#wanted to include more but it's already a long ass gifset

[leavingkamino]

Omega & Crosshair in STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH (2021-2024)

#tbb spoilers #tbbedit #swedit #thebadbatchedit #starwarsedit #swanimation #swsource #swblr #filmtvcentral #userbariss #usernobie #by me* #tbb #flashing gif #the bad batch #omega #tbb omega #crosshair #tbb crosshair #wanted to include more but it's already a long ass gifset #no other words right now i have to sleep but i love them so so much <3

[tuiyla]

I’m VERY curious about your new midnights gif!! You said you have a lot of thoughts about making it, could you give us a rundown of them?

Oh bless you sweet Anon I'd love to! I was gonna tag rant in the post itself but gifsets often see the tags copied entirely in reblogs so I wanted to save everyone that trouble. I'd love to give a rundown thank you for enabling me lol. Long post ahead but most of it under the cut. Be sure to share any thoughts you have Anon! Or anyone else, talk to me for a potential part two lol.

After seeing the post that I linked to as inspo I know I wanted to do a similar thing for Glee but I'm still just getting into Midnights and wasn't sure about assigning songs to characters. I've made a post or two asking people for their input so I'd like to shout out @sopheadraws for suggesting Sweet Nothing for Brittana on premiere day, @secretlesbianspy for Blaine and Anti-Hero, and for You're On Your Own, Kid @rachelberryy for Rachel and @katyobsesses for Marley. I ended up straight up ignoring a lot of what people have suggested oops haha but I agreed with these pairings. And then it was a matter of choosing 6-7 to actually gif and as I was doing some of them more connections started forming.

So, I start thinking about which Midnights songs to do and immediately I know that Maroon has to be on there because Quinntana doing that is my strongest association. This was fairly straightforward as I had the characters in mind, obviously had a colour set and knew that it would be I Do Quinntana scenes. I briefly thought of other ones but it's always obvious with Quinntana, isn't it?

I liked the imagery of Maroon and lines like "Your roommate's cheap-ass screw-top rosé, that's how" and "I wake with your memory over me // That's a real fucking legacy, legacy (It was maroon)". That latter one made it to the gif though a shortened version because space. I preferred to include the hopeful and less bitter half - well, maybe not hopeful. But the impression that despite the passion and even recklessness of the song it can be something lasting which is what I wish Quinntana was. Taylor songs and Quinntana deserve their own post but I just think the complexities of Maroon fit them well and it has that sort of sexual yet tender quality that's perfect for their two-time (sadly not continued) thing. And as for the gif itself, I'm forever obsessed with shots of them while slow dancing, that contemplation and ease before they throw themselves at each other. But I'm also very glad to have decided at the last minute to include an in-bed shot. I think it adds to the lyric "I wake with your memory over me". Not that they slept that much that night in the first place.

Next was Anti-Hero, which as mentioned I was convinced of for Blaine but long before that I'd already made up my mind that it was a Santana song, too. This a) works well for @secretlesbianspy haha but also b) fits my vision of trying not to make them all solos. That second half worked a little too well because almost all ended up being duets oops but I just think that assigning songs as solos is a little too limiting and duets and group numbers potentially offer more interesting interpretations. And so we have a Blaintana duet that takes place in an interspersed sort of non-diegetic way with both lamenting their lives separately but reaching similar conclusions.

In my mind this would take place at some point in season 4 or 5. I think it mostly fits Blaine in season 4 as he regrets having cheated on Kurt and crumbles under the realization that he can’t be Mister Perfect, maybe leaning into the “oh I’m the bad guy I ruin things” aspect a little too much. Like the dramatic little boy he is. Hence the clip chosen being from Hopelessly Devoted to You. As for Santana, I really like this shot from right before Girl On Fire starts playing because even though that’s ultimately a triumphant moment, it does come after the realization that she has to choose the real world. Over Kentucky, over Lima, over running back to the familiarity of Brittany, she has to choose taking that leap and truly living. And that’s terrifying when she doesn’t believe in herself. That leads us into season 5 which would fit Anti-Hero even more, when her insecurities cause her to go behind Rachel’s back and she doubles down on her bitch persona in the face of Rachel assuming the worst of her. The song fits her better in season 5 when she has that degree of introspection and also guilt about her past behaviour, so I did consider a pre-Be Okay clip where she and Rachel make peace. Ultimately, for aesthetic reasons this worked better but yeah I’m basically thinking New York Santana for this one. Actually you know what here’s a version of this with that alternate clip, as a treat (also different Blaine shot). Not fully coloured and finished so treat it as a discarded draft.

Phew told you this would be long, here comes song number three. As mentioned, You’re On Your Own, Kid read as both a Rachel and Marley song to me so it was an easy decision to use at least Rachel’s clip from their canon duet, New York State of Mind. That gave the whole thing a nice orange colour which worked for the warm to cold colour gradient that was starting to form. Beyond looking good, I chose the Rachel clip as it represents the start of her new life in New York and her stepping into her own. For Marley, a clip from Wrecking Ball fit not only because it had that orange hue but because it was her realizing she couldn’t trust Jake and thus was “on her own.”

The parallels between Rachel and Marley are interesting and less obvious than those between other OGs and their newbie counterparts, but that’s another whole post right there. What makes me think of the two in terms of this song is that vibe of wanting to escape your hometown, feeling insecure there, yearning for a love that will potentially make you stay. Finn and Jake, respectively, neither of whom end up being The One for the girls. And arguably, both Rachel and Marley are better off having had their hearts broken and realizing that they won’t be saved by some popular guy who choose them. “Like I'd be saved by a perfect kiss.” It’s a bittersweet realization that they have to rely on themselves but also empowering for both of them when they step out of previous roles and take charge. Rachel makes it in New York and Marley pursues her passion, supported by but not reliant on Jake or anyone else. Everything you lose is a step you take. Romantic heartache built their character.

Next up was Lavender Haze, which ended up less of a character analysis choice and more just what would be fun if they performed it on the show. From the beginning I had Quinn in mind and then Tina was added for some Quinntina fun, and though I debated until the end I ended up including Mercedes because that’d be an awesome trio.

I wasn’t hell bent on including this in the set but at this point I realized these were the first 5 tracks of the album bar one (more on that in a bit) and I just like the idea of the three girls owning this song. Again, this has less profound reasoning and is more vibes based, but I’d like to think that this is their way of establishing their own agency in their respective relationships and in general lives. All three have been stripped of agency one way or another, often relating to relationships, and this is them saying that they just wanna do what they wanna do. All have previously given a damn as to what people say, to varying degrees, but in a sort of #girlboss move they band together and defy that. I was also originally thinking of turning it into a romantic Quinntina AU thing, before I made the choice to include Mercedes. Read it in that way if you’d like. I just like the vibes of this one basically even if I like this gif the least. It could have maybe used more work but to be honest this was one of the ones I wasn’t that invested in.

Now that I’ve realized I had tracks 1-3 and 5 on here, I thought, okay, let’s get Snow On The Beach up on here. Mostly because at this point I knew I wanted The Great War in here so it could be a “the first 5 tracks + 1 extra from 3am” sort of thing. But then Sweet Nothing happened, more on that in its own section.

So, Snow. I went back and forth but upon the 10th or so listen I decided on Samcedes. It was that “falling in love at the same time” message that settled it because I don’t think the same can be said for any other couple. And I like the whole “yeah it’s unlikely but it works and it’s beautiful” vibe plus the chosen lyric really settled it. I look back on Prom Queen as one of my favourite Samcedes moments, their origin story and something that really sells me on this song being the one for them. The chosen lyric reflects Mercedes’ initial insecurity but also how they both felt at some point, yet everything still fell into place and they still worked, for the time that they did. It’s that magical vibe that I associate with their first evening together.

With the first five down I knew I wanted a plus one, that ending up being The Great War for Klaine. I initially thought of Labyrinth but that didn’t feel quite right and looking over the lyrics of The Great War did. Frankly I’m surprised to see sets of Klaine with other songs and not this. I didn’t want to include songs from 3am at first but this fit them and the plus one theme so The Great War it was. Initially in a turquois colour but yellow won out.

More so than any other song on the album, it’s the message of overcoming difficulties and still ending up together that makes it a Klaine one for me. Their struggles and the fact that they overcame them is often stated as a reason why people are drawn to their story and in all its angstiness I think this song describes that. Overall there are a lot of bittersweet songs on this album and ones of heartbreak and lost potential, whereas Klaine are about overcoming, so. And the bg clip is of them getting back together in A Wedding whereas the second one of from the last episode, right before we see them 5 years later as a representation of that overcoming. Once I chose the lyric I also thought of and made an alternate version for the second clip being their wedding kiss and thematically I still like that better but this worked better aesthetically.

So, we have the first five and even the plus one but hold it, I couldn’t just do a Midnights set, potentially my only one without including the association between Sweet Nothing and Brittana. The more I listened to this song the more I liked it for my favourite couple. Did it mess a bit with my original colour scheme, yes, and did I feel a bit weird including Santana three times, maybe. But at the end of the day these are my choices and I’ll choose Santana any day, so. Even though it makes the thematically organized part of my brain mad I had to include this.

This fuchsia colour really makes sense for them imo (even though I also tried it in yellow), the colour I usually associate them with. The wholesome and calm domesticity of the song immediately reminded me of season 6 fluff Brittana. I thought of a season 1 clip as well that I had on stock for, uh, other TS set reasons (coming soon) but I decided on season 6 choices. The hug from 6x06 has such a wholesome vibe to me and is easy to work with, and then choosing their little moment from Home was also easy. As they share this adorable moment they sing “there ain’t nothing that I need” which feels very fitting with Sweet Nothing, and of course the feeling that they’re each other’s home. All of this felt so right to me that despite it throwing off the little theme I planned for the set I couldn’t not include it. Having this Brittana association exist was more important than some arbitrary theme to the set that still sort of exists anyway. Very happy with this song and scenes choice.

Aaaand that is mostly it, though I also have thoughts on Midnight Rain which I almost included as a Finchel song. I know, I know, it’s already full of duets but I think that one really fits them and it’s track six which would continue the theme. I can also see a dark blue colour for it which would mean turning Anti-Hero lighter so Midnight Rain could fit between that and Lavender Haze. In the end though, I decided 7 gifs were enough and also tbh I just don’t think I acre enough about Finchel to give them a gif and a song off Midnights. I have even more thoughts on colours and alternate clips but this is long as is, so, all for now. But as you can probably tell I’d gladly go on some more haha. Please do send thoughts if you made it all the way through!

#anon #projecting taylor onto glee #glee asks #ask and you shall receive haha #i don't think i have a tag for gif explanations so uhm #gif explanaton #there that will do #thank you for enabling this anon #Midnights #please read this it's 2am

[recurring-polynya]

Happy New Year! Apologies if you’ve talked about this already but what are your thoughts about the anime trailer? And what is your wishlist for the anime?

I probably gushed about it on Twitter and reblogged a bunch of gifsets, but I am not sure I have talked about it coherently on here.

I thought the trailer was awesome and a very good first trailer! With the cool remix of Number One, and the way it opens with Ichigo calmly strolling up to a bunch of hollering Hollows, his big-ass sword slung over one shoulder, I felt like it just perfectly hit that chord of "Hey, remember the way the first time you watched Bleach? Yeah, it's kind of dated now, but remember the way it blew you away? Well, hold on to your butts." If I hadn't already come back to the fandom, it would have grabbed me by the shirt and headbutted me. The animation is gorgeous and it showed my two faves in their most badass moments, back-to-back in the same dramatic color palette. I expect there to be a second trailer, maybe in the spring, that might show a little more of what the story is gonna be about, but as far as getting people who may have forgotten how much they love Bleach to sit up and pay attention, I think it was great.

I am honestly a simple woman, I just really love Bleach, and I am very forgiving of its flaws. I do not think that the TYBW arc was a masterpiece by any means, but I do hope that they stick as close to the manga as possible, with some fleshing out of the fights and maybe some addition character moments. (Give us more of Senjumaru, you cowards!!) The original anime had a bad habit of changing random things for no reason, often ruining the pacing of an arc, or just being weird, and I hope they just don't. Anyway, here are some things I am hoping for:

Bleach has always set the bar for OPs and I am looking forward to an absolute bop. Stretch wish: Let the OP feature one of those classic flash-thrus of every captain posing with their lieutenants, we never got a single scene of Rukia and Ukitake doing Captain Shit together, the least they can do is throw us a dramatic power pose.

The OST in the classic anime kept the old bangers while adding in a new motif as new settings and villains were introduced, and I hope that gets retained. Please, please, please let me hear Precipice of Defeat in the year 2022. If they play Reminiscence while Byakuya tells As Nodt “It is not I who will defeat you”, I will probably burst into tears. 

Shinigami's Cup, please please please. I would also like roughly 4 filler episodes. Not, like, Bount filler, but the High Quality filler like the Lamp Society episode or the Maid Cop movie. What I really, really want is a third New Year's episode in the same A-side lieutenant wacky hijinks/B-side sweet Renruki story format to round out the trio.

To be honest, the one part I am extremely worried about them messing up is the part where Rukia confronts her fears while fighting As Nodt. I actually rather like the way the manga never shows what her greatest fear is, but subtlety hints that it's Renji-related (he isn't shown among her lesser fears, the fact that the title of issue 566. What is your fear? is placed on the same page as Rukia warning Renji to play it safe and hide between battles). It would aslo be fine if the anime wants to make this more explicit, but I will flip a table if they ruin this for me.

At one point, I was convinced they would never include the dick-rope scene + sensual sweating, but... maybe??? After this summer’s one-shot was catered so specifically to my interests, I feel like there’s actually a possibiity!

The Kenpachi - Unohana fight better fuck.

I am also really looking forward to the part with Yachiru's shikai and I hope it is more than 3 seconds long 

There are so many fights in the TYBW and so many of them are boring, I hope they deal with this somehow, I really do not want this to be another Fake Karakura Town arc. At least in this case, they aren't stalling for the manga to catch up, so I don't anticipate them repeating so much between consecutive episodes, at least.

We deserve to see Byakuya's caboose in the Royal Realm. I am not even into this man, I just think this shot should be full length, to, you know, emphasize how Serious this arc is.

