#anyway my dad who is NOT rewatching it with us but watched it with my mom when it originally aired

[autisticandroids]

FAMINE: That's one deep, dark nothing you've got there, Dean.

[youtube with closed captions]

dean and his father. dean and his family. dean and how bad it is.

(via @closetoyou1970)

#spn #vid #mind the warnings on this one for real #woe! fruit of my rewatch be upon ye. #pallas calls this my 'deangirl coming out vid' which honestly. true. but those who paid attention know i've always been a deangirl. #also. after this no more deanwinchester rilo kiley amvs I Pwomise #anyway. i'm not gonna give a full commentary here but a big reason why i chose this song is that the narrator #is essentially dismissing her own problems and instead watching the problems of someone else #and i kind of wanted to play with that theme. this is the parallels show so let's do some parallels. lots of things happen to characters #that are Like Dean somehow. either in personality or circumstance. that we know or can infer happen to him. but we don't see it bc it's #not sayable. not speakable. so like for an easy one. we see meg being tortured in caged heat. she also talks about apprenticing under #alastair just like dean. so i show her being tortured [in a way that is sexualized and demon-specific] and reacting how she does #because i invite the audience to imagine or interpret that this has also happened to dean at some point. we just don't see it #so there are many dean parallels in this video. some obvious. some subtle but textual. some products of my twisted mind. but that's the way #i am using them to make my argument. #oh also: dean voice sam's eyes going black is JUST like when he used to fight with dad and wouldn't listen to me when i told him not to. #i guess also the point is that because it's unsayable. dean can't say it. dean can't even acknowledge it. and so it bleeds through #into everything in his life #that's why it's important that the song narrator doesn't take her own problems seriously. dean doesn't either.

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Writing Prompts: Day 218

Adjective: Sweet

Noun: Haunt

Definitions for those who need/want them:

Sweet: having the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar or honey, or not salty, sour, or bitter; (of air, water, or food) fresh, pure, and untainted; smelling pleasant like flowers or perfume, or fragrant; pleasing in general, or delightful; highly satisfying or gratifying; (informal) used to express approval or admiration, or excellent; working, moving, or done smoothly or easily; (US) denoting music, especially jazz, played at a steady tempo without improvisation; (of a person or action) pleasant and kind or thoughtful; (especially of a person or animal) charming and endearing; (dated) (informal) infatuated or in love with; dear, or beloved; (archaic) used as a respectful form of address; used for emphasis in various phrases and exclamations; used to emphasize the unpredictable individuality of someone's actions

Haunt: a place frequented by a specified person or group of people; a ghost; a place or event involving a ghost or spirit haunting a person, location, or object

#my girlfriend and i went to see the barbie movie today #sadly it was rather disappointing and neither of us liked it nearly as much as we wanted to or we were hoping we would #also our theatre experience wasnt great cos there were a bunch of little kids (all around ten years old) in the last row #and they were being inappropriate throughout the film but especially at the serious and heartfelt moments #(they were talking and giggling and making gross noises like burping loudly) #and it was clear they did not want to be there cos when the movie ended one of them loudly said 'finally!' #it was just horrible and luckily someone sitting in the row in front of us shushed them during the final serious moment of the movie #anyway i gave it 3/5 stars on letterboxd and did not give it a heart for liking it #between this and everything everywhere all at once (which i gave 3 and a half/5 stars and no heart) #im questioning if my standards for comedy in films is too high #however my girlfriend and i watched yesterday (2019) with my dad well yesterday (it was a rewatch for my dad and i) #and we all really love the comedy in it so riddle me that #anyhoo for the prompt #i added a definition to 'haunt' as i couldnt find it anywhere but i know it is used in the same vein as 'haunting' #but i see this as an opportunity to write about someone who has passed away coming back to 'haunt' a loved one in a gentle and loving way #as a way to look out for them if you will and hence 'sweet' #and im looking forward to writing that #thanks for reading #writing #writer #creative writing #writing prompt #writeblr #trying to be a writeblr at least

[lactoseintolerentswag]

Rise Characterizations Pt. 5!!!!!

Okay I promised I'd share my Splinter reference notes, so here I am! Also wanna take a moment to thank everyone reblogging the prev. parts. All the tags/notes are so sweet!!! Anyway, here's our one and only Rat Man,

Splinter Character Notes

Language Habits:

Catchphrase: "HOOOOOT SOUP!!!"

Will yell "whoa/oh nelly!" when in a tight spot or stumbling around

Makes puns/dad jokes, and laughs at said jokes to himself

A poor liar, will skirt around the truth until you drop it

Penchant for interrupting people if he's not interested, devout user of "yada, yada", "ah, bup, bup, bup"

Verbalizes his attacks/moves, something his sons pick up on. Could be a habit picked up from his action star days, such moves include: lights off jitsu, and slow motion jitsu

Uses 2010's slang, (i.e. "totes", "chillaxed"), could see him incorrectly using up to date slang to embarrass his boys

In a group refers to his sons as "boys"

One by one will refer to his sons by their designated colors, but will pull out the full name (not nickname) if the situation is serious

Also refers to Donnie as "the funny one"

Personality:

A performer, well he is an actor after all. He knows how to captivate an audience. Splinter likes attention--something that may be connected to his strict childhood with high expectations--but he also performs for his boys. To keep them happy, but most importantly safe. This also means he keeps his true emotions tucked closely to his chest

Jovial. Despite his dark past and heavy responsibility thrust upon him at a young age, Splinter is always laughing. He finds the fun in everything

Secretive. As mentioned before, Splinter tends to keep things close to his chest. Despite this, he's a terrible liar. He'll just avoid the truth until it comes back to bite him in the ass. This makes him sometimes a little emotionally unavailable

Lazy. He always finds the easiest way to do something, and procrastinate on his responsibilities as long as possible

Vain. He's glory seeking for all the proper attention he lost in his youth. So the Lou Jitsu aspect of his life boosted his ego in irreparable ways. He also uses the identity of Lou Jitsu to escape from the idea of being stuck as a rat. Glorifying the past is way to find comfort for him

Adrenaline junkie. Part of that glory-seeking and glorification of the past manifests into him needing adrenaline to feel alive. (i.e. when he steals the tank)

Attentive and empathetic. He can be a little hare-brained when it comes to remembering the details, but he's always very attentive to his sons needs. In flashbacks he's shown to supply them with items needed for their interests (i.e. little Mikey gets art supplies), and always apologizes when he messes up (i.e. the conversation he had with Donnie). This empathy also extends to other people and animals, as he was sympathetic with Cassandra when she was lamenting about the foot clan and was immediately worried about the turtles Draxum had in his lab

Protective. He would sacrifice everything to save his sons, and he does

Miscellaneous:

His tail is Very expressive, and one of the most active parts of his body, so if you want to subtley show emotion I'd focus on that

Has a Lou Jitsu body pillow

Remembers all his stunt double's names

Snores loudly

Talented singer, can sing opera and lived next to a karaoke bar in Japan

The show he watches the most is called "Soapy Treadmill", a Japanese game show where they throw things like scorpions at people who are soapy on treadmills

Has a "do not touch!" cabinet, full of trophies, mystic artifacts, and mementos of his past

I have a List of all the mentioned Lou Jitsu movie names mentioned in S1, but I'm probably gonna wait till the end of my S2 rewatch and post it separately (it's also long too). Will link here!

I'm also gonna add a recommendation here at the end.

This is for the white and non East Asian folks. I'm not as well-versed in East Asian or Japanese culture, but Splinter is a first generation immigrant! He keeps a distance from his heritage because of the trauma of his youth, and the role Lou Jitsu probably also forced him to westernize his identity to make it more palpable to Hollywood. But it would be a disservice to sever parts of his identity, because one is uncomfortable or not knowledgeable in writing it.

For my white folks intimidated by writing a person of color because they want to get it right, research always helps. Research helps with everything!!! writingwithcolor here on tumblr actually has a lot of useful resources, here's their guideline, and a research chart one of their moderators created, which I personally found to be very helpful. I believe their ask box is closed right now, but if you ask questions in the future be nice!!!!

Anyway I'm gonna do April next :)

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant turtles #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt splinter #rottmnt hamato yoshi #character analysis #writing #fanfic #long post #critter talks #rottmnt lou jitsu

[mormegils]

korrasami and longing

please walk with me here, i wanna make a point.

i recently rewatched tlok, and remember someone pointed this out years ago after the finale dropped but i don't remember who was it, or where it was posted. i can't find it so i assume it's gone by now, and i wanted to give my own thoughts.

SO. we all know the 3 years korra and asami spent away from each other between book 3 and 4 is very important to their story. in reunion, asami tells korra she's been talking to her father again and is thinking about forgiving him. korra is concerned that hiroshi might wanna hurt her again, and asami goes off:

obviously korra was just worried and had no ill intentions, but asami's reaction is understandable. personally, i would at least feel a little bothered if someone who disappeared for years and refused to keep in touch after a while wanted to judge what i was doing with my life all of a sudden.

especially after having offered to give up everything to go with and support her in any way possible, and everything i got was a quick decline and a big ass ghosting after a couple of letters...

anyway. then we have this scene in kuvira's gambit:

i've watched some reactions on youtube and most people didn't GET it. it's not a surprise since it's a trend in avatar fandom to misunderstand korra's character a lot (and the writers fumbled a little bit with korrasamis development in b4 imo).

this is not a badass korra™ scene or something out of place, it's actually simple: korra knows how it feels to be distant from the ones you love and not being able to do much about it, because it happened to her. korra's body recovered relatively fast and she could've came back sooner but, as toph told her in the swamp, korra was unconsciously sabotaging herself so she wouldn't be susceptible to getting hurt again. still, it felt so horrible to be separated from someone she cared about that she --knowing that bataar jr had love and devotion for kuvira-- used it a fucking threat to get him to talk!

and we reach THE korrasami scene, where they finally get some time alone after the battle and things have cooled down a bit, and the first thing korra does is apologize:

this is one of the few times since coming back that korra actively shows regret from what happened. it's the only time she apologizes for it, and it's to asami.

asami's answer is heartbreaking, but it is what it is. she could've lost both korra AND her dad, the people she cared for the most, but she still has korra. she's here. and that's what matters now.

#to whoever wants to read it i guess #*runs away* #it's sad that korrasami didn't get as much development as they deserved #but I'll always find it cool that they have lots of parallels with the other couples of the show #i had to make collages to put all the needed screenshots sorry #this is terrible but whatever #korrasami #tlok #the legend of korra #korra #asami sato

[thisisnotachair]

Good Omens Observation on The Power of Denial in Threes

I’ve noticed something while watching (and rewatching) Good Omens and I’ve not yet come across another mention of it online, though I’ve searched r/goodomens, and the gdoc linked from Neil Gaiman’s pinned post, perhaps I am not tumblr savvy enough to have found it. Anyway, I was raised Catholic in a fundamentalist-leaning community, and while I’ll probably be unpacking that for a long time yet, it has, oddly, been an advantage here through some familiarity with lore.

My observation has to do with the power of 3, more specifically, the power of a denial made 3 times.

In the bible, Jesus knows he’s going to be targeted, and tells Peter, “Dude, you’re going to deny me 3 times before the rooster crows.” And Peter’s all, “No way, man, you’re my bro, even when everyone else ditches you, I’m SO here!” Later, when Jesus is arrested, folks around town ask Peter, “Hey, weren’t you friends with that guy?” and 3 times he lies and says that he doesn’t know Jesus. After the third denial, a rooster crows and Peter breaks down because Jesus was right all along and he realizes what he’s done.

Good Omens:

S1E6. Adam denies Satan, saying he’s not his real dad because he didn’t raise him and he wasn’t around. Twice, of his own volition, he says, “You’re not my dad,” then Crowley prompts him to say it again, because HE knows that there’s power in the third denial. Adam says it again, and Satan crumbles.

Huh. Neat.

It gets better (worse).

S1E3. Crowley calls Aziraphale to meet him at the bandstand to discuss the situation. They can’t agree on what to do (rather, who should kill Adam), Crowley’s ready to give up and leave. Aziraphale tells him he can’t leave, as there isn’t anywhere that they could go (Armageddon would impact the whole planet), to which Crowley says, “It’s a big universe. Even if it all ends up in a puddle of burning goo, we can go off together.” Aziraphale is taken aback, surprised that Crowley suggests they go together. Crowley points out they’ve been friends for 6,000 years and *foomp* Aziraphale denies him, “Friends? We’re not friends. We are an angel and a demon. We have nothing whatsoever in common.” He says that he doesn’t like Crowley (liar) and that they’re on opposite sides, after which Crowley responds, “We’re on our side,” and Aziraphale says, “There is no ‘our side’.” Aziraphale has chosen a side, and Crowley saunters off, hurt. Denial No.1

S1E4. Crowley comes tearing up to the bookshop in his Bentley, and hops out to apologize to Aziraphale, though it’s a half assed, “Whatever I said, I didn’t mean it. Get in the car.” He’s in a panic because Hell found out it’s his fault that Adam wasn’t where he was expected to be, so his energy is a bit much. He says to Aziraphale, “But we can run away together. Alpha Centauri, lots of spare planets up there, nobody would even notice us.” *foomp* Aziraphale denies him again, “You’re being ridiculous.” He’s certain that he can sort it all out if he just has a chat with God, Crowley knows it’s futile and flaunts off petulantly. Denial No.2

I know you know where this is going.

S2E6. *sobs* Crowley’s second, “Tell me you said no,” absolutely destroys me. His struggle to get his words out when he wasn’t expecting things to be so… acute, then, “...if Gabriel and Beelzebub can do it, go off together, then we can. Just the two of us… just be an ‘Us’.” *foomp* Aziraphale denies him a third time.

