#which is that Sam gets to the point where he accepts that he’s evil. That what he’s doing is turning him into a monster. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

five-rivers · 1 year

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The Intern

AO3

Inspired by a variety of DPxDC posts, but mostly this one by @gettingcomfyinyourwalls

Before Danny's Accident, he and Jazz had competed for the title of "the normal one" with an intensity and ferocity achievable only by siblings in families where there was no normal one. After the Accident, he had to cede the title, however reluctantly, to his sister, who then, in a turn around only possible for siblings, then dedicated herself to giving Danny the title of "the one everyone thinks is the normal one." Combined with his chosen friend group - a girl who pursued weird as a lifestyle, and the kid who once tried to use a tamagotchi to hack a vending machine, then gave the tamagotchi an Egyptian burial when the attempt killed it - it was very easy to forget that Danny was not normal at all. Not even if you ignored the whole "half-ghost superhero" thing, which was very difficult to ignore.

It was even easier to forget what kind of not normal he originally was, before the accident, and continued to be even afterward.

However, the world (and particularly Sam and Tucker) was about to be reminded.

"Guys!" shouted Danny, literally skipping up the hallway to come to a bouncing stop between Sam and Tucker. "Guess what!" He was quivering with so much excitement that his edges looked a little blurry.

Tucker put a hand on his shoulder to get him to stop. "I guess it's a good thing, and not that your parents invented a ghost wiggler or something?"

Danny stilled. "The ghost wiggler. My enemy."

"Wait, I was joking."

"Mom and Dad weren't. That thing was evil."

"Okay, okay," said Sam, raising her hands, "it didn't have anything to do with one of your parents' inventions. What did happen?"

"Two of my summer internship applications were accepted," said Danny, almost sparkling with delight.

Actually, he was sparkling. If he had an internship outside of town, he would have to get that under control.

"That's great," said Sam. "Which ones?"

"Lexcorp and Wayne Industries!"

"Lexcorp?"

"Wayne Industries?"

"You applied to Lexcorp?" demanded Sam, appalled.

"You're going to Gotham?" asked Tucker in the same tone.

Danny looked from Sam to Tucker, then back again. "Yessssss?"

"To work for the guy you call Bald Vlad? The one who keeps trying to kill Superman?"

"The place with all those crazy villains and mad scientists? That Gotham?"

Then, together, they asked, "Why did you even apply there?"

"Lexcorp is a civilian leader in astronautics, meteoritics, cosmochemistry, nuclear physics, quantum computing, robotics and medical research."

"Because Lex Luthor is trying to kill Superman."

"And even beyond Wayne Industries, there are so many great scientists in Gotham, like Dr. Isley, Dr. Crane and even Dr. Fries!"

"Danny, those are the villains."

"Well," said Danny, "I figure I'm never going to meet Lex Luthor, being an intern and all, but if I see any dangerous weapons, I can trash them! I have lots of experience."

"Don't you think it might be a little dangerous for you to work for an avowed human supremacist?"

"It’s not any different from staying home."

Sam leaned back to stare at a point over Danny's head, flummoxed.

Tucker, not liking his point being ignored, squeezed Danny's shoulder. "If you miss fighting that much, I'm sure any ghost you ask will be happy to spar with you. The villains, Danny. Why do you want to go somewhere with that many villains?"

"It's not like I'm joining them." Danny rolled his eyes. "I just want to talk to them. If you're so concerned, I can take Dr. Isley and Dr. Crane off the list."

"Why only those two? Why not get rid of the whole list?" asked Tucker, shaking him slightly.

"Because Dr. Isley was mostly for Sam and Dr. Crane was mostly for Jazz. Dr. Fries is for me, and Mom and Dad want me to try to convince cousin Hugo to try therapy again."

"Why," said Sam, as Tucker glared at her, "do you think I'd want you to talk to Poison Ivy?"

"Uh," said Danny, "because you admire her work?"

"Admired, past tense, and that was before she started turning people into trees."

“But the ‘turning people into trees’ part is way more applicable to our lives!”

“Forget about that,” said Tucker. “Why do you want to talk to Mr. Freeze?”

“Well, Doctor Fries is an expert in cryogenics and incorporating ice into technology. I want to be able to do that.” Danny looked back and forth between Sam and Tucker. “Come on, I’m not interning for him. I just want to expand my knowledge base! Just think about all the cool things I could make!”

Sam and Tucker, united in horror and purpose, grabbed Danny by the arms and dragged him bodily into Senior English.

"Jazz," said Sam, hauling Danny forward by the arm she held, "your brother is turning into a mad scientist!"

Jazz looked from Sam, to Danny, to Tucker, then back to Sam. "Yessssss?"

"Well," huffed Sam, "aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"No? Why would I?"

“Mad scientist,” repeated Sam.

“That’s generally a bad thing,” said Tucker.

“It’s fine. Danny has a very strong sense of ethics.”

“And lab safety!” chimed in Danny.

“And lab safety,” agreed Jazz, nodding. “Now, if you want me to help you with your internalized prejudice, I can refer you to some resources I’ve found quite helpful myself.”

“Internalized prejudice is when you’re biased against yourself,” said Tucker.

“Yes.” Jazz returned to the task of arranging her pens and notebook on her desk.

“Wait,” said Sam, “you are not calling us mad scientists, are you?”

“Well,” said Jazz, “Mad Science Disorder isn��t in the DSM, but there’s a movement to have it included in the next edition, and I think you would fit the proposed diagnostic criteria.”

“No,” said Sam.

“Yes,” said Danny.

“I have seen the inside of your greenhouse, Sam,” said Jazz. “You’re at least on the road to being a mad botanist, if not a mad ecologist.”

“I’ve been saying that for years,” said Tucker.

“And you’re obviously a mad computer scientist, with a minor in archaeology.”

“Wait, why are you saying this like they’re college majors?” asked Tucker.

“It’s easier that way,” said Jazz. She frowned slightly. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’s just that you should be aware of it, so you don’t wake up one day and start planning involuntary human drug trials, or something like that.”

“Jazz did that, once. I was five.”

The warning bell rang.

“You should go to class,” said Jazz, pleasantly. “You don’t want to be late.”

“Listen,” said Sam, leaning over the desk to whisper at Danny, “couldn’t you, I don’t know, just do the Wayne internship?”

“Hm,” said Danny, rubbing his chin, “maybe. But I kind of get the feeling I only got the Wayne internship because I got the Lexcorp one.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, like we talked about way back, Bruce Wayne has to be funding the Justice League, at least a little.” He pushed his math homework - already finished - to one side. “It’d make sense for him to keep an eye on anyone Lex Luthor personally hires, on account of the Superman thing. It’s either that or corporate espionage.”

“Wait,” said Tucker, leaning in from the side, “go back to the ‘personally’ part.”

“It’s a special internship?” said Danny, somehow still managing to pull off the clueless innocent look. “It was, like, competitive? You know what I mean.”

“Luthor personally hired you? Reviewed your application and whatever?”

“Yeah.”

“And you think he isn’t going to meet you?”

“Why would he? I’m basically going to be getting a tour, then doing drudgework for a month.”

“I love you, man, but you are so, so dumb sometimes. The man is going to meet you. Jeez, I hadn’t even heard he was doing internships like that for our age group.”

“Age group?” asked Danny.

“Dude. No. Tell me it was at least limited to just high schoolers. Tell me you didn’t apply for an internship meant for college students.”

“There wasn’t any age on it as far as I remember.”

“Mr. Fenton,” said Mr. Falluca, “will you please come solve this triangle for the class?”

Danny huffed. “Rule of cosines,” he said as he stood. “Give me an easy problem…”

“Why is he even in this class?” mumbled Sam.

“Ghost hunting,” Tucker mumbled back.

“How are you even going to get to Metropolis?” asked Sam as they walked away from the school. “You don’t have your license yet.” He probably wouldn’t have his license ever. Three Fentons driving had, evidently, proven too much for the local DMVs. Jazz, as conscientious as she was, had gotten hers from the one in Elmerton before they, too, realized the horror that was Jack and Maddie.

“Jazz is going to take me,” said Danny with a little shrug. “She’s doing a pre-college thing there. Some kind of volunteer thing.”

“And how are you getting to Gotham?”

“There’s a train that goes there,” said Danny. “Like, a regular one.”

“And getting back?”

“Mom and Dad will pick me up.”

“Where will you be sleeping?”

“There’s on-site dorms on each site.”

Sam curled her lips. “The return of company towns in the modern era.”

“I don’t know, I think the Wayne ones are probably fine.”

“But you’re sleeping in the Lexcorp ones?”

“I figure I can disable any subliminal programming devices that might be installed there.”

“Do you not see how crazy that sounds? Tucker, back me up, here?”

Tucker sighed. “Honestly, I don’t think we’re going to be able to change his mind. I’ve been picking out funeral flowers. You still like lillies?”

“It’ll be fine. I’ll call you guys if I need help. Just like you’ll call me if some new ghost shows up and starts causing trouble, right?”

“Yes,” said Sam, exasperated. “But you understand those two things aren’t the same, right? That with the way things are here, there probably won’t be a new ghost causing trouble?”

Danny had made… peace probably wasn’t quite the right word, with the Fentons, the Guys in White, and the lack of an organized overarching social structure, but there was an understanding between him and the ghosts. Without that understanding, he wouldn’t have been able to take the time to apply for internships, let alone actually go to any.

“I mean, if it’s an imposition–”

“That’s not what she meant,” interjected Tucker. “Nope. Nope. You aren’t wriggling out of calling us when a supervillain kidnaps you. She’s trying to talk you out of taking an unnecessary risk.”

“It’s not really a risk for me, though.”

It really wasn’t. Danny might not be invulnerable, but the sheer variety of his powers along with his accelerated healing made that point academic. For most enemies.

“This is the guy who fights Superman, Danny,” said Sam. “For all we know, he’s got some kind of anti-ghost material in the same cabinet he keeps his Kryptonite.”

“I don’t think that’d work very well, actually,” said Danny.

“It was a metaphor. Be serious.”

“I am being serious. This is something I want to do. I want to go there and learn and prepare for the future.”

“You sound like Jazz, you know? You’ve got two more years here. You don’t have to do this. If this is some kind of overcorrection because of the ghosts–”

“It’s not. I told you why I wanted to do this.” He stopped on the sidewalk, pulling on the hem of his shirt. “Is it really that bad? Is it really that terrible that I’m going somewhere and doing something that I’m interested in?”

“No,” said Tucker, awkwardly. “We’re worried about you.”

“And I’ll be fine,” insisted Danny. “Really. I will be. And, you know, like I said, I want to do this kind of thing in the future, so it’s good practice.”

“For what?” asked Sam, crossing her arms. “Scamming supervillains?”

“Well, yeah,” said Danny. “That, too.”

Sam’s arms fell, along with her jaw. “What?”

“Scamming supervillains,” said Danny, starting to walk again. “Like, obviously, I want to either do something with spaceflight or something with a big humanitarian dimension, but scamming supervillains is definitely going to be my backup. Or maybe my hobby. They always have the coolest stuff, and a lot of money, too, usually.”

