#like I didn’t get emotional at all during her death scene but every time I rewatch the clip from the game I do

[jaegerbroshoe]

Okay so I finally watched the first episode but I gotta say…I’m a little disappointed?

Like, the chemistry between the characters and the intrigue of the opening from the games just didn’t translate through for me. There were some great lines/shots/transitions they got rid of or changed that I don’t understand why they didn’t include (e.g. “you should start helping out with the mortgage then”, solider noting that Sarah is a little girl and showing more hesitance, the news report transition between past and present).

It was nice getting a bit more backstory on some stuff but yeah, I don’t know. So far I think the game’s opening was a lot stronger.

#the explanation of how fungi can fuck us up with warmer global temperatures driving their evolution was very scary #and I did like the added scene of ellie tricking joel #but yeah idk I feel like even though they spent longer introducing sarah in the show her bond with joel was translated better in the game #like I didn’t get emotional at all during her death scene but every time I rewatch the clip from the game I do #so I don’t think it’s just because I was expecting it #I wish they kept the opening the same honestly #and tess just felt irrelevant here? #and also joel doesn’t come across as hardened #he looked so shook at having killed someone at the end of the episode #plus here he’s looking for tommy #and it’s interesting what they did with the fireflies locking up ellie #and ellie not really knowing marlene until now #I don’t remember that being the case in the game but I could be wrong #still showing ellie being held against her will does make the fireflies more of assholes here #like to me it will actually support the argument of her being coerced more at the end #as in sacrificing herself wasn’t really her idea #and that marlene manipulated her #P.S. why the fuck are the infected in the show so fast? they weren’t like that in the game and it came off as tacky imo #tlou show #the last of us #misc #my opinion

[kurokoros]

actually really messed up over the way that Steve Harrington is a character that's desperate to be wanted by someone and the narrative repeatedly punishes him for it. he's a very metaphorical and literal punching bag each season, but it's Steve so it's always a haha funny in hindsight moment or whatever trauma he goes through simply isn’t addressed afterwards.

like, it's implied that his parents aren't around much and/or they have an unhappy and unhealthy marriage (his mom has to follow his dad on business trips to make sure he isn't cheating, which happens often enough that his friends can joke about it). his friends sucked and he obviously didn't agree with or like some of the things they did, but at least they paid attention to him so it was something. he has a reputation for serial dating (or at the very least sleeping around) by the beginning of his junior year in high school. S1 has Nancy blow him off, lie to him, and then spend the night with Jonathan Byers in her bedroom, leading him to believe she’s cheating on him (and despite the audience knowing that’s not technically the case, there’s no denying that the scenes between Nancy and Jonathan were meant to imply romantic chemistry between them). in S2, drunk or not, Nancy is extremely cruel in the way she blames him in part for the death of her friend and calls their entire roughly year long relationship bullshit (which she never really apologizes for), after which she disappears for several days, leaving their relationship ambiguously over, only to show up again a few days later with the new boyfriend she spent over a year pining for. S3 he pours his heart out to Robin just to be rejected when there were totally different ways to work her coming out scene into the plot that didn’t involve spending x number of episodes hinting towards them as a couple just to pull a bait and switch for the audience. and then in S4 Steve is both insecure about his friendship with Dustin, who has more in common with Eddie than he does with Steve, and he has several different people telling him that he's still interested in Nancy and that she's also interested in him (Dustin, Robin, Eddie), only to have his heart kind of broken all over again when she goes right back to Jonathan. 

and that's emotional pain on top of getting beaten or otherwise attacked every season. though arguably justified, in S1 Steve is slapped, punched, and shoved around. during his fight with Billy in S2, Steve is beaten to the point of being knocked out cold for an undetermined amount of time between roughly 10-30 minutes. this is treated like a joke in S3, but considering the number of blows he took to the head there should have been a very serious concern over him having a concussion at best and trauma to the brain at worst. S3 is the same, but the focus on him feeling “like [his] eye is about to pop out” implies ocular trauma. he’s then drugged and nearly has his fingernails ripped off as a form of torture. finally in S4 his bare back is dragged across the ground, he’s strangled, and he has chunks of flesh ripped out of his sides, which I can’t remember being addressed at all after the group returns from the upside down. 

that’s a lot to go through in the ~2.5 years that Stranger things covers. and what’s worse is that I can’t remember a single time where a character asks if he’s okay

#the way the fight with billy in particular is turned into a joke is just... really upsetting to me #steve tried so damn hard to protect the kids #and afterwards he's treated like an inconvenience for them to deal with. or him being beaten is made into a joke #steve harrington #stranger things #it's 4:30am as I'm posting this and I'm just EMOTIONAL

[aemondsvisenya]

Hello! I saw you were taking requests for House of the dragon and wanted to request something if that’s okay! I had this idea for quite a while but haven’t been able to find any fics like this. I’d like to request a Daemon Targaryen x fem!reader hurt/comfort fic in which the reader comforts him after Viserys’ death. Maybe she finds him having a breakdown and like breaking things so she goes to hug him (with the head bump thing he does when he hugs people bc that makes me melt) and he just lets go for once. I know this sounds a bit ooc for him but I’ve heard that they cut off the scene in which he cried for Viserys and his daughter and I can’t get over it. I believe Daemon is actually more emotional than how we see in the show and that he feels a lot and is a very complex character. I’d love to see a scenario in which Daemon actually can’t hold his emotions in anymore and someone is there for him. Idk I just love him🫶🏻

Sorry for my english, it’s not my first language. Anyway, take your time and feel free to ignore this if it you’re not really inspired, have a great day!

Hi anon! Of course it’s absolutely okay to request! ☺️ I love this idea so much, oh my gosh - I actually did write a fanfic a couple of months back about Daemon in episode 10 (grieving not only his brother but also his daughter and stepson), and I totally agree that he’s incredibly complex. It’s a shame there were scenes showing his complexity cut from the show!

Anyway, I apologise for it being kind of short but I've been busy with work unfortunately! I also apologise if it sucks!

Grieving | Daemon Targaryen x fem!reader

Warnings: mentions of illness/death, angst, hurt/comfort, Daemon using his favourite four letter words beginning with c and f

Also, a note: Obviously this isn't canon-compliant - you're in a relationship with Daemon in this fic, so you could assume he's not married to Rhaenyra but... anyway.

The first thought on your mind when you heard the news of Viserys’ death was not of the inevitable power struggle for who would be the one to seize the throne, of the inevitable war and pain for both sides this would cause, or even your own feelings of sadness at the king’s passing.

No, the only thing on your mind was Daemon.

It didn’t take long for everyone around you to busy themselves with plotting how best to help the king’s named heir take the throne that was rightfully hers, Daemon chief among them; to anyone else, he appeared angry, filled with a dangerous rage that threatened to boil over and destroy everything in his wake, his desire for war and revenge clear. It was true, you admitted; it was obvious that your lover wanted to hurt each and every person who had caused his brother pain, who had disrespected that same brother’s wishes, who had held any part in usurping a niece he held dear. There was no question that Daemon Targaryen wanted revenge or that he would be the one to swing the sword as he sought it.

But you knew him well enough to know that there was more than just anger and hate driving him - everyone thought him a heartless man, incapable of loving or truly caring for anyone, but you knew this assumption couldn't have been further from the truth.

As darkness fell over Dragonstone that evening and the council meetings drew to a close, you saw the Rogue Prince leave quickly; his face was grim, mouth set in a firm line and a hand on the sword he kept with him at all times. No one noticed as you silently slipped away after him, too occupied in their own politics and war to care what you did or where you went - you were of little importance compared to the lords, princes and queen, after all.

You knew immediately where he had gone - there was only one place in the castle he would go now after a long day like this, especially in the aftermath of such news. In no time at all you were standing outside of the chambers the two of you were occupying during your stay, taking a deep breath and steeling yourself before ordering the guard posted outside of the doors to let no one else in unless of an emergency; the knight agreed, bowing his head low as you entered the room.

"FUCK!"

A goblet clashed against a stone wall, thankfully empty and not filled with wine that would stain the rugs. Your prince barely seemed to notice your sudden presence, so consumed by his anguish and rage that it seemed to blind him to all else; you tried not to wince as he next overturned a large table, sending the books and scrolls that had decorated it clattering to the floor in a mess. You had known he would take the news harshly: the king had been his older brother, his only brother or sibling for that matter, and while their relationship had been somewhat uneasy over the years, it was clear that they had loved and cared for each other despite any quarrels or disagreements they may have once had.

He let out snarl, kicking a nearby chair. "Those bastards... those fucking Hightower cunts..." He picked up a nearby vase and threw it to the floor; the object shattered upon impact, something else the servants would have to clean come morning. Most would have been afraid by his behaviour, by this violence - but not you. You knew he would not hurt you, that his actions were merely his way of expressing his pain and hurt.

"Daemon..."

He spared you a glance, enough to acknowledge you, before letting out a harsh exhale and stalking over to the window; he sat on the ledge underneath it, resting an arm against the glass and leaning his head against it. Like this, you could not see his face - but you knew what the small tremors that shook his shoulders meant, what he needed from you even as he tried to hide.

"Oh, love..." You crossed the room and without hesitating cupped his face, turning it towards you. "Come here."

Daemon looked at you once more, his eyes glassy. "My brother..."

"I know," You whispered. "I'm so sorry. I'm certain he knew you were loyal to him, that you loved him - he knew it until the end."

"He's gone," He said, voice thick with emotion that he was only now allowing himself to feel properly. "Viserys is gone."

Your heart broke at the pain in his voice. "It's okay, Daemon... you don't have to be strong here, not with me."

There was a moment's pause before he leaned forwards, forehead gently bumping against your chin as he pressed his face into your chest. As your hands started to run through his hair almost absent-mindedly, knowing that this action helped to soothe him, he began to let go for you; his hands reached for the fabric of your clothes as if to clutch onto you, to hold you closer, and soon the tears came.

Very few people had ever seen the Rogue Prince cry, for he hated to be seen as weak, but the love and years you had spent together meant he trusted you enough to be vulnerable in front of. It didn't take long before his tears turned to quiet sobs, muffled by the way he pressed his face into you; all you could do for now was hold him tight and whisper comfortingly to him, to to be there for him by giving him the freedom he needed to grieve his loss.

Daemon would avenge his brother, of this you had no doubts - but for tonight he allowed himself to let go and mourn, and you were all too willing to be there for him when he needed you most.

#daemon targaryen #daemon targaryen x reader #daemon x reader #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd imagine #daemon targaryen imagine #hurt/comfort #daemon needs a big hug let's be honest #it feels right that my first request filled is about daemon considering i met matt smith like two and a half months ago

[lifes-line]

In honor of the Adventure Zone and the suffering game coming out soon I’m gonna talk about the moments in The Adventure Zone that got me the most emotional

Obviously spoilers for the Adventure Zone

5. Johann the Bard’s death

This one I think caught the majority of TAZ fans off guard. Whenever an NPC died.. it was always during the events of recovering a grand relic - never after the mission. It’s like-

Johann was here. And then he wasn’t.