Rationale For This As An Actual Thing:

Crowley stays engaged for a few more moments, mentioning the bookshop, and turning back when Aziraphale calls after him but his face is impassive once he sees that Aziraphale is still fixated on them both going to heaven. We know the denial has sunk in when Aziraphale’s, “I need you,” isn’t as effective as it should be. When that doesn’t land (at all), Aziraphale reaches again, reminding Crowley what he’s been promised, but that doesn’t work, either. Crowley’s mention of the nightingale is somewhat cruel, IMO, he’s taking his broken heart out on Aziraphale, yet it’s also his way of saying to him that it’s too late, it’s done, “We could have been …us,” the opportunity is in past tense. Crowley’s fierce [plausibly most re-watched kiss in history?] conveys his intention, his sincerity, and his hurt. He’s not trying to change Aziraphale’s mind, it’s too late for that. Rather he’s communicating in a way that Aziraphale will understand, explicitly: Crowley’s proposed “us” isn’t just about running off to another solar system on a friendly whim, it’s a real, explicit life together as more than friends that he's asked Aziraphale to share. And was denied a third time.

What about the rooster crowing, though? Huh?

Well, the last bits of scenes wrap things up insomuch as a heart wrenching season finale can at all, and they’re still watching each other. When the Metatron comes back and Aziraphale hesitates, he’s glancing out the window to look at Crowley standing gloomily by the car, and Crowley stands outside watching until the elevator door closes, maybe there is something that could mitigate that third denial[?]. At that, he gets into the Bently where the Nightingale [in Berkeley Square] song plays as he drives away, the nightingale has been a symbol of their love, now it is the figurative rooster crowing.

Notes:

I’m being careful about what fan content I consume because I don’t want to go into S3 with expectations, I’d prefer to savour it like my first ox rib. I enjoy reading things folks have noticed, but I don’t want to go down S3 theory rabbit holes much.

My observation is based on the show, I’ve consumed the first half of the book in a day, maybe I can finish it tomorrow. I just wanted to get this put into words now.

Aziraphale’s rejection of Crowley is more implicit than Adam’s rejection of Satan, so I could be reaching, yet I feel like Adam’s 3 explicit rejections matter, and this context is a slow reference back to it (and word on the web is that Neil Gaiman doesn’t do things accidentally).

Could it also be a Betrayed With A Kiss thing? Maybe, I don’t think Crowley is betraying Aziraphale here, though maybe symbolically it’s a way to make Aziraphale recognize that HE emotionally betrayed Crowley. I genuinely believe Aziraphale didn’t mean to, but it happened powerfully, meaningfully, and in such a way that it’s going to take a miracle [waggles eyebrows] to mend.

I’m sure Aziraphale is aware of the power of the 3 denials, but, plausibly, each time Crowley asked, there were other ‘tabs open’ that prevented Aziraphale from explicitly picking up on it.

I haven’t looked closely at how many times Aziraphale explicitly, deliberately defies heaven (in a significant way, not just small whims), perhaps there's something there that could be meaningful. [Starts from the beginning AGAIN.]

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens lore #good omens analysis #good omens thoughts #good omens theory #crowley #gomens #ineffable spouses #archangel aziraphale #anthony j crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow

[on-leatheredwings]

i've found your account only a few days ago but ever since then I've been STUCK here rereading your fanfics, especially ones with damian. i wasn't even a dc fan (heard about some stuf, watched some films and cartoons, but that's it) but now im reading comics since im Obsessed and need more batboys in my life (rip my productivity😔)

Anyway, after Sleepover i'm curious what will Bruce (and maybe even Thalia) think of batboys strange behaviour towards reader. He's smart, so he definitely notices it early on, but how he'll react....

I can see him being weirded out (like he was by Jason's anger issues, before his death), but he also can be an enabler, since Robin (literaly any of them) had a hard life, so if those relationships can help him why not pretend that everything is normal? you'll be safer in a Wayne's Manor anyway

All in all, thanks for a new hyperfixation 💞💞

P.s. About games:

1. Boyfriend to death 1&2 - since you're into yanderes you might want to check this game out. I prefer the second game, but the first is also fun. But beware the trigger warnings!!

2. Long live the Queen - more of a raising sim than dating sim but you still can romance some guys and girls.

,3. Hatoful Boyfriend - mostly a comedy, but there is a yandere.

4. The Royal Trap - it's been a long time since i played it, but it used to be one of my favorites so i'll just mention it.

5. Higurashi - once again not really a romance sim, but its an interesting horror mixed with a slice of life

;A; AWWWW THANK YOU IM SO HAPPY YOU LIKE MY STUFF.... THAT MAKES ONE OF US GIJSDOFAFGHFOJDSD

and yes yes get into DC!!! (girl who hasnt even read a full run since like. injustice)

damn now you got me thinking and excited. incoming spiel

i agree entirely about bruce just knowing how Bad things can get, so to make things simpler, he's like "yes, your darling(s) can stay in the manor, boys. 🙄"

mmm yes..... when it comes to bruce noticing the batboys are yandere, i think it's always sinfully delightful to just have him be reluctantly okay with it. 😈 it's also easier narratively ngl but i also like the idea that the batfam is all just corrupted.

bruce's thoughts are that they (his sons) fight for vengeance and justice but this is where they could use some leeway.... we all need our vice... they fight so hard for gotham, they deserve a little treat (getting rid of your human rights)... it's very "Dad who wants his sons to have happiness even if its not healthy" of him. in fics where bruce is a yandere, well, he's the exact same way so he can't judge. although if that's the case, i like the idea of bruce just being like "yes what we do isn't right. let's not talk about it. just don't kill <3"

still wondering what i like more. a yan!bruce who's self aware what he's doing is wrong but he just refuses to think about it. or a yan!bruce that justifies it all because of his paranoia, Tower of Babel style (if you don't know, that's when it's revealed batman has plans to subdue/kill the justice league just in case they go rogue.)

for the batboys depends on their personality... for damian, he's so resolute in things that i prefer when he just believes 100% what he's doing is okay, if not actually righteous. ^_^

hmmm talia.... I'M STILL UNSURE HOW I PREFER THAT AS WELL... i think talia being a you-arent-good-enough-for-my-son mom is a little cliche but also. she kinda would say that. you'd have to prove your worth somehow but idk how tf darling would do that LOL. in the end, i think talia is just relieved/comforted that her son indeed feels desire and wants love and will continue the family legacy (regardless if youre afab/can biologically have children.)

no THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!!! AND THANKS FOR RECS!!!! heheh yeah ive checked out btd and im not averse to the warnings its more like im not that most of into the designs ngl. fox guy seems cute? AND LMAO FUNNY BC IM ON A HIGURASHI REWATCH (never played it tho)

#yandere batfam #ask

[spacehostilityy]

rewatching the OVAs (netflix s2)

low key one of my fave intros art wise (we all know howling by granrodeo is my fave intro song lol) like the suits !! are so !! cute!!!

and this frame is adorable !!

I love the search for hawk sm theyre all so fucking cute

Meliodas casually dropping “you are my purpose in life” to Elizabeth like a month after they met is INSANE. Bc from his side, makes sense. Fell in love when they were young from opposite sides of a war, risked everything to be together, have been finding and losing each other for 3000 years. But from her side, he is a cool guy she has a crush on (who is at least 15ish years older than her) who she might have known as a child. He also just described her as his entire life’s purpose. Like bro THATS CRAZYYY

Seeing Meliodas destroy the horn of cernunos is such a badass moment to me. The way he responds to her taunting with direct action and violence rather than his usual merciful beating around the bush. My favorite Mel moments are when he is using his silly goofy little guy façade and suddenly has to drop it. This is when we see a glimpse of who he was when leading the 10 commandments: arrogant, powerful, and constantly full of rage

it just so happens that arrogant, powerful, and constantly full of rage are my most prized qualities in any character

WAIT HOLY SHIT IS THE “HEINOUS SIN” MELIODAS IS CONSIDERING THAT THE GODDESS SAYS WILL DRIVE EVERYONE HE LOVES AWAY REFERRING TO HIS PLAN TO BECOME THE DEMON KING ?!?!?!?

THAT WOULD MAKE SO MUCH SENSE AND ADDS LOWKEY A TON CHARACTER MOTIVATION TO EVERYTHING ELSE MEL DOES FROM HERE ON OUT

maybe everyone knew this and im late to the game but damn that would be so cool

im pretty sure ban switches out his red leather for the long burgundy coat is bc he keeps getting stabbed front to back and the coat has a hole in the back so the weapon wont tear it lolll😭

i feel like their faces (esp meliodas’s) look a tiny bit janky in the OVAs

once again appreciating the intro 😌

They’re so fucking cute !!

Merlin and Ban clearly don’t rlly like each other much yet and it’s so funny to me

Like these are Meliodas’s closest friends and they just kinda annoy each other a lot

it’s like fuckin icarly

Gustav: the captain and one of his fellow sins going one on one? We might neve see something like this again!

hahahahaha nooo. i mean gustav didn’t, he’s dead. but the rest will el ol el

Gil is the biggest dork to ever live and howzer is concerned. Mans is crying at watching them fight and howzer is just like … ok ??

Bartra: where the fuck is my daughter

his daughter: literally watching a cage fight

MELIODAS RIPS OFF BAN’S FUCKING ARM AND SMACKS HIM WITH IT AHSDBFKSKFSDHFFK LOLLLL

theyre literally the cutest

bestiesss (boyfriends)

every one of these bitches is a fucking alcoholic

ban’s whole character is that he’s a depressed, violent alcoholic and I love him

my horrible secret is that im skipping through a lot of ova 3 bc im just not a kiane girlie😔

i do love diane tho she so babygirl

nakaba’s not even thinly veiled size kink strikes again. Seriously, i can fuck with it, but its so funny that every single main ship has a significant/abnormal height difference

hendy and dreyfus are so gay for each other im genuinely surprised it’s not canon

like look at this scene and tell me something lgbt is not happening here

omg my pfp !!

Howzer’s dad is such a dick i love it

Meliodas using the sugar spoon to full counter is literally so fucking cute, i love when they have to use dumb weapons

but also vivian lost to a tiny spoon hehe

bet gil regrets not killing vivian after she kidnaps and permanently fucks up his son ahaha🥲

Merlin being fucking terrifying saying that vivian should have realized that she is a monster is why im gay

Meanwhile Meliodas:

I love when his face does that he’s so baby

KASDBFKLHDFNWDKF GIL, HOWZER, AND GRIAMOR ALL BEGING HORNY ABT “MATURE WOMAN” MERLIN

anyway time to start season 2!!

#tess rambles on her nnt rewatch #tess rambles #nnt #elizabeth nnt #merlin nnt #bandit ban #banlaine #melban #ban nnt #7ds #meliodas #nanatsu no taizai #seven deadly sins #diane nnt #king nnt #elizabeth liones #bamf!elizabeth

[dreamwritersworld]

What if..? Final part(Sully Family x reader)

I hope you enjoy! 💞

“Ma’Jake? What’s wrong?’

Jake turns to a confused Neytiri.

“I-I uh I don’t know…I guess I just ran out of memories..I keep rewatching the same ones”

Neytiri smiles at Jake’s small frustration…he finally wanted to see more of Y/n.

“I can show you mine! We can both connect on the same branch.”

Jake didn’t think much of this…he’d just be happy to not see a haunting version of Y/n….

*their vision*

“Mom?”

Neytiri turns away from Jake to look at Y/n only…her smile completely went away seeing the heavily injured girl.

“M-mom help me! I’m trapped! I-I needed you…I needed him.”

Neytiri ran to a bleeding out Y/n…while holding her she tried to pull away from the vision, they both tried to.

“Ma’jake! What’s happening Jake? Help me!” Even then…Jake couldn’t do it.

“I wanted your love, I wanted it bad…but there were so many red flags.”

Suddenly they were in a hut…watching Y/n from afar as she held a gun to a sneaky Navi’s head…not caring that her older brother was watching her.

“I’ll be the one who breaks out at night and cuts your throat while you sleep.”

“Let’s be clear I trust no one.”

Jake was getting major headache, freaking out about Neytiri finding out about the accident. While Neytiri was extremely anxious…what was going on? What’s Y/n trying to communicate?

There they were…they could see themselves…Neytiri watching as always staying silent while Jake yelled at Y/n…It was after the fight, after a girl bullied Y/n…telling her how she would always be forgotten by her father while he cared for everyone else.

“…stay home for all I care. Your a mess outside by yourself. Do you understand?

It was written all over Y/n’s face…she wasn’t fine.

‘This isn’t fair. I was just trying to do good!’

…there it was…Y/n crying her eyes out….suffering a panic attack as her mind ran a million miles per hour.

‘What’s wrong with me! How could I be so stupid? I should’ve just let her say those mean things…she’s right anyway…but she was talking badly about my family…about me. They see it too….they know my dad treats me differently…as if I’m some disease. I’m sick. I am nothing. Just like he said, I am nothing without him.’

Jake and Neytiri were struggling to catch a breath just like Y/n…struggling to survive…and on their last gasp of air, the setting changed again, they were now watching themselves eat with Y/n. Jake begins confronting Y/n about how ‘dirty’ Tuk was…how there was a mess of crayons on the floor, of course that wasn’t allowed for Y/n.

They heard the sweet words Y/n was saying to Tuk after telling Jake how wrong he was to do this in front of his other child…for Tuk and Tuk only she fought till the end.

“No more food Tuk? You sure did eat huh sunshine? Let’s go clean you up and put you to sleep while Mom and dad eat.”

‘Maintain a smile…his words mean nothing.’

“You did not break me…I’m still fighting for peace.”

and suddenly…it went quiet…they slowly walked to the crash site, there Y/n’s body laid.

There was flashes of the war…

Blood splattered

Flames erupting from behind

Smoke being inhaled and…

Y/n.