“Coolest stuff?”

“Yeah,” said Danny, almost skipping, now. “Ice rays, supercomputers, gene therapy, rapidly growing vegetation, limb regeneration, cloning techniques… Lex Luthor came up with a cure for, like, over half a dozen different types of cancer.”

“Because he wanted to kill Superman,” said Sam, taking up an earlier refrain. It had only

“Yeah, but imagine what he could do if we could convince him that Superman got his strength from, like, world hunger or something.”

“I hate it,” said Sam, after a long moment, “but I think you have a point.”

“You two could go into business with me. Some villains go through goons so fast, I bet we could hit them about a dozen times.”

“You’re not planning to do this now, though, are you?” asked Tucker.

“Huh? No. No, not until after graduation. Most I’ll do with any supervillains I see this time around is talk.”

“That’s a lie,” said Sam, immediately. “There’s no way. The first time Man-Bat or Brainiac jumps out of a sewer, you’re going to start swinging.”

“Man-Bat is a geneticist and a chiropterologist, you know,” said Danny. “I’d love to take Brainiac apart, though. Do you have any idea how many planets he’s wiped out? And the stuff he’s got to have–”

“You’re floating,” said Tucker.

“And glowing,” said Sam. “You’re really going to have to work on that.”

“Oops,” said Danny. “Sorry. It’s just, like, everything I’m Obsessed with.” He landed, but still fidgeted, as if shaping something invisible with his hands. Which he might have been. “It’s– I still want to help people.” The plaintive note in his voice made it clear that ‘want’ was, in this case, closer to ‘need.’ “I don’t mind doing the hero thing, and I can’t ignore a cry for help. But I’m not going to just waltz into someone else’s territory and start messing with stuff.”

“I think the territory thing is more of a ghost thing than a hero thing.”

“Eh,” said Danny, “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

Danny waved goodbye to Jazz as she pulled away from the curb, then grinned up at the Lexcorp building. Wow, it was tall. And probably had a lot of really sketchy stuff in the basement.

But! He wouldn’t start poking around with that stuff until he’d been there for at least a week.

(Okay, he’d probably last twenty-four hours at most, but who could blame him? How often did anyone get to poke around the lair of a supervillain who wasn’t their archenemy?)

He walked into the lobby, craning his neck this way and that to take it all in. It was… honestly pretty boring. Not unlike Vlad’s buildings. But he supposed that all corporate buildings were like that to some degree.

“Hello!” he said, walking up to the front desk. “I’m–”

“You’ll have to wait for your parents to come out, I’m afraid, sweetie,” said the secretary. “Company rules.”

Danny blushed. “No, um, I’m here for the internship? The Innovators of Tomorrow Today internship? I’m Danny Fenton. Daniel. Daniel Fenton.”

The secretary blinked at him, then looked down at her computer for a moment. “I’ll need to see some ID.”

“Will my passport be okay?” Danny asked, tugging on his bracelet to get it to lie more comfortably on his wrist. On account of the whole ‘no driver’s license’ problem, he didn’t have anything else, other than his student ID.

“That will be fine,” said the secretary, reaching for it. She looked it over carefully, becoming more and more confused. Danny wondered if she was expecting it to be fake or something. “You’re fifteen.”

“I know I’m short,” said Danny. “But I’m almost sixteen.”

“I see,” she said. “Well. Here’s your visitor badge. We’ll have someone come escort you to the meeting room shortly, and your internship badge will be ready when you start tomorrow. You can leave your luggage here, and it will be scanned and brought up to the dorms.”

Danny bobbed his head happily and took back his passport and the badge. He couldn’t wait to meet the other people he’d be working with. He bet that there’d be a lot of people his age, no matter what Tucker said after he looked it up and saw the website.

A tall man wearing an earpiece and some kind of weapon - a taser, probably - walked up to Danny a few minutes later and scanned his badge. With a few words, he directed Danny to an elevator - one with a keypad code - and brought him up to the tenth story. The elevator opened directly into a… Danny wasn’t entirely sure what to call it. It was square and very large and open, with soft, rounded furniture, a kitchenette, and a catered lunch spread out on several long tables. One wall was all windows, looking down into Metropolis, and another wall was covered in cool, art-deco Lexcorp posters.

There were a lot of people.

A lot of tall people.

A lot of tall, college-aged people. Older college-aged people, even. No teenagers.

Tucker had been right. Great.

A middle-aged woman extracted herself from the loose crowd and came over to Danny, smiling.

“Hello!” she said. “You must be Daniel Fenton. My name is Liberty Rue, I’m the coordinator for the Innovators of Tomorrow Today program.”

“Hi,” said Danny, “it’s nice to meet you.”

Ms. Rue nodded. “Thank you, thank you. We’re just giving everyone a chance to get to know each other before we start the orientation. Please feel free to take any of the refreshments and mingle. All of you are going to be working together closely. Your specialties were electrical engineering and space science?”

“Yes,” said Danny. Although, to be honest, he didn’t really have a specialty. He was more of a generalist.

(Unless you counted ghost science, but there was absolutely no way he was going to bring that up.)

“Excellent. Let me introduce you to the group you’ll be working most closely with–”

What followed was something of a whirlwind. It wasn’t that there was a lot of people, but it was one after the other, and Ms. Rue seemed to be… showing him off, almost? Or showing the other people off? In any case, there was a weird tension to it all.

Was it because he was younger?

He tried not to dwell on it too much, though, because everyone here had so much cool stuff to talk about. Almost all of them had been involved in serious graduate or undergraduate research projects. Strange matter, transient dimensions, reality fields, meta gene analysis, non-quantum teleportation, reproduction of extraterrestrial technologies… Danny was starting to feel a little inadequate. The project he’d sent in was a ‘theoretical’ blueprint for a spy-bot disabler. One that he was proud of, sure; getting a localized EMP effect without a nuke wasn’t easy, but it was doable. And the EMP part was definitely the ‘last resort’ stage of things. It was, after all, much better to hack into Vlad’s bugs and have them send him a hundred hours worth of rickrolls.

In the middle of a conversation about exactly how much room you needed for a decent particle accelerator, Ms. Rue stepped aside and put her hand to her ear. Danny hadn’t noticed the earpiece before, but now he looked at it with curiosity. It was well made, and he could barely hear it, even with his slightly augmented hearing. He wondered if they were designed to counter Superman.

“Mr. Fenton,” said Ms. Rue, “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to steal you away for a moment.

“Okay,” said Danny. He followed her back to the elevator, stealing a cookie as he went. They weren’t as good as his Mom’s, but he was pretty sure they tasted the way they did because of their ectoplasm content, so…

Ms. Rue punched a code into the elevator and scanned her badge. “Alright, Mr. Fenton. Go ahead. You’ll be taken where you need to go.”

Well. That was maybe a little sketchy, but Danny was nothing if not curious. He got in. “I’ll be back in time for the orientation, right?”

“If you aren’t, I’ll make sure you’re shown around personally,” promised Ms. Rue.

The doors closed and the elevator went up. And up. Then stopped for a moment, during which Danny felt the tingle of a very thorough full-body scan. And up some more. All the way to the top. The doors opened to a sparkling office. Everything in it was white, chrome, or glass, with smooth straight lines and geometrically perfect curves. It blended perfectly with the skyline of Metropolis framed by the full-wall windows.

Between Danny and the windows was an enormous white desk. Behind the desk was Lex Luthor.

“Daniel Fenton,” said Lex Luthor, inclining his head ever so slightly towards Danny. “It is good to meet you.”

“Thank you,” said Danny, trying not to squeak. “I’m happy to be here. I’m looking forward to working here for the next couple of weeks.”

“It is heartening to see that you are more open to cooperation than Vlad.” Luthor turned away, slightly, surveying the city below him.

Danny took that as an invitation to come closer and peer out the huge windows himself. What did Vlad have to do with this?

“I confess, I found myself frustrated by his lack of vision,” continued Luthor, “but youth often holds wisdom that age lacks.” He turned back to favor Danny with a smile. “On seeing your application, I was charmed by your initiative in circumventing your mentor.”

Danny’s train of thought, such as it was, derailed.

“Mentor?” he asked.

“You don’t have to hide it,” said Luthor. “Not when we are both quite aware of the others’ knowledge. Considering my wealth, I am privy to a number of things that ordinary people are not. Including the beneficiaries of my fellow billionaires’ wills.”

Oh. Oh, no. Lex thought– But why– Was he– He couldn’t be right, but– But did this make Danny a… a… nepotism baby?

The sprout of confidence that had been flourishing ever since he got the letter announcing his acceptance to the internship program withered. This was even worse than finding out he and Jazz were test tube babies. (And that was only so bad because his parents had felt the need to go on a long tangent about how they had selected their donor-parents, as large portions of Jack and Maddie's genomes were unstable due to a combination of the family proclivities and a variety of curses.)

Lex Luthor stood. “Doubtless, you’re interested in the projects I outlined to Vlad when I proposed our cooperation. The device blueprint you submitted for the internship referenced them quite cleverly. I would like to show you how far they’ve progressed since I spoke to Vlad, and then we can discuss your contribution to their success.”

“I don’t have access to any of Vlad’s resources, Mr. Luthor,” said Danny, cautiously. “I couldn’t provide any, er, funding to these projects.”

“I am aware of that. But I think your value goes above and beyond the financial, Daniel.” He put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “After all, the reason I approached Vlad was his science background. And in a few years… Well. Vlad Masters is not a young man.”

Was that a murder threat? Danny thought it was a murder threat. Oh, boy, did he have something else coming for him if he thought he could just kill Vlad like that.

Luthor directed Danny back towards the elevator, and this time they went down. Far down. Into those basements Danny had been thinking about before.

They stepped out into a vestibule, and a pair of much more openly armed security guards saluted Lex before running through a series of security measures. Danny took note specifically of the ones intended to detect mind control and shapeshifting.

From there, they passed through a series of locked doors and into a maze of gleaming white hallways. The color made Danny’s skin itch. Too much like the GIW for his taste.

Luthor opened a side door, and showed Danny into an empty lab. Empty in terms of people, that is. In terms of stuff… blueprints, prototypes, models, drawings, coffee cups… not so much.

“I had the team take the day off,” said Luthor. “I thought you’d appreciate the chance to look at things without any distractions.”

Danny surveyed the plans with interest. There were similarities between what was being built and the mini-EMP portion of his bug-zapper. There were also echoes of shield technology… some kind of energy projector or amplifier?

“What is it supposed to emit?” asked Danny, unable to hold back his curiosity. He touched, ever so gently, a hollow place he was sure the energy source was supposed to sit.

Lex smiled. “I’m glad you asked,” he said. “Follow me.”

They went back out into the hallway, but only briefly. The next room had even more security, but Luthor bypassed it all with businesslike efficiency and they entered a plain, all-white and bare room.

