#/// ok enough rambles here's the Main Points so future me can remember what was going on visual-wise feel free to ignore

[zai-doodles]

Ok ok last question then I’ll stop bothering you lol (but I eagerly look forward to anything you will say in the future about fairytail!)

I think I got your thoughts on Nalu, but what about other ships? You said Gajeel and Levy are your fav ship, could you tell us more why? What about Gray x Juvia? Do you have a least favorite ship?

(And don’t be sorry for rambling a lot/your posts being long! I really enjoy reading your thoughts!)

bestie i literally love u i never have the chance to post my ft hc stuff im THRIVING

aight so im going to make enemies with this post i can feel it in my bones gjkfdhgsfdkj

however i just want to say if u like these ships thats completely fine and if you read them diffrently than i do thats also dope

so lets start positive!! i LOVE gajevy sm its so perfect i just ljdghfkjd

no listen like the thing that gets me abt gajevy is how it elevates gajeel as a character SO MUCH and gives levy so much agency at the same time, like u cant tell me ft would have embraced gajeel the way they did if levy didnt CHOOSE to forgive gajeel in some capacity and like fuck imagine ur GAJEEL in this situation like bro wakes up everyday and this is just his life

gajeel lost metalica at a young age, and (i dont remember too much of canon but im pretty sure its implied he just kinda fucked around until phantom tropue picked him up which yikes) like this CHILD was on his own most of his formative years and then got picked up by a super shitty abusive group of ppl and he just LEARNED to blend in, like yea metalica made him kind of a punk but he was a KID so during those years he was alone he probably just closed himself off to survive and learned to prioritize himself over everybody else and to do that it takes a level of desensitizing urself to others pain

and like ok again im playing hard and fast with canon but i THINK its implied he like, had done a lot of bad shit with them or whatever right? like what he did to levy and fairy tail wasn't NEW, so when the events in canon happen and he ends up at fairy tail, in my mind that's the FIRST TIME he has to face how HIS ACTIONS DIRECTLY HURT SOMEONE

and not only thats but someone who OBJECTIVELY DIDN'T DESERVE IT

like ugh gajeel just,, having to learn to let himself care but also it fucking sucks bc it just makes it set in more and more what a bad person he is (he isnt but he thinks he is) THEN FUCKING LEVY PULLS UP AND JUST?? IS THE BEST???

she literally blows thro all his expectations of her bc at this point i think hes use to dealing with ppl being afraid of him bc that ssomething he understands and control, what he DOESNT understand is her being NICE to him and it makes him RESPECT her and its so out of no where that by the time the GMG roles around and gajeel has fully accepted the fact that he indeed has emotions like everyone else, ONLY TO HAVE TO FACE LEVY BEING SCARED OF HIM AGAIN

learning to put others needs above his own and being empathetic in his own fucked up way

ok enough positivity time to make ppl mad

gonna link my juvia is a lesbian post here bc it sums up a LOT of my feelings on gruvia but the tldr is that my personal hc is that juvia is a lesbian with a serious case of comp het from trying to fit in with other kids growing up and it literally was just never corrected until she got to fairy tail and actively started to form friendships

the main reason i dislike gruvia is that it paints gray as the one who needs to change in order to accept juvias feelings and not just cuz he needs to grow as a person and learn to allow himself to be vunrable.

like grays arc doesnt ONLY center around juvia but its a big part of it and juvias growth CENTERS around gray and we can talk about the the borderline misogynist idea of having a female character whos damn near whole identity is her feelings for a man where she never grows or learns meaningfully but instead just very slowly chills out more so from being sidelined than growth but i digress i just dont like them

last is jerza,, i just dont like em,, jellal is really boring in my opinion and he had a lot of potential but meh? his redemption is neat and his history with erza has potential but i feel like the point of erzas arc is about growth and moving on and while i think her and jellal can still be friends and have each others back she still has so much healing to do after tower of heaven

idk i dont see a lot wrong with jerza i just feel like its a lil bland and not my cup of tea

and yes queer platonic nalu is my life id die for them actually and i have more stuff about natsus abandonment issues and how they carry into his relationships with ppl but imma stop bc this post is long jgkfhgdjhfdjk

tldr: i love gajevy, actively dislike gruvia, very meh about jerza, love qpp nalu

#zai talks #fairy tail

[filipinoizukuu]

I saw your post about the FA's translations, and I totally agree. Sometimes, when they do not translate accurately, is to make it sound better or cooler in English, but it just ends up taking away a lot from the context and characters. We know how one of the most affected character interpretations is Katsuki's, a main character, no less. And Izuku and Katsuki's relationship too, which is something super super wrong, considering is deeply intertwined with the main plot of the series, thus if someone misinterpreted their dynamic, this person would miss a bigass chunk of the message the story has.

Here is the panel you mentioned before btw

I remember when I read this, only 10 or 11 chapters into the manga (?), and I was like "...I'm...pretty sure this guy didn't say that" khshsjdhs

OK FIRST OF ALL LMAO HELLO MANG!! THANK YOU SO MUCH AND DW ABOUT IT I TOTALLY GET WHAT YOU MEAN !!

(this is your warning for a long post ahead!)

In any case, I still think you're very correct on this! Not to ramble a bit, but Horikoshi's particular talent in developing the plot of MHA is actually very very brilliant and there are a lot of blink-and-you'll-miss-it details that together, assemble the big picture of what MHA is.

Translations are such an integral part of being able to understand foreign media. MHA or otherwise. The simplest of details say a lot about a character and often times make or break a series because everyone knows that strong character dynamics are what carry even the shittiest of plots.

First and foremost, I want to clarify that because of the nature of fan translations and the fact that most of it is volunteer work/ written out of pure enjoyment of the manga--we shouldn't judge these fan translators too harshly (if at all) for interpreting it the way they want to. FA, as far as I can tell, is a fan-based group that works out of donations.

The first thing I wanna bring up is that when it comes to fandom and its works, there are two types: Curatorial and Transformative. Now, the transformative part is something that must be very familiar to a lot of you. Fanfiction, fanart, and most headcanons fall under Transformative Works (i.e. AO3) because they are all about transforming the canon world to fit each individual's personal preferences. Meta-analysis posts and Character Breakdowns are also classified under this.

Curatorial on the other hand are fandom interactions made with the explicit purpose of being as close to canon material as possible. This is working out the logic of quirks, for example, or memorizing as much canon content about your favorite villain as possible. These are more cold, hard undeniable facts that lend themselves to the DIRECT VISION the creator/author had while making this media. If you were to ask me my opinion on this, this would be the moment where I tell you that the Curatorial side of fandom is where fan translations should (for the most part) fall under.

What people need to know though is that oftentimes, fan translations do not.

Translating isn't and has never been a one-is-to-one process. There are hundreds of thousands of aspects in a language that make it so that it isn't perfectly translatable. Colloquialisms to sayings to dialects, to just plain-out words that don't have a proper English translation to them! Manga is made by and for a Japanese audience, so obviously in a lot of instances, there will be cultural nuances that will not be understood by anyone who hasn't immersed themselves in Japanese culture/language.

So what does this mean then for fan scanlations?

It means that a vast majority of translators teach themselves to only get the essence of the message. They take the dialogue as they understand it and translate it to something of their interpretation. When language and cultural barriers exist, translators do what they can in order to make it understandable to the general populace. This means making their own executive decisions on how they see a character speaking. In example, if they see Todoroki using very direct and impersonal Japanese--one translator might interpret it to mean that Shouto is stiff and overly formal, while another may see it as him being rude and aloof.

The problem is, translators are fans just like us.

Like with the image Mang posted above, the translator based the usage of curse words off of their understanding of Bakugou's character. The lack of foul language in the original Japanese might have made the translator think "Oh. There just aren't enough Japanese cusses for his character." And took that as an initiative to make Bakugou's lines more colorful and violent because this was working off of the image Bakugou had had at this point in canon.

But Codi! You may cry. Wasn't it proven multiple times that Bakugou prefers concise and short lines? They should've known better!

Yes. Maybe they should've known better. But tell me honestly in your first watch-through of MHA, did you perfectly understand Bakugou's character either? Did you catch the whole 'direct and no flowery language' aspect of his language when you first saw Season 2?

Most people don't. I only really understood this fact after I'd read multiple discussions of it and even double-checked the manga myself. These are the kinds of things that only become noticeable with a sharp eye and some time to scrutiny. But the fact of the matter is that when it comes to fan translations, the clout and recognition are always going to go to who can post the quickest.

Am I excusing erroneous translations? A bit, I guess. It's hard for us to go in and expect translators to catch all these errors before release when we ourselves only catch these errors like 4 months in with a hundred times more canon context than these scanlation groups did at the time of its release.

Still, there are plenty of harms that come with faulty translations.

When a translation is more divorced from the original's meaning than usual, it creates a dissonance between what is actually happening versus what the audience sees is happening. This looks like decently-written character arcs being overruled and rejected by most of the readers because of how 'jarring' and 'clumsy' it seems. By the time translators had caught on to the fact that Bakugou was more than just a ticking time bomb, we were already several steps into showing how significantly he cares for Deku.

The characters affected most by these translation errors are often those with the most subtle and well-written character arcs. A single mistake in how the source material is translated can make or break the international reception of a certain character to everyone who isn't invested enough in them to look deeper into the canon source.

It creates hiccups in plots. Things that seem out of character but really aren't. Going back to MHA in specific, the way that inaccurate translations hurt both the 'curatorial' and 'transformative' parts of the fandom is that people have begun to cite them as proof of the main cast's characterization.

Bakugou and Todoroki are undeniably some of the biggest examples of mistranslation injustices.

Katsuki, in a lot of people's minds, has yet to break out of the 'overly-aggressive rival' archetype box that people had been placing him in since Season 1. One of the most amazing aspects and biggest downfalls of Hori's writing was that at first, nearly every character fit into a very neat stereotype for Shonen Animes (Deku being the talking-no-jutsu sunshine MC, Uraraka being the overly bubbly main girl, Todoroki being the aloof and formal rival). He made the audience make assumptions about everyone's characters and then pulled the rug beneath our feet when he revealed deeper sides of them to play around within canon.

What made this part about Horikoshi's set-up so good though were the many clues we were given from the very beginning that these characters were more than what they acted like. Even from the very first chapters, for example, we learn that Katsuki (as much as he acts like a delinquent) dislikes smoking because it could get him in trouble.

That is just a single instance of MHA's use of dialogue to subtly divert our expectations of a character.

Another example is when they replaced 318's dialogue of the Second User saying that Katsuki "completes" Deku with him saying that Katsuki merely "bolsters" him. This presents a different situation, as that line was meant to reinforce the importance of those two's relationship as well as complete the character foils that MHA is partially centered around. By downplaying their developed connection, it becomes harder for the MHA manga scanlations to justify any future significance these two's words have on each other without mottling the pacing of the story.

AKA, it butchers the plot.

With every new volume, there are dozens and dozens more of these hints and bits scattered around! So many cues and subtle foreshadowing at the trajectory of everyone's character arcs--yet mistranslations or inaccurate scans make it so that we don't notice them. This is what I mean when I said that some character arcs are being done great injustices.

Until now, many people can't accept that Katsuki Bakugou cares for anyone other than himself (much less his rival and MC, Izuku Midoriya), nor can they accept that Todoroki would ever willingly work by Endeavor's side. The bottom-line then becomes that because of people missing heavy bits of characterization that become very plot-significant in the future.

When it comes to the point where people can no longer accept or fit their interpretation of the earlier manga events to what is happening in canon, the point of a translation fails completely because it has lead people to follow an entirely different story.

TL;DR - Fan scans are hard. Translating is hard. Don't get too mad at fan translations, but also maybe don't treat them as the catch-all for how characters truly operate. Thanks.

Side note: DO NOT harass FA for any of these things. FA is actually a pretty legit and okay source for scans (they've been operating since like 2014 ffs), but regardless of that they still don't deserve to get flack for their work. You can have any opinion or perspective of canon that you want, I don't care. These are just my two (more like two million tbh) cents on translations. I suggest reading takes from actual Japanese audiences tbh if you wanna know more about the source material of MHA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#IM SO SORRY MANG I RLLY WENT ON A RAMBLE FOR THIS #asks #mang #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

[fae-fucker]

Zenith: Chapter 72-75

Chapter 72

We’re in Nor’s POV. She’s moping around in her ruined palace. We find out she ordered the attack on Adhira on a whim after learning Valen was there. Cool.

This entire chapter is about how Nor is doubting herself and how she feels shitty even though this should be a triumph, and Zahn, her boytoy who’s literally described as being “too good” and “too pure” for her, telling that she’s a girlboss. Then they make out and “lust tumbles through her” and the chapter ends on them fucking.

Chapter 73

Last we left her, Andi had angsted herself out of the room after an argument with her dad. She walks the gardens for a bit, thinking about the creation myth of this world. It involves Light Bringers and Night Spirits, and two of them fall in love and from their union a black hole is born, but around it a galaxy forms, and it also creates the Godstars, which are described as “all-knowing beings with the power to give and take, the perfect mixture of darkness and light.”

So with all this wank about light and dark, you bet your ass Andi’s gonna start rambling about how dark and/or light her soul is, which she promptly does.

The creation myth is ... fine? In theory? But something light and something dark falling in love and creating the world is a bit trite, innit? Baby’s first creation myth.

Arcardius was the first planet inhabited by the Ancients hundreds of thousands of years ago, and many believed that the Godstars must have given the settlers this gift to welcome them to their new home. But whatever the reason, Andi was grateful for it. She didn’t want to be in the presence of darkness after everything that had happened. She needed to clear her mind of all that had been clogging it since the beginning of the rescue job.