Her body was struggling to form words but she was silently begging and pleading for her father to take her.

He didn’t.

“dad…dad? no…please no…dad help me…d-don’t leave me please dad.”

Lo’ak’s voice was louder, Neytiri heard it, Jake heard it…Y/n heard it while she was struggling to call out

“Dad! Y/n! She was with us!”

Jake didn’t hesitate to leave her saying she’d find her way home.

Neytiri could feel her.

every flame erupt in her lungs…

her heart breaking…

the mind growing tired…

body asking for a little bit of sleep…just a little bit of peace.

“You never saw me fall apart until then…when I was right in front of you. I didn’t close my eyes, and I know that I could’ve survived…right dad?”*

They were pulled from the vision.

“…Jake? You- how could you! How could you do that to her? To our daughter! My daughter.”

Neytiri couldn’t even explain what she was feeling…utter betrayal.

Little did they know Tuk was approaching, rushing to her mother that was screaming and had slipped perfectly into Tuk’s small arms as she fell.

“Mom? What happened?”

Neytiri was shaking, struggling and contemplating on saving her mate from the flame Tuk was now going to be the one to erupt in jakes lungs.

“Y..Y/n.”

That was all it took before Tuk looked up with the most disappointed and disgusted face she’s ever shown. They were going to see the cold version of her…the version of her that formed when Y/n died.

“It was you! It was fucking you! I knew it! How could you! You didn’t deserve her. You never fucking liked her. To her, you were everything…she was just ‘the chore’ to you.”

Tuk dropped right next to her mother…crying her eyes out. Jake watched horrified as Tuk looked up from her hands, laughing.

“I want you cold and broken…I had her blood on me…every drop. You were the reason she died. You took her from me. You’re a really shitty fucking father…you may have tricked me or treated me differently than you did with her but you listen to me when I say you will never, see her again. Not in your visions, or any stupid fucking memories you have with her. It’s over dad…everyone knows now. she’s going to be at peace and you won’t see her again.”

Neytiri gained the strength to stand beside Tuk and walk away from Jake as she desperately asked him to stop…give her time. He did, and she stupidly forgave him. Tuk couldn’t watch it anymore, so she told her siblings to go to the tree of souls with her to see Y/n one more time…together.

They all connected all at once and they saw a beautiful scenery. Y/n turned around happily to her siblings as they all rushed to her. You can hear her beautiful laugh from under all of them except one…Tuk.

*Y/n’s pov*

“Alright guys I love you too!…Where’s Tuk? I haven’t been able to connect with her fully. I need to see her again.”

They all got off, still laughing as I got up and then I saw her…my sunshine. We ran to each other, clashing into one another for a hug.

“Sunshine!”

“Y/n!”

Both of us cried tears holding onto each other.

When Tuk was finally able to speak to me I realized that…All this time I had been waiting for her. I had been waiting so long…I was afraid she wouldn’t come…

“Oel ngati kameie, Y/n”

“Oel ngati kameie, sunshine”

I grab her hand and yell out from a far to my other siblings.

“There’s a beach here! A beautiful beach! Down the hill! I’ll race ya!”

Their visions slowly shifted as they ran.

“We lived in a forest Y/n! How could you get such a beautiful beach?!”

I laugh and smile to my clueless brother.

“This was supposed to be my future! It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

The siblings smiles faded but their heart warmed at how Y/n happy was.

The siblings laughed and played amongst the clear blue waves….Y/n pulled Tuk to the side.

“I know what you’re thinking tuk…you want to leave, to run away from home. I know that’s why you brought them to me one last time do not do it sister, look around you! I may not be there for you to see but I’m always around watching you from afar and so are they…our siblings love you. I love you. I have found peace and closure in my death, you will too soon someday.”

Tuk was crying happy tears realizing what she heard her sister ask for silently in her dreams, was now given to y/n…peace and closure.

“Ok sunshine! Enough tears, let’s play!”

I was finally playing with my siblings, and living out the childhood I missed…I stepped back to take a breath and hold onto the moment.

I snapped a photo of my siblings…I loved the way a photo could capture a moment before it was gone.…nobody really notices when we leave. At best you might hear a whisper…or a wave of important memories tumbling down.

My name is Y/n Sully, like the goddess of the moon! I was 14 years old when I was murdered on a day…only meant for spotting.

I turn the camera towards me and snapped a picture…

I was here for a moment…and then I was gone.

I wish my sunshine Tuk, and siblings a long and happy life.

!💜!

I’m literally crying AHHHHHH. This is officially the end of this era! I’m so sad to let it go but I think it’s time! 💕 it’s definitely bittersweet but im ready to move onto another sad series if you guys have any ideas feel free to message or request it 💞 I truly mean it when I say I appreciate all the support ! I love reading your comments and funny comments! I’m sending hugs and kisses 🫂 hope you feel better after this series cause ik I need to

Tag list: @noodlesfics @eywas-heir @itshype

@zatarias-pandora @yeosxxx @arminsgfloll

@abbersreads @tsireyak @neteyamforlife @aimsro

@elegantkidfansoul @goodiesinthecloset21

@nikotokitaswife @bucky1235 @detectivesparrow

@kikosaurscave @octavias-next-meat-bite

@midnightliacr @waitingforanotherpart

@marybrown23 @ssc7514 @destinylb @simp-erformarvelwomen @eirianna @ambria @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @lv9su @luciddasher @dakotali

@manohari @httpjiikook @snowywhiterose @tainted-artist4161 @fanboyluvr @bat1212

#Spotify #jake sully x reader #neteyam x reader #loak x reader #neteyam sully #neytiri sully #sully family x reader #avatar loak #avatar the way of water #sully family x daughter reader #angst #SoundCloud

[uglygirlstatus]

Curious to see how you’d rank every Riverdale musical episode

this ask has been in my inbox for months because I could not make up my mind whatsoever and had to rewatch all musical eps 2x each to decide.

Splitting rankings into categories for my own sake: Songs (ranked on both quality and integration), Plot (entertainment value of the storyline points featured), and Iconry (ratio of special/memorable/iconic lines and scenes)

#6. American Psycho

Songs ⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I remember somehow being underwhelmed when I first watched this because I had really hyped myself up after reading the episode description. But now in a post-50sdale world, I realize how lucky we were with this one. We got SlaughterCon, Cheryl and Kevin hexing Toni and Fangs, Betty being gay, Kevin not warning Betty in advance that he added a bit to his musical number where Doctor Curdle Jr dresses as TBK and then getting visibly annoyed with her when she interrupts it fearing for his life, Betty finally killing TBK and he’s literally just wrapped in duct tape and garbage bags, AS WELL AS Archie’s Labour Union all in one episode. However, since this IS a ranking of musical episodes, I’m afraid I can’t let the incredible plot compensate too much for the lack of strong musical bangers.

Stand out lines:

“It’s your dad’s knife. I bought it on eSlay.”

“Betty Cooper, are you hot for agent Drake?”

“You’re one of us. An American Psycho.”

Not a line but shoutout to Lili Reinhart’s boobs in You Are What You Wear.

#5. Carrie

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cheryls heavily autotuned explosion into “THATS NOT MY NAAAAAAAME” will forever tickle me. And her finale drenching herself in blood and coming to her mother with the candelabra to threaten burning down their mansion for a second time is one of the top ten Cheryl Blossom moments for all time. Everything about the presence of Alice Cooper also kills me like she is IN this high school musical. Madchen I could listen to pitch correction software fighting for its life against your dulcet tones forever. I read in a Twitter thread by the duo who produces all the Riverdale music that Madchen had literally never sung in her entire life prior to this episode. And they still gave her a solo. Amazing. The plot doesn’t carry as much weight for me in this one but the I love the integration of the music, and it also gave us the first ever Beronica duet and Fifi appearance. Oh and rip Midge!

Stand Out Lines:

“I will not succumb to thespian terrorism!”

“I’m not the same girl who burned down Thornhill.” “Sure you are!”

“Nightmare child, what do you want from me?!”

#4. Next to Normal

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️

This one has real emotional impact okay. It was genuinely moving. I love when the musical episodes tackle a huge range of plot lines and still try to apply the niche musical choice of the season to each of them. We have Cooper grieving & family choreography and spite-Jabitha and Cheryl attacking her mother with song & holy water and Varchie being useless and Britta becoming Cheryl’s little child servant/protege. Reggie is there too. Also all of the music hits for real. It’s a shame that “I Am The One” and “I’m Alive” had so much cut in the ep because the spectres of Polly and Charles are killing it on the harmonies in the full versions. I could listen to Lili Reinhart sing all day long. Above all though I think my favourite part is the uncanny photoshop of Alice and Betty and Polly in front of the Next to Normal Broadway poster.

Stand Out Lines:

“YOU’VE GOT SOME NERVE JUGHEAD, AND I’M JUST ALL NERVES!”

“I’m gonna eat in the garage.”

“You remind me of Hiram Lodge.” “I don’t know who that is. But please, have a Swelligrino for the road.”

#3. Heathers

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Guys It’s so crazy that Midge literally died in the middle of our musical last year. Anyway time for Heathers! Something fun about this episode is that I first watched it before I was fully Riverdalepilled and was still foolishly rolling my eyes at the show while I watched with my mom and sister. I was like “guys Heathers is actually a great musical, it’s going to be hard for me to see what Riverdale does to it”. We began watching and very soon my mom and sister were commenting on the music. It quickly dawned on me that they were complaining about the aspects of the show that were more or less unchanged from the original musical. And I had a great epiphany moment where I realized 1) Heathers is sort of bad 2) if I loved Heathers the musical in earnest then why should I not love Riverdale? Heathers was actually PERFECTLY CRAFTED to be performed by the Riverdale cast. Anyway. This episode had a lot going for it. Lodge divorce arc straight into Veronica partying. Kevin’s sudden perm. Toni’s threesome fake out. Our favourite Chad Michael Murray Rhythmic cult clapping. And of course KJ Apa doing this

Stand Out Lines

“Did you have a lobotomy for breakfast?”

“Here I invented red. I AM red. *snaps*”

“Evelyn called a closed rehearsal for select members in the Gargoyle Chamber.”

#2. Archie the Musical

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one had EVERYTHINGGGGGGGG. Fun with the meta narrative and original songs mixed with covers taken from various obscure and specific sources and by far some of the most fun choreography and sets of all musical episodes since they were able to be so free with it. Seeing Gay Kevin back in his natural habitat of directing the school musical was so heartwarming. Jughead and Reggie quitting immediately. Archie going left. And Archie going right. Bisexually. Julian demolishing Archie vocally every chance he gets. And knowing it. Also every single facial expression and mannerism that Julian has in this episode is god tier. Actually kj apa too. Actually also Lili and Camilla. SANDWICH? The loudest in-song sound effects we’ve ever experienced. Archie the happiest he’s ever been in his life on the back of Toni’s bike. BERONICA - PRIMAL AND INTENSE! My review is barely coherent because this one does fill me with silly giddy joy. Plot loses a star because how the hell are we expected to care about Gay Kevin’s divorcing parents. I know “ohh suffering isn’t a competition ohhh” Ethel just watched her parents get murdered by a milkman and no one sang for her.

Stand Out Lines:

“I don’t wanna be a drip, but it’s super distracting when my understudy is singing literally at the same time as me!”

“You completely captured the longing of being in a queer, interracial relationship in the 1950s.”

“Maybe there are other more emotionally complex mountains to climb.”

“The new Archie, Julian, he’s even better than the real Archie!”

#1. Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On a 9 hour flight to Europe in the Summer I had all the Riverdale musical eps downloaded to rewatch and then noticed that among the plane’s complimentary movie selections was the original movie of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was pure kismet. I decided to watch the movie for the first time prior to rewatching the Riverdale ep and I was blown away. Knowing the context of all the songs and musical they chose to include in the episode made everything so much more insane. The song about feeling like a stranger in your body after surgical malpractice being used for the Bughead conflict over Juggie prioritizing mysteries over finishing high school and Varchie conflict over Archie not telling Veronica about her dad’s epic fail at the gym. 20? something year old gay Kevin proclaiming WE ARE GENERATION Z before jumping into Random Number Generation. The BIZARRELY spliced version of the best ever rendition of Origin of Love all for BARCHIE FODDER?!? Actually all the rest of the songs were perfectly fitting no notes. Anyway hallway full of students in Hedwig drag one of the top Riverdale shots ever though I forever mourn KJ Apa’s absence. At least he got to kiss a man in this one. The plane hit turbulence while I watching the Midnight Radio scene but I was so happy witnessing it in that moment that I thought to myself “it would be ok if I died right now”.

Stand Out Lines:

“Writing a book report? Now I know how Sisyphus must have felt.”

“It celebrates identities, genders, expressions of all kinds.”

“[scoffs] How queer-phobic of you.”

“There’s a problem that comes once you get caught up on your homework. Your mind wanders and evil creeps back in.”

I was convinced Archie the Musical would come out on top for me due to the obscene level of euphoria I felt upon first experiencing it but after intensive review I do have to say Hedwig wins. Ultimately I miss the original timeline that much and I am all for the events that eventually tear apart everyone’s relationships and most of all it gave us Origin of Love full version Riverdale cast edition. But know that it is so so so so so close between the two. And honestly really all 6 are close in my heart as this exercise reminded me just how much the musical episodes are to watch and rewatch.

#idk why I treated this like a life or death question #riverdale #t #ask #riverdale musical ranking #long post

[zealfruity]

I can’t really draw rn so I’m going to inform you guys on a goofy headcanon me and the two people I’ve been making watch clone wars alongside my (insert number here)th rewatch.

One of the big questions I’ve had is “does Rex dye his hair or his he a natural blonde?” Now the natural blonde Rex hc is good because it gives him backstory dimensions BUT if he’s a bottle blonde than that completely changes how I view him as a person.