One wall of this room was taken up by a backlit display cabinet made of square cubbies. Within each cubby was a tiny chip of crystal, like a sample display of particularly expensive rock candy. Green, of many shades, was the best-represented color, but there was also red and blue. That made sense, because each crystal was made of delicious ectoplasm-infused quartz. Danny swallowed. They were making his mouth water, but the amount of death energy they would have had to be around…

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” asked Luthor. “Kryptonite. The key to repelling our would-be alien overlord.”

Yeah. Remnants of a planet that imploded while still inhabited by billions. That would do it.

“I intend to create a Kryptonite field over the whole of Metropolis, one that should, at the least, disable Superman to the point where we can drive him out. I will sell them to the great cities of America, and then, the world. One day, the whole Earth will be protected, and Superman must either leave, or die. But for now, it is still a dream. That is why I need you, Daniel.”

Danny didn’t think Luthor’s weapon would work. Not now. There was too much missing. Too much being missed by scientists and engineers expecting the Kryptonite to behave in a normal, logical way. He was certain, however, that he could make something that functioned exactly as described. He could even do it quickly, building off ghost and human shield technologies. He could see the pieces of it fit together, like a puzzle.

Making it, just to prove that he, Danny Fenton, could, was tempting.

So tempting.

But he had this little thing called morals, and driving Superman off Earth was definitely in the category of bad.

“Well, I don’t know if I can fix problems all your scientists can’t, but I can sure try to help.” He winced a little at the phrasing. Why did he have to use the word help?

“That’s all I ask,” said Luthor. “But that’s far from our only project. Shall we?”

“Sure,” said Danny, not at all faking his smile. Even though he’d have to sabotage this stuff, it was really cool to see it!

Later that night in his dorm room - which was, incidentally, a lot more spacious than he’d expected - Danny rotated the bracelet on his wrist and pressed a button on its side. Inside the thick band was a miniaturized and completely functional version of the spy-bot zapper he’d submitted as part of his internship application. He listened to it click as it went through the different modes available to it. It tweedled at him when it finished.

Only then did he pull out his phone and power it on. He clicked into his contacts and hit the button for his first favorite.

“Hey,” he said, when the call connected, “Jazz, so… Sam and Tucker might have been just a little bit right about my internship…”

May do more at a later time, but for now, this is it. I am incredibly forgetful, so I don't do taglists. Please consider subscribing to the AO3 version of this instead.

#dpxdc #dannymay #dannymay 2023 #dannymay 2023 day 7: weapon

758 notes · View notes

anthroposeen · 27 days

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tmagp 13 relisten notes!!

there are spoilers for episode 13 below the cut!

celia:

- admits to sam that she asked alice for advice and general information about him. this implies she has a pretty friendly relationship with alice (evidenced by alice buying her a mocha) and seems relatively unthreatened by her past with sam so far.

- "no one, im mysterious" -> evidence for her not being from this dimension, if no one can give a lot of information about her

- reveals jack is her baby! (not followed by a glitch)

- says the past couple years "since the move" (between dimensions?) were weird for her

- believes the incidents they work with are real, and im certain shes in the same boat as the audience rn, trying to categorize them with background knowledge that isnt accurate anymore

sam:

- easy to make blush, doesnt know how cute he is, is an overachiever, obsessive, a but repressed, nosy, kind of a recluse, and very easy to wind up

- gifted kid syndrome poster child; he seems to view being turned away by the magnus institute as the beginning of his rejection streak (not admitted to oxford, didnt get first, got fired from his legal firm). i think this will be a major point in his motivations and a fear of rejection and need for validation is going to drive him to receive the greatness he wants (and believes he has earned). i can already see a corruption arc brewing for him, poor thing

- did NOT tell celia about his experiences in the institute or what his "incident" was (referring to lena's interview where she asked him what the worst thing he's seen/experienced was). this isnt super sketchy considering its a first date, but is interesting since he was the one who wanted "all the baggage" out early

- he doesn't want to accept that the incidents are real, but i think he does believe in them. he brought the topic up to celia and has asked alice about it before too, so he may be aware that the incidents are real, but is unwilling to fully conceptualize what that means for himself and his world view

- says that alice doesnt love the idea of him seeing celia, which means he may have picked up on her feelings for him

gwen:

- feels guilty over instigating the mr.bonzo incident -> whats really interesting is that she doesnt threaten to quit or not be involved, she accepts that she gas another email to look through and another external to interact with, but it seems to upset her

- she asks lena why this (externals and mr bonzo murder) is happening, implying that she can stomach the work if its for a reason

lena:

- gives gwen the ABCs of genre-awareness:

- this dimension also has "opposing forces- most of them meaning to be harmful.

- these "forces" need to be "balanced" and controlled in order to maintain order in the world/system -> still working off of a smirke-esque theory that retaining balance will keep the world secure. i dont know if she means balance between forces of good and evil or forces in the supernatural sense

- says the OIAR is managing the bad guys, as in monitoring their actions and directing externals to "balance" things

alice:

- actually offended that sam doesnt want to share information with her and isnt having a good time knowing sam and celia are seeing each other

- tells sam "he cant prove anything" about the cases being real, but doesnt tell him hes wrong

- i would fling myself from a sky scraper for you, miss dyer, but please never say bussin or fire again

- "stop trying to make an impact" -> the more she tells sam to cut the x-files shit out, the more she stops protesting his suspicions. her scolding has gone from "nothing is going on, chill out" to "sure, theres a conspiracy, but we are paid to ignore it"

alice/sam's past:

- dated at uni, previously stated they were together for several years. it seems to have been a decent split since they stayed in contact afterward.

- sam was there for her when her parents died, but lost contact after

- she contacted him w the OIAR job details after he made an exceptionally pathetic vague post

incident:

- centered around gambling and self harm to achieve success- this draws ties to episode 2 (self harm) and episode 9 (luck). i expect this is more aligned with ep 9, as the self harm seems to be in the interest of changing his odds/luck, and the incident is primarily about gaining external success, not physical change. though, ep 2 could be a personal experience with ink5oul that is not representative with their "force"

- the narrator of this statement was quick to actively sacrifice his own well being to achieve better luck, which is a pretty stark contrast to other people who looked to harm other people in their own interest (violin guy and dice guy, i forgot their names sorry!!)

- zorro trader may be a reoccurring organization in relation to gambling

- the narrators options for his debt were to either pay it back or have a personal adjustment, once he completes the voicemail he is transferred to the adjustments apartment, which was not an option on the original call log and something he did not request

- he is promptly adjusted :)

- i think this could be related to the theme of keeping balance, since the incident narrator claims it isnt wrong to play with the loophole, and it ends with him getting what he owes, which is a nice connection to lena's explanation of the OIAR's purpose

glitches/lies:

- "im happy you're happy", alice (she is not happy that sam is with celia!!)

extra comments:

- i really didnt expect an explanation of the OIAR and its position in this so early, and im surprised lena was the one to reveal it. this exposes that shes pretty open with the staff she feels are on a need-to-know basis, and it also changes my expectations for how we'll come across a big reveal in this series, since information is being given in a more open way

- i think alice and celia definitely know something but in opposing ways- acting as foils to each other with sam (information seeker) in the middle. celia knows about how the fears work in the tma dimension, and alice knows why and what the OIAR are really doing- together, they solve the puzzle that sam is trying to piece together.

#tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #tmagp 13 #alice dyer #sam khalid #celia ripley #gwen bouchard #lena kelley #tmagp theory #tmagp thoughts

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 8 months

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Hi Raven! Have you seen the Disney 100 Jack birthday card art that has been circulating around yet? Any thoughts on the paintings? I think I remember you mentioning that the portraits would be good for figuring out what inspirations more ambiguous characters like Jack were twisted from.

The idea that the background frames for the new birthday series would reveal the explicit Disney reference for each TWST boy was popular fandom speculation when Platinum Suit Jamil was initially teased, NOT something actually ever confirmed, stated, or even implied by official TWST sources. Some people were also speculating that maybe the background frames were just the respective G7 of each boy's dormitory. We only had Jamil to go off of at the time, which didn't give us a lot of clear information since Jamil is both very clearly twisted from Jafar but is also in Scarabia, a dorm which has also has Jafar as its representative from the Great 7.

Then Platinum Jacket Ace came out in late September and seemed to continue the pattern of "the background shows one image that shows direct inspiration for the TWST boy"; there were heart card soldiers in one frame, which is what Ace seems to be twisted from. This made a lot of fans hype to finally get character inspiration confirmation for more ambiguous characters like Jack (which has been an ongoing debate in the fandom for years now).

***Spoilers for the main story, as well as Jack's Platinum Suit initial art + related discussion below the cut!***

... However, that ended up not being the case as soon as Jack's Platinum Suit card preview was released. Which brings us to today 😅 I think you see what the "issue" here is, right??? How can Jack, a wolf beastman, possibly be based on Rafiki, a baboon??? Mmmm, I don't have really anything to add regarding the actual frames? It is what it is, and though I will admit it got my hopes up when Jamil was first revealed, I also suspected it would be a long shot given how eclectic ("borrowing from many sources") some of the characters are.

I guess it was presumptuous for us to jump to a conclusion when we only knew about Jamil and even when we also knew about Ace; the problem is that two in a row doesn't make a pattern, just a coincidence. We need at least three to establish a pattern, and Jack here disrupts it. What we actually see here is that the frame to our left (the character's right) is likely just the painting the birthday boy chooses as a decoration for the Guest Room. (It is listed as “[Character’s] chosen painting” in Sam’s shop.) Alternatively, maybe some boys will have their character inspo if it is very clear (like how Jamil is twisted from Jafar) while the non-determinant characters like Ortho will get some other Disney character from the same film (ie Pain/Panic, the Fates, etc.) rather than a single specific inspo.

I think the TWST fandom is like... very fixated on picking ONE exact character that corresponds to each TWST boy just because the dorm leaders (ie the most iconic group in marketing) have clear inspirations. That expectation then gets extended to the rest of the cast, even though it's not true that everyone only takes inspiration from their own films--even the dorm leaders make references to and allude to various Disney properties. There's no harm in debating, having your own interpretation, or drawing parallels for fun, but it gets to a point where it's... fruitless??? To try to come to a firm conclusion on the subject. It may be less contentious to accept that some of the cast are a blend of inspirations, ideas, and motifs. Even the more "concrete" characters can functionally serve in multiple different roles or as correlates to many different Disney characters. Azul is twisted from Ursula, but he is also able to be Jamil's "Genie in the Lamp" (a line which Jamil actually uses to refer to Azul) for book 4. Vil is twisted from the Evil Queen, but he is the hero Hercules when he sacrifices his youth to rescue Idia from Tartarus. At the same time, you could argue that Ortho (who is very Pinocchio-esque, going from robot to "real boy"), also has Hercules traits and Vil is serving as a dual role as Megara, the damsel in distress. (More on that in this post!)

None of the TWST characters are bound to one movie or to the characters they're supposedly based off of, and this works to the IP's advantage. It allows each character to feel like their own person, not just a copy of or a reinvention of one Disney counterpart.