I think “clogging” is a more apt description than Shinsay realized.

Andi angsts herself to a new place with a floating rock waterfall fountain thing, where Valen is, equipped with his painting gear. We get a description of how hot he is despite having been beaten and starved for two years, because of course.

His brown hair was cropped short and, skinny as he was, it made his strong jaw more pronounced. Everything about his once-soft face was now hard edges. No doubt, with some more meat on his bones, he would be striking.

The boy she remembered from years ago had now become a man.

Damaged as he must be on the inside, at least his physical wounds would heal. The awful things he had experienced at the hands of Xen Ptera would hopefully become a distant memory, as well, and more bearable with time.

The way the “hope he’ll heal emotionally as well, I guess” is tacked on right after “at least he’ll be hot” is wildly hilarious.

Valen asks if he can paint Andi. For some reason he immediately starts putting paint on canvas, because fuck sketching, he’s too fucking good for that. Also what’s the lighting situation like? He’s waxing poetic about the way the light hits Andi’s cheek plates and purple streaks (with red tips that reaches her mid-back), but seemingly doesn’t need any light on his canvas to see what the fuck he’s doing, in the middle of the night? Ok.

Later Valen, with a paint-stained face because Artiste, asks Andi if they can go somewhere else because he needs a break. They go somewhere with a view of the Magical Purple Pinterest Garden, and it’s very breathtaking and shit.

“We’ve been through darkness, Andi,” Valen said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still live in the light.”

He closed his eyes, and Andi was left to ponder how much his words echoed her own thoughts from earlier, about the balance between the light and the dark.

Thank you for pointing out the thematic connection from THREE PAGES AGO IN THE SAME CHAPTER, Shinsay. I couldn’t have figured it out myself if you hadn’t held my hand like the imbecile I am. Seriously, I can’t figure out whether this is supposed to be helpful, or if Shinsay really thought they were geniuses and just had to point it out so we wouldn’t miss how cool and deep their writing is.

Anyway, Valen asks Andi to the obligatory ball portion of the story, saying he’ll have to dance as the future ruler of the planet (???) and he wants to dance with a friend rather than a romantic interest.

A friend.

He said the word as if he really meant it. As if, somehow, despite what they’d been through, the horrors they’d shared, Valen had begun to think of Andi as a friend.

Wow ... When he said friend, he meant friend, as in friend? Amazing. What a shocker.

Also, yeah, they did go through some horrors together. Like that time Dex tossed him down a flight of stairs while Andi was somewhere else. Or that time Valen was tortured for two years and Andi wasn’t.

Truly, a friendship of the ages.

I guess this is supposed to be a misdirect, but given how blatantly unrealistic this is and how easily Andi falls for it, it just makes her look a bit like an idiot, doesn’t it?

Chapter 74

This chapter is just Andi heading back to bed but taking a detour to the library, discovering that Alfie has been destroyed while some servants throw his body in the garbage on the way.

Oh no! Not Alfie, who’s only the most annoying character! Anyone but Alfie!

We get this:

As she turned to leave, a small, shiny object on the floor caught her eye. Quickly, Andi reached down and palmed it while the maid wasn’t looking. She didn’t know much about AIs, but the object in her grasp looked like a memory chip.

[...]

It could be nothing, a useless memento, but her gut told her something different. She’d look into it later.

I-is this supposed to be foreshadowing? You literally already told us what it was, why would Andi’s “gut” be telling her something she already suspects according to her narration?

Henlo? Editors? Anyone? Hello?

Hewwo? Mistew Pwesident?

Chapter 75

Dex has been following Andi around like a whole creep and watches her enter the library. He follows her inside and then we get the obligatory “shitty writer praises the magic of literature” bit.

“The general scoured the galaxy for this collection,” Andi said suddenly.

Dex turned. She stood near him in the dark room, softly lit by a beam of moonlight. The sadness in her eyes could almost be felt, like a tangible thing.

“You said Kalee was a reader,” Dex said. He laughed softly. “I didn’t know she was this much of a reader.”

“She loved exploring,” Andi said. “The general loved keeping her close. And so she turned to books for her adventures.”

“The sadness in her eyes was almost tangible.” There, I fixed it. Now shut the fuck up.

“What is it about memories,” Andi said suddenly, walking back toward him, “that gives them the ability to hurt us so badly?”

Dex shook his head. “The past is powerful. I think you and I both know that.”

She finally looked into his eyes. “I’m tired of letting the past control me, Dextro,” she whispered. “Aren’t you?”

I’m tired of letting this book control me, that’s for sure. What is this fucking dialogue? They keep talking in clichés without really saying anything, wasting our goddamn time instead of having an actual conversation.

Anyway, they finally get everything over with, apologize to each other, then make out but decide that uwu they can’t be together because they’re so hurt and damaged and whatnot. And honestly this wouldn’t be so cringeworthy if we didn’t know it’s all just a fucking ploy to drag out the will-they-won’t they subplot that I’m sure you’re all on the edge of your seats over.

The main reason this doesn’t work is that we don’t really get any sense of why this can’t work out? They just mutually agree, after having a hot makeout sesh, that they’re not meant to be for ... reasons? Even though they’re clearly attracted to each other, have no other attachments, romantic or otherwise, and have forgiven one another. Dex thinks they both “ruined” their future together in their own ways, but we don’t get any explanation for why they can’t just ... try to build a new one. Not even a “the memories hurt too much” or “I can’t afford the mental and emotional effort right now” or “there’s no time for it with the galaxy in chaos” or even a simple “I don’t want to.”

Instead it’s “I know we’re not meant to be because we both screwed the pooch last time we tried” and you’re just there like yes and? What’s stopping you from trying again? Give me a reason. IRL that would’ve been fine, but here it just feels like the authors are trying to convince US that they won’t get together, trust me, I promise, don’t even think about it and let it blow you away when they do.

I think, weirdly enough, the reason this doesn’t work for me is the perspective. Andi has actual valid reasons for rejecting Dex and seems like she’s still conflicted about her feelings for him, which would give her plenty of justification to not jump back into the relationship. But instead, we’re stuck with Dex, who’s been desperate to talk to Andi, be around Andi, who thinks about Andi constantly, but now, when a new beginning is within his reach, he decides without reason to not go for it because what, he feels like it’s not right and assumes it’s mutual? It doesn’t track with his previous behavior, which has been constantly focused on Andi up until this point. His sudden and inexplicable decision to not pursue this anymore goes against his behavior and motivations so far, which is why it strikes me as hollow and manipulative writing.

Had he maybe wanted to offer a new start but then Andi said something or he saw how unsure and hurt she still was and decided against it, then it would’ve made sense. Had we been in Andi’s POV and she just straight up rejected him, it would’ve made sense. But here, we get:

“We can’t... This won’t ever...”

“I know,” he said.

And in his heart, he knew that it was true. Their two worlds were never meant to become one. That even through the forgiveness, even with the unavoidable feelings that echoed between them, they could never share a future. They had already had their chance, long ago. They’d both ruined it in their own ways.

Andi doesn’t even give him a proper reason, he just assumes what she’s saying because apparently he’s been thinking the same thing? His “heart” just tells him it won’t work, when all this time, he’s seemingly done everything in his power to fix what he always knew wasn’t fixable? Huh???

I’m not saying this to say that Dex should’ve pestered Andi, he can very well accept her rejection but still pine for her silently. What I am saying is that this doesn’t track with his previous behavior, and just shows the authors’ hands in this as being a cop-out for the sake of melodrama and to keep the romance subplot going through cheap conflict.

Anyway, Dex asks Andi to the ball and she’s like “lmao too late” and then the chapter ends on this note:

When they parted ways, Dex couldn’t help but feel as if he were seeing Androma Racella for the very last time.

God, I wish that were me.

#eff reads: zenith

[cronni]

a three-act review about Compress on 294

[This meta, obviously, will have spoilers about the most recent officially released chapter, 294, from BNHA. Consider yourself warned.]

Another chapter that goes to the list of "big revelations" from this arc. The war is near it's end and, with everyone at their physical and mental limits, sacrifices are being made.

So I wanted to ramble for a bit about the main character of chapter 294, Mr. Compress. Talk about his possible death, his reveal, what it means for the future and his legacy towards the League/Shigaraki.

First things first, hi! My name is Kat, and I'm bringing to you my half meta-analysis half opinion-based-review about Compress, during chapter 294, on this makeshift imaginary stage. Take a seat.

Act I: it's in the blood

We had a lot of big moments during this arc. Some more expected than others, but still as important as everything else... Probably.

If you had "Compress bloodline/face reveal" on your bingo card, though, I need to congratulate you. And also ask where are your last braincells. You should find them (or you shouldn’t).

Great-great-grandson of the Peerless Thief, Oji Harima. Do you guys remember him? From Gentle's arc? I won't blame you if you don't.

(Just let's take a second to agree that he looks pretty cool. Another nice design, Hori.)

I feel like a portion of this fandom already saw it coming. Maybe since Gentle’s arc, maybe since Compress’ line during Dabi’s reveal. Or maybe you just looked at Compress and thought “this guy seems like the type to have a mysterious and important connection to someone”.

And yes, I do agree that we’re having a bit too much during the end of this arc, especially regarding the sequenced revelations (5 chapters, 5 reveals. Hori, please, calm down. Let me breathe). 

This reveal, however, is not meant to be a big surprise - not for us, not for the heroes.

It’s a show. Compress’ show. We’re not meant to be surprised, but excited. This is his big moment. His first big moment.

And probably the last. So let’s enjoy while it’s here.

(There’s a bit of talk that can be made about Harima and his true ideals - since this is being spoken by Compress so expect a biased opinion - and the parallels between him and Compress, but this would be more about Harima than Compress himself. Let’s focus on our favorite showman for now.)

Act II: a once-in-a-lifetime performance

We don’t know what his plan is, yet, but he’s reuniting the League so they can leave without him. He even gets Skeptic (hey there, I didn’t see you for like 2 chapters in a row, are you ok?) as well. However, Mirio, Iida, Nejire and Jeanist are still up and fighting (and we still have Bakugou and Deku around that could, maybe, do something. They’re crazy enough to try).

Whatever he plans, needs to be executed with precision. He already sacrificed enough. It needs to work.

Since not only he lost a part of his right side (+ a part of his ass, sadly), but a part of his left shoulder, left side of his torso and left leg are also gone, as you can see in the panel below.

(Thanks for pointing this out, Caleb.)

The whole chapter is constructed to make us enticed by his show. From the paneling and angle choices to the dialogue lines. It’s, indeed, a big show. We’re meant to sit and enjoy.

There’s still a whole discussion about Compress’ death - mainly about if it’s better for him to die here and if it makes sense in the first place (hey Compress, couldn’t you just have compressed yourself free? Why you did it with only a part of your body now?), but we don’t know about his quirk outside of what it’s shown. We never got the exact description of it.

(If I can give you my honest opinion about it: I don’t want him to die. I don’t think he should. His narrative ending now feels... Weird. But if he dies- Well, I’ll enjoy every moment before I have to say goodbye to him.)

Act III: after the curtains close

Well, so far I talked about the obvious. Time to put the theorist braincells to work (I don’t know where they are, but they’re working. Hopefully-) and think about what comes next.

For now, I’ll be talking about exclusively about the aftermath in which Compress ends up not surviving this whole Houdini-like show. There is still the chance of him surviving, but I feel like it’s more interesting to think about the what if he doesn’t.

And why do I think that? Because of the following lines:

(Couldn’t make a less obvious death flag, could you, Hori?)

During the story until now, Compress was never really in a spotlight. He had his moments in a more background role. But, more importantly, is the fact that even if only in the background, Compress was always there. 

Helping the League. Supporting them, so they could be able to achieve their dreams.

Now that he himself will probably not be able to achieve his, he hopes that, at least, Shigaraki can achieve Harima’s dream. Reformation.

However, we know Shigaraki’s (and AFO’s, by some extent) objective isn’t exactly reformation but more like... Eradication. And, honestly? I think Compress is very aware of it.

“From destruction, comes creation.” (That phrase is probably not the exact one, but you get what I mean.) For Compress, Shigaraki and the League (note that he separates the League from the Paranormal Liberation Front. An interesting choice of words) are going to change society.

Even if that means that everything needs to end so something else begins in it’s place. Something that, maybe, is better than what’s gone. Maybe.

Compress is a character that, from what we saw so far, was very liked by the League. Even Mr. Touya I-don’t-care-about-anyone Todoroki seemed to have some bit of respect towards him.

He’s going to leave a mark. As he should. After all, this is quite the show, isn’t it? It can be forgotten that easily.

some last thoughts

Another interesting thing (that I didn't put with the rest because it’s more unrelated) is that, if Compress dies, that makes Shigaraki holding an even bigger responsibility than before: not only he has Destro’s ideals trusted on him through ReDestro, but now he’ll have Harima’s ideals trusted on him through Compress.

And we still have Twice, Toga, Spinner and Dabi. Each once with their own dreams and ideas of a “better future” for them.

Let’s see what Hori has for the future of this story. This chapter brings a good breather after the past 3 chapters. I personally enjoyed it a lot.

---

Just a reminder that this is all based off my views and thoughts about the story. If you have something to say about it, feel free to do so! Also you can ask me anything about this as well :)

Like I said before, here’s more stuff that didn’t make into this post - Harima’s ideals, the parallels, the whole “could’ve Compress used his quirk on his whole body instead of only a part?” talk - because I feel like I’d go too off the road in this post. Maybe I’ll talk about it in the future. I also didn’t talk about other characters in the chapter since, you know, I wanted to focus on this beautiful magician instead ;)

That’s it for now. I’ll see you in the future. Be safe out there!