The second option is funnier. Which means half the time I’ll go with that.

Because it means that Captain Rex bleaches his hair. And keeps it shaved. Gay as hell (compliment). Half the lgbt I know have done it multiple times and that’s what I associate it with, Rex is one of us fr.

The point of this ramble is this collection of bits that I’ve incorporated into my comedy-related clone worldview:

- He makes the bleach himself because he has no money and isn’t the type to ask anyone for money or bleach

- He went bald multiple times from making it. It’s why in that one clone wars comic he’s bald, it’s not a continuity error guys

- Any 501st clone who went bald within the first few months of the war was because rex was sneaking through the vents and into barracks to test it out on their heads. It eventually caught on as a fashionable thing

- He's a fashion icon for all clones every clone thinks he has the best look, but they can never replicate it. He wears it too well. You can’t steal another clone’s look anyway. It’s like the Ken rule.

- Part of the reason why he and Ahsoka became close aside from like fighting war everyday and Rex having the adoption gene that all fett clones have, is because they exchange beauty tips

- He ends up giving her makeup tips when the topic comes up because he has Opinions and has done his research. It’s why she has such good eyelashes. She took his ramblings to heart.

- He himself doesn’t wear makeup because it irritates his skin

- And he is in fact a skin care king, although he doesn’t get to do it often. He has all the theory though

- They do eachother’s nails. Rex is very good at detail work like this. Ahsoka HAS scratched people with neon sparkly painted claws.

Verdict:

There are two different ways to interpret rex on like the fashion/outfit side if things:

Dad with no fashion skills. Middle aged straight man type of fits. I’m talking most sensible blue button up you’ve ever seen and at least five pockets on his pants/shorts

Or

The type of funk you’d expect from varyign fashion sub cultures that involve a lot of bleached buzzcuts and painted nails.

#zeal talks #tcw #clone wars #headcanon #tcw rex #captain rex #silly

[joelletwo]

wrestling with the 4devas bitchslap again to convince myself its fine if graveyard wins the best ep tourney: it's not the other bloggers who are wrong, it's me

not a complete response to but definitely in conversation with and asking some of the same questions again as @reductionisms's 4devas essay, which tries to square gintoki's "life doesn't need to be fun, i just need you to live" being a series-sanctioned message he's given to villains as an arc-concluding moral continuously up until 4devas with it here being an incorrect worldview that needs to be (physically) corrected by shinpachi, the straightman tonal signpost of gintama

a conflict i have been perplexed by ever since i got to this line on my first watch a year or two ago, since i've seen this line before! all over fandom! as part of the general "dont [bottom text] kill yourself" motivational messaging of gintama that i love!

and, briefly, when i hit 4devas i was also in the middle of being really frustrated by the new arc pattern i was seeing crop up: i loved the villains-turned sympathetic-turned someone worth saving by gintoki tune of the first half of gintama, but it fell massively flat for me in Yoshiwara in Flames, where i was never convinced to be on housen's side but had to watch him get a heartwarming redemptive death at the side of the woman he abused anyways.

then shortly after i had the same exact experience in Red Spider with jiraia, and i thought, if this is what gintama is gonna do with its shitty dudes from now on im gonna quit the fucking show. and then shortly after that i met jirochou and saw him cut down otose the woman he loved (under a raining sky!!! the fucking sky motifs!!! the signpost im about to watch a dude be shittily violent to women and be expected to feel sorry for him about it) and saw too much red to really take in the rest of the arc level-headedly or care about anything in it lol.

so it was written off in my mind as the 'otose almost gets fridged' arc until i rewatched it this week. then i had to remember, oh yeah, there's a ton of political maneuvering fakeouts in this arc that i never actually squared back with how the plot presented itself prior to the reveals, so i'd still been thinking about the "fakeout" plot. then i read the manga version with all the "truths" in mind from the start, and finally i felt like i could understand what this arc is doing a little better.

(way) tldr (4.4k words. sorry): do i love this arc? eh. do i still hate it? eh. but it's doing stuff!

first, i was able to see an echo in all the "actually i was planning to betray you the whole time" "actually i was working to help you the whole time" plot beats of what sorachi does with the larger edo/universe story further into the back half of the manga. if i ever sound like i didnt enjoy or wasnt convinced by the execution of these "reveals," it's because i didnt and wasnt, lol. but it's fun that he had fun with them i guess.

the arc starts with pirako ingratiating herself into yorozuya, then having a classic "bump into you and pretend to be injured to extort you" encounter w her dad's gang. to resolve this without escalating into violence, gintoki... does it back to them, which is really funny. but thus the tone is set for the arc of: DISHONEST APPROACHES TO CONFLICT.

pirako isnt honest about her overall intentions the, like, seven different times that she "admits her real ones." kada plays at peacekeeper in the devas while being the ultimate person scheming to get the upper hand over everyone else in the end. (she's also secretly harusame, evil amanto outsider who acts as a unifying force for the kabukicho fighting itself to band together against and expel: sorachi's favorite move! the problem was never internal, it's the shadowy REAL antagonists who infiltrated us)

jirochou and otose are ultimately doing a pantomime of conflict to try to keep temperatures down and escalations from breaking out, so no one they care about has to get hurt. gintoki doesn't know this until the end, but he follows in their footsteps after his encounter with them in the graveyard: he plays at having given up to the rest of yorozuya so they'll leave and escape the coming kabukicho war, the same thing otose was trying with him. it fails both times. i'm really not sure why gintoki and otose thought it would work, honestly. they should know their kids are stubborn as hell.

but gintoki is in a bind because of the things he needs to protect, and all of his actions are primarily in service of that, to the detriment of how he'd prefer to act if he were less restricted. he is unsurprised and unoffended to hear saigou is only willing to warn them, not help them, because her son is in danger if she acts directly. all four devas are, seemingly, being mutually restrained this way, holding back even when blatantly manipulated to do so. the other constant of this arc: everyone is dishonest, and no one wants to risk losing what they have.

gintoki understands that! of course! he's had to make that calculus before, after all :)

and this arc is just one big cliff scene echo: the entire graveyard scene pushing gintoki to emotional regression because he thinks he's losing another parent figure, one he's just seen the Gintoki Figure of the arc cut down, no less (takasugi stolen valor when he goes berserk against him and only ends up uselessly bleeding out on the ground about it, honestly). otose goes into this willingly so gintoki can live. he accepts this decision because he values protecting her values (her kids living on) and is briefly broken by it (the story says, before giving him shinpachi to "put him back on track"). prior to the bitchslap, after saying he just wants them to live, even if it has to be without him, he says:

i dont have a good understanding of when we start getting reveals of gintoki's backstory versus foreshadowing because i went into gintama already knowing most of it, but definitely by the recent red spider where we get our first real look at (or really, first listen to) shouyou. but here we actually get some of what gintoki felt about it, which he keeps closely guarded even when the whole truth comes out: he's done his best to survive having lost, but it was so unbearable he can't face losing again.

(also, honorable mention backstory echo, the person calling him a brother sets his home on fire to drive him and his parent figure out of town. as i liveblogged: this one would really hurt gintoki if gintoki cared about anything oboro ever did!)

but with the shinpachi story-rerouting, they get the good end, keep everyone (otose, yorozuya, all of kabukicho, even pirako and her dad - everyone but kada) safe without having to sacrifice a single thing, even keep gintoki hopeful for this outcome. so, as goose points out, we are left to understand that there could have been a good end on the cliff, that something is different here than there, and, skipping a lot of math, that that is the people around gintoki.

which i do find really funny to imagine as a slam on takasugi and katsura. sorry you kids suck too much, your teacher dies bc u were cringefail. but lets look at it.

everyone is dishonest, no one wants to risk what they have: gintoki rallies himself to keep fighting but is determined to do it alone. kagura and shinpachi fight him on this; they can't leave because they don't want to lose their home, they can't let him fight alone because they don't want to lose him. they're just as restricted by what they have to keep safe, but their only option is to act where everyone else's is inaction. shinpachi says:

if i may skip over the bitchslap itself for now, gintoki does consent to let his allies fight with him after it. yorozuya stands alone against saigou, who's heavily demoralized but resigned, strongarmed into fighting them by the threat to her son. but on seeing their resolve to keep protecting their own precious home and family she says:

and, to skip straight to my thought, i think this is what turns the tides back in their favor. there are more twists and turns to the fight. pirako equates what binds saigou, which she herself equates to what binds the yorozuya, to what binds her:

(with an intentional distinction that she's willing to actively destroy the others', as opposed to their purely self defensive fighting, which is echoed at some point in her distinguishing gintoki from jirochou in the same way, that jirochou not only lives to protect like gintoki but is willing to destroy in the process. i don't find that part as interesting, but it's more fuel to the power of having something to protect as a driving force as an arc theme.)

so now all three stand on the same ground, absolutely unwilling to give up what they hold dear, but all their cards are on the table. they aren't dealing in 12 dimensions of tricksy defensive pre-emptive moves anymore. they know it wouldnt work, anyways, since they all know their drives to protect are the same and no one will be talked into backing down. now they can directly duke it out and let the winner be determined that way, on strength of will. even before the actual circumstances change, the fight somehow feels freer seeing how inevitable it is. and with everything out in the open, yorozuya can now protect each other and saigou's son, taking out one side of the conflict.

(and with everything out in the open, the ultimate 4devas villain can become the single person who continues to betray the others, kada, whose further machinations - with everything out in the open! - saigou (and later yorozuya) can choose to protect pirako from. everyone wins! because everything was out in the open! do you see where i'm going)

and so we come back to the question: gintoki is corrected, the arc is rerailed to the better outcome. so is the correction justified?

what does the correction accomplish outside of its moment? most convincingly to me of goose's presented options, i also think it's done as a thematic shift, a, okay, just live was a strategy that worked before but now doesn't suffice, so we need something more.

as to why this is needed now and not earlier or later...tldr bad planning <3 but like.

we have, prior to this, a consistent thrust of arcs where gintoki teaches people to lose. as well, while we meet the harusame and we visit space and we get the barest glimpses of takasugi's weird shadowy background moves there, largely we're dealing with kabukicho characters and kabukicho stories. we see or only hear about the shogun for short comedic moments only. we've largely dropped the series intro focus on things like the shinsengumi or hasegawa acting as foreign diplomats. it's a local series, a hometown series, a kabukicho and not even an edo at large series, a personal story about gintoki making personal connections with his personal experience as a flawed person with a flawed approach to life that has let him, chronic slacker, get by on the bare minimum.

at this moment, chapter 300, we have a slow trickle of gintoki backstory starting to come out to us. we've recently expanded the story focus to include yoshiwara, which gets a callout in this arc by kada to keep it relevant. we have an arc of sorachi testing out plot beats that he'll use again for the endgame, in all the political maneuvering and alliancing and betraying and shadowy outsider space governmenting, where he's also doing a lot of echoing of that backstory that only becomes clear later. so it's possible he's thinking about shifting gears and setting up for the eventual endgame, which means getting out of the episodic cycle so things can stick.

and after this arc, to my opinion and memory, we stop getting the classic gintama flavor sympathizable'd antagonists. a lot of the bigger arcs don't even have clear Big Shot antagonists anymore, being more about the shouyoucore theme of characters fighting against themselves, or if there is one they're always explicitly part of the Shadow Government now, a unified and more daunting force than someone they can win over with an inspiring gintoki interaction.

so 4devas does act as a turning point at least in some way. and it's not possible to say this definitively, since all gintama arcs are ultimately never going to be about gintoki or his friends Actually losing something instead of beating the odds, but it does feel like theres a different flavor to, say, dekobokko with its direct look at how chars lives could be different and better and they will still choose to keep struggling as themselves. and Kintama arc definitely doesn't feel like an early days arc, like it can only resolve the way it does with a gintoki who is now able to face his past and the possibility of losing again and again and again (now with, natch, his faith that yorozuya will by his side when he does).

why now, after 300 chapters of letting it sit ignored in the back of his brain working out perfectly fine except when it doesn't (the very reminder of shouyou in a fight making him go Demon Mode, which is like regular gintoki but worse at fighting, bc he is so unprepared to think about shouyou)? well i personally am in big favor of the "take a decade off" strategy for facing problems. it worked for me too. realistically watsonianly its nice to let things percolate in the brain and do some of the processing behind the scenes until its less immediately painful. and he's made many bonds over these 300 chapters, shown in this arc when the whole town rallies behind him, that are there to support him when he needs it now and weren't there before.

realistically doylistly eh. bad planning.

and so we come back to the question: gintoki is corrected, the series as a result is rerailed to a writing space where things can start changing (leave the episodic, as you guys say, sazae-san format). it's useful in the future. so is the correction justified in terms of what comes before it? was the correction needed?

thinking about the bitchslap leads to thinking about the cliff scene leads to (sorry kagura and katsura, you guys arent really relevant here) pitting shinpachi and takasugi against each other in how they act with something on the line they can't bear to give up.

i don’t need the lesson of 4devas to apply logistically to the cliff scene. once they were set up on that chessboard, frozen in their assigned places as a backstory, it’s not like takasugi could’ve power of friendship’d his way out of being physically retrained if he decided he wanted to. it’s set up as a forced choice, it has to play out as a forced choice.

but we see that even before it’s asked of him, takasugi is willing, prepared, unbothered to give up his own life for shouyou’s. this is, goose lays out in the sequel, the cardinal sin in gintama - a teacher shouldn’t outlive their student. it would have been especially egregious to shouyou, whose whole desired life’s purpose is to raise students who can outlive him and outgrow him, take his lessons and go out into the world and do their own thing with them. takasugi doesn’t expect to do this and doesn’t seem to see a point in the possibility if shouyou isn’t back with them.