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too-antigonish · 1 month

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They come at you through what you love...Pt. 2

Last Thursday Thursday I wrote about how “They come at you through what you love,” and the three times that phrase is used in Endeavour—starting back in S1...

*long post*

I talked a little bit about Morse and @astridcontramundam, @thewatcher98, and @fanficrocks had some great insights about about how Morse never seems to see himself as included within anyone's circle of love.

I don’t think though, that I was very clear about the last point I tried to make. I said:

“every once and a while it strikes me again that so much of this show is about a very simple premise: It explores the idea that love and connection are what make you most vulnerable to the evils of this world. At the same time, they are also the things that make life worth living and that give us strength. So how do you live that terrible paradox—with both of these things being true at the same time? And how do you respond when your love is used against you?”

The person I was actually thinking about most there was not Morse, but Thursday.

This is a man who at his core is a guardian. His primary mission in life is to take care of the people he’s supposed to take care of. He wants to love and protect. Especially these people...

But from the very beginning, his love is weaponized against him. His relationship with Mickey Carter and his desire to protect his family are used initially to drive him out of London.

Oxford is hardly more safe. Everyone seems to realize that threatening Thursday himself is pointless. You have to get at him through what he loves. And so they threaten his family and they threaten Morse.

And then they secure further leverage via his loan to Charlie which places both his job and his marriage--the very foundations of his identity--at risk.

What makes it all the more difficult for him is that he is constantly navigating between worlds--often opposing worlds.

He grew up as an East End barrow boy with an alcoholic father. He was raised to watch out for his own. Now he’s a fairly well-off suburban father in academic Oxford with a job that in some sense makes him responsible for the entire community.

He was raised with violence, and by all accounts was involved in brutal campaigns and resistance work in WWII. Fists were an accepted part of the game when he started policing. It’s not his first resort, but it’s a tool he uses.

Now Morse is trying to pull him away from that. Morse says he’s better than that--but he’s genuinely torn. What happens if the bad guy gets away with it because they didn’t have the nerve to “do what had to be done?”

One of the most poignant examples to me is when Charlie asks for the loan. While Win and Fred’s marriage looks dated to contemporary eyes, it’s notable for the time to see them making decisions mutually as a couple and to see them being fairly open in talking to one another.

But when Charlie asks for the money, there’s a sense that Fred’s immediately back in the world where he grew up—a world where consulting your wife about anything is akin to asking her “permission.” It's also a world where saying no and refusing generosity to your brother would make you seem less of a man.

So which rules does he follow? The ones he and Win currently live with or the ones he and Charlie grew up with? Well, unfortunately, we know the answer.

S9 is I think the hardest example. So much of it is centered around the question of who Thursday is supposed to be taking care of—the victims of crime and the people of Oxford that he’s sworn to protect as a policeman? His immediate family—Win, Sam, Joan—and now Jim? His extended family—Charlie and the rest? His...whatever Morse is?

The bad guys are using everything he cares about to manipulate him and the cruelest twist of all is that he must seemingly choose one of his worlds to save and sacrifice the others. Which will he put first?

And then suddenly, he's not given anymore time to decide...

#itv endeavour #endeavour morse #fred thursday #roger allam #thursday thursday #meta #more somewhat gloomy thoughts #poor fred #someone needs to take care of him for a change #he'd hate it #but i'd do it anyway

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scoobydoodean · 5 months

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hi! i read your misogynist post and while i haven't read it all to analyze, this one stood out to me the most:

In 1.06, Sam cuts Dean off before Dean can accept an offered beer from Rebecca, but then as soon as Sam needs Rebecca out of the room, Sam asks her to not just bring them those beers... but also fix them sandwiches. Rebecca says, "What do you think this is, Hooters?" and Dean mumbles, "I wish" and we somehow lose sight of the fact that Sam literally just asked a woman to make him sandwiches which is possibly the number one misogynist man trope.

while that i'm not justifying or defending, the thing about this section is he ASKED rebecca those things to distract her and not have her come back in the room right away after grabbing the drink, because he needed to DISCUSS with dean what he just saw on the camera without freaking her out because that was her brother. i would have done the same thing, and i'm a girl.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would read posts fully before responding to them. That said, of course there's a context to Sam's comments. I in fact stated in the very portion of my post that you yourself quoted that he wanted her out of the room:

then as soon as Sam needs Rebecca out of the room, Sam asks her to not just bring them those beers... but also fix them sandwiches.

Misogyny almost always has a conversational motive/context. It isn't usually cartoonishly and randomly spewed. There's a context to Sam's request. There's a context to Sam lying to the women he loves and intends as life partners, and using the word "bitch", and usually being bad with women more generally, and tending to view women Dean might be interested in or who might be interested in him as loose distractions. But if you think the writers weren't aware of exactly what they were writing when they specifically went to sandwiches, I think you're wrong, and Rebecca's immediate objection to Sam's request lends to the author's awareness.

The context of that entire section of the post is not to demonize Sam, but to state that fans who push this narrative that Dean is a huge misogynist (in an effort to erroneously demonize him) are almost always contrasting him with Sam, who they believe to be some bastion of progressive morals who has never so much as looked at a woman lustfully (because that would be Evil and Bad™️). When shades of misogyny in Sam (that he is very very unaware of) are intentionally written into the script from the Pilot.

Kripke appears particularly fond of giving Sam an air of moral superiority that often backfires on him when he endeavors to judge Dean. 1.16 "Shadow"—another Kripke episode—is also a great example. Sam at one point criticizes Dean (who has gathered all of their major leads up to this point) for not "thinking with his upstairs brain", because Dean dared get a bartender's number while asking her questions about the victim. Sam, meanwhile, has been floundering reading books and getting nothing. Later in the episode, Sam peers up at Meg in an upstairs window as she undresses, and gets called a creep by a woman who passes by and sees him leering. It's again—a situation where Sam's initial intention isn't any brand of misogyny. He thinks Meg is bad news and is tailing her, but then can't help... looking... and then looking again. But it's so blatantly intentional from Kripke—especially the contrast of Sam peering in at Meg upstairs while Sam sits in a car below—downstairs.

The goal of the writing team in writing in these moments certainly isn't to make me think of Sam as some horrible evil man. It's simply to give him flaws with a fascinating and rich context that make him far more interesting than the Mary Sue some of fandom is obsessed with rewriting him to be. Sam's misogynistic moments don't endeavor to villainize him any more than Dean’s do—they provide fascinating insights into Sam’s relationship with and clashes with Dean, and add to other incidents where Sam takes on a morally superior air—perhaps, in some ways, out of subconscious jealousy. I won't link you to every single thing I've written adjacent to the subject, but for example, this post on how Dean earns money, how Dean pimps himself out for information, and how Sam and Meg both minimize Dean's contributions to the case in "Shadow" while Dean actually gets all of the leads (similar minimizations occur in 1.10 "Asylum"—which is another excellent example of Sam floundering while Dean repeatedly displays his brilliance, only for Sam to ultimately accuse him of having no mind of his own).

#mail

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butterflydm · 9 months

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wot deeper dive 2x3: what might be

And here is my more in-depth look at the third episode, avoiding any book-related spoilers.

So the framing device for this episode is Nynaeve's testing for being Accepted -- we start when the testing starts and end when the testing finally ends for truth. This isn't the episode that takes place over the least amount of time, but it does take place over a short period of time -- Nynaeve goes in at night, the day passes while everyone (except Egwene) believes that she's dead, and then she exits the next night.

2. It cracks me up that Liandrin makes a point of mentioning that women could create ter'angreal before the Breaking. Because, yeah, Liandrin wouldn't admit in a thousand years that men might be able to do something useful (also: Liandrin hating 'men' but loving her son is actually a great example of the hypocritical nature of that kind of mindset in general; her son gets to exist outside the greater circle 'ugh men' because he is her son and special to her). I love us getting a bit of an explanation for ter'angreal, but Liandrin does crack me up. And the show does make a point of telling us that the Aes Sedai don't understand a lot about how the ter'angreal work, which sets us up for them being wrong that it's only possible for 'the way back' to come once.

3. Hmm, the White Tower waits for women to come to us (mentioned in the last episode) and we also put women out of the Tower if they can only make it through one part of the test and might need time before they face another part... I wonder why the Tower is getting emptier and emptier by the year. It's a mystery! But I do like all this exposition and it feels like it's well-placed, because Nynaeve genuinely needs the explanation. I wonder if Leane gets to be one of the people administering the test because she refused her first time, so having her there to honestly tell students that is meant to give them permission to decide they need a bit more time.

4. All of Nynaeve's tests made me cry and it definitely was starting early. Her scenes with her parents, and having to experience their deaths again was so painful! They did such a good job making her look younger/in the body of her younger self -- with her unbound hair and the style of her dress.

5. We have, here in the first test, Nynaeve bringing back crimsonthorn, which is reflecting another of Nynaeve's fears, which persists in all three tests -- her fear of being like Liandrin. "Red is dead" but a diluted version of crimsonthorn soothes pain rather than bringing death. But not all pain. It needs to be used for the right pain, we learned in the last episode. And the Red Ajah is essentially a hammer that is always looking for nails. The use of crimsonthorn in this episode feels like a mediation on moderation and picking the right tool for the job. Part of Nynaeve is sympathetic to the Red Ajah's causes in theory (being a watcher over abuses of the Power) but she is not a fan of their tactics in practice (she doesn't believe men who can channel are evil). But Nynaeve specifically having her father (a man) be the one who washes the crimsonthorn from her hands feels very pointed. "Red is dead" is something that Nynaeve is telling herself.

6. The Two Rivers continues to be a place of reversed gender roles to many traditional depictions -- Nynaeve's father is a nurturer and the one she's gotten her skill at herbalism from*, while her mother acts as the main protector of the family, using a bow against the attackers. The thread of allowing men to be caretakers is continuing strong in s2, with Rand working in the sanitarium and taking care of Errol and us seeing Nynaeve's father as the nurturing figure here.

(*though I will note that this is a key aspect of several male characters in one of the big OG western fantasy novels: LOTR, where Aragon is a nurturer/healer as well as a warrior, and we also have the hobbits, especially Sam.)

The fathers-and-daughters theme also continues strong. We have a lot of fathers and daughters so far in the series, and fathers wanting the world to be better for their daughters, specifically. Those themes are not exclusive to fathers and daughters, of course (Ila wanted a better world for her daughter) but we are getting a lot of focus on fathers and daughters and, specifically, on allowing men to be soft with their daughters and nurturing figures for them.

7. This is them continuing a story that Nynaeve originally told us in s1, so I wonder if we'll continue to learn more about it in the future -- will we ever find out who attacked the Two Rivers during this time and what their motives were? They don't look like they're wearing any kind of emblems, which makes me lean towards bandits of some kind.

8. Oof, but rewatching this made me cry again. Having to leave the people she loves behind (but they're already dead, my darling). Nynaeve trying to work out exactly how real everything was in that place. And getting 'idk?' in response from the Aes Sedai.