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #mr compress #atsuhiro sako #mister compress #bnha compress #oji harima #bnha meta #mha meta #bnha analysis #mha analysis #bnhameta

[lucycola]

the long ass review none of yall wanted but are still getting

Ooooook.... Finally got a moment to read and review in peace. Seriously, it was like the universe did not want me reading this chapter. Always something coming up like "thou shall not read the smut". But God and the universe can pry this chapter out of my cold dead hands.

Op, you said that you weren't crazy about how it came out, and I get it. As a creator is difficult to completely be satisfied with your work sometimes. And imma let you finish, but if THIS is the result of you not being completely satisfied with your work, I fear crave to see what you're gonna make when achieving your final form the ultimate tribble. I had to go and reread the previous chapters before this one (I don't control the hyperfixation, ok? At this point I take everything that gives me serotonin and milk it for all it's worth).

Coming from the high of chapter 5, you would expect things to slow down immediately.... And they kind of do... But at the same time they don't at all. Yes there's no flesh eating monster trying to murder our faces, thank you very much, but what about the pining, the tension between our couple, the will they won't they. It's absolutely enthralling. I had to remember to relax because I was starting to bite my nails. If you think I'm making it all up, sorry, but I truly felt like that. It's just very well written and I got really hooked up, ok? 

The aftermath of the crash and the loss of that many people is very well portrayed. There's gonna be a backlash to the one who survived and the effect of that one person is definitely well described. It doesn't have to be constantly present but something at the back of your mind, gnawing at it. Bones being this huge pillar of support and understanding, that's my jam. Totally here for it.

And then it starts. The back and forth, and the fact that yeah Spock is attentive towards her but it might just be due to the situation but he's still being sweet. I felt that bro, and despite having knowledge of how it might end, it still doesn't take away from the process and the tension of getting to that point. Which, tbh, I consider it a feat all on its own.

Stepping into a new environment and getting to meet new people is never truly described enough in my opinion (that's just my take, don't @ me fanfics writers), but I think you did it very well.

I couldn't hold back a squeal with Missus Spock, and I don't care how idiotic I sound when saying that sentence. I felt Scotty was a bit of an unexpected player. Usually in most of the fics it's Kirk and Bones doing the teasing (not that I dislike it, I live for that older brother energy), but it was quite refreshing seeing Scotty taking the lead and I can see no one better to come up with the title.

And how people would say it too!!

Up your alley definitely got me thinking of that line from BBC Sherlock "not my division". It's a lame joke but if it's stuck in MY head it's also gonna be stuck in YOURS. 

There's a good balance between physical touch and her staying away because, lord, is being married to a touch telepath tricky as hell! (especially when sharing quarters with one)

UGH, the depth of character it’s so GOOD!

Due to being so used by media, amnesia can be turned into a bit cliché but you presented it well and didn’t use it as a crutch (which would have been fine, but I find your take much more interesting).

Trying not to be horny on main for this man is as likely for him not to sit slutty: it just can’t happen. Bitches be projecting so much onto your reader that they’re about to enter the astral plain. It’s me. I’m bitches. THAT’S MY DIVISION!!!

And the rest of you don’t get to judge me, we ALL clicked on this series because we’re thirsting after this guy.

On a more PG note, night terrors and possible PTSD are a good way to show her inner turmoil and THANK GOD you added the mention of treatment and talking to a mental health professional. So many fics go for the we never talk about our mental issues and we act like they are not there. You get my solid respect for that (among many other things).

Ok, I gotta admit that the scene with the lute was so heartwarming. I’m weak against a soft!vulcan boi, ok?

The love confession is so good, I could just melt :’). Sometimes it can be so hard (for me at least) to do it fluently and to not either slow down the tempo of the scene or over saturate it. You knocked it out of the park.

And then comes the smut….

Not to be thirsty but oh my fucking god. jesus fucking christ. holy fu cking shit.

Yeah, lets say that you definitely got me more than hot and bothered during that one. You just went ahead and grabbed like most of the greatest kinks and gave us an absolute masterpiece. Don’t know if you have written smut before, but I gotta tell you…you don’t have to worry at all.

And although I have no evidence of such thing, I got a feeling you used my drunken rambling against me when I said LET SPOCK SAY FUCK and was like ‘fine, let’s give them what they want’. if so, don’t know if to feel embarrassed or flattered

Oh god, he does dirty talk, battle is lost lads. Panties ended in like…Mordor at this point. It’s not something easy to do for his type of character, but you made I work perfectly

I do believe Kirk is never gonna look a Spock the same way after hearing what went down that night. xD

In order to finally round up my thoughts, pacing is well kept, and you manage to establish a good chemistry for our couple, the tension is absolutely sublime and the smut is just *cheff’s kiss*

I loved how the series turned out and you should be really proud of your work. I sure am and hope to keep reading your stuff in the future.

Fucking superb, you funky little tribble

 ALL THE LOVE AND LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!!!  :D

originally submitted by @lumar014

I legit cannot tell you how tickled I was reading this review. Much love, much love.

#the lone survivor #review #lumar014 #spock x reader #submission

[felassan]

Sorry if you've answered this question before, but I was wondering what choices that can be made from the past three games do you think will have the biggest impact on DA4? Personally I think that whether or not Morrigan has old god Kieran will be important considering his scene with Flemythal and the subsequent Solas and Flemythal scene at the end of Inquisition.

Hi Nonnie, I don’t remember answering one like it recently so not to worry. :) Ooh this is a great question, thanks. Let’s see. Cut for length. warning, Tevinter Nights spoilers below cut.

for me this is a tough question! thinking back on the choices we’ve made over the years, browsing the Keep for a refresher, I feel it’s quite a tough call. for one thing, DA4 for me presents a slightly different sort of premise choice impact-wise as a subsequent game compared to that posed by the existing ones. in previous installments we stuck largely around the same areas of the map game-to-game. We went from Ferelden to Ferelden. then we played a Fereldan fleeing Ferelden and what befelled it, to a relatively nearby city-state. we had a Fereldan’s perspective for that whole game, and the city-state filled up with a lot of Fereldan refugees. consequently ~Ferelden~, both in terms of culture and related choices, like Fereldan storybeats, were quite present in DA2. Kirkwall was nearby and Fereldan-filled enough that some of the ripples of things the Warden chose were mentioned, encountered, felt during the game. then ofc we went back to Ferelden. Ferelden combined with Orlais, to be sure, but Ferelden all the same. we’ve been a Fereldan in the Marches and a Marcher in Ferelden. 

moving to the far north, to the distant Imperium and perhaps even beyond.. Tevinter is very culturally distinct from the south. it’s geographically distant, has its own Chantry etc, does things in its own way, is fairly dominant as a Thedosian world power, and is sort of isolated from the south in that it seems fairly closed off to like, the average southerner? these things combined with the way Tevinter is a general sense don’t really make it feel to me like a place where waves would be felt from many of the choices we made in the south. I’m invested in and appreciate BioWare’s knock-on effects, meaningful choices and choice-import system for this franchise, so this isn’t me saying I don’t want it. it’s also still going to be a DA game, so this isn’t me saying there won’t be any ‘ripples’ at all or that our choice won’t matter. I just think the radical shift in setting, compared to the prior shifts, for this installment presents BW with a less complicated and relatively cleaner slate to work with than previously. not completely blank, but more so than usual. I think this is understandable and quite strategic - 4 games worth of choices means more and more variables to track, more resources to ‘express’ those choices in game, is just very complicated in general. at a point it grows arms and legs and becomes either exponential/unmanageable or ridiculous, whether thru the amount of handwaving, retconning, footnoting big things, etc. thinking about it, in Tevinter, how much could it really matter who rules in Orzammar, say, or Ferelden? How much could it matter whether Hawke sided with the mages or the templars? yknow? given the location and stuff I tend to think a higher proportion of choice impacts than ‘usual’ will be expressed as things like differences in Codex entries and other ‘flavor’ stuff such as ambient dialogue or offhand dialogue references. letters, a war table-esque mechanic, etc.

Example: Who became Divine had quite differing outcomes and developments across the south. Sometimes I think showing these in a new game set in the south would pose a problem with the sheer.. differing-ness, divergence. I’d worry about them retconning some of those epilogue slides a la DAO, or minimizing things. Thankfully tho ofc as it turns out, we’re not really going to be in the south to see it first hand, so it’s not a big problem in the end.

there are also some places where I think we may subscribe to a different idea or two (thats cool, these games engender such diverse opinions and neat discussions). for me: In the scene where OGB Kieran is with Flemythal, Urthemiel’s soul passes from him to her. if Morrigan reappears in DA4 therefore, whether or not he is in tow, her son is no longer the OGB. In the Solas and Flemythal post-credits scene, I don’t think that Solas absorbed Flemeth herself, Mythal herself, her godhood or her possible-Urthemiel soul - just her power, her strength. I therefore don’t think Solas is in a situation where in some worlds he’s absorbed Urthemiel and some worlds has not. I also believe that if Flemythal is still out there, if she has grand designs and a plan/intent, her ‘movement’ on that front would progress regardless and not really be influenced by whether or not she carries the soul of Urthemiel. I could easily be wrong given the DA4 hints towards old god stuff, but this is my feeling at the moment. Also, we see Flemythal passing something away through the eluvian in the post-credits scene. That’s the same regardless of whether she has Urthemiel, so it’s not Urthemiel or not just-Urthemiel. whatever it was, it’s not Urthemiel-dependent. if she was passing her godhood to Morrigan or something (who knows?), Morrigan receives a godhood regardless. back to if Morrigan reappears in DA4, if this was the case, Morrigan’s received a godhood regardless (Mythal), and therefore has received a big power-up or development, regardless.

I tend to think the OGB choice was a Biiig smoking gun of a choice in DA:O, at a time when they weren’t sure if there would be a next game or not (remember the DAO epilogue slide retcons?), if that makes sense. There were folk at the time who believed that the main plot of future games should revolve around the existence (i.e. omg my son!! he exists!!) of the OGB. a tangent but I remember folk calling for him to be the PC or to be a companion in DAI lol, which.. yeah. the choice in the end wasn’t ignored or footnoted - Morrigan in DAI has her son or does not, and if she has him he is the OGB or he is not. things still play out in that part of DAI in a fairly similar way, and if she has the OGB, that thread is resolved in the Flemythal transfer scene. Flemythal collects and off she goes. then seems to die, lol (I don’t think she’s dead but that’s another post I’ve made 7 times already). I think this was their way of what I’m calling ‘expressing’ and fairly neatly tie-ing off on that particular significant divergence. if she lives, I don’t see Flemythal’s importance or power/role being diminished by “possible absence of Urthemiel”. I suppose in a general sense I think of the choices as things they ‘express’, and the choice thing in general as actually more like.. the clever illusion of choice. [with the caveat that I have limits or specifications like if the PC killed or caused the end of a companion, they should stay dead]

Back to the question, because this somehow became a schpeel. on reflection yeah, mm, I definitely find this a difficult and dizzying topic to consider. Perhaps there are less choices that I foresee/would guess have the biggest impact or an impact in DA4, and more choices that I would like to see have an impact on DA4. Some of these things that I want to see ‘expressed’ or come back to mean  or influence something are (beyond the obvious like redeem/stop and “Did the Inquisitor befriend Solas or not”):

prior to DAI, despite some of the way the ramble above sounds, I would have said the OGB choice. Post DAI I now feel like this was satisfyingly expressed

I can see them handwaving the Warden leaving Sten locked in the cage and saying he didn’t die when the darkspawn came and somehow got out and returned home, so they can have him as Stenishok. Ok... fine. What I do want to see reflected though, if we encounter Stenishok (invasion and all that), is whether the HoF recruited Sten to help during the Blight and what his opinion of them in the end was, so did he think they were honorable, did he respect them. So i.e., or the standin metric for that would have to be I suppose, whether or not we returned his sword. I think the Qunari under Sten would invade regardless of his opinion of the HoF (went into that here, warning, TN spoilers at link), because that’s the Qun, and IC for Sten, but if he came to respect the HoF I want to see that reflected in the nuances of how he thinks of the people of the south and conceives of his previous experience there.

this one is definitely more like straight up wishful thinking, but with the new prominence of the Crows.. whether the HoF recruited Zevran and Zevran is alive and well. I went into that a bit here, ctrl-F Zevran (warning, TN spoilers at link).

whether the HoF killed the Architect. if he’s alive he should really be out there doing either nefarious or intriguing things, especially considering the new weird and wonderful darkspawn phenomena and the continuing mysteriousness of the Wardens, the implied civil war, odd/lack of news out of Weisshaupt etc. what does he think of the new darkspawn developments in Hormok? What did he make of the rise of his peer Cory?

whether the HoF allowed Avernus to continue his research, with/without constraints. ok, it can be one of the things that inspired the surviving HoF to search for a cure for the Calling, but I’m intrigued. the power of blood, the Taint, the Wardens, sending the research to the ever mysterious First Warden.. again all very thematic with current things.

whether Fenris is alive and well. I love him and he is always alive and well in my worldstates, I think returning him to Danarius is an awful in-universe thing to do. but if he was returned to Danarius or Hawke killed him or never recruited him, look, I don’t want to see him handwaved or “he’s there anywayed” into the DA4 plot if he appears in it, or at least not in the same way each time. (I don’t want to see “slave Fenris off to the side on a Tevinter street” in-game, I think there’s no need for that at all, but if you did give him back I simultaneously don’t want a “I escaped and now I’m the same Blue Wraith/DA4 Plot Thing anyway” if that makes sense, he just shouldn’t be in the exact same role/position at all. just for clarity on this if he was given back I don’t want or need to see it. No thankyou! that’s not what I’m sayin) I actually don’t want to see him in DA4 in a general sense really, and definitely not as a companion or in a major role (but I am Living for and love his comic content, that’s swell!). but that’s another subject centered on wanting to see more new chars and less old, stuff like that. I also think they should stop retconning or handwaving/asspulling/writing around in-game character deaths that the PC chose or caused like they did in those cases with Leliana, Anders etc. Stahp.