though we can also think of shouyou as a little too quickly willing to give up on the cliff - sorry, gintoki, the suicidal guy has thought about it for .02 seconds and decided the best outcome is for you to kill him even though he could get out of this no problem. maybe its no wonder gintoki gave up too. can we ask katsura what he would’ve done?

and is takasugi different from shinpachi there? he rejects the mentor’s attempt to exchange his own life for his. he’s not willing to consider a life without him.

but shinpachi is convinced no one is going to die. because they’ll be there together. incredibly naive - shinpachi and kagura, restricted to one option by what they need to protect like everyone is in 4devas, have acting as that one option because they are still free in a way gintoki and the other adults aren't. they’ve never actually experienced the impossible choice that forces you to give up, so they can act as if there isn’t one - what else would they do? why would they think to give up?

but gintoki is defined by having lived the impossible choice. its built into the foundation of him as a character and leaks out everywhere. he couldn’t have relied on his friends on the cliff because they were quite forcibly removed from the picture as an option, not by his or their choice. its written as an inevitability, logistics we find out later be damned.

if we refocus to 4devas, we can look at the Gintoki Figure for a different angle. jirochou, after he and gintoki resolve the arc conflict by being able to team up because they - say it with me - put everything out in the open, tells gintoki about his impetus for abandoning his family and coming back to his wayward life in kabukicho, the death of otose's husband.

it's, um, another now really obvious parallel to gintoki, lol. characters talk about how jirochou does everything he does in this arc to try to atone for his failure to both otose and tatsugorou, and i guess thats true bc he was written that way but he has an odd way of showing it, but anyways he resolves that, despite his guilt over this, all he can do now is keep living and keep protecting what they loved together. he's come to the usual gintama message all on his own, reinforcing that this is the correct way to live in this series. he had his own unavoidably shitty situation, and he came to terms with it.

so then where did jirochou go wrong, in the narrative's eyes (other than abandoning one woman and their child to deal drugs in the town of his other woman while ignoring her)? was there a point he could've changed how their trio's story played out? but he loved and trusted tatsugorou, and he was happy to step aside and let him be the one by their otose's side. i doubt he would have been happy stealing her away even if it were possible.

but if we look at the resolution tool of 4devas... he never put everything out in the open!!! everyone knows he loved otose, but in more of an open secret way. in classic romance plot, he never confessed for second male lead rejection closure. indeed, in the closest we ever get to a main character having a romantic plot in gintama, the very ending of the arc flirts with him doing just that now that he's made a little progress with the arc message, with the entire cast of the arc expecting him to (and interrupting before he can).

but if he had when they were young. if he had been honest with his friends. could it have opened up other options that weren't available on his own, that they didnt know to offer? i have a preferred one lol. but u can get creative with all sorts of life paths that avoid tatsugorou dying that way or, at the least, jirochou feeling chained to a shameful life (living in a town he doesn't go out in to protect a woman he doesnt talk to and feeling like he doesnt deserve the family he abandoned for this) because of it.

and then if we take this and rewind back to the cliff... we get to grind my favorite ax, "shouyou shouldve told literally anyone literally anything about his deal." if gintoki knew more about shouyou, they could've faced his horrors together, the whole time. he couldve known that shouyou was being literal calling himself a demon and not internalized his own identity as one for life just because shouyou bonded with him over it. i truly genuinely think the logical conclusion of all of gintama's big messages are that shouyou and gintoki should have been more open with each other.

but i don't think sorachi thinks that. and, you know, by 4devas rules, the unriskable precious things he was protecting by staying silent were his students' humanity, and secondarily his own fragilely newly hopeful heart that literally couldnt stand another 10 millionth round of rejection (killed himself and then went on a 12 year rampage over it. girl i would too).

and takasugi really isn't dishonest about what's going on in his head when he tells us he expects to die for shouyou. that's as cards on the table as i could ask. gintoki is, a little bit, by omission. he does what i'd want him to here - tells takasugi try just not dying - but doesn't give him a reason to, and doesn't tell him he has no plans of letting anyone die for shouyou.

so what goes wrong on the cliff - shouyou is happy, gintoki is happy, oboro's even kind of happy, katsura is irrelevant - is that takasugi is blindsided (whoops) by their silent agreement that betrays the one he thought he and gintoki had. and then ruins everyone's party about it and spends the next ten years doing so for good measure.

which is also, basically, what shinpachi is going through that prompts the bitchslap, too. he thought they were a team, that they had each others backs, not that gintoki is a one-way protector of them. he is blindsided by gintoki lying to and tricking them and hiding things from them. he is hurt by gintoki feeling hopeless all by himself when he could share that with them and be encouraged by their endless child optimism.

and would it need to have changed anything on the cliff? in the moment after the bitchslap, what contributes to gintoki changing his mindset is tama telling him, we trust that you're capable bc youve always shown us that, can you trust us this time? when, later in the arc, gintoki seems to regress by sending kagura and shinpachi away, he asks them to trust that he's still trusting them, relying on them to help shoulder his burden, and in return they know he's staying alive, not self sacrificing. maybe it would've helped just to feel on the same team and not shut out, to be able to trust gintoki like gintoki was trusting shouyou?

so. two paralleled instances of gintoki making a bad situation worse by keeping to himself and being too self sufficient. that feels clear cut that feels fine im okay with that as a takeaway. do i think its exactly what sorachi had in mind while writing this, as opposed to just a good series 'hey lean on your friends' moment to read cool and tug at the heartstrings? eh lol. i think theres definitely room to read takasugi into this arc (i still need to refind the takagin 4devas post...) but its not so baked in that i think he was a PRIORITY in the plotting.

but is the shinpachi SCOLDING necessary is the scolding justified... and yes its in response to life doesnt need to be fun i just want you to live. still a confusing framing i can't immediately square. but/and more immediately its directly responding. to gintoki opening up to them about his insecurities!!

which, as said, he doesnt do!! he doesnt talk about his failures! its basically like, here and to hijikata that one time and otherwise even when we know all the facts about what happened we still never hear gintoki himself talk about it. (so he really DOESNT learn the lesson here either. he stays dissociated and triggered every time utsuro comes up. he tries to solve the altana baby problem on his own. he doesnt talk to his new friends OR his old friends. bwah. gintoki. silver soul.)

so this is like. its just in the wrong order!! its just in a baffling order lol. if you want gintoki to share his burden do you need to punch him when he shares it. does it also need to sound like you're blaming him for not being capable of upholding his promise to protect anyone when thats the insecurity thats got him all discombobulated this arc in the first place (a whole set of notes i took on this that i didnt find a place for in this post)?? its so weeeeiiiiiirddd lol i dont liiikeee itttttt. theres plenty of things shinpachi can validly punch gintoki for but this is such a weird one.

so i guess. having a clearer understanding of this arc do i hate it less? YES honestly. i hate fakeout plots generally they irritate me but everything... more or less makes sense by gintama standards now that i have the whole plot in mind.

do i hate jirochou less SORT OF? i enjoy him. in his individual relationships. i like his shitty dad deal i love shitty dads. i like him pining for otose who genuinely likes him but also brings up her husband every sentence she says to him just to keep him down. i like his parallels with gintoki that they both explicitly acknowledge and find macho comfort in. hes still not theeeeeeeee most well-developed gintama antagonist but you know? i at least think otose and pirako would want to be around him after this.

do i feel like i have a clearer understanding of the bitchslap moment. NOT CONVINCED I DO. i feel like its going to be one of those things that slips in and out of my understanding like sand in cupped hands. i have a tentative understanding of it that i dont think sorachi actually had in mind. so i dont think ive solved it lol.

will i be cursed to think about 4devas forever? god i hope not. am i okay with it beating farewell shins in the polls. god i fucking hope it does. in the horrible timeline where i have to see 305 make it all the way and then lose i guess id rather it be to this one than to hijigin. consider this poll propaganda?

#sopping wet gintoki posting

[comicaurora]

Do you know of any other good cartoons, especially if they don't end on a cliffhanger?

Is it my birthday already?

ReBoot (s1-3)

You've already all heard my pitch for this, but TLDR it's set inside a computer, the heroes defend the integrity of their home system by battling viruses, playing games and defeating The User, a godlike being outside their comprehension (aka us). Evolves from episodic pop-culture referential humor into an incredibly immersive and fraught character drama unpacking the nature of heroism, family, growing up and losing who you used to be vs growing up and not losing yourself, and what it means to become a monster to defeat a monster. A series technically canceled that ends on the mother of all cliffhangers, but the season that was canceled was the bonus season they weren't expecting to get anyway, and also it sucks. Watch the first three seasons instead, they form a cohesive overarching narrative and end incredibly satisfyingly.

Batman Beyond

50 years after Batman: The Animated Series, hooligan with a heart of gold Terry McGinnis becomes the new Batman, quippier, capeless and a bit more irresponsible than the old one, guided by an old and reluctantly retired Bruce Wayne. Basically "what if Batman were Spider-Man", but somehow really good. Like most DC cartoons from that era, ends with a loose "and the adventure continues" vibe. Highly episodic, a couple two-parters sprinkled in there for flavor. Also has a few follow-up comic series, some of which are even good! As a corollary, the other DC cartoons in this zone are also good - Justice League, Batman: The Animated Series, etc.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

The best version of The Avengers. A team of colorful superheroes slowly assemble over the course of the first half of the first season, fighting a very large rogue's gallery and occasionally each other. Contains the best version of Thor ever written and an astoundingly good portrayal of Captain America, but the entire core cast are well-written and have solid interpersonal dynamics - half the fun of each episode is just seeing what unique friendships every random subset of The Avengers have with each other. Having recently rewatched some of it I can say I actually think the first season is the best it gets, and the second season struggles in places - a few episodes become full-on idiot plots to facilitate certain plotlines (Hulk vs Red Hulk being the worst offender) but the second season has a nice conclusive finale and a few bright spots of characterization. Captain America's writing is rock-solid all the way through, which it needs to be to make the Secret Invasion plotline work. The first season is incredibly good.

Transformers: Prime

Robots in disguise etc etc, a crack team of autobots live in hiding on Earth fighting decepticons and occasionally ferrying their three human friends to school. Good team dynamics, a fantastic portrayal of Optimus Prime as a rock-solid paragon hero, a team dad and a millennia-old warrior of incredible skill who is very, very tired. Great versions of Megatron and Starscream, lots of other fun secondary characters. Three seasons, portrays a very slow war very well - ground is gained and lost from episode to episode, big battles feature every single asset the heroes have managed to scrape together in previous arcs, etc. Also portrays how fucking terrifying it would be to be a squishy human child underfoot during a giant robot fight. Dwayne The Rock Johnson is in the first five minutes of the show until he gets killed for being too expensive. The 3D animation takes a little getting used to, and I say that as someone who genuinely likes how ReBoot looks.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

preaching to the choir with this one here on tumblr.hell, but this show slaps. A reboot of the 80s cartoon, but the kind of reboot that's basically the story someone would make up when playing with the original's officially licensed action figures. Loyal horde soldier Adora learns to her shock that she's actually on the bad guy side (and also can transform into a magical warrior with a fancy sword) and immediately defects to team good guy, which is seen as the ultimate betrayal by her best friend/repressed childhood crush Catra, who doubles down on the bad-guy thing super hard for four seasons. Characters written with a surprising amount of emotional depth who often react to things more realistically than one might expect - frustration, lingering anger, calling people out for mistreating them, etc. Shouldn't be a high bar, and yet so many shows just use characters as emotionless props incapable of advocating for themselves ever.

Castlevania

Dracula's wife is killed by the church and he sets out to exterminate all of humanity in retribution. He's opposed by three heroes of varying levels of heroism - his half-vampire son Alucard, the speaker magician Sypha, and Trevor Belmont, last son of the family of monster-hunters who dedicated their entire existence to fighting Dracula. Animation is absolutely gorgeous but very not kid-friendly. Ends on a completely satisfying and happy note, which is shocking considering the tone of the show leading up to it.

Hilda

A very, very cozy and adorable urban fantasy slice-of-life story about Hilda, a little girl from the wilderness who moves to the big city with her mother after their house is accidentally crushed by a giant. Features a lot of scandinavian folklore. Got two seasons and a movie that wraps everything up pretty solidly. Absolutely incredible aesthetic with occasional moments of abject horror, just how I like it.

Dishonorable mentions, aka shows I watched but can't 100% recommend because of Grievances I Will Enumerate:

Centaurworld

A warhorse from a war-torn world falls through a portal and gets isekai'd into a brightly-colored magical bubblegum dimension where everyone is a boggle-eyed magical centaur. First season has incredible musical numbers, like broadway level stuff, and it's got some appealing nightmare fuel, but the problem I keep running into is the silly elements are so over-the-top that they undercut the serious parts in a big way. Also, the appeal of a cohesive found family narrative is pretty seriously undercut when the entire found family is composed of joke characters that don't experience plausible emotional investment in their circumstances and don't act like people. The thing is, this isn't a mistake, this is very deliberate on the part of the show and it's doing what it's doing incredibly intentionally - I just don't think I like it.

Dota: Dragon's Blood

A dragon-slaying warrior gets whammied with a dragon curse that sometimes turns him into a monster, and also about a million other things happen. Not finished yet, so I can't guarantee it won't end on a cliffhanger. Based on a game series I'm unfamiliar with, and unfortunately, unlike Arcane (which I would whole-heartedly recommend, it just currently left off on a cliffhanger) it doesn't really seem to know how to stand on its own without the game lore. It jumps around a lot between a huge number of characters, and a lot of the time it's not clear why we're watching what we're watching. I do like the parts of it I've seen! I just haven't been able to stick with it because it feels so scattered.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

An anime based in the universe of Cyberpunk 2077, which is in turn basically just Shadowrun with none of the interesting fantasy elements. A gritty and unpleasant universe where everyone is a jerk, everyone is very narratively disposable and only bad things happen. Seems to have nothing an audience is supposed to get invested in - it gives us a colorful squad of found-family types but covers the entire friend-making in a dialogue-free montage and then kills all of them in like two episodes, it gives us a romance but undercuts it with a timeskip covering the actual getting-together part, it seems to have a theme about how believing you're special is bad but it also demonstrates at several points that the hero actually is kinda special, it has an extremely solid anticapitalist theme but because it's a cyberpunk dystopia nightmare there's nothing any of the main characters can actually do about any of it, etc. I watched it all in one go and the whole thing slid out of my head right after. Also this is a niche complaint but the use of futuristic cyberpunk slang nonstop in the dialogue might really grate on you. The animation is very nice, though.

