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highseas-swede · 6 months

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Aziraphale and Trauma

[Just a note that I initially wrote this in response to this post: https://www.tumblr.com/theangelyouknew/732357015604756480?source=share&ref=_tumblr which is full of insightful info. I'm reposting my response here with some minor edits so it's easier to find in tags.]

This is something I actually find interesting within the fandom, because there seems to be this weird divide in fandom when it comes to Aziraphale.

See, I love Aziraphale. I think he's an amazing and well nuanced character, but a lot of the time fandom boils him down into this really simple version of himself. This happens both with people who dislike him and claim he's a bad person as well as with those who want to soften him up and make him more palatable. Aziraphale isn't the only one who has trouble with black and white thinking here!

Things like Coffee Theory remove Aziraphale's agency because the thought of Aziraphale doing something to hurt Crowley deliberately is something they can't stomach. If Aziraphale is acting under some kind of major magical influence, it means that it's possible to brush over the fact that he can - and has - hurt Crowley in the past and it certainly hasn't always been accidental.

There's a lot of Psychology I could touch on here, but it's honestly such a complicated topic that I don't really feel I can do it justice attached to a completely different topic.

But one thing I do want to touch on a bit is how Aziraphale asserts control in his own life via his connection with Crowley, and that touches on something equally complicated, which is something that's probably hard to understand.

Abuse victims are often manipulative.

I don't mean this at all as some kind of slight or insult. I've been an abuse victim myself and it's one reason I know it's true.

Fandom talks a lot about Crowley's trauma and he's got loads, to be sure. I think of that meme about "this bad boy can fit a lot of trauma" and it's very true. I've even seen people mention that Aziraphale has a different kind of Trauma than Crowley, which is also true.

What I haven't seen is someone addressing that the type of religious trauma is a form of CPTSD. CPTSD or "Complex PTSD" is a very specific form of PTSD. PTSD is characterized as being the result of a traumatic event - Crowley's fall, for example, is a good example of PTSD and I can go into that at some point. CPTSD is different because it's not a singular event, it's the result of being in a constant high stress situation. A lot of abuse victims - especially those abused by parental figures or significant others - have this form of PTSD.

A good way to see the difference is in comparing how they relate to their trauma. When Crowley thinks he's lost Aziraphale in S1, it sends him into a spiral. But importantly we see that this traumatic event is causing Crowley to go back to another traumatic event in time, triggering his memories of his fall. This emphasizes how much Crowley's fall defines his trauma. We rarely see him experiencing trauma at the hands of Hell, as he's mostly allowed freedom to handle his job on earth the way he wants.

https://cptsdfoundation.org/ defines CPTSD as "the results of ongoing, inescapable, relational trauma. Unlike Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex PTSD typically involves being hurt by another person. These hurts are ongoing, repeated, and often involving a betrayal and loss of safety."

In humans, this is caused by having no sense of safety in key moments of development. It strips away sense of self, sense of worth and really any agency. We even see the angels using direct gaslighting tactics on Aziraphale in S2, which I'm surprised doesn't get mentioned more often: When they come to the bookshop looking for Gabriel, they mention Gabriel and then almost immediately when Aziraphale asks "you were looking for Gabriel", Uriel outright says a line that goes something like "Did we say we were looking for Gabriel?", leading Aziraphale to fumble and try to remember if they did, in fact, say that at some point (they did).

So, one big thing to know about CPTSD and this kind of abuse related trauma is that learning to lie and be manipulative is often what people have to do to survive. Children with abusive parents will learn how to be manipulative in order to get what they need or avoid losing things they need.

We see this with Aziraphale, time and time again. He could just ASK Crowley for things he wants. A lot of people point out that he could ask and that Crowley would probably give in to him most of the time anyway. But that's not how it works in an abusive home. Instead, Aziraphale maneuvers Crowley into situations where Crowley is forced to give him what he needs or wants.

His lack of agency, as a result of his CPTSD, is also why he needs to be worked into making decisions that he already knows - or at least suspects - are right. That's why they have their little dance every time Crowley has to talk Aziraphale into something by finding the right way to frame it so it makes sense with Aziraphale's strict rule structure. These rules exist as a defensive mechanism too. Having rules makes it easier to figure out how to avoid being hurt and Aziraphale cannot simply step outside the rules because it's Not Safe. Not even with someone he trusts as much as Crowley.

The entire apology dance scene stands out for a few reasons. Everything Aziraphale does in the entire scene is an act that allows him to take control of the situation. He's already won, so to speak, because Crowley is back and Crowley is going to do what he wants. The apology is unnecessary on every level.

This post talks about how uncomfortable Crowley has to be sharing a space with Gabriel. Gabriel is with the abusive team, whether or not he was directly involved with Crowley's fall. Crowley also harbors a severe distress and mistrust of Gabriel because of Gabriel's attempts to destroy Aziraphale, the most important person to Crowley. But it's worth noting that Aziraphale is uncomfortable too.

Another good indicator of how stressed Aziraphale is with all this is that he doesn't eat ANYTHING when Gabriel is in the shop. The only food he consumes in modern era is when he's in the Bentley which is a "safe" space. Gabriel constantly hounded Aziraphale over eating and despite offering Gabriel hot chocolate, we don't see him partaking himself. He does briefly drink to demonstrate how "drinking tea" works for Muriel, but he doesn't seem to drink from his cup at all after demonstrating.

The bookshop is also Aziraphale's safe space, his ONLY safe space - Crowley still technically has the Bentley, and honestly I feel like Aziraphale wanting to borrow the Bentley is actually partially because he needs to get away from Gabriel and the Bentley is the only place that feels safe for him at the moment. Shax ruins any illusion of safety for him, but Aziraphale is much more enthused for his trip in ep3 and a fair amount of it is because he's not trapped with Gabriel.

A small note here, as a thought occurs to me. Aziraphale asserting that the Bentley is "our car" is probably mostly for himself. He's trying to realign his thinking to make the Bentley an acceptable "safe space" for himself prior to the trip.

There is a very different relationship dynamic when it comes to Gabriel and Aziraphale because Gabriel is the constant source of Aziraphale's trauma. He's Aziraphale's superior, the one he has to report to, the one who passes down his missions and his punishments. When Aziraphale takes Gabriel in, he's just invited his former abuser of over 6000 years into his safe haven. This is a hugely uncomfortable thing for an abuse survivor.

Worst of all, because Jim is, for all intents and purposes, NOT Gabriel, Aziraphale can't bring himself to lash out at his former abuser the way he wants to.

That brings us back to this apology scene.

There are two major things going on here and both of them are bad and hurtful toward Crowley. They're also both intensely unfair. I love Aziraphale but this was definitely a dick move.

Firstly: Aziraphale is using Crowley to reassert a sense of control over the situation because he is spiraling. He can't assert control over his life and his shop, which is one thing that he falls back on heavily, and that leaves him scrambling to find somewhere where he can control his situation. He makes Crowley go through this whole unnecessary apology and dance routine because it makes him feel like he has control over SOMETHING in his life right now.

Secondly: Aziraphale is also enacting his own trauma on Crowley. He's treating Crowley the way Heaven treats him. This is a direct parallel to the way Crowley terrorizes his house plants because he can't do anything to the people who actually caused his trauma. This is, obviously, wildly unfair of Aziraphale to do - and I'm fairly sure there are other small moments where Aziraphale does this in a mild way, I'd have to rewatch again.

These are both behaviors common in CPTSD caused by environments that apply this constant state of stress.

I'm not going to say it's right, or that Aziraphale isn't being a bit of a bastard in this moment - he absolutely is - but this behavior does have some obvious triggers that might be easy to overlook. It's just important to understand that Aziraphale is falling into self-preservation habits that are actively detrimental to his relationship with Crowley. It's not just the manipulation, he's also hiding things and lying to Crowley when he really shouldn't be - both things often necessary in abusive environments - but he's doing it because that's the method that he's created that works with his abusive relationship in Heaven and he's falling back on it because he feels unsafe. The trouble is, this survival tactic does not work with Crowley and actively makes things worse because it shuts down open communication entirely.

#Aziraphale #Good Omens #Good Omens Meta #good omens s2 #aziraphale meta #crowley x arizaphale #CPTSD discussion

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b3achysurfur · 4 months

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If we notice in the webtoon, Taylor and Ben are the only ones who have not been seriously injured...

Aiden was crushed

Tyler was impaled

Ashlyn had a concussion

Logan ended up with a big cut on his side

Do you think something worse could happen to Taylor and Ben?

I think eventually all of them will face some sort of serious injury, so I highly doubt Ben and Taylor will be safe. I think ashlyn and Logan will also get more deadly wounds soon (hope Logan is first in line 🙏)

But I do find it interesting that they are the only two unharmed. Especially since they had a mini romance going on in S1. awwww I miss them 😢

Whats also interesting is how impulsive, destructive, and agressive Taylor has been lately as well as her increased screentime 😈

We’ve also unfortunately seen Logan get a lot of panels lately as well. And idk if u guys remember S1 but Tyler, ashlyn, and Aiden were the ones who got a lot of attention. But now that Tyler and Aiden are out , the attention has shifted to Taylor and Logan. But not Ben!!!!! (I want more Ben screentime, fuck Logan no body gaf what’s going on with him 😒 tell me ab Benny boy NOOOWWWW!!!!!!)

my point is Taylor or Logan may be the next to experience a major event. They’ve also been the ones exhibiting the most “phantom traits” , MOSTLY Taylor tho. also there’s a few other things that point to Taylor being in harms way very soon.

but basically the signs are telling me Taylor is gonna go through smth much worse than what’s happening rn. Back to Taylor and Ben’s relationship tho. Ben always tries to give back to things that treat him well, idrk how to word it. In S1 Taylor is very considerate of the whole group, but there are a few instances where she focuses on him.

in S2, ben mirrors this act by physically protecting her and attempting to comfort her to the best of his abilities

taylor leans into this comfort and support, even if it’s only by a little. taylor needs people, and ben can easily become her person. they both value their family and friends a lot and are willing to put their lives on the line/distance themselves if it means protecting them. they both have lost someone who has guided them out of a dark time in their life to the phantom dimension. they both are kind hearted people who are gentle. they are both a pea to someone’s pod (Aiden and Ben, Taylor and Tyler). they understand each other better than anyone else.

Ben cares about Taylor a lot. we don’t get scenes of them like we do with aidlyn anymore, but we do get little snippets. he is willing to protect her , even if it puts himself at risk. HE COVERED HER COMPLETELY WITH HIMSELF!!! HE DIDNT EVEN COVER HIS HEAD OR ANYTHINGG IGHWHEHA!!??? He had been holding her in place ever since the phantom had started chasing them. HE CARES SM IT HURTS ME.

ben has been such a neglected character, but I don’t think this was for no reason. I believe Ben’s time will come. I was honestly expecting a reaction out of him when Aiden ‘died’ but we got aidlyn so idrc 😈🙏. anyways a lot of people want to see Ben tweak AND I DO TOO!!! but you also have to remember, him not getting mad and bearing with the situation shows how much he has grown from his past. Ben has intense anger issues that he’s HEAVILY ashamed of. keeping himself in check is already hard enough with day to day triggers, but add his new phantom situation onto that? mans is STRUGGLING, but since it’s in silence no one ever talks ab it 🙁 we’ve seen Tyler crack under this pressure, Logan getting madder, and taylor has gotten angrier too! ashlyn is more stressed and tired than angry, and Aiden is having fun most of the time. but Ben? he’s been trying his absolute hardest to not flip out.

so that combined with his affection for tay, if something bad really does happen to her, I do believe it will be his final straw. There’s only so much self control a 14 year old has (even though most adults would’ve went insane by now). Whether Taylor turns into a phantom or she gets injuries/dies, it will hit Ben HARD. Tyler will also be affected, but I really hope it doesn’t overshadow Ben. Losing Taylor would mean Ben wasn’t able to protect her like he wanted to and after Aiden also got hurt, I don’t think he would be able to take it. I think it’ll also extremely upset him when he finds out his family got caught in the crossfire of the kidnapping.

I was thinking about it, and we might actually see ben use his voice out of desperation. I really hope we don’t, bc I think ben not being verbal is nice representation, it’s so important to his character, and I love seeing how ben expresses himself without words. but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he used it to call out to someone. The way this scene (⬇️⬇️) is worded is like, “he CAN (might even) talk, he just doesn’t WANT (have a reason) too”. i really hope he doesn’t, but it’s definitely a possibility 😢 especially if we get a ben centered arc that’s caused by his anger and the loss he’s experienced.

All in all, I don’t think Ben be the next one to be injuried really, but I do think Taylor will. And Taylor getting hurt will finally open up a arc centered around/that includes ben 🙏

hope red gives us the craziest angst we've ever seen for them two and then kills Logan 😛

(sorry for rambling sm 😓 I tried to shorten it but now i feel like some parts don’t make sense. UGH WTV!!! I’m very passionate about Ben and the affects Taylor has had on him 😒)

#sbg #school bus graveyard webtoon #school bus graveyard #schoolbus graveyard #sbg (webtoon)#ben clark #sbg ben #taylor sbg #taylor hernandez #asks #theories

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vidavalor · 9 months

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Meta on The Bookshop and The Bentley and what the show presents as a timeline for how and in what ways Aziraphale and Crowley began to make both of these spaces safe for one another...

The Bentley was "our car" back in the '60s and Aziraphale already knew it... just as Crowley knew Aziraphale had made The Bookshop safe for him in the 1941 scenes. How do we know this? And what, exactly, did they do to make these places (that are extensions of themselves) safe for one another and for each other to be together more freely? Long-ish meta under the cut...

In S2, we learn that while Crowley protests (weakly lol) that The Bentley is his car, Aziraphale already knows better, and we see what that means when he takes it to Edinburgh and Shax wants to get into it. Earlier in the season (and also in S1), we saw that The Bentley is actually pretty unsafe if Crowley's in it alone when it comes to demons of Hell harassing him. Shax pops in whenever she wants. Beez unleashes a torrent of flies in his car for fun and also shows up whenever. Demons can come through over the radio, including the terribly disturbing scene in S1 when Satan goes beyond The Bentley and jumps into Crowley's mind while he's driving and Crowley seems to lose consciousness for a moment. But what happens in S2 when Aziraphale is driving? *The demons can't get in the car without an invitation*. It's just like The Bookshop. When Aziraphale head to Edinburgh, Shax has to trick him to get him to invite her into the car. This implies something interesting...

...which is that *anytime* that Aziraphale is in The Bentley, demons can't get into it without an invite. It implies that Crowley made the car that way, to protect Aziraphale, right? But it also would then suggest that anytime *they're both* in the car together, this would also be true, which is why Crowley's never really stressed about demons hopping into The Bentley anytime he and Aziraphale are driving in the car together. He wasn't stressed on the Tadfield journey, etc... Off of that? Look at the '60s scene again...

Aziraphale wants to bring Crowley Holy Water and talk in what, for them, is a pretty open fashion about their relationship. It's a conversation that has Aziraphale express love and concern for Crowley and in it, he's talking about what he wishes they might have one day or could have, if their lives were different, and he gives him a symbol of protection that he now understands Crowley sees that way. Not a suicide pill so much as a way to protect them both-- Aziraphale, especially-- should they be found out. Where does Aziraphale have this conversation and give Crowley this gift? In The Bentley. He doesn't go to Crowley's flat. He's never actually been seen inside it, though we know he's likely been there in the past briefly. He doesn't go to where Crowley just was-- inside The Dirty Donkey. He waits for him in the car, where *he already knows it is safe to speak openly*.

Given that he's an angel and Crowley a demon, I'm sure that Crowley had to invite Aziraphale into The Bentley at some point, the same way that Aziraphale had to invite Crowley into The Bookshop. That happened sometime prior to 1941, as we learn in S2, but there's more than just the invite here. Aziraphale knows that this space is as safe as The Bookshop, which means that Crowley did that for him sometime in the last few decades (after 1941, as we'll see below) and that he told Aziraphale and Aziraphale is comfortable enough to have this big conversation in The Bentley. So Aziraphale knew that Crowley had made The Bentley safe for them as far back as the '60s... and there's evidence in S2 that Aziraphale has done the same in the bookshop and that Crowley knew in 1941. What evidence are we talking about?