If Merrill is alive and well and didnt destroy her eluvian, I think we could do with using her eluvian expertise in the next game given the eluvian network, whether that’s via research notes or somesuch or an advisory/Morrigan-in-DAI type capacity.

if Feynriel is alive and well and left to study in Tevinter, I think we could do with using his abilities/knowledge of his abilities in the next game, given the sleep-threat.

if Cass got the book of Seeker secrets. alright, do they know yet if they can help the cured Tranquil with their emotions? c’mon, spread the knowledge of the cure. this is less because I want to right all social and societal wrongs in Thedas or whatever and more because this as a plotline really interests me in terms of storybeats and implications. for example I’d like to see curing a Tranquil in-game, not just in a book, and the premise of a recently-cured Tranquil companion grabs me a lot. I think it’d be interesting to explore them re-adapting and stuff with the rebounded flood of emotions and everything, trying to help them along the way etc.

who drank from the Well, although I can see this being kinda complicated to write, especially if Morrigan reappears and/or the Inquisitor returns as an NPC or as PC. my mind categorizes this as almost OGB-choice tier in terms of significance and complexity.

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #mj replies #anonymous #video games #solas #tevinter nights #tevinter nights spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler #fenris #the Fenaissance #morrigan #queen of my heart #cassandra pentaghast #my lady paladin #spoilers #spoiler

[fanficsrusz]

Hey there dear!I hope you're good.So today I found out that one if my favorites author in one of my fandoms is going to leave her blog cause of anon hate and harassment from other members.She was one of the main supporters of trying to stop the stereotypical/racist portrayal of POC people in the fandom and the others just obliterated her and the others that were calling out the writers that were doing that. Being a POC girl too (Latin American) I'm tired of seeing this mindset also in fandoms1/2

"It seems like people that aren't white can't be safe from belittling/harassment or the cruelty of the others, even in fiction. This reminded me when me and two friends (from Venezuela) were harassed by some Spanish members in our fandom to the point that someone reported us during the "witch hunt" on Ff.net and we were forced to delete our stories (but theirs "mysteriously" remained). It happens several years ago, but I still remember how it hurted. Sorry for venting here, but I really need to get this out of my system cause it truly enrages me. Thank you for the lovely answer to my ask the other day, it truly ment a lot for me. Bye!

~

First of all, that's terrible. It's disgusting that she even has to spend time trying to eliminate stereotypes for POC. Like it's 2020. Get your shit together people. It's also disgusting that people would hate others just for trying to see themselves in something they love.

I know this is a very controversial topic but i do think it's something that needs to be addressed more.

I can't even begin to imagine the issues that POC face, and i believe it's even worse if you're a WOC. Obviously I'm white so i have that advantage in life (it's terrible to say that but it's how this fucking world works) but i still struggle because I'm a woman and i know what it feels like to be looked down upon, so with the added racism on top, it's hard.

I 100% stand behind POC who bring some representation to their fandoms because everyone deserves to see themselves represented in whatever fandom they're in.

It's irritating to me when i read a fanfic and the charecter has blue eyes when i have brown. It makes me feel like i can't really connect to the story and it's something so little and stupid, So to see that the majority of other fanfics are centered around mainly white woman must be frustrating and it must make you feel as if the person you like wouldn't even glance at you because that's how it would make me feel if i was in that situation. And that in itself is crazy to me because i have seen so so so many POC who are literally STUNNING .

There arnt enough words in the world to describe how proud i am of POC who write and devote their time to writing fanfics (or creating any other for of fandom content) for others that fail to see themselves represented in other people's work.

20 years ago there was more than likely no fanfics that portrayed a POC but now i can find loads of accounts that solely focus on providing work for them. I know its not a lot but it's progress and in the future i hope there will be a time where people don't even remember the stereotypes around POC.

It's also empowering to see that those people behind those accounts woke up one day and thought 'I'm sick of this' and create something that they would love to see and took a stand in order to change the way things were done.

The only way i can compare it so other people who arnt POC can understand (especially women) is image if Emmeline Pankhurst never created the suffragettes. Where would women be today without her .

We should stand behind POC who are brave enough to face the hate in order to get representation and give them the support they deserve and need to power through it all.

I will stand with anyone who fights for representation of their race in anything and to give them the love, appreciation and attention they deserve.

I'm sick of seeing these butt hurt people complain about bullshit like this. Seriously. It's only like a small percentage of fandom content that focuses on POC.

Ok i hope you see my point with this because i feel like i'm rambling and i could go on forever about this.

So to summarise. I love and support POC who create content for their fandom and i strongly encourage your friend to just ignore the hate, as hard at that is, and continue doing what she is.

Honestly don't worry about sending me stuff randomly because i honestly love it and i will always try to do my best to give other support. I'm not perfect and i will make mistakes, but i will learn and i will improve ❤️

[elisaphoenix13]

To Lose Everything...(Ch.2)

After the teen's impromptu nap after lunch the day before, Stephen had found a spare bedroom for Peter and cleaned it up so the boy could comfortably make himself at home. Not that Peter had much to begin with. Whatever he owned was sitting in an apartment in Queens that he couldn't go back to because it was the first place child services would look. Stephen would have to do something about them soon. Peter couldn't run from them forever and the doctor wouldn't let the teen miss out on school once it started up again. Which from a bit of searching online, he discovered was only a few days away.

Even though Peter wasn't speaking, he at least ate whatever Stephen put in front of him. At the moment, he was shoveling down some pancakes the sorcerer had made, Stephen eating his own at a more sedate pace while reading a book. He figured bringing up the current situation would scare Peter away and he really didn't want to find the kid half frozen again. But springing a surprise meeting with social services on the teen would backfire. Stephen would just need to ease him into the idea.

"Peter." Stephen starts softly and waits until he has the boy's attention. "I'm taking a guess but...I'm assuming that something has happened to your aunt and now you have a social worker looking for you." Peter freezes up as he reaches for his glass of orange juice. "Am I right?"

Stephen jumps when the glass in Peter's hand shatters in his grasp, sending orange juice and shards of glass across the table. The teen whimpers both at the reminder of his newly gone guardian and the fact that his hand was shredded from the pieces embedded in his palm with the orange juice adding to the burn. The teen stares at his hand as blood trickles off of it and onto the table and Stephen swears quietly as he rushes to grab the first aid kit from the bathroom. When he returns to the kitchen, he finds Peter in the exact position he had left him in and sighs as he focuses his magic into his own hands so he can tend to the teen with a steady hand.

Peter watches numbly as Stephen pulls his previously vacated chair closer to the boy and gently takes his hand to start pulling shards of glass out of it.

"Is that a yes?" Stephen asks and receives a single sharp nod. "I understand why you don't want to go into the system. I imagine you have needs that can't be met with a regular family. Such as the amount of food you put away. Fast metabolism?" Another nod. "I'm also guessing that you have trouble thermoregulating. Have you had trouble staying warm in the winter?"

Peter nods again and winces when Stephen applies some antiseptic before wrapping the teen's hand in a bandage. It thankfully didn't look to need stitches. Yes and no questions were working, and thankfully Peter was willing to answer those.

"Will this heal by tonight? I recall you saying something about a healing factor a while back." The teen nods. "Ok. Good. Now look at me." Peter does. "Do you want to stay here?"

To the doctor's surprise, the teen looked conflicted. As if he wanted to stay but something was keeping him from nodding. Then he remembered, Peter was respectful. Stubborn. The type that wouldn't want to intrude on people's lives. He had lived on the streets instead of asking for help (although Peter probably didn't know who he could go to), and was being considerate of future families that might not be able to keep up with his metabolism. Feeding him wouldn't be cheap.

"If I didn't think I could help you, I wouldn't have offered." Stephen finally says after a few more seconds of silence, and Peter finally nods. "Alright. I'll find the social worker and set up a meeting. We'll get that straightened out and then figure things out from there."

Stephen cleans up the mess on the table, and returns the first aid kit to its proper place after getting Peter another glass of juice. The teen had drained it and then tried to do the dishes, but the sorcerer had stopped him and told him that although he was grateful, Peter needed to keep his hand dry. Stephen then gave him permission to explore the Sanctum as long as he was careful, or that he could go into Stephen's room and watch tv. Assuming things went well, things could be brought from Peter's apartment and he wouldn't have to get things to keep the teen entertained. Sure, Stephen would have to buy him new things over time, but at least magic was helpful in keeping the kitchen stocked.

As he finished with the dishes, Stephen had nearly froze in his spot when he realized the one person Peter might have gone to...if he were alive. Tony. The doctor had been so distracted with Peter that for a moment, he forgot about his guilt. His self-loathing. Now it was coming back twofold. Because of him, Peter felt he had no one to go to. He resorted to running and almost died for it.

Stephen was almost responsible for another death.

"Stop that." Wong's voice interrupts his thoughts and Stephen looks up from his trembling hands at the fellow sorcerer. "The only one who blames you is yourself. If that kid blamed you, he would have left." He takes the remaining pancakes and sits at the table with them. "Normally I would tell you that a kid doesn't belong here, but he's different. He's keeping you distracted from your thoughts. Quiet too."

Stephen smirks. "He won't stay mute forever Wong."

"Still a distraction." The other says before shoving a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. "Also means you cook more."

Stephen scoffs and pulls his phone out of his pocket to set up a meeting with Peter's social worker, which of course took ages because he didn't know their personal number. He had to go through the main number and mention Peter before he was directed to the right agent, and was surprised when the woman on the other end of the call said she could meet with him immediately. Okay. A little faster than he thought, but it was best to get this over with so the teen could relax and heal.

When they agree on a time at her office (which was as soon as possible), Stephen hangs up and returns his phone to his pocket as he steps back out to the foyer. "Peter?" He calls out, knowing the teen could hear him. He was aware of the enhanced hearing. Stephen waits a few moments until the teen finally appears at the top of the stairs. "Come on. We're seeing your social worker a lot sooner than I thought."

Peter squirms for a few moments but nods as he descends the stairs with the cloak following him. The teen must have opted to explore and the cloak took it upon itself to keep an eye on Peter. At least if anything happened, it would be able to tell Stephen.

The Sorcerer Supreme opens a portal near the social worker's office building, out of prying eyes of course, and they walk the rest of the way as quickly as possible so Peter doesn't freeze again. He was lacking a proper coat and only had a hoodie to speak of and that didn't do much in below zero weather. Once they were inside, Peter moved even closer to Stephen and stayed behind him the entire way to the office. When the reached the correct door though, the teen had reached out and grabbed the doctor's sleeve in apprehension.

He was terrified.

Stephen said nothing though as he rapped his knuckles on the door and then opens the door when prompted. The woman sitting on the other side of the desk moves to her feet and immediately thrusts her hand out for Stephen to shake. Peter just moved farther behind the man.

"Doctor Strange, yes? Kate Grey. Sit, please." Kate motions to the chairs but Stephen remains standing.

"I would rather get to the point and be out of here as soon as possible."

"Yes, I understand. Thank you for finding Peter and returning him--" The teen freezes behind Stephen at the false insinuation and the sorcerer cuts off Kate before she can do anymore damage.

"I am not returning him, I just want to know what needs to happen so he can stay with me. He has special needs that families won't be able to keep up with. Especially when most people are still recovering from the decimation." 

Kate gives him a disbelieving look. "There's nothing in his records about special needs."

Stephen turns to the teen behind him. "Show her." Peter's eyes widen and the doctor lowers his voice so only the teen can hear. "I will take care of those memories once things are settled, I promise."

After some hesitancy, Peter kicks off his shoes after Stephen uses his magic to close the blinds, and walks over to a bare wall. The show of magic was enough to have Kate reeling, but she then covers her mouth when the teen scales the wall and up to the ceiling where he stops directly over Stephen.

"Peter is Spiderman. He has a fast metabolism so he eats a lot more than your average teenager. Super strength that he has control of but it's possible he can slip up. And most of all, he cannot thermoregulate. Which means if he gets thrown with a family and their heater breaks in the middle of winter, he can freeze to death." Stephen didn't bother mentioning that was how he found the teen. 

"What happened to his hand?" The agent asks.

"An accident regarding his strength. I've already taken care of it." Stephen replies gently as Peter hangs down from the ceiling by his fingertips before landing behind the sorcerer again and putting his shoes back on. "Now...what do I need to do to make sure he stays with me?" He asks again and Kate glances around him to look at Peter.

"Peter...I just need to make sure. Do you want to stay with Dr. Strange?" When the teen nods immediately, she pulls out some paperwork and slides it across the desk before holding a pen out to Stephen. "Normally you would have to apply for temporary guardianship but considering the circumstances, we can skip to adoption..."

Kate continues to ramble as Stephen's train of thought skids to a halt. Adoption? What about just permanent guardianship? Not that he really minded but that wasn't his decision to make. Well it was, but Peter was old enough to decide if that was what he wanted. Stephen looks behind him at Peter who had also frozen at the mention of adoption and the two stare at each other. The teen had given him a look of uncertainty and it took the doctor a few moments to realize that he was uncertain if Stephen wanted to do that. So he just nods at the boy, and then turns back to the paperwork when he gets a nod in return.

Kate had caught the silent exchange. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes. Fine." Stephen once more focuses his magic into one of his hands to steady it's and signs what seemed to be hundreds of papers.

"That's it. I would like to stop by your home once he's settled just to check in, but then I'll leave you alone." Kate says with a soft smile.