#i know i should probably have an opinion on the sternritter but i honestly just don't care about them #i hope the people who love the sternritter get whatever they want out of this arc #i just care about royal realm antics and byakuya making that speech at sasakibe's funeral #also that bit where grimmjow is like 'if hueco mundo is gone where would i kill you?' #i legitimately cannot wait to see gifs of that one everywhere

[bourbon-ontherocks]

wip junk

I was tagged literally ages ago by @softbrio @xstrawmari and @dragonturtle (thanks!) for something that I think was about wips, dream wips, soon-to-be wips?

Anyway, my forced writing vacation has made my brain spark with new ideas, so even though I don’t technically have any wip beyond my current, still unfinished fic, there are a lot of dream/soon-to-be ones!

Current wips

It’s all coming back to me: one more chapter to go! I’m really reaaaaaally trying to get my ass back on that horse first, but as per usual, my brain gets distracted with other things, but to paraphrase Nathaniel Plimpton, she’s on top of my todo list

Soon-to-be wips

Kun Pao chicken: the Mick x Annie food-sharing buddies to friends to eventual lovers fic. Unfortunately, season 4 events have made it extra difficult to tweak what I want for them around, but it shall include a post season 4 resolution of 4.16′s destruction of their blooming friendship.

Disastrous date: An idea that came to mind recently. Post season 4, Beth and Rio start fucking again and decide to give their thing a try and go on a proper date together. It’s a complete disaster. Expect lots of dark irony, emotional angst, miscommunication and cathartic fuck.

5 times Beth [...] and 1 time Rio [...]. A 5 + 1 idea that I have had for a while and that I think would make a great gifset too (the first 5 are canon scenes). I’m not sure I’m ready to disclose what it’s about yet but I have the whole fic planned in my head. Expect a bit of angst, some resolutions of canon loose threads, softness and a happy ending.

Awkward roomates: I mentioned this fic idea before, but it’s still simmering on the backburner. Basically Beth resurfaces in Rio’s life  out of nowhere and covered in blood in a post-canon timeline where they have cut bridges completely, and he temporarily shelters her at his place because she’s utterly confused and stressed out. Eventually she develops agoraphobia and never leaves the apartment, and Rio is SO FINE with it. Lots of crankiness, denial and miscommunication in this one.

Dream WIPs

The prohibition/Some like it hot!AU continuation of my Ghost!AU. One year later Rio is somehow sent back in time in 1919 to prevent Beth’s murder. Obviously she doesn’t remember him but he does and things go down from there. I have no idea of how the general plot would go beyond that, I just know I want to see Stan playing the cello in a jazz band!

The Dean/Rio bodyswap. It WILL happen. One day.

The covid crackfic. No plot, just bullet points.

The Yoga/tantric retreat!AU. Beth and Rio end up being the only single participants to a yoga retreat (they were forced to go for ~reasons~) and bond over their shared disgust for sandals and manbuns.

The Beth x Phoebe continuation of their hotel rooms drinks together. Spoiler: they bone.

The western AU. While this one is technically a WIP already since I have x k words written, I’m thinking about changing the whole initial plot and concept (but keeping the key scenes) so we’ll see how this goes. I have a lot of ideas for it though.

Tagging: well I was tagged long ago enough to consider that anyone can play again so I’ll tag @sdktrs12 @riosnecktattoo @bethsuglywigs @sothischickshe @daydreamstew @querenaxx

#my fic #fanfic #wip junk #well this was fun #man that's a lot of bullet points!!!!! #and I thought I had no inspo anymore #nbc good girls

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 18, second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Hey OP where’s the funny header gif for this post? Sorry, it was murdered by an angst demon and the framing of these shots.

My Found Family Came to Find Me

Continuing our flashback from last time, we see Baby Wei Ying up a tree, refusing to come down because he's afraid there are dogs. Eventually he falls out of the tree, like a dumbass a child, and Yanli tries but fails to catch him. 

Unlike his grownup counterpart, Baby Wei Ying doesn't pretend he's unhurt when he is hurt. I'd like to put the change at Yu Ziyuan's door, but actually he admits to being hurt during his Gusu summer - he mimics Lan Zhan's stoicism when they're getting beaten, but it doesn't come naturally to him, and he whines a lot afterwards. 

By the time of the Animatronic Dog incident, however, he's laughing off obvious injuries that have secret trauma behind them. By the time he comes back, coreless, from the burial mounds, he won't confide in anyone about his hurts any more, except possibly Wen Qing.

Yanli carries Wei Ying, in a sequence that will be echoed much later in his life when Lan Zhan carries him (gifset here). While they head back, she tells him that Jiang Cheng has a bad temper and to ignore whatever mean things he says. This will also be echoed in the future, when Wei Wuxian says it to Lan Zhan after their argument with Jiang Cheng in the shrine.

Yanli also explains that Jiang Cheng loved his dogs and that he's been very sad since Jiang Fengmian sent them away, demonstrating once again that Jiang Fengmian is a terrible father. Yanli says that Jiang Cheng will be happy to have a friend with him, though. This kind of makes Wei Wuxian's role in Jiang Cheng's life "replacement dog."

Jiang Cheng, after getting over this particular snit, got worried about Wei Wuxian and woke up Yanli to find him, and then went wandering around in the dark like a dumbass a child, and is banged up and crying when the other two find him. Yanli encourages him to apologize to Wei Wuxian and he does, which will not happen again until the very end of the show.  

They all smile and laugh together, as Wei Ying looks to Yanli to guide him through the insanity that his life has suddenly become. 

(more behind the cut!)

They head back to Lotus Pier in a sweet montage of walking and smiling together, with Jiang Cheng carrying the world's most beautiful candle holder with the world's most wind-resistant candle in it, to light their way back. Back in the present day for a brief moment, Jiang Cheng pretends to sleep and listens to his sister insisting that the three of them should always stay together, while a single tear rolls down the side of his face.

Soup is Love, Chapter 1 of 1000

Then we head to the past again. In Jiang Cheng & Wei Ying's now-shared room, Wei Ying sits on the bed trying to figure out how to deal with his grumpy new roommate.

Wei Ying is unsure what to do when confronted with pajama game this strong. Tiny Jiang Cheng is already a fashion king. 

Then he tells Jiang Cheng he's not going to narc him out to the clan leader, since it was his own fault that he hurt his leg. This is all Jiang Cheng needs to hear to decide Wei Ying is all right, and he says that he will help Wei Ying chase away dogs in the future.  In fact, Wei Wuxian will protect Jiang Cheng from punishment basically forever, while Jiang Cheng will continue to threaten Wei Wuxian with dogs...forever.

They shake hands on their new understanding and then jump up and down laughing, Wei Ying's leg being all better now, apparently.  When Yanli arrives (carrying a tray of...can you guess? I'll let you guess), they stop jumping. Wei Ying dives in to give Jiang Cheng a little tickle/embrace in an adorable moment that would have me saying "oh, my ovaries!" if I hadn't surgically sent my ovaries to hell a few years ago.

Yanli introduces Wei Ying to the emotional and gustatorial miracle that is her lotus and ribs soup. He hesitates a long time before tucking in because he's so unused to being fed.

Consent? I Don’t Even Know Her

The flashback wraps up with Yanli conked out on the table from the drugs in the incense burner, while Wei Wuxian, who is somehow unaffected despite sitting almost as close to the smoke as she was, checks on her. Jiang Cheng and his Uggs period-appropriate sock thingies get out of bed to come stand with Wei Wuxian, and have feelings about sending Yanli away after she JUST said she doesn't want to be parted from them.

Wei Wuxian: If she didn't want us to do this, she shouldn't have signed that blanket consent-to-medical-treatment form.   Jiang Cheng: Wen Qing made me sign one of those plus a durable power of attorney, is that bad?

This episode is all about people overriding each others' agency and making massively important decisions without the consent of the people who will be affected. But in a feudal context, it's not a violation, no matter how it feels to the person being controlled. In feudal life, your body belongs to your lord -- your sect leader, in the world of CQL. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng's choices are overridden by their clan leader's final command to Wei Wuxian.  Wei Wuxian's core is arguably Jiang Fengmian's property--Wei Wuxian certainly sees it that way, just as his hand was Yu Ziyuan's to take if she wished.  

The brothers tenderly tuck Yanli into bed in the rolly cart and hand her off to Song Lan. They talk about how important it is to get her to Lanling and that she's probably going to be mad, as they thank Song Lan for helping them. 

Yanli listens while she sleeps and, in what is becoming a trademark Jiang move, lets a single tear roll down the side of her face. Jiang Cheng points out that Yanli never gets mad at Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian is like, true dat.

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

Song Lan is always so emotional about every damn thing, I love him. Here he's like OH GOD NO DON'T FORMALLY THANK ME! STOP!!!

Then he starts to ask Wei Wuxian to pass a message to Song Xingchen for him, but then decides not to say anything, making it super obvious that they fought and aren't together. 

Wei Wuxian reacts to this with confusion and distress, probably because he doesn't want to imagine ever having a breakup with his own soulmate. Which he soon will be having.  But possibly he's just upset that his OTP broke up.

After Song Lan takes off, Jiang Cheng gives Wen Qing a rude & perfunctory thank-you bow, turning away before she can return it. Wei Wuxian tells her not to take it to heart - basically everyone who deals with Jiang Cheng gets a version of the "ignore what he says" speech. She says she understands and that in his place she would have behaved worse, which is so totally not true.  

Then she asks Wei Wuxian if he's sure about the core transfer (not in so many words, because the script is being kind of being vague about it, without actually hiding what's happening). His reply pretty much encapsulates the whole Wei Wuxian experience.

Then he and Jiang Cheng walk off, with Jiang Cheng giving us a rear view that had me googling Wang Zhuocheng's fashion shoots to determine if that wagon he's draggin’ is really as delightful as this belt makes it look. Alas, there is not a wealth of photographic evidence for this research, as compared to, for example, photos of Xiao Zhan's outstanding ass.

Wen Qing and Wen Ning see them off, with Wen Qing wishing they valued their lives more. Although, what she and Wen Ning are doing is massive treason, so their lives will be pretty much forfeit if they're caught, so...

The Sunshot Campaign of Like 60 Dudes

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng walk up the mountain for the whole beginning of the Sunshot campaign, which...okay. Maybe it's like Dunkirk or The Witcher where they intercut stuff that is happening in different timeframes, which is one of my least favorite new film style thingies.

You know, for a guy Wei Wuxian constantly calls "peacock," Jin Ziyuan really doesn't wear a lot of adornment; just some subtle metalwork on his belt with no dangly bits at all, and a single reasonably-sized hair crown. Compared to the extremely fancy Lan Wangji he's almost plain. We already know that Wei Wuxian is a massive hypocrite when it comes to his idea of a perfect boy, however.

So, this is the Lanling Jin army, which consists of literally 60 guys, including the ones on the stairs and Jin Zixuan and Douchebag Dad. How are they going to fight a war with this tiny group? Why do they have such a big plaza? Hasn't anybody on this production learned CGI cloning?

That’s better.

Nie Mingjue and his best bitch Baxia make quick work of the 4 Wen guys who were assigned to hold the Unclean Realm. 

Hello, Daddy Da-Ge!

Squeeee, it's Lan Wangji! He's taking back Cloud Recesses! Ooooohhh we've missed you Lan Wangji.

Look guys he's here! Look how beautiful he is. He's looking at the gate of cloud recesses and thinking thoughts that Lan Xichen or Wei Wuxian could probably see in his bewitching eyes if they were here to see him, which they aren't. But at least he is here!

....and now he's gone again. *cries*

Hares On The Mountains

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian continue roaming prettily around this pretty mountainside. The locations in this show are such eye candy. 

Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains  Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains  If I was a young lass I’d soon go a hunting

Jiang Cheng starts to have doubts about the whole Baoshan Sanren thing. Wei Wuxian's reply pretty much encapsulates the whole Wei Wuxian experience.  

Then we have just the tenderest blindfolding scene, (more gifs here), which is fodder for your ChengXian dreams, if you have those.

Here's a good place for a sidebar about what is and isn't incest. Whee! In the CDrama context, relationships tend to be more clearly defined than in western media. The mechanism of confession & acceptance means that people either are or are not in a romantic relationship, with few grey areas. So a character can literally say "we grew up as brother and sister, but now we are dating" and when someone looks startled they just say "there's no blood relation" and everyone is like "cool cool" and that's the new definition of the relationship.

For a strong example of this, the extremely wonderful Go Ahead is about a contemporary family in which a girl and two boys, who are not blood relatives, are all raised together, and call each other brother and sister. When they become adults, they and everyone around them expect the girl (now a woman) to marry one of the two men who have been her brothers, while whichever one she doesn't choose will carry on as her sibling. It's treated as the most natural, logical thing in the world; the only question is whether she wants to make that transition, and with whom.

Looked at through this lens, Wei Wuxian's relationships with his adoptive siblings have just as much potential to turn into romances as his relationships with his friends do, and there's nothing creepy about it. As such you can expect my meta to always get into ChengXian moments without treating it as a wrong or forbidden love. Hopeless, of course, because Jiang Cheng is such a prick the power of WangXian is stronger, but that's a different matter.

What is wrong is wearing this fantastic hat & veil combination when the most fashionable person on the mountain is blindfolded and can't see it.

In the course of this blindfolded encounter with Wen Qing, Jiang Cheng gets to kneel before a powerful woman, be led along by a length of silk that's placed in his hand, and then knocked the fuck out and operated on. He'll wake up in a hotel room in a tub full of ice with "we took your kidney" written on the mirror in lipstick, and he'll love every minute of it.  

Soundtrack: 1. Still Fighting it, by Ben Folds 2. Hares on the Mountain, by Steeleye Span

Writing Prompt: The NEXT time somebody blindfolds Jiang Cheng

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #chengxian #cql #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs

[msgrumpygills]

Social Media Anon Here!

Firstly, never change Grumpy ;) you are probably the only person on Tumblr to LISTEN to another view and let it change a prejudice.

Secondly, the Padagram/Social Media change bus continues. Don't be fooled people will be looking at positive and negative reactions to that change on social media.

So here goes!