How about the only time that Crowley's ever let Aziraphale get away with calling him nice/thoughtful/kind/etc. until the present of S1?

When they're having their post-magic show candlelit wine date in The Bookshop, the scene parallels The Ritz in the S1 finale a bit because they're both drinking and talking about some craziness that has just gone down and changed the nature of their relationship. We have them talking about trust here-- "well, you said 'trust me', so..."/"and you did"-- but also Aziraphale has now, in two earlier 1941 scenes, one in each season, attempted to call Crowley saving the books something positive and both times was told by Crowley to shut up. But in The Bookshop? Crowley, kinda playfully, *lets him get away with it*, in the first instance we've seen where he has ever let this happen. This is the first time he's openly let Aziraphale compliment him since back Before the Beginning, when he was an angel, and he accepted Aziraphale's compliments on his nebulas.

And look at Aziraphale here... so in love. So happy to have Crowley here and to be really actually *alone* with him and say nice things to him and have him not have to reject them, thinking about how maybe, over time, Crowley might start getting used to having a space where he's treated kindly and can be free to be more vulnerable... maybe, he'll even start to feel so comfortable one day that he'll take off his sunglasses when he's in The Bookshop, though Aziraphale also is nervous about that, too. Those pretty, yellow eyes do things to him...

1941 nerves to...

Back in 1941, the compliment that Crowley accepts in The Bookshop is when Aziraphale makes a comment that Crowley could have chosen to lure Aziraphale into some trap with the magic show that proved how evil he really was if he wanted to to which Crowley replies: "Nahhhh." :) Aziraphale is *intentionally saying for the 8 millionth time since Crowley rescued the books lol* that Crowley doing so is kind but he's doing here *because he's found a way for him to be able to where Crowley doesn't have to reject it*. He's *done something to The Bookshop* to make this possible. It's evident that he had to be doing some kind of miracle to hide Crowley's presence in the "angelic embassy" that is The Bookshop since he invited Crowley in (which was totally like very soon after it opened) because it's hard to imagine that either of them would feel safe if Crowley could just be lounging on the couch when a bunch of angels just apparated into the shop, right? Aziraphale did something to at least make them knock lol. He did something so that it's okay for them to be alone together, undisturbed, and the 1941 date is either an early-ish example of them testing it and getting comfortable with it and learning to enjoy it or it's maybe the very first time they ever did. Aziraphale is still nervous to compliment Crowley even in this private space and still a bit unused to Crowley lavishing him with the kind of open sweetness that he can behind closed doors (the "my Nefetiri-fooling fellow" supporting his magic moment; the way he admits he trusts Aziraphale when they're drinking wine later.) Crowley is *very* not used to this in 1941-- he still looks like it's taking some getting used to but he very much likes it and starts to relax a fraction, as we'll look at below.

Crowley, by contrast, can't do the same magic thing to his flat because of it being leased by Hell or whatever to a point that they can take it from him and they have different ideas of ownership and property, so his place has never been as safe as The Bookshop... but he makes The Bentley safe for Aziraphale in the same way that Aziraphale made The Bookshop safe for Crowley. But here's the thing... I think this was a new thing that Aziraphale did sometime between the opening of The Bookshop and 1941 or maybe *in* 1941 and because of Crowley saving the books. That new thing being that he did something to the shop that made it so that when Crowley was inside it or when they were both inside it, angels couldn't get in unless Crowley and Aziraphale were allowing it. (None of this applies after The Ball/Attack on The Bookshop in S2 because Maggie accidentally allowed demons into it and Aziraphale didn't have any time to undo that, exactly but we're talking about prior to that.) This privacy allows them to speak freely and it has to exist and for awhile because by the modern era of S1, we had them getting regularly sloshed together without concern in The Bookshop and it's also where they made their plan to literally thwart The Great Plan. By that point, Crowley is comfortable-- he takes his glasses off, he lounges, he gets drunk and

Mah point is... this can't happen unless Aziraphale did something to make it happen and told Crowley about it. So not only was Crowley invited into The Bookshop, at some point, probably at a later, separate point, possibly in 1941 but definitely *by* 1941, Aziraphale has done something to make the place completely safe so that they both can have unguarded conversations in there. In the process, we are treated to the evolution of these conversations. The scene where they get drunk and talk about the end of the world and eternity in S1 is *completely different* on a comfort level for both of them but especially for Crowley in 1941. Compare/contrast the "bouile... baby. fish stew! anyway!" of the gif above lol with

In 1941, we are literally watching him start to get comfortable in The Bookshop. Yes, Crowley likes his whole sexy and mysterious look and to stand there looking all dashing against the column while Aziraphale goes on about his magic show but he's also just... nervous. He's been here before and he knows they can talk more freely there but he has to *trust* Aziraphale for that to work. He does trust him but he also knows Aziraphale's whole sense of demons as the bad guys and while he knows that Aziraphale likes him and that he thinks he's different from others, they've had quarrels and Crowley, we know from S2 now more than ever, has been traumatized to all Hell (literally) over this thing between them. He was literally dragged to Hell a few decades ago when with Aziraphale and then, sometime later, the two had the "fraternizing" fight and the misunderstandings about holy water exist really strongly in 1941 still. It's the connective piece between the 1800s scenes and the 1960s scene. So I sort of wonder if their fight in the 1860s and not being able to say more than they might be overheard saying and worrying about ducks having ears and all that made Aziraphale say to himself: ok, enough, I've got to do something so that we have a spot that's not just where we could go where people won't necessarily see us in public but where we can actually speak openly. What he does is then something to The Bookshop that makes it really fully safe for them. And then he tells Crowley about it and Crowley is silently a pining, burning mess of love and gratitude over this. A safe place that's now much more safe to a point that he could maybe nap here in the sun a bit or, even better, just say whatever he wanted to Aziraphale without worry?

It's a container... It's a gift. Someplace you can store your whole... you... and be safe...

And Crowley's all skittish in 1941 but he has been through a lot and even if he didn't tell Aziraphale what happened in Hell (or all of it) after they met up in Edinburgh, Aziraphale gets that being dragged down to Hell and then disappearing for awhile was not the most pleasant of things. He wants to make Crowley feel safe. He already had The Bookshop and the fact that Crowley could come in and know he wouldn't be dragged to Hell or bothered by other demons and Crowley was appreciative of that, no doubt, but Aziraphale did something at some point that allowed them to speak openly in the shop and be truly safe and 1941 shows them trying it out a bit. Crowley starts up all layered and stiff-- he's standing, he's got his hat and his glasses and his coat and his jacket and everything on. He and Aziraphale are sweetly awkward in that they can say things like thanking one another here. Aziraphale calls him a friend, probably for the first time ever, based on how he says it and how Crowley reacts (which makes "we're not friends-- I don't even like you" in the bandstand in S1 even more like... we knew you were lying Aziraphale but you really are. Here's your own words from the past as proof lol. To his credit, Crowley is just like "you dooooo" like 'cmon, I know that much. We're at least friends.' And he's okay with saying that because Aziraphale *started it* back in 1941 lol.)

After a little bit, though, Crowley starts to enjoy watching Aziraphale go on about his magic act and the tricks he's pulled and wants to pull and he's nervous about performing and they're hatching a plan together. They're going to work together-- like in the S1 scene where they get drunk and then sober up and hatch the plan to be godfathers to the antichrist. And so he loses the hat and the coat. He takes a seat. He opens up his jacket as he speaks (Aziraphale is mentally fanning himself lol). He lets his glasses slip a bit at times in the conversation. He loosens up and starts tempting fate a bit-- seeing if this thing Aziraphale did... this (angelic) magic that Aziraphale worked here... really works. What can he say and get away with it here? He knows he can say more than he has but also he's not going to push this fragile thing with Aziraphale too hard. He likes making Aziraphale laugh though, likes being able to just openly hype him up. *My Nefetiri-fooling fellow*... the professional conjurer compliment kindness. And poor Aziraphale is like oh this was a very good idea I had and also I am a puddle of melted goo on the floor as he's so very hot...

But okay so then go back to what I said about The Bentley in the '60s and how Crowley then does the same thing to it that Aziraphale did to The Bookshop so that they can be together there, as well. Crowley's also allows them to go on adventures together and talk undisturbed on the trip. The reason he does it, though, is to give Aziraphale a space where Aziraphale has the same level of control as Crowley does in The Bookshop. A spot where he can feel safe from Heaven and Hell for awhile, where they can be together and talk. He *hadn't yet done this in 1941, though*. How do we know?

Here's him telling Aziraphale not to compliment him about the books while they're riding in The Bentley. Sure, he could just be saying this here not because of Hell but because he's just awkward about his whole romantic gesture moment but it's not much different from the "shut up" after he initially saved the books a few moments earlier and it's way different from how freely they both feel to speak in The Bentley in the 1960s, not long (for them) after this.

The above is something you probably don't say where ducks have ears, right? But then we get the end of S1 and they're dining at The Ritz-- something Aziraphale said he'd like to do here in The Bentley in the '60s as a symbol of them being together. That last time they do at the end of S1 that symbolizes them having an "our side" more openly has Aziraphale do what he did in The Bookshop in 1941... sit there with his drink at the table and compliment Crowley, tell him he's good, if in a cheeky sort of way... "if you weren't, at heart, a bit of a good person", right? This moment that shows them on their own side at last and beginning to really feel like they have that together while they're on their old dream date at The Ritz here and the nightingale sings, what is this scene, really, but Crowley accepting a compliment from Aziraphale in a public space with a *fondness* in parrying back a demonic response to Aziraphale's compliments? What is this but 'f Heaven and Hell, we're doing our own thing now', really? The Bookshop and The Bentley are still their private spaces but "and if you weren't just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing..." is Crowley accepting Aziraphale's compliment and just complimenting him back. He lets Aziraphale call him kind-- openly accepting of it, loving it, fond of him for it, in a public space, for anyone to hear. He smiles at him, utterly besotted. It's years of the privacy of The Bookshop and The Bentley that got them here, starting back in 1941 when Crowley saved the books and Aziraphale did more magic than it might have first appeared...

In the old days, Aziraphale had to learn that Crowley couldn't accept a compliment openly in public. That they had to pretend. The Ritz is the end of that but it takes millennia to get there. This evolves into him magick-ing The Bookshop into a place where he and Crowley are allowed to be unabashedly, openly kind to one another without fear of reprisal from either side-- it's them having their own side, whether or not Aziraphale will admit it or not, and he's the one who first took action to make it. As time goes on, Aziraphale begins to enjoy baiting Crowley sometimes with compliments in public *and because Crowley is well-aware that he has a spot, made by Aziraphale, where it's safe for them to really be open with and gentle with one another*, he's also well-aware that Aziraphale is baiting him in public with it on purpose because he knows that Crowley has to deny it so Crowley evolves his response past just "shut up" and the like to

Crowley has never slammed Aziraphale into a wall in The Bookshop and told him that he's never nice and nice is a four letter word lol. He just gets snarky-soft and quiet-shy. He gets to bask in it when they're alone. Crowley in The Bookshop by the modern era is sunglasses-free and relaxed and lounge-y and intimate and Aziraphale is not remotely afraid of him. Crowley *knows* Aziraphale is not remotely afraid of him. He's not at all worried that slamming him up against a wall will bother or scare Aziraphale. He knows it turns him on. They've made a game out of it by this point. Because they get to be *actually* nice to one another in The Bookshop and The Bentley and they're more intimate as a result-- they know one another better after decades of having that privacy-- so they know more about what the other is thinking or their motivations when they're in public together. They know they're soft for one another. They've had a place to explore that attraction a bit as well and now, they're messing with it. Now, Aziraphale knows he can get Crowley to shove him into a wall and get him close enough to kiss if he says he's nice in public and Crowley does it because it's an in-joke of sorts to them. 6,000 years of the angel who wants the demon who really is kind but pretends not to be and who isn't fooling the angel anymore but still has to fool Hell. The evolution from just 'shut up" to "i'mnotnicei'mademonniceisafourletterword"-level dramatics is just more time together and a lot of that time spent in a private space where they can let their guard down and flirt like crazy with one another.

So, sometime prior to or likely around 1941, Aziraphale went from the step of allowing Crowley into The Bookshop (pre-1941, probably near the opening of it) to magick-ing it into the real refuge for Crowley and the two of them that it becomes for all of the decades since and sometime after that, in return, Crowley magicks The Bentley to be the same thing. I apologize for the fact that you're probably now thinking about Crowley putting his glasses back on in the living room of The Bookshop and The Bentley playing "A Nightingale Sings in Berkeley Square" and how neither of them now really have that safe space entirely with Heaven and Hell invading The Bookshop and no Aziraphale around to magick them all out of The Bentley but! Just think of how they're going to get a cottage together in the end and they know how to make it safe for one another because they've been doing it for a long time now. :)

#ineffable husbands #good omens meta #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens s2

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terrainofheartfelt · 2 years

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hey! I know the little dair fandom has talked about blair's decision to run back to chuck as something that could technically make sense for her character (if executed better as a decision of fear that her happiness with dan could never last)... but what do you think about dan sleeping with serena after hearing he "lost blair"? please keep in mind i get watched the last part of s5/6 so if i missed something here sorry lol

aha another softball! lol. I so appreciate you asking this question and I do have a lot of thoughts about it, so many that this response is long, and there is discussion of the dubious situations of consent and sexual coercion that happens in the show so for safety I'm putting the rest of this under a read more. Please read responsibly <333

simply put....yes, unfortunately I do think it fits the MO of Dan Humphrey, Self-Saboteur. the specifics of the situation are more complex than that -- which I'll get to in a sec -- but yes, I think it makes sense for his character. he does have this pattern. when he and Vanessa were having problems at the end of s3 and beginning of s4 (again. complex!) he turned to Serena, and in s2 when he and Serena were on the ropes (again) his crush on She Who Will Not Be Named got wayyyy too out of hand, and in s1 when he felt that Serena was withholding and on the verge of breaking up with him, he spent the night with Georgina.

Actually, come to think of it, there's intricate complications to all these events that exacerbates the abandonment issues Dan already has - complications that aren't necessarily within his control (His grief over Milo; stress of Vanessa's summer abroad/his father's marriage/Jenny's depression; being led on by an adult that should have known better; Georgina's manipulation of Serena's attachment to him). That being said, he does have this pattern, ever since his mother leaves and Vanessa leaves him for the first time, that when he sees trouble coming, when he sees the fall out of being left coming, he acts out, almost as if to do something egregious enough to justify being left. something to make himself deserve it.

So, with all of that character stuff at play, it makes sense that Dan would try to...numb the pain of Blair leaving him for someone else with Serena. BUT. I would be remiss if I were to talk about this and not address the truly fucked up behavior Serena exhibits in the episode (and arguably - I'll get to it in a minute - she kind of didn't need to?):

She knows of Dan's ultimatum to Blair to show up for him at this party, and therefore conspires to keep Blair away as long as possible, she gets Dan drunk and vulnerable and alone, and disrobed (I think she spills a drink on them? it's been a while since I've watched because it Upsets Me and furthermore it is Fake), and when she has enough circumstantial evidence to prove Blair is currently with Chuck, she makes her move, and Dan, drunk, alone, and vulnerable, falls into his pattern of self-sabotage. AND - Serena films their whole encounter without his prior knowledge or consent, as....blackmail material? I think she was planning to show Blair as some twisted revenge thing?

The cracks of Dair's breakup were already there, but not irreparable: Blair was afraid of this new future, Dan was a bunch of raw nerve endings stacked up together wearing a trenchcoat after falling in love so hard for someone every damn time for the last five years, and they were both fragile from that. But what Serena did, to manipulate the situation and spin it to her advantage, she did because she is perhaps one of the few people in the world who knows blair and dan so well to prey upon their vulnerabilities like this, and because she's serena, they both trust her, and she exploits that trust, and violates Dan in an...irreparable kind of way.

and, as I've been writing this response I've been thinking....she really did not have to go that far. and to what end? gossip!serena as we know is #notmyserena, but the...the extent of the troubles she took to orchestrate how everything went down, using the minions (or maybe just Penelope?), the revenge porn (BOOO BAD NO GOOD VERY BAD), all the manipulations, she didn't have to. Or, at least, the writing of the show could have executed the circumstance better, without the cost to serena's character or dan and serena's relationship.