9. Both of the parental figures that she faces in the second test are parents of the children she believes that she's failed to protect (Rand is dead and Mat is 'who knows where') and now she can't even stay to give Tam the comfort of dying with a friendly face by his bedside. Again, heartbreaking! Again, we have the thread of the crimsonthorn, being used here to bring a peaceful death to those that can't be healed... except that Nynaeve knows that they could be healed, if only she knew how to do it. Her block makes her unable to help those she cares about. She failed Rand and now she's failed Tam too. "I may not be a Wisdom, but I'm the one who stayed," Natti says. And this also tugs on the thread that Nynaeve herself felt back in the first episode -- that Tar Valon has no interest in helping the Two Rivers or people from the Two Rivers (the story of the old Wisdom).

"This isn't your home anymore." Ouch.

10. Nynaeve copying the motions of the healing weave but not able to embrace the Power to actually use it: heartbreaking. And then lying to Tam about Rand, because she can't face the idea of telling his father that Rand is dead. And then she has to walk away from him, even as he's pleading for her to stay with him as he dies! Again, tears!

11. I love that the different jars that they use for the ritual -- one white, one black, one both -- I wonder if they remember why that would be the case or if they keep doing it because it's traditional.

12. I enjoyed the trick they played on us (it's implied that Nynaeve's third test is about her becoming Red Ajah and that leading to her killing Lan somehow) and the way she walks out on the White Tower. Our first hint that this isn't real is that there's no Elayne hovering around Egwene in Nynaeve's goodbye scene (Elayne is clearly bonding hard with Egwene and definitely would have wanted to go with her to talk to Nynaeve; she's already shown interest in meeting Nynaeve) because Nynaeve doesn't know about her! But I didn't twig to it until Lan showed up and then didn't tell her Rand was alive and instead was just like "oh yeah I can go with you to the Two Rivers". If Lan is disconnected enough from Moiraine to walk away from his duty and go with Nynaeve back to the Two Rivers, then he's disconnected enough to tell her that Rand is alive, even if he knows Moiraine might not want him to tell. But Lan can't tell her that Rand's alive! Fictional Lan doesn't know! He doesn't tell her any of the new info that Lan should be able to tell her now.

13. That being said, Nynaeve's AU version of her reunion with Lan is very sweet! And I was glad to get it even if it was very much not real.

14. The Sisters believing that Nynaeve is dead also was something that worked really well for me because it gives us so much interesting character information and motivation. This is what leads to Liandrin deciding to 'free' Mat and send him on his way with Min! It's what leads to her confrontation with Egwene! Also: Leane's disdainful look at Liandrin as she turns and walks out. Judging Liandrin hard for pushing for Nynaeve to go through the arches so quickly. And then Sheriam expressing her disappointment verbally. "I hope your conscience never lets you find peace with that. I know mine won't." And Liandrin looks close to tears here, as well (and then expresses her pain through anger, once again, by throwing the jug).

15. Ooof, Seanchan time. This is so hard to watch. The show did such a good job making them feel alien and different to the rest of the people of the show. Even Loial has never heard of them! And the helmets make them look like they are grinning (way too widely) all the time. Just seeing how clearly formalized and ritualized everything is.

That spike at the bottom of Suroth's palanquin. Yikes on bikes.

16. I am going to note that the two women who channeled the previous night are NOT the one who points out the other women who then get dragged away (unless my eyes deceive me). They specifically have a third woman who comes out and does that, which implies specializations to me.

17. The music cue for the Seanchan is so effectively creepy. And now it is time for our Cheerful Customer Service Representative to share the Good News that it is time to Update Your Oaths. That she says everything in such a pleasant way really makes the horror of everything that's happening stand out. The Shadow, before now, has operated under darkness, but this horror is happening in the broad daylight and with the attitude of complete certainty in their own rightness, despite the clear brutality on display. It works similarly to how the horror in Midsommar works, for anyone else who may have seen that movie. Brutality in broad daylight, committed by people who are convinced that they have the One Truth and that it's an honor to kill to uphold that truth.

18. It does seem pretty clear that Uno was picked out because he was noticed by one of the soldiers as behaving defiantly -- having a clear example of what happens to someone who refuses to take the oaths is probably seen as extremely useful in getting everyone else to agree. But, yeah, another scene that is difficult to watch, for sure! Suroth's smile after Uno is killed is so effectively creepy and awful.

And now Perrin & co have officially taken the oaths. I do not expect Perrin to feel at all obliged to keep his oaths but it may be useful for him that he's aware of the wording, so he can perhaps do some sneaky scouting in the future.

19. The Man's eyes are on Perrin pretty much the entire time. But, yeah, #PerrinWillNotForgetThis

20. Love Rand's scene with Logain here. Rand is trying to build up some trust with Logain before he broaches the subject of channeling but Logain already knows the score and wants them to skip to the ending, lol. Logain is aware that Rand can channel and channel strongly, so he doesn't want to waste any time on pleasantries. I also love Logain yanking Rand around and giving him a sidequest, lol.

21. We get a reminder here of how much Rand doesn't know: pretty much everyone else has more knowledge than he does right now. He doesn't know that the Dark One wasn't defeated at the Eye; he doesn't know even of the Horn of Valere's existence, let alone that Perrin is on the hunt for it (even Mat knows about that, due to Perrin's letters).

22. So Rand finds out about the queen's promise here ("half her fortune" to the one who finds the Horn and brings it to Cairhien) and then learns in the party scene coming up next that this was a dirty lie being used to get people to leave Foregate and go off somewhere, anywhere else. His time in Cairhien is Rand's first experience of class differences and the nobles are not coming off well to him at all.

23. It's pretty clear here that Rand is keeping all his 'searching out knowledge about channeling' activities a secret from Selene, which makes a lot of sense. He probably assumes that the second she finds out, she won't want to come near him. She does seem pretty happy about the idea of getting to dress Rand up in some fancier clothes.

24. Haha, I love that Elayne has no ill effects from their night of drinking together. Another little hint about her past. Her banter with Egwene is pretty adorable (before the angst comes in for Egwene when she finds out that the Sisters all believe that Nynaeve is dead).

re: fake deaths -- they really only annoy me if they're primarily for the audience. I don't mind if they're being used to push story/character forward. Here, we're shown Egwene's refusal to believe that Nynaeve could be dead vs Elayne's greater knowledge of how ter'angreal are believed to work and Tower knowledge and tradition.

25. I love that Egwene snaps at Elayne to leave here -- it's such a pure emotional reaction due to her intense grief. She's already believed Nynaeve to be lost once; she believes that Rand is gone; and now she's losing Nynaeve 'again'. It's too much and she doesn't know Elayne well enough to let her in emotionally right now.

Also, "Ny"! That's so cute.

26. Sheriam sucks at grief counseling. Egwene's friend is dead and all Sheriam can tell her is "don't burden me with your grief; grow as a person from this".

So... I wonder if Sheriam sent Nynaeve's things off to the Two Rivers this day, and all Nynaeve's stuff is already on its way by the time she comes back.

27. In addition to everything else about this scene with Liandrin and Mat, it tells us that she's able to sneak in without waking him up. I doubt that it's the first time she's done it. Also, I note that Liandrin does not tell him that Nynaeve is the one who died.

Of course, we know from the ending conversation with Min that this is not actually Liandrin 'letting him go' but her setting him up to leave with a spy in tow.

She is really really good at cutting into people with her words. Mat escaped one abusive older woman (his mom) and ended up trapped with a second one. This really was such a worst case scenario for him, in terms of grinding his feelings of failure and not being good enough into him.

28. Liandrin tries to pull her same tricks with Egwene that she did with Mat, trying to cut into her insecurities and made her feel lesser. But Egwene has not spent the past five months being forced to listen to Liandrin stomp on her as a person over and over, so when Liandrin pushes her, she pushes back.

29. Party scene! Selene has gotten Rand a coat and slipped the two of them into a fancy noble party -- she's out there trying to set up connections for Rand but he is focused on the mission. He gets a warning from another lady at the party that whether he replies yes or no to the invitation that he just received, it will be a subject of gossip, so he burns the letter (only to learn that this, too, is going to cause tons of gossip). The lady Anvaere then lets Rand know that she's figured out that he's likely staying in the Foregate and implies that she may or may not believe that he's an outlander lord. She lets him peek behind the curtain of nobility by telling him the truth about the Hunt for the Horn - that the queen doesn't care about it at all, just about getting some of the peasants to leave. We now get some of the history of the Aiel War from the nobles' side (after hearing a bit from the soldiers' side in the last episode) -- after the war, the farmers who had been devastated by the invasion sought shelter and protection nearer to the city and this has been an inconvenience for the nobles.

30. At this point, Selene returns with Rand's quest item but is disappointed when he immediately wants to leave the party without explaining why he wanted the wine and is offended when he asks her why she's helping him, after she shows herself to already understands that the Hunt for the Horn is just a political cover to push out the poorer residents of the city. In terms of costume design, they've really made it so that Rand is the only one standing out -- even Selene is dressed in the paler pastels that we see the rest of the nobles wearing. Rand is the only one I see in bold colors.

31. Rand returning so quickly with his Quest Item for Logain reveals his desperation to Logain. This conversation is... so incredibly queer-coded (which, tbh, male channelers in the books often came across that way too!). Rand has been suppressing something deep inside himself for so long but it just won't go away. It's an innate part of him and the more he tries to tamp it down, the more it builds up and demands to be seen. The metaphor of the overflowing wine glass was also fantastic.

"the answer to the question you already knew" (you can't make this part of yourself go away; "eventually, it will spill out of you. always.")

And Selene, at the party, "don't ask questions when you already know the answer"

We saw last season that Rand was really really good at ignoring things that he doesn't want to admit about himself -- he carries the secret about Tam's conversation with him all season! He manages to convince himself that Mat is probably the Dragon, until Moiraine reveals that it's the dagger that is influencing Mat. Part of him knew the true answer for a long time, but he wasn't willing to admit it to himself.

But it's not the answer that Rand wants to hear. And Logain losing it here gives Rand a convenient reason to dismiss everything else that he said.

32. So heartbreaking for Mat to watch Egwene crying and not feeling like he can go to her! I understand why -- Liandrin did a very good job of letting him know, over and over (a dozen letters!), that his friends do not care about him and would not want to see him again. So I understand. But it's painful to watch him turn and walk away from her. He almost does go to her! He hesitates! But he can't quite do it (which is only going to make him feel even more like a coward).

33. Min was just sitting and waiting for Mat to ask her to join him, wasn't she? I wonder if she was starting to worry that he would leave without her. She must be relieved that he came back for her.

34. Perrin's escape from Seanchan captivity (I notice that he's chained up, maybe because he was the last one to kneel?), but not before he gets a visit from our neighborhood Known Bad Guy. This scene is also very good and very intense, though I want to shake Perrin slightly and remind him that if the Bad Guy tells you something, he's probably trying to trick you! If he says that the wolf brings you closer to him, it's probably a lie! Do not trust this man! I am glad that Our Guy continues to bring intense homoeroticism to every scene he shares with one of our male ta'veren (let me cup your face and feed you water! let me stare intently into your eyes and talk about how you're mine!). Now we just need Mat to complete the set!