1. They are starting to market season 2 of Walker in Hiatus. That really doesn't happen. That means they know they need to target new viewers. They are acknowledging they have a problem. The main problem is Jared either didn't learn enough about production quality on SPN (Jensen/Misha were both more interested in behind the camera's) or that he thought he could stick a Stetson on and we all had such sh1t for brains we'd watch anything. So they need a viewer boost DESPARATELY and are going all out to (a) persuade Walkers remaining viewer(s) that it's worth sticking around and (b) get back old viewers or convert 1m+ viewers to season 2. So now we see all the cast (and Keegan has more followers than Jared and Lindsay has a VERY engaged following) trying to persuade their followers how fabulous Walker is. Expect this scrabbling to continue if they want their COVID paychecks.

2. Connected to 1, Jared has started trying to break out of the fandom bubble. I don't think he's trying for power couple (the clue in a power couple is that two FAMOUS people get together and create a super brand, here we have one niche C famous guy and a hanger on wife), I think we are in Jared profile raising and trying to raise his recognition score, which is probably a little low having half assed it in the last year and a half. He's doing it by scatter-gunning so I'm not sure it's going to stick.

3. Connected to 2,

(i) if I run my algorithm clean laptop with a "Jared Padalecki" news search, I get (a) a daily mail article on Jared "clarifying the rift" (b) a "hello" magazine saying he's been "inundated with support after death of "family member"" (c) the new york times article on Walker and Supernatural. It then goes into a variety of articles about Jared raising money for Holly's family (fucking atrocious in my view to use her death for publicity) and a series of derivative articles on his mantrum and later explanation. ONLY THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE MENTIONS WALKER other than as a throw away, all of the others link to Supernatural only. Walker isn't on the main radar of anyone as a show. It's not mainstream enough to mention. it has ZERO buzz.

(ii) if I run the same search on my compromised tablet, I get a SEA of fluff articles "jared padalecki goes to venice", "jared padalecki's wife wishes him a happy birthday" "jared padalecki goes to watch soccer" "jared padalecki goes to the wrestling". I'm expecting "Jared Padalecki defecates regularly" tomorrow.

At the end of that I get the same articles as in (i) but the majority of his publicity is still going through the fandom and the, not very viewed, endless zine type websites that update on every episode of every geek show every day.

So we are seeing, and I expect it to continue, a break out Padalecki, (who knows he and his forehead may wish to have a final crack at films), and a fluff Padalecki, trying to stay relevant a year after SPN relevance ended, because he hasn't got the same push for season 2 of Walker as he had for season 1 and Walker has zero presence. No one, not even the fans are talking about Walker.

Will it work? I don't think so. Keegan has 7m followers on Insta and that's because he's a photographer and writer and it's interesting. I would follow his account (I don't), but certainly it isn't a Walker instagram.

Jared is a clever guy, but he's boring on social media. He has a limited appeal. He does family snaps, hunk snaps, flogs orange pee and flogs his show. He says "family" and "mantra" a lot but that's really it. The clue is, if you didn't know who he was and came across his instagram you wouldn't follow him. Why would you? For a video of a guy running up steps? A smug picture of two middle aged men trying to flog you something?... (oh and lots of "brother" comments on Keegan's social media, which is irritating. It's like he thinks that is his repeatable formula and it isn't).

His media approach won't work because advertising and exposure pushes a product. In TV's case, it's not a one off product and there is a lot of competition. Product Jared needs to be more interesting (his mantrum's are the only exciting thing about him - and that is tragic) and his TV show just needs to be BETTER, well, a LOT BETTER.

Soooo, expect the Padapush to continue, but it's not about a couple, it's about individual marketing and for Jared breaking out of SPN bubble. For Gen, it's her tag along profile that she'll never break out of. She'll have to be satisfied with her superpower of being able to persuade people to buy toothbrush's and dog food (if she can).

Expect though the couple's bit to die off a little. Jared is getting over exposed. His engagement rating is plummeting (nearly 3% is a plummet) because of the repetitive photo content. He'll have to back off or people will switch off (I have already). What makes me laugh is.... from the dawn of time when cavemen took their wives 2 miles away for a new cave weekend.... NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN INTERESTED IN SOMEONE ELSE'S HOLIDAY SNAPS.... Gen and Jared apparently need to learn that lesson...

I might stop these posts now because, well, it's gotta be a bit boring for you and I write LONG. :)

Stay safe and wear your masks ;) xxx

I don’t want you to ever ever change, lovely! Also, I’m NEVER bored by your messages! You put so much effort into the research you do and the messages you send and it’s appreciated! <3 

I started following Lindsey on IG because she seems pretty genuine, and her cat is way too cute! Plus, I like her attitude. I haven’t followed her for the whole Walker season, but even she doesn’t post a lot about it. She posts interviews and then posts about that night’s episode, but other than that, nothing.  Can’t speak for Keegan, but how are fans and non-fans supposed to be excited about a show when the people STARRING in the show can’t be bothered? Maybe they’re all aware of how shitty it is or maybe they’re lazy, but it doesn’t make sense. 

I’m always interested to see the difference in an “algorithm-free” setting and one that has an algorithm. I always figured Google was the same for everyone, but seeing the difference in articles you’ve outlined is insane. It really just goes to show that Jared isn’t the star that his stans think he is. He’s not as important as they think he is, he’s just an actor.  It’s even more jarring to see just how little Walker is talked about at all. All of my devices probably have been “contaminated” when it comes to algorithm so I can’t really speak personally about the public and fans talking about Walker or not talking about it. I can say that on the posts about Walker from the Supernatural Facebook page, a good chunk of the comments are people saying they stopped watching, never got into it, or thought it was trash. There are only a handful of comments talking about how they enjoy the show. 

I think it was disgusting for him to use a fan’s passing for publicity. And no, I don’t think it was anything other than a PR stunt. Her family had a GFM going that was promoted by plenty of the case INCLUDING GEN, so you know he knew about it. But for him to make his own special one and then have articles posted everywhere about how charitable he is? That’s gross PR bullshit and I hope it backfires. 

I still follow a few Supernatural fans, Jared fans, Jensen fans, etc. on Tumblr and even they aren’t mentioning it. I think maybe the hardcore Jared stans post gifsets or whatever, but I don’t see much praise for the show itself, just Jared’s looks. Even the fans aren’t biting and that would make me reevaluate everything if I was Jared. 

I'm expecting "Jared Padalecki defecates regularly" tomorrow. This made me laugh way too hard!

who knows he and his forehead may wish to have a final crack at films You are on a ROLL!  Maybe I’ve become biased, but I can’t see Jared doing films. I mean, I could see him doing like a side character role or something small, but I can’t see him having a big part of a movie. Like I said, maybe that’s me being biased but I see him staying in TV. I could be proven wrong, but I don’t know. 

I agree about Jared being boring on SM. I used to get some giggles from his Twitter posts and even some of his early IG posts because they were goofy, clever, and candid. It showed his humor and was more personable. Now it’s just all fake and comes off as someone whose only motivation to engage with fans is money and that’s a big turn off. 

For me personally, I think that if instead of the “couple goals” bullshit that they try to push for their lavish trips, if they just posted cool pictures they took of different locations, activities, food or whatever, that would be more palatable than all the “Look at my hubster and I! We’re in Italy! Look at how in love we are!” But maybe that’s because I’ve become a bit of a photography nerd? 

I guess time will tell whether or not Jared will make positive changes and if Walker can be saved, but I’m not really optimistic about it. 

I AM optimistic about your takes on things so keep them coming! Long posts or not, I love them! <3

#grumpy answers #social media anon #anti jared padalecki #anti walker

[what-breaks-my-heart]

DanHwa Couple: Happy Ending versus Sad Ending

Note: I did plan to publish this post in conjunction with the last day of Run On Week when I came up with the idea for this post but I never thought this post would eventually be this long so I’m not going to ruin it for everyone 😂🙈

Previously, I’ve touched on the main theme of DanHwa’s storyline - goals & dreams.

Before I continue, I wish to extend my heartiest gratitude to @belsmultifandommess for taking my gif requests specifically so I could include them in this post ❤❤❤ You can click on “GIF by belsmultifandommess” to view the full sets from which the gifs I’ve included in this post were sourced. If you haven’t already, give some love to those beautiful gifsets.

This is going to be one hell of a long post so hydrate yourselves, get some snacks, prepare a box of tissues if you are a softie like me, and buckle up.

Previously in my series of write up on DanHwa storyline...

About Seo Dan Ah

Seo Dan Ah, Her Little Brother Seo Tae Woong, and A Planned Coup in Seomyung Group

Goals & Dreams - The Main Premise in the Live of Seo “Rapunzel” Dan Ah

Goals & Dreams - I Need You to Cooperate with Me

I have to be honest. The finale left me with so much feelings that made me struggle to understand how DanHwa’s storyline was concluded. There have been various takes on the conclusion of their storyline and I cannot totally disregard each of them because they do make sense in a way.

After seeing the preview for the finale, I did pose a question whether Young Hwa would agree to cooperate with Dan Ah’s potential goal to stop seeing each other, while still holding on to his dream of not breaking up with her.

As I was starting the finale, I saw the episode description on Netflix and giggled at how the storyline of DanHwa was described.

Mi-joo’s work gets a director noticed overseas. Yeong-hwa and Dan-ah achieve their own goals. Seon-gyeom officially becomes a sports agent.

Earlier, I did a write up about how Dan Ah was plotting a coup in Seomyung Group. Later in the finale, it was revealed that all along, she had been waiting for her father to pass away so she could take back what’s rightfully hers. I stand corrected. Dan Ah sweetie, I should have thought better than slandering you 🥺

True enough, she needed Tae Woong’s support in the coup, but she didn’t say the situation might call for him to turn against her because she wanted him to come clean about his paternity, but she said it because she knew how the bastard ‘older’ brother would blackmail Tae Woong into voting for him for the position of the successor in Seomyung Group by abusing his power and influence in Seomyung Group. I bet he was the one who started the rumour about Tae Woong’s paternity in order to control Tae Woong.

However, Dan Ah needed Tae Woong’s support as one of the major shareholders so that she could obtain enough support to be in a position of power in Seomyung Group. And thanks to his support, Dan Ah was promoted as the youngest Vice President of Seomyung Group. Yes, she was not yet wielding the power as the Chairwoman of Seomyung Group, but being a Vice President of Seomyung Group was itself a shorter-term goal, or a milestone towards achieving her dream of taking back what’s hers - her title as the rightful heiress of Seomyung Group.

Just like what Young Hwa - bless his young, optimistic yet immature self - told Dan Ah when she first came to his college after he kept crossing the line; if a dream seemed impossible to be achieved, focus instead on shorter-term goals while working towards chasing that dream.

By the way when I think of it, it was never made clear if the ‘older’ bastard son was appointed as President of Seomyung Group. Imagine if he was, because it wouldn’t be surprising, but he could never have things done his way because Dan Ah would keep having his ass handed to him by convincing the board room just how stupid his ways were.

Anyways, the way the story of DanHwa was concluded could be open to various interpretation, and I now believe it was intentionally done so. Why?

Exhibit 1

Young Hwa telling Dan Ah that his new goal was to watch her from a distance neither too far that he could not see her, nor too close that his field of vision would be blocked, so that he could always see her wherever he was.

He did so by asking her to just stay where she was. Of course the moment he said it, my alarms were buzzing because of how the story had compared her to Rapunzel living in a castle.

It was when Young Hwa looked “Seo Dan Ah” up on the internet when he later realised that he had forgotten how Dan Ah had been living in a castle that a peasant like him could never even dream of entering, since she was Rapunzel.

Exhibit 2

When Young Hwa and Dan Ah finally met again in front of his painting at the gallery, Dan Ah said that she was going to make that day to be her real birthday, before Young Hwa was finally able to wish her happy birthday.

These lines did seem rather out of place, but when I think more about it, it was Dan Ah cooperating with Young Hwa’s goal for both of them to celebrate her real birthday together.

This was in contrast to when she said her birthday was far away. This to me, seemed like both a literal and figurative remark.

In the literal sense, she was not sure at that point in time if they could still see each other when the day would eventually come.

Whereas in the figurative sense, celebrating her real birthday would symbolise a celebration of her successfully claiming her rightful title as the heiress of Seomyung Group - which seemed like a stretch to her at that time because she didn’t know about her father’s health condition.

But when they finally met again, she realised that there was someone who cherished her and kept her inside his radiant heart. And this person wanted to celebrate her real birthday with her because her being born was a miracle (just as other birth), because she was healthy, and because she was seeing him.

And he wanted to celebrate her real birthday with her as a way of expressing his gratitude to the heaven for all of these.

But ultimately, Young Hwa wanted to celebrate Dan Ah’s real birthday with her to get her heart in return.

And when Dan Ah decided to make the day they finally met again as her real birthday, it was symbolic that instead of obsessing over her dream of getting back her rightful title as the heiress of Seomyung Group which might require her staying in her castle, she finally gave her heart to Young Hwa, even though she was desperate to keep her heart intact due to her health condition. Maybe it’s just me but I think it’s poetic in a way.

And when she made the decision, it was symbolic to her accepting living with a fake birthday as long as someone truly cherishes her, because it may be fake, but her feeling was otherwise as real as it gets.

Exhibit 3

When the four besties met up and discussed about endings, Young Hwa told the group that his happy ending would be living well, giving birth to children like a rabbit with the person he loved (no joke that’s exactly what he said in Korean, hence the look of disgust on Dan Ah’s face).

And when he asked Dan Ah about what she wanted as her happy ending, he also asked if they could share the same happy ending, claiming their love would last forever (ah, the pure innocence of first loves).

Dan Ah then argued that she even faked a coming out to her family specifically because she did not want to get married, so sharing the same happy ending with Young Hwa like what he imagined would totally be out of the question.

Exhibit 4

DanHwa official Before poster

I’m sure many of us didn’t see this poster before the drama started airing. To be completely honest, I was not anticipating for this drama to air. There I was, minding my own business, when I saw gifs and screencaps from this drama’s first 2 episodes suddenly showing up on my dash. And then I read the usual caption spam by @dangermousie​ for those episodes and those caption spam actually piqued my interest.

You could see a sense of giddiness in this poster, as if they were playing a game of cat and mouse with each other. For those of you who don’t read hangul, the lines highlighted in this poster read as below:

“Don’t keep crossing the line.”

“But you came to see me because I crossed the line.”

DanHwa official After poster

And on the day the finale aired, JTBC released this official After poster. In this poster, both of them were portrayed to be lost in their own thoughts, no longer giddy and teasing each other.