And most people grew very attached to Johann during the episodes and arcs of making fun of him, asking if they’re ok with being forgotten, him and his relationship with the Void Fish— and to include this with my number 5

WHEN MAGNUS AT THE END OF THE PODCAST

NAMES HIS FUCKING DOG AFTER JOHANN

OHMYGODDD

4. Meeting Lup

Now- not when Lup was freed from the Umbra-staff and called out her brother for being gay, while that was a funny as fuck moment, that’s not what I’m referring to.

It’s when we cut back to the Stolen Century and we meet Lup officially for the first time. I just remember hearing her speak for the first time and her antics and I remember being like “god.. she’s just like her brother.”

And we get to know her and it’s like- we also find out she is nothing like Taako. She’s more empathetic to people - to strangers- she’s smarter than him(like book smart) , SHES a nerd, she flamboyant and kindhearted and it’s like also-

We’ve known her forever. She was in every single adventure the boys had- she was this overwhelming presence in the entire podcast - from her name burnt into the wall, to “where’d you get that umbrella?”, to flying to Taako’s aid every time he was in trouble— she had always been a character without a name or face to her and then we she is finally formally introduced you just love her instantly.

That’s amazing writing.

3. Arms outstretched

Now this got everyone.

It was such a powerful moment between brothers and between friends- even Griffin didn’t see it coming.

He fully expect them to just let Magnus float off into the astral plane but then they change the entire plot of the story and saved Magnus and brought him back.

Taako and Merle both using a spell slot to bring back their bestfriend. Also foreshadows to their deeper connection back in their stolen century.

The music behind that scene was also fucking phenomenal it was beautiful and I loved it.

2. “You fucking took everything from me”

Ok SO- THIS ONE IS INCREDIBLE- it starts me on the same tangent every time.

In this moment Taako has fully remembered all of the events that happened before Lucretia erased their memories and he is fucking infuriated.

Because if Lucretia had not done it that day- Taako and Barry would’ve found Lup. THINK ABOUT IT - that day they were going to check Wave Echo cave- they would’ve found Lup’s corse and the red robe and the umbrella - Taako would’ve made the connection and Barry would’ve figured it out instantly and Lup would’ve been set free and back.

But because Lucretia did it they never went to WaveEcho cave and they never found her- until a decade later- Taako found her stupid and unknowing - took her umbrella and watched her skeleton decay- AND NOW HE REMEMBERS THIS

And it’s too late to go back to WaveEcho now, the fucking hunger is here and her corpse is long gone, if she was a lich barry would’ve found her by now, and if she was in Phanadalin- it was all glass now - where could she have gone?

Taako is realizing silently what Barry isn’t aware of- Lup was right there. SHE WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM- and he couldn’t find her, he couldn’t save her.

In this moment of rage Taako realizes his sister is gone. She’s never coming back. Lucretia took his everything from him.

And it’s all her fault.

1. Magnus’s death

Now. The day I finished TAZ Balance edition, at 9:38PM, I cried myself to sleep. OF COURSE I DID

“HOW DOES MAGNUS DIE?”

SURROUNDED BY HIS LOVED ONES

WITH HIS DOGS

AND MAGNUS FINALLY ENDS HIS ULTIMATE QUEST- HE SEES HIS WIFE IN THE AFTERLIFE

Magnus, rushing in to everything because he ultimately wanted to die a crazed hero so he could see his wife again but still feel like he died doing something worth it just for her, who never loved another ever during his years alive, who turned down the temptation of his own relic because if he was going to see his wife again he wanted her to be proud of him, Magnus Burnsides whose ultimate destination and goal was to see the love of his life again.

And he finally did.

Magnus got the happy ending he truly deserved.

Magnus Burnsides is the most relatable character in all of the Adventure Zone(to me at least) I love and cherished him like he was truly my friend- so when he dies at the end of the podcast I cried like I was grieving a real person.

#merle highchurch #taz #the adventure zone #magnus burnsides #taako #taako from tv #taz lucretia #the adventure zone balance #barry bluejeans #taz lup #taz balance spoilers #taz davenport #sad quotes #taz graphic novel #podcast

[natduskfall]

I’m not good at putting my feelings into text, nor am I a writer, or good at literature analysis, but I do have thoughts.

I never liked SSO’s writing to begin with. The writing of SL was okay for a game of that scope. I loved the mystery of a seaside town and strange powers that be. But SSO’s writing is confusing to me.

Dialogues almost always try to be funny, relatable, and it comes across as shallow or boring. I try to read all the dialogue because I am invested in the universe by now and I want to know everything about the events of the world and it’s characters. But lord is it hard sometimes to not skip the repetitive, shallow dialogue.

The characters lack debth and it is hard for me to like any of them. It feels like the Soul riders are just written as stereotypes. Don’t know something? Talk to Linda, she knows everything and loves doing research! She’s a nerd! Alex is the hurr durr let’s do shit without thinking anything over. Haha, Lightning goes zap zap!! Elizabeth is our teacher. A druid. And? Fripp? What even is Fripp? “Mysterious” leader who I don’t know anything about or don’t spend any time with. Who comes across as emotionless and disinterested in his charges. Avalon? Recluse who barely shows up and when he does, he always disagrees with everything.

I like that SSE has been trying to focus on the characters more. Elizabeth’s death didn’t make me feel anything because I just didn’t know her, didn’t have any attachments to her. If anything I laughed during that scene because of the way she ass slammed Darko like that Ground Slam Ash of War from Elden Ring, then got turned into Annie from Attack on Titan, and then blew herself up. That scene should have been an emotional story beat that should have gripped me and made me sad. Red Dead Redemption does that so well. I cried a lot during that game. I wish SSE took the characters seriously tho. It’s like every quest is an episode of The Simpsons where shit happens, it never gets acknowledged after, the characters don’t change. Every episode is a new start. I really like that they commited to the darker and real events, such as Lisa losing her mother, Alex having a dysfunctional low income family, and Anne getting over the real trauma of Concordes death, her kidnapping, and isolation. BUT THEY DON’T GO ANYWHERE WITH IT.

I want to love these characters and I want them to feel like real people, but it’s hard when they get treated as a joke, or the real and traumatic things that happened to them never get acknowleged and have no impact on them or the story. What about Linda and the betrayal of the Baroness? What about Meteor being lost. She didn’t even mention Meteor until the spymaster sent MC to tell her where Meteor was. And I am still waiting for the new Fort Maria quest to see the dynamic between the druids and the Soul Riders after the events of Justin’s rescue.

And the story…. Sometimes it just feels too whacky to me. I don’t know if the witches and golden apples are some folklore from Sweden, but I did not expect that when I first played through, and I did not like it. It felt like the game was spreading itself too thin? It felt out of place to me.

And sometimes, the quests feel like they have no impact. We need to do a difficult thing. Ha let’s do it this way. Go there. Click the ground. Done, we did it, yay!! It just feels very childish, lacking weight. I’m not sure how to put this into words, and I think there are people out there who are much better at this then I am.

I disliked the new Alex quest and felt unsatisfied. The whole questline had me anxious because the job of an event planner is so hard for me as a person with zero organisation skills and confidence. I am sure it is a very important and difficult job, and I was waiting for how SSE handled it. The entire time I felt like MC and Alex were not making any actual tuall progress. Then the whole thing got derailed to “let’s record a narrated tour of the CIty”. And when the quest ended, I was like “that’s it?”

The cinematic for Alex shows a resourceful, hard working and strong individual who got delt a bad hand, but found hope in Elizabeth. But the game keeps treating her like a stupid comic relief character who can only do one thing, and that is use her lightning power no matter the occasion. Even the Freeing Anne quest felt off to me. Why would Alex chose to go back and face Darko alone, when they keep rehashing the theme of “we’re stronger together”. Her power can be fueled by anger, but her main thing is to protect her loved ones. They got Anne, her priority should have been to get Anne out of there, not come back alone for Darko. It just felt like the writers did that because they needed Elizabeth to die, and MC getting stranded in Pandoria so that Lisa could use her singing power. And how would getting blown off a cliff into a bottomless space get rid of a powerful individual who can easily teleport himself and other people?

I really wish SSO would hire actual writers do deal with their story, the structure of the story, and the characters. Helena did such a good job making the main cast feel real, and structuring the story.

TLDR: SSE please hire a writer, and stop treating your characters like stereotypes. Stop treating Alex like a stupid person who goes zap

#sso #sso critical #sso alex #sso fripp #sso elizabeth #sso linda #sso meteor #sso darko #sso anne #sso story #long post #also anyone feel free to add to this or tell me im wrong #im not great at writing or analyzing stuff i only feel #sso spoilers

[fandom-blackhole]

hi :3 your jackson song as a joel fic is still rent free in my head. could you share your idea? or is it still under wraps?

mwah mwah!! 😘

You know what? You asked for this, you made me think of this fic idea again, so you're getting the full fic rn. I hope you enjoy it lmao <3 <3

Pairing: Joel Miller x Reader (gender/race neutral) Summary: Three times Reader sings Jackson by Johnny Cash and annoys Joel, and the one time Joel actually joins in. this is a 3+1 bc i couldn't decide which scene I had imagined for this to write so I went with all of the above (I heavily suggest listening to the song at least once, it's a great tune and will get stuck in your head lol) Warnings: contains spoilers for the show and game (bc as usual I am mixing the two together, mentions of violence and guns, really just reader being annoying to Joel, me shitting on KC (im from KS so im allowed), UNEDITED (bc i am being a bit lazy sorry) WC: 4.5k (how do all of my fics get away from me like this smh)

1

It had been a long few hours. Emotions were a little high and tension was a bit thick. Neither you nor Joel had been expecting what you found when you finally got to Bill and Frank’s small town. You’d expected a smile and hug from Frank and grumpy complaining from Bill over bringing an outsider, let alone a kid to his town. You’d expected to see Frank take to Ellie and want to show her around, clean her up and feed her like he loved to do. You’d expected to find two of the few you allowed yourself to call friends. Instead you found quiet emptiness, dead flowers, and a note that had your heart breaking for the second time in so many days. Tess' death still heavy on your heart, now had the company of losing Bill and Frank.

So when the first notes softly floated from the speakers of the truck Bill left Joel, you had to do a double take, a grin quickly lighting up your face as you jumped forward in your seat and turned up the radio. The words you knew by heart, the song one of your mother’s favorites, so at the exact time Joel turned to you in question, you grinned widely at him and sang along, “We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.”

With a huff Joel whispered to himself an exasperated, “Christ,” but you carried on.

“We’ve been talkin’ ‘bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out.”