I joke about Gossip Girl's original sin being pivoting Chuck Bass into being the romantic male lead without actually trying, but maybe the real original sin, before they tried that, was the compulsion to always be upping the stakes, to make the character's actions escalate to the most salacious things they could think of in that moment, without considering what living out those situations would do to a real person. You could throw a dart at any plot point really and see this, but it becomes more blatant as the show goes on, and you can sort of...well, like this post, see the stitching on the back of the canvas. the gaps are more gaping and harder to explain away. having two characters break up wasn't enough, they had to make it as dramatic as possible, without the consideration of the toll that it would take on the characters involved. Blair sure, Serena yes, but especially Dan.

ummmmmmm also I talk about this a lot in my longform post s5 au Mouthful of Forevers available on an ao3 near you xoxo

#blairwaldcrf #asks #some more blitzing of the ask box on this saturday night #gg meta #mind the warning at the top #typical gg fuckery you know how it is #anti serena van der woodsen #gossip!serena my beloathed #s5 finale my beloathed #it's fake it can't hurt you I tell myself

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kelp-my-beloved · 2 years

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More Empires fic recs

It's me again. This are a few of my favourite empires fics in ao3, this time multichaptered edition. This are all completed, both from s1 and s2, and in no particular order. Fics under the readmore, enjoy!

Four Reasons Why I'm Broken (And Why That's Okay), by Useless_Bisexual123: "False is paranoid. False has memory problems. False doubts herself. False gets nightmares. But maybe, just maybe, that's alright."

Rating: T Archive Warnings: GDV Chapters: 3/3 Words: 7384

This was one of the first fics I read about Empires!False, and Im absolutely in love with her characterisation in here. She's tired, stressed, and I love her for this. The writting is so good too, and before I realised I had read the entire thing in one sitting. Also, Lizzie is here, and every paragraph she's in had me either dying in laughter or was just too cute. Just. I love this.

Shifting Perspective, by @scribbling-dragon: "Shapeshifters are shunned, pushed away from the light they helped to diminish. Their God retreated as they were outcast, disappearing into shadows that had only just appeared. Yet, they whisper that He is still present in the crackling of lightning and rumbling of thunder. His luck never seemed to hold firm, he's rather certain that Luck themselves holds a grudge against him at this point. And, as Luck would have it, he's been cursed with the gift, and truly, who could have been more suited to it than the Ruler of Rivendell? (Literally anyone else, is the answer you're looking for.)"

Rating: T Archive Warnings: GDV Chapters: 25/25 Words: 112658

So, this one is I think the most popular in the list, and it's probably you've seen it around if you spend at least half as much time as I do in the ao3 fandom tag, but oh my god. It deserves every good thing. I know this is a long read but it's absolutely worth it. I read it while the last chapters were still coming out, A While ago, and it still lives in my head rent free. I wish it a lot of extra kudos.

fill your lungs, by rabbit_with_a_sword: "When Sausage collapses, finally unable to hide the side affects from being resurrected, Gem and fWhip have to scramble to prevent him from being drawn back into the Spirit Realm and face the consequences of his escape. But there's more to Sausage than he likes to show, and he didn't escape intact…"

Rating: T Archive Warnings: CCNTU Chapters: 12/12 Words: 18504

This fic somehow manages to be so hilarious and made me have so many feelings at the same time. A chapter would update and I would spend the rest of the week worrying about my poor blorbo. But also, the lore behind it is top noch, there are so many details that made want to point at them and shout my thoughts. I may or may not have gone a little bit crazy over them, but keeping my sanity was never an option.

Tabula rasa, by @capriciouswriter207: "tabula rasa: the mind in its hypothetical primary blank or empty state before receiving outside impressions -- Sausage wakes up in bed. It’s pleasant. He stares at the ceiling. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t think. He doesn’t do anything. He just exists. (or: the fight with a certain wizard saves him from the corruption, but it leaves him in an extremely vulnerable state)"

Rating: T Archive Warnings: CCNTU Chapters: 27/27 Words:31097

This one was finished recently, and I was not ready to let it go. If I'm forced to say only one thing about it, is how much I enjoyed the way it was written, specially going back to the beggining after reading the end. This made me feel A Lot Of Feelings, and I really couldn't recomend it enough.

Obligatory Notes:

I did my best to tag the writers, but there are a few that I couldn't find, if they have a tumblr. If you know one I've missed, please let me know!

Also, feel free to add your own recs! I want to read them!

More recs but this ones are one-shots

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paellegere · 5 months

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final thoughts: supernatural season 2

finished season 2 this morning and it ended on a great note. i like the ending a lot more than i liked s1's, since it felt more natural and less contrived. the buildup to it was awesome, and the setup for season 3 is clear and motivating!

i think my biggest criticism of s2 is the pacing. it really wasn't bad, all things considered, but there were a few episodes i thought just didn't belong in the sequence they were. where s1 had this continual forward momentum going, s2 had occasional abrupt stops. example, the tonal difference between ep12 nightshifter and ep13 houses of the holy felt massive. nightshifter amps up the police subplot, ending with them worried about being implicated in another crime and therefore being on more police radars. houses of the holy kinda ignores that and has very little follow-up to them needing to lay low. it's only really brought up again when they're talking to henrickson and he mentions that they were flying under the radar up until now—which is all well and good, but that should have been felt after all of that happened. instead what we got felt more like a reset button where things went back to normal for them. a very "business as usual" case, as if they weren't being pursued by the law.

there were a few other negligible cases where i got a bit tired of binge-watching the series, which honestly didn't really happen in s1. so the pacing was a bit slower overall. nothing that was super obvious, but it did have its bumps.

but really, that's my only real criticism of it. i think the plots were strong this season, and the tension built really naturally over the course of it. if i had to wish for anything, it would have been development, of any kind, for sam's psychic powers—or otherwise the active rejection of that development. where the other psychics were growing their powers or gaining increasing command over them, sam remains oddly stagnant, which is something i wouldn't expect considering he's put into high-stress situations so often. if it's a matter of accepting the powers, then it would have been nice to see him struggle more with it. they just weren't very prevalent until they were relevant, which was fine in season 1 because they were still trying to figure out what the hell was going on, but now that they have an idea it felt more like things should be Happening with sam. maybe they will in season 3? honestly i can't remember, i watched it a decade ago.

the last 3 episodes of the season were honestly really great though. i love how all three of them play into each other, even though the A plot of ep20 is relatively unrelated to the season finale. it set dean up perfectly for his struggle in ep22 and gave weight to his wishing the world to burn without sam in it. hit right in the gut with all the context of who dean is as a person and what his wishes and desires are.

i still love the commitment to camp in this show and the way they use camp in a unique way that doesn't really come to mind when you think of camp. it gives the show its identity and the fact that the writers and actors don't shy away from it really makes it a great watch. there are some seriously funny episodes in this season, and it makes me even more excited for the funny episodes i know are coming up. gabriel/loki/whatever was especially a hit and i love the interesting storytelling format of that episode. the addition of new psychics was great, and i liked how different their personalities were and how they so clearly conveyed the ways they coped with their powers. they create a wonderful backdrop for sam, and it all came together well for the finale.

overall a great season—it had a few hiccups, but the tension and buildup was really good, and most of the episodes did a fine job at following up on the previous developments and keeping the momentum going. super excited to start on season 3 :)

#liveblogging: supernatural #one more season until castiel #then the fucked up polycule begins #.txt #spn reviews

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still-a-morosexual-help · 2 years

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Consider: Mammon is actually lowkey pretty smart? He tells you how to get past Luci (and knows him well enough to predict him, too), and gives you pretty useful advice in S1. Whenever the brothers need a plan (late S1 Cerberus, s2 ending, can't remember any more off the top of my head), Mammon is the one who comes up with one; none of them ever propose alternatives. And in the beach episode of the anime, his plan with Levi to get a pic of Luci is actually... really well thought out?? Clever boy?

This!! And I swear it's not my bias speaking when I say I genuinely think it's more than "lowkey".

[Spoilers for all 3 seasons]

1.) For one, this man is genuinely amazing at maths (as first seen in the phone game event thing & in the Mammon Way devilgram) where he mentally solves equations in seconds (it also implied he's the best at Maths from all his brothers during the phone-game event)

2.) And yeah, all of MC's plans (that work) in S1 were created by Mammon and the best part of it is these plans are all based off knowing the personalities of his brothers and how they would react to certain things and using that knowledge to manipulate them to get what MC wants. That's emotional intelligence and it's beautiful

3.) To further drive home the emotional intelligence point;

a.) in a Devilgram where Satan was upset about being the 'normal' one and Beel & Asmo (I think? I can't remember which two brothers it was) kept on upsetting him more while trying to reassure him, Mammon is the one who makes an excuse and quickly takes the two of them out, leaving Lucifer behind to actually talk with Satan

b.) Mammon's also the one right after the fall who looks after the younger brothers, calms their nightmares and then goes and talks Lucifer down from his spiralling guilt, self-hatred and self-doubt

c.) In s2 when he's pissed and not talking to Lucifer, he still picks up on the fact that Lucifer is upset about what was going on with Diavolo and sends MC to the music room so that Lucifer would have support

d.) In s2 when Levi is worried about Lucifer being happier without his memories, Mammon says that Lucifer loves his brothers too much to be truly happy in a world where he can't remember them

4.) Mammon likes playing chess which means he's probably good at it (a brothers in a pact chat and S3)

5.) The whole Office Devilgram? He was really good at his job (in sales?) and was multitasking while managing other people as well???

6.) I'm a Business Man devilgram where he started a successful business (a fashion label) with MC

7.) Whenever Mammon gets serious about something he puts his all into it and gets really intense about it and completes the job well (the TSL play event) and honestly during those times he reminds me of Lucifer which I love cause I am completely wrapped up in the HC that Lucifer raised Mammon from a young age (LOOK he canonically called Lucifer 'Dad' and I'll never be over this)

8.) Can't remember which Devilgram said it (I think it's the one where MC & Levi play a game against Mammon & Asmo) but Mammon's also really good at thinking on the spot, making decisions under pressure/stress and reacting quickly and effectively

9.) Lucifer always relies on Mammon to do official work for him (as well as his 'dirty work' according to Mammon in a chat between the two) which varies from taking Mammon with him when he wants to argue with Raphael (and given their positions and them being angels, at the time, I imagine the arguments were actually passive-aggressive debates) to having Mammon use his familiars to spy on people. Lucifer also made Mammon his personal assistant in the Celestial Realm and knowing what Lucifer's standards are and how high ranking Lucifer was...

10.) S3 basically confirms all this by his brothers saying that as an angel Mammon could accomplish anything that was given to him

I firmly believe one of the reasons Lucifer is so hard on Mammon is cause he knows how smart and competent Mammon actually is and thinks he's squandering his potential (the other reason of course is Lucifer's trauma, after what happened with Lilith, means he thinks the second Mammon steps out of line and Lucifer isn't there to punish him, Diavolo will step in and possibly kill Mammon. Which is fun and canon and all the more fun for it no, I'm not crying. The third reason is that Lucifer's a Sadistic Dick™)

So, why do I think Mammon keeps the fact that he's actually pretty smart under wraps?

[1.] So I made this post a while back:

And that's reason one

[2.] A lot of Mammon's characteristics line up amazingly with what it's like to have ADHD, including it being hard to study because you get very easily distracted or because you need to link your studying to something you're hyperfixated on in order to concentrate on it (which we see Mammon do in the first anime episode and in The Mammon Way devilgram, respectively). And there's this really great twitter thread that talks about it -> here .

[3.] He's internalised all the shit his brothers say about him. S1 kinda hints at the fact that Mammon seems to believe what they say about him and in S3, Angel! Mammon who has never been scorned by his brothers and who is instead praised by them is more confident and sure of himself than Demon! Mammon ever will be. A part of him truly believes he's as stupid as they say he is.

[4.] This:

[5.] He's dumb. Pure and simple. Look, you can be smart while also being a complete dumbass. You can be amazing at math and you can like playing chess and you can still ask what kind of animal the Pink Panther is and that's exactly the kind of energy Mammon gives

Bonus: I'm making a list of everything Mammon's good at in canon and....guys it's long

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kittydemon9000 · 3 years

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Okay so once again, 3 am thoughts have gifted me with yet another au. It is by no means original but screw it: SmithSwap

The only things I’m switching is their ages, so now Nya is the older one, but it. Gets. Fun.

For specifics, as of the Pilots/S1 Nya is 15 and Kai is 11, because I want bebe kai

Now, prior to Wu showing up, it’s pretty much the same as canon only with roles reversed. Nya mostly runs the shop while Kai is trying to everything he can to make things easier for his big sister, and I mean everything. The only one Nya doesn’t stop him from doing is cooking because Kai is the better chef, though neither can figure out why. Nya also likes to tell Kai stories of their parents since he can’t remember them too well, much to his disappointment.

ANYWAY, Wu shows up, Kai gets upset he’s insulting his sister’s work, then Skulkin show up. Kai does get snatched, much to Nya worry and canon continues.

Okay but also tiny spinoff, it also would’ve been hilarious if Nya still got kidnapped because then when the guys meet Kai they’d be like “who is this sassy lost child?”

So then while Nya’s training, I’m actually going to say what happened when Kai is captured.

You see, a side affect of being really freaking old is that your perception of time changes, specifically how long periods seem shorter. Garmadon decided that because of the prophecy it would be best to snatch the Master of Fire, who he thought would be Ray.

So you can imagine his surprise when his Skulkin bring in a kicking, screaming 11 year old child.

He is, understandably, not happy and very confused.

He sends the Skulkin away and tries his best talking with Kai. Like, as little malice as he can in a gentle voice, and he actually learns a few things. 1) both Ray and Maya went missing years ago, 2) these kids have no idea about anything regarding the Elemental Masters, 3) Kai’s sister has been raising him since their parents went missing, and she’s only four years older than him

Understandably, he is concerned, but also sees this as an opportunity. If he raises the Master of Fire to be loyal to him, then he’ll never want to fulfill his role in the prophecy, thus ensuring his victory. also he really misses lloyd and now when he returns he’ll have two kids!!! how amazing is that

So yeah Kai’s stay in the Underworld isn’t that bad. This Garmadon guy is pretty nice, tells him awesome stories about his parents, teaches him a bunch of things(mostly how to fight), and really just acts like the paternal figure he never had(Garmadad is canon, no matter what form you can fight me on this). The only part that sucks in Samukai, but he’s just a jerk and Garmadon makes sure he’ll never actually do anything to hurt him. He does miss Nya a lot though.

Anyway back with Nya and the guys.

They don’t actually know the exact reason why she was here at the beginning. All they know was that Wu originally left for the Master of Fire and came back with her instead. They know she has a brother, but aren’t quite sure how he falls into it.

They learn her full story the night they’re heading to the Temple of Fire, at which when they’re winding down Zane brings up how she never actually told them how she met Wu.

They are very concerned when they find out the whole story and swear they’ll help her get him back, which is nice.

Then she sees Kai But Actually Garmadon, follows, and bam Sword of Fire time. She isn’t able to fully use it, but she’s able to get a few sparks. However, things then start to take a turn for the worst.

Kai is actually here, very confused why Garmadon’s having him tied to the ceiling, but hey Nya’s here! But then oh no he then realizes that Garmadon is the bad guy, which gets him upset and more then a little betrayed.

Seeing him hurt his sister, the one of raised him, actually has Kai pick up the sword and use his powers. Under normal circumstances, it probably wouldn’t have been bigger than a few sparks, however Kai has his big sister in danger, dealing with the betrayal of an almost father figure, holding the Sword of Fire, and being surrounded by his element.

So yeah. Not that small of a fire.

The guys and Wu are actually able to to witness the truly incredible fire blast he lets out from the camp, put two and two together, and start heading over. Wu didn’t follow Nya…..because plot and was the able to help them fight off the Skulkin.

Anyway, it’s more than enough to dissipate the shadows, however it also wakes up the dragon. Garmadon, who is sort of panicking because That Was Not Supposed To Happen, ends up scooping up an unconscious Kai and the Sword and retreating to the underworld, leaving behind a very pissed Nya and an equally pissed Fire Dragon.