Again, for those of you who don’t read hangul, there was only one line highlighted in this poster which reads:

“Don’t get sick, my first love.”

Special shoutout to @its-chelisey-stuff for highlighting the differences in these two posters in a post of its own.

Exhibit 5

After everything was said and done, the two of them kept hanging out together and seeing each other. They even went as each other’s plus one to the premier of Yook Ji Woo’s movie, Killing Day. And it was a public setting where people could gossip about them going together too, so it was clear she was not bothered by the possibility of people gossiping about it.

So with these 5 exhibits, it was clear that the drama was intentionally sending us viewers mixed signals about the conclusion of the story of DanHwa. But what exactly should we take from this intention?

Now, let’s talk about Young Hwa. Our precious little crybaby goof ball. We’ve seen lots of movies (or Young Hwa (영화), geddit??) with happy endings. Some gave us sad endings, but those sad endings were not unrealistic.

Throughout the drama, we could see the growth of both Dan Ah and Young Hwa since they first met each other.

In the beginning, Young Hwa told Dan Ah that he was too busy with what was in front of him (life of a college student coming from a small town in the rural area) that he never got to have a dream. When he finally had one, i.e., to not break up with Dan Ah, he gave her the assurance that he would make that dream comes true. He even tried delaying their breakup as soon as he realised that she would be breaking up with him. Not breaking up with Dan Ah was Young Hwa’s first dream ever, but he eventually learnt how hard it was to chase his dream.

But going back to the episode description, why did Netflix say that both Young Hwa and Dan Ah achieved their own goals? I’ve argued earlier in this post how Dan Ah’s appointment as the youngest Vice President of Seomyung Group could fit in this narrative. Young Hwa’s goal to keep watching Dan Ah from a distance neither too far nor too close could arguably fit in this narrative too.

I know, I know, the irony of me spending so much time thinking and talking about the ending is clear to me. But to me, the whole story of DanHwa was cleverly concluded. If we go back to episode 7, Dan Ah expressed her regret that she let go of her dream to play professional soccer (I much prefer the word ‘football’ but Koreans use the word ‘soccer’ so I’m sticking to it for consistency purpose) so easily and that she was still looking forward to having chances to kick the ball every now and then.

Later on, Dan Ah disclosed to Young Hwa how desperate she was to make time for her to go running to him despite time being of utmost importance to her, and how she desperately wanted to grab onto the little time she managed to make to be with him.

We also saw how despite being so desperate, she had initially tried to resist her urges to just run to him. Because to her, she could not afford to be distracted from running towards her dream. But she eventually ran towards him and gave in to her feeling nonetheless, albeit timing herself so she wouldn’t forget about her dream altogether.

I personally believe that their relationship would keep on going the same way it had been going - them chasing after their own individual goals, them cooperating with each other to make sure their individual goals would be achieved, Young Hwa keeping Dan Ah deep inside his heart with more subtlety just like how his painting evolved from a big drawing of Dan Ah to the silhouette of Dan Ah hiding in his painting which was displayed in Seomyung Art Gallery, while Dan Ah grabbing onto what little opportunity she would have to spend her time with Young Hwa, even if it was only for a short, sweet moment.

They might live the rest of their lives together, or they might not. But what Run On managed to tell me is we should not be too obsessed with our endings which may or may not be far away from us. Instead, we should focus on what’s right in front of us.

Instead of obsessing over our dreams and happy endings which may demotivate us if we keep stumbling onto boulders while chasing our dreams and happy endings, we should focus on shorter-term goals. Because who knows what great opportunities and sweet moments are standing right in front of us, waiting to be grabbed, if only we allow ourselves to cherish them and in return, being cherished ourselves.

And that to me, is the biggest takeaway from the story of DanHwa.

#jtbc run on #run on #kdrama #kdrama opinion #long post #kang tae oh #sooyoung #well when I said this is going to be a long post I really meant it

[swiftiephobe]

thoughts on edit discourse, aka “you all realise this is meant to be fun?”

okay so buckle up swifties because i have some THOUGHTS about the whole edit discourse, the idea of needing to support editors by reblogging their posts and where i think some of you are a bit... misguided in how you approach sharing content on tumblr.com. this is a long post (i have put it under a cut because it is that long) because i am incapable of saying things concisely and i cannot think of another way to get my points across without having them misrepresented. i know a lot of people might ignore this because it’s a long ass essay, and that is valid <3 i just wanna get these thoughts out there. i do appreciate anyone who chooses to read this and try and understand my point of view. i love editors and the content they create. i do not love the idea that people have to run their blogs and engage with content on this website in a very specific way in order to be acceptable to the community.

also this isn’t directed at any one person in particular. the attitudes i am talking about are pervasive in a large portion of the fandom, and i’ve seen them building for quite a while now. i’m happy to have a respectful discussion about many of the points i’ve made here, as i know a lot of you will disagree with them. the purpose of this post isn’t to “attack” people, it’s to provide a different perspective.

i wanna preface this by talking about when i first started posting edits. i don’t do it a lot now mostly because i’m busy and don’t often feel like it but back in 2017/2018 i really got into editing. i remember when i first taught myself how to make gifs in photoshop, and i made my first gifset, and i was so excited to post it because i was so proud of myself for having created something. so i posted it, and then i kept making and posting gifsets. most of them didn’t get many notes, and frankly a lot of them were not very good because i was still learning, but i still posted them because it was nice to have created something. 

one day i posted a gifset and tagged it with some appropriate tags, including tagging some big source blogs. well, one of those big source blogs actually reblogged my gifset! and i was so excited by that. i even went and sent that blog an ask profusely thanking them for reblogging my edit. it’s a bit embarrassing to think about having done that now, but the point is i was so excited to have a blog that i considered “important” reblog my stuff, and of course that led to more notes on the gifset which made me happy. that gifset ended up getting about 150 notes, which still isn’t a lot but it made me happy at the time.

why am i telling this story, you might ask? because i want to put it out there that I GET IT. getting that reblog on that gifset made me, a baby editor, very very happy. ecstatic, even. the fact that i can still remember it now shows how much it meant to me. i was already proud of myself for having created something that i thought was good, but getting that extra bit of external validation to tell me that what i had created was actually good felt special. so i understand why editors want people to reblog their work. it makes us feel good to see that others are enjoying what we’ve made enough to want to share it with others.

so i kept making edits, some of them got a lot of notes while others really didn’t. i continued to learn new things about editing, i played around in photoshop and got excited every time i realised a new thing i could do with one of the tools. some of the edits i made were a lot of work, and i was very proud of them, and i still am very proud of them. a lot of those edits that hold a special place in my heart did not get many notes. one edit that i made (which was a url graphic for another person) took hours and a lot of hard work trying to figure out how to make my idea happen, and i think now it has less than ten notes.

sometimes i look back through my edit tag and i see edits like that one, that i loved making and thought turned out very well, but have relatively very few notes. and honestly? when i look at them, i don’t feel sad about the number of notes they have. sure, i think “well, it would’ve been nice if more people had seen this”, but for the most part i still feel damn proud of myself for having made it. i feel happy looking at them because they remind me of when i was making them and how much i enjoyed the process. 

at the end of the day, editing isn’t something i do as a job, for the sake of meeting a quota or reaching a benchmark of external achievement. it’s a hobby, something i do because i enjoy the process of creating something. i post my edits here so that they can be hosted publicly on my blog, and yes while getting notes is very very nice, it’s not my primary motivation. this year i’ve mostly been making edits for albums that i have enjoyed, some of which have practically no audience on tumblr and so don’t get many notes. and that’s fine. i don’t make them for other people.

which i suppose brings me to a point that i feel like will upset some people, but... the way some of you talk about editing, sometimes it seems like you don’t even enjoy it? i know that’s ridiculous because you all do, and many of you are crazy talented, but when i read people posting about how getting less than 100 notes on an edit makes them want to give up and never post an edit ever again, i frankly have to wonder if you even enjoyed making the edit in the first place, and if not, why did you do it? it just seems like a lot of you have a warped idea that the end goal of making an edit is notes, when in my opinion it really should be for fun. we’re in the taylor swift tumblr fandom. this is meant to be fun, remember? it’s okay to be upset when something you thought was great doesn’t receive as enthusiastic a reception as you were hoping for, but it happens to everyone and it doesn’t mean you, or others, are doing something wrong. if you enjoyed creating something, and you are proud of it, that’s what really matters in the end.

something else i’ve noticed is the extreme policing of how people interact with edits, mostly the notion that you HAVE to reblog edits and anything else is offensive and unacceptable. and sorry, but no. everyone runs their blogs in a different way. some people use their likes as bookmarks for things they want to reblog or queue for later. some people have a specific aesthetic they want to keep for their blog so don’t reblog every single thing, but they still want to acknowledge that they saw your edit and liked it. people have a million reasons why they don’t want to reblog something, and since it is their blog and their space, all of them are valid. 

when you post something to a public social media website, you have to accept that people are going to interact with it in the way that suits them most (this is of course excluding hate or stealing, those are not acceptable). if you are seeing a like on your edit and somehow extrapolating it into some “this isn’t good enough” statement, you are reading way too much into it. if people are liking your edit, it’s because they like your edit. is it nice when people reblog your stuff? yes. but people aren’t obligated to do so.

this also applies to the idea of keeping comments in the tags. i agree that commenting in the tags on edits is proper etiquette, and it’s something i always do. but the absolutely vitriol i have seen directed towards people who comment on their reblogs is not okay. i’ve seen people talk about blocking people who comment on their edits. it’s not nice. if you see someone say “i love this!” about your edit and your first thought isn’t “that’s so nice!” but instead “this person said this in the wrong place so i hate it”, please get your priorities straight.

i think most of the discussion surrounding edits starts off in a good place. it’s good to remind people that reblogging edits is the best way to support them, and that it will make people happy. i think that message has been made clear time and time again, but now it’s turning into something more aggressive. you all say that the fandom is “dying” because people don’t interact with edits (as a side note, edits aren’t the only valid form of content in the fandom. funny text posts, theories, discussions and ask games all contribute to the feeling of the fandom being alive just as much as edits do), but all that these rules you’re trying to implement do is scare people away. people will become more and more afraid to interact with anything, for fear of not interacting enough, not interacting in the right way, or not interacting with the right people. and that, ultimately, will do a lot more harm to the fandom than people liking your edits.

#some of y'all bout to be real mad at me but it must be said <3 #i am TERRIFIED of posting this omfg #please don't yell at me i am sensitive

[tehkatie]

I keep seeing people saying that by giving all of the iconic Noorhelm scenes to Miquel, they are showing how toxic William was and I'm like, no, that's not what it's doing because William wasn't like this. He is like Alejandro. He's a rich kid who has to learn not to be a self-pitying asshole. Also, whenever I see a gifset of Zoenne, I'm like THAT's an example of how to do this season. There's a weird self-righteousness with this season that is almost disrespectful to the show they're remaking.

Oh shit do I have some thoughts to share on this subject. I’m kind of going to hijack this and I’m sorry but I’ve got so much to say. Okay so I feel like so many people, including myself, are trying so hard to analyze the parallels but there’s this part of me that honestly feels like maybe it’s not that deep? Idk this sounds like such a reach. But like they fixed the toxic part of Noorhelm already in past seasons by not having Alejandro use Viri to get to Nora. They don’t need to show us the toxicity because when it comes to the parallels they’ve done those clips in OG weren’t any type of toxic. Like something tells me they just used the OG set ups because why waste time writing and placing them in different ones when the OG ones will work just fine. I don’t think they took into account how much we over analyze though. Still even with the same set ups and whatever the reasoning behind it is, I agree with you on William being nothing like Miquel. These characters are VASTLY different. Put it like this, I wasn’t terrified for Noora like I am for España Nora. William wasn’t alienating her from her friends, he wasn’t constantly bringing up an ex girlfriend and telling Noora how she should behave, and so on. William was not like Miquel. I’ve heard so many explanations and yet still don’t get why people think William is the devil incarnate when he isn’t. This is strictly about season 2 William by the way anything beyond was character assassination because annoying ass Thomas wanted to leave Skam and we’ll never know what Julie originally intended for William. But yeah the way people treat him truly baffles me because objectively all the Skam characters start off as such sucky people and that’s not even up for debate. They’re all liars, cheaters, shitty friends at times, and so many other different types of problematic. So I mean if we’re going to hate William let’s hate all the characters. Anyway sorry for that long winded rant. Zoenne is definitely a great example of how to do this season. William and Senne aren’t THAT different but Senne is far better fleshed out than William and it’s funny to me because that Wtfock’s season 2 is shorter than Skam’s lmaoooo. Also season 3 of Wtfock only helps Senne more because he was ride or die for Zoë. Viktor being his brother didn’t matter he was trash. Lastly, I don’t feel like they’re disrespecting the show they’re remaking because they’re technically not even remaking it at this point if that makes sense. Idk how they got permission but this is a brand new season in all honesty. If I watched OG season 2 then watch Skam España season 3 and someone said this was a remake I’d be like wait what? I think we should stop using that word but like idk what to replace it with. Okay I’m done. Thanks for the question lovely.

#katie talks skam #skam españa

[the-nysh]

AHHHH! Just got back from finally seeing Heroes Rising! 8D Oh man, that was definitely a big-screened flashy action movie to experience, with great class cohesion and teamwork, and especially with Deku and Kacchan as the stars. Going in, I already knew what was going to happen (couldn’t resist spoiling myself silly), but it still had me chuckling along to all the fun nods/refs to things and grinning like a huge idiot by the end of it. :D More details and extended impressions as follows:

It really gets me that nowadays we can just…waltz into a theater and watch subbed anime movie screenings (which was the version I saw) alongside other current films. :O That’s just amazing to me. Cause gosh, back in the day, that was either completely unheard of, or you had to drive 100miles to a fancy arthouse theater just to see dubbed releases of -only- Miyazaki movies (with month-long reserved/ordered tickets). This is so much preferable now (it’s a very good thing!), and I certainly hope this trend for more accessible anime content continues!

Anyway, saw the movie with family: sister (only watches the anime) and mom (never seen any bnha, but wanted to be included anyway~) At first we had the entire theater to ourselves at a 9:45pm showing, until like 5 min before, then several other groups came in. (So hhhh ;o; had to refrain from making any loud reactions/commentary otherwise.)  