35. "You're dead! Rand killed you!" and now Perrin is the first of our ta'veren to find out that the world did not get saved back in 1x8. Doesn't have much opportunity to tell the others, sadly. He doesn't find out that Rand is alive, though.

36. Very emotional about Elyas and the wolves coming to save Perrin. That's their boy! They love him! Please don't be afraid of them, Perrin!

37. Mat and Min continue to have great banter. "Freedom is in the air tonight". And now we get our reveal that Min is working with Liandrin. I like that this feels like a consequence of Moiraine's actions from last season. Because being free of Moiraine, specifically, is part of the carrot that Liandrin is using with Min here. "If you succeed, Moiraine won't have anything over either of us ever again."

Okay, and Liandrin is asking Min to take Mat someplace specific because she checks, "You know the way?" and Min confirms it. So Liandrin does have a destination in mind. Min also does seem subdued in this scene with Liandrin, so I don't think she's eager to take Mat wherever they're going.

38. Rand has a dream about returning back to his room where Selene is waiting, and the two of them have sex (with him back in his fancy coat), and him channeling around her while she tells him that she's not afraid of him (but he looks pretty uncomfortable/scared/worried once the channeling begins). When he wakes up, he realizes that he's set the roof of the inn on fire, and Selene is at his door, and the two of them rush to safety and watch it burn. Oof, that had to be tough for Rand. Poor guy. *hugs*

39. Egwene trying to channel the arches back open again. Sweetheart! I love her so much for trying, and I love Elayne for coming to try to help her through her grief.

40. And now we jump back into Nynaeve's dream life -- she's back in the Two Rivers. She has a daughter with Lan, who is relaxed and comfortable. Perrin is back home, happy, and Mat has found a life elsewhere but is happy as well and visits when he can. Egwene has successfully become Aes Sedai. It's as happy as she can possibly make it, given the constraints that she started with (Rand being dead, especially, but also knowing that Egwene would want to stay and become Aes Sedai).

But they told us at the beginning that this was about Nynaeve facing her fears, and Egwene's letter brings the first hints of trouble as we hear of Trolloc attacks in Saldaea. And her dream world shatters apart as Trollocs attack the Two Rivers once again, just as her life shattered apart when they attacked the first time. I love the bookend of how she tries to protect her daughter the same way that she was once protected by her parents. This whole sequences really hit me hard, especially when she's still cradling her (no longer existing) daughter as she comes back through the arches. I'm really glad that Egwene was there for her when she arrived (and what an introduction for Elayne!) Again, it was so heartbreaking. The little girl wasn't real, but Nynaeve loved her like she was real.

41. I didn't notice on the night this first aired (probably because so much was happening in all three episodes) but this episode does not have Moiraine or Actual Lan in it at all. So they're still on the thread that we left them on in episode two, where Moiraine has left without Lan (and threatened him with having Alanna forcibly bond him to make sure he would let her go). So the question we have for episode four is: do we get a Lan x Nynaeve actual reunion at the White Tower or is Lan going to go after Moiraine as soon as Alanna's back is turned? We know that he stole the poem that she bought from Doman. I am intrigued to learn the answers in ep4.

#butterfly watches wot #wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot show spoilers #wot prime spoilers #wot s2 spoilers #wheel of time s2 spoilers #wot 2x3 spoilers #the wheel of time

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foolondahill17 · 2 years

Text

Dear Mr. Vonnegut,

Transcript (bracketed text are notes from Mrs. Dalton):

[11/15/94, please add date]

[C- please see me after class]

Dear Mr. Vonnegut,

[Introduce yourself here]

We’re supposed to pick our favorite author and write them a letter, or whatever. I don’t have a favorite author because I’m not a fucking [unacceptable language!] nerd, but I thought Cat’s Cradle was the best book we read so far by process of elimination (no offense). I just thought the other books were stupid. My Antonia? Total snooze fest [point taken]. And the story about the tricked-out wallpaper?

I get that it was supposed to “mean something,” but – call me crazy – I think a story should have a good story before you start talking about hidden meanings. Some lady getting locked in her bedroom and hallucinating - that’s a shitty [language!] story. If I were her, I would have just jumped out the window or beat my husband over the head with a lamp. Not that I’m ever gonna have a husband. I’m a dude. But my point is, it doesn’t matter if the story’s secretly some feminist commentary on how we shouldn’t lock up women (see, Mrs. Dalton? I do pay attention) [not quite] if it’s just a crummy story in the first place.

But Cat’s Cradle was a good story, first, before all those messages about how we shouldn’t have gone so crazy with nuclear technology during the Cold War because it might blow up the earth someday. But anyway, the story was good, you get me? It was funny and weird and had all that new age religion and science fiction stuff – kind of like “Star Trek.”

I liked the stuff about Bokonism Bokononism. There’s this real stuck up prissy bitch in class named Marie [very inappropriate to discuss another student like this!] who was really upset that Bokononism was basically saying that all religion is just a bunch of lies people make up to make themselves feel better about the fact that everyone dies. And Mrs. Dalton said that, why did it matter if it was all lies if it still brought people peace? I don’t know, I think I’d rather not be lied to and find peace on my own terms, you get me? But Marie was all like “but Jesus is the truth and the Bible is the word of God.” People like her are all over Texas. I hope we move soon. It’s way too fucking [language!] hot here, too.

My dad’s got this friend who’s a pastor who used to babysit me and my brother all the time. He’s always saying the same kind of stuff Marie is, accept [except] he’s not a jerk about it. He thinks that the evil all around us is proof that there’s good, too. My mom used to think that. She taught me the hole [whole] “when I lay me down to sleep” schtick, but then she ended up dying, anyway, by something so evil you wouldn’t even believe it if I told you.

The foot thing was kind of kinky [??], but one thing I liked about Bokononism was the karass idea. I move around a lot, so I meet a lot of people, and I guess some of them have sorta joined my karass [nice connection to your personal life]. I don’t think we’re cosmically linked like the book was talking about, but I think it’s weird [significant?] that we all met each other even though we normally never would have. Like if Dad never met Pastor Jim, he never would have met Caleb and Bobby [run-on sentence] and then me and Sam never would have spent that summer with Bobby [run-on sentence] and I never would have learned how to replace a catalytic converter [impressive!], which was helpful because I had to do it all by myself on the Impala when Dad broke his arm and I needed to drive [??] Sam to school.

It’s like what Newt said: “life’s just a game of Cat’s Cradle. [end quote] I see what you mean, but I don’t know if I totally agree. It just seems so pointless if you really think about it. Life’s nothing more than interconnected strings [nicely phrase]. It’s…doomful [??]. (My dweeb little brother says “inevitable” is a better word) [It is a better word].

Living in a world where you’re not in control of your decisions seems kinda depressing. I mean, I don’t have a lot of control over where we live or what my dad does for a living, but at least I get to decide to help people. It’s not me who’s trapped inside a story that’s already been written. I’m not some corpse on the highest mountain of some Caribean Caribbean Island, thumbing my nose to God. I’ve got more power than that, right? [A significant question]

Anyway, it ain’t like you’re actually going to read this because I probably won’t get a chance to send it. And Mrs. Dalton won’t get to read it, either, [spoke too soon] because I won’t even be at this school in a week. But there’s nothing else to do while I wait for Dad to get back home. There’s nothing good on TV after 11:00, so I might as well do homework. He said he’d be back in time for dinner, but it’s already 1 AM. [??]

Bye, [Regards,]

- Dean W.

A+, you’re a genious [genius] Mr. Winchester! [haha]

[Passably written, and you followed the assignment well enough, but your language and attitude toward your fellow students are unacceptable.]

*Pages surrounded by doodles of a devils trap, fire, Star Wars logo, book, stick-figures, grocery list (peanut butter, apples, bread, soup, cereal, socks), snail, partly erased cartoon dog, glasses, gun, Scooby Doo, baseball, skull, Samulet, Chevrolet logo, Zeppelin lyrics (‘Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor I met a girl so fair, but Gollum, and the evil one, crept up and slipped away with her), note: Call dentist for Sammy! 555-8451*

#supernatural #spn #dean winchester #young dean winchester #tean dean winchester #kurt vonnegut #spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #ficlet #cat's cradle

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quietwingsinthesky · 29 days

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will. i saw a poll asking whether sam winchester was a rapist in french mistake. and i was like no. of course not. sam would never. but then i read the script and rewatched the scene and like. after gen kissed sam, sam took her offered hand and follower her upstairs. and im like. did they do it? did they fuck??? and then i was like (was it hot?). and just like that whole messed-up-ness of that situation. s

anyways. i request a sam winchester/french mistake genievie fic

lol yeah i dont really do rpf, even supernatural’s canon fake rpf, because i have Zero interest in any of those people. BUT. i do have thoughts on this situation. they’re very simple: No. We’re not supposed to look at the comedic scene of Jared-playing-Sam-playing-Jared going off to have sex with his real world wife as Sam being a rapist. It’s a bit ridiculous to think that, you know? Supernatural loves its sexual violence; if it wanted this to be a scene we take seriously, it would be. but this is. the silly second-hand embarrassment rpf episode.

like, on a meta level we can argue how this scene reflects negatively on the writers’ views of consent and how this sort of joke comes up pretty commonly on spn. first other instance i can think of like this is in Andy’s first episode where we see him walk away from a sexy lady’s apartment immediately after we learn how his powers work, implying he used said powers to have sex with her. In the same way that the point of that scene is not to tell you Andy is an evil predator—because again, when the show wants to tell you that, it isn’t subtle. when his brother uses his powers to hurt a woman later, it isn’t framed in a comedic way like the earlier scene is—neither is this scene with sam and french mistake!gen meant to be anything other than a ‘haha wouldn’t it be funny if sam had sex with fake ruby? who is jared’s irl wife?’

there’s just a point at which we have to accept that supernatural was a show with a heavily male-dominated staff with a history of poor writing around consent and jokes about people using deception to get sex. and this wasn’t like. a 5D play by the writers to tell us which characters were secretly evil rapists. this is them being sexist. what’s happening here is misogyny on the writer level, and choosing to instead interpret it only through the lens of fandom-esque character cancelling is a useless endeavor.

tldr; we aren’t meant to be picking up on bad vibes in this scene because the writers literally did not realize there were unintentional bad vibes. because of the sexism.

or: its a joke, and anyone butthurt about it should probably not be watching supernatural. it might be a bit advanced for their level of media analysis lmao.

sorry aksjkfjgks you wanted fic you got slightly bitchy meta instead. not bitchy at you, to be clear, but this idea lol.

#ask #tw noncon #sam winchester

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dazed-poltergeist · 1 year

Text

A Tree of Fellowship and Love

Pairing: (LOTR) Aragorn x reader x Arwen

Summary: You collectively decide with the fellowship to go on a picnic! No more rings or fighting evil, just a picnic under a big tree with plenty of food to share. Also, you may or may not fall asleep under the said tree at night and get smothered with affection with a certain pair of fantastic people.