"I understand." Stephen says as he returns the pen. "Are we free to go?"

The social worker nods and Stephen shakes her head again before leading Peter out of the office and the building itself by his shoulder. They move out of sight again to take a portal back to the Sanctum, and as soon as it closes behind them, Stephen moves toward the stairs. He had to some studying to do before he worried about lunch.

"Doctor Strange." Peter's whisper had actually startled Stephen into stopping and whipping around to face the boy. "I..."

Stephen waits as the teen looks down and fumbles with his sleeves, attempting to collect his thoughts, but quickly steps forwards when tears fall to the ground. The shock was finally wearing off. He had a safe place to stay now and he was letting himself feel again. He was finally mourning.

So Stephen did the only thing he could think of that he knew Peter would appreciate. He brought the kid into a hug that was returned instantly as Peter sobbed quietly into his shoulder. He knew the teen was a touchy-feely kind of person. The sorcerer had seen it first hand both on Titan and during the battle with Thanos. Stephen would ignore his own insecurities if it would help the young Avenger.

"...thank you." Peter finally says once the sobs stop and the tears slow to a trickle.

"You're welcome."

#peter parker #stephen strange #wong

[paperclipninja]

Younger post-ep ramble 6x08

When episodes of TV shows are touted as 'epic' or 'game changing' I tend to proceed with caution, because chances of it living up to the hype are generally pretty slim. When it comes to Younger though, I should know better than to doubt such claims and 'Debu-taunt' (another pun-tastic title btw) really has changed the game and delivered some of the most poignant and meaningful character interactions of the series. This week's episode got back to the core of what this show is about: the female friendships in all their complexity. We saw lovely moments that deepened Diana and Liza's romantic relationships too of course, but these ultimately amplified the supportive and supporting role the men play in the women's lives. I've gotta say, I found this week's ramble hard to write because where do you start with an episode you've been anticipating for so long? The beginning, let's start at the beginning...

The episode opens with Liza and Charles living out some kind of domestic morning fantasy (minus the grapefruit for me thanks) and seeing the townhouse kitchen area in the daylight was something new, it's so much bigger than I realised! The entire scene is so aesthetically pleasing, particularly the Charles-in-a-vest-and-shirt situation as well as coordination of tie and Liza's dress, but of course it serves the far greater purpose of letting us know that Liza has fully integrated into the lives of Nicole and Bianca, right down to helping with homework and offering to drop a forgotten report off at school. It has been quite a few seasons since we saw or heard from the Brooks children and I fully appreciate catching a glimpse of Charles in dad-mode on the phone to Bianca, it's easy to forget that these characters have these other dimensions to their lives (speaking of which, is there some kind of alert out for Caitlin at this point? The lack of texts or calls or mentions is curious...Caitlin, if you're reading this, we're not mad, just let us know you're ok). Charles' gratitude to Liza for going to the school naturally makes my sappy heart swell, the 'I don't deserve you' only made better by his tardiness not being enough to stop him going back for a second kiss goodbye.

Pesky climate change forces Liza to discover she does not have a coat at Charles', but fortunately for her there is an entire closet full of coats, which naturally she does not question and is definitely not some kind of set up for a run in with the ex. Except it is of course and even as a viewer I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me watching Pauline ask Liza if the unexpectedness of their run in is why she is wearing her coat (seriously, I'm overwhelmed with second hand embarrassment typing this). Also, what was Pauline doing there? Just hanging out at the school for reasons or was she lurking in case Charles turned up with the report so she could catch a peek of him in a three-piece? While this remains a mystery (though who could blame her lbh), Pauline's desire to 'bury the hatchet' with Liza was def suspicious, but a nice distraction from the cringe-worthy, 'Bianca mentioned that she had two mommies' comment Mrs. Clipper makes before it's decided that Liza should be added to the pick-up list as she will 'be around for the long haul'. I am so grateful to see Liza showing that she is committed to and wants the life she has chosen with Charles in this episode. Regardless of what happens down the track, it's nice to see this character backing her own choices and decisions for now.

Any seasoned television watcher's alarm bells no doubt went off when Pauline cited the divorce negotiations as 'more or less behind us' (and again when Charles mentioned that 'it seems the worst is over' at the coffee station) because we all know that in the land of TV this 100% means it's only a matter of time before they will not be.

Keeping in the theme of wonderful character interactions, I may never get used to Charles and Liza just hanging out in the office (particularly Charles hovering around as an editor instead of the boss, but I am here for it until the end of time) and his adoring gaze as Liza recalls the awkward horror of her interaction with Pauline is topped off with a shared Harry Potter appreciation moment and honestly, these two and their nerd love, I cannot. The way the conversation about Liza moving in unfolded was so natural and yes, the answer is ALWAYS YES Liza when Charles Brooks suggests starting each day waking up together (insert swoon here). It turns out Liza doesn't overthink it, cue guilt pie and Pinot Noir with Maggie.  

These two are friendship goals times a thousand and Maggie's unwavering support upon hearing Liza talk about how she knows it's fast but it feels right epitomises the way these two only want one another's happiness (even if Maggie's expression as Liza goes to call Charles and tell him she will be moving in indicates she is going to very much miss her roommate). I loved hearing about and imagining them drinking wine and binging The Great British Bake Off and just how well they know and value one another, ugh, I could not gush more about all of it and this whole exchange felt like such a treat. I was envisioning Kelsey moving in once Liza moved out and I'm still holding out hope for this to happen when Liza does eventually make the move (remaining optimistic on this one even though I do pine for Liza/Maggie loft moments).

The sneak peek for this week showed us yet another golden interaction and that was, of course, Diana telling Charles about her engagement to Enzo. The main takeaways are a) Diana referring to herself as Charles' work wife and Charles's amused smile; b) Diana asking Charles for his blessing and him not really knowing why but giving it and; c) the longest hug in the world as Diana coaxes Charles into announcing her engagement to the office. I love that the interactions between these two always have a slightly awkward undertone but there is genuine care and warmth too. Diana telling Charles that he has always been able to read her like a book (lol) and the two sitting there with their hands together was just such a testament to their fabulously wacky relationship.

What better way to ensure that any DRAH-MAH unfolds in an overwhelmingly public forum than the morning meeting reveal that there is a Publishers Weekly Debutante Ball (for first time authors)  thrown every year! Turns out this is the event of the season, despite it being the first time Liza has heard about it (to be fair she has probs been distracted by the faux millennial facade previous years so didn't clock that this was a legit thing). I am digging Kelsey heading up and holding her own in these meetings, she is definitely stepping up to her new role it seems and I am keen to see how it continues to develop.  And those little looks across the conference room table between Charles and Liza, I see you.

Zane's gears still seem stuck on obnoxious since last ep, first throwing in Jake Devereux as a suggested author for the deb (a clear jab at Kelsey) and then putting his foot in it after hearing Diana's news by suggesting that DeLuca is 'better than Trout'. First of all, who in their right mind would say that out loud, let alone assume an established woman in her 40's (or any woman for that matter) is going to take a new husband's surname? Though Diana DeLuca is pretty great, I could definitely see her using it as an alias during future hi-jinx (preferably with Liza now that they can be actual proper friends, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Right from the get go Her Majesty D. Trout is taking none of Zane's rubbish, asking him to use his words when he finally offers up PTB as a deb option and her zero tolerance for insolence continues when she corrects his question of who she's engaged to with, 'to whom'. At this stage of my love for this character, I'm really just wondering what sized portrait of Diana I should put in my shrine to her. This all comes out after Charles is prompted to announce Diana's big news (I'm kind of loving that Charles is a bit hopeless at remembering these sorts of details, last week when he'd failed to mention Bob and Julia would be on their table, then this week with the announcement...soon enough we'll be regaling ourselves with a collection of these, and we'll laugh and shake our heads as we mutter 'classic Chaz' under our breath) and it is of course Liza's reaction that is next level and so freaking OTT and I love it with every fibre of my being. Seriously, her yell-cheering and clapping is me in any excitement-inducing situation. My love for her love of Diana starts here and embarks on one hell of a ride from here onward during this ep.

While this episode certainly had a more serious tone than some others (I think this was definitely emphasised by the music choices too, there was a distinct lack of the usual pop/vocal and much more instrumental), Liza following Diana into her office semi-screeching, 'I'm so excited, why aren't you more excited?' met by Diana's 'Liza, please deactivate yourself', was hilarious. Diana asked Liza to be maid of honour in a way only Diana could and I tell you what, I damn delighted in that one hug a year. Everything about this scene was SO good, which of course meant that there was a dagger waiting right around the corner to plunge into our rib-cages and shatter our hearts into a million pieces (I wish I was being dramatic but where is the lie?)

That dagger's name is Pauline and it's during lunch that Liza discovers her real motivation for being all chummy and that is wanting Liza to help with her new book. Always a smart cookie, Liza agrees, in exchange for Pauline attending the Debutante Ball as Millennial's deb (I have to admit I did chuckle with the 'do you need to borrow a dress?' line). Despite dodgy af being Pauline's general modus operandi, I actually do think she was being sincere in her initial offer to move forward and let the whole 'you're-now-with-my-husband-and-my-kids-love-you-maybe-more-than-me-because-I-abandoned-them-for-a-year-at-a-pivotal-point-in-their-development' thing slide for the sake of maintaining some sort of relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband and their children. If only she knew that the reason Liza understood her better than any of her current editors was because they were basically the same age and had similar life experiences...

...well THANK GOD for Mrs. Clipper, the true villain of the episode if you ask me, who quite frankly can't seem to get her paws on that copy of Liza's drivers license fast enough after Pauline tells her that men in her circle are always leaving their wives for assistants in their twenties. I might be off on an island on my own here, but you know what, I actually felt sorry for Pauline in this moment. In her mind Charles has also been deceived and by extension, her children, so I completely understand her initial reaction and feeling that she needs to tell Charles immediately and rescue him from this betrayal.

That all goes down at the Debutante Ball because it must of course, but first we catch Kelsey, Lauren and Zane reminiscing about their own proms at this prom for grown ups, with Lauren here for it and we unsurprisingly discover Zane was prom king (I heart Lauren's 'that tracks' comment). You always know whatever's about to go down is extra EXTRA when you see a couple of characters blissfully happy and unaware everything is about to implode, such as Charles and Liza celebrating their moving-in milestone, before Liza is whisked away backstage. When Charles is confronted by frantic Pauline and she discovers he knew about the lie too, I could imagine that up until that point she thought this would be something that would bond them in outrage, but it ended up being just another blow. While Pauline clearly has impulse issues and a pretty prominent vindictive streak, I do think it's one thing to wrap her head around her husband falling in love with a younger woman (though I do not understand on what planet Pauline thought she could piss off for a year on her own terms with zero communication and then just return to her life and there would be no upheaval) but the discovery that it was someone she could consider a peer would cut deeper.

As Pauline latched on to Liza's arm, it was like watching a live animal being led into the lion enclosure at dinner time.  I'm breaking out in a stress sweat just thinking about this scene, even though you could see it coming it was utterly shocking to watch unfold. The announcer emphasising that theirs was the only partnership in which the mentor was younger ensured the dagger was perfectly lined up before Pauline once again applied some revisionist history to her abandonment of the family, making a point of coming across as the blameless victim whose husband was 'lost' to the assistant standing beside her. As Pauline keeps talking Charles is clearly wary and concerned about where this is going and Kelsey quickly clues in just as Pauline drops that Liza is in fact 42 years old and the entire room gasps and murmurs and revels in the audacious reveal.

Enter Diana and that dagger is twisted well and truly into my fragile heart as she immediately assumes that 'this woman is deranged' and jumps to the defence of Liza, despite Charles and Liza trying to stop her. The fact that Diana tells Charles that she will not let this woman 'slander us', that she sees them as one united team, and holds Liza in such high esteem that she would put her own fear of making a scene aside to protect Liza's integrity, only made Liza's confirmation that 'it's true' even more heart-shattering. Miriam Shor deserves every damn award created for her acting in this entire episode, but the last 10 minutes in particular are nothing short of phenomenal. When Diana realises that Charles and Kelsey knew and that she had just made a spectacle of herself in front of a room full of the most important people in publishing, her need to escape is understandable and a panic attack is not an unreasonable physical response to such a huge revelation in such a public forum (I mean I was basically having one watching it all tbh).

Enzo's relief upon hearing that it was a panic attack is palpable and the interaction between him and Diana in the hospital may well be my favourite between these two yet. We see Diana as we've never seen her in this series; vulnerable, emotional, no necklace and no makeup. Always one to deliver a stellar line, her response to Enzo's 'how are you?',  'I'm fine, I've just lost trust in humanity as a whole, but other than that I'm fine', was on point and Enzo's response that 'she looks good' when Diana shares Liza's true age was A+ (for line and delivery). It is Diana's embarrassment at being that 'village idiot' when everybody else knew (I really wanted to somehow jump into my screen in that moment and tell her that Lauren and Zane didn't know either, it's not just you!) that took my heart pieces and trampled on them some more. I think it's because she is always so composed and controlled, but seeing Diana holding onto Enzo and saying that she just wants him, demonstrates how much he steadies her and allows her to be herself.

Just outside the room, Charles and Liza face a step back as Pauline has phoned to say she wants to re-visit the custody agreement (which I really struggle to see the relevance of or how Liza saying she was younger is anywhere near as bad as up and leaving your two small children for a year but sure, I'll play along for the sake of drama), which means that they cannot move in together as planned, Liza's lie has now impacted the man she loves as well as Diana and Charles feels responsible for Pauline exposing Liza the way she did. Liza reassuring Charles that he was just protecting her and the way he pulled her in to comfort her made any remnants of my shattered heart swell. It was such a tender moment between them and there was something about the parallel of Enzo comforting Diana in the room at the same time, whether intentional or not, that really stressed the uncertainty and distress both women were experiencing.