Some of the best comments from my mom were how she kept leaning over to me and asking where the ‘guy with the wings’ (Hawks) was. X’D This is great and hilarious to me. He only showed up a few times to investigate the villains, figure out what’s wrong, and fly over with pending professional help to the island. So to my mom, it was a matter of ‘when will he come to save the kids!?’ Aha nice. His Japanese voice was deeper than expected, but I could still hear the Mumen Rider (opm) inflections from his voice actor. :D Definitely excited to see more of him formally animated in the series. Later, my mom also commented how the villain (Nine) was good-looking, buaha! (I mean hey, Shiggy was there too! 8D) I’d given her a crash-course on bnha lore before the movie, so it’s amusing to me how these were some of her unique takeaways. She also felt how after Deku told the kids ‘you can be a hero,’ that they already were cause they demonstrated that same bravery. :’)

For my sister, by the end she was like, ‘they should have just done fusion!’ Noting how Deku and Kacchan already went with the dbz looks, so heh why not. :P She noted how odd it was that Kacchan could use OfA immediately (when it took Deku several hours to…digest the hair before it could set in), so I had to clarify it was transferred by blood this time. She also wondered how Deku could gain even greater power with OfA after transferring it, and welp it’s mostly movie magic so whatever, but I could not resist flat-out saying, ‘BECAUSE THEY SOUL-BONDED~’ (And that’s as far as I was openly willing to push it with the bkdk agenda, guahaha.) Lingering convos included stuff about OfA mechanics (more odd inconsistencies with the vestiges somehow willing it back) and me mentioning Hori’s original idea to end the series with, all that good stuff. But most of all, to even have the movie tie back into the main (manga) storyline cleanly somehow, these types of explanations/solutions to things had to be done anyway, so it’s honestly another whatever/no big; it works as a self-contained flashy movie. (And honestly not as bad as some impressions made it seem; instead, how certain things wrapped up here felt negligible to me.)

As for ME, woohoo oh I definitely liked it and had a fun time! :D I didn’t know if I’d get the chance to see it in theaters (schedule conflicts) but ayyy I felt it was worth it! Immediately from the intro car-chase with Endeavor (yooo), it was all high-budget, quality action movie stuff. The two kids were endearing with active roles which I appreciated. I was also greatly impressed by how cohesive and responsible all the classmates were. You could just tell how closely they knew each other (and their quirks) and could work efficiently as a well-oiled unit when disaster strikes. Evacuating and providing for the islanders and coming up with elaborate battle plans, and all without any adult heroes present. :O Each had their moment to shine, with some very cool class combo moves too. Favs were Uraraka and Sero’s boulder throwing spam, and Kiri bodily shielding Todo from a hugeass high-beam laser like in Evangelion (YOOOOO?!?! that was cool!) Dark Shadow with wolverine claws was pretty sweet too.  

Of course, personal favs were the Kacchan (+Deku) moments. Deku was a good babey throughout but…but KACCHAN. ;A; Featuring the shades of Kacchan I love to see. :’D (Also Denki said a line like, ‘Kacchan of the Bakugous’ buahaha wtf!) When he’s silently observant (listening to Deku talk to the kid about their hero dreams, to the point his popsicle melts off ;o;), intensely serious (making it very clear to the kids he’s for real about efficiently working as a hero after they mess around/cry wolf with him), gruffly supportive (encouraging Deku in his own way to ‘make it his own’ asap :’3) and…he’s still got his signature short fuse temper of course (that explodes in comical ways, heh even my mom laughed at him) plus the awesome moments when he frees himself from a villain then promptly beats his ass. 8D But…I personally loved the smaller, but very telling, protective moments. Like when the girl signaled Deku was in trouble, Kacchan was immediately RIGHT THERE to blast Nine in the face (omgg), how he caught/saved the girl when she went flying (while Deku was on the attack instead), AND my fav: how when they were both fighting Nine, Deku got distracted worrying about the other classmates fighting elsewhere, but Kacchan kicked him out of the way from getting hurt by lasers (so ahhh!! he’s actively looking out for Deku and staying on top of things so they both keep their heads in the game. :’D) Just MANY good Kacchan moments to appreciate. <3

AND then the big bkdk handhold, OfA transfer, epic + emotional team up. (Ever since the first previews/impressions, I’m still stunned they actually did all that on the big screen!) At this point I was internally squealing and had the dumbest grin on my face but didn’t even care. 8’D I WAS READY! Nakamura’s animation was like…byuuujjgghh *brain turns off* Honestly it was hard to even SEE what was happening on screen besides huge swathes of molten heat and green electricity flying everywhere, totally and awesomely over the top. Ahaha definitely worth seeing again just for that! I got feels for the ‘it’s fine if it’s you’ line :’))), and in the aftermath, loved it when Deku’s first thought upon regaining consciousness was to ask All Might if Kacchan’s ok. (omggg heh, Deku pls! :’D)

Overall, the movie had a simple, straightforward storyline to follow, fantastic action and teamwork to enjoy, and plenty of tidbits and character moments for current fans to heartily eat up. No question about the Kacchan and bkdk service as well. Left me feeling very giddy as a fan and glad I was able to catch it in theaters. Now I can’t wait to see when gifsets of all those fun moments get made!

#bnha #heroes rising #bkdk #anime spoilers #commentary #long post #FINALLY ;A; i got to see it for myself in theaters #oh boy now that was fun and exciting (with lots of good expected kacchan + bkdk service for current fans)

[agent-yolk-writes]

Friends Like You and Us - Venom!Reader - Ch. 4

And we’re back! First AO3, then Quotev, now finally Tumblr! Good thing for post resets.

In today’s episode, we jump straight back to the present to meet the last member of the B-Team. Venom has a plan for once, the Reader is Absolutely Done(tm) physically and emotionally, and what Aunt Mary doesn’t know who her nibling is bringing into their apartment while she’s on a business trip won’t kill her...yet. 

(Nibling is the gender-neutral term for niece/nephew, the more you know)

Note: If you’re using this to teleport to the AO3 version I would like to give a heads up that the italics for some reason stop working when the Reader meets Peni. I don’t know how to fix it, so it be like that sometimes. Enjoy!

Previous Chapter | Start from the beginning | AO3 version

...

Indeed, it did get weirder.

You didn’t realize that the hunt for your next meal took so long. The sun just...got ahead of you. The shadows in this creepy part of the city started stretching, covering everything in its path. You thought your eyes were playing tricks when you saw another pair of Spider-man’s white eyes in the darkness behind Ham. The tingling sensation faded as the shadow started moving, revealing that it was an actual goddamn person.

Despite being a self-proclaimed ‘superhero’ for almost a week now, you aren’t getting paid enough for this.

You rubbed your eyes expecting this weird dizzy spell would go away, but upon opening them again they were still standing there staring at you.

“Don’t worry, I get that all the time.” Ham commented. He eyed his taller companion and nudged him on the thigh. “C’mon man, you can’t just stand there menacingly forever.”

“...”

Should I just go or-

“You got some nerve stealing the glory of someone else’s hard work.” Great, he also sounds familiar. Is this some reunion you didn’t get the memo for?

“Well you certainly can’t leave them here to waste!” You rebutted as you stood up. “Someone’s gotta clean up, and it might as well be us.”

“There’s no us in this, missy.” He rebutted.

“That’s not what I-Ugh, whatever!” You shook your head in your heads in frustration before looking back at them. “Look, we’re not going to get anywhere bickering like this.” You motioned your hands to the two. “You guys are out of place, clearly. Let’s discuss this somewhere else before-“ On cue, the sudden wail of police sirens announced their presence as they block off the only ground entrance out of here. Venom instinctually covered your ears to block out the loud sound. “...that.” You sound of your croak almost sounded not human.

The two looked at each other. While you were right that this isn’t the ideal spot for an interrogation, you’re still not in the clear of their suspicions.

“Alright. Let’s skedaddle then, but you’re not out of the hot seat yet, missy.” The brooding spider detective said, shooting a spider web and letting it pull him up. You couldn’t help but groan, he speaks like a dad in a cartoon.

Ham nudged you deeper into the alley. “C’mon kid. It’s quieter up top.” You could feel Venom trying to dig your heels into the dirt, but at this point, it was too dangerous.

~

Spider-Ham, also known as Peter Porker, was in fact not a pig at first. According to him, he was the spider bitten by a radioactive pig that later became his aunt. He told you not to think about it too much. In his world, everyone has been anthropomorphized into an animal. He works at the Daily Beagle where they work him like a dog trying to sniff out the latest scoop. He was just finishing a fight with a mad scientist lobster before he got snatched between dimensions. The more he talks, the more vocal your thoughts are trying to figure out where have you heard his voice before. A thought passed somewhere about what you might look like in his world.

His black and white companion was Spider-Man Noir, also known as Peter Benjamin Parker, who lived in a monochromic version of Earth in the 1930s. He used to investigate stories for the Daily Bugle and during that time a spider that resided in an exotic statue from Africa escaped and bit him. After the betrayal and death of his mentor Ben (“Not to confuse ya with my uncle Ben, who also bit the dust.” He explained.), he decided to become a P.I. and fight Nazis along the way. You liked this guy already, and yet he also sounds so familiar.

To think just half an hour or so, you were about to metaphorically throw hands and eat heads…

And we still didn’t eat them.

Yea, I’m a bit disappointed too. I’ll make it up later.

Those poor criminals, wasted. Handed to the police before you could even nibble on a finger. If Venom starts to act up like a grumpy child, it’s on them. After the small buzzing in your ears died down, all you’re left with is that dull throbbing in your head that you get with migraines and hunger from both you and your companion. It’s not your fault the universe slapped a literal man-eater on you.

Then again, after the whole exposition dump they piled on you, you felt a little guilty sprinkling your truth with little white lies on top. By the way your companion was treated by his not-so-friendly superhero, you could only assume that it’s mutual throughout the alternative universes. Better play it safe and claim you built your suit out of some nanotech that was laying around...somewhere. You even ‘pulled down’ your mask as a sign of trust.

You regained your focus when Venom used your limbs to jump between buildings to catch up with the eccentric duo. You haven’t really kept in touch with the whole lore of superheroes. They didn’t involve you, so you didn’t get involved. It wasn’t going to be the end of the world if you didn’t reblog five different gifsets of the same skit Tony Stark was in on Sunday Night Live. If they’re taking you to some secret spider cave, then it’s news to you.

Speaking of which,

“Sooo,” You decided to break the ice. “Where...exactly are we heading to?”

“Our own little Hooverville.” Noir answered. “It ain’t much, but it’s the best we got at the moment.”

“Plus we already have someone guarding the helm while we searched for more folks like you!” Ham added.

“You’re telling me there’s another one of you guys?” You held your hands up and counted the total number of spider heroes, not including yourself.

“And together, we make quite a ragtag bunch.” Ham continued on. “Who knew you could make a robot shaped like a spider?”

“Don’t forget the fact it’s small enough for that kid to get in and out with ease and her fingers still intact.” Noir added.

“Who...is this…’person’ you’re talking about?” You questioned, trying not to assume to worse.

“Don’t worry, she’s a sweetheart.” The detective added. “She’s got spunk for someone her size.”

Oh god, Venom.

What?

If this is an actual child I swear-

~

“Welcome back!”

You had to give your eyes a good rub to process what you were seeing. In front of you was indeed a small mecha shaped like a spider. The red and blue metal pieces clash together but at the same time was fitting for something like it. The small figure that was tinkering one of the robot’s legs when you arrived. As they stood up and you finally get a good look at her, you wanted to go apeshit over the fact that, indeed, it’s an actual child piloting a robot. You’ve seen like two movies that basically told you why it’s a bad idea for a kid to pilot a destructive machine in the first place.

You can tell by her appearance alone that she too is from another universe. You couldn’t describe it, but her dimensions seem...rather flat? No, that’s not the right word. Whatever it is, Ham has it too. You thought it was just Ham being Ham up until now since, after all, he's a walking, talking, crime-fighting pig you see in cartoons.

“Hey kid, hope there weren’t any scuffles while we were gone.” Noir was the first to greet her as she ran up to him.

“Nope! It was quiet as a mouse.” Was her response. She peered around his brooding form and met your eyes. Her eyes managed to grow even bigger as she approaches you excitedly.

”Hello! You must be the one we were sensing!” She grabbed your hand, giving it a nice shake. “I’m Peni Parker, and that over there is my robot SP//dr!” As if on cue, SP//der’s faceplate lit up and gave a friendly wave. Out of politeness, you waved back while ignoring the spidey-sense going off threefold.

Peni Parker...Peter “Noir” Parker...Peter Porker...Not to alarm anyone, but you think there’s some kind of pattern going here, and you’re the outlier. Well, at least Gwanda is with you for this one.

”H-Hello, Peni…” God, why are you acting so awkward all of the sudden? ”I’m (First Name), hero name TBA.” You shot your arm out awkwardly, letting the small girl take the reins in the art of the first handshake. You wonder if she can sense your weirdness with that firm grip of hers.

“So, now what?” Ham was the first to break the silence before it got weird. “We’re basically sitting ticking time bombs until we figure out a way to get back home! New kid!” He pointed at you, making you jump at the sudden action. “You got anything new to contribute?”

Shit! Shit! No one told me this was a quiz! Vee!

...We have an idea. Cover us.

Huh?! You have a-

Venom assumed control of your body, shrugging off your backpack to find your phone. Your phone? What could there possibly be on your...Oh! You have...some sort of an idea on what he’s doing! Maybe.

“Actually,” You started, bracing yourself like you’re stalling for time on an in-class presentation. “I heard a rumor the other day online…” Subtly, Venom pulled back the tendrils over your thumb so your phone can scan your print. “Somebody on a high-rise took a picture of the area-passwordiscapitalqwerty-where Spider-Man died. Can’t guarantee that-yesallcaps-you’ll see the body with this quality though.” Now if you can only find said photo if the mods of that subreddit didn’t remove it first. Ugh, this public wifi sucks ass. Who's hoarding it at this hour?

It doesn’t help that your hand is visibly shaking as your phone struggles to detect any pressure from your sweaty appendages and three sets of eyes that are on you expectedly aren't making this any easier. To make sure karma knows it's laughing at you, your phone slipped out of your grip at the most inopportune moment. Your case had taken some beatings in the past, but you know for sure by the sound of the landing that it was time for it to be replaced. You just stood there frozen, wondering when the panic attack kicks in.