But yeah, Nya deals with the dragon, they get the other ones and head to the Underworld with Wu this time, and he’s actually the reason they’re able to get past all the Skulkin.

But yeah, Samukai gets vaporized and Garmadon about to leave when a feverish Kai makes his way in and begs Garmadon to not do it and that they can fix things.

And Garmadon….actually pauses for a second and you can see the conflict in his eyes before he shakes his head and says “there’s no going back for me” and walks through. Kai then collapses and the end up heading back home.

As for what’s up with Kai, who would’ve guessed tapping into a kind of power you aren’t supposed to have access to yet in a high stress situation would be bad for the body. He has a really bad fever but he’s fine after a few days.

The few month timeskip in between the Pilots and S1 is mostly spent training Kai, so they have quite a bit less free time. However when S1 starts and Kai hears about Lord Garmadon, he actually wants to check it out himself first.

So yeah, he meets Lloyd by himself and it actually doesn’t go that badly. Kai actually buys some candy for them to share and they leave the town, and Kai actually starts talking with him. Eventually the topic comes up about Garmadon and Kai gives a rough basis about how he sort of got kidnapped, and then his work in progress plan of making him good again. Lloyd is completely down with seeing his dad again and says how they could probably get his dads attention if their got their own evil army.

And because they’re both stupid kids, neither of which have had parents before, Kai thinks it’s a great idea.

So yeah. That’s why they find the Serpentine here.

Ofc, it isn’t a right away type thing. It takes them about a month before they find the Hypnobrai Tomb, and Kai just plays off all his time spent out as him having made a friend, which they can’t exactly argue with.

Ofc, canon still happens and when Kai was busy training Lloyd ended up finding the tomb and releasing the Serpentine, and they do their regular Canon Nonsense.

However, Kai is not too happy about the whole Attack Villages things and after a bit comes clean to the ninja about their original plan. They very much aren’t happy, but admit his heart was in the right place and they doubt he’d pull something like this again.

Fast-forward a bit more, Kai is mostly chill with Zane’s “weirdness” and unfortunately stays home when the Hypnobrai burn down the Monestary. It’s only because the dragons were able to get out and protect him that he was still alive. Nya’s actually the one who yells at Zane this time around because again. Kai almost died, but it’s all cool later and they find the Bounty :D

Anyway, Canon again continues. Kai is still really good with the dragons and is a little upset they need to leave. He also gets along really well with Ed and Edna. Then when Lloyd joins Kai is a little….well he doesn’t hate him but he does spend a while avoiding him.

Eventually Nya has enough of their dancing around each other and locks them both in the same room so they can talk it out. Turns out the reason Kai was avoiding him was because Lloyd’s betrayal really hurt since they were supposed to do it to find Garmadon, not hurt people. They have a tearful apology, then Kai learns how much of a jerk the Serpentine were and is like “the next time I see any I’ll protect you, since you’re like my little brother and as a big brother it’s my job to keep you safe”

Now it’s Samurai Time :)

You see, this time around Kai has double reasons for being the Samurai. 1) Yeah, he hates being left behind and wants to be involved but also 2) he wants to keep his big sister and big brothers safe

So yeah, that happens. He does think it’s pretty funny when they keep trying and failing to one up him though.

But then :) He gets captured with Lloyd :)))

So yeah, that sucks but it only gets worse because while Kai was able to “summon” his Samurai Mech, he had to send it off to get the ninja away. So that sucks.

Garmadon eventually shows up to help since the Serpentine stole both his kids, much to Nya’s chagrin.

Then comes the freaking Volcano Scene and this one is from Nya when she rescues Kai, then has to choose between Lloyd or the Fangblade. She ends up unlocking her True Potential by essentially leaving behind all negative feels she had for Lloyd and accepting him under her protection just like she did Kai.

The sheer torrent of water easily cools all the lava and thoroughly soaks them. But hey, even Kai has to admit being wet is better than being burnt alive. Also when the ninja start wondering aloud why the Samurai didn’t help Kai bashfully admits he was the Samurai, and this thoroughly impresses the ninja since Kai is like, 12 at this point.

Uhhhh, S2 isn’t too different. Kai is super happy that the dragons are back and is easily Ultra’s favorite. He isn’t hit with either Garms spell nor the Tomorrows Tea, but is there to comfort Lloyd and says that even though he got hit with some magic stuff Kai is still going to protect him since he’s still his older brother. On the Dark Island Kai is heartbroken Nya got corrupted and swears he’ll help fix her. When Garmadon gets purified Kai looses his shit and gets so excited since let’s goooooo not only is his dad not evil anymore they can go out in public together :DDDD

S3, also not too different. During the whole Love Triangle nonsense Kai’s just sitting there so confused. Also Pixal joins team Kai’s Older Siblings. Him getting captured was just him being at the wrong place wrong time. He has a really fun time time in space though, which was nice.

But uh. Then Zane hecking dies, which hits everyone really hard, especially Kai. Only this time, Nya ends up taking Kai back to Ignacia and opens up the forge again, pretty much cutting all contact with the other ninja, Wu and Garmadon. While it might’ve been boring and lonely, at least in Ignacia they were safe.

Kai is…honestly really miserable, but hides it well. He can barely get up some mornings, but does so anyway since he’s desperately trying to act like things are normal, despite how Nya doesn’t talk very much. He misses the other ninja a lot, even Pixal despite not knowing her for very long, but doesn’t want to tell Nya since again, trying to make things normal again. Nya also doesn’t let him out of the house too often, only really if she’s there to watch him.

This routine goes on for about two months, until Lloyd shows up to try and get everyone back together. And Nya.....Nya doesn’t like that.

She and Lloyd end up having a bit of a passive aggressive argument that is progressively getting louder until Kai just. Snaps.

He yells at them to stop fighting, how they’re acting so horribly and that he wished things could go back to normal, how Zane wouldn’t want this and that he’d be disappointed in them.

The two visibly flinch.

Then Kai realizes exactly what he just said and who he said it to. And he runs.

Nya and Lloyd both spend some time in silence, mulling over what Kai just said because he was right. Zane would hate what’s become of the team and how they separated.

Nya ends up being the one to break the silence, asking Lloyd where and when to meet.

When Kai doesn’t return from the woods, she ends up leaving a note before she leaves, explaining where she’s going and how she’s sorry.

Meanwhile, Kai is having a slight breakdown in a Tree Base he made years ago.

But yeah, fast forward a bit and Kai’s getting ready to sneak onto Chen’s Island, but in a slightly different way than canon. Instead he takes a slightly experimental ship that’s basically a smaller Bounty which he calls the Destiny’s Wish. Think of the comparison like a Car vs a Go Cart. Comfortably, it can fit 2 people long term, but for quick trips can carry as many as 10, but it’ll be a tight fit and the Wish might have some trouble flying.

So yeah, he’s on his own and he doesn’t arrive until a few hours before the EMs all get dropped from the plane. Shade is actually the one to find him first, but has a moment of pause since Literal Child and gives Kai enough time to kick him into a tree and run. The whole chase actually lasts about two hours but unfortunately Kai isn’t able to get back to the Wish and gets caught.

Now for the fun part :)

So all the EMs(and I do mean all because he wanted to “thank them for their contribution”) are in the throne room, their powers snatched, when Chen said aloud “But it is such a shame that we don’t have the Master of Fire, the we’d be able to complete the spell.” and for the briefest second the Ninja Fam are relieved but then Chen does a whole “SIKE, WE GOT HIM” and has some of the guards bring Kai out.

The Ninja are, understandably, freaking out. The EMs kinda are too since Child but only a little bit and it’s not personal

But then just as Chen’s about to snatch his fire, Kai starts saying how Chen cheated since Kai never got to play in a match. Chen refutes it since His Game His Rules but then Kai says that age old statement to get siblings to do Stupid Shit: “What are you, scared?”

Chen is not scared, thank you very much. And you know what, since you’re so confident fine, you now get your own challenge!

So yeah, now Kai has his own challenge.

What is it you might ask?

A vertical obstacle course with a time limit. If Kai doesn’t grab the Jade Blade, the exit closes.

Not that bad you might think. After all, Kai’s been training with the ninja for the past year, he’s probably got this in the bag.

Yeah welllllllll, a little bird told might have told Chen that a certain Master of Fire couldn’t swim.....so he uses Nya’s power to gradually fill up the room and forcing him up.

Surprise surprise, it was rigged against him. I’m talking platforms having false bottoms, ladders being oiled, high pressure water jets to knock him off, the works.

Kai is so close to making it. So close..... but Chen can’t have that happen now can he :)

So yeah, Kai ends up falling in and Nya almost drags all the EMs into the water trying to get him.

Luckily it’s at that moment Lloyd bursts in with Garmadon, frees the EMs and gets Chen’s staff. The EMs bust out and just as Nya’s about to dive in the whole thing starts draining, like an enormous whirlpool.

You see Chen actually thought ahead and realized that “hey, if the kid dies he’ll loose his power” so he made a plan that when Kai was going to fall in, he would use one of the tubes that shot water but in verse and suck him in. Luckily he was able to pull it off before the gem was smashed because if not MMM.

So yeh, Kai is now captured, but still on the island. Skylor reluctantly copies his powers(she got sort of close with Nya and this is the little brother she was gushing about), and Anacondrai happens. However, the two are able to escape, Skylor’s actually able to figure out the Summon Dragon thing, and then they head back to the main group.

Then comes the inevitable question of “how did you get here anyway?” and then Kai shows them The Wish. He actually ends up flying back with Garmadon before all the EMs learn how to Summon Dragon so they can warn people about the ensuing danger.

So yeah, they head out, the Pythor thing happens, canon then Sad because Garm still needs to do the whole sacrifice thing D:

That one hits Lloyd and Kai really hard, but they both use each other for comfort so it isn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

But yeah, this is getting long so tbc for a part 2 :DDD

#Smith swap au #kai #kai smith #nya #nya smith #ninjago #info dump

118 notes · View notes

lesbianrobin · 3 years

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What do you think are the good and bad aspects of each season of ST?

ok 1. thank u for this question omg and 2. this answer may or may not be a mess, but either way it’s long (almost 7k words lmao) bc i’m insane, which is why it’s under a cut. it’s still by no means an exhaustive list but these are the things that just kinda came to mind.

also i realize you asked “good and bad” and i wrote this whole post as “strengths and weaknesses” which um. is not Exactly what you asked. but close enough <3 i also ended up including a lot of au ideas ksjdckmn bc like i personally hate when people say a certain plot or whatever was bad without suggesting anything that could have improved it yknow so whenever possible i tried to provide Some idea for fixing the issues i had with the show!!

season 1

strengths (this is probably gonna be the longest section but that’s because a lot of these strengths also apply to s2/s3 by default)

nostalgia and authenticity

this one’s pretty simple, but i think that season one did a good job of blending classic eighties media homages (such as the many many e.t./el parallels) with explicit pop culture references (such as mike’s yoda impression, mentions of the x-men, etc) to create a show that’s essentially dripping in early eighties nostalgia without it feeling too forced. before st, i think the most popular depiction of the eighties in mainstream media was that overly exaggerated neon scrunchie aesthetic from the mid to late eighties, and it was usually done in a comedic sense first and foremost. st took a different approach, instead focusing on the early eighties, a time that’s often ignored in favor of going either Full Seventies or Full Eighties, and i think that this choice likely resonated with adults who lived through the eighties and hadn’t yet seen something that felt quite so accurate to their own adolescence. a lot of young people who watched st were totally unfamiliar with this period of time, unfamiliar with books/movies like “stand by me” that st borrows from heavily, and i think st lent more seriousness to the eighties than most young people had experienced so far, and this was refreshing and interesting!

the use of dnd in the show is also quite genius in a way i’m not sure i can articulate?? it isn’t something Everyone would have played at the time, but it’s something that existed within a different context back in the eighties than it does today, and it really lent a sort of authenticity to the naming of the show’s sci-fi elements. like, of course these kids would name parallel dimensions and monsters and superpowers after these similar things in their favorite game! it just feels so real and it grounds st in our reality moreso than you might expect from the typical sci-fi or horror universe.

utilization of existing tropes

almost every single character in st clearly originates from some popular trope. the plot itself is riddled with classic eighties movie tropes. almost every single element of stranger things can be clearly traced back to some iconic eighties film or just to, like, overused horror/sci-fi/mystery/coming-of-age movie tropes in general. this might sound like a bad thing, but it really works in st’s favor! starting off with familiar tropes gives st the ability to easily create a lot of complexity and make a big impact by selectively deviating from those familiar, comfortable tropes!! while el’s whole plot, hopper’s character, etc, are all examples of this in action, i think the steve/nancy/jonathan plot is the greatest example. even from the start, the fact that good girl barb dies while nancy is off having sex with her asshole boyfriend is an incredibly thorough inversion of the most well-known horror movie trope in the book. how often do girls in horror movies have sex for the first time, walk home alone in the dark of night, and live to tell the tale? nancy and jonathan’s dynamic at first glance is a sort of classic “good girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks, discovers he’s actually got a heart of gold” thing, but instead of following this well-trodden path, st diverged. nancy is brash, impulsive, and at times downright insensitive. jonathan is angry, bitter, and actually a bit of a creep at first. while they have the capacity to emotionally connect and support one another, they can also bring out each other’s darker side, which is not what we’ve come to expect from that initial tropey dynamic.

in addition, steve, the popular rich asshole boyfriend, is actually... a human being! unlike the cartoonishly evil jocks that we’ve come to expect (especially from eighties movies), steve has complexity. despite his initial immaturity and selfishness, he’s also kind to barb, he backs off when nancy says no, he’s gentle and sweet when they sleep together, his first big Dick Move of the season is in defense of nancy, he realizes the error of his ways after the fight and does what he can to fix it, he’s worried about nancy when he sees that she’s hurt at jonathan’s house, and to top it all off, he ends up saving both nancy and jonathan’s lives when he could have just walked away, and the three of them all work together to fight the demogorgon. like... steve began as the most stereotypical character of all time, and by the end of the season, he had one of the most compelling and unique arcs among the whole cast!

finally, at the very end of the season, instead of dumping steve for jonathan as expected, nancy ends up getting back together with steve, and they’re both on friendly terms with jonathan. i realize that i just kinda. summarized s1. but my POINT is that i don’t think the dynamics between the monster hunting trio would be nearly as fun and interesting had the characters of nancy, steve, and jonathan not been set up to follow certain paths that we already had charted in our own heads. like, within the first couple episodes of s1, it’s pretty obvious that nancy and steve are gonna break up, nancy will get with jonathan, and steve will either die or go full evil or just never be seen again. like, duh! you’ve seen this story a million times! you know that’s how it’s gonna go! so, when the story DOESN’T go that way, the impact of each character’s arc and the relationship dynamics become stronger due to their unexpected complexity and authenticity.

distinct plotlines separated by age group

this one’s rather obvious, but the way that the adults in s1 were essentially in a conspiracy thriller while the teens were in a horror flick and the kids were in a sci fi power-of-friendship story and all three converged at the end... wow. brilliant showstopping etc. not only was it just really well done and unique, it also gave stranger things near-universal appeal. like, there’s genuinely something for pretty much everyone in season one!

casting

obviously this applies to every season sorta by default, but when i think about what made season one So successful, i always think about the cast, and not just winona ryder. yes, she’s absolutely amazing in the show and it’s very doubtful that st would be as big as it is today without her name being attached to it from the start!! however, i think the greatest determining factor in st’s success is the casting of the kids, particularly millie bobby brown. like... el is just absolutely incredible. she’s amazing. this has all been said many times before so i won’t harp on it, but millie and the other kids are all So talented and charismatic and i think their casting has been instrumental to the show’s success.

strong visuals

the way that multicolored christmas lights which have been around for decades are now kinda like. a Stranger Things thing. jesus christ. those lights are probably the biggest stroke of stylistic genius on the show.