You could hear Ellie behind you laughing to herself as Joel shook his head. You didn’t let up, though, you kept singing and pulling laughs from Ellie, making sure to put emphasis on the way you sang every time Jackson was mentioned. You made sure to put on a show as the song switched back and forth between the duet, deepening your voice and acting all suave while Johnny Cash sang and all smooth and flirty during June Carter’s parts.

By the time the song was over, you were a bit breathless from your antics and Ellie was doubled over in the back seat of the truck laughing at you and clapping for you. Joel, though, simply reached over and turned the radio back down til the next song was just barely heard over Ellie's wheezing and the sound of the truck’s engine. 

Turning to Joel with a giant grin, you see him simply shaking his head. So you tilted your head at him, as he glanced at you out of the corner of his eye. 

“Well? What did you think of my once in a lifetime performance,” you asked with a teasing grin.

Joel simply huffed, “It was, uh, somethin’.”

With faux pride you close your eyes with a nod and confidently say, “Thank you, I worked very hard on that you know. Gonna be singing on the big stage one day.”

That drew a chuckle out of Joel as he grinned and said, “I look forward to seein’ it.”

2

Kansas City looked a bit worse for wear than you had expected. Though you probably should have really expected this, the rumors that floated around about the city were not favorable. Of all of the cities and FEDRA run quarantine zones it was well known that Kansas City was one of the worst and you better off trying to survive on your own rather try and find refuge within the city. Honestly though it's not too surprising the quarantine zone ended up the way it did, the city was situated in the ass crack of Missouri and Kansas afterall. 

You were however caught off guard when you found that the Kansas City FEDRA had finally toppled and the city had been taken over by a group of hunters who were more than happy to use what the soldiers had left behind after their deaths. The hunter were still crafty with their environment, you had to give them that. 

The crash had left all three of you disoriented. You had not expected the bus that they had let loose on the truck and you highly doubted Joel had expected it either. When the truck crashed into the convenience store you were thrown forward, smashing you head into the dash so hard spots formed in your eyes and you could feel a piece of glass dig into the skin right above your left eye. 

After that things kind of passed in a blur for you. You knew there was a fight and you knew that you had shot at a few guys, though you kind of doubted that you actually managed to hit either with how disoriented you were. Once it was safe for the moment, Joel raced to check on you and Ellie, shoving your bags into your arms. Ellie as it turned out was no worse for wear because she’d been ducked down in the backseat out of sight of the hunters, and your only injuries were from the crash, a small gash on your forehead and a mild concussion from Joel’s estimate.

The three of you didn’t really have time to waste on first aid at that moment, so you’d simply pressed a bandana you had to you head and motioned to a large building a little ways away, whispering, “That’s probably our safest bet right now, we’ll get me fixed up once we know we are all safe.”

Joel had only hesitated for a second before agreeing. He led you and Ellie carefully to the building, safely making sure the three of you stayed out of sight. Once inside, you found that the building was an old hotel, and a nice one at that.

You quietly whistled and said, “This place is nice, could only dream of coming to a place like this before the outbreak.”

Joel just grunted as he looked around for useful things, finding a safe as he replayed, “Isn’t exactly nice anymore.”

You leaned against the counter beside where he was crouched trying to crack the safe and watched as Ellie looked around the lobby with an interest only a child could have. Sighing you shrugged and glanced over your shoulder as you heard the door creak open and replied, “I don’t know. If the outbreak did anything it did bring a certain beauty to the world. There’s something poetically beautiful in the sight of nature reclaiming what once belonged to it.”

Walking around the counter, Joel stood in front of you with a brow raised and shook his head, “Maybe that concussion is worse than I thought if you’re gettin’ all philosophical on me.”

With a huffed laugh you  rolled your eyes and just nodded to the stairs, “Come on.”

Your progression upward went smoothly until the fourth floor where per your group’s usual luck you found the stairs blocked with all kinds of debris. You never thought you would miss stairs, but as you picked your way through the floor scouting for a way up you wished that just once the three of you would pick a building that had a simple straightforward way to the top. 

You were pulled from your melancholic thoughts by Ellie’s raised voice, “Found a way up!”

You were a little thankful to be pulled away from your thoughts, the action slowly making the ever present headache since the crash throb. Quickly as possible you made your way across the hallway to the room Ellie had been looking through and smiled when you found a concert room with a stage and a beautiful grand piano. You made your way to the stage, noticing the way up Ellie found was on the corner of the stage where the above balcony’s railing had fallen. Gently you ran your fingers over the piano, a little sad to see such a magnificent creation in such disrepair. Looking up to Ellie who stood on the other side you made your way around and hip bumped her. 

“You know how to play?”

Ellie laughed and turned to you with a look that screamed she was judging you as she replied, “You really think they’d teach us to play piano in FEDRA school? Let alone find one that actually works,” she shook her head and slowly made her way to the edge of the stage, jumping down. “What about you? You play?”

You hummed and ran your fingers over the keys, cringing at the awful out of tune melody that played. You were stopped from answering though as your fingers fell upon an old rusted microphone. Picking it up you smiled and looked up right as Joel walked into the room. Instantly you laughed, and your grin spread as your eyes met Joel's stoic hazel.

Gently you twirled to the center of the stage, a little dizzy from the sudden movements, but didn’t let it deter you. Looking up at your crowd you heard Joel ask Ellie, “What on Earth are they doing?”

You saw Ellie answer with a shrug and that's when you started to sing the opening notes of the song you had been annoying Joel with for weeks. Ellie laughed and Joel tried protesting but you just carried on. You let yourself get carried away singing the lyrics and making a fool of yourself on stage with your poor excuse of dancing. 

It didn’t take Joel long to make his way to the stage, to stop you or figure out how to reach the balcony on the second floor you weren’t sure, but if you had to put money on it you’d guess both. The second he was within reach you grabbed his hand and pulled him towards you as you sang, “Go play your hand, you big talkin’ man. Make a big fool of yourself.”

Rolling his eyes Joel pulled away and you let him go only a second later as you spun yourself again the dizziness became too much and you found yourself stumbling with a gasp. Thankfully Joel had been close enough and had caught you before you fell and hit your head again on the stage.

He led you over to the piano bench and sat you down, taking the microphone from you as he said, “Sit and rest, before you hurt yourself more. Not exactly smart jumping and twirling around with a fresh concussion, nor making a bunch of noise when we are supposed to be keeping a low profile so we aren’t found by those hunters.”

With a sigh you just pouted, over not being able to finish your song but you listened to him and sat there and watched as Joel and Ellie pushed the grand piano over to the wall and watched as Ellie used it to jump up to the next floor. Joel followed but turned to you after getting onto the piano, motioning like he was going to help you up, which he did and then helped boost you to the next floor even if you didn’t need it, getting the feeling he was coddling you now.

Once he was up next to you again, you turned to him with a faux pout, “You said you looked forward to seeing me perform on a stage.”

With a huff, Joel gave you a look that said he was already tired of this situation and only replied, “Do it again when you aren’t a danger to yourself or the rest of us.”

3

Joel was infallible. At least you had always thought he was. He was the best survivor you knew, there was no question as to why he had gotten this far into the apocalypse, he just knew how to take care of himself and protect those around him. You had seen him get scrapes and bruises from fights and a couple of grazes from near misses from bullets. Never could you imagine that the man you held on such a high pedestal could fall as heavily as he had. You never thought you’d have to watch the man you’d found yourself caring for whole heartedly almost bleed out before your eyes. 

But here you are, watching him shiver from the cold and no doubt from the pain wracking his body. Watching him sleep in fits and gazing into glazed eyes when he was barely awake. It was hard to watch, but you tried to be strong for Ellie’s sake. You sometimes would catch her staring at Joel’s fitful body, worry echoing on her face before she threw up a wall on her emotions. You didn’t want to admit it, but of the two she was more helpful. She’d been more successful with finding food and hunting than you have been. Ellie is also the one that had managed to find and bring back the full stocked and sterile first aid kit that you’d used to suture and clean Joel’s wound with, even if the supplies hadn’t done too much for his weakening state. You had found that your main use was only keeping the three of you on track to Salt Lake City and acting as a nurse to Joel, getting him to drink water or broth without drowning him, something Ellie found she didn’t really have the patience or the bedside manner to do. 

Still you hid your worries, and shared optimistic thoughts with Ellie during the day even if you didn’t truly believe them yourself.You like to believe you’re helping Ellie by doing this, but in truth you think she’s doing the same for you, just putting on a brave face to make you feel better. 

Each night the two of you would take turns taking watch, Ellie always going first, insisting you get rest and not truly trusting you to wake her for the second watch- which was fair because the one time she had agreed to let you take first watch you hadn’t had the heart to wake the exhausted girl to which she’d given you the silent treatment for the next day. 

It was only during your watches, once you knew for sure Ellie was asleep, her breaths evening out and her body relaxing, that you allowed your mask to slip, to let your worries out. Each night that passed you swore Joel got paler, that he looked closer to death’s door. You hate watching him wither away like this, hate seeing the strongest person you know, your rock in this world, fall and not be able to help him even though your heart screams at you. You have found yourself sobbing helplessly into your hand in attempts to stay quiet a few times, the hurt and worry building up inside you until it exploded. You hated that you felt weak, but truely what could you do when your strength lay slowly dying on a nasty old twin sized mattress? 

Tonight though the tears don’t come. Instead you find yourself feeling empty in your grief as you sit beside Joel’s head gently combing your fingers through his hair in a soothing motion. You weren’t sure if it was meant to sooth Joel or yourself, but either way the action seemed to be grounding you and it could be your imagination but it seemed that Joel’s face seemed somewhat more relaxed so you didn’t stop. 

You aren’t sure when, but you caught yourself humming at some point and you couldn’t help but smile and jokingly think to yourself, ‘if anything is going to get a reaction out of him, it’ll be hearing me annoy him with this song again.’

You let yourself hum it a few times, making sure to stay quiet, not wanting to wake Ellie who’d become somewhat of a light sleeper, but eventually you had to laugh and whisper, “Yeah, go to Jackson, and go comb your hair,” as you ran your fingers through Joel’s hair. 

You let yourself sing a few more lines, not really paying attention to anything but where your fingers continued their path through his hair, so you were surprised when you felt your free hand, which you had just had laying on Joel’s chest, be enclosed in a rougher calloused hand. Pausing your singing you looked down in surprise and found Joel’s lips turned upward just slightly, and his hand enveloping your own in a loose hold. 

With a watery smile, knowing that just moving his hand had to have had taken a lot of energy from him, so you clutched it tighter in your hold as you turned back to running your fingers through his hair as you whispered to him, “Yeah, you go to Jackson, you big talkin’ man. And I’ll be waitin’ in Jackson,” before trailing back off into a hum. 