Instead, your tingling skin is your only warning before your muscles went out of control. It felt like you were being ripped from the inside out and then being ripped outside in twice fold. The pained garble coming out of your mouth was either coming from you or Venom. It was tough to see with your spotty vision, but it looks like your newly befriended companions were going through this too in various states of pain.

After a few seconds, the out of body experience ended. You know immediately that trying to get up quickly will kick you in the ass right after.

You good, buddy?

Peachy.

Figured.

When you patted around and found your phone, you couldn’t help but grimace at the sight of new cracks branching over your screen.

”Son of a bitch…” You couldn't help but swear out. ”You know what? This would be better if I did this at my place, yeah?” Digging your hands into your face you inhale, waited, and exhale slowly. When you looked up, they were still staring at you with concerned eyes. “What? It’s my first week on the job, can you give me some slack?”

~

While you knew your aunt was a few hours away somewhere upstate you couldn’t help but pray that she doesn’t decide to come back home in the darkness of the night. If Penn Station was closer, maybe you could’ve caused some delays on the Amtrak. Didn’t help that you now have guests sheltering in your apartment clearly not built for four heroes of various sizes that had to get inside through the window. You hope no one in the next building over calls the police. You all even put a tarp over SP//dr, much to the dismay of the robot, to make sure it doesn’t end up on your social media timeline later on. At least Mr. Davis wasn’t there when you unlocked the door manually.

“It’s nothing much, but it’s the best I can do. Make yourself at home.” You didn’t need to say that twice. Almost instantly they go around poking and observing whatever they can. “Can I...get any of you something to drink?”

“An egg cream for me.”

“I’ll take some juice, please!”

“Rum and coke. Shaken, not stirred.”

You have no idea what an egg creme is, there’s only vegetable juice in the fridge, and there’s certainly no alcohol in this apartment. You’ll make it work somehow.

Keyword: somehow.

Do pig-spiders even need to get drunk in the first place? According to Google, egg cream is just a fancy way of saying milkshake. How old are these people exactly?

#spiderverse #spidersona #x reader #spiderman into the spiderverse #spiderman into the spiderverse & reader #spiderman into the spiderverse x reader #spiderverse x reader #venom x reader #venom & reader #venom symbiote x reader #venom symbiote/reader #venom/reader #reader insert #my writing #friends like you and us

[fandomele]

Gifset here

responding to @alltoosure​

So, your criteria was that to be included in this gifset, the argument couldn’t have been resolved and there was no potential justification for someone to be upset at Emma, such as grief?

And, yet, the very first gif is of a fight where Henry is rightfully upset at Emma for using Violets heart to make her break up with him. And comes from an episode where Emma and Henry literally make-up in that same episode and Henry is the one to take the no magic cuff off of Emma, telling her he trusts her?

How does that fit the criteria?

Even in the second gif, Henry is being a dick, but I would say the justification that people he knows keep dying or being cursed by magic and he would like his parents to get along, is as good a justification as Hook’s big brother worship.

Also David and Snow are two separate people and David has freedom of thought. If he agrees to do something or not do something with Snow, that is still on him. He is not under her thrall.

I agree, you didn’t do it on purpose, but our biases can be visable even when we try to not show them.

But look, it’s your gifset. You could make it ‘times Emma was hurt by people who were not David or Hook’ and include examples I don’t at all agree with and there isn’t reallly much I could do about it. So you do you.

Yes, it's my gifset, but it's okay if you want to comment and I'll try to explain my train of thoughts, and you can agree or disagree because it was, after all, my subjective view of it that led to it. Which can differ from yours, and that's okay. Of course I'd prefer if you believed me when I say that I didn't consciously decided to conveniently forget stuff lol but hey, I also can't make you believe that, so it's your call. I’d like to still try to explain my view of this, you don’t have to reply, or you can and disagree (though I think we’ll eventually we’ll agree to disagree), it’s fine. But I don’t know if you’ll read all this because I wrote a LOT and I’m sorry lol basically in the middle I ended up explaining the reasoning between each group of gifs. 

My criteria was: "show patterns of Emma getting unfairly treated by people and Emma not ever standing up for herself or even thanking them for it later on. Plus Ingrid (so I guess entirely messed up relationships). Plus, not every moment is going to fit because it's a gifset and I didn't want to put even more gifs."  Or it could also be said “she has an ongoing unaddressed problem with these people, here it is/here they are if it’s more than one” (I already explained point by point why I excluded some, but to be more clear I didn't exclude Regina's grief because I *always* exclude grief, but because 1) I already put Henry being mad at Emma over not trusting Regina soon after and 2) Regina had already more than ten examples in the gifset, it was beating a dead horse. Though I do feel that their reasons can count sometimes. Regina exploding with grief is similar to Killian wanting to protect his brother's honor to me, for example, but Killian apologized, Regina didn't even recognize Emma was literally returning the 'you are benched' favor that Regina and the others did to her one day ago. I'll explain later why Henry scolding Emma because he wanted his family to stick together is in the gifset but I can anticipate that it's also to show the unfair contrast in how they treated Dark Emma)

It *is* a messy gifset, because most things made perfect sense in my head and are hard to explain on paper, and maybe I should title it: Emma vs Henry, Gold, Regina, Snow, Neal, Ingrid, Liam, Walsh, and occasionally David when he gets dragged in. Also because due to the limit of ten gifs = less than 3 mb each, it’s complicate to fit stuff.  But at the same time I feel like it's still... visible that David and Killian can't compare to those examples, due to number of mistakes, amount of times they apologized/were fought over them, and how Emma drags them for what they do at times (plural, I remember Emma being pretty sharp with both father and pirate around the end of s3). I could take away the 'not trusting your gut' block (which as I’ll explain in Snow’s case represents another issue too) and keep everything else the same and suddenly Killian and David wouldn't fit anymore, but Snow, Neal and Regina would still be there. Look at the gifset without that one stripe, and tell me in which blocks David and Killian would fit: the one where they insult her often? the one where they keep getting scared of her magic (which doesn’t even show the even more irritating way the writers had Snow not be as concerned for Emma later)? The one where they accuse her of ruining their lives after being the ones who ruined hers? the one where they belittle her pain about having been betrayed and abandoned or tell her she has everything and other similar concepts? The one where they try to control her with the dagger and enjoy it? The one where they tell her she's a villain/she's bad for not trusting other people or tell her she got pulled out of her problems instead of having to fight for it? The one where they consistently, often, make her feel not good enough?   Okay, David is still there for the insensitive bit of calling the baby Neal (though that's also on the writers, not just Snowing, because they kept glorifying him even in the au world where he didn’t fit) and for the team 'we don't trust the darkness' BUT even if I blame the baby name on the writers, there is a whole stripe of Snow really dropping the ball with her magic or being insensitive, and I could easily replace the not trusting gut stripe with 'occasions in which Emma needed support and we were shown Snow helping Regina' INCLUDING the same episode where Emma nearly ripped her magic off her. So Snow fits way better, could have a whole different stripe just for her, but it feels so ooc to have Snow so calm in those moments that I feel like I should just gif the writers for being asses. 

I’ll put under read more the explanation for each gif because it’s super long - I don’t know if you’ll read it, I can’t blame you if you don’t, but at least it’s here. I’ll bold some sentences to help. 

When it comes to how I made the gifset, the first gif isn't just Henry being rightfully upset about Emma taking Violet's heart, to me it's an example of Henry, the Henry who was Regina's fan for years, rejecting Emma and judging her for everything she did (which doesn’t exactly compare to what villains in ouat usually do) while comparing her to Gold and Regina who 'showed they have changed', even though Gold very recently showed he hasn't and is only helping because in trouble with Dark Hook (and was in the underworld because Emma threatened to tell Belle he had been lying to her about not being the Dark One anymore, which he was because he took the darkness away from a dying Killian) and a Regina who is very much still battling with horrible instincts but has everybody's constant presence and vocal support, and right next to that gif you find Henry furious at Emma over not trusting that Regina will choose to do good after Robin's horrible death and asking Regina to sit back, the same exact thing Regina did THE DAY BEFORE to Emma because she was 'too emotional' about Killian's death. It's the same Henry who when Regina shuts him out because Robin maybe will go back to Marian decides to wait outside her door (after sending her baskets if I'm not wrong), who keeps telling Regina she's not a villain, who kept trying to keep his family together, but he has always, always, been shorter with Emma. Henry, who later decided to trust Emma but only after closing off to her, telling her she couldn't go with them, and all the things in the speech of the first gif, is the same person who was so offended at the thought that Emma would doubt Regina. Henry has treated better people who *weren't* recently turned into Dark Ones and nearly lost their true love/lost it than he treated her, and it counts to me. Ongoing issue between Henry and Emma: he will always be harder on Emma than on anyone else, and unfairly too at times, because he can afford not trusting her and putting half of the effort he puts on Regina when she has a bad time, but Emma is bad for doubting Regina herself. So that, to me, already becomes a pattern, because even if I blame Neal for it, he did quickly turn on Emma in s2, he did react to 'Dark One Emma' with less hope/belief than he did around Regina's villain side, because hey, like I said, when Regina, in complete control of herself, thinks she might lose Robin to Marian, locks herself in the house, doesn't speak to him, doesn't let him in, Henry is sad and tries to get to her in every way. When Emma, filled with Dark One's magic (something she started using to save Robin right when she should have been avoiding it), who did turn fully only days before when Killian was literally dying, closes herself off because she's trying to figure out a plan to fix this and nobody can know Killian is a Dark One or Killian might find out, reacts like *that* and only later offers Emma some trust again. But Emma is a bad person for not trusting Regina immediately? Unfair.  And I do like Henry, and I’m all here for Swan Believer, but that is an ongoing problem that should have been addressed/solved. 

Plus it wasn't just Henry, it was everybody in that room in that first gif. Though in Henry’s case it does connect to a bigger issue that is specific of the two of them.

And under that, examples of people not having changed all that much despite what Henry claimed and not exactly deserving of Emma’s trust, ongoing issues such as Gold constantly putting her life and Killian’s life in danger and getting forgiven and welcomed back in the family constantly, so Emma has to be okay with it. Ongoing issue with Regina: Regina gets to tell her the most awful things and is still justified, a good guy, and Emma reacting would lead to a serious fight and who knows what else.  - Gold recently trying to kill her, same day he took Killian's heart, when he was still considered an ally (I could have also put gifs later of the things I mentioned earlier but by then Emma saw him as an enemy), Regina's speech to an Emma who had just been through all that pain about how she wanted to kill Killian but resisted it (and how she doesn't like doing good but does, and how it doesn't change that she doesn't get a full happy ending - even though nobody there does with the lives they led - and how Emma was *pulled* out of darkness) 

And right under those two you get examples of Snow being scared of Emma's powers which likely did remind Emma the whole very badly phrased sentence of 'she's not what I wanted' and brought up also the 'you don't trust me' as Dark One. I don't have to explain why it's a pattern for Regina to act that way. Or how you get six different scenes with focus on Snow in which she let Emma down that way. (to bring back the two men missing, David and Killian weren't reacting in insensitive ways to her magic, 'you are not what I wanted' was unnecessary and not from David, David IS part of the scene where nobody wanted to trust Dark One Emma, and I'll explain the not trusting Emma's gut a scene later because it represents something else too. Though it does make me feel a bit better that David was shown to be losing it, in his office, about being unable to help Dark One Emma, I'll give you that in terms of biased). Ongoing issue with Snow: choosing the most insensitive way to deal with their problems and showing lack of trust in Emma/her powers (and being possibly the most calm person later when Emma was giving up her magic) 

In the ones under that, Regina also telling Emma she's acting like Cora, she lost the moral high ground, she's a villain, and the whole 'you were pulled out of darkness' as if she wasn't treated that way. Right under that, several examples of Regina insulting Emma. Clearly not something I can say Snow, or David or Killian do. Ongoing issues with Regina: she villanizes Emma at every turn, she had her ‘reasons why you suck’ speech ready when Emma was the Dark One yet still claims Emma was pulled out of the darkness (by them?) and can’t understand what Regina goes through. 

Right under that. Emma having been through a very bad life after coming to this world and Regina's you ruined my life, right next to Lily taking away another big chance Emma had to be in a good family for a while (and lying and all that) and then going 'you ruined my life'.  Ongoing issue with Regina (and Lily): even though I made your life a living hell, you don’t understand my pain and you ruined mine. 

Under that, Regina 'you have everything' so I chose to put Ingrid, another person who let her down, even though in this case Emma did get to be mad, because Emma went from bad family to bad family and then in the streets, and THEN, under that, because I mentioned the situation with Ingrid, I decided to put how Walsh, her 'fiance', was just there to control her, raped her by deception by that, tried to kill her, and wasn't even human, and Liam had one chance to have a conversation with Emma and it was like *that*. Which doesn't make it a perfect gifset, but I just kept basically going with the last ring of the chain and connecting to the last things. But it also show three entire relationships that were basically fully based on bad things from beginning to end with a bit of a redeeming moment for Liam and Ingrid. Admittedly they were more there as 'other random people who hurt her feelings a lot and Emma didn't get to vent all that much, plus it wasn't an exception to an otherwise nice relationship, it was a mess from beginning to end'. Something I cannot say about her parents or husband. Though again, I do like Ingrid and Liam. Especially Ingrid, my heart broke for her. Sort of ongoing issue with Ingrid and Walsh: the entire relationship was them trying to get Emma where they wanted her to be, lying and betraying her.  Ongoing-ish Issue with Liam: in the short span they knew each other he judged her and lied. Less fitting than the others. 