Josh phoning Liza to give her a hard time about being an upper East side lady was actually a really nice way to see this friendship developing (I would definitely expect my friends to do that) because had the timing not been so atrocious, I assume it would've been an otherwise pleasant conversation in which he would be happy for her (that's what I'm going with anyway). Obviously this call was to show that Liza's lie has once again stonewalled her and stopped her being able to move forward in her life and that she feels she's messed up everything at work and for Charles with his kids. Since learning that there were a number of deleted scenes, including the one in which Diana got her engagement ring, I must say that I feel like the phone call could probably have been omitted in lieu of progressing Diana's story for this episode and the choice to include it definitely feels like an extremely contrived attempt to stoke the triangle.

The fallout from the age reveal will no doubt play out over the coming episodes, however Lauren and Zane are still trying to wrap their heads around it the next morning (and again Zane, why on EARTH do you think you would've been someone who should know this information? I think I can count on one hand the number of conversations I've seen Liza and Zane have. Actually, no I can't because it's so few I can't even remember one) but I will say that I paused on the article Lauren is reading and Jackie Dunn has given a statement in it and this show, I swear, it outdoes itself even when no-one might notice. I appreciated Kelsey's itchy scalp to emphasise the stress of the situation and Lauren addressing Liza as 'Ma'am' was pretty darn funny (though I am a bit surprised at Lauren's reaction. I thought she'd be more intrigued and want to know all the details of how she did it etc.) But it is the final 3 minutes of this week's episode that absolutely blew me away and left me quite literally crying on the train as I watched.

There have been moments that have made me tear up and certainly times when character interactions have held such meaning on this show that the feelings are many, but there really never has been a scene like the one between Diana and Liza at the end of this week's episode of Younger. Diana's minimal make up and jewellery emphasised the rawness and realness of the entire exchange. Diana saying that she wouldn't have hired Liza if she'd known and Liza being able to say, 'exactly', made the point of why she told the initial lie so simply. In that moment Diana can understand Liza's need to lie about her age, but it is Diana's search for why, beyond that initial deceit, did Liza fetch her coffee and lunch and her urine samples...and hold her hand on the red carpet and convince her to go after Enzo...that she needs to know if everything else was real or was it part of the ploy to uphold the lie. Seeing Diana with her heart on her sleeve, needing to know if her perception of their relationship was a farce, was one of the most powerful moments, if not THE most powerful moment of this series. 

The resolution, that ‘honesty is the best policy’ and that Liza is no longer her maid of honour but her ‘old maid of honour’ could not have been more perfect. And in case I wasn’t already a blubbering mess, Diana’s emotional, ‘I just want to say...’ which Liza instinctively answered with, ‘I love you too’ did me in completely and honestly, the whole thing is so sublime, what an absolute gift.  No words I write can do justice to the incredible performances of Miriam Shor and Sutton Foster so I really can only suggest you go and watch the final scene again for yourself.

This episode of Younger really was something else. After five and a half seasons, Liza is finally free from her lie, she can FINALLY live her life without wondering if or when or how it is going to catch up with her. It feels like a big sigh of relief. For me this episode also showed how much more compelling it is for the drama to sit in the space of these women navigating friendships and work dynamics and how much the focus on the triangle detracts from what this show is actually about. It's not that often you get to watch an episode of a show you love and think, 'that episode is going to go down as one of the best in the series', but 'Debu-taunt' will without a doubt hold it's place as one of the best.   

#youngertv #younger tv #younger season 6 #ramble #review #6x08 #liza miller #diana trout #charles brooks #enzo deluca #love #friendship #team charles

[papistark]

Okay. I’ve allowed a night to let everything sink in. I’m ready to talk about Endgame now.

*cinemasins voice* spoilers!! (duh..)

so the wounds are still fresh. v v v v v v v v v fresh. but my thoughts during the entire movie were just OMG IM TRYING TO REMEMBER EVERY SINGLE THING THAT IS HAPPENING SO I CAN REMEMBER IT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE BEFORE i inevitably go see this movie again

This is what the movie reduce me to like 99% of the time btw

now, I’m gonna try and break this up to be as organized as possible into 4 main sections which will be general thoughts, the highs, the lows, and closing thoughts. that may sound organized but I promise it won’t be and as always I’ll have to use bullet holes to even stay relatively "organized"

I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out that I either loved or would wanna discuss but tbh the ENTIRE FILM i was just like GOD I WANNA REMEMBER THIS FOREVER!! Every scene that happened i was like god there's still 3 hours of stuff that's going to happen but I want to remember it all!!!

Overall

this movie was good. and i’m mad it was so good and i found it so enjoyable for how dirty they did me. The pacing was pretty well done for a first viewing, but I'm sure after a couple rewatches I'll get caught up on the occasional misstep in the pacing and general direction the story took, but I really liked it!!

I thought the Thor stuff was kinda distasteful and honestly a joke that ran too long. Like ha ha okay we get it but also? He went through so much fucking trauma can we just lay off him? Damn? I don't wanna linger too much on it bc honestly the more I think about it the more I get upset the russos did him dirty

all the callbacks??? made me so emotional????? eleven years and almost two dozen films guys holy fucking shit it felt like such a good homage to bring stuff back

Yo literally when they went up to busted ass thanos i leaned over to my bf and whispered "are they just gonna kill thanos in the first ten minutes is that allowed" and uh YEP! WOW

Also the opening scene being Clint's family getting dusted... gasps in my theater y'all they went in hard on us

TIME HEIST!!!!!! FUCK marvel knows how to take you on a fun journey!! The concept was so fun!!

I also appreciate them mixing up the plot a bunch to keep us guessing!! Like fuck, when Thanos was finding out through Nebula... future nebula talking to past gamora i was SO SOFT... sisters...

Hulk was... weird. It felt a weird kind of fanservicey for a little bit, and honestly a little out of place? But. Eh. Wasn't the worst part. Certain parts of it were fun! I think I got used to it haha

Everyone looked. So good. After the time jump. Damn. Thank you make up department for everyone's new looks. I live for silver fox tony always.

I loved seeing Loki again i know it was so little content BUT I DONT CARE I'LL ALWAYS LOVE MY FUCKING PRINCE

We didn't get as much Nebula and Tony content as I was hoping but god it was so cute and tender in the beginning. Imagine all that bonding. Nebula finding tony on the floor, knowing he's on the brink of death, and propping him up in the seat :'(((( tony helping fix nebula :(((( the father daughter relationship we deserved and didn't get to see come to fruition.

AMERICA'S ASS. THANK YOU SCOTT LANG.

All the New York flash back was so fucking fun. The elevator scene. Brilliant. I really thought they were gonna recreate but it was such a fun tease. Also cap making fun of his past self for saying "i could do this all day" I SCREAM why do the Russo's get steve so well

Carol taking a direct punch in the face from Thanos without even flinching? We stan a goddess

ALSO SHORT HAIRED CAROL YESSSS I LIVED!!!!! YES!!!! (But also that movie could've used like way more Carol thats just mY OPINION)

Also AGAIN, I DON'T CARE THAT IT WAS FAN SERVICE, STEVE WEILDING MJOLNIR WAS E V E R Y T H I N G. They have TEASED US since that one middle avengers movie we don't talk about that he was worthy and!!! Our!! Son!! Is!! Fucking!!! Worthy. And the scene of thor making him swap w/ him "you get the little one" i screamed bitch

also I was living for how much Steve swore in this film lol literally fuck joss Whedon's characterization we don't know her!

Valkyrie on a Pegasus thank you THANK YOU i was living

That entire final action scene..... holy fucking shit y'all. It was just crazy enough without being too crazy. I loved the callback to the original long continuous shot

THE HEAVENS OPENED UP AND SANG WITH THAT A-FORCE SCENE. YES. ALL THE MARVEL LADIES LINING UP. THEY ARE HERE AND THEY ARE THE STRONGEST OF US ALL. A-FORCE. FUCKING A-FORCE. Thank you Russo's for my LIFE

Carol's little "hi peter parker :)" god i love them. I love peter. My fucking spider son. I missed him so much. I missed Tom Holland's sweet peach little face AH I CRIED WHEN HE SHOWED BACK UP

Also last kind of ~general~ thought i know i don't get time travel at all and it is an instant way to confuse me in any franchise but wouldn't steve doing what he did fuck literally everything up idk we'll get to steve in a bit

Highs

morgan

H.

fucking

stark

I CAN’T BELIEVE I GOT FED WITH SUCH GOOD TONY CONTENT THIS FILM ONLY FOR THEM TO STOMP ON MY HEART LMAOOO

DAD TONY BEING AS LOVING AND DOTING AND SWEET AND TENDER W/ HIS DAUGHTER AS WE ALL HAVE HEADCANONED HIM TO BE FOR YEARS!!!

TONY GETTING HIS JUSTIFICATION IN BEING MAD not just mad but PISSED at Cap for how everything fell out. catharsis. felt good scoob.

speaking of good tony content of course i need to just take a moment to YELL ABOUT STONY thank you russos for the fan service thank you for having tony ogle and comment on steve rogers’ ass it almost makes up for all the pain and suffering

btw do y’all think the H. for Morgan’s middle name stands for Harley because I LIKE TO THINK SO

also am i lowkey annoyed that like half of viewers won’t recognize an adult ty simpkin at tony’s funeral at the end even tho i know i shouldn't be because ot everyone is a die hard BUT half the articles im looking up for reviews and shit of that scene literally all the results are “SO WHO IS THAT KID AT THE END OF ENDGAME” YOU FUCKING FOOLS IT’S TONY’S FIRST BORN SON HARLEY KEENER FROM IRON MAN 3. FUCKS. im getting off topic anyway i was just happy they brought him back because I am an iron man 3 enthusiast and his relationship with tony was SO important and this confirms that at the very least tony kept in contact with him over all these years!!! and he wasn’t just some insignificant blip

Not to be stony on main but steve being the first person to hold Tony again once he was back on earth :)))) wrow.

Also the first thing tony telling him being "I lost the kid" WOW BREAK MY HEART MORE HUH!! WHY NOT!!

The first thing Peter doing when he saw Tony again :'') just rambling about everything that happened and tony just so happy to see him alive and hugging him so tight I'M NOT FINE!! NOTHING WILL EVER BE FINE AGAIN!!!

I appreciated the closure with Howard like?? A lot?? I'm the last person to be a Howard stark apologist, but I think his character and his relationship w/ Tony and how Tony viewed him as a father and as a man was so well crafted throughout the series??? Idk I liked that scene it was good to my baby.

And now a pOSSIBLY CONTROVERSIAL~~ opinion but..... I loved Steve's ending. I really did. I thought he got a beautiful and fitting ending and I was so happy. It meant so much especially to hear his reasonging being that in a way, he did it for Tony. He was inspired by what Tony told him. He saw Tony get his happy ending and for so many films now Steve has been searching for that and he missed an entire life. Tony helped him realize that. It just made me!! So emo!! Like Bucky's face when he knew Steve wasn't gonna be coming back. Steve's last convo w/ Sam. It was just amazing. I can't believe I'm seeing hot takes from people calling Steve selfish or blaming the fact that the Russos have a boner for Steggy or whatever. Who cares!!! Steve got his happy ending and it was well deserved and a wonderful arc!! Lay off him bc you ship him w/ Bucky or tony more damn!!!! (Idk about the timeline y'all dont come for me i really have no idea i think the Russos just said fuck it for that one even when talking about not fucking up the timeline)

Lows

Natasha deserved better. She did. I understand why they took her character arc the way that they did, and honestly, this is the first time I've felt we've seen Natasha have even a modicum of actual character traits since like, Iron man 2 and Avengers 1. She found purpose in keeping the family together and trying to help the people left living, while never stopping or losing contact with anyone else in their endeavors to fix what Thanos broke. As tired as I am of seeing a female character die for ~man pain~ this felt like so much more than that. In the end Nat wanted to sacrifice herself for the greater good, and that's what she did. I'm still fucking upset though, even though they've butchered her character across almost all the films she's been in

Thor being turned into an entire fucking joke. That's it. I got nothin left for the writers at this point.

So..... let's talk about Tony's death, shall we

"You can rest now" broke me. It truly did. I've never loved any fictional character across any medium as much as I have loved Tony Stark. But Pepper's line at the beginning "you'll sleep, but will you rest?" Is so fucking telling. I think I immediately knew for sure in that moment. Because she's right. And that's the worst part.

Peter :)))) finally :)))) calling :))))) tony :)))) by :)) his :)))) first :)) name :))) as he was dying :)))) asking him not to go the same way he told tony he didn't want to go when he was getting dusted GOD. AND WE THOUGHT THAT SCENE IN INFINITY WAR WAS ROUGH. HAD N O T H I N G ON THIS.

No offense but where was Rhodey when Tony was dying lmao ok

That funeral scene.... seeing everyone there drawn together..... god. It was beautiful. It really was.

Of course I'm not happy. I'm extremely fucking upset. I knew tony wielding the gauntlet would be coming, but I thought they would find a way for him to make it out alive. As soon as they were showing that even the hulk couldn't handle it with the gamma radiation, I knew the nail was going to be in the coffin.

All that aside... what I can say, is that if they HAD to kill him off, I think it was a proper send off. We saw so many arcs of Tony's come to a close, and I knew it was just a matter of time. Also that being said, I really don't believe in death being necessary to end a character's arc. Yeah yeah blah blah we get the sad and tragic but TRUE message that at the end of the day death is inevitable and that tony had to sacrifice himself for the greater good. He and Strange both knew it, and as soon as Strange held up that finger I knew that was it for him.