4

It was over, all of it was finally over. The fireflies were gone, something you would never have to worry about again. Joel was strong again, Ellie was safe, and all three of you were all back in Jackson settling down and making a home for yourselves with Tommy and Maria and all of the townsfolk. And you couldn’t be happier. Everything in life just felt right for the first time since the outbreak. It was odd in a way, but it was so freeing that you didn’t care. You never could have let yourself dream about a life like this, of having a family like this that you could allow yourself to care for. You didn’t think something like this would ever be allowed to live, to thrive in a world so torn apart by a deadly infection and the worst of humanity. But you found it, and you let yourself bask in it. You let yourself be happy.

When the three of you all arrived back in Jackson it had taken a while for each of you to all settle in and relax. It was so foreign after spending months fighting and protecting each other's backs from every danger imaginable. Ellie had taken about a month to situate herself in the town, finding it a bit easier with teens her age being so interested in being her friend and getting to know her as the new kid in town. She settled into the garage and made it her own. Watching her have her own space was a little hard after having her in your sights 24/7 for so long, but you knew she needed it, that she deserved it after everything she went through. You and Joel stayed in the house together, both unwilling to be to far from the teen after everything that went down in Salt Lake City at the hospital and finding the bond between the two of you keeping you together. You each had your own rooms though Joel’s only got used every once in a while, many nights bringing him to your room when your nightmares wake him up. His own nightmares occasionally brought him to you as well, as he found comfort in not being alone, in waking up to find you laying there with soft breaths next to him.

Joel took about a little over a month to settle into the community but once Tommy got him in on the patrol board, he immediately found his place. Letting Joel have some control over where and how the patrols went allowed him to feel a sense of peace. It played into his strong suit of needing to know that the people he cared about were safe and taken care of. Seeing Joel let himself relax and fill the role really warmed your heart, happy to know Joel was finally at peace after so many years of functioning just in fight-or-flight mode. 

You, though, took the longest to find your place in Jackson. You didn’t slack, you jumped from job to job filling any empty position in any area that they would let you, but the truth was you didn’t have a strength or a useful skill that could be applied somewhere within the town. You could hunt, but you were not the best at it. You were decent at growing things but the greenhouse didn’t really need anymore volunteers. And while you did love children you neither had the patience or the knowledge to be teaching. So as time passed and Joel and Ellie found their rhythms in the town you found yourself feeling like you were floundering a bit, drowning in a pool of water where your feet should be touching the ground. It wasn’t until you were doing a patrol with Joel a few months after settling back in Jackson that he brought up that the doctor in town was looking to train a new nurse. He had brought it up nonchalantly, but you could tell by the way he glanced out of the corner of his eye that he had a reason behind bringing it up. Later you managed to weasel it out of him, to which he simply replied, “I may not have been all there, but I remember how well you played nurse for me. I think you’d be good at it.”

He had been right of course, you had taken to the position like a duck to water and within no time you found yourself finding your own path in Jackson, letting yourself finally fall into content happiness that Joel and Ellie had also found. In no time at all the three of you all found yourself falling into a routine, each of you revolving around the other two and finding ways to still stay close and not get too busy to not be able to know what the others were up to. Your favorite day in the routine was every three days you’d all have a family meal, Tommy and Maria joining the three of you every other meal.

It was on one of those nights that Joel had come home late from his patrol. You had already started making dinner and had simply shooed him upstairs to take a shower while you finished cooking, knowing that it was only a matter of time before Ellie burst in the back door groaning about being starving. 

You weren’t sure how long Joel took to get cleaned up, you had zoned out into your thoughts shortly after hearing the shower turn on, but after what you knew only had to have been a handful of minutes you heard him coming back downstairs, and when he came into the kitchen you simply motioned to the table, asking if he’d set it for you as you had dinner already almost finished. 

You however didn’t expect to hear Joel turn on your little portable CD player on the counter and skip through the songs as he said, “Found you something’ while on patrol today.”

You hummed in question, curiosity over taking you as you glanced over your shoulder at him before turning back to stirring what you were cooking. Only a few seconds later you paused as the all to familiar notes floated around the kitchen and a soft smile found its way onto your face. Gently you started swaying as you cooked, but almost as soon as you had started you found a pair of arms wrapped around your middle as Joel pulled you away from the stove, as his deep accented voice sang, “We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout. We’ve been talkin’ ‘bout Jackson ever since the fire went out. I’m goin’ to Jackson, I’m gonna mess around. Yeah I’m goin’ to Jackson, look out Jackson town.”

Laughing joyfully you join in right as June Carter does and turn to face Joel sticking your spoon in his face as you back up towards the stove to turn it down as you sang, “Well, go on down to Jackson. Go ahead and wreck your health. Go play your hand, you big talkin’ man, Make a big fool of yourself. Yeah, go to Jackson, go comb your hair.”

With a grin Joel grabs the spoon from your hand, laying it on the spoon rest, before grabbing your hand as he picked up his part of the duet once more, “Honey, I’m gonna snowball Jackson, see if I care. When I breese into that city, people gonna stoop and bow. All them women gonna make me teach ‘em what they don’t know how. I’m going to Jackson. You turn ‘n’ loosen my coat, ‘cause I’m goin’ to Jackson.”

Swaying in Joel’s arms as he sang was perfect and you wished more than anything that you could pause time right there and just enjoy this for all eternity. As his part finished once more, Joel twirled you, which you used to sway away from him as you came in singing, “”Goodbye,” that’s all she wrote. But they’ll laugh at you in Jackson and I’ll be dancin’ on a Pony Keg. They’ll lead you ‘round town like the scalded hound, with your tail hooked between your legs. Yeah, go to Jackson, you big talkin’ man. And I’ll be waitin’ in Jackson behind my Jaypan fan.”

You managed to stay out of Joel’s reach until the end laughing as the two of you joined together twirling and dancing around as you sang together.

“Well, now, we got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout. We’ve been talkin’ ‘bout Jackson ever since the fire went out. I’m goin’ to Jackson and that’s a fact. Yeah, we’re going to Jackson, ain’t never comin’ back.”

Joel’s grin was bigger than you’ve ever seen, your happiness radiating off eachother as he swung you out and brought you back in as the two of you finished the song together, eyes never leaving the other’s, “Well, we go married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout. Honey, we’ve been talkin’ ‘bout Jackson ever since the fire went out.”

At the very end Joel surprised you by dipping you low, which pulled a loud gasping laugh from you before he pressed a small kiss to your lips before pulling you back up. You couldn’t wipe the grin off of your face once you were back on your feet, not even when two sets of claps came from the doorway along with a quick retching noise. Whipping your head around you felt yourself heat up in embarrassment to see Tommy and Maria standing there grinning at the two of you while Ellie wrinkled her nose and called the two of you gross.

  “Hope the two of you didn’t burn our dinner while you were too busy being all lovey dovey,” Ellie griped while plopping down into her seat at the table.

“As a matter of fact I turned the stove off at the beginning of the song, so don’t worry, your food will be just fine,” you replied carrying the pot to the table as Joel passed around plates and silverware, taking it from you once you reached the table with a soft loving smile which you returned, making Ellie groan about losing her appetite even though she was smiling. All the while Tommy and Maria simply enjoyed the entertainment, though Maria did lean over and whisper, “Why can’t you be romantic, like that?”

To which Tommy grinned and simply replied while filling her glass with water, “You want me to try?”

With a sigh, Maria met his gaze and said, “No, I’m not sure I can hand whatever you think would be romantic.”

#joel miller x reader #joel x reader #ellie is here too <3 #I should also add that Mr Cash was a huge part of my childhood and I LOVE this song so this would 100% be me #especially once I found out that the town Tommy lives in is called Jackson #i hope you like this #also thank you for this #bc it was the perfect excuse to procrastinate HW

[revserrayyu]

2.1 Penacony thoughts [part5]

**BIG STORY SPOILERS** Chatting up until the end of the current story so if you haven’t finished it yet then I’d encourage you to do so before reading any further.

Before all the big reveals happen, I appreciate these few dialogue options we get right after the Aventurine fight. It sounds like they’re all asked in rapid succession and the last one is completely valid considering how often we actually switched viewpoints during this update.

Once Sam appeared, I knew it was finally going to be the moment where we learn who he truly is. As they list out the other hunter’s specialties and his own lack of one, he mentions “there is only one method that I use,” and I wanna say it’s deception..

..because lo and behold, everyone was completely right and the person beneath the armored suit is indeed Firefly herself. I’m not surprised, just interested in learning about her reasons. Was that death of hers planned and why? Has she always been Sam, even way back during the Jepella Rebellion trailer? Or does that device in her hand allow her to appear as Sam? Because didn’t we hear to talking to a “mecha” in that one dreamscape last patch? She just seems so out of place among the other Stellaron Hunters but I’m eager to learn more about her once we pick up here next update.

Also, I’m just gonna say it.. I wasn’t truly upset over her “death.” I feel like we were kinda forced to care for her after she gave us a tour of Penacony, but that alone wasn’t enough for me to get properly attached. That time was real brief and only took up a small section of the previous update. Not to mention the many weeks in between updates where I spent much time thinking about almost everyone else aside from her. Most other characters we’ve met on this planet received trailers, drip marketing and so much more to get me invested into learning about them while Firefly’s presence was short lived. I would genuinely be upset if anything bad happened to Black Swan, Acheron or Sparkle and I’m already emotional over Robin, Aventurine and maybe even Sunday. There’s stuff going on with Gallagher and Misha that I’m still curious about and we haven’t even properly met Boothill yet but I’m so excited to see him. Maybe my opinion on Firefly will change during the next update, but for now I really don’t have any strong feelings about her other than simple curiosity. I am pleased to see her still alive for the Trailblazer’s sake, but if she somehow survives this entire story and Aventurine doesn’t..hmpf.

All that aside, the scene with Gallagher and Sunday was.. a lot to take in, but once again we have someone else calling Sunday crazy. Perhaps he should go to therapy.

The framing of this scene is nice and sorta confirms those purple nightingales do in fact see everything happening on Penacony, acting as Sunday’s eyes and reporting back to him. At least that’s the vibe I’m getting.

This is quite unexpected? Honestly I feel like every time Sunday is involved there’s a new plot point that’s introduced into this giant story. Both sides definitely have it out for each other, that’s for sure.

What in the hell is this twist??

Sunday thinks Gallagher is in disguise, but after the hound tells him to take a closer look, Sunday starts to notices all these little details about him that seem reminiscent to 52 other members of the Family.

I wish I could say this idea is foreign to me, but it actually reminds me of Kamui from the second season of Psycho Pass and how his body is made up of 184 different people and 7 personalities. Kamui was also unable to be detected by any scanners and that also reminds me of Gallagher and how almost no other Bloodhound knows who he is.

And I haven’t the faintest idea on what Sunday means here but I noticed the voice over doesn’t even say “minion of the Enigmata” no matter how many times I tried to replay this line over.

It’s at this moment where I started to waiver with my distrust towards Sunday and actually start to feel bad for him a little bit solely because of the strong emotion in his voice when he questions why Robin had to be killed. It at least prevents me from thinking he had any part of it.