The people not trusting Emma's gut block connects to the Neal block and yes, Snow and DAVID naming their baby Neal, but also, in Snow's case too, IS a pattern of ignoring what Emma says about Neal while David is more cautious and asks things - I'll explain as much as I can without having rewatched s2 and s3 in years: with Neal and Regina it's obvious why it represents a bigger problem, with David it wouldn't because otherwise David tries to not assume what Emma wants when talking to her, he's... quieter. With Snow? It also represents Emma trying to tell her several times she's unhappy about Neal (the phonecall from Manhattan, the attempt to talk about how she kissed Killian, but also yes, Tamara) and Snow still acting as if she knows that in reality Emma just wants to be with him. As much as I do love Snow, so I'm not sure of how the whole biased thing comes into play here, because I do believe that me now loving David more depends on the fact that I haven't seen the same behaviors from him, not constantly, and it does count for me that he needed convincing from Snow several times even if he relented at the end, since I started the show adoring both of them and then WITH TIME my appreciation for Snow diminished when it comes to her dealing with Emma. Ongoing issue with Snow showed here: dismissing Emma’s words several times so the conversation could go back to what Snow believed to be true.  Ongoing issue with Regina and Neal there, similarly: not believing in Emma’s skills/her words 

... also because the writers wanted Regina to have a good ally and picked Snow, and honestly I find ooc that many times Snow wasn't just as involved and agitated as David when Emma wasn't okay. EVEN IF Snow's reactions to Emma's magic were understandable in context, though she could have sure as hell handled them better - it was ridiculous the way she held baby Neal back and shook her head looking down as if afraid Emma was going to kill them both for it, why didn't she just say 'Emma you just warmed up the baby bottle too much, can you wait a minute? You know how anxious I get about the baby' - in the end they were all coming from her even if she kept dragging David into it by making it 'our reaction' instead of 'my reaction', yet at the very end I remember in that episode everybody looking for Emma but Snow being so CHILL about it, walking and talking about Regina's love life? Able to focus on that when Emma was possibly destroying a part of her as they spoke? So the few gifs of Snow represent both that, and the bit I said about lack of trust that Henry is only mad about when it comes to Regina. The writers piled up behaviors that I disliked on Snow, which is why she's in the gifset while they feel far less of a pattern with David. Snow is the one who said the most insensitive sentence in Neverland, Snow was the parent convinced Neal was Emma's love and Emma was jealous, Snow was the one who kept having conversations with Regina or about Regina and suggesting parties and all that while Emma was alone/in pain/looking for ways to take her magic out. Even in the Underworld we got some Snow/Regina friendship. Snow is the one who was so sure they had to find a way to take out any possibility that Emma would turn evil (bullshit plot that makes no sense) because of the unicorn. Snow loved Emma so much, it's visible, it's not a matter of not caring, but she was the leading force of many mistakes and due to plot reasons showed far less worry and realistic reactions so she ended up here too.

And last block, a little mix of Regina's irony 'the more you try to help the worse you make my life' = helping her in Camelot by controlling her with the dagger. You don't think of consequences = begging Emma to save Robin. And right with that 'you never had my back' and enjoying her second use of the dagger to command Emma to shut up. Ongoing issues with Regina: lack of respect, enjoying  physically controlling Emma, blaming Emma for everything while it’s acceptable if she does the same, exaggerating Emma’s flaws so make herself a victim and insulting Emma at every viable turn. 

If I had added ALL the scenes I decided not to put, not just Killian at the date (because again, the underworld doesn't fit at all, not when he apologized and it was the one time he went NOPE) or... David not being sure about Henry 'not being okay' after Neverland, but all the other scenes from Regina and Neal and Gold and Snow, I'm sure that the reaction would have been the exact same of the original gifset, simply because 'ah look, the one time Killian and David are there it's because they are hammering the concept that Emma should try to enjoy some of her free time and not always be alert, meanwhile the others gratuitously insult her or hurt her or abandon her when in literal danger of losing herself'. Even if they were all here and you compared them to the gut feeling block only you get 'Neal and Regina never trusted her, Killian and David want her to take a break on being the Savior for a day and Mary Margaret is telling her she's too emotional for her skill to work'.

I didn't put Killian and David because there was no pattern of continuous lack of belief/support, let alone an Emma who was always so submissive about it, and I didn't put August who *had* a pattern because he did his best to fix it and Emma got to be mad at him too, then let it go but he's not there making it worse. I guess I could erase Ingrid to make it look better, but that does fit another general theme that is 'Emma's life suck'? Though considering that Ingrid's whole relationship with Emma *was* about lying and manipulating, just like Walsh even if with better intentions, it kinda fits better than people making a couple of mistakes while normally loving and supporting her. So thinking about it, it still fits. Because they are not exceptions to a rule, they are all part of a bigger picture of either insults, lack of belief, lack of sensitivity, unfairness, or more than one at a time, and that allowed to me make many gifs because there were many scenes, or  to make a gif to represent the bigger issue (Again, Ingrid is the example, or Walsh).

So in conclusion, the pattern has to be: 'people systematically doing these things to Emma and Emma either never bringing those things up or even thanking them for their friendship and support OR people Emma got to be mad at but whose entire relationship/interactions were on false premises anyway and they did end up hurting her no matter what (and let's be honest, there wasn't even that much venting about it after)'. David and Killian don't fit, they fit the pattern of messing up a couple of times, the couple of times I actually mentioned in the other reply so you know it's not a constant, and sometimes even apologizing for it, but having otherwise a regular relationship with Emma where yeah, sometimes they argue, which is healthy, sometimes one of the three lets it go, sometimes apologies are required, but you can also make many gifs of the two men being like 'I believe in you!' 'you can do this!' which helps a lot. You can’t say “damn it, David/Killian, you always end up doubting Emma/you always get scared easily/you always have less patience and understanding with her!” it’s not a big Issue, especially not one that never gets talk about. 

So yeah I'm biased, but I still feel that I'm biased BECAUSE I can write all of this, not that I'm writing all of it because I'm biased.

#anti gold #anti regina #henry critical #snow critical #anti ouat #alltoosure

[crxpeek]

im so sorry for your family being shitty :((( some of your favourite christmas movies maybe ? fave books ? OH also you've probably gotten asked this before but how did you learn to make gifs ??

Yeah... I should really learn to expect less from them yet I’m somehow still disappointed. May the food of the gods (stuffing) restore my faith in humanity somewhere. 

Alright... 

Favorite Christmas Movies:

Now I’ll be honest, my favorite is the original animated Grinch. Like I love that special so much. I haven’t watched it this year but I feel like that’s because this year part of my brain has decided to be the Grinch itself so whoops. Not like the mean ruin Christmas parts but like the “Christmas kinda stinks” parts.

Let’s Peanuts. I have a Charlie Brown tree, have for the past... idk 5 years now? Usually it sits in my room but I didn’t put it in here this year, nor did I uhhh assemble it. Tells you how ready for the holidays I have been. 

Does any one remember the Good Luck Charlie Christmas movie because I really like that one too. Actually have a bit of a fond memory of my mother and I watching it just the two of us, laughing our asses off, having a good time. 

Fave Books:

Well I’m not really much of a reader anymore. I say anymore because in like 4th grade I was holding that 12th grade level reading shit and it made me really hate reading for the most part because we could only pick from like certain grade levels and I found the majority of books to be boring as shit. One trip to detention also may have helped me despise reading a bit more. So honestly i read like a lot more comic books than I do books. And the only real book I’ve picked up in the past who knows how many years I’ve talked about a lot so today I’m gonna talk about my favorite comic books. 

I’m gonna start on Shade, The Changing Girl/Woman. So Shade was one of the first ones I really picked up. I mostly got it because it was under the DC’s Young Animal imprint and my mind said “Hey if Gerard Way (since he was leader of the uhhh imprint, I guess that’s how to phrase it) thinks this is fucking amazing maybe I will too.” And honestly it was one hell of a trip where I loved every minute of it . There’s a lot of themes of being lost and trying to figure yourself out (I mean that’s my takeaway from it at least) and I connected with that. Also I found it to be really artsy there’s these insane panels that are just gorgeous and take up like 2 whole pages and tell a story alone with everything. And the colors! They’re super vivid and I just got lost in this wondrous world of the series itself. 

Speaking of Gerard & the Young Animal imprint... Doom Patrol. What a beautiful series in both comic and TV show form. Many dynamic characters and a sense of comfort. I remember this one interview, they’re asking Gerard about comics, specifically Doom Patrol, and they ask him about what really brought him to it and I could be remembering this wrong but he said something along the lines of “It was the first comic book I knew of that showed a therapy session, it showed that it was okay to not be okay”. It’s been a while since I’ve either read or heard that interview but like... That kinda stuck with me. And I feel like that can still apply to the comic today. Like it’s a very well driven comic and it does have those moments where it’s like “Hey, we all have problems and that’s okay.” It’s almost reassuring to me. Because you can watch these characters be in their own little problems and they try to work through them the best they can. And that’s important to me. That’s how I feel also currently. I have my own problems, trying to work through them. I think the only complaint I’d ever give you about Doom Patrol would be focused in on issue 8 because fucking cat sex. But like... it’s a weird comic I’m gonna allow it to do that. 

How I learned to make GIFs:

Long story short. I used to use like EZGIF to make GIFs on my own and.. they fucking sucked. So I downloaded Photoshop and was like “Fuck it I’ll learn to make a GIF on my own.” So I started playing around with things and at one point in time I look up a tutorial from a big name GIFmaker on the site and I try following it. And I was like “Well this doesn’t seem to bad” (Also didn’t help that there’s an action line that does the majority of my work for me. I just have to select frames, crop/resize, and maybe fuck around with colors if I want to lol) And then I was like “Hey what if I posted these to tumblr.” Enter my uhhh Ways To Fake It GIFset. That was the first one I did. I cherrypicked some scenes and was like “I think these will look good” Played around with colors a lil (I really don’t do that much anymore I think the last set I played around with colors on was Falling) and I was like “Okay these look great”. Of course I also had to make sure they fit that 3mb limit. (I know it’s like 5 now but I prefer keeping it to 3mb to keep it as uncompressed as possible... with lossy already usually lol, so it’s a lil compressed but not like YouTube video compression fucking you over compression. If that even somehow makes sense.) And yeah then I just kinda started playing around with some more videos and stuff. Like I have some old GIF tests hanging around including some text tests. And then I just started making some ones at random. Like I have a shitton from like random Strokes videos & so. And then I just kinda fell into making sets I was like “fuck it these videos/artists are cool they get sets because it’s my blog and I say so” (Also how I ended up with that whole Saturday series as I call it.) Another thing too was I was discovering these videos and stuff that I didn’t know existed and I was like “Hmm yeah I’ve never seen GIFs of this in my life let me fix it.” (This is how I accidentally because #1 CRX/Nick V. content provider, because turns out there’s a lot of stuff out there) so yeah. That’s that I guess. That really did not answer that question much but longer story way shorter: a tutorial and photoshop experimentation. 

#I'm a rambling madman and this is PROOF #Long Post #You know I have to tag it like that because this is gonna be a BITCH on mobile #Thanks for these Nina #Mail Time #ninasinthebedroom

[sage-nebula]

I saw Endgame

And overall I liked it, although I think I liked Infinity War more. I really want to make a long post detailing all my feelings in a coherent way, but I’m not sure I’m in the headspace to do it now, and I can’t do it at a later date because the memories won’t be as fresh, so I’m just going to make a list that might be all over the place beneath the cut (with TREMENDOUS SPOILERS, obviously).

Things I Loved:

Peter was the catalyst for Tony deciding to help with the time machine business. This isn’t specifically stated, it’s not said out loud, but it didn’t have to be. Tony turned Steve and the others down. He flat out refused to help them. But when he caught sight of that photo of him and Peter? When he remembered just who he had lost? That was when he decided to see if he could find a way to make time travel work. Peter was his motivation. I think that for the most part he was repressing his grief over Peter (and more on that in a bit), but he couldn’t repress it entirely, not when a photo of Peter being so exuberant and happy was staring him right in the face. If there was any glimmer of hope at getting Peter back, Tony was going to take it. Yeah, he cared about the trillions of others, too---but Peter was the catalyst, Peter was the reason he was willing to take the risk, and I loved that.

THE REUNION HUG. Honestly, this should have been first on my list, but I’m not going to erase the above paragraph. GOD, if I don’t get ten million gifsets of both that hug, and also how it’s development from the “this is not a hug, we’re not there yet” scene in Homecoming, I’m going to lose my mind. Fuck, the fact that Tony couldn’t even speak, the fact that he just pulled Peter into his arms and hugged him so tightly, hugged him tighter when Peter said “this feels nice” was just everything to me. I could watch that for ten hours. Also, Peter’s rambling preceding the hug was fucking adorable.  “Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty and then I must have passed out or something because I woke up and you were gone, but Dr Strange was there and he said five years had passed and we had to go---”  NO WONDER TONY HUGGED THE BUHJEEZUS OUT OF HIM. HE HASN’T HEARD THAT RAMBLING FOR FIVE YEARS, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HE MISSED HIS BOY? NO WORDS NEEDED TO BE SAID THERE. THAT HUG SAID IT ALL. 

Peter in general, honestly. Tom Holland didn’t get to do very much in this movie, for obvious reasons, but he stole every single goddamn scene he was in. The reunion rambling, everything he said while he had the gauntlet and was trying to get it to the van, THE FACT THAT HE GOT A MOMENT WITH PEPPER WHERE SHE SAVED HIM, his scream when he was on Valkyrie’s pegasus, and of course the heartbroken sobbing when Tony died. I do wish that Tony had been more coherent at that point, that he’d been able to tell Peter that he was proud of him, and I also kind of wish that Peter hadn’t called him “Tony” because I’m going to be real with you, I like how he calls him “Mr Stark.” But everything else about it was perfect, including the bit where Rhodey had to pull Peter away because Peter was just falling to pieces. (And note, I mean as perfect as it can get given that Tony died, but you know.)

The fear in Thanos’ eyes when he headbutted Carol and she didn’t even FLINCH. I do have some issues with Carol’s (lack of) involvement in this movie, which I’ll get to later, but while it was unrealistic that Thanos got the jump on her at any point (please), the fact that she didn’t flinch when he headbutted her and just the TRUE FEAR IN HIS EYES KJFDSKFJDS. GOD. I love Carol so much. Oh Captain, My Captain.

Morgan requesting a cheeseburger, just like her daddy, and Happy saying he’ll get her all the cheeseburgers she wants. I don’t even have anything to add onto this. It just made me cry even more than I already was.