atmosphere and setting

this is probably like. the least important one here for me sdjncdsc because i think s2 and s3 both had like Even Better atmospheres and shit but s1 was good too and it laid the groundwork!! i know a lot of people would have preferred st be set somewhere more Spooky with lots of fog or giant forests or whatnot, and while i do enjoy thinking about alternate st settings and how they might alter the vibe, i think hawkins indiana was a good choice. as the duffers have said, placing stranger things in a fictional town allows them more flexibility than if they’d gone with their original plan of using montauk, new york. besides that, i think the plainness and like... flatness... of small-town indiana just Works. like, the fact that hawkins is never really scary on the surface is a big part of the horror in the lab’s actions and their impact. hawkins isn’t somewhere that people just disappear all the time. it isn’t somewhere known for strange occurrences (prior to s1, that is). it isn’t somewhere shrouded in mist and secrecy. hawkins on its surface seems like the sort of place with no secrets and nothing to fear, and that’s the point! the lab is out in the open! it’s right there! everything is so close to the surface, yet so far out of the public eye, and i think that really works.

the byers family’s whole deal (specifically the joyce/jonathan dynamic)

this is going here bc i miss it so bad in s2 and s3. i’m not one of those people who believe The Byers Are The Whole Point of the show, because st is and always has been an ensemble, and el, hopper, and the wheelers are just as instrumental to the plot as the byers, but ANYWAY, i do think the byers were one of the most interesting aspects of s1. joyce’s difficulties with supporting her sons as a poor and (implied mentally ill) single mother, jonathan’s stress as a result of having to earn money, care for his brother, and keep the house in order when his mother is unable to do so, and the resulting tension between them when will’s disappearance and supposed “death” brings the situation to a tipping point? holy shit! it’s so good! that argument after they see will’s “body” is just incredible and gut-wrenching. their relationship feels so real and messy and i think it’s just... good. also winona ryder REALLY acted her heart out and she carried a lot of s1 which i think people often forget to mention so i’m saying it here.

weaknesses

pacing/timing

ok so pacing is probably going to go in each season’s weaknesses, to be honest, because i think they all had a blend of some good and some bad pacing. good pacing is invisible pacing, though, so i probably won’t be putting it in any of the strengths sections and will only be focusing on it in the weaknesses. i’m also probably not going to talk about weird day/night cycle things, just because i don’t want to get nitpicky on timelines because that would require going back and rewatching things to double check timing which i don’t wanna do at the moment lmao. anyway, when i think of bad pacing in season one, i primarily think of two things: nancy’s little trip into the upside down and subsequent sleepover with jonathan, and the sort of staggered nature of the climax in the final episode. the latter is simple so i’ll explain it first: while i understand that each group’s respective climax is like part of a chain reaction and that’s why each big moment happens separately and at different times, i think that st is strongest when the whole group is together, and i think that makes the stakes feel higher too, so i’m not In Love with the way s1 separated everyone and gave each group their own climax.

okay, now on to the nancy/upside down thing! idk if i’ve ever talked about it before, but i think the worst decision made in s1 by far is the inclusion of nancy’s brief trip into the upside down, wherein she dives headfirst into another dimension with absolutely no backup, watches the demogorgon chow down, freaks out and runs around for a minute, and then leaves. like... what the fuck? even putting aside what an idiotic decision this was (because i do think nancy’s tendency to rush into things headfirst is an intentional and consistent character trait), it just kind of destroys any remaining suspense surrounding the demogorgon and the upside down, and it accomplishes basically nothing besides scaring nancy enough to have jonathan sleep over, which is lame. i will break it down.

like, first of all, nancy just getting to waltz in and out of the upside down and get a good, long look at the demogorgon makes the entire thing far less mysterious, and by extension far less scary. like... before this scene, we the audience haven’t got a good look at the demogorgon. we’ve seen its silhouette briefly and we’ve seen a blurry picture of it, but nothing more, and i think that is far more effective at building fear than this jaunt nancy goes on which gives us a full view of the thing and makes it into less of a horrifying nightmare and into more of a humanoid animal. like, maybe this is just me, but i found the demogorgon far less intimidating after that scene than before. it also lets nancy and jonathan know For Sure that they’re right without providing any crucial information that they need to fight the demogorgon (aka it’s unnecessary to the plot), which removes a very compelling story element (the faith nancy and jonathan need to have in order to keep going against a vague and poorly understood enemy, the doubt they might have about each other and their own sanity, the possibility that they might be wrong, the trust they need to have in each other) a bit earlier in the plot than i believe is ideal. at the end of episode 5, nancy goes into the upside down and jonathan doesn’t know where she is and it’s intense!!! you’re thinking like, oh fuck, not only is nancy missing and fighting for her life now too, jonathan might be implicated in her disappearance!! some people already think he’s the one who killed will and people know that he took creepy pictures of barb and nancy before they both disappeared, maybe this is gonna cause some serious problems for him!! maybe nancy will find will in the upside down and she’ll help him survive!! fuck, maybe she’ll actually die!! this is huge!! and then episode 6 starts and they’re immediately like oh nevermind jonathan found the tree and got nancy out and she’s fine. my point with all of this is that nancy entering the upside down could have done A Lot in the grand scheme of the plot, but all it did was just... get jonathan to sleep over so he and nancy could have some awkward romance moments and steve could see them together and pick a fight. which could have honestly happened at Any point while nancy and jonathan were working together to hunt down the demogorgon, without ruining the demogorgon’s and the upside down’s mystique. so yeah <3

weird behavior and dumbass decisions that make no sense (aka the whole camera thing)

gonna go off about the teen plot again sorry but: why was nancy so unbothered and quick to forgive jonathan for taking those pictures? girl what the fuck are you doing? why wasn’t that a bigger deal? why was jonathan’s motivation for doing it so weak and why did they just kind of forget about the whole thing? why did nancy TRACK HIM DOWN AT THE FUNERAL HOME while he was PICKING OUT HIS BABY BROTHER’S CASKET to be like hey can you tell me what’s in this creepshot you took? it’s insane. it’s so insane. i mean i think the funeral home thing is hilarious and i don’t mind it being in the show necessarily but like my point here is that i think a lot of character decisions in s1 just kind of.. happened because they Needed to happen for the plot. like, they wrote this plot that required jonathan to be secretly taking pictures of the party and required him and nancy to work together after seeing something odd in the pictures, but they didn’t like... really consider what that event would mean for their characterization and relationship. the whole thing was sort of just dropped with minimal discussion and i think it did both nancy and jonathan’s characters a disservice and was really mishandled.

lighting and saturation/color grading

i am literally begging horror/sci-fi shows to let me see shit. i GET IT okay i understand that when you’re doing cgi effects it helps to keep the lights down and i’m not mad at any of the lighting in the demogorgon/upside down scenes!! i’m really not i think the demogorgon scenes in s1 all look sick!! but like... dude. the colors. where are they. why does everyone look like a vampire. i know blah blah this was probably an intentional stylistic choice intended to mimic film at the time blah blah but dude a lot of old movies are very colorful!! please just let people have color in their faces so everyone doesn’t look like a sheet of paper!!! also i’m white and not a professional lighting designer so yknow grain of salt but i think lucas was kinda poorly served by the lighting sometimes in s1. not Hugely so, not to the degree that i’ve seen poc be poorly served by lighting in other shows, but there were some times where it felt kinda like the lighting setup was just not designed with darker skin in mind.

horror

i just personally don’t find s1 very scary like... ever. i don’t think they were really Trying to be extremely scary yknow so i’m not counting this as a big deal, but i do think that each season has improved on the horror aspects. i think s1′s horror lies more in the mystery and the unknown than in what’s seen onscreen, and as i’ve said already, i think s1 kind of fumbled that suspense ball.

season 2

strengths

the possession plot

i’ll warn u rn this whole s2 strengths section is probably gonna be really short bc idk like. how much there is to really say i feel like it’s all so self-explanatory skjncmn. anyway yeah the possession plot!! eerie as fuck, and noah OWNED. so did winona tbh and finn and sean etc but like. noah. wow! i think the possession plot helped the show maintain a good amount of tension and suspense throughout the season, and a lot of scenes with possessed!will are flatout disturbing to watch. in a good way. i think the mindflayer and will’s possession were far more genuinely frightening than s1′s demogorgon, and it provided a new layer of depth and intrigue to the antagonist besides just “bad monster want eat people.”

tone and aesthetics

halloween season... literally halloween season. halloween season. that is all.

actually i will elaborate a bit and just say that i think s2 did a good job of having the sort of foreboding vibe that s1 was often going for, but without the annoying darkness and desaturation. so points for that.

also st2 is like one of the best Autumn pieces of media ever like it just. like steve and dustin on those train tracks with the fallen leaves all around them.... god. god the vibes are unparalleled. all of the halloween stuff also really contributes to the nostalgia st runs on yknow it makes you think about childhood and trick-or-treating and you kind of get transported like damn... i remember going to the rich neighborhoods to score the good candy..... idk i just think the whole thing is incredibly effective.

“babysitter” steve

by sending nancy and jonathan off together, the show created a problem: what to do with steve? this problem pushed them to create the unconventional and unexpected duo of steve and dustin, and the world is so much brighter for it. seriously though we all know steve and dustin are great i don’t need to argue that point. all i’ll add is that i think allowing steve to grow in this way, serving as a mentor figure and becoming genuine friends with someone so unexpected, really took the originality of his character to the next level. no longer content just to defy his archetype, in s2 steve begins branching out in ways that never would have been considered in s1, creating an incredibly complex and interesting person from the sort of character that most shows would have simply written out or killed off for convenience’s sake. and it works and steve and dustin are such a joy to watch and i love them. <3

the lucas/max plot

so first of all max mayfield is the most perfect baby girl on god’s green earth and idk what i would do without her but anyway. i think lumax is the best romantic relationship in the show and not just because they’re the only ones with like an age-appropriate approach to the whole thing. it’s also because their relationship accomplishes more than just putting the two of them in a relationship!! lucas and max spending time together motivates billy to do his evil shit, providing more conflict in the narrative, and it also helps establish max as part of the group in a relatively natural way while giving both her and lucas a great subplot. lucas (and dustin) has a crush on the new girl, they start spending some time together, and lucas ends up needing to decide whether he’ll keep the secret of the upside down and lose her, or risk both of their lives by telling her the truth. that’s a pretty big, character-defining decision that he gets to make!! max has to choose whether to trust this boy she barely knows and endanger herself, or to walk away and stay safe, yet another great character-defining choice that also contributes to the sense we get as an audience of max as somebody who’s incredibly lonely and desperate for love and connection. this post is way too long already and i have a ton more to say so i’ll stop now but yeah i think lumax really Works in the show without ever distracting or detracting from the overall plot and narrative in the way that some other ships (coughjancycough) often do.

balance between the normal and abnormal

s2 i think did a pretty solid job of melding daily life with more fantastical sci-fi horror elements. i enjoyed seeing so much of the kids at school in the first few episodes!! you really get a strong sense of where they’re at in life, what their daily lives are like, and you get a sort of gradual shift into madness that makes everything feel more grounded than i think it would if they had just leapt straight into the horror shit, yknow?

the el and hopper dynamic

go back and rewatch s2 and tell me that’s not one of the most moving portrayals of parenthood and trauma and growing up that you’ve ever seen. you can’t. or well you can but i won’t listen. i really can’t imagine stranger things without el and hopper’s relationship, and it’s my absolute favorite part of s2. their whole dynamic is so beautiful and complex, and gives them each amazing personal arcs in addition! the black hole scene is literally one of the show’s greatest moments of all time. any given scene between the two of them in s2 is just guaranteed to be heartwarming as well as heartbreaking, and i think that makes for an incredible show.

weaknesses

flashbacks

okay this applies to Every season they All have too many flashbacks but in s2 specifically... please stop showing me shit from season one. i watched it. i know what happened. you don’t need to spoon feed everything to me!! flashbacks can be a really helpful way of delivering information to an audience, but st has a bad habit of not only being kinda demeaning in how often they flash back to shit that the audience already knows, but they also have a bad habit of using flashbacks almost as a crutch to avoid having to deliver information subtly and naturally.

you know i gotta say it... the lost sister

this is so sad. the lost sister really is like a great concept for an st episode, and i’m not mad about the idea of st taking a break from the normal action to focus on one story for a full episode, but the execution of it was just dreadful. kali and her crew feel very over-the-top and stereotypical, and its placement in the season totally kills the tension and excitement that was built in “the spy.”

i think the lost sister honestly could have gone over far better, even with the stereotypical fake-feeling gang kali has, if they had just swapped it with “the spy” like... ok, the end of episode five has el setting off to find kali and will collapsing on the ground seizing. right? imagine if, instead of immediately following will to the lab, we’d followed el. we don’t know what’s happening with will, but it’s a very simple cliffhanger that leaves us on edge without making us feel cheated by the show cutting away. we follow el on her little journey, everything happens much the same as canon, and then at the end, el sees hopper in scrubs. she sees mike, screaming, sees that they’re both in danger. holy shit!!! what the fuck!!! what’s happened since we left will seizing on the ground??? we feel el’s fear and confusion. she decides to go home. and then... boom. “the lost sister” is over. now, we rewind, right back to will seizing on the ground, and “the spy” commences. we learn how they got into the danger that el saw in the end of “the lost sister,” and we sit on the edge of our seats all through “the spy” and “the mind flayer,” KNOWING that el is on her way back to save them but not knowing when she’ll arrive!! idk i don’t think that would have necessarily saved lost sister but i think it may have alleviated some of the issues that i and many others have with it, timing-wise.

the nancy/jonathan sidequest

once again, the idea of nancy going off on her own little mission to find justice for barb after s1 is like. amazing. genuinely i love that plot for her and i can’t imagine anything better for her to have focused on in s2. unfortunately though i think her and jonathan’s little trip to see murray was just kind of... lame. the whole thing just felt like an excuse to get the two of them alone together, yknow? which is fine i guess people contrive all sorts of situations to get characters alone together for romance reasons but in this case i think it just really doesn’t work for me because of what it’s juxtaposed with. like, will is POSSESSED, and jonathan is just off on a mini road trip and sleeping with his bestie, and jonathan never seems to communicate to joyce/will that he left town, and joyce never like... thinks to tell him that will is like sick and fucked up and they’re looking at him in the lab??? like it’s so weird i know joyce always forgets about jonathan when shit’s happening with will but jfc you’d think at some point in that like... 72-ish-hour period where jonathan was out of town she would have thought about him. like at least once. maybe i’m forgetting something and she mentioned him sometime and i missed it but even still, i hate the juxtaposition of nancy and jonathan just like cheers-ing at murray’s place and sleeping together and whatnot while everyone else is dealing with possession or trying to hunt down dart yknow? it feels really boring in comparison and i think it could have been done far better. like it was SO insanely easy for them to get into the lab and get an admission of guilt and escape with it!! i think it might have been a lot more engaging if maybe someone from the lab tailed them to murray’s place and they had to like lose the tail and race to get the recording out to as many news outlets as possible before they got caught, or something like that. the tension in their plotline is completely resolved in episode four!! episodes five and six are just them screwing around and addressing envelopes. while there were a lot of strong ideas in this plotline (i really enjoy nancy going out of her way to get justice, and the fact that they have to water down the story to make it believable), i just think the focus on nancy and jonathan getting together hindered it a lot without adding a ton to the plot or their individual characters.

season 3

strengths

starcourt mall as a setting

while i don’t think the mall was utilized quite to its full potential (something i could make a separate post about if anyone’s interested), i do think that starcourt was a genius addition to the series. i’ve said this before, but building a new mall is a literal Perfect in-universe justification for a significant leap forward in fashion and aesthetics, and it provides a great location for characters to just... be characters. idk how else to articulate this i just think that the mall is a great setting to let people interact with each other and to bring people together who may not have been otherwise (i.e. scoops troop). not to mention how sick it was to see the mall get wrecked toward the end kdjncdkm like they were able to do so much more with the mall in terms of like The Finale than they could with just the byers house or the cabin or the school or even the lab. i love all the back tunnels they run through it’s such a fun like acknowledgement of how this glitzy eighties mall is just a real place where employees get shipments and take out the trash and shit idk it’s all about the perfect facade and what’s hidden what’s underneath what’s hiding in plain sight etc etc i’m just saying words now. anyway.