Tales of Arcadia (Trollhunters, 3 Below, Wizards)

Urban fantasy series made in large part by Guillermo Del Toro, featuring a whole bunch of characters doing assorted fun things - some chosen by magical artifacts, some alien royalty on the run from a civil war, one the apparently-immortal apprentice of Merlin, etc. I whole-heartedly recommend all three of these shows! I do not recommend the grand finale movie, which feels like it was written by someone who read the script notes for the previous shows and nothing else. Ends with a timeline reset that completely undoes the entire timeline of the series. Because it ends with a retcon, the movie feels comfortable killing characters pointlessly and letting our heroes act totally out of character whenever convenient. A bafflingly terrible ending for a series I otherwise really, really liked.

#asks #not aurora #media recs

[unadulterated-syd]

warnings; mentions of Stiles' mom (deceased)

synopsis; reader comforts Stiles' after what he sees at Lydia's party.

a/n; i haven't watched teen wolf in like a year and a half, so this may not be super accurate but i miss stiles and lack the time to rewatch :(

You stood beside him at the party, watching his silent freak out. His eyes were trained to someone who wasn't there, a piece of his mind haunting him whilst you stood idly besides him.

His eyes broke from whatever was bothering him and fell on you. The tears in his eyes nearly broke you in an instant. What could have possibly gone this wrong, what was he seeing that you weren't?

Teen minutes ago you were drinking and watching him from afar. You had no idea why you were at Lydia's party anymore, she'd far from ever spared you a glance. Suppose everyone was avoiding her now, she was lucky to have Stiles to put this together.

But now the origins didn't seem to matter, he needed to leave. You could see that much by just looking at him. "Did you..?" He looked at you, eyes glancing between you and the empty space in front of him.

You tilted your head, confused by his question, "Nothing's there, Stilinski. Just a bunch of drunks." He seemed to shaken up to reprocess your response. Even if you had seen whatever he'd seen, you reckon it wouldn't change a thing.

"Let me drive you home, you look like you've seen a ghost." You told him, setting your own drink down on one of the outside tables. Not like you had to clean it up anyway. "No, no... I can drive. Have fun." He began his chase to his jeep, though you followed.

You grabbed his arm after you'd finally caught up, the two of you in the driveway by now. "Stiles knock it off, I wouldn't have fun if I knew I let you go home like this. What's wrong? Talk to me." You reasoned with the teen in front of you.

It was like a switch flipped in him, you'd been there when his mom died. Every up and down you had been the one to follow after him, look after him. He felt like shit, and somewhere deep down he knew you were the only one who would understand that. The only one who hadn't learned werewolves were everywhere, now after Scott and he. You were the only one that saw his problems as worthy.

He still couldn't bring himself to tell you, he just handed over his keys and found himself in the passenger seat. You groaned at his will to stay silent but appreciated the idea of trust. He didn't want anyone with him, yet he trusted you to drive him home. Even if you were drunk.

And so you drove, the radio low and the moon high. As he looked out the window, some Katy Perry party song hung in the air. Driving past the Sheriff's office, you quickly realized Noah Stilinski wasn't there, meaning he was home. "You want to stay at mine? Your dad's home, he'll probably find us out." You offered quietly.

He seemed to freeze up at the mention of his dad but nodded, agreeing to the favorable choice; your house.

You pulled in, and parked the old Jeep, looking at Stiles again. Who knew what your next move was, he was rarely ever like this. Upset, quiet, two words you rarely associated with him. One could say he never shut-up, though it flattered him well. His nervous rambling always made you feel better.

You looked down at your hands, before letting out a breath and opening the driver's side door. "It was my dad. He told me I killed my mom. That it was my fault." He told you nervously, stopping you from going any further.

You looked at him, slowly shutting the door and you once more tilted your head. "And you believe that?" You whispered the question, scared you may shatter him if you talked any louder. "I guess. A little. He made sense when he said it, y'know."

You heard the sniff as he rubbed his nose, his eyes miraculously dry still. "He'd never say that to you, Stiles. Your brain'll be the death of you if you keep listening to it." You paused, putting a hand on his forearm, "She loved you more than anything, goofball. I just wish she were here to tell you that herself."

But, before he could continue to dwell on that fact, you cut him off. "Let's go inside. I can show you all the embarrassing photos she used to show me. " You teased, watching his face light up as he groaned at the idea.

#stiles stilinski #stiles stilinski fluff #teen wolf #stiles stilinski angst #syds page #teen wolf angst #stiles stilinksi x reader #stiles stilinski drabble #stiles stilinksi imagine

[half-truths-and-hyperbole-louk]

Louk's Bad Batch rewatch part 9 batchersss

Let's do it 🤟

The Bad Batch 1x05

"I get my own comm device?" she's so excited and it's so big on her lil arm 🥺🤲

Wrecker working out with Gonky

Echo: "the jedi trusted him" Tech: "the jedi who are all dead" bro 💀 I mean he has a point but still

dad batch telling Omega her comm isn't a toy...

*2 seconds later* Omega sneaking off to use her comm as a toy 😂

Echo and Hunter mom and dad going through the rules with Omega

(fun fact my mum knows their rules because I say them to her lmao)

Tech's reaction to seeing Cid's place is literally "charming 👀" oml he's roasting her before he even meets her I love him sm

the two guys Ahsoka set free !!! on Oba diah !!!

Hunter: 'who is Cid?' Echo: 'I literally have no idea' 💀

Tech: "that would've been information to share earlier" brooo his sass level as at an all time high this ep 👑

TURN AROUND RN BOYS ITS NOT WORTH IT

Omega is so smart fr 💕

Echo mom grabbing Omega's hand before she touches the sharp thingy

CID WHY TF DO YOU HAVE CLONE HELMETS IN YOUR STUPID LITTLE OFFICE LIKE THEYRE DECORATIONS

I don't hate a lot of star wars characters, but Cid is definitely one of them now ngl

DONT DO IT BOYS IT'S A TRAP

Wrecker and Omega high five 💕💕💕💕

Cid called Wrecker "it" I'm- 😡

Wreckers headaches are getting worse 🥲🙃

I know someone has spoken about this before but I just cannot get over the way Omega hugs her little clone doll when she finds out some people are sold and treated like property 😭💔 it's like poetry but not the nice kind

Omega: "poor Muchi she looks scared" 🤲

another fun fact my dad says this all the time hehe oops (no my parents have not seen tbb)

oop Hunter dad told Omega to stay on the ship

shhh they're sneaking 🤫

I MISS THEM SO BAD THEYRE DOING MISSION THINGS LIKE "Echo, sitrep" idk it just feels so tcw I'm emotional 🥲

Wrecker hits his head count: 5

Hunter and Tech got the zappy net oop

Omega: "now she's a bad batcher" screaming, crying, kicking my feet, throwing myself across the room

Omega always calls for Hunter first 🥺

STOP ZAPPING OUR BOYS 😡

Wrecker trying to comfort the lil green baby 🥲

Tech's dramatic sigh count: 583

Omega has the brain cell this ep fr

THE TALKING WITHOUT WORDS GETS ME EVERY FREAKING TIME I SWEAR

ew get ur crusty feral slaver ass outta here, skug

lmao Echo shouting to Omega like 'we are unarmed pls arm us' 😂

WAIT I saw someone posting about this, if anyone knows what I'm talking about pls tag the op or something please !! but they were talking about how Echo seems so willing to work with Omega in the field, like he trusts her despite her being a child, possibly because he'd worked alongside Ahsoka as a child, like for him it's normal to work with a child soldier. so while the rest of the batch are like ??? how to talk to babies ??? Echo is giving her battlefield instructions and gives her a bit more 'freedom' (for lack of a better word) in the field

lmao Wrecker's way of distracting the guards is to take out some guy's ankles 💀

"I wasn't sneaking... I was unlocking" YESSSS OMEGAAAA 🥰💕👑🙌

screwdriver hand go brrr

Echo: "the rancor is Muchi???" 🤨🙃 poor baby just needs a nap fr

okay but Hunter just throws Echo's pack at him from like 10ft away 💀 then Wrecker immediately throws him his helmet 👀 yes I watched it multiple times 🤫

Echo again !! he straight up volunteers to take Omega with him 💕

Tech is an ipad kid

OMEGA GRABBING THE LITTLE GREEN BABY'S HAND 🥺

get them Muchi !! tear those slavers apart !!! (insert evil Nimona face)

Wrecker's big nod to slide his helmet over his face properly teehee

Wrecker hits his head count: 6

Hunter grabbing the whip. Hunter grabbing the whip. Hunter grabbing the whip. Hunter grabbing the-

do not ask me how many times I've watched this scene... just don't

but the answer is yes

anyway back to being normal lmao

Omega finding her laser bow 🙌 !!! + Echo mom calling aftet her lololol

Muchi thrashed that slaver pet fr

Wrecker: 'challenge accepted' *fights rancor*

Bib Fortuna and the guards for the ot vibes 🥰

Omega riding Muchi !!! very Fett of her hehe

"I'm good with secrets" yeah and I'm good at going to bed before 3am 🙄 pfft good with secrets my ass Ciddarin 😠

tysm for joining again friends 💕 I actually meant to post this yesterday but I fell asleep oopsie

but I'm running out of time lolol so I'm gonna have to watch a few eps a day now !!

who else is terrified for s3 👀

It's almost 3am and these are the only 2 pics I can find from this ep 🥲 feel free to reblog and add more 💕

#louk’s bad batch rewatch #star wars #hunter the bad batch #the bad batch hunter #bad batch hunter #hunter bad batch #wrecker tbb #tbb wrecker #wrecker bad batch #echo tbb #tbb echo #echo bad batch #bad batch echo #tech bad batch #the bad batch tech #bad batch tech #tbb tech #omega tbb #omega bad batch #tbb omega #bad batch omega #tech the bad batch #the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #bad batch #hunter tbb #arc trooper echo #clone trooper wrecker #tech tbb #tbb

[seriouslycromulent]

My rewatch of The John Larroquette Show (so far)

In my effort to keep my Larroquette obsession thriving, I've recently started a rewatch of The John Larroquette Show. Like Night Court (which I rewatched in 2022), I remember watching this show when it originally aired.

But unlike Night Court, my memory of most of the episodes is a bit fuzzy. I remember the main characters and their personalities just fine, but not so much what happens in terms of the storyline.

Regardless, I'm enjoying the rewatch, and I'm pleasantly surprised by how much the show holds up over time, how evergreen the topics are, and how strong the jokes are. Seriously. They are constantly telling jokes that I swear are as old as vaudeville, but they kill in terms of laughs from the audience and from me as well.

Example: In s2e8 "The Book of Rachel," Mayim Bialik guest stars as a young hippie-ish woman named Rachel who shows up in hopes of finding out if John Hemingway (JL's character) is her real dad. She's narrowed down the search to 3 men who knew her mom, who was living wild and free back in the '70s, around that time.

When John asks how her mother's doing, Rachel says, "She's doing pretty good. She's been clean for about 5 years now." John, a recovering alcoholic who's been sober for 1 year, says, "That's great! So no more drugs and booze, huh?" And Rachel says, "Oh no, there's still plenty of drugs and booze. She's just been bathing regularly for 5 years."

I'm not telling it very well in writing, but I swear to you, that joke is funny as hell, and Mayim and JL's delivery is perfection. Plus, it got a huge laugh from the audience, which speaks to its timeless nature.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a thought or two on the show so far. (I'm on episode 12 of Season 2, just in case anyone wants to know the context.)

Here are some random thoughts I've had so far:

Like Night Court, the show does a solid job of mixing comedy and drama. The first season is a bit more drama heavy because they dealt more with the recovery storyline, but I think it still worked and the whole concept is still pretty daring (i.e., revolving around the unglamorous lives of people who work in and around a bus station at night) even compared to today's sitcoms, which still tend to play it safe.

JL's hair in the first season is absurdly long. Or at least it gets to be absurdly long about halfway through the season. And it's not a good look. Not because he looks bad with long hair, but because it looks like it takes a lot of upkeep. And a man who is working 3rd shift at a bus station and lives in a halfway house/SRO building doesn't seem like he'd have a strict hair care regimen to make it appear perfectly tamed at all time. Seriously, at one point I had to ask out loud, "I wonder if they curl the ends with a curling iron or do they use rollers?"

This may be the first TV show I ever saw Chi McBride in. Despite seeing him on plenty of TV shows and films over the years, I never knew he had such a lovely singing voice. I'm glad they gave him a chance to share his singing talent. His version of "Danny Boy" in season 1 was very good.

The 2 corrupt police officers who blatantly flaunt their bias and awfulness are both funny and a great commentary on what was happening in America at the time (i.e., the Rodney King police beating, and the aftermath of the verdict was still very fresh in everyone's minds then). Sadly, it is an evergreen topic for the U.S., but I think it says a lot about the writers for TJLS that they attacked the subject so openly and didn't shy away of being critical of police or lampooning them. I don't think a modern American sitcom would approach the subject so brazenly and unapologetically today. JL has said in a number of interviews that the show was kind of ahead of its time. And I'm inclined to agree with him, at least in some areas.