Loki stealing the Tesseract (AGAIN) as a way to bring him back. Apparently Loki is going to be in a new TV show streaming on Disney’s service (whether it’s the same one Sam and Bucky are going to have, I’m not sure), so this was a clever way to ensure that Loki can make a comeback in the future without having to have found a way to revive him, and only him, from Infinity War. Of course, this also means that the Loki we see in the TV show or whatever won’t have any of the character development post-Avengers, which is . . . eh . . . but it’s better than having him be permanently dead, I guess. (Also, did anyone tell Thor this happened? No? Someone might want to fill him in so he can be cautious when picking up snakes for the foreseeable future.)

Thor getting Mjolnir back, and then dual wielding. Though the dual wielding was more temporary than I would have liked (more on that in a bit, too), I love dual wielding so I was happy to see him doing it, and also I love Mjolnir (a.k.a. “mya-mya”) so I was happy to see that back, too. It put a definite smile on my face.

Valkyrie being the new Queen of Asgard. No offense to Thor, because I get that he was going through a lot, but he was also being a terrible king, particularly since I don’t think he ever really wanted to be king, anyway. Like he accepted the duty because he felt he had to, not because he wanted to, and so I think it’s good that he’s going to get out there and see new parts of the universe (and hopefully clean himself up some, and also not actually answer to Quill because I mean, come on). That said, Valkyrie was the one keeping everything in order, and she deserves to be queen. I love her. I’m so happy for her.

All the ladies coming forward to back up Carol. I mean, Carol doesn’t really need backup, but I looooved seeing all the ladies assemble ready to beat some fucking ass. The MCU has such powerful women and a good number of them, too, and I love that that was highlighted in that moment of this film. It was a great moment.

Nebula’s character development. She’s had such an arc despite being in so few movies and I love it. I loved how invested she was in the paper football game she played with Tony. I love how she took care of him, even in gentle ways such as moving him off the floor and onto a chair. I love how she killed her past self in order to save Gamora without a second of hesitation, as well as how she talked Gamora into turning against Thanos long before it happened in the timeline we know. (On that note, I’m fine with how they’re keeping Gamora in the picture, and I laughed at her “whomst” expression when Quill approached her jkdlsfds.) Nebula had a great arc and I loved it, although I can’t believe she didn’t warn Natasha and Clint about how they’d have to get the Soul Stone. Like, she knew. Why didn’t she say anything?

Sam getting a private goodbye with Steve, and having the shield passed onto him. I’m okay with the fact that Steve did get a happy ending. I always shipped him with Peggy and I think that, overall, he was just not happy in our time period, even if he had some moments of happiness, so I think that being able to go back in time and live the life he actually wanted was a good ending for him. But I’m also glad that Sam got that private goodbye, as well as the shield, because Sam goddamn deserved that after everything he’s been through and everything he gave to Steve’s cause. Sam doesn’t get enough respect in-universe or out of it, so I was glad to see him get this. On that note, I also like the fact that Bucky knew before Steve even left that Steve wasn’t coming back, and that he was the one to draw Sam away and point him to where he needed to be.

There’s probably more that deserves to be in this list, but these are the only things I can think of right now. More can always be added later, especially if / when I see the movie a second time.

Things I’m Okay With:

Tony’s death. I know this sounds like a weird thing to be okay with, but hear me out. Obviously, my preference would be for Tony to be alive, and still making appearances in future movies, such as Far From Home. But the thing is, we already know that he’s not going to be in Far From Home. He’s not in any of the trailers, it’s been confirmed again and again that he’s not in that movie. We know that Peter is still involved with Stark Industries and the Stark family, but Tony himself is not around. And fam, the only way that makes sense from a character standpoint is if Tony is dead. Tony retiring from being Iron Man wouldn’t necessitate him taking himself out of Peter’s life. He just wouldn’t do that, not after he already lived five years without him because of the snap. So if Tony were alive, but he just decided, “I’ve got my own kid now, I don’t need Peter anymore”? That would be so disgustingly out of character I’d drop all future movies in . . . well, a snap. So in that sense, I’m okay with Tony dying since RDJ didn’t want to do any future movies, and if he’s not doing future movies and isn’t going to be in Peter’s life anymore, then the only way that makes sense without assassinating his character is to assassinate him. It’s sad and I cried, but at least this doesn’t destroy Iron Dad & Spider-Son, which, as selfish as this may sound, is what’s most important to me. I can live with this, especially since fanfic exists for this very reason.

Carol’s lack of presence in the movie. This is very nearly a “Thing I Didn’t Like,” but I’m putting it here because I understand it. Thing is, Carol is too strong for Thanos. Carol could atomize Thanos if she was allowed to do so. And forget Thanos; Carol could take out literally every member of his army in a second if she was allowed to do so. The thing is, that also takes all stakes out of the movie, as well as negates the need for Tony to make the heroic sacrifice he did. And while they did weaken her a little and let Thanos overpower her for a second (unrealistic tbh), they couldn’t weaken her enough to conceivably have her not end that battle, and as such they just took her out of the movie entirely, for the most part, with the excuse that “other planets need me and they don’t have you.” And like, again, I get it. Carol is too OP. If she stuck around the movie would have been a lot shorter. But at the same time it bummed me out because she’s my favorite hero, so I did want to see her doing more things than what she was allowed to do.

The lack of quantity of Iron Dad & Spider-Son. Don’t get me wrong, quality wise it was almost perfect. The only way it could have been more perfect would be if Tony had managed to tell Peter that he was proud of him while he was dying (especially since Peter apologized to Tony, meaning that Peter blames himself for Tony’s death), and if, when telling Steve that they had to keep what they’d gained in the past five years at all costs, Tony had explained his reasoning as, “I already lost one kid. I’m not gonna lose another.” My entire year would have been made had Tony said that line. The literal entire thing. But while the quality was great, I do wish that we could have felt Peter’s presence more in Tony’s life. Like, again, Peter was the catalyst for Tony getting involved at all, and that was great, but I just wanted . . . more. There was a lot going on in this movie, and I get that, and there’s also the fact that I got the feeling that Tony repressed what happened with Peter hard over the past five years, that he had to repress it or else he wouldn’t have been able to function. Like part of me was surprised that no one brought up Peter when they were trying to get Tony to help with the time machine, but at the same time I also think that Steve at the least knew they’d get hit if they did that. But I felt a lot of repression going on, repression that was ripped off once Tony caught sight of that picture, but at the same time once that repression was ended I kind of wish the floodgates had opened. I wish that Tony would have had the line about not wanting to lose another kid. I wish that when thinking about time traveling back to New York, there would have been a moment when Tony would think about returning to New York during a time when Peter Parker was still alive. I wish that Tony would have made mention after Bruce’s snap about Peter being stuck in space, or that he would have told Peter at the end that he was proud of him, or that Peter would have been present during the final message hologram, and so on and so forth. I’m okay with what little we got because it was excellent, there was a lot going on, and also Tony was repressing (with the floodgates truly opening once Peter was babbling in front of him again), but since this was our absolute last chance to get Iron Dad & Spider-Son with both of them alive, I really do wish we had gotten more. I’m okay with it, but I’m still kind of sad.

Bruce being Hulk physically all the time now. This is also almost a “didn’t like,” because it’s just . . . weird . . . but I’m also okay with it, I guess. He reminded me of Beast from X-Men, and I didn’t really see a reason for him to be like this, especially since we’re just told how he got to that point, rather than shown. It was just kind of . . . weird. It could have been done better.

Thor traveling with the Guardians. I kind of hope this is just a temporary thing, because as I mentioned, I don’t very much like the idea of him answering to Quill, and I also feel like he’s less of a team player and more of a solo artist. I’m okay with it for now because at least he’s not dead or wallowing anymore, and also it means that Valkyrie gets to be Queen of New Asgard, but I really hope it’s just temporary because he deserves more than to be just another crew member on that ship.

Again, more could probably go here, but this is what I’ve got for now.

Things I Didn’t Like:

Steve wielding Mjolnir. I get that this was a callback to Age of Ultron, and specifically the scene where they all tried to wield Mjolnir and couldn’t, but it did tremble a bit under Steve’s grasp, but I didn’t like it. I don’t hate Steve, by any means, but particularly after all that shit in Civil War I don’t think he’s worthy, and it also doesn’t make a lot of sense to me that he just magically knows how to flawlessly use Mjolnir with no practice or training. Sure, Thor picked it up quickly, but Thor is also an Asgardian. It doesn’t make sense that Steve, a human, would know how. And also, Thor’s “I knew it!” was strange, considering he seemed anxious about the possibility of Steve being able to wield Mjolnir in Age of Ultron. Like it was just . . . I didn’t like it. Especially since it cut so much into Thor’s dual wielding time. On that note . . .

Thor. Just . . . Thor all around. Aside from how his “let himself go” look was his look for the entire movie, I felt like his portrayal in this movie was really . . . shallow, flat, and lacked all of the emotional weight he carried in Infinity War. Like in Infinity War he was raw with grief, he’d just lost everyone, and you could feel that in every action he took. And yeah, he felt that he failed at the end of that movie, even though he did kill Thanos, so it makes sense that he’d need time to process that grief. But five years of processing led him to lose all the emotional weight he had originally. Like, we were supposed to get the feeling that this was Thor grieving, but it just didn’t feel that way. Moreover, it felt like they were trying to bring in Ragnarok flavored humor with him, but it didn’t work because it didn’t fit the tone of the movie. I usually love Thor, he’s always been one of my faves, but I just was not vibing with him in this movie. The dual wielding was cool, as was his excitement to get Mjonir back, but the rest of it? Bleh.

Natasha’s death. I mean, I get it on some level. I get that she didn’t have a family to go back to, whereas Clint did. I get that Scarlett Johansson probably didn’t want to do any more MCU movies / her contract was up. But that doesn’t make me feel any more okay that yet another woman was fridged so that Clint could have some manpain. It doesn’t make feel any more okay that a character who actually routinely did things and contributed in these movies (Nat) was sacrificed for one who pretty much never does anything ever (Clint). To be fair, far more male characters were removed from the cast in this movie than female ones, but that doesn’t make this jive with me any more. I was totally rooting for Clint to bite it instead. Like let him do something for once in these movies, ffs.

Harley being present at Tony’s funeral. Look, I’m going to be honest: Harley had no reason to be there. I get that he was in Iron Man 3 and that he was like the prototype for the Iron Dad we’d all come to love, but that’s the thing: He was the prototype, he was like foreshadowing. From a narrative perspective, Harley’s purpose was to foreshadow how Tony was with kids, so that when he met Peter in Civil War and came to bond with him over the course of the following films, we’d be able to see where that paternal side of Tony came from. There’s a reason why Harley was not seen or mentioned after Iron Man 3, and it’s because his narrative purpose was fulfilled, and therefore Tony presumably didn’t have any further contact with him after that. And I mean, no offense to those who liked Harley or his role in Iron Man 3, but the Tony & Harley relationship was not the one that was developed over the course of the following movies. Again, he wasn’t shown, nor was he even mentioned. Instead, it was Tony & Peter in Civil War, Homecoming, and Infinity War. Harley might as well have not even existed. The only reason I even recognized him was because I knew ahead of time that he was going to be in the film. My best friend (who I saw the movie with) didn’t even recognize him and was wondering who tf he was. So to that end, I just . . . I don’t think it was necessary for him to be there. Like it felt more like a move for us, the audience, of them saying “see, Tony impacted all these people, everyone who was important at some point in his life is there.” But it didn’t even really work that way because the funeral was so small and private. So it just seemed really random for Harley to be there, when he hasn’t been relevant at all since Iron Man 3. And I know it’s not that big a deal and I honestly wouldn’t care, except every time I see something about “Morgan and her big brother Harley” or “Tony’s three kids” I can’t help but roll my eyes because, no. There was nothing post-Iron Man 3 that would lead us to believe that Tony considered Harley to be like a son to him. The fact that Harley was standing awkwardly way in the back at the funeral, instead of up front where Peter and Morgan were, says it all. If Harley had been present in movies following Iron Man 3 and we actually saw his relationship with Tony on-screen, okay, fine. But that’s clearly not the case, and wasn’t even in the case in this movie (like he was clearly not around for those five years!) so it just . . . I don’t know. It felt really unnecessary to me. I’m not a fan. (And I know some people are like, “He’s going to pick up the mantle from Tony, he’s going to be Iron Lad!” which gets a very hard no from me, for two reasons: 1.) If anyone is picking up the torch from Tony, it’s Peter. Peter has been Tony’s protégé for the past several movies, Peter is the one that the Russos have specifically said had a father-son relationship with Tony, Peter is the one that Tony made tech for and trained, the one who was sobbing by his side when he died. If anyone is picking up the torch from Tony, it’s Peter. 2.) If it’s not Peter, it’s Tony’s biological daughter Morgan. Yes, she’s too young now, but give her some time and she’d make a fantastic Iron Lady, or even Ironheart if they don’t want to introduce Riri. Morgan has far more reason to pick up that mantle than Harley does, just like Peter. Send Harley back to Tennessee where he belongs and stop acting like he’s super mega important when he clearly wasn’t important enough to even get name dropped after his initial appearance in any of the movies before this one. Jesus.)

Thanos going from “you drew blood from me, I respect that” to “you keep resisting me so I’m going to enjoy killing you.” Like, it just made him seem so petty? I feel like it would have made more sense for him to make the jump to “I’ll kill EVERYONE and make a WHOLE NEW UNIVERSE this time” if his rationale was “I can’t have anyone around trying to undo what I do.” It would have felt more in line with his characterization from Infinity War. I get it, Thanos is a sociopath, no one is arguing with that. But he wasn’t a petty sociopath in Infinity War, so it feels a bit disappointing to me that they made him such a petty, smug bastard in Endgame. I liked him more when he was acting like a Well-Intentioned (In His Mind) Extremist than a Petty Purple Bitch.

And once again, there could possibly be more here, but this is all I can think of for now.

All in all, I did like it, just not as much as I liked Infinity War, and that probably has to do with (as I said) the fact that Infinity War had more Iron Dad & Spider-Son content / interactions, and that’s my favorite relationship in the whole MCU, so obviously I’m going to prefer the movies where that’s a bigger focus. But I did like Endgame well enough all the same, and I can’t wait for Far From Home this summer. And on that note, some wishes for it:

The reason why Peter doesn’t have the Iron Spider suit in Far From Home is because it hurts too badly to wear / he doesn’t feel like he deserves it after what happened to Tony. I want to see his grief over Tony’s death brought up.

An AI / hologram message that