Then we head into a cutscene and dear god, things happen quick. This one shot of Gallagher reminds me of his light cone just because of the lighter.

This frame of Sunday looking down on him feels so intense and I kinda love it with both the intense shadows and harsh light.

And then..? Our angelic and handsome man gets killed?? Presumably by another memory zone meme I guess I dunno it happened in an instant and all I have to show for it is splatters of goo??

Oohhh my goodness.. this story took such a turn. Many of them actually. Seeing how Sunday is a puddle on the floor similar to what happened to Firefly, I wanna believe that he’s gonna be okay? If she could survive, surely he can too. Maybe? I’m still not to sure about Robin’s condition and I’m being so darn hopeful that Aventurine is alive somehow. That’s definitely the death that hurts most for me if true. Anyways, I’ll end it here and just say there’s many answers to look forward to with the next update. As always, I’m not trusting anyone! Astral Express family only!

(originally written on 3/30)

#honkai star rail #sam #firefly #gallagher #sunday #gameplay #revsposts

[witchthewriter]

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒍𝒇

🌿🌳🌿

a/n: angsty asf, do you like my moodboard? It looks like Raven and Lexa are arguing - I feel pretty impressed with myself tbh lol. Thank you for the request - sorry it took so long to get to!

⤷ female, ambiguous race, and any size reader. Requests are open, thank you for reading!  

SUMMARY: You hadn’t been married to Raven for long, but you knew you would do anything for her. Her life comes before your own. One day she risks it and a fight ignites. Words are said and lines are drawn. Did Raven go too far? 

ᴹᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤˢᵗ    

Lexa had considered all options before acting. Of course, she did, she was the Commander, and her actions were watched by thousands of eyes. But when it came to you, her sister, her level head disappeared. 

  The ground was wet as she entered her sister-in-law’s tent. Raven was sitting on the cot, her head in her hands. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she sat unhumanly still. 

  She took in the scene before her. Some of your things had been messily vacated; maybe not obvious to a stranger, but if one looked hard enough, they would be able to see the missing pieces. You had packed your things quickly, your vision too blurred and mind too unfocused to remember everything. 

 It hurt to see Raven like this, but her sympathy did not extend far. 

“Raven,” Lexa’s voice was commanding, and she didn’t care if now wasn’t the time for gentleness. “Y/n is staying with me until you fix things.” 

   Raven looked up at Lexa, and her eyes were red yet still piercing. She still wore the makeshift ring that was crafted for her marriage. And in that hand clutched a pendant. One that she created for you, one that you never took off. Not even to bathe, not when you went hunting or swimming. 

    It felt cold in Raven’s palm. 

  “You told her you didn’t love her-” Lexa could feel herself becoming more agitated with every word she spoke. Heat spread from her cheeks to her neck and stomach. 

   “No no, my words came out wrong. I-” even then Raven couldn’t form a coherent sentence. They were the first words she had spoken since you left, hours beforehand. 

  “So how are you going to fix this?” Lexa cut to the point, as she felt pricks of irritation on her skin. 

 All Raven could do was shake her head, the tears showing no signs of slowing down. And they weren’t just tears of sadness, but ones of cold anger; the type of emotion where you knew the situation was dire. 

   So Lexa continued to pack up your things. With every item she picked up, Raven felt like a dagger was being plunged into her chest. 

     “I am sorry,” Lexa muttered, picking up the last of your things. 

 And with that, she left the tent. 

𝐒𝐢𝐱 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

Raven’s mind was racing as she walked into the makeshift throne room. You were gazing down at the city. Eyes flickering back and forth at the people below. You could see so much from up here - from the sunrise, to the people walking the dirt street. 

  You let out a sigh. Your eyes felt swollen, and your neck felt bare. The tears never ceased at night, because during the day Lexa had you doing duties. And that’s why you now stood behind the throne. Waiting for your sister. 

   You heard a cough behind you. 

“Lexa, I’ve been waiting for twenty minutes, where have you been?”

    Raven didn’t wait for you to turn around. “Sorry the horse wasn’t coopoerating. And I haven’t been outside of camp for a while. I misjudged the trek.” 

    You spun around, eyes wide and lips parted. 

“Hi baby,” Raven said sheepishly. 

    It was silent for three heartbeats. And then you growled, “Hi baby? Hi? Baby?” 

   Your nostrils flared. Eyes narrowing. Lips peeling back behind your teeth. It was true what they called you. Gon Wamplei. Of Death. You did not have a fiery temper, nor did you explode in anger. You were cold. Known for your stone-like savagery. You weren’t just the Commander’s sister. But apart of her advisors, she came to you when harsh blows needed to be dealt. 

  Raven didn’t move. Because she knew all of this. She knew who you were. Where you came from. What thoughts you had and how you operated. 

    You were a survivor. And no one could judge you for that. 

“Why are you even here?” You demanded, silently going over the wall around your heart for cracks, for any signs of weakness. 

     “I came to- to apologise.” You took in Raven’s appearance. Her hair was tangled, her eyes bloodshot, and dark circles rimmed the brown iris’. 

    You swallowed deeply before speaking. “You, you said you didn’t love me.” The same pain you felt six days ago engulfed your chest. And swore in your head. You must have used timber for those walls rather than steel. 

  “It was stupid. It was so stupid of me to say that. I didn’t mean it. Y/n, please -” Raven’s words came out in a rush. Her body sprang forwards, her hand gripping your arm. Tears formed in her eyes. Those eyes that you looked into and swore to love forever. Even after death. 

   “I just don’t understand how you could say that to me.” You so badly wanted to hold Raven, to press your lips against your own. But what she had said stopped you. You truly did not understand how she could say that to you. 

    “I was scared,” Raven started, her head hanging slightly. Her shoulders drooped as she spoke. “I was so afraid that of losing you that I said the one thing that would make that happen. I’ve never felt good enough for you. You deserve someone better. Someone that wouldn’t treat you like this.” 

Your eyebrows rose in confusion. “There is no one better for me? No one out there-” And you pointed out the window, “- that would understand who I am.”   

  Raven stepped closer and wiped a stray tear from your cheek. 

      “You are the greatest thing that has come out of Earth.” She cooed. 

“You are my wife and I should have done better. I will do better. Just please come back home.” 

 The throne room felt so big, and yet so small at the same time. It didn’t feel like the room where you spent hours arguing with other groups or making terrible decisions. It was now the room where you and Raven made amends. 

  You nodded. 

And Raven placed something cold in your hand. Turning it over, you looked at the necklace. The heart that Raven had shaped and crafted for you. It was one of a kind. 

  A small smile tugged at your lips. You looked at your wife, and rested your forehead against hers. 

   “Don’t you ever risk your life like that again, you hear me Reyes?” 

Raven closed her eyes and leant into you. “I fucking promise. I love you.” 

   You wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pressed your lips on hers. “And I love you.” 

  Without speaking, she took the necklace from your hands and tied it around your neck. 

#raven reyes #raven reyes x reader #raven reyes imagine #raven reyes x wife reader #lexa x sister #commander lexa x reader #the 100 #the 100 imagine #bisexual #queer #lesbian #the 100 fanfic #raven reyes fanfic #raven reyes x you #raven reyes fanfiction #lexa x reader sister #lexa x sister reader #raven reyes x y/n #raven reyes x wife y/n #LGBT #LGBTQIA #lgbt representation #the 100 x reader #the 100 fanfiction #witchthewriter

[myrandomfandomramblings]

Chenford week 2023 Day 3: Something’s Missing Day (July 13)

Incorrect dialogue (tumblr posts, tweets, etc.) or scenes you wish we’d seen

Missing moment or underrated moment

Amnesia, missing pet/person, missing object/ring, etc.

When I first watched the 5x02 ending I was shocked that they actually acknowledged what almost happened between them and I loved that! However,  I found the scene somewhat hard to follow as we didn’t really know where either of their heads were at and although Eric and Melissa absolutely nailed it with the emotion they can only communicate so much with facial expressions and tone of voice. So I decided to write a fic of that underrated moment and include what was missing for me: Lucy’s thought process.

---

Lucy’s internal monologue during the 5x02 ending - A Chenford fanfic

“Hey. What are you doing here?” Lucy says as she answers the door, surprised to find Tim on the other side. She hasn’t seen him much since the end of their UC op when they found Chris, bleeding out on Lucy’s couch. She hasn’t been purposely avoiding him. No. Just spending lots of time with Chris, helping him recover.

“Just checking in.” Tim replies casually, “How are you feeling?” He continues addressing Chris, seated behind Lucy in the living room.

“Okay. Lucy's taking great care of me.”

“I have no doubt,” Tim smiles, “Hey, can we talk?” he continues, addressing Lucy, timidly.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” She stutters stepping into the hallway for a little bit more privacy, unsure why he is here.

“So, I, uh... I hear you're on the fence about going to U.C. school.” Tim offers.

This is true Lucy has been struggling with deciding whether or not to attend UC school since she received the offer a few days ago. But she’s surprised Tim knows and is even more surprised he’s here to talk to her about it. 

“Chris called you?” She reasons.

“Yeah, which was unexpected,” Tim voices her thoughts, “Um, he wanted me to talk to you.”

She knows UC is a great opportunity and she is definitely still interested in a career in undercover work, even if her last UC op stirred up some uncomfortable feelings. It’s just she feels guilty leaving Chris while he’s still recovering, and she has enough things to feel guilty about regarding this relationship. 

She keeps it short when she replies: “It's not the right time.”

“He's gonna be fine.” Tim reassures her, once again seemingly reading her mind. “You owe it to yourself to go.”

“I know, but…” Lucy stutters, once again blaming herself for Chris getting hurt and nearly dying. After all, Rosalind had targeted him specifically to hurt Lucy. 

“What happened to him isn't your fault,” Tim interrupts her thoughts, trying to provide reassurance. 

But it doesn’t work. Because what Lucy really feels guilty about is not that because of her, he became a target of a serial killer, but because he hadn’t even crossed her mind when she heard about Rosalind’s escape. She had worried about Tamara and insisted she be kept safe but didn’t so much as think about Chris until she found him bleeding out on her couch. Didn’t so much as think about him when she kissed another guy, twice, and ultimately invited him back to her apartment for a night cap. A night cap that was only interrupted because Chris was already at the apartment, on the edge of death. And that’s really what she feels guilty about. 

But should she? Did she really do anything wrong? She’s been asking herself that a lot lately. Running through it again and again in her mind. The kisses had been for work, for an undercover operation which took a lot of bad people and dangerous goods off the streets. They hadn’t been real, hadn’t mean’t anything. She’s told herself that a million times and every time it’s answered by Tim’s voice inside her head: “call me crazy but it just doesn’t feel like pretend.” She’s still sticking with her basic biology theory and blaming that along with high levels of adrenaline for her highly questionable decision of inviting Tim in that night. She still doesn’t know what she thought would happen or what she wanted to happen had they not found Chris. She tries to tell herself nothing. Maybe a friendly drink. And she’s finally told herself that enough times that she’s started to actually believe it. Nothing happened. It was an innocent act and she has nothing to feel guilty about. Right? Okay maybe she doesn’t fully believe that, but maybe she should. Then she realizes the answer is standing right in front of her. 