It wouldn't be so hard if they hadn't given us everything they did with tony after the 5 year jump. He healed. He was HAPPY. But pepper was right, and as long as Tony was alive... he would never truly /rest/. And that's the only way I'm able to make peace with this death. Tony has always been a character who was just going going going, never going to stop even if it killed him, all to protect the ones he loved, and protect the whole world and make it a better place. He had a beautiful story that was told so well over these past eleven years, with admitted shortcomings here and there. He had the most cohesive trilogy films, the best character development and arcs, and an incredible portrayal. I'm grateful for it, but that doesn't make it any easier that they decided to go and show us that Tony was able to FINALLY settle down with Pepper and see him find the best version of himself as a husband to her and a father to his little baby girl. A baby girl that now has to grow up without her dad, and pepper has to go on without her husband, the love of her life. It's fucking tragic and honestly, we didn't need that imho lmao

The hardest parts is that like.... idk. I feel like the only reason they killed him is for shock factor, but somehow without the shock? A lot of us felt or were worried that this was coming. I think the russos and co. We're just totally set on the idea that like... tony HAD to die and that was the only way for this arc to come to a close not just WITHIN the universe, but meta, outside of the MCU as well. They did the same thing with Hugh jackman as Logan and that shit HURTED me y'all. Eleven years we had RDJ give us this amazing character and he is the SOLE reason the MCU is where it is today. So you know what, the Russo's and everyone can circle jerk about how much ~poetic justice~ there is in this ending for Tony, but at the end of the day... it just ain't it fam.

Realistically I know after wielding the infinity stones there is no way Tony, a human, could've survived, even with his armor on. I knew that. And as biased as I am towards seeing Tony living, if he had wielded the stones and NOT died? It would've felt cheap. So again, if they had to end his life, I appreciate the way they did it and thought it was the best send off they could've given him. I also would've appreciated some kind of alternate option where oh i dont know carol or someone strong enough could've handled the snap and tony could live the rest of his days with his wife and daughter and found family but..... ig that's just me huh.

:(((( Happy asking Morgan what she wanted and her saying "cheeseburgers" SHE'S JUST LIKE HER DADDY I AM SO!!! UPSET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And last thought is that I fucking cried AGAIN because the biggest applause moment was during the credits when RDJ's name appeared. My theater gave a standing damn ovation. Also the very last sound after it faded to black... Tony hammering away, building the very first Iron Man suit.... that shit hurted.

If any of y'all read this and wanna yell about stuff w/ me I WELCOME YOU INTO MY DMS LMAO PLS MESSAGE ME I NEED MORE PEOPLE TO CRY WITH!!!

#avengers spoilers #endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #endgame #have my classic word vomit long ass post after a marvel movie mess of a review lmaoo #long post

[sherlockxreader]

A Time Of Change - Chapter Four - Unknown Deductions

Title: A Time Of Change Chapter Four: Unknown Deductions Summary: Ava Bradford. Behavioral Analyst of the Miami Police Department. Or former Analyst after the events of the past force her to journey to England and take up a job away from the family she had created. Here, she struggles to keep to herself and her life under control, quickly takes over as she readies for her future on Baker Street. Author: Alexa @alex-awesome1023 Words: 3,766 Characters/Relationships: OC x Sherlock Warnings: Depression, Anxiety, Past Physical Abuse, Nightmares Author’s Notes: So far so good, everything seems to be flowing pretty good I hope you guys like the first meeting I was super excited for everyone to read this part so i hope you guys like it and if you have any question comments or concerns please feel free to contact me or Maddy! Sorry if i didn't get all of you in the tag i’m still new at this and i don’t know when people send me stuff and the main page. Just send it to Maddy and let me or her know if i didn't put you in or want to be in the tag list. P.S. Its my birthday next Saturday and I’m super excited! 19 is a weird age haha...

Original Character Ava Bradford is inspired by Zoey Deutch. And the credit for the photos and gifs go to google and the people of Tumblr! Enjoy!❤

They enter the room. It’s somber, dark, and the wallpaper is peeling in the corners. In the center of the room there is a flash of pink and a small person kneeling next to the body. It's the same person that Sherlock saw go up the stairs.

You examined the body like it were a puzzle. Running your fingers over the victim’s back and under the collar of the vibrant pink jacket, you felt the dampness it held, most likely from rain. But it hadn’t rained recently in London. You inspect every little detail. Sherlock watches in fascination as you, an unknown girl to him, inspect the body with speed on par to his own. He knows what you are doing by the look in your eye, seeing you reading all the little details and the ideas pop into your head. It was what he felt every day of his life. She’s deducing.

“Oh, this is our newest detective on the job. Detective Bradford.“ Lestrade said noticing that Sherlock had stopped at the entrance to look at you. But you didn't move or even acknowledge them, you were too lost in your own deductions that you didn't register that Lestrade was speaking.

You leaned over the inspect the outflung hand. The victim had scratched in a message with her fingernails into the floorboards, the wood streaked with her nail polish and dried blood. As you looked at the note, you ran your fingers over each individual letter - Rache. German for revenge. Is she… No. It can't be that. Too obscure. You slightly shake your head and push away the idea, trying to think of anything else that would make sense of the message.

“Rachel….” You whisper to yourself just loud enough for the three men behind to hear. But why choose to write this name as your last words?

“Ava?” Lestrade said once again but you were still very much oblivious and stuck in your own thoughts. You get up from your place on the floor with wide eyes, looking round the room aimlessly. What is she looking for? Sherlock thought to himself quirking his brow.

“It’s not here. That’s weird. Why is that weird?” You rambled to yourself, trying to piece every little detail together like the jigsaw it was. “Oh. Oh! It’s mur-!”

“Ava!” Lestrade said more sternly, trying to get your attention. You jumped at the tone and whipped around, finally realizing that you were no longer by yourself. Sherlock saw your expression falter as you turned around, catching his gaze, but before he could identify it, you caught yourself and hid it from his sight. How interesting.

“Oh sorry, I didn't hear you come in. I’m Detective Ava Bradford, I deal with Behavioral Analysis and Criminology.” Looking at the three men and meeting Sherlock’s hard gaze, you gave him a quick look up and down and smiled politely. Looking over at John, you stopped and with a slight tilt of your head, you deduced him almost automatically, his physical characteristics too much of a give away into his past. “You’re a soldier, or were. Afghanistan or Iraq?” You held out your hand in greeting. John exchanged looks with Lestrade and Sherlock, who was at a loss for words. He took your hand and your theory was confirmed with the strong and proper handshake he gave. You could almost feel the slight tremor in his hand. A strong heart.

“I’m John Watson and it was Afghanistan, but how did you…” He seemed to remember something, by the way his mouth quirked up at the side in astonishment. “You’re like him, aren’t you?” John’s face brightened as he pointed towards Sherlock.

“I see the military career in your face and in the way you carry yourself. You should probably find a new therapist though. They’ve got you all wrong. And if your asking if I’m like The Consulting Detective Sherlock Holmes over here, then yes, you could say that.” You smirked at John before you looked over at very tall man once more, practically towering over you, beginning your deductions on him as well. Wow, I thought I was short before. “You… like being the centre of attention, the smartest in the room. But there's something more...” You looked up at him deep in eyes and tried to see what it was that you were looking for, little did you know Sherlock was doing the same to you.

Nothing. I can't read her. He thought to himself, getting agitated at the fact that you were a mystery to him, a book that was closed with a lock, whereas you had gotten at least something from him. You both noticed the awkward silence in the room, making you break the trains of thought that you shared. The heavy air in the room made the thoughts of everybody around you all the more obvious, making your nerves jump as you realize what you had done.

“I’m sorry. I tend to ramble when I’m thinking and then I just speak my thoughts out loud. Just ignore me. Please, continue on with the case. Greg, may I talk to you for a moment?” You exit just outside the door, beginning to go through what you found from the body.

“Ok, what is it?” He asked, curious as to what your abilities were like in comparison to Sherlock’s.

“This is a lot bigger than just four impossible suicides. It's murder. I don't know how yet but it's murder. There is a suitcase missing and we need to find it. I need to find it.” You rambled on not really waiting for his response.

“Woah, woah wait. How is it murder? How can you tell? And what suitcase?” He asked with a hard gaze.

“Her suitcase!” You implied, not making yourself any clearer and not waiting to hear his response, you go back in the room to see what Sherlock had come up with. Catching the satisfied grin on his face as he was taking off his latex gloves, you couldn’t help but think in the back of your mind that you wanted to see it again. No, focus. Sentiment is weakness.

“Got anything?” You hear Greg perk up behind you, hoping he would have an insight into what you were suggesting.

“Not much.” Mr. Holmes simply said as he got up from his place on the ground.

You were near the door when you heard an unwanted voice come through. “She’s German. Raché, German for revenge. She could be trying to tell us something.” Anderson chimed in from his place in the doorway, making Lestrade and John turn around, you roll your eyes. You saw Sherlock walk towards the door, his eyes to his phone and his hand out ready to shut out the offending person. You took the liberty of doing so for him, closing the door harshly on Anderson’s face. Sherlock’s head whipped to look down at you, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes squinted as you rocked back and forth on the balls of your feet, confident in your actions.

“I’m sorry did you hear something?” You caught the satisfied grin on Sherlock’s face once more before he turned around and continued typing away at his device. You ignored the little flutter in your chest that arose when you came to the realisation that you had caused that smirk.

“So she’s German?” Lestrade asks, looking at Sherlock. You roll your eyes again.

“Of course she’s not, but she is from out of town from a place called Cardiff I do believe.” You pulled out your phone as you remembered seeing heavy rain around that part when you were looking at the weather in Lestrade’s office. I hate the rain, the memories would always come with the storms and cloud my brain. Noticing the silence in the room, you looked up to see Sherlock’s beautiful eyes locked on yours. Stop with the sentimentality already! Get a hold of yourself! “It’s obvious isn’t it?”

“Sorry – obvious?” You heard John ask, making you look break your gaze with the detective. “H-How is that obvious?” His question went unanswered as Lestrade paced the room, his arm crossed over his torso, the other resting atop it with his fist under his chin.

“What about the message, though?” His question went unanswered as the thoughts in the room scattered from one another.

“Doctor Watson, what do you think?” Sherlock asked. Oh, so he’s a Doctor too.

“Of… the message?” John’s voice trailed off as he looked to the two people who were clearly above his intellect.  Sherlock rolled his eyes while you avoided his gaze, not wanting to humiliate John any further in front of his… partner?

“Of the body. You’re a medical man after all.” With a deep glare he replied to the Doctor.

“Wait, no. You can’t... we have a whole team right outside for that.” Lestrade gestured towards the door. “I’ve already let him on the scene but I can’t just let him go do what he wants with the body.”

“You can and you will. The others won't work with me.” You saw Sherlock’s focus flicker at the end, the topic obviously a sore point with the man.

“I’m breaking every rule letting you in here.”

“Yes… Because you need me.” Sherlock turned his whole attention towards Lestrade, glancing at you for just the sliver of a moment. Lestrade considered the detective’s words for a brief time but, relentlessly, he let his head drop to his chest.

“Yes I do, God help me.” Sherlock gave a short nod of his head to John, who had crouched down near the body, his hand hovering over the woman’s coat.

“Doctor Watson.”

“Hm? So...” John looked up from the body, looking to Sherlock and then to Lestrade, a little unsure of what he was meant to be doing in the room of professionals. He waved his hand a little in a silent question to Lestrade.

“Oh do as he says, help yourself.” A little defeated, he walked outside, motioning his hand to Anderson to gain his attention. “Anderson keep everyone out for a couple of minutes.”

“You’re letting the freak run the show again?” You turned your head to the closing door, seeing Lestrade scowl harshly towards Anderson and begin to scold him before the door shut, blocking the scene from your eyes. You turned around, that pinch in your chest returning again when you realized that the ‘freak’ Sally had mentioned earlier was none other than Sherlock. Your gaze moved to his back as you looked over to the two men squatting next to the body. John leaned heavily on his cane and you could see the physical stress that crouching caused him. You listened as they exchanged muffled words only meant for the two of them. They seem close. You heard Lestrade come in behind you as John lowered himself closer to the body in order to better inspect the woman’s airways.

“Yeah ... Asphyxiation, probably. Passed out, choked on her own vomit. Can’t smell any alcohol on her though. It could have been a seizure; possibly drugs.” Looking quizzically towards Sherlock, his hesitation still evident on his face.

“You know what it was. You’ve read the papers.” Sherlock looked to John with an expression that egged the man on.

“She’s one of the suicides. The fourth…”

“The fourth in two weeks!” Nevertheless, Sherlock’s enthusiasm was a force to be reckoned with as he began to talk over the doctor.

“What I can’t understand is the victims connection to each other. This woman is in her late-”

“Late thirties, and works in the media going by her clothes and the coordinated pink everything.” You interrupted his quickening speech, staring down at the poor woman, your own excitement taking over. “She’s a serial adulterer, judging by the clean inner edge of her ring; she removed it with each man, polishing it unintentionally each time, but none of them knew she was in a unhappy marriage by the state of the ring itself; rarely cleaned and maintained though it’s at least fifteen years old.

“She traveled to Cardiff today on business. How I know she is from Cardiff is because I know Cardiff recently had a heavy rainstorm when I looked at the weather radar earlier today which is why the underside of her collar is wet; she flipped it up to shield herself from the rain and wind. The mud on the back of her right shoe and calf shows us that she had a suitcase, which is missing!” You finished in under a minute, a little flushed from the lack of air to your lungs.

“It’s brilliant.” John said in admiration staring at you from his spot in the room. You turned your head toward the doctor with a raised brow, surprised by the comment.