Warnings: None in particular

Add. Notes: I simply could not figure out where it would be an appropriate place to have a picnic, considering all the places the characters came from/went to, so I went with Hobbiton. At this point I'm both accepting and denying everything that happened in the story; Aragorn and Arwen walk around as if they aren't rulers of Gondor, Boromir isn't dead, and Frodo, Legolas and Gimli haven't gone to the undying lands, and yet everything in LOTR has already happened.

Masterlist ✧⁠*⁠。

> ✉️ <

{ Hello there! I decided to change this blog to the kind that posts about... anything, really. Since I "converted" into an all-fics-n-shits-blog, I changed the aesthetic aswell. To spice (not exactly) these messages up a lil bit, I'll start adding little things about myself; for example, I'm a cat person! }

- Eero, Jan 2023

It was a relatively uneventful day in Hobbiton, and Sam was describing to you the qualities of the plants he was currently tending to. It was bound to be simple and uneventful if you lived in a place like Hobbiton, but you weren't interested in books and gardening. You wanted to spend time with people, and certainly not like this.

You brainstormed along with Merry and Pippin about things you could possibly do with friends in a place like Hobbiton. You already told them at the start of the brainstorming session that stealing vegetables from a dismayed farmer is out of the question. Merry remembered a big meadow with a large tree - which conveniently happened to be near the village - and suggested that something could be done there. A picnic was the best thing that came to your mind, and the two hobbits loved the said idea.

After a quick trip to the rest of the fellowship's homes it was decided; tomorrow you would have a picnic under a large tree that you are yet to see. You asked Merry to take you to the meadow he had mentioned, and so he did. When the two of you made it there, you were surprised that you had never even noticed it; it looked like the kind you'd see in dreams. There was lots of tall grass and colorful flowers of many kinds, and in the middle of it all, there was a large, green tree that every child would wish to climb on top of. It was the perfect place to have a picnic with old friends.

The next morning you began to prepare food for the picnic you had arranged with the fellowship. Aragorn, Arwen and Legolas got the task of creating sandwiches, Boromir and Gimli had to make drinks, and the hobbits, along with you, were tasked to make desserts. You got plenty of help from the hobbits, for they had a lot of cooking experience thanks to the meal schedule average hobbits had. They decided to cook some blackberry pancakes and bake milk bread.

After a bunch of flour and dough spills, you had finished the bread and pancakes, and packed them up into a basket along with a few plates and a jar of berry jam. The four hobbits went ahead of you to pick some extra blackberries for the pancakes while you were taking your time with getting to the picnic spot. You had only now realized that it's the afternoon.

As you were waiting for everyone else with the hobbits, Peregrin told you about the ents that caused the almost literal downfall of Isengard. He said that although he was high off his pants after that and probably in the middle of it too, he still remembered how uncomfortable it was to sit on Treebeard's shoulder. Meriadoc recalled how Pippin was concerned about not being able to have any children.

While the two aforementioned hobbits bickered about what really happened, you noticed the faces of your dear friends making their way through the meadow. You pointed it out to the hobbits, and the five of you began waving at them in an exaggerated yet adorable way. Legolas was already jogging in your general direction alongside Gimli, while Boromir was carrying a basket with drinks he had made with the said dwarf. Arwen and Aragorn were delighted to see you waving at them like that, and began waving back as the pair walked to the tree.

Boromir realized that nobody had brought any blankets to sit on, so he proposed to go back himself to bring one. But he didn't need to; Gandalf was already coming to the picnic tree with a large, rolled-up blanket under his arm. Now the entire fellowship was together.

You all put the baskets and personal items in each corner of the blanket so it wouldn't fly away with the wind, although there wasn't much wind to speak of. Aragorn took some small plates out of his basket with a few sandwiches, and Boromir pulled out a bottle of apple cider from his own basket. Aragorn finished giving out the little plates as Arwen handed the rest of the sandwiches to everyone.

Boromir was telling Sam about the cider-making process as everyone ate and listened. Every now and then someone would chirp in, until something Sam said reminded Gimli of the stories his father, Gloin, would tell him. Eventually the dwarf retold the story of Thorin's company's travels to Erebor. Frodo felt very proud of Bilbo for traveling with dwarves all the way to the Lonely Mountain, although he himself had accomplished a major feat aswell.

As the hours went by and the sky began getting darker, the members of the fellowship would tell stories from their own lives and from others. Most of the group was becoming tired of the day, and it was becoming evident; lots of yawning and words turning continuously quieter and quieter could be heard.

You only now realized that Aragorn and Arwen had moved next to you, and the latter motioned you to relax and let her hold you. You listened to her without a second thought, and now you were sitting in Arwen's lap as her arms were wrapped around you. Aragorn moved closer to Arwen and put his head on her shoulder.

It seemed that the rest of the fellowship took that as a hint and now began to wrap up their long conversation. Gimli packed the now empty bottles into Boromir's basket, and Legolas put the remaining plates into yours and Aragorn's baskets. Gandalf asked everyone to get off the blanket and move their things, and then rolled up the said blanket like a carpet.

The hobbits also knew that you would stay longer, so they took your basket and left with it themselves. Most of your friends followed them away from the tree back to Hobbiton, leaving you, Aragorn, and Arwen under the big tree with stars.

The three of you sat back down on the ground, and tried to get into a comfortable position that would work for three people. You sat back in Arwen's lap, held by her bridal style, as Aragorn sat infront of her. You were now sitting between your lovers, unsure of what to do now; your mind began going to all sorts of places, until Aragorn gave a little kiss on your forehead.

Because you still didn't know what to do, you just froze in place as your face heated up from the move Aragorn pulled on you. Arwen grinned at your reaction, and gave multiple kisses onto your face, causing you to hide your head between your shoulders to get away from the kisses. That didn't stop Aragorn from giving a peck on the top of your head, though, and now you were back in your initial position, embarrassed that they saw you in such a state.

You thought that the "kiss wave" was over when Arwen helped you readjust your position to laying down next to her, but no; oh how mistaken you were. The elf gave you yet another peck on the cheek, and Aragorn came in from your other side and wrapped his arms around your torso, and also gave you a kiss after making himself comfortable.

Arwen put an arm around you aswell, and began whispering words to you in a language and manner you were yet to understand. Aragorn had already closed his eyes, and it seemed Arwen had aswell, although she was still whispering. You imitated them by closing your own eyes, too. You had fallen asleep to Arwen describing you in the best manner possible, even though you didn't understand a word she said.

The pair was actually still awake, and gave each other the look when they were certain that you were now in a sleeping state. Aragorn carefully lifted you up bridal style from the ground, and began carrying you away from the tree, while Arwen was right behind him with the remaining basket and personal items.

Unused paragraphs and things I didn't want to include in add. notes nor the "letter."

Instead of bringing you to your own house, Aragorn brought you to his, for it was closer to the tree and he didn't want to wake you up. Fortunately, nothing that they did disturbed your sleep. They changed into comfortable clothing after putting you into their bed, and then laid down next to you. They both whispered to you a "Sweet dreams, Y/N," and followed you to dreamland.

ー

One time Pippin told you about all of these mealtimes that Hobbits would have throughout the day; which aside regular meals included a second breakfast, an another, later breakfast, some afternoon tea, and yet another meal a few hours after dinner. When you needed something to zone out to, you liked to think of all the good food they would eat at those excessive meals.

To me, Arwen and Aragorn seem to be the kind of people that give the best forehead kisses, or any kinds of kisses in general, and whoever receives them would fucking melt in their hands like ice on a hot day. I definitely would've written their part longer if I was good with writing physical affection (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠ ) im sorry

I only now, after finishing writing this, realized that all of my fanfics' endings so far involve either death or falling asleep. I have a guess to why my ideas end with these things but I don't want to go there.

#eero's fics #lord of the rings #lotr x reader #lotr aragorn #lotr arwen #lotr #lotr x you #aragorn x reader #arwen x reader #arwen x aragorn #lotr fanfic #lord of the rings fic

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arielmagicesi · 1 year

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ok finished CBS Ghosts because again, I have nothing else to do for a few more days... Definitely grew attached to the characters. I’m less annoyed that Trevor is Jewish now that they’ve hardcore leaned into it so it’s not, like, he’s just an evil money-loving man that happens to say oy gevalt, he’s just a douchey frat bro with a surprising heart of gold who’s confirmed Jewish, which is whatever who cares. also I continue to have mixed feelings on Christmas Episodes- they’re usually the ones where we get to see the main crew in shows bond and have sweet loving friendship moments, which I love, but it’s also always in service of teaching everyone that Loving Christmas Is Equivalent To Morality, which is super weird, especially in the context of a several-thousand-year-old caveman who initially found Christmas to be a “new fad” saying that it might stick around (very “well, the other fads didn’t have Jesus Christ on their side” energy), or a Viking who was initially mad that Christmas appropriated his culture deciding that he “learned his lesson” that it’s about friendship instead? Again, I love Robin and Thor learning to soften a bit and accept the love of their found families, but what does that have to do with Christmas? (you can say the same for Abed Nadir or Leslie Knope or Frasier Crane, the list goes on) ANYWAY sorry for my annoying rants which I’m sure someone will come educate me on how it’s problematic of me to be Jewish or whatever, sorry, it’s not really specific to this show, I’m just PMSing which gives me a tendency to ramble on about unrelated things.

But re: the show itself I think CBS Ghosts is very cute and charming and heartwarming, and it’s fun to see them explore stuff that BBC Ghosts doesn’t. Like, it feels like fanfic in the sense that it’s self-indulgent, but instead of being self-indulgent with the specific details like regular fanfic, it’s self-indulgent about plot stuff, which I love. It’s like “fuck it, let’s have the ghosts be able to possess people. Fuck it, let’s have ghost romances and ghost romantic drama. Fuck it, let’s have Sam run into ghosts of people who are relevant to her life and the past lives of her ghost friends” which would not work with the more carefully crafted worldbuilding in the BBC version and would kind of feel like it was cheapening it, like “oh really, now the ghosts can just do anything? so all those emotional moments feel sort of unearned” but in the CBS version it’s already MUCH more lighthearted (again, I know they’re both comedies, but the BBC one is a little more... grounded? Well-written? Idk how to describe it) so it’s like, why not explore wacky Ghostbusters-level antics? It’s like the Three’s Company to the BBC version’s, idk, Parks and Rec. They’re both silly sitcoms but a Three’s Company plotline would feel out of place in Pawnee. Again, I am prone to rambling. But the point is that both shows are fun, even though I do like the BBC version better. It is weird that they currently have the same number of episodes released due to American seasons being way longer lol.