“We were about to…” Lucy starts, fully expecting Tim to jump in and rationalize their actions. Lift this burden from her mind. She can already hear Tim chuckling casually as he teases her, “We were about to what?- have a drink together. Oh no someone better call HR.” Or she can see him rolling his eyes getting ready to correct her like he used to as her TO. “We were about to what?- sleep together. We wouldn’t have let that happen. The stress and excitement of the day may have gone to our heads a little, that’s it, it happens, it’s not a big deal.” But in either scenario she pictures Tim as the world usually sees him: calm, steady, and slightly amused by her antics. His default. What she doesn’t expect is what comes next.

“But we didn’t.” he jumps in almost immediately, voice laced with emotions, Lucy can’t quite identify, but they give the sentence a feeling of heaviness. “We didn’t.” He repeats as if trying to convince himself of something. 

That’s when it hits her. She didn’t just potentially hurt Chris when she invited Tim in that night, she also hurt Tim. Made him feel uncomfortable, confused, used, disappointed in her? She wasn’t sure, but the thought that she has damaged the relationship between them, the most important relationship in her life, nearly breaks her.

“Uh, are you trying to get rid of me as your go-fer?” She asks, suddenly terrified.

“No,” Tim forces a small smile as his voice swells with more unidentifiable emotions, “No, I'm trying to look out for you.” And his eyes are shining like he’s holding back tears and it’s hard for Lucy to bear. “It’s time for you to move on.” 

Lucy just nods, struggling with all the emotions swirling around in her mind. Move on from what? From patrol, from Sergeant’s aide, from him?

“And some time away would be good.” She asks, begging him to explain, to understand, to address whatever this tension is that’s suddenly built between them.

But he doesn’t, “It's a great opportunity, Lucy,” he says and all she can do is murmur as she tries to hold back tears of her own. “You should go for it,” he finishes quickly then turns and walks away.

And then she’s alone, standing in the hallway, feeling like her heart has shattered. She would have preferred he yelled at her. She’s used to angry Tim. They’re good at arguing. But she doesn’t know what to do with a Tim that’s seemingly radiating pain caused by her. She fears anything she might try will only make it worse. So she decides to give him the last thing she wants to: space. And as she stands there, trying to pull herself together, she vows to never do anything that could jeopardize her relationship with Tim, ever again.

#chenfordweek23 #chenford #lucy chen #tim bradford #the rookie

[troutfur]

For your request for prompts! I tried to think of a couple short scenes that I always wanted to see in canon. Also while I’m proposing these in a canon context, definitely frame them within one of your AUs if you want!

Goldenflower and Tigerstar have a tense conversation at some point after his treachery is revealed. The exact timing of this conversation is up to you, but for some suggestions to get the ideas flowing: it could be immediately after Tigerclaw is exiled from ThunderClan and Goldenflower’s emotional wounds are freshest. It could be after Tawnypaw runs away to join Tigerstar in ShadowClan. It could be just after Tigerstar is killed and Goldenflower is monologuing to his corpse/ghost, the BloodClan battle looming on the horizon. Or, even after Tigerstar’s death, either in a dream, them meeting on the border of StarClan and the Dark Forest, or even during the Dark Forest battle in The Last Hope. Whatever the timing, I’d just like for Goldenflower to finally get some catharsis by confronting him and grappling with her complicated feelings of loving/having loved a murderer and a traitor.

Hollyleaf and Squirrelflight tearfully reconciling after she returns from the tunnels. Bonus points for Hollyleaf calling Squirrelflight “mom” :) (Alternatively or additionally you could do Hollyleaf and Leafpool reconciling in which they finally address the deathberry incident.)

Some more goldie today! Tearful reunions like that are so my jam and usually I'd jump at a chance to do something with the Po3 cast. But this one in conjunction with the last one seemed to be a natural fit. Also fitting to mark our day when we reach the 2/3rds mark in this challenge.

(Want to get in something for the last 10 days? Check out my guidelines and get submitting!)

“How could you?” Goldenflower shrieked as she heard the revelations tumble out of Fireheart’s mouth one by one. Her blood had begun to boil from the first one but it hadn’t burst out quite so indignantly until the ginger tom revealed his part in ShadowClan’s raid and the death of her brother. “We welcomed you into our nest, we gave you companionship when we could very well have left you by your lonesome your whole life, I even let you sire children with me!”

She paused to catch her breath. She had sunk her claws deep into the ground and her muscles still attempted to extend them further without her even realizing. The blaze in her chest that animated her to continue ranting was only fanned with every moment of reflection she gave and she let it build up as she anticipated.

She wanted to see him squirm from under Firestar’s grasp at that moment. She wanted him to at least attempt to rise to his paws and... Beg forgiveness? Attack her so she would have a justification to shred him? Yell in return? Monologue to her about how he’d had to take a hard choice for the sake of his Clan? Something! Anything! React in some way! But all throughout Tigerstar wore a detached, neutral expression.

Eventually the kindling ran out. Pulling back her claws she looked solemnly down at the captive warrior. “...He really did like you, you know?” she said. “It wasn’t just for me that he let you in. He wanted your company. He admired your best qualities. He thought you’d be a good pipfurr to the kits he’d sire. If you’d let him he would’ve loved you the same way I did. The same way Frostfur did.”

She paused, seeking among the crowd the pelts of their children. Brightpaw, Thornpaw, Brackenpaw, and Cinderpaw were scattered among the multitude. But their faces of shock and horror were clear for all to see. “And yet you didn’t stop to consider those same kits. You didn’t stop to consider how you’d leave them with one less pipfurr then, and now that you’ve been revealed they’re down two!”

“He was not even a sire to my kits!” Frostfur shouted, indignant! “Much less pipfurr! These four are Lionheart and I’s alone!”

That got a response, but Goldenflower was too focused turning her head around in surprise to really notice how much her and Tigerclaw’s expressions were the same.

“You can go rot in the undergrowth for all I care!” Frostfur continued. “My children would have lost nothing of value. I only regret the fact I ever thought of you as anything more than a vile cuckoo.”

It took a while for Goldenflower to really process the harshness of those words. With a sire confirmed rather than only denied that was not only a public rejection of him as pipfurr but of her as well. A harsh measure, but certainly more than necessary. The thought immediately swirled why Frostfur was rejecting her as well. Did she blame her for encouraging the cat that was more her love? Did she see in her a nature similar to what Tigerclaw had demonstrated? She paused to think about what she’d just said. Was it retaliation for how she had confirmed siring, and of him of all cats?

As the questions swept up Goldenflower’s mind the proceedings went on. Accusations proceeded from Fireheart’s mouth, to shame TigerClaw for everyh single despicable act, to lay bare everything. And in the midst of this she barely had time to notice when the time came to have him be exiled.

#warrior cats #wc #warrior cats au #goldenflower #tigerclaw #tigerstar #frostfur #lionheart

[butterflydm]

wot on prime rewatch: 1x08 the eye of the world (part 1)

spoilers through the end of season one of the wheel of time. I will do a reblog of this soon after I post it, with additional book-related spoilers.

1. Aaah, this opening. All in the Old Tongue! LTT is SUPER-HOT. The way we can see that the clothes they’re wearing here are kinda modern-ish with a twist. There’s so much visual information in this opening, in addition to the actual lore that we learn in the discussion between Lews and Latra. Just... opening up with “3000 years ago” and straight into a made-up language!

2. I like the design of Lews Therin’s house here. It does evoke a sense of grandeur, with those tall archways and columns, and there’s a lot of light coming in from every angle, and a nice tree inside the house. And the little (for now nameless) baby and us moving from the nursery and showing off that 3000 years ago was FUTURISTIC with flying cars, etc. And that the show itself is set in a post-apocalyptic world. Really nice reveal.

3. After the credits, we’re in the Blight with Moiraine and Rand.This is just a short scene to show that they are dealing with a place of rot and danger. Rand is, I think, feeling in over his head right now.

4. Back in Fal Dara, Perrin talks Egwene out of trying to chase after Rand into the Blight. They both talk about how they love Rand, check in with each other emotionally that this recent fight hasn’t impacted their friendship, and then have some consoling hugs. Very sweet scene.

5. During a rest stop, we learn that Rand and Lan talked off-screen at some point, and Lan told him that he’s from Malkier. Rand tries to do some emotional bonding with Moiraine over leaving the people they care about behind, but Moiraine is Not Ready for that kind of emotional commitment when she’s walking to what she believes to be her death. Or, honestly, ever in general.

6. Lan and Nynaeve share a moment, and she says that she’ll help him go after Moiraine and Rand, but he needs to bring Rand back when he does. Moiraine, of course, is his priority there, but... will she always be? Lan then tells Nynaeve that he admires her deeply, but also kinda shuts the gate on the idea of them being a couple. Makes sense to me -- from Lan’s PoV, Moiraine was able to use his affection for Nynaeve as a way to go off on her own, without respecting the choice that he made years ago to share in her dangers with her. So I get why he’s shutting a door that was only just opened with Nynaeve. His commitment to Moiraine and, you know, also saving the world means a lot to him.

7. Moiraine gets stabbed in a dream, and Rand confronts, ah, the Dark One, all flaming eyes. I wonder who he thought was the Dragon, since he says here that he DIDN’T think it was Rand. I’m gonna go with... Perrin. I think Moiraine was hoping it was Egwene, and that the Dark One thought it was Perrin (for book spoiler reasons that I will mention in the reblog). Both Rand and Perrin had individual dreams that we were shown, but Rand’s dream was a lot more chaotic than Perrin’s (literally everyone else was wandering around in his dream) and Perrin’s dream felt much more focused. That might reflect the Dark One being more focused on Perrin than on Rand.

8. Rand immediately shoots an arrow straight into his eye. Love that for him. The Dark One then pulls off his charred face by pushing in the arrow and just looks like a regular person. Anyway, arrow to the eye doesn’t work (at least not in whatever kind of dream this is). This actor is really really good (yes, I say that about pretty much all the acting on this show. But it’s all been really good!) and, right away, he shows a pretty deep familiarity with the past Dragon -- saying that Rand looks ‘nothing like him’, reaching out to touch his face, etc. Rand is, of course, pretty freaked out by all this. And the Dark One just talks very casually to “Lews Therin”. “Finally having a conversation once again.”

9. The Dark One negs Rand by telling him how pathetic it is for him to come here with just one Aes Sedai. I mean, gosh, put in some effort, Lews Therin, lol. He questions if Rand has ever even touched the Power (...not intentionally) and Rand pulls out a sword and points it at him. I mean, that’s kinda an answer all on its own. Anyway, Rand stabbing himself here is very logical from what he’s seen -- he assumes that he won’t ‘really’ get hurt (and doesn’t) because, well, he shot an arrow into someone’s head and they didn’t really get hurt. and I love that the Dark One is just kinda exasperated that Rand stabbed himself.