“Sorry.” He said quietly. You in return gave a small, cheeky grin, thinking about the compliment, your cheeks now red not only from your fast deductions previously.

“Okay just slow down a bit. Cardiff?” Lestrade shifted his feet back and forth, almost feeling Sherlock’s jealousy emanate from his tense body in the corner of the room.

“Uh yes. Her coat, it’s slightly damp. She’s been in heavy rain in the last few hours. Under her coat collar is damp too but the bit facing us isn’t, so she’s turned it up against the wind. She’s got an umbrella in her left-hand pocket but it’s dry and unused: not just wind, strong wind – too strong to use her umbrella. We know from her suitcase that she was intending to stay overnight, so she must have come a decent distance but she can’t have traveled more than two or three hours because her coat still hasn’t dried.” You add pulling out your phone

“I just so happened to look at the weather radar earlier in your office out of boredom - I wanted to know when it was going to snow - and that’s when I saw that it was raining near there. The area, Cardiff.” You finish as you turned your phone to Lestrade to display today’s weather for the southern part of Britain.

“That’s fantastic.” John commented once again making you smile. You turned to him and whispered in a low voice.

“You know you do that out loud?” You chuckled at his cheeks as they turned a slight shade of pink.

“Sorry. I’ll shut up.” He said looking away in embarrassment.

“No it’s... nice.” You smiled, turning away from him as you remembered how you used to get bullied and called a freak or stalker, and a witch just by saying what you saw. It was simple observation, it wasn't a trick, though those few that did appreciate your talent never saw it as anything else. As you got older and as the hate outgrew the admiration, you simply just ignored all the comments and stopped deducing out loud. You had missed this, the occasional child-like wonder and puzzlement at your deductions. What you didn't know was that the detective saw your expression change with the new direction of your thoughts. It had become distant, sad, and something else he couldn't identify.

“Why do you keep saying suitcase?” Lestrade inquired.

“Ah yes, where is it? She must have had a phone or an organizer, a planner. Find out who Rachel is.” Sherlock said leaving his thoughts of you and returning to the case, shifting his eyes around the room.

“And she was writing Rachel?”

“No, she was leaving an angry note in German! Of course she was writing Rachel; no other word it can be. But the question is, why did she wait until she was dying to write it?” Sherlock barked at Lestrade making you shake your head at the situation. This must happen often.

“Now, where is it? What have you done with it?” You were wondering the same thing as you closed your eyes trying to think of where that damn suitcase went you hear Greg speak up.

“There wasn’t a case.” Lestrade answered shaking his head in confusion. Sherlock looked up at him slowly with a frown expression.

“Wait, what do you mean there is no case?” You asked as you opened your eyes and looked towards Lestrade, him taking a step back from the surprise on your face.

“There wasn’t a case. There was never any suitcase.” He said cautiously as he flicked his eyes between you and Sherlock, who had immediately straightened up and headed for the door, calling out to all the police officers in the house. “Suitcase! Did anyone find a suitcase? Was there a suitcase in this house?” He bellowed as he made his way down the stairs.

The three of you follow him out and stop on the landing. “Sherlock, there was no case!” Lestrade calls down the stairs.

“There are clear signs. Even you lot couldn’t miss them.”

“Right, yeah, thanks! And ...?”

“It’s murder, all of them. I don’t know how, but they’re not suicides, they’re killings – serial killings.” He holds his hands up in front of his face in delight. “We’ve got ourselves a serial killer. I love those. There’s always something to look forward to.”

“Why are you saying that?” Lestrade asks making Sherlock stop and look up to the three of us.

“Her case! Come on, where is her case? Did she eat it?! Someone else was here, and they took her case.” You see him pause and say something quietly to himself, you barely making out what he said. “So the killer must have driven her here; forgot the case was in the car.”

“She could have checked into a hotel, left her case there.” John speaks up, breaking his silence and making Sherlock look to him for a moment.

“No, she never got to the hotel. Look at her hair! She colour-coordinates her lipstick and her shoes. She’d never have left any hotel with her hair still looking…” He stops talking as he makes a realisation. “Oh. Oh!” You see his eyes go wide and his face lighten up as he claps his hands together in delight. You could almost see the gears in his head working at high speed even for you. You head back in the room to get a hold on your own thoughts, Sherlock was moving too fast for you to comprehend at this point. Closing your eyes you try to block out the world and try to figure this out.

What am I missing, there is something I’m missing. The killer was here, he made her take the pill herself but how? The missing case is what connects them. That's where he made the mistake. He forgot it was in the car… “That's it!” You shuffled towards the door out towards the landing where Lestrade and John still were and you hear Lestrade yell down to Sherlock.

“Of course, yeah – but what mistake?!”

“PINK!” Both you and Sherlock said in sync as he ran out of the building as you came up behind Greg and John. Lestrade, baffled by the whole thing, turns and goes back into the room while Anderson and his team, who had been waiting on the next landing down, hurry up the stairs and follow him into the room. John looked quite lost with all the commotion going on and you were about to enter the room but Johns expression and body language caught your attention. His leg is hurting him, seems agitated, and… Is on his way out.

You walk into the room getting Lestrade’s attention. “Greg, would it be alright if I left, I have a pretty good idea of what Mr. Holmes was telling us and I want to go question him further. And I can't really do much here that hasn't already been done.” You noted with a smile making your way to the door.

“Alright but you’re still on call, but I doubt you'll get anything from Sherlock, he works alone most of the time.” He said turning his attention towards you away from the body.

“So do I but here I am, working for your division.” You said with a wink as you exited the door.

He called out to you as you walked down to the landing. “Oh Ava, wait a moment. I… I’ve heard about your partner and I’m sorry about what happened. If you need to tal-”  

“Thank you Detective Inspector, but that won't be necessary.” You said flatly without turning around. Without waiting for him to respond you headed down the the stairs to catch up to the doctor. Lestrade had seen the fact that you were still sensitive about your old partner. The accident involving both you and your partner occured not a month before you came to London and he was worried that it would affect your work as well as others. Clearly you weren't over it yet. Who would be?

As you exit the building you release the breath you didn't know you were holding. You closed your eyes trying to calm the anxiety that was building in your chest, refusing to think of ‘that’ night. You wouldn’t allow yourself to think of ‘that’ knowing that your mind would replay the incident over and over and you would end up falling down that hole again. Taking a deep breath you snapped your eyes open and marched on. You were stronger now and didn't want to be that weak little girl anymore.

You walked out onto the road looking around to see if you could spot John. He was walking towards the main road. For someone with a psychosomatic limp he sure is fast. You quickened your pace to try to catch up to him only to be stopped by Donovan.

“You should watch your back with him” You stopped in your tracks as you heard Sally’s cocky remark.

“Sorry?” You asked stepping closer to her.

“Sherlock Holmes, he’s a freak and doesn’t need another one to encourage him.” She said fiddling with her radio. It took every nerve in your body to not shove it down her throat.

“You really should think more before you speak. You might actually say something intelligible then.” You walk away before the argument could escalate and make your chances of suspension rise. You look towards where John had been, but you couldn’t see the man with the cane anymore. You sigh and instead turn towards where Baker Street was, flagging down a cab as it passed, your thoughts plagued with pink, war and a detective.

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[upslapmeal]

Opinion: Jane The Virgin it's losing it's charm. It let me down after episode 10 and I tried to keep watching but it's disappointing me so far. I just feel is not as funny and smart written as it was and it's just reusing storylines. And I'm still not used to the characters now after the 3-year jump, it feels so hurried.

Ok so I know the point of this ask game thing is just to say whether you agree or disagree but I have way too many thoughts about this to just leave it at that. So. In general I agree, at least to a point. And I’ve literally written over 1000 words as a reply so I’m putting it under a readmore bc….whoops…….

Right to start off, I know something everyone used to complain about the crime plots but that was something I really thought was missing at the start of S3. Those plots were usually good at providing drama that really contrasted with Jane’s life and I’d been looking forward to Michael finally going back to work so we’d get them back. Which obviously didn’t happen, and I know we have Dennis and they’re still part of the plot but it’s different from having one of the main characters directly involved. 

Something else that definitely hasn’t helped but isn’t necessarily the show’s fault is that we’ve lost side characters because the actors have become involved in other shows - specifically Luisa, Lina and Rose. This limits the interactions we can see, and means that when they’re on the show they don’t get any meaningful longer storylines because they won’t be around for long. This has been a specific problem for Luisa who seems to appear for an episode or two then get sent off to rehab. Rose was a great villain and that’s something else the show’s been lacking, especially since Mutter’s dead though she was never as compelling as Rose. 

I remember back in S1 wondering how long the show would last because it seemed unlikely that they would be able to keep generating such elevated plots and ridiculous twists, and I think that’s just part of the nature of the show unfortunately. In that during S1 (and S2 though less so) all the ~telenovela aspects were new and fresh, but they used up a whole bunch of tropes and plotlines, and also we’ve just got more used to it and better at predicting what will happen. That’s not to say repeated elements don’t always work - the Anezka twist at the end of ch39 completely caught me off guard despite the Roman/Aaron plot in S1. I had thought that Rafael finding out he wasn’t a Solano would be an opening for more telenovela plots, possibly involving the art theft and Italian orphanage, but instead it fed the more grounded emotional plots in that it made Raf want to turn over a new leaf. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and that’s not to say it won’t lead to those plots in the future, but considering that the show seems to be lagging a bit in its telenovela side it does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity. 

Which brings us to ch54, Michael’s death, and the time jump. Considering what I’ve said about plots running out it made sense that they needed to shake things up, and Jennie said Michael’s death was the mid-show equivalent to Jane’s insemination in that it was an event that completely turned Jane’s life upside down and changed what she’s imagined her future to be. And it certainly did that but I do think it also did several things that hurt the story. Firstly, it just added to the problem I talked about with the show losing characters and so losing different interactions and relationships to explore. Brett said after the end of S2 that he’d love Michael to have more scenes with Alba and see what the relationship is there, and personally that was a relationship it really hoped we’d get to see, especially after those vows. Losing characters hits harder when they’re part of the main cast. Then we also lost our main connection to the police side of all the telenovela crime drama. And as well as losing a telenovela aspect we also lost many more grounded potential storylines. What’s Michael’s role in bringing Mateo up as he gets older? How do they deal with the difference between Mateo, who’s constantly moving between parents, and JM’s potential future child(ren) who would live with them all the time? Would we get to see Rogelio take Michael, Rafael and Mateo out on an over-the-top Father’s Day bonding adventure? Idk, it just feels like there were so many more potential storylines to mine from that family.

Then there’s the issue of trying to use the death in the same way as the insemination. The problem comes from the fact that they gave the show very different things. The whole show sprung up from Jane’s insemination. The show would not exist without it and the whole show since then has been dealing with the consequences of this event. We got to see the very real and emotional effects, the difficulties it caused and how hard it could be, really letting Gina flex her acting muscles, but it was also a ridiculous telenovela event that could be used as a source of humour and ultimately ended up being one of the best things to happen to Jane. And the problem with using Michael’s death to similarly shake up her life is it only provides the first half of that, the difficult, emotional side. It’s not something that can be joked about or used for fun drama.

And so then we have the time jump. I absolutely understand why they decided to have the jump, if the show had gone straight into the period after his death it would have been too dark for the show, and the jump lets us see the long-term effects. Unfortunately though, they literally killed their protagonist’s husband after they were married for 7 months. They created a situation where the consequences are dark and difficult and heartbreaking. And so while I appreciate that we’re seeing Jane still affected by it after three years, we need to see more of this difficult stuff that the show made for itself. I’ve already rambled a lot about this here so I won’t get into that again but if the show’s going to use this death supposedly to be a mid-show insemination equivalent, it mustn’t shy away from the situation it’s made for itself. And I’m not saying the show isn’t showing Jane’s grief but I don’t think it’s changed enough or doing it in a way that justifies killing him in the first place.

In fact the biggest change to the show that’s come from Michael’s death is the time jump. And honestly, outside Jane’s story I do think it’s done the show good. It’s refreshed a lot of storylines and from a practical pov has made sure they have good kid actors instead of just hoping that Aiden (who played young Mateo) turned out to be a good actor. And you know what? I think the time jump would have been a great thing to happen to show without Michael dying. Because then you haven’t lost one of the pieces in the game, just rearranged them. Rather than carrying the weight of showing Jane moving out of deep grief, the flashbacks would help fill in the gaps better for more characters. Everyone would be in a new place and there wouldn’t be the weird rushed disconnect there is now where the show has gone from an incredibly traumatic event back to near-normality in the space of less than an episode. 

I know this all sounds really negative. I do appreciate how the show has decided to tell a story of coming back after having dealt with terrible grief and I don’t want to fully judge how good a job it’s done until the end of the season, and even without quite the same spark as the start it’s a fantastic show. I’ve tried to be as objective as possible with this and look at the show without thinking about personal opinions of characters etc (though I am incredibly bitter and sad about Michael’s death for non-storytelling reasons), and I think that the heightened and balanced nature of the show at the start has made a bit of a fall inevitable. But it’s done a damn good job of trying to keep as close to that place as possible, even if that has included missteps or repeated storylines. I’ve still loved every episode so far, not all as much as each other, but there is yet to be an episode I dislike. And so yes, it has lost a bit of its charm and it’s made decisions I’m disappointed in, but as a whole I still think it’s a clever and important show that I love. And long may that last.

#dude...this is literally as long as the essay I'm meant to be writing right now I have way too many opinions about this show #I've really tried to be as objective as possible for most of this #gonna put it in the tags since I put so much effort into this I hope it makes sense #jane the virgin #jtv #upslapanswer #ramblings #anon