directly into yours.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Was all you could muster up in that moment, your vocal cords had numbed themselves, refusing to fall victim to everlasting lump that began to get comfortable at the back of your throat.

“Would you stay if I gave you a good enough reason?”

There was a million words that you could say, scream in response. But as your eyes began to take ahold of themselves and gain the strength to look at him, none seemed sufficient enough to hold the power of your pleas for him to give you a good reason, a great reason even.

“What if I told you that I did care, more than I should. A lot more than I should. But you are not the person I should care about so, so much. That should be Lacy but no matter how hard I tried, it was impossible. Or what if I told you that I went back in there after you left and I walked straight up to her to tell her that she was amazing and deserves much better than me and then I drove straight here to figure out that there was a recurring theme in this. And that is that I am not good enough, that I don’t deserve the love that people are so willing to give to me all the time.” Lando gazed at you stood so far yet so close to him, his voice deep but cracked as it floated around, certain words in particular sitting directly in his eye line.

Blinking softly, as you find yourself falling asleep to his dreamy words, you cleared you throat to fill the void of silence as you brain began to formulate the perfect sentence in which to respond with.

There was no response needed however, his scent engulfing you before his arms managed to. The warmth of his breath fanned against your sealed lips, as Lando’s briefly brushed against yours in a teasing manner, his lips hovering just above the touch of your lips. His palms were placed firmly on your hips, bringing you as close to him as humanly possible as all his actions combined in a way that was pushing you to make the first move.

“You guys have definitely broken up?” The question was one you had to ask before sealing the deal, you hands tauntingly snaking up his shoulders so they could encircle around the base of his neck, preparing for your next move.

“Definitely.” He confirmed breathlessly, though never let himself falter away from his current position and you couldn’t help but wonder how much pleasure he was getting from depriving you of something you had been wanting for years.

“I picked you.” With those three particular words, his lips descended directly on top of yours.

You had waited years for this moment, dreamt of it countless times and here you were, experiencing it. Experiencing as his hands trailed around your body as though it was an unexplored map.

Rather suddenly, he dragged you apart through the use of your hips so he could look you directly in the eyes.

“You aren’t going to leave now, right?”

“Not until you fuck up again.”

#f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #f1 fic #f1 x you #lando norris #lando norris angst #lando norris x reader #f1 x reader #lando norris x you #lando norris x y/n #lando norris fanfic #f1 imagines #ln4 #mclaren

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cheeseanonioncrisps · 3 months

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One of the more interesting aspects of Stayed Gone is the implication that, prior to his disappearance, Alastor must have been producing some quality programming.

Despite it's obvious importance in the modern world, TV apparently only started outcompeting radio in Hell after Alastor vanished. Seven whole years ago. And when Al returns, Vox's first response is to freak the fuck out about whether he's gonna keep his audience.

That's fucking crazy.

And we can be pretty sure that people weren't just listening in out of fear, either. Or because Alastor was making any major effort to crush all other forms of media.

If this was purely about which Overlord was the most powerful, then Vox's verses would surely have focused on emphasising his own strength. Instead, they're all about calling radio outdated. Vox is genuinely worried— apparently based on experience— that Alastor is going to outdo him in terms of sheer entertainment value.

Which raises the obvious question: what were Al's shows actually like? (Aside from those early broadcasts guest-starting the screams of the damned, obviously.)

We get kind of a taster in the song:

“Salutations! Good to be back on the air. Yes, I know it's been a while, since someone with style treated Hell to a broadcast— Sinners, rejoice!— instead of a clout-chasing mediocre video podcast. Is Vox insecure, pursuing allure? Fitting between this fad and that, is nothing working? Every day, he's got a new format! Is Vox as strong as he purports? Or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Vees! And here's the sugar on the cream: he asked me to join his team! I said no, and now he's pissy, that's the tea!”

Obviously he's doing it to music, so there's going to be some difference in the cadence of his voice from that, but still, he's talking noticeably quicker than he does in person. And he gets right to the point.

Compare it to his commercial in episode 1. There's a big difference in terms of both how much respect he's showing his audience (“well hello there, you wayward sinner!” vs “good to be back on the air”), and how much relevant information he delivers.

Alastor is a great character to watch, but most people who interact with him directly seem to find the experience either annoying, awkward, terrifying or all three.

Mainly because Al seems to go out of his way to put people off even when he's actively trying to get them to trust him, by making condescending asides or constantly dropping references to his own power. On air, however, he greets everyone politely and even drops what is almost an apology for being gone so long (“I know it's been a while”), then immediately gets to the information that he knows they're really listening for.

Alastor may not respect Charlie, Adam or Lucifer, but he does respect his audience.

And the content he's producing makes it clear why people are still tuning in. Al has the gossip. Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench may not be unbiased exactly, but they're clearly trying to provide sources for their claims and maintain some veneer of professional news reporting.

Al, meanwhile, is quite happy to provide strong opinions and baseless speculation about public figures, content that is less fitting with the professional image that Vox seems so desperate to keep up, but that is likely to attract a bigger audience.

What gets me curious now, however, is wondering what else he used to provide.

Again, radio was apparently the medium for news and entertainment in Hell until Alastor left. Implying that a) radio was at the time fulfilling many of the function that TV now provides, and b) Alastor was involved enough in this that it collapsed/got overthrown the moment he left town.

Did Alastor have an empire similar to the Vees? Did he run a bunch of channels? Did he have DJs and sports commentators and presenters on his payroll?

Given that radio seems to have collapsed completely after he left— did they all go running to Vox when he was presumed dead? Was the Vees new empire in part built on the ruins of Alastor's old one?

Or did he do the whole thing solo and just run like, a bunch of different shows. (In which case, since radio's bread and butter has always been music, Helluva Boss fans can now have fun imagining him interviewing Verosika Mayday about ‘Vacay to Bonetown’.)

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel meta #hazbin spoilers #alastor hazbin #vox #stayed gone #meta #hazbin hotel headcanons #i'm writing this right before bed so excuse if it seems a bit disjointed #🥱

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