willingness to experiment and go against expectations

gay robin. neon aesthetics. giant fucking meat monster. i know some people hate both the neon and the meat monster but i personally think they were kind of amazing and like. yknow regardless of personal tastes i think it’s impossible to deny that s3 had a lot of incredible visuals, and they’re all visuals that just wouldn’t have been possible if the show were too afraid to stray from its s1 aesthetic. robin being canonically gay (and her resulting friendship with steve) and the season’s striking visuals are two things that most everyone (besides like homophobes skjncdknm) can agree were great, right? and they were both departures from where the show began and what we all expected!! so yeah i think while some of the experimentation in s3 wasn’t ideal it was also that experimentation that allowed for some of the season’s strongest elements to come about.

the hospital sequence (and the season’s action/horror scenes in general)

this one is fairly self-explanatory. while they may have underutilized the “body snatching” element of the season, the hospital sequence with nancy and jonathan fighting off their possessed bosses did an amazing job of building tension and creating a genuine sense of really intense and personal danger.

in general i think that s3 melded action and horror rather well, particularly in the sauna test, the hospital, and when the mindflayer busts through the roof of hop’s cabin. horror can come from many things, and in this case, st elicited horror largely from the feeling of helplessness, and it was really effective for me personally. i think it worked better for me than s1′s brand of horror because it doesn’t rely so much on a lack of knowledge or a sense of suspense that inevitable disappears upon a second viewing.

the body horror we got in s3 was also really fun! that’s it i just think all the blood and guts and slime were fun and i would like more of them. once again, the impacts of body horror are less dependent upon the viewer being in the dark or unsure as to what’s happening, and as such i think it tends to be a little more effective at eliciting reaction in the long term.

timing and mechanics of the battle of starcourt/finale

i think the battle of starcourt is just fucking awesome, and beyond that personal opinion, i think it’s the most high-stakes and intense finale of all three seasons, and this is for two main reasons! 1. el is out of commission, and 2. (almost) everyone is in the same cental location. this means that (almost) everyone is in danger all at once, and they are all working together at the same time to fight the same threat. s1/s2 have their groups more fragmented for the finales, and while i understand why in each case and i wouldn’t call either season’s finale necessarily weak, i do think the centralized nature of the s3 finale just Works on another level. in s1 and s2, large segments of the cast are already perfectly safe by the time el dispatches the primary threat. in s3, however, everybody save for dustin and erica is still in danger up until the last moment, and el is seemingly (you can def debate how much power she still had in her when she peeked into billy’s mind and whether the memory broke the mindflayer’s hold on him or if she was actually controlling him to some degree) completely vulnerable. this increases the tension and raises the stakes, making the finale a real crescendo to fortissimo as opposed to a series of little mezzo forte moments. i hope everyone reading this knows music idk how else to phrase that my brain is stupid.

emphasis on friendship and adolescence (but in a different way than s1/2)

this is definitely a controversial one but i think that s3 really did like... show a side of friendship that had been more or less unexplored thus far in the show. el and max were amazing, and i think it’s really nice that we got an opportunity to see the kids have some growing pains as well as see them support each other through Normal Adolescent Stuff like boyfriends and breakups instead of just like. death and trauma. this is maybe just a personal preference, but i think it can be really enlightening and provide a lot of depth when you get to see how characters respond to normal everyday conflict and not just how they respond to giant world-ending conflict!! letting el use her powers for goofy teenage shit like spying on boys and messing with mean girls at the mall is not only fun for her and the audience, but it also really emphasizes just how much those powers are a part of el, making it that much more devastating when she loses them at the end of the season.

weaknesses

tonal dissonance

so this is like. obvious. but it must still be said! i won’t go on and on about it since we all know this so i’ll try to like talk about it from an angle people don’t usually? anyway. it seems to me like they were maybe a little worried about s3 being too dark. while the choice to really lean into humor was definitely driven by the sorts of eighties teen films from which s3 drew inspiration (like fast times at ridgemont high), i think it was also done in an attempt to alleviate the more troubling implications of some events in the season, particularly the russian bunker plot. like, yeah, st can be incredibly dark, but if they’d played the whole “children being stuck inside of a foreign military base, tied up, tortured, and drugged” thing completely straight without the humorous elements that exist in canon, it had the potential to be like... disturbing on a new level. steve and robin don’t have powers like el yknow their kidnapping/torture doesn’t have any sci-fi elements to sorta soften the blow. they’re just innocent teenagers being brutalized and traumatized by grown men. so anyway yeah i think maybe the writers were concerned about this storyline coming off as too dark and they wanted it to be a little more whimsical but they ended up pushing way too hard in that direction and creating extreme dissonance at times. this goes for joyce/hopper/murray/alexei too, but to a lesser extent. i think the ridiculousness in that group felt a lot more like... realistic. but still.

newspaper plot

once again i feel like i don’t even need to say this skjdncmn we all know it was insane how the show basically ended up delivering the message “while misogyny is a serious problem poverty and classism are not” and i’ve said it on this blog a million times so i don’t need to repeat myself. i’ll focus on another weak point of this plot: the fact that it completely separates nancy and jonathan from everyone else. once again, the show’s preoccupation with j/ancy held them back! like... can you imagine a version of s3 where nancy and jonathan both worked in the mall? i have a lot of ideas about this possible au and like how the plot could play out differently if they worked in the mall but first of all it’s just more realistic, second of all it further utilizes the mall as a central setting, and third of all, it would bring everyone together. as it is in canon, nancy and jonathan were unnecessarily isolated from the rest of the group, and this isolation was detrimental to both of their characters. like, they only ever get to interact with each other! if they’d gotten summer jobs in the mall, they could have had more interactions with the kids/steve/robin, and they absolutely still could have had a similar argument! maybe in this case, nancy notices the rat thing (or something else odd) herself when taking out the trash behind the mall, and she wants jonathan to ditch work with her to check it out bc she thinks it may be related to the lab. jonathan doesn’t want to ditch work because he needs his job, nancy argues that they’re working shitty mall jobs anyway and who cares if they get fired, and we get more or less the same thing as s3 without the cartoonishly over-the-top misogyny. i mean honestly i think the rat shit could have been cut entirely it didn’t rly... accomplish much of anything. in my opinion. like imagine s3 without the rat plot you literally would not be missing anything except it would be more surprising when the dudes melted into goo at the hospital. so yeah i think it would have been better if nancy and jonathan had jobs at the mall, weren’t isolated from everybody else, and were maybe absorbed into the party’s plot or the scoops troop’s plot from very early on, allowing them to interact with more characters and have a less... dumb.... plot. like god splitting up nancy and jonathan between the party/scoops troop would have been So Much better i just. sdkjcnksdmn anyway yeah.

briefness of group reunion/separation of groups

remember in s2 at the beginning of “the gate,” where mike and hopper had a confrontation and max and el met for the first time and el hugged everyone and steve and nancy had their sad little moment together outside... where’s that energy? obviously the s2 reunion wasn’t that long either, but it made space for some significant emotional moments to take place. s3′s reunion had some hopper/el/mike resolution, but besides that... there was nothing, really. i just think that the whole group getting together in s3 was SO exciting and powerful the way they did it (with both the scoops troop and the adults having their own Big Moment reconnecting with team griswold family), but the emotional potential was more or less squandered.

i also think in s3 at times they were really stretching to keep everybody separated even though it made no sense. and like... in s1 the separation worked bc nobody else knew that (x group) was experiencing weird shit too, and beyond that, each group (as i mentioned in the s1 section) was sort of operating within their own genre and bringing something unique to the season. they’ve stopped doing that though! now, the groups aren’t separate bc each plot is tonally/structurally different, the groups are just separate bc... they need to be, because it’s a big ensemble cast and you can’t just have them all be together for a whole season or it would be way too difficult to coordinate things and keep the show dynamic. all this is to say that i’m excited for s4 because the location differences make it so there’s a Reason for each plot to be separate at the beginning, and i think that’ll work better.

general ridiculousness

i dont mean like i think it’s bad that they made jokes this is just me lumping in all the dumb shit like hopper not worrying about el and not wanting to check on the kids, him and joyce bickering long after they both know they and their children are in danger, max seemingly forgetting that billy is a racist abuser, etc etc. i think many of these are just a symptom of the show 1. trying desperately to keep the groups split up a certain way even though it may not make any sense, and 2. trying to fit into a certain genre/trope mold when their actual characters are more complex than the tropes they’re imitating. this is so fucking long already i am not gonna elaborate further rn but i trust u all know what i mean.

soooo... yeah, that’s about all! i mean it’s not all there are definitely many more things i could talk about and i know i focused sorta disproportionately on the teens which is my bad :/ but i’m done for now. thank you for asking, and apologies for the delay in responding!! i’m sure some people reading (if anyone read this far) will disagree with some of what i’ve said and that’s alright like i’m not The Authority on st or anything i’m just trying to talk about like my own thoughts yknow? so yeah luv u all i hope someone enjoyed reading this!!

#asks #em talks #lesbianrobin.canon #stranger things #if u actually read all this i love u and im sorry #these r just my opinions!! and im sure i misremembered some shit my brain is swiss cheese #i did my best tho

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wings-of-a-storm · 3 years

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I have a question. My favorite character is obviously Benji, but this season I started to get an ultimate rancidity of him.In the end I understood why he was acting like this, he has a PTSD because of dating Derek, his parents shitting him and alcohol and the accident. It's about the accident I wanted to know about, I didn't quite understand what this accident was and why he started drinking. I get upset that Benji's story is the least explored in the series, in my opinion, it should be explored more

Sorry for late reply to this, Anon! I know a few others already replied to this but I figure I’d still add my take into the mix for you. :)

I think many of us share your frustrations about Benji’s story being drip fed to us instead of being looked at more deeply. It’s a very interesting history so I really hope that in season three we might actually get a more decent look at it…

BENJI’S HISTORY / WHY HE STARTED DRINKING:

Throughout both seasons we learn that Benji has struggled with mental health.

In the most simplest of summaries: Benji struggled with internalised homophobia -- he hated himself for being homosexual and fought against it. He even experimented sexually with girls (which he briefly mentioned in S1), but in the end, he couldn’t deny that he was gay. But acknowledging he was gay and being able to accept it are two different things. He hated being gay.

In order to cope with that self-hatred and fear, he turned to alcohol to dull his reality and in turn everything he felt. He’s still learning to like himself even now in season two.

In Benji’s own words: “Before I came out, I was kind of a mess. I knew I was gay but I didn't want to be. So I drank. A lot. (1x07)” And: “Coming out was really hard for me, Victor. And it is still hard for me to be who I am. (1x05)”

BENJI’S CAR ACCIDENT:

Benji said that when he was younger, he drank 'a lot'. From that statement alone we can infer that he knew he was drinking more than his peers were. Most likely that went beyond social drinking -- he was probably also drinking by himself at any opportunity.

There is an age limit for drinking for good reason: our brains don’t fully develop until we are in our twenties, and as such, when we are younger we are more likely to make riskier choices. Adding alcohol into the mix is just asking for trouble -- as Benji found out when, one night, severely inebriated, he lost control of his vehicle (or misjudged his surroundings) and drove through/into a building. “One night I got super wasted and decided that I wanted Wendys real bad. So I took my Dad's car to the drive thru and that's exactly what I did -- drove through the Wendys. (1x07)”

That is some serious stuff right there! On so many levels!

Firstly the physical toll: he ‘totalled’ his dad’s car. To have a car written off as too smashed to be driven, that car had a huge impact! And not surprising since Benji said he drove through the building. Whether that was through glass or a into a sturdy wall, to crunch up the metal of his car, that is a massive hit. We don’t know the extent of his injuries (he just said he was ‘banged up’) but we do know that he was at the very least knocked unconscious and/or had a head injury from it (“Waking up in the hospital with my parents standing over me…” 1x07).

Secondly, the emotional toll: when Benji gained consciousness and woke up in hospital, he said he “realised that I could have died." (1x07) That is a very frightening thing to confront -- your mortality. It spooked him enough that it was the catalyst for his Coming Out. He didn’t want to die without “ever really being who I was” (1x07); to have only lived his life as a lie and not known his true self…

Most of us, I’d wager, haven’t had to confront our mortality at such a young age -- like truly confront it after going through a life-threatening experience. In that sense, he is on a different level to his peers and Victor -- a big part of his innocence has been broken and re-formed.

There is more to the emotional toll though -- not explicitly mentioned in canon but pretty much common sense:

The pain of recovery in hospital and at home (whatever “banged up” means, he was injured in some way)

The guilt of knowing his actions could have caused innocent people to have been hurt or killed. No one was hurt, he said, but just knowing they could have been is a really heavy thing to have on your conscience.

The stress of dealing with insurance (for the Wendys, for the car). He would have had to burden his parents with sorting that all out.

Police would have been involved to investigate the incident and lay charges. That’s pretty darn scary.

Losing his licence and thus part of his independence

Seeing the physical damage of the Wendys if he ever went past it again -- knowing he had done it, knowing he had been in the car that made that damage and reliving the knowledge he could have killed himself…

He was so ashamed by it all, he didn’t want anyone at school knowing about the accident or about his drinking that caused it. In 1x07 the school still didn’t know so he really guarded that secret hard.

There’s just so much heaviness linked to that accident. And Benji has only had one year to process all of that. On some level, that stuff has got to linger.

THE INITIAL AFTERMATH:

We learn that after the car accident, Benji was in an ever worse state of mind than when he was drinking his life away before it. His mother reveals: “After your car accident last year you were so hard on yourself and things were pretty dark for a while there. And you decided to put in the hard work [to go to AA and get better]. (2x07)”

Referring to Benji's post-accident self as being in 'a pretty dark place' is a pretty big alarm bell. His mental health sounds like it was pretty much destroyed. It is so hard to rebuild yourself after falling into such a dark well, but over the year he must have pulled himself back from the brink. That is so, so heavy!

It’s hard to gauge whether Benji chose to go to AA himself (which seems to be implied), or whether it was a condition of his charge through the police, but he went there none-the-less to change his life and learn healthier coping mechanisms to handle stress/his inner conflicts.

Something else worth noting is that, timeline-wise (as messy as that always is in LV), Benji was dating Derek through all of this. His one year anniversary with Derek was in S1 but his one year sobriety was only in S2. Who knows how that would have complicated things. He wasn’t Out to his parents or anyone but he was dating a (adult) man. So he was simultaneously hating that he was gay and drinking his mind blank but still dating a man. That is a super stressful and conflicting dichotomy that he was dealing with in amongst all this… (“It is still hard for me to be who I am.” 1x05)

THE MOST IMPORTANT INSIGHT FROM BENJI’S DRINKING AND AA:

It is so important to take time and realise what being in AA means about Benji: as a young teen, Benji self-medicated his way through his worsening mental health by drinking to handle stress and internalised homophobia. He didn’t have any proper methods of handling stressful situations. He is now having to unlearn those behaviours and learn new strategies through AA and his sponsor. But he has only been doing that for one year! That is a blip of time in the hourglass.

Now let’s look at the events of S2: Benji has been inundated with stress while still learning how to cope with it without drinking. And he’s had to learn and practise these new coping strategies while:

Being in high school

Holding down an assistant manager job

Watching his significant other being emotionally wrung out by his mother’s treatment of him; dealing with his own rejection and banishment from Isabel

Reliving both his own coming out stress and homophobic aggressions at school directed this time at his significant other

Trying to deal with the shame of being in AA and keeping that a secret from all of his peers at school

Like far out, that is a ton of stress! Anyone would crack under all of that, let alone a young and recovering alcoholic!

So yes, when faced with stressful situations, Benji is not always going to react in the right way or say the right things. He’s still learning how to do that with his sponsor and AA meetings. He might come off as ‘rancid’ in S2, but really he is just a kid who is struggling and trying to do his best.

#LV ask #Love Victor #LV S2 analysis #Benji Campbell

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kiaracarrera · 3 years

Text

I've had a few requests to write fan fic and while I give full props to those that do write them I'm just not nearly as patient or as organised to write one. I do however have many messy ideas on Jiara's future that I've thought about that I think might be fun to share. Please ignore the messy way I've written this, it was just for fun, also it's under the read more because it's LONG.

So - I actually really liked the small hints of Jiara in S2 and my hope is that we don't rush into anything so ideally I'd like to see them get together at the very end of S3 and here's how I would do it:

Episode one and two would lay the foundation for the Pouges on the deserted island trying to survive and with things being super chaotic and hectic the Pouges would lose track of what day it is.