10. Much like Moiraine didn’t want to talk about how it felt to leave Lan behind with Rand, Rand doesn’t want to talk about his dream with Moiraine. Still processing everything that happened, I’m guessing. There was a lot! Rand wants to know what Moiraine’s plans are (this is always what Rand wants when it comes to Moiraine -- he just wants to be let on the plan!). Moiraine introduces him to the idea of a sa’angreal, to help amplify the Power. Moiraine says the plan is for Rand to put the Dark One back where he belongs.

11. “You thought it would be Egwene, didn’t you? You taught her to channel. You introduced her to your Amyrlin Seat. You thought it was her. So did I.” This is an interesting comment from Rand, because I kinda think that BOTH Moiraine and Rand ‘thought’ it would be Egwene for the same reason -- wishful thinking and denial. For Egwene, being the Dragon Reborn isn’t being sentenced to madness and death. For Mat, Perrin, or Rand, it is. Egwene is someone who can channel in the way that is culturally acceptable (in most places). Egwene being the Dragon Reborn would mean that the Aes Sedai wouldn’t need to question any of their current cultural practices re: gentling men.

12. Moiraine dances a great jig here to avoid telling Rand that she can’t actually see the Power when it’s used by men (as the show revealed in 1x4) and doesn’t know how to talk him through using it the way that she could talk Egwene through it. ~Oh, you’ll figure it out~ she vaguely tells him. No quiet intimate talks about rivers and trying to find the light in her jewel for Rand. imo, She is trying to maintain an illusion of certainty, both because she probably believes that Rand needs her to be certain so that he doesn’t lose his nerve and also because the illusion of certainty is pretty much how she lives her life. We get another of her great pauses where the Oath traps her from lying here, I think, when Rand presses her and asks her how she can be sure that he’ll figure out channeling when he needs it. And she goes into a story about an Aes Sedai beating her until she reached for the Power herself instinctively in order to make her stop. And this story is not actually answering Rand’s question! He doesn’t have a block, he has a lack of training. (but I do think her moment here of being genuinely vulnerable with Rand did reach him, and what she said helped him later, but it’s definitely a far cry from actually trying to teach him to reach the Power, like she did with Egwene).

13. Egwene, Nynaeve, Perrin, & Loial go to the bar where Min works to find some answers. Egwene starts the conversation with a demand (like how Rand started his conversation at the end of the last episode, though he backs down, apologizes, and starts over again when Min pushes back on him) - “We need some answers.” Min tells them, “People’s secrets are their business, no one else’s.” I respect show!Min so much. She doesn’t back down from this position! She doesn’t bend and tell them Rand’s secrets. And then the situation changes, as she gets a viewing of Nynaeve and then people all around them in the bar getting horribly injured. This is not very much warning for Min & Fal Dara. The horn in Fal Dara blows, and we see people head out out of the bar immediately. 

14. Through a break in the trees, Rand and Moiraine see the Shadowspawn army heading for Tarwin’s Gap. Rand worries about his friends in the city, but Moiraine tells him that the only way to really help is to continue on their path and confront the source of the problem. Inside Fal Dara, Lord Agelmar learns of sabotage, which means Darkfriends looking to help the Trollocs & Fades invade. I like the scene between Lord Agelmar and Lady Amalisa -- it sets the stakes of the coming conflict -- he does not expect to survive the battle, believes that the Last Battle is upon them all, and only hopes to help win enough time for the world to pull together and fight. And it’s a nice family moment between the two of them.

15. Moiraine and Rand arrive at a building that goes downward into the earth, mostly just a huge hole with many staircases. Rand feels a familiarity with the location and here, once they’ve reached this point, he asks Moiraine if she’s walking to her death here and when he realizes that she DOES believe she’ll die, he tells her that she should stay here (but of course she does not, for multiple reasons).

16. Moiraine says straight-out here that the White Tower’s libraries were purged by Darkfriends (of knowledge of this place, but I’m guessing of many other things as well), which helps establish the stakes of why she and Siuan have kept their search for the Dragon Reborn such a secret. They are aware that they have traitors inside the White Tower.

17. As Rand tries to explain how/why this place feels familiar, he has a vision of the person that we know from the cold open is Lews Therin, talking passionately to someone, then spreading out his hands. Very interesting at this point is that, when Rand is deep in trying to remember what happened here, he is speaking in the first-person from Lews Therin’s memories. “I fought someone here.” But he says that the puzzle pieces don’t all fit together correctly. We get a glimpse of the Dark One, standing opposite across the symbol from where Lews Therin had stood. If Moiraine still had any doubts about Rand, this speech of his likely would have wiped them away entirely.

18. Rand find the symbol at the center of the room -- a circle, divided into two halves by a sinuous line. One half black and the other half white. He touches the Eye and there’s a lot to unpack in the various climaxes of the episode, so I’m going to take a break here.

#wot rewatch #wot #wheel of time #the wheel of time #wot on prime #moiraine damodred #rand al'thor #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #perrin aybara

[digisurvive]

Refreshing honesty

In which I contrast Saki and Mimi for fun lol

[Image id: Screenshot of Saki looking upset and leaning forward]

Saki getting compared to Mimi is inevitable given her character was crafted to be outwardly similar: they’re both in the lower age bracket without being the youngest, they have a cheerful, sensitive disposition, distaste for violence and a tendency to bluntness in a way that’s refreshing~. Therefore, certain expectations on Saki are placed: that she would be self-centered and learn how to get along with others and consider their needs, that she’d be outspoken and open and that she’d have to learn how to endure hard tasks and stand firm before adversity.

However, Saki’s very introduction scene subverts these expectations— after all, we first see her tagging along with Ryo, who has a combative and nasty disposition. Her patience in dealing with him makes Aoi and Minoru remark that Saki could get along with just about anyone, which already sets the first point of contrast with Mimi.

As we learn further down the line, Saki has a very keen eye for people: upon Ryo’s death, she reflects that he was lonely and had trouble expressing himself, which showcases she’s able to look past his unpleasant and selfish behavior and understand him to an extent. The degree to which she related to those traits, albeit in a different manner, is shown in her Wrathful flashback, where she talks about how lonely she is (If someone like me disappeared, I doubt anyone would miss me...!) and how she lost her friends to a fight, which seems like a recurrent event in her life given her strong fears of rejection underlined in her moral shadow event. This information recontextualizes some of her dialogue during Vegiemon’s evolution scene: “I did it because it was the ‘good’ thing to do, I didn’t want others to hate me…”. This shows that she chooses her words carefully using her keenness to navigate the world and fit in, even though she still gets it wrong at times.

This continues to hugely set her apart from Mimi, who could be a bit thoughtless in her honesty, either hurting Palmon’s feelings for not being ‘cute enough’ or making it hard for her to get along with people she deemed difficult (Koushiro). Mimi is naturally charismatic and doesn’t have trouble socializing and being accepted by others. Unlike some of the other adventure kids, she has her own friend circle before the summer camp started and her home life is very stable, so her outspokenness comes from a place of being a well-adjusted kid who isn’t afraid of expressing her needs and opinions, which is another point of contrast to Saki. As we learn over the course of the game, Saki is very ill and tires easily. However, she’s very discreet about her needs, only voicing them until she has no other recourse (until she literally couldn’t keep going during the trek to the amusement park in part 4). Saki is generally cagey and avoidant to talk about it at all, even as it permeates every aspect of her life (her wistfulness over her missed experiences when wandering around the amusement park, her comical vague excuses when explaining Takuma she won’t be able to meet with them after camp due reasons~ in part 7).

Despite her bluntness, Saki has trouble talking without reservations about her worries and problems, and it takes a lot of work showing her she’s accepted for her to open up— first to Aoi and then to Takuma, who are both people who are very attuned to others’ emotions and taking care of them. Thus, Saki’s own bluntness isn’t necessarily straightforward honesty, and it’s something that can either be born out of her social inexperience (her passive-aggressive remarks to Shuuji in part five only antagonize him further and form part of what makes him dig his heels, instead of helping her stand up for herself and the group) and her strong sense of justice: that she will speak up when things are unfair (she shows strong ethics when rejecting Minoru’s idea to make a tally about whether to look for Miu or not, arguing it’s immoral to take a vote on a human life). Where Mimi is accepted and has to grow to be committed to her community in order to stand for it (her crest activation literally hinges on this), Saki already has strong values and needs a supporting community to be able to act on them.

#Digimon Survive #digimon survive spoilers #Saki Kimishima #Digisafe #I only compared them bc it's fun how Mimi & Saki are near completely opposite to each other despite the surface level similarities lol #I also feel this mostly amounts to saying Mimi is well-adjusted but oh well #Have fun #I was gonna add screenshot to exemplify everything I'm talking about better on both sides but zzzz #I've had this post in mind since last year so it's only getting done like this #I only went to hunt the screenshots for Aoi 🤣 #mine #Meta #Saki

[givemeallyourpenny]

I’d like to talk about how RWBY does an amazing job at giving the necessary weight to its death scenes, and also how it telegraphs fake outs incredibly well, simply by how it places them in the narrative.

Every impactful death scene in this show happens towards the middle of an episode. If someone dies they want you to sit with it, and give the other characters time to react to it, and confirm it. Placing character deaths in the middle of an episode gives you all those things.

Gold star example is Penny’s death in Volume 3. You are right there with everyone in the show, you watched her die and had to sit there as Cinder mocked us about it. It’s still one of the saddest, most painful, most difficult to watch moments. It’s amazingly written and one of the reasons is it’s position in the episode.

The confirmation is important as well. We see everyone else reacting to Penny’s death so we know it’s not just an Illusion. When Clover dies we sit with him and Qrow as the light leaves his eyes and his arm goes limp. Not only does Adam get stabbed and fall we see him hit every rock on the way down.

Then fake-outs are always near the end of an episode.

My favorite good bad example of a fake out is when Weiss got impaled in volume 5 during the haven fight. Episode ended five seconds later with a few shots of shocked Pikachu faces and I clicked away to look at the chat group I was in only to see that someone had made an edit putting more people on the spear. Nobody believed it was for real. It lacked the weight.

Ideally when you have a death scene you want people to sit in silence for a while thinking about it, but when an episode ends people will go on to tumblr dot com and collect people’s anguished screams (no? Just me?). But if you put it in the middle people are forced to sit with it. Or best case they pause it themselves to think.

And then CRWBY got smart with its fake-outs. Yang fell into the void near the end of the second to last episode of volume 8 and everyone knew what was up. People were emotional yeah but all of the focus was on the people still up, because we knew Yang was fine. I figured the rest of team RWBY would probably fall down too, and they did.