It's so cool going back to watch old TV shows and catching actors who have now become bigger names in the business. I just watched an episode with Jane Lynch working as a mental health care professional. Of course, this was way before she found success on Glee and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Does JL manage to work in a reference to Samuel Beckett into everything he works on starting with this series? It's starting to function as his own career Easter egg at this point. I'm not complaining. Just wondering.

I know Don Reo created the show, but I suspect JL had a small amount of his life's adventures and details shape the John Hemingway character (like the Beckett references, his running commentary on anything that happened in the 1960s, his openness about being friends with anyone from any background, etc.). But the only way to truly know this is for JL to 1) tell us in Q&As or interviews, or 2) write an autobiography already, dammit!

In s2e1 "Changes," JL sits down in a chair by swinging his leg over the back of it, and I immediately thought of the Riker Maneuver. I know JL did it before Jonathan Frakes on TNG, but it will always be the Riker Maneuver to me.

Another way the show was ahead of its time was in its portrayal of sex workers and trans people. Most of the time, it's played for comedy on the show (I mean, it is a sitcom after all), but there's a very real attempt to share stories of Carly, Teddi and Pat that are humanizing. Teddi and Pat are trans sex workers, but they are accepted by most (not the male cop) and aren't just the butt of jokes. They even get included in simple things like group poker games and asked to watch the lunch counter when Dexter runs off to do something or other. That might seem like not a big deal, but at that time (the mid-90s), most inclusion of hookers and trans folks on TV usually involved heavy drama like trying to save them from their lives or begrudgingly acknowledging that they were a part of society with disdain and ridicule. And the overall acceptance of Carly as a friend and possible love interest without trying to save her or judge her was also a bit ahead of its time. And when there were moments of judgment, they were faced head on and challenged.

#john larroquette #the john larroquette show #fandom #i don't have a problem #you have a problem

[backtothefanfiction]

You Can't Outrun The Reaper | A Joel Miller x Reader Story

Summary: He thought he was saving her life, turns out he was just delaying the inevitable, the reaper will always take what's his.

Warnings: 18+ Only. Genre typical violence, smut, mentions of blood, guns, attempted sexual assault, infected, angst, nostalgia, running for your life, no use of Y/N, a little smut, small daddy kink, oh and of course death.

Word Count: 5.6k

A/N: @amy172 went absolutely, and I quote, "bananas" over the little Joel blurb I wrote the other day and asked for more. Now, that was only supposed to be one short thing, but somehow while at work my mind went wondering and somehow we ended up here. I am not an expert on the series, I know a little about the game from having very nerdy friends who were into it when it first came out and of course watched the series when it was released but haven't rewatched or read many other fanfics since (well until the last couple days anyway) so if things don't sound right, I apologies, hopefully you'll like it anyway. There is honestly so much f*cking pain coded into this story but hey... enjoy.

Running. So much running. That’s all she’d known for months now, however over the last week, she felt like she’d run more than she had ever run since outbreak day.

“Bobby, what did you do?” she chastised her brother, a look of horror on her face.

They had been raiding an old minimart when he had found the stupid shooting game in the back. She had told him not to. Told him to leave it alone, but no, her stupid man child of a 34 year old brother couldn’t help himself.

Ever since the outbreak it had been just them. Her Mom had called her frantically on the phone, “There’s something wrong with Darren!” she screeched down the phone. Darren, their step dad, not that either of them ever referred to him as that. She had been 26, Bobby 29, when their Mother had remarried. “Darren, honey.” she heard her Mom’s voice say tentatively down the line. There was screaming before the line went dead. Her and Bobby had immediately hopped in the car to travel to her, but they never made it.

It had happened so fast. “Look there’s nothing out there. They’re all hanging around closer to the QZ where there’s life.” Bobby had said. “It’ll be fine.”

He had plugged the game in, it starting up with this awful techno music from the 90s, Bobby grabbed one of the guns holstered to the console as he clicked buttons. Pew! Pew! It was so loud. 

“Bobby, turn it off. TURN IT OFF!” she said louder as she wrestled the gun from his hands before reaching to pull the plug. There was sudden silence.

“See I told you it would be fine.” 

He had spoken too soon. There was a loud snarl as a body came hurtling down from upstairs.

“RUN!” Bobby had said. “Go! RUN!”

Bobby raced to where he had left his gun next to the cash register, the creature racing after him. She watched over her shoulder as she began to race down one of the small aisles, her heartbeat pounding in her ears, adrenaline coursing through her body. She picked back up her own backpack and knife. She froze at the shadow of another human shaped creature moving past the window. Fuck.

There was one gun shot after another and she turned her head to see her brother, wrestling with the fungus covered 20 year old. “Bobby watch out!” she cried as she began to tip one of the shelves over onto the kid.

“Quick, let's go!” Bobby grunted as they raced to the door but he suddenly jolted still, the feeling of a hand tightly grasped around his ankle holding him in place. He pulled his leg hard, the fingernails of the young 20 something year old now half trapped under the shelf stack, scratching at his skin as he pulled himself free.

She pulled her own gun out of her bag as she exited the main door of the shop, her body turning in the direction of the other body she had noticed through the window. She fired once, twice, the second hitting the infected in the head and it collapsed onto the ground, just as her brother came out of the shop, fast on her heels.

“Quick, back towards the trees.” Her brother said. She didn’t second guess his judgement as she ran. Even after they reached the treeline she didn’t stop. She just kept going.

She didn’t stop until her limbs were screaming, her chest heaving, lungs burning. She braced her hands on her thighs as she doubled over taking deep gasping breaths. “Did we out run them? Are they gone?” she panted. Nothing. She stood up, her hands bracing her side as she turned around, “Bobby?” He wasn’t there, she was alone. “Bobby?” she asked again a little louder as she began to double back.

She caught up with him, hunched over his leg, his back resting against a tree trunk, panting. “Bobby.” she hissed with relief.

When he looked up at her, his face told her everything. When she looked down to his hands wrapped around his leg it only confirmed things more. Two large bite marks were on his leg.

“Dolly, you need to get out of here.” he said as she began to shake her head. “Dolly-”

“No. NOO,” she wailed a little louder, her throat closing up, tears welling in her eyes. “I can’t lose you too! No..” 

He watched as her face screwed up, her lip trembling. “You can’t stay here! You’ve gotta go!”

“Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do!”

“Head back to the QZ.” She shook her head. “No, you need to go back. You can’t stay out here on your own.”

“No.”

“Go!”

“No.” she shook her head again but her feet were already stepping backwards.

“GO!” he shouted.

She couldn’t say goodbye. She had to pretend he’d be coming back. That she was going on ahead and he would catch up.

She thought that again now as her feet pounded into the concrete, her lungs burning, thighs and arms aching but she had to push forward, she couldn’t let them get her.

“Where are you going baby?”

“Yeah come back here!” Their voices jeered at her.

She had run out of bullets two days ago. She did still have her knife but to use it she’d have to be up close to them and she knew that would be pointless. They were both much larger than her, they’d over power her the second they got their hands on her. She needed to keep running. 

She darted into an open door, making her way through the rooms of the lower half of the building, looking for a back door. Shit! It had long been barricaded, there was no way she’d be able to move the furniture in time to get through it. At the sound of footsteps behind her she knew it was already too late anyway.

“Come here, baby.”

“We just want to have some fun.” They cooed to her as they circled her, backing her into the corner of the room.

“No. NO!” she said as she flashed them her knife, snarling at them like a honey badger, trying to make herself seem more deadly than she was, or at the very least like she’d be too much of a hassle. 

They just laughed as they lunged at her. She screamed and cried out as the knife was ripped from her hands, her body wrestled to the floor. She could feel their hands, groping at her body and her clothes and she closed her eyes as she fought the helpless cries and sobs that tore from her throat.

“HEY!” A gruff voice shouted from the doorway.

The two men stilled and she slowly opened her eyes as their hands removed themselves from her body.

“Hey, man.” One of them said as he sidled up to the man standing in the doorway. “Why don’t you go and find your own-” The man didn’t get to finish his sentence before there was a gunshot.

Her hands flew up instinctively to her head, covering her face as the other guy who had been assaulting her lunged forward for the man in the doorway. She held her body tight in a ball against the wall as she listened to the scuffle. Grunting and groaning, the cling of metal, she assumed one of them had picked up her knife. 

“Hey get the fuck off me man!” she heard her attacker cry before- BANG! There was another shot and a loud thud as another body hit the floor. 

She whimpered as she continued to push herself against the wall, her eyes closed tight as she heard heavy footsteps make their way towards her. The light changed as he crouched down, his body looming over her. She flinched when his hand rested upon her shoulder.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she screamed.

“Hey, hey, hey.” the guy's deep voice said softer. She slowly lifted her head.

“Dolly?” He said, as recognition took over.

“JOEL!” she cried out as her own recognition of her saviour took place, her arms quickly wrapping around his neck, her fingers clinging onto his shirt for dear life. She sobbed into his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” he tried to soothe her as he placed his gun down on the floor and pressed a large reassuring hand to her back.

She suddenly pushed herself back, half desperate for air, half desperate to check it was really him. Yes, it was him.

‘Fuck! Dolly, what are you doing here?” Her chest twinged at the old nickname, a memory of a life that felt so long ago, not just a few months. It was one thing to hear it from her brother, another to hear it from someone she’d barely known before all this happened.

Dolly. Dolly Daydream. It’s what her Dad had called her. She’d always had her head up in the clouds. It was exactly where she had been the moment she first met Joel. Him and Tommy interrupting her in the office to come and get their paychecks. Her Dad had hired them to come and do some work on the housing estate his firm was building, needing the extra pair of hands.

“Dolly, where’s Bobby?” his gruff voice pressed her when she remained silent. The way her face fell he already knew. It was a look everyone had grown accustomed to. The ‘they aren’t here no more’ look, the ‘they’re one of them now’ look. “Where were you headed?” he asked her and she fought to find her voice, her throat hoarse from screaming.

“To the QZ. Bobby told me to go- but then they-” she hastily explained as she looked at the two bodies now on the ground.

“Don’t look at them.” Joel said grounding her, forcing her to look at him and only him. “Is that where you wanna go?” Joel pressed her, his deep brown eyes boring into her.

“I don’t know.” she replied honestly. There was a silence between them. “Joel, I’ve got no one left.”

“That’s not true.” he tried to reassure her. “You’ve got me okay? I’m gonna get you out of here okay. Find you somewhere safe.”

“Okay.” she said quietly, her head instinctively agreeing and nodding before she could even process what that would mean.

She let him escort her back to the QZ, sneaking her in through a secret route in the side before taking her back to his assigned apartment.

“Who’s that?” Tess had asked him when she had got back an hour later.

“Tess, this is Dolly.” Joel had introduced them. “I ummm, I used to work for her Dad sometimes.”

“Okay, but what is she doing here?” Tess pressed him.

“She’s got nowhere else to go. The rest of her family are gone Tess. It was lucky I found her.” Joel tried to explain in a way that told Tess there was no question about it, Dolly would be staying with them and that was that.

“So what Joel you just sneak her in? That’s not how this is done and you know it. What happens when they find out? What if she’s carrying the virus?”

“She’s not.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I checked.”

Dolly felt awkward as she listened to them argue in the kitchen from the small living room.

“I can just go.” She had said to Joel after Tess had stormed out.

“No, don’t be ridiculous.” Joel reassured her, his hand resting on her thigh as he sat next to her on the couch.

The moment reminded her of another. Her birthday, a couple years ago. They had all gone out to a local bar for a drink. Tommy and Joel had been invited by her brother at the last minute. She had been drinking gin. mother’s ruin they called it and they weren’t wrong. Just another long line of things she had picked up from her mother. Mother knows best after all. They had taken a moment out from dancing, her head growing dizzy, Joel, not one for dancing, keeping her company as he helped her back towards an empty leather sofa.

“You doing okay there?” he checked in with her as she flopped onto the leather sofa, a grin on her face.

“Yup.” She smiled like the Cheshire cat under his ministrative gaze. She swayed from side to side slightly before she closed the space between them, her lips locking onto his. He instinctively pulled away from her but his hand still reached to cradle her cheek. She thought he was about to reject her but he didn’t. He was merely checking to make sure she wasn’t so drunk he would feel like he’d be taking advantage of her. 

She wanted to get lost in the memory, to wrap herself in it, but so much had happened, she couldn’t. “What happened to Sarah?” she instead asked quietly. He didn’t say anything. His whole body went rigid at her name. He couldn’t even look at her to show her that face. But she knew. “I’m sorry Joel.” she quickly said, trying to brush it away, but it was out there now. It almost killed her when he left the room and went and closed himself in his bedroom.

Two weeks after she had first arrived she felt like she was beginning to go crazy. Always kept shut away in the apartment just in case anyone noticed her.

“You should take her back out the way you first came in and take her round to be properly registered, then she can go out and sign up for jobs so she’s not so cooped up.” Tess had tried to reason with Joel but for some reason he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. “She’s a person Joel, not a pet.”

“I don’t think she’s a pet.” Joel tried to defend himself. “A pet wouldn’t tidy up around here.” Joel observed.

It had been the only thing she could do, keep the tiny apartment clean for all of them. 

“Okay, so what about sneaking her out on runs?” Tess enquired. “She seems resourceful enough.”

“No.” Joel said as a matter of fact. He didn’t want her going back out there. Didn’t want her risking her life the way they did. She had already lost too much. Heck she was still grieving the loss of her whole family.

“Fine.” Tess said as she began packing up a bag with things.

“Where are you going?” Joel asked her.

“Well somebody’s gotta put food on the table.” she said. “I’m going to do a job for Marlene.” Joel looked at her like she was crazy. “There’s three of us here now Joel and if you won’t go register her properly so we have enough food rations for all of us, then it means we gotta step up and do some jobs we don’t wanna do.” 