Also I thought it was fun how both Curtis and Cary from The Other Two AND Derek from Shadows show up in it

#bbc ghosts #cbs ghosts #written by me

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samsrowena · 1 year

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moogs!!! I saw in your poll that you had ~unpopular~ thoughts about Rowena’s ending being becoming the queen of hell and I would be really interested to hear them if you wanted to elaborate!!! <333 if you’ve already talked about it somewhere then ignore me, I must’ve missed it, just link me to that maybe? love hearing your thoughts bestie - jo

HIII i'd be happy to!!! apologies in advance if this gets kind of rambly or incoherent lol

but okay so my main problem with it is that it just feels really reductive (which is on par with everyone else's ending but i digress). in theory i guess i get how it could feel like a full circle moment; she was introduced wanting the throne for selfish, evil purposes and then her story ends with her having the throne and using it for good. but in execution, i was not a fan. to start with, in 15x08 she seemed to revert to season ten rowena (but this is buckleming writing her so i shouldn't be surprised), bragging about everyone being afraid of her and then saying she wished she died a long time ago, as if all of her character development up until that point meant nothing

because i honestly just don't see any scenario in which she'd ever even want to become ruler of hell after season thirteen. she didn't care about power anymore. she'd been completely broken by lucifer and all she wanted was redemption. and i really despise the idea that sacrificing herself to save the world but then still being condemned to hell anyway was her being redeemed (of course she's not the only character they do this with; the message that you have to die for redemption/forgiveness runs rampant in the show and it sucks)

then there's the whole destiny thing. which is just like. i'm sorry but why in the hell would a group of people who literally call themselves "team free will" just accept that someone they care about is destined to die??? the only time they even allude at attempting to change her fate is at the end of funeralia but then they never even try. and in a season where their whole goal is to free themselves from thee biblical god's control, you would think they'd push back on the idea that her fate is set in stone a whole lot harder than they did (which is basically not at all). i just know in my heart that is so so so unlike them, especially sam after finding out he was the one who would kill her. this is the same guy who spent a whole season trying to save dean from certain doom (not to mention the countless other examples of him obsessing over saving people he cares about), so there is NO doubt in my mind he would've did the same for rowena

but i don't know, i mean i definitely understand the appeal of her becoming queen and maybe i'd be more open to it if they ended up doing more with it (and to their credit they apparently planned to, ruthie said at a con she was signed on for more episodes but covid ruined that) but at the end of day i just truly think she deserved so much more than being relegated to an eternity of doing a job that even her own son despised at the end

#thank you for asking bestie!!!! always happy for the chance to rant and rave about my favs hahaha #💌#lonelygodscompanion #feathersforcas #<- since you also asked for an elaboration on this renu <3 #rowena macleod #supernatural #spn

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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neoyi · 10 months

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Okay, within the first twelve pages, the comic has stated:

A few years have apparently passed, which confuses me because all the characters look the same??? Maybe they're going by floating timeline. Tucker has a smartphone now. ...Then again, the first smartphone came out around 2008ish, roughly around the time the show ended. I guess it'd make sense for Tucker to rock one before anyone else does, buuuuut I'm guessing they're just going with "this story is a sequel to the show set within a few years, but the few years is nebulous because we're evoking floating timeline." Fair enough.

Dash, Star, and Kwan is part of a city-wide ghost protecting squad hemmed by the Fentons, continuing the nice little character details that bully and shallowly popular they may be, they're not evil little shits; they're decent kids and people who've constantly supported DP in his line of work. Them volunteering to keep Amity Park safe is genuinely cool of them and really, sets them up with a future where they can grow up NOT to be dick heads.

Tucker was mayor for all of 48 hours before they restored the previous mayor because he accidentally dropped a baby omg fucking tucker making him a politician was stupid and made no damn sense.

Mayor Tucker felt like a last-minute ending to give him something because by the end of the show, no one had any damn clue what to do with him. His entire personality was that he was a Horny Nerd and very little beyond it in spite of some promises. Like Danny is accepted by his loved ones (and the world.) Sam gets Danny. Vlad loses. Etc etc. Bullshit aside, you could argue their journeys have led them to where they are by the end of the show.

Tucker's biggest character study was his second banana status. He didn't have the cool ghost powers his oldest, bestest friend had; they were both "losers" in their teenage wasteland society, but Tucker didn't get a super power. There was no equality between the two of them anymore - not in his eyes anyway. The one time he does get 'em, he fucked it up epically because he gave in far too easily into his insecurities. There was a story there, and rarely did it ever get explored. Giving Tucker a key to the entire city would have been disastrous because he learned absolutely nothing when handed any kind of power. And it made no damn sense even without that context because that boy has only ever shown any interest in politics once ("King Tuck" when he ran for class president) and did so because he wanted to be heard. While his tech has been instrumental in helping Team Phantom, the show never validates it and ultimately him. He would never get past sidekick status in a way both Sam or Jazz did. he had no voice and by season three, not as much screentime. So he's mayor because... he demonstrated his tech skills which translated into leadership because he gave a few orders. Within two comic panels, the creator undoes all that and, well, I can't say "all is right in the world" since it doesn't do a thing for Tucker's arc, but it removed something so fundamentally cartoonish and out-of-nowhere that I'm not complaining in anyway, shape, or form. Mayor Tucker was stupid and the comic rightfully points it out as such.

The comic also contradicts Hartman's hypothetical proposal of where Vlad would have ended up in post-"PP" - that is a prisoner to aliens of which he'd eventually escape, go back to Earth, and I don't know, go even more mad with power? Like Mayor Tucker, the whole alien thing is just balls nuts because it brings in an element that was never presented, emphasized, or necessary for the show. It's about ghosts. It's only about ghosts. The original plan for Plasmius had him as a vampire, which is why he has a cliche Dracula look to himself, but they took it out for being "too occult." It would have also added nothing. This isn't a catch-all "Best Of" Spooky Monster Variety Hour show, it's just about ghosts. So thankfully, they just had him fly back where he found out he lost everything. No aliens needed.

#comics #neoyi talks

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carry-on-winchesters · 2 years

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Supernatural / Lucifer Headcanons

I don't know if this has been done before but I can't get this out of my head so I wrote it down... 😈

If during Chuck's destruction of universes the Winchesters and their beloved angel were to be thrown into Lucifer's universe.... I can see this happening

Dan would call Chloe over at a crime scene, telling her that the FBI are here to take over the case. Confused - because this is nothing more special than other strange devil related cases she's worked on - she meets up with the FBI agents present.

One has a strangely cheap suit on (which she only knows because Lucfier comments on it) and one has a trenchcoat on. They don't look like FBI...

But they have badges (although one of them did show his upside down - apparently he's new)

She gets their supervisor's number but - oops - it doesn't work.

So... eventually... they have to come clean - especially when Castiel reveals that this 'Lucifer Morningstar' character in fact is an angel...

How they all get along:

Lucifer and Dean would hit it off right away

I mean, there would be some strange “this dude is so pretentious and self centered” vibes at first from Dean, but Lucifer’s jokes will reel Dean in. The two would consistently make fun of cases and people

They might even bond a bit over music. Not that I think Lucifer is into Dean’s music, but I think Lucifer would give the space for Dean to listen to his music on full blast at Lux (when it’s not open)

And I even think Lucifer and Dean would have a moment of singing together whilst Lucifer plays the piano 🤭😂 much to Sam’s embarrassment

Speaking of Sam…

Lucifer and Sam do not hit it off

I don’t know about you, but having been Lucifer’s vessel for the apocalypse and having spent who knows how long down in Hell being tortured in the cage, I wouldn't be super comfy around Lucifer either. Sam isn't keen on befriending the Devil.

Lucifer, however, takes this personally – of course – because yay, yet another human who believes him to be nothing but evil

So after a few cases and a lot of Sam brooding and being a little mean, Lucifer confronts the guy to defend his own image

And Sam yells tells him about it all; About the pain he suffered in the cage, about Lucifer using his body, about the consistent damage that has been done to Sam’s mind and soul since then – I mean, he lost his soul even.

And Lucifer, very sincerely because this guy is capable of the most genuine affection I’ve ever seen, apologises.

And Sam finally accepts the guy. Key word: Accept. He still doesn’t really like him. A bit like how Dan doesn’t, but also does – you know?

Sam and Dan become best buddies. They share their woes about having betrayed family and done bad things in their past whilst still being insanely devoted to doing the best they can for their family.

“I once slept with a demon and started the apocalypse” “lol, I once slept with all the angels’ mother” “that's rough, buddy” That sorta vibe.

Not to mention that I can truly see Dan and Sam pouring their hearts out over research. Chloe will help too, but she’ll be too distracted trying to keep Lucifer safe to stay too long in one spot XD

Dan would make an amazing Men of Letters initiate

Dean would consistently flirt with Chloe, earning Lucifer’s annoyance but considering the woman only reacts positively when it comes from Lucifer, he doesn’t mind – though there is definitely a therapy session with Linda at one point where he has to deal with his jealousy 😂

Chloe adopts Castiel into the family.

Trixie loves talking to Castiel who is a sweetheart to the little girl, and considering Castiel’s innocence, Chloe is quick to take him in too. She finds herself making snacks for both when Castiel is having a tea party with Trixie (Lucifer secretly adores this - mainly because he can make fun of his new sibling)

Castiel does not understand tea parties and wonders why he can’t taste the tea Trixie can taste – “there’s nothing in the cups” “you’re meant to imagine it” “oh… but why?”

Castiel and Lucifer become the cutest pair of siblings in the world – Lucifer makes fun of Castiel’s lack of human awareness (“Even Amenadiel knows not to mention angel blades around humans... mainly because it's an awful innuendo although I will, in fact, steal that for my next 'meeting' with the Britneys”).

In contrast, if someone dares to make fun of his baby sibling Castiel, Lucifer will freak out. He's a protective older brother. No touchie

(Dean and Lucifer bond over their overprotective nature... Oh, and Lucifer ships Destiel)

Amenadiel adores Castiel too. Obviously mainly because he finally isn’t the only angel (aside from Luci) to be down on Earth struggling to keep up with all their technology and new ways. But also because Amenadiel and Castiel bond over heavenly stuff :3

Sam starts therapy with Linda, who has to untangle the insane lore of the Winchesters’ universe. She’s the one that advices Sam to try and speak to Lucifer to get over his past trauma – because “Lucifer really isn’t so bad here… maybe it will help you” “I doubt it, doctor but… thanks.”

Dean point blank refuses therapy from Linda, though whenever she’s over for a drink or to help on a case, she’s always picking at his brain – “I’ve never met someone, aside from Lucifer, who needs therapy more than you” “Yeah, I’m special that way”

Lucifer and Amenadiel are both highly disturbed by the idea of possessing a body in order to walk the Earth. Of course, their mum did it, but they themselves would never want to. Maze is equally as disgusted and keeps prodding Castiel with questions about it – which at first are highly sexual

Oh, and btw, Maze and Castiel totally have a fling

Why? Idk. Same reason Meg and Cass did?

I probably have more thoughts but these were the first that came to mind – I would love nothing more but to write little snippets here and there… We’ll see if I ever do 👀 if you have any thoughts on these, or any more to add, my ask box is open!

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