And Because they all “died” in a way we were primed to think of as a fake-out it didn’t draw focus from Penny’s actual second death. A scene placed near the middle of the episode.

Now it was at this point in my ramblings I asked myself why? Why did we all recognize the fake-out so quickly? I had put together this thought about placement by that point but I didn’t apply that to that moment. I’d only thought of it as a do and don’t guide. Put death scenes in the middle not the end. Only now am I realizing the power in signaling the fake-outs. So how did everyone know?

Well people are very smart, we recognize tropes and stuff often without thinking, and this is one we’ve seen many times. In more episodic shows if someone fell off a cliff or Superman got disintegrated near the beginning of an episode we knew they’d be back by the end. We recognize what’s Set-Up when we see it, and with the rise of more and more serialized shows we recognized that setup got moved to the end of the previous episode.

Ozpin’s death is an interesting fusion of the episodic and serialized telegraph. We see him set up for his sacrifice at the end of one episode and he dies off screen at the beginning of the next. So we’re primed to think something is fishy about that. I thought he was just captured but reincarnated as a farm boi is also cool.

And when Ruby drank the tea and Neo ate the cat we were primed to think of it as set up for the next episodes.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #penny for my thoughts #media analysis #i feel like there’s a few good individual points in here #I’m just not good at expressing how I connect them

[walker-extended-universe]

What Love Is: A Meta Discussion

My submission for Walkerverse Midseason Hiatus Creations

Week 2- Favorite Ships

Walker is not lacking for ships, but I really wanted to talk about the strongest married couple I’ve seen on television for some time: Abeline and Bonham Walker. 

Abby and Bonham have been married for 40 years, raised two children together, and have experienced their fair share of troubles. Despite the rocky ground their relationship debuted on, the past few seasons have only shown their marriage grow stronger.

When the show started, Abby and Bonham were considering getting a separation. Abby had had an affair, Bonham didn’t handle it well, and neither of them were very happy with each other. We found out in the flashback episode 1x12 “A Tale of Two Families” that they’d put off their separation before for the sake of keeping things normal after Emily’s death and Cordell’s escape into undercover work. But their marriage was far from over. 1x03 “Bobble Head” gave us a small scene with Bonham trying to reach across the chasm to help Abby and her feelings about Hoyt in an attempt to rekindle what was left of their love (“I miss you, Abby.”). Though she rejected him at the time, Abby chose to let him into her heart again during 1x08 “Fine is a Four Letter Word” after they finally had a real talk about what had happened between them.

Things got better but came to a head in 1x13 “Defend the Ranch” when Clint outed Bonham’s secret cancer diagnosis. Though they disagreed on what to do regarding treatment at first, Abby convinced Bonham to go through with it, both for himself and the family. Their relationship progressed and improved from there, eventually leading to them planning to renew their vows in the season 1 finale, though other events got in the way of fulfilling that plan. But that didn’t really matter; they knew they loved each other and they didn’t need a party to prove it.

Season 2 brought more troubled waters as the Davidsons returned to Austin, dredging up dark pasts for both Abby and Bonham. Bonham was forced to question the ethics of how far he’ll go to protect his family and his legacy and Abby had to confess a secret that never should’ve been forced to keep. All this before they lose their family home in a horse race and suffer through a murder accusation. But they stand strong and support each other as they get ready to celebrate 40 years of marriage.

Abeline’s speech at their surprise anniversary party says it best:

Marriage is something you grow. It’s something we grow, through the dark and murky and the daybreak. It’s us. It’s always us. And it’s all of us. You know…. Forty years ago it was fate we met…. But we choose each other every day. And forty years ago, we planted a promise that grew with everyone we welcomed into our family, everyone we loved along the way.

Abeline and Bonham are an excellent example of the concept of love as a verb rather than an emotion and I really hope I can find love like that one day.

Season 3 brought us yet another struggle for Abby and Bonham to weather through, but after everything we’ve seen their love survive so far, I know they’ll make it.

#walkerversehiatuscreations #week 2 #favorite ships #walker #abeline walker #bonham walker #abby/bonham #love these two

[desimoviereviews]

Jawan: One of SRK's Best Movies

Follow me on Instagram: @thatguyanesejournalist

Let’s talk about Atlee’s Jawan

Azad is a jailer at a women’s prison who moonlights as a vigilante with the aim to rectify corruption in Indian society, targeting a specific individual whose actions and status have caused extreme suffering for civilians.

I’ll be honest. The plot could have easily been a two-dimensional hero versus villain story that we’ve all seen too many times. However, adding the stories about Kalki’s father and Dr. Eeram’s “negligence” really brings a depth to the plot that proves this film is not just a story about a protagonist and an antagonist: it’s a story about the people of India.

For example, to avenge thousands of farmers’ suicides, the team holds passengers of a train hostage until they get paid ₹40,000 crore ($4,818,532 USD) so they can repay the loans of the Indian farmers. The viewers finds out through one of the most emotional scenes in the movie that Kalki’s father, who was a farmer, committed suicide so that his family could pay off the loan on their tractor with the money they would receive from his death. In real life, more than 12,000 farmers in India commit suicide every year due to debts. These anecdotes in the film bring a touch of needed reality to the plot; in fact, the reality-based conflicts are something I think Bollywood needs desperately these days.

Personally, I think this is one of SRK’s best movies. I’ve been waiting to see what movies SRK was going to churn out now that he isn’t doing purely romance movies anymore. I think Jawan is a great example of the content SRK is capable of creating without being a romance hero. And you see this with Azad and Vikram Rathore, who aren’t your typical protagonists. You would expect the protagonists to take the main spotlight for most of the movie. However, SRK shares the screen with a plethora of other female characters and doesn’t overshadow their acting or stories. 

One character that I absolutely adored was Narmada. As a female protagonist, she wasn’t the “damsel in distress” that needed saving all the time. In fact, she was a tough character throughout the movie who held her own, even when she found out Azad’s real identity as a vigilante. I really do appreciate Narmada’s character arc and the fact that she could always defend herself as an individual.

A quick shoutout to Kalee Gaikwad and how effortlessly Vijay Sethupathi acted in his role. This was actually the first movie I’ve ever seen him in, and he conveys the psychotic qualities of his character without it seeming fake or unconvincing. I have a whole bunch of Vijay Sethupathi movies lined up for me to watch for the future!

Also, another shoutout to Aishwarya Rathore and the wonderful Deepika Padukone. Even though her cameo in the movie was short, it was an impactful one and gave me major Om Shanti Om vibes. I love how her character was also strong and independent, refusing to be coerced by Gaikwad and his scheme to frame Vikram.

I loved the movie so much. There was impactful dialogue throughout, even though some parts did sound a bit preachy but still fit the message that the movie was trying to convey. The references to SRK’s iconic movies didn’t go unnoticed by me, and it was done in a way that didn’t make me cringe. I also appreciated the way there were numerous fourth-wall breaks that seemed like SRK was addressing the real-life viewers during the film’s most crucial moments; by staging this scenes as messages to the actual people, it causes viewers to think about their own political landscape in their country and how they can impact their own government (LEGALLY, PLEASE).

All the songs on the soundtrack, composed by Anirudh Ravichander, were pretty catchy to me. Welcome to another episode of me having a hard time to curate my song list. At the end of the day, I included both popular and seemingly underrated songs from the film. Give them a listen! 

Aararaari Raaro

Chaleya

Zinda Banda

The movie is 2 hours and 50 minutes long. Stream the extended cut on Netflix, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

#bollywood #indian #films #movies #shah rukh khan #nayanthara #vijay sethupathi #deepikapadukone #jawan movie #atlee

[fallouttboy]

and what if i said that heaven, iowa is a song about chicago?

heaven, iowa is clearly a california song (mulholland drive is name dropped lol) and also a reference to field of dreams, but see, it feels so much more personal than either of those things.

pete has said a few times during tourdust that it’s a song about drinking a bottle of screwtop wine and driving off a cliff. which, yeah. it is. but it is also a song about eternal unattainable love and the pain that comes from it, self reflection, being too aware of who you are as a person.

i immediately latched onto the time: 6 am. why are you, first of all, drinking wine at six in the morning? why are you alone (save for moonlight sonata) in a car on mulholland drive? at six in the morning???

personally, i’ve always read it as a deep state of dissatisfaction, probably from an extremely depressed pov, one where you don’t feel much of anything. the kind that’s impossible to describe to someone if they’ve never been through it themselves. the kind where you sit alone in a car listening to beethoven on repeat with a screwtop bottle of wine, watching the sun rise over bright and sunny california while you feel like the deadest trees in the coldest winter.

the change up of star crossed lovers to scar crossed lovers packs such a punch it makes me ache. the beautiful tragedy of romeo and juliet’s love, somehow, pushed into a more tragic scene. the lovers who quite literally died for each other, couldn’t live without the other. in this lyric, they lived. scar crossed. they carry that death, they carry the weight of their unattainable love, they hold the weight and the pressure and misery of their love and wear it as a locket. you look so good in blue.

the car as a symbol of this wallowing in self pity, in misery, is incredibly prominent and fragile and it breaks my heart. the pov is from someone who is in control of the car. we don’t know where they’re sitting, but they have the keys. they can drive away. they can leave. but they stay. they lock themselves in the car and stay and rot in their misery, as right or wrong of them to do. i use the words rot and wallowing with their full meanings-pov is not just sitting in contemplation, or they wouldn’t have the wine. they wouldn’t be parked on a road at sunrise. they wouldn’t be listening to moonlight sonata as the sun comes up. they are there to be in the emotion, regardless of how bad it makes them feel (or, maybe, in my opinion, because of how bad it makes them feel).

so what does this have to do with chicago?

it’s pete.

pete thinks in drawn out metaphors and contradicting allegories. he writes life as a long winded prose novel. he is every english major’s worst enemy and wettest dream.

one of the big symbols in his chicago-set pseudo-autobiographical novel gray was driving away when things got bad, either physically or mentally. pov would drive out and away and be gone and his friends would worry but that’s fine because he’d always come back unless he didn’t. and who cares if he didn’t? it’s not like he has friends who are stressed when he bounces or a girlfriend partner sex buddy scar crossed lover forever. it’s not like he has her or Her or them. the chemistry is a mess, it seems. who cares if he drives out into lake michigan at 3 in the morning? it’s just him and his music and his car and chicago.

just like it always has been, even across the country. lake michigan’s rough tides aren’t too dissimilar to the pacific’s normal ones. the waves of lake michigan mimic the rolls of hollywood hills. driving into the waves or driving off of the cliff-it’s all the same. baby please, would you read my eulogy?

and, just a little fun tidbit i love to think about: he’s comparing life (at least in the bridge) to a snow globe: shake things up and see what comes down. los angeles doesn’t get snow, but you know who does? and is, dare i say, known for it in a way? chicago. shake things up (move a lake effect kid to hollywood) and see what comes down (him).

#mine #w #fob #smfs