He sighed in acknowledgement. She was right. He just didn’t know what it was. There was something about having Dolly back in his life, that familiarity and nostalgia for who he used to be, who he tried to still be around her, it made him feel closer to Sarah. Closer to how things had been.

He didn’t mean to start sleeping with her. It was just familiarity. You couldn’t call it a one night stand if it had happened three, maybe four times. A casual hook up maybe. She had kissed him that night when they had gone out for her birthday. 29. Half a decade or so isn’t really that much of an age gap but he still didn’t want her dad or brother finding out. They’d snuck out together, Joel claiming he was taking her home because she was too drunk. 

Her apartment had been cosy. Just a small little one bedroom thing above one of the shops in town. They hadn’t made it to her bed, simply fucking on the couch, her sat in his lap, grinding and moan as he fucked up into her. She had wanted him to stay, maybe go for a second round in the morning, or at the very least have breakfast but he couldn’t, he needed to be back for Sarah.

He’d left his number though asking her to give him a call if ever she was feeling lonely. He hadn’t been ready for a relationship, he didn’t want to complicate Sarah’s life but Dolly was nice to look at and he had to admit, a man has needs.

It was hard for him not to look at her through that lens now. Tess figured it out that very first week of Dolly being there that Joel used to fuck her, that he had a soft spot for her. She tried not to be jealous, after all her and Joel hadn’t been in each other's lives that long, they hadn’t had the relationship conversation. They were just companions and who was she to compete with this woman who was almost 10 years younger than her, not long turned 31. She hadn’t had kids, still had fairly perky tits and when she looked at Joel she seemed to have a twinkle in her eye. A glimmer of hope amongst the ruins of their life. History.

Tess was gone four days in total. The first day was tense, Joel pacing around silently stuck in his thoughts. Dolly tried not to disturb him or get under his feet. She merely observed him from her spot on the couch, a book resting against her bunched up knees to entertain herself. He ultimately went to bed early without a single word.

It made her feel awkward. She’d heard how he and Tess had spoken about her. It made her feel like a burden. “Joel, I want to do more.” she said to him the next morning over a measly breakfast of toast.

“What are you talking about? You do plenty.” He had tried to say.

“Tess is right, you know. If we registered me properly-”

“No.” He said. “No, I don’t want you-”

“I can’t stay cooped up in here forever Joel. I need sunlight, I need fresh air.”

“It’s the QZ Dolly, the air ain’t that fresh.”

“You know what I mean.” she said.

“I’ll think about it.” he said before he put on his jacket and went out to do chores.

When he got back they didn’t talk about it. Instead he did everything he could to talk about anything else, to use her as an escape. He asked her about her book, which turned into a discussion about her favourite books. He asked questions about stuff he remembered from her apartment. Where she had gotten her Garfield cookie jar? How he wished they had some of her plants to liven up the space. He asked her about what she had done for work before she had gone to work for her father keeping the books. “I never asked, where does Dolly come from?” It was a conversation that lasted from the time he had gotten back until well past midnight when they finally went to bed.

When she woke up the next day he had already gone to do chores. She tidied things up from the night before, before settling down and starting another dusty looking book that had been left forgotten by the original tenants of the apartment all those months ago. 

She was taking a shower when Joel got home, dropping his keys on the table, he froze at the sound of her singing in the shower. She had left the door ajar, whether an invitation or just because she didn’t think he’d be back before she was done, he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t help but find himself walking across the floor towards the half open door, the steam filling the air. It was like a siren calling sailors to their deaths, he knew it was a bad idea but he couldn’t help it.

He heard her voice falter a moment as the door creaked open announcing his presence. When her song continued he knew it was okay. He wasn’t sure why he was doing it, but he was suddenly stripping off his clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor. ‘He was just saving water,’ he thought to himself, ‘it’s not like he hadn’t seen her naked before or she him’ he reasoned.

He shifted the curtain aside and her singing turned to humming as she took a small look over her shoulder as if to double check it was in fact him. It felt so domestic, so familiar. They had in fact showered together once. It had been the middle of summer, they had been in the middle of a heatwave when he snuck out and over to hers for a late night booty call. They were so sweaty, both of them covered in each other's arousal, a cold shower had been needed before he could go back home again.

His fingers brushed her wet hair aside, allowing him access to nuzzle into her neck. “Don’t stop.” he said as her breathing hitched, her little tune coming to an abrupt stop as his hands began to wander down her sides. She closed her eyes, exhaling deeply as her back leaned into his chest behind her. 

“Joel.” she sighed as his lips began to drag across her shoulders.

“Please Dolly, I just wanna forget. Can we just pretend for a little bit? Imagine we’re back in that little apartment of yours, sneaking around behind everyones back, everyone still-”

“Don’t say it.” she quickly interjected, not wanting the fantasy ruined.

“Okay, then sing for me then.”

“Stars shining bright above you,” she began, “Night breezes seem to whisper, I love you. Birds singing in the sycamore tree, dream a little dream of me.” she sang as his hands continued to glide over her soap covered body.

He suddenly spun her around, his lips attaching onto hers as he pushed her back into the tiles, his body leaning into the water of the shower head. He ran his hand up her left thigh, pulling it up to wrap around his body, allowing himself to nestle himself between her legs.

“Joel.” she panted as he began to run his lips along her jaw, then down her neck before she grabbed his face and latched her lips back onto his. His tongue reached out to lick into her mouth and she opened up willingly to him. 

“I need to feel you.” he said as he removed his mouth from hers again.

“Not here.” she said.

He turned off the water and wrapped her in a towel before he carried her over his shoulder to his bedroom, laying her back down onto the sheets. He quickly leaned over her, his lips latching on to hers again. Her fingers flew into his damp hair, pulling him into her. His fingers reached up to pull at the tuck of her towel, revealing her body to him again. 

His fingers traced down the familiar contours of her body, the rough pads of his fingertips dragging across her soft sensitive skin. His large hand, palmed at her breast and he couldn’t help but bite her lower lip as she moaned in reaction to his touch. 

His fingers and his lips continued to trail down further and further until his knees were resting on the floor at the end of the bed, his mouth trailing kisses closer and closer to her awaiting cunt. “Fuck baby, you still get so wet for me.” he cooed as he spread her legs wider with his hands. He wrapped his hands around her hips before he pulled her closer to the end of the bed and his awaiting mouth.

She let out a moan, her head relaxing back amongst the messed up covers as he licked a thick stripe through her folds. “Still taste so sweet for me too.” He said as he took a breath before diving back in.

He had figured out early on the first time they started having sex that his words got a reaction from her. Given her affiliation for books and reading he wasn’t too surprised. Sarah’s mom had hated that kind of stuff. Said it always made her cringe and he was fine with that, kept that side of him hidden, but after Sarah had been born a different kind of hunger and need had set in a single word. Daddy.

As if right on queue, “Fuck, daddy.” she panted. God how he had missed the way she had called him that. It had just come out the second time they had fucked. He had been the drunk one this time and the request had just fell from his mouth as he had been fucking into her from behind. She hadn’t questioned it just said, “Fuck! Yes! Daddy!” As she backed her ass back into him.

It hit differently now though, he wasn’t an actual daddy anymore. As if feeling his hesitancy against her cunt she looked up, saw the slight anguish in his face. When she met his eyes, it was a silent agreement, that term was no longer on the cards.

“Joel.” she said tentatively as she reached out for him, guiding his face away from that place between her legs, encouraging him instead to come and kiss her again.

They shuffled up the bed, laying back down amongst the covers. She wished she could kiss his pain away, suck it right out of him. She rolled him onto his back as she straddled his waist. She was still wet enough for him to slide right in. They took a moment for them both to adjust, their lips still intertwined before he started to slowly thrust up into her. It was soft, sweet, sensual; all the things their sex had never been before. It was sad, it was nostalgic, but it warmed them both, provided a connection neither one of them had had in a while.

“Fuck, I need you.” he said against her lips, his fingers holding tightly to her hips, guiding her up and down the length of his cock. “I needed this. Needed you.”

“Joel.”

“No.No.No.” he said, quickly cutting her off, not wanting her to say something that would take him out of this moment. He thrust up into her deeper and her breathing hitched, his lips eager to chase her moan, to swallow it, to let it live inside him and transform him from the inside out.

She could feel her climax rising, but she felt something else too, a pull at her chest, a knowing feeling of ‘this couldn’t last’, because it never did.

“Come on, let’s go.” Tess called out as they made their way out of the QZ. Joel had finally caved. After weeks of begging from both Dolly and Tess, it was finally agreed, Dolly would go out on a run with them. The deciding factor, they couldn’t leave her alone with no food for a week while they went out searching for the shit those stupid fireflies needed.

“You stay close to me, okay?” Joel said, gun in hand, finger near the trigger, always on alert.

“Joel, she’s not a child.” Tess said, handing Dolly a gun of her own. “You know how to use this right?” Tess checked.

“Yeah, my brother taught me.” Dolly said as she felt the weight of the gun in her hands. She’d also packed her knife, tucking it into the side of her backpack, ready to get out if she needed it, but not gonna get in the way or hurt her during their hike. And it was a hike.

She hadn’t had this much exercise in weeks. “Hold up.” Joel said to Tess as she began to fall behind. Tess grumbled but relented.

“We need to get to the outpost by sundown.” she said.

“I know, I know.” He said, waving her off as he stepped closer to Dolly.

“You good?” he checked in with her, a gentle hand to her arm. 

“Yup.” she nodded, but her hand rubbed at a stitch in her side. “Told you you shouldn’t have kept me cooped up in that apartment like that.”

“Hey, I thought you enjoyed the exercise you got.” he joked quietly so Tess wouldn’t hear. After that first afternoon they had kept fucking. Usually it was when Tess was out but they couldn’t help it. One or two times he had snuck back out into the living room under the guise of getting a glass of water, only to find himself drinking from between her legs instead. Other times they would stay up talking when Tess went to bed first and she had taken his length into her mouth and Joel would have to fight to contain himself.

“Shut up.” she pushed him and he let out a breathy chuckle.

“Come on you two, stop fucking around, lets go.” Tess shouted back to them, but suddenly there was a gunshot. Then a second one. They ducked for cover as bullets began to embed themselves in the rubble of the buildings around them. “Fucking scavengers.” Tess snarled.

Joel propped his elbows up on the hood of a car as he scoped with his rifle for a target. Dolly braced herself against the car at his side as he took the shot before he ducked back down for his own cover again. 

“You okay?” He checked in with her as she got her own gun ready. She didn’t say anything, too scared to find her voice, but she nodded.

“Shit, we need to fall back.” Tess shouted over to them from her cover as the scavengers began to press in on them. 

“Head back that way.” Joel motioned with his hand, indicating a series of raided buildings that had mostly remained intact despite the firebombs from months back.

They ran for cover, quickly getting split up as they bobbed and weaved through the different old doorways and upstairs. Dolly had followed Joel as closely as she could. He’d asked her to stay close to him and she did. She was oddly reminded of just a few weeks back as they raced across an abandoned office space. 

“Get down under here and don’t move until I say so.” Joel said as he motioned for her to climb under one of the desks.

“Joel.” she hissed.

“Wait there. I’ll draw them away and come back to you.” 

“Hey, over here.” A voice called out from the doorway and there was a flurry of footsteps as they continued to chase Joel through a door at the other end of the office.

He had told her to wait there but she couldn’t. There were so many of them. Lord knows where Tess had got to and there was no way he could take them all on his own. She creeped out from her hiding place, briskly walking towards the door Joel and the other men had gone through. 

It lead to a stairwell and she took it down, following the echoing sounds of a commotion at the bottom. When she got down there, there were two bodies lying dead at the base of the stairs, another propped a door open. She continued to follow the trail of bodies to where she could hear Joel’s grunts of exertion as he wrestled with the final two men. 

He had been able to push one back, just enough space and time for him to disarm the other assailant and use his own gun to shoot him in the head, his body crumbling. There was a cling of metal and a snarl as the other guy Joel had originally pushed back, picked up a knife off the floor and began to charge at Joel.

It happened too quickly, Joel couldn’t stop it. “Nooo!” Dolly cried as she ran forward, placing herself between Joel and the assailant.

“DOLLY NO!” Joel cried.

 She stilled as the knife struck her between her ribs. She knew she hadn’t thought this through, knew it was reckless but she couldn’t watch him die, couldn’t let him-.

There was a gunshot behind them as Tess came into view of the doorway. As their attacker collapsed to the floor, he pulled the knife back out, taking it with him. 

Joel quickly leaned forward to catch her, she had gone as white as a sheet, her legs giving out from underneath her.  “Dolly!” His voice called out to her trying to ground her. “Dolly? Stay with me baby. Come on, stay with me.”

“Joel!” Tess shouted at him. 

They could both see it, there was so much blood. Joel pressed his hands to the wound but it wasn’t doing anything. She was bleeding out.

“Come on baby, come on.” Joel kept repeating. 

“Joel.” Her voice was raspy, vision spotting. “Thank you.”

“No. Thank you.” He pressed. “Thank you.” His voice was breathy, tears welling in his eyes.

“I guess you can’t outrun the reaper.” She said breathlessly as her hand fought to touch his face one last time but it was so heavy. Joel reached for it, completing its mission, cradling her blood soaked hand to his cheek.

Her vision went hazy and white at the edges and a figure began to step forward. She fully expected Thanatos, his black cloak and scythe but as the figure stepped forward she saw their stature was a lot smaller, a mass of curls billowing out of the top of her head. She reached out her hand for Dolly. 

Her body went limp in his hands. He couldn’t speak. He had no words. His head fell into her chest as he sobbed. She had been his last remaining tie he had to his old life. Now he had nothing.

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