Now cue the second half of episode two and Kiara's sitting on the beach alone - JJ approaches and with the two of them staring out into the ocean they begin to talk about how Kie misses her folks and JJ reluctantly agrees that part of him stupidly does too. JJ puts a hand over Kiara's shoulder and she leans into his, JJ softly then says "Happy birthday Kie" - Kiara smiles but doesn't acknowledge it, because after all they have more pressing things going on, but it's a nice moment and we the audience see a hint of something between them. Then of course someone would yell "Kie-JJ, food's ready" or it'd cut to the next scene of everyone together and that would be that for now. But just imagine that, JJ of all people being the one to remember such an event, caring enough to acknowledge but knowing the last thing Kiara would want is a fuss.

Episodes 3 and 4 would be full of small but noticeable banter between the two of them, with the occasional sweeter than usual moment in between and somewhere around here the Pouges would make it off Pougelandia.

A couple of episodes on (maybe 6ish) and it would be Sarah who noticed, because duh the boys are dumb sometimes. She would notice after a small flirtatious moment between Jiara and acknowledge it with a side eye that no one else sees. Then while Kie and Sarah are alone Sarah would just casually drop the "So are we going to talk about what that was or..." line which Kiara would of course deny deny deny but then the camera would pan to JJ looking at Kie and again, we the audience would know.

Towards the very end of the season (8/9) would be Pope acknowledging the spark between JJ and Kie, probably after some eventful life or death situation and telling JJ subtly but not so subtly, while facing the direction of Kiara "You know I love you man and you should be happy, you both should..." which JJ would either shake his head to and tell Pope straight up he didn't know what he was talking about or we'd circle back to S1 with JJ saying "Na dude even if, which I'm not saying I do, but even if I did... I mean Kie, she would never.. we're friends man... we're family" Pope would, in his Popely wonder respond "Whatever you say man, but, just don't keep yourself from happiness on my accord."

Cue the acknowledgment of mutual pining which would lead us to the final episode where:

Kiara would get injured (because it's probably her turn) and JJ would be a complete WRECK and probably say some sappy shit that no one payed attention to because Kiara was in deep shit here! She'd end up making it out safely, though not before a short stint from at the hospital. A few scenes later and Kiara, now at home would get a visit from a worried JJ who'd bolted at the hospital because he couldn't handle the stress and then had turned up at her doorstep to "check in and apologise", after some small talk he turn to leave, only for Kiara to hesitantly stop him with a "Jay-before the hospital, it seemed like you were going to say something" and he'd close off a little and start rambling and then eventually confess that "losing you would be different...", Kiara would respond with "Why..." and JJ would just softly mutter "you know why"... and then BAMN 'Heat Waves by Glass Animals' would softly start playing in the background as Kiara shakes her head for a second before steadily but with purpose hoping down the stairs, the volume of the music slowly rising until 0.19 when the beat drops at the same time Kiara would wrap her arms around JJ's neck and we'd finally get the kiss! It'd be a soft but meaningful kiss as the camera pans 360 around them, capturing every angel until they part ways at 0.30 sharing a sweet smile and knowing laugh between them 'this was it, the feeling, the connection they'd both been missing for so long' then with one hand on her cheek JJ would pull Kiara back in for another soft kiss.... before the scene fades away to something else...

Oh and! The last scene would either be JJ and Kiara turning up to a Pouge gathering together but not acknowledging what had just happened which would lead us into a secret relationship for S4 OR JJ and Kiara would turn up to a Pouge gathering, JJ casually with his arm around Kiara's shoulder and with the other Pouges all looking at each other with acknowledgment but no one actually saying anything. Instead they'd just acknowledge Kiara being free from the hospital with a "There she is, woman of the moment" before Kie and JJ sat down and the S4 cliff-hanger happened!

#jiara #jj maybank #kiara carrera #jj x kie #obx #outerbanks2 #outerbanks netflix #outer banks

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oathofoaksart · 3 years

Photo

YOUNG JUSTICE OC: KITSUNE

bio under the cut!

BASICS Name: Leiko Ara A.K.A: Kitsune; Lei, Kit, L.A [only by Charlie] Age: 16 [S1 Era], 21 [S2 Era] Gender: Cisgender Female Orientation: Grayromantic Bisexual

Skin: Fair Hair: Plum-Black Eyes: Black, fully golden and slit-pupiled as Kitsune Height: 5'6”, 6’1” in platforms Build: Lithe, built like a dancer Distinctions: Distinctly pretty. Sharpened canines and nails. A sharp dresser, obviously wealthy, rarely seen without some type of heel.

RELATIONS Parents: Ryuu Ara and Cho Miyamotou [estranged] Siblings: N/A Friends: Wally “Kid Flash” West, Zatanna Zatara, M’gann “Miss Martian” M’orzz, Raquel “Rocket” Irving, Kaldur’ahm “Aqualad”, Dick “Robin” Grayson, Conner “Superboy” Kent, Artemis Crock, Haley Overbea [OC] Partner/s: Wally “Kid Flash/Flash III” West (ev. post-S3) Misc.: Charles “Scribe” Jenson [OC], Penelope “Poppet” Caskett [@PoltergeistPrincessa] Affiliations: The Spiral, The Team

PERSONALITY Personality Type: ENTP-A [Assertive Debater] Temperament: Choleric-Sanguine Alignment: Chaotic Good Clever | Self-Assured | Driven | Arrogant | Spiteful

Aristocratic in both upbringing and nature, Leiko likes to carry herself with regality. Her confidence and well-honed charm makes her a popular figure among her school peers, even though she keeps everyone at a cool arm's length. Her social aloofness leaves her with little to no close friends, which she figures is just as well, since she finds friends to be a waste of time.

Around others in the heroic scene, Leiko allows herself to show off. She’s known for her theatrical and flamboyant attitude, topped with a haughtiness she cares little to subdue. She’s assertive, witty, and adores a challenge. She lets this completely unfurl as the vain and dramatic Kitsune, who views the world as her stage and anyone watching her audience.

Leiko struggles with unlearning a deep-seated cynicism against others and is often skeptical of actions claimed to be done out of good will, which clashes with the ethics of heroism. Her grasp on empathy leaves much to be desired as well; she can be condescending, sharp, and impatient when the situation calls for exactly the opposite.

Still, steadily Leiko finds herself learning humility, trust, and care from her teammates, along the way forming friendships no Swiss bank account could buy.

ABILITIES AND WEAKNESSES

Powers and Abilities:

Physiology:

Lei doesn’t possess a human soul, but of that of her namesake, a kitsune. Her “soul” is instead a Hoshi no Tama, usually referred to as her soul bead. It is a fist-sized pearl that resides within her body. This is the source of her magic as well as her heightened physical attributes.

Enhanced Senses: Lei demonstrates fox-like senses. She sees just as well at night as she does during the day, hears better than a normal human, and has a better sense of smell. This doubles in the supernatural side, she can see, hear, and smell beyond the mortal plane.

Enhanced Physiology: Lei exhibits above-average speed, strength, endurance and rarely if ever comes down with diseases, viruses and the like.

Onmyodo: A traditional Japanese occultism

Illusion Magic: Lei’s strongest suit is her hold over illusion spells. Using a variety of paper charms, mirrors, physical cues, written and verbal spells, she's able to create confusion over her opponent. These illusions range from visual to audial, making it difficult to rely on one's own senses. Her illusions are often grandiose, jarringly colorful, with nods to the overall aesthetic influence of traditional Japanese art forms. In turn makes her relatively immune to similar tactics.

Barriers: Can alternately use barriers as a sort of defense or a barring mechanism. Barriers set up by paper charms are stronger and more durable than barriers set by simple verbal spells, however combining both techniques grants the best results.

Pyrokinesis: Lei’s kitsunebi is a mystic fire she can conjure in the form of pillars and spheres. Notably different to “mortal” flame, as it burns exclusively supernatural/otherworldly beings, but brings the sensation of weakness and illness to the human body.

Weapons and Inventory:

Enchanted Parasol:

Kit’s go-to weapon. By reaching over her shoulder, the same way one would unsheath a sword, her oil paper parasol materializes into her hand in a burst of flame. It serves both as a defensive and offensive tool.

Closed: While in her hands it doesn’t appear to weigh any more than a regular parasol, in combat it carries an inexplicable weight, able to break concrete. She uses it as a melee weapon, much like a bat or a club. Kit also uses it as a makeshift wand/staff, for bigger and more complex spells. And a favorite stun tactic of hers is to mimic pumping the action to a shotgun, aiming her parasol and “firing” it. It creates a momentary illusion of being “shot” to whomever her target may have been.

Open: Popping it open creates a quick-time personal shield, able to deflect various attacks and withstand a fair amount of explosive power. Ducking behind it obscures her from her opponent and she uses this window of time to work up a spell. Spinning the canopy of her parasol causes momentary dizziness. When jumping off of highland, the parasol allows Kit to glide for long distances (the amount of time and smoothness of the glide suffers when another person is in tow).

Ofuda: These paper charms can be used as delayed “bombs” affected by sticking them into walls, either simply timed or activated by touch. They also serve for warding spells. Gohei: A summoned short wand with a decorative paper trail, the length of the trail stretches during use. Lei uses it as a sort of weaponized gymnast ribbon, or a whip. Most effective against intaginable objects or enemies. Balance Charm: With Scribe's help and after many mishaps, Kit wears a beaded charm around her ankle which enables her limited enhanced movement. She appears to glide along, unweighted, making her movements seem feather light. It helps slow or cushion short distance falls and balance on unprobable surfaces. May also explain how she manages to fight in heels. Spellbook: Kit carries a small notebook with variant spells written herself for safe-keeping and for a quick reference check. Mirrors: Kit holds a small, two-faced mirror. The mirror serves to see through glamour illusions or create more intricate illusions of her own; more often than not, she uses it to admire a makeup job well done. Purification Salt: Ghosts in particular are vulnerable to salt, circles of it makes areas inaccessible to them. Calligraphy Set: A horse-hair brush, inkwell and a small stash of paper for written spells

Limitations and Weaknesses:

Water and Aquatic Environments: As host of a fire kitsune, Kitsune’s main and biggest weakness is water. Being around areas with large amounts of water dampens the potency of her magic, being doused in it cuts off completely until she dries off. While her parasol helps repel rain and small splashes, it can only do so much. The water effect includes any type, Lei incapacitaed by things such as baths and showers as well until she properly dries herself off.

Cynophobia: Lei’s “unprompted” fear of dogs, or really any sort of canine that aren’t foxes, can be traced back to Japanese folklore. Dogs were considered enemies of foxes, being used to hunt them down. People accused of being possessed by, or being kitsune, were sometimes forced to be licked head to toe by dogs in order to expel the demon to it’s true form. Dogs make Lei largely uncomfortable at best, aggressive dogs will either send her into a state of frozen terror or at worst, unabashed panic.

HISTORY [TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL HARASSMENT]

The only child of Ryuu Ara, a successful luxury hotel chain owner and president, Leiko grew up with the world served to her on a silver platter. She enrolled in the best schools, excelling in academics, popularity, and was starting to make headway as a teen model. Leiko formed into a pretty, precocious, if pretentious, girl.

At age 14, after wrapping up a student council meeting afterschool, the student body president forced her into a corner when she’d turned him down for a date. The boy grew increasingly aggressive, but was stopped from going beyond grasping at her blazer when a brilliant white flame unfurled from Leiko’s hands. She fled the second she found an opening, calling for help until she caught the attention of school security. The boy was found unconscious, but physically unharmed. (She would later find out, he complained of sudden illness and a downslide of rotten luck, with little to no memory on how he’d been knocked cold.)

Ryuu spared no expense on making sure justice was properly handed out, although that was simple when compared to the news Leiko gave him about her new ability to conjure flame. But he’d taken the revelation far easier than Leiko thought he would. Ryuu admitted it was something he’d been somewhat expecting, even dreading.

Leiko’s mother was something of a taboo subject. Outside of knowing her name was Cho (Ryuu never mentioned her maiden name) and that there had been an ugly divorce shortly after Leiko was born, she didn’t know much else. Even then, her father didn’t go into specifics beyond blaming Cho for Leiko’s newly discovered “peculiarity.” Ryuu ultimately decided it was best for Leiko to pretend she hadn’t discovered it. She had a bright future ahead of her as his heir and it wouldn’t be marred by her mother’s blood. Leiko obeyed despite her protests. They’d both come to realize, however, fire was just the beginning.

Over the following weeks, more abilities came to emerge, from heightened senses to supernatural awareness. She struggled under the pressure of maintaining the semblance of being normal. The weight of stress and desperation finally proved too much for Leiko, leading to a discussion gone sour, ending only when she noticed Ryuu backing away from the looming shadow of a four-tailed fox she cast on the wall. She would miss the following days of school when her eyes refused to revert back from their completely golden, slit-pupiled appearance.

Resigned, Ryuu took to looking into someone who could help Leiko with her magic troubles as this was beyond his reach.

That someone came to be a man by the name Scribe, a semi-public mystic who operated within New York. Scribe’s interest piqued at the mention of Leiko’s transformation and to the Ara’s slight relief, Scribe proved himself to be a sorcerer of true magic instead of a con-man looking for a quick buck. He’d confirmed their suspicions of Leiko being tied to the kitsune, fox spirits of Japanese lore, although he admitted he had little to no experience with said creatures.

Scribe refused to leave Leiko to sort things out on her own, however, and offered her a proposition. Scribe’s lifelong work dealt with a massive, mystical library he dubbed the Spiral, which housed knowledge from across space and time. Despite his years slaving away at discovering and archiving its secrets, progress was going at a crawl. He’d take Leiko under his wing, giving her access to whatever she could get her hands on and import what they couldn’t find from his various connections. In return, she’d take up being his personal assistant. Ryuu had been reluctant to let Leiko have a hands on approach and had made his dislike for Scribe apparent, but relented.

The world of magic was a far cry from the straight-laced, business-oriented life Leiko had grown in; it both terrified and fascinated her. Scribe, real name: Charles Mordichai Jenson (Charlie for short), proved to be an eccentric, but well-meaning guide where he could. As the two dove into research, Leiko let loose a sense of freedom and expression she stifled to fit her father’s expectations. Charlie was quick to help enable this. They were polar opposites in many ways, but Charlie saw a passion and potential in Leiko that mirrored his own at her age, and he fully intended to see it shine. It wasn’t long before Leiko wasn’t just checking inventory and jotting notes for both The Spiral and Jenson’s Comics (Charlie’s civilian pop culture store), but followed him out on relic retrievals and even the occasional “mystic field trip”. Charlie had been adamant on one thing when she stepped out of the safety of The Spiral however, much as he’d taken Scribe as his mantle, Leiko would have to make one of her own for the sake of her identity. It wasn’t a hard choice for her as it was practically staring her in the face, Kitsune took life. Over the next two years, Kitsune proved herself to be a capable magician despite being self-taught. Juggling her home, school and magic life was busy, but thrilling. Perhaps a little too thrilling. During an outing, Scribe and Kitsune were ambushed by a sorcerer named Felix Faust, who ultimately took Scribe prisoner. Well-aware of just how over her head she was, Kitsune went on a one-girl rescue mission to save her mentor anyway and was beyond relieved to find a young group of supers on the same trail.

The group, known simply as “The Team”, had been alerted of Scribe’s abduction through their resident mystic, Zatanna. Scribe had managed to send a distress signal before all communication cut off. Shoving down the twinge of jealousy that came with that revelation and of being out of the loop, Kitsune allied herself with the Team until Scribe was rescued. She was offered a permanent position on the Team, which she said she’d think over even though she had no interest in becoming a hero. She was more persuaded by the opposition placed by Scribe and the oddly genuine endearment shown by the Team’s speedster, Kid Flash.

Less than a few days later, an argument between Leiko and Charlie sparked by his confession of thinking she wasn’t right for the Team just yet sent her right to them out of spite.

Now taking a crash course in heroics, Kitsune tackles supercrime, training, self-reflection, team building and the frustrating, but integral importance of friendship.

NOTES

Kit has alternate versions of her Kitsune outfit and will switch between them mid-battle, either because she wasn’t feeling the one she was wearing, it got dirty, or a specific attack called for a wardrobe change

Because Lei’s brand of Onmyodo is largely “home-brew” given she’s self-taught, she incorporates other types of magic and styles to compensate

Lei has the passive ability of being ridiculously lucky, she never loses games of chance such as coin flips and dice rolls

The nickname ‘Lei’ was originally coined by Wally West and it’s a nickname she only allows within the perimeter of the Cave

Lei is proud of her musical skill, it’s not uncommon to hear her singing to herself and will shred an electric guitar when given the chance

She has a pet Bearded Dragon named Prince. Prince was a at-Death’s-door rescue surrendered to Charlie, who gave him to her after she helped nurse Prince back to health and she wound up attached to him

Lei’s father is unaware she’s taken up heroism, as far as Ryuu knows, she’s studying under Charlie to get her curiosity of magic out of her system

#young justice oc #dc oc #gar's oc #gar's art #oathofoaks #leiko ara #meet the OCs

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that-thing-that-feeling · 2 years

Note

Few things. Re: Jonathan’s breakdown, I disagree abt it being played for laughs. Emotional breakdowns are only funny when the reason the person is having the breakdown is funny. Compare for example, Charlie Day’s funny “Pepe Silvia” breakdown in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Brad Pitt’s serious “What’s in the Box?” breakdown in Se7en. Both played with same level of intensity, but the IASIP breakdown is the funny one bc the subject matter is ridiculous whereas the Se7en one is more dramatic bc it’s the subject matter is sad and horrifying. Not saying that Jonathan’s breakdown will be horrifying, but there’s not a lot of comedic wiggle room when Jonathan’s breakdown is bc he thinks his gf has forgotten abt him, he realizes he’s essentially had to give up his teenage years to become a second parent to his sibling(s), one of whom just got kidnapped assumedly on his watch. Also not dying there won’t be anything comedic abt it, but Charlie’s performance will be rooted in drama. He’s been waiting to do this scene for 5 years, he’s not gonna let it be played off as a joke.

Re: Joyce vs Hopper, I think the biggest reason audiences seem to focus more on Hopper is bc of his relationship to El. Joyce got a lot more attention than him in s1, but it shifted the next season after Hop became El’s parent. El is the main character and biggest fan-favorite of the show, of course the fans will focus on those who she is closest with. And I think there is probably a slight element of unconscious (or maybe conscious as well) sexism and anti-mom bias. Hopper is a bit more free in his storylines bc he’s not rlly tied down, even after he takes in El, they were more like roommates at first anyway. It wasn’t until the end of s2 rlly that he “settled down” with El and let his story be limited that way. Meanwhile Joyce has always been deeply connected to her son’s storylines, it wasn’t until s3 that she got a storyline that wasn’t abt her kids at all. As a result, there’s less they can do with her in that way. I hope that kind of makes sense. It’s obvs unfair, Joyce is just as a compelling character as Hop and hopefully s4 will give her a chance to prove that.

Re: Finn’s comment, I think you guys are taking his words too literally. Finn means that the Hawkins storyline is horror-based (Vecna, possession, murder, etc) while the Cali storyline is comedy-based (road trip, stoner character, bickering, etc). That doesn’t mean Cali won’t have any serious moments, or Hawkins won’t have any funny moments. Just means there are diff bases, just like always. Think back to s3, it rlly had 5 diff storylines at first that could be summarized as: buddy-cop comedy, investigative drama, possession horror, teen romcom, and I guess crime-comedy. But Jopper had some serious moments, Jancy had some funny moments, etc. ST always draws from diff genres but imo they usually do a good job of blending them all together. Cali will def have some really dramatic scenes what with El being kidnapped, Jonathan’s potential breakdown, and Will’s jealousy, but it just means at the end of the day the end goal of this storyline is to make you laugh not make you cry or scream or freak out, even if those things do happen as well.

Re: Jonathan kinda having a breakdown and if it’s played for comedy; I think that’s really on the script and what they’ve given Charlie to do (or not do). We don’t tech even know if it will be played as a breakdown (even tho it feels like it should be one bc Jonathan is due for that and we know Charlie thought Jonathan was due for it and Jonathan smoking weed alone before school def feels like the pressure getting to him and him responding in a v diff way than we’ve seen on the show). I think the point was more will they acknowledge any of the stress and trauma he’s been under to explain how he’s adjusting to Cali or not. There’s so much they could write for him with all of that, but they’d have to want to.

Re: Joyce, true abt El and Hopper, but I think it’s also them caring more about masculinity and the antihero trope than wanting to do nuanced writing with Joyce as they did in s1. A way they could have given her more of her own plotline was to show more of why she wanted to move and the decision process of that back in s3. And then in s4, I hope they show her adjustment to Cali, her new job, how she’s handling the rest of the family’s adjustments before she leaves, who she tells about leaving, and the family dynamics there. They could also show the tension within her of being worried about leaving while needing to leave, for instance. If Lonnie had called or something, that would have kicked up a lot for her as well that could have given more plotline before leaving for Russia. There’s all kinds of character writing they could do with her—maybe flashbacks would have even worked for her after the move, remembering some of her times in Hawkins.

Re: Finn’s comment, yeah def think there will be a blend in all plots and there’s clearly more supernatural horror in Hawkins, it’s just I maybe wouldn’t expect all of the Cali plot to be summarized as comedic, so still curious how much of it is—def could see it in Mike’s interactions with Argyle, bickering, parts of the road trip, ig some Jargyle etc.

#jonathan byers #joyce byers

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misskittysmagicportal · 3 years

Text

The Joan Jett Quartet

Word Count: 2185

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy between S1 and S2 (Klaus x Reader)

Warnings: Where do I start? Swearing Graphic, filty smutty sex (NC-17). Consensual BDSM (choking and mild body mutilation) Loads of edging.

A/N: The warnings pretty much say it all. I’m putting the entire thing under a read more because oh boy. I have to say, I shocked myself.

@firstpersonnarrator @robertsheehanownsmyass @messengeronthemoon @super-unpredictable98 @rob-private @forenschik @bisexualnathanyoung @magic-multicolored-miracle

Book 1- Do You Wanna Touch Me There?

Klaus stared at the smooth wooden table in the middle of your room with his head cocked. One hand on a thin hip and his bottom lip turned down in thought. He wore only a pair of brightly colored bikini briefs.

“You’re just going to strap me to this table? Couple of questions.”

“Prophet this was your idea,” you informed him. Your hands spaced apart on the tabletop as you bent forward to display your cleavage in the satin and lace bra you bought just for this.

“Sure. Sure,” Klaus’s eyes widened briefly at your breasts. Then he waved his hand through the air and made his way around to you. “I did leave the rest up to you. Use your imagination and blah blah. Are you blindfolding me? Most importantly: handcuffs, ropes, or straps?”

“Again, Prophet, you confided in me that you were hoping to experiment with your level of comfort in bondage. “

“Surprise me! But can you stop calling me Prophet? A guy accidentally creates a cult and the reputation sticks for the next fifty-seven, but somehow also three years.” his brows knit together under the stress of trying to figure out his time-traveling.

You snorted, “I was playing a role. But look, Hargreeves, I've never done any of this shit. I thought you'd rather a more experienced dom beyond just some handcuffs and spanking. So if you have a request, I'm willing to improvise as we go.” Nerves plain on your face.

“Do you wanna try a modified version of this?” Klaus reached out and you settled into his arms. His finger traced the curve of your cheek. “You ask, and I'll tell.” His nose followed the same path.

Then Klaus’s hands roamed freely over your curves that embarrassed you most days. Your soft stomach and large hips kept you literally in the dark most times he came to you for sex. Your brain was always screaming that he just couldn't find anyone else, but your heart screamed back. He constantly grabbed a handful of your ass and relished massaging your stomach and kissing it. Your nudity and freedom once you got going turned him on.

“That's more my speed. . I'm sure once we get going,” your hand teased the bulge in his underpants, “I'll get the hang of it.” You squeezed harder and relished Klaus’s body spasm. “But first we might need reinforcements from you brother.”

“Diego?!” Klaus squeaked. “For what?” he was nervous and you loved that too.

“Well now. That was a quick answer, wasn't it? It's only to tie you down if you choose rope “ You continued the friction on his cock.

Klaus’s mouth hung open to let a moan escape. “The straps? Reminds me of this one time Reginald had me committed, and honestly the surprise that beefcake orderly got when he-”

“Did I ask for a fucking diatribe, Klaus?” you grabbed his face under the chin. “And how do we ask for what we think we want?”

Excitement blazed in his eyes, “The straps, please?”

“If you behave. Strip and get on the table,” you demanded. “Get all fours.” You dug your nails into his cock causing him to gasp. You started to find some authority.

Klaus eagerly obeyed. Once naked, he climbed up onto the wooden surface on his hands and knees. You followed suit and, also naked, got on behind him in a kneeling position before you grabbed the back of his neck and roughly pushed his face down onto the table the way he had done to you in the past. Your hand on the back of his head tightened in his hair and pulled. The free hand slid between his ass where you got your sharpened nails into his balls before they dragged up the shaft of his hardened cock.

“Fuck,” escaped from Klaus’s mouth muffled by his hair and the table.

As you clawed at the erection, the grip on the back of his head intensified. You yanked it upwards so that he was bent back awkwardly, “Did I fucking say you could talk?”

Klaus merely whimpered in reply as you released his hair and started to squeeze his throat instead. The harder you jerked him off, the further into his skin you buried your nails. His body twitched but he remained silent even though you could tell he found it difficult.

Now you raked a hand down the center of his back. Hard so that you saw yourself break skin on the way down to his ass, still working his cock from underneath. Once down to his waist, you let go of his junk and steadied yourself with those claws now anchored in his thin hips.

“How many fucking times has a man told us face down ass up?” Klaus writhed a bit beneath you.

It was a rhetorical question. you settled so that he could feel your wet sex on his ass as you slammed into him. That same rhythm men found when they wanted it doggy style. You weren't comfortable with a strap-on yet, so hoped this made do.

It was just the motion that got to Klaus. You ramming him back and forth into your body so that every time your cunt hits him. Like you were riding his ass. The power coursing through you. Impressed with how he kept his forearms on the table bent forward into a prayer position.

You let go of a hip and reached around to grab hold of his cock again. Nails scraped along the shaft harshly, and you stopped bucking against him all together. You opted for now laying over him with your tits pressed to the middle of his back. Even though his breathing was heavy he maintained a silence.

Klaus’s cock pulsated in your hand as it worked a frenzy. You had done this enough to know that he was on the verge of cumming. Seconds later you abruptly stopped and got down from behind him.

“Get on your back,” another command that he obeyed. Then “Put your arms up behind your head.” So that you could strap them in the cuffs. Except he was right, they resembled the restraints most often used in hospitals and psych wards.

You tightened the restraints as hard as you could and the air hitched in Klaus’s throat. A smirk of satisfaction crossed your lips as you repeated the process on his ankles. He didn't ask for whips and chains, just what you were willing to do. Metaphorically busting his balls was enough of a turn on.

Now your comfort included situating yourself so that your cunt hovered over Klaus’s face. You leaned forward with knees on his shoulders. His heavy, hot breath driving your sex to throb but you ignored it as you raked your nails from his stomach up to his chest. He cried out and temporary disobedience led him to push his tongue inside the hood of your cunt. The tip expertly found your clit and his arms struggled against the restraints.

White hot anger flared in you from nowhere at his insubordination. Your fingers pinched and tugged at his nipples, twisting them roughly. A strangled laugh mixed with a yelp escaped Klaus beneath you.

“Did I fucking say give you permission to touch my clit?” you lost yourself and twisted harder. “SPEAK!” you yelled.

“No y/n!” he cried into you.

You let go of his chest and continued to hover but raised yourself higher to make the temptation greater but follow-through harder for him. Again raking your nails as vicious as possible then got your hands on his engorged cock. There was an untapped fury to the way you started jerking him off. Nails clawed, squeezed and worked up and down. You shifted more of your weight on his shoulders and bent to start biting at his chest. There you didn't break the skin, but the blood vessels underneath soon became purple with bruises.

It didn't take long of you aggressively jerking him off for Klaus to start his pre-cum pulsating. Or becoming slick with just that as you licked at the head of his cock. His moaning uncontrollable at this point as his body flexed against the straps.

This whole situation was just as difficult for you. It was taking extreme discipline to not just sit on him and ride. Which you will, but you wanted to edge him a little more. Your body vibrated because of newfound power combined with Klaus’s hair and goatee brushing your thighs and cunt.

You caught yourself from allowing him to use his tongue and mouth to satisfy you. Instead crawled over him so that Klaus got an eyeful of your ass and sex until you could turn around and kneel between his legs.

You crouched over to place his cock in your cleavage. Uncertain for the first time since you got started. You clutched his hips as you started up at him. “Fuck them”

“What?” he craned to look at you.

“I said, your dick is there. Fuck. My. Tits” Emphasising each word with a forward thrust motion.

Klaus arched an eyebrow but eagerly obliged. His hips started to buck up and down swiftly, cock pushed forward towards your face and then back again. He repeated rhythmically. . It impressed you how he managed despite his struggle with the straps to get his body off the table enough to create friction. His taut stomach came into contact with your mouth. You nipped and licked at it and he growled louder than his moans.

Suddenly you sat back on your haunches to hover above Klaus’s erection like you had his mouth. One hand braced on his scratched and bruised chest as you lowered yourself down. The other gripped his cock and settled it between the folds of your sex allowing the head to hit your clit. His hips bucked instinctively and you twisted his nipple again.

“I didn't say fucking move,” but your body did.

You rocked back and forth a few times to allow for that bundle of nerves to be hit just right. A sliver of tongue darted out from between Klaus’s lips before he bit one and scrunched his face up in pleasure. His breathing was erratic when you bent down to force your tongue inside his mouth. A sharp intake as he swallowed you and fought back. Your body rocked quicker still on his cock.

Then you stopped and Klaus audibly whimpered into your mouth. “This is the FOURTH time you almost blew your load. I'm not fucking ready so you don't get to be either. Now be a good boy and tell y/n what you want most “

“I want to fuck you,” plainly.

You slapped him shocking yourself and him. Klaus wore a mask of humiliation, but excitement shone in his trusting green eyes. The faintest hint of a smirk on those full lips.

“Choke me,” he begged.

“How do we fucking ask, NUMBER FOUR?” you bellowed and yanked at his erection.

“PLEASE, y/n! CHOKE ME, PLEASE!” His body writhed in your hands.

You wrapped your hands around his thick throat. Your curved fingernails drove into it and squeezed harder and rougher than you knew you were capable of. The revelations continued to come to light and pleased you as you finally sank down on his cock at the same time.

“How do you want this, Klaus?” it hands gripped tighter.

“Harder,” his voice cracked. “Please”

“If it's too much, Prophet, just say.. Reggie,” you cackled at your own joke before you caught yourself. “But really that's the safe word.” He nodded eagerly.

So you indulged and crushed his neck as best as you could with your small hands on his muscular neck. You pumped your body as fast and quick as you could. Klaus writhed under your hands and cunt. His throat turned red and then purple, veins and muscles popped as the blood in his face drained.

Your body slammed up and down repetitively on Klaus’s. His cock deep inside as you twisted your hips when your bodies came together. Over and over your bodies pounding together with you tightening even harder. You angled yourself so his shaft hit your clit, wishing you could help yourself. Frustration and that building heat helping you bare down.

It wasn’t long before Klaus exploded inside of you and minutes later you joined him screaming out his name with eyes shut and thighs clenched around his waist. There was no response making your eyes fly open. You remembered and dropped your hands from around him.

Blood rushed back to his beautiful angular face. Klaus began to giggle. A loud boisterous laugh filled the bedroom where the two of you were as if he couldn't help it anymore. Your shoulders sank with embarrassment; his giant sparkling green eyes danced with approval, and you felt relief with a smile.

“There really is nothing like strangulation to make a sick bastard like me cum harder than he has in ages.” Klaus made a roaring noise as he shook his head like a dog. “How do you feel about whips?”

#Robert Sheehan #klaus hargreeves #klaus x reader #man hazel and cha cha would be disgusted #reader wouldn't waterboard klaus if he begged on hot coals #LOL #robert sheehan character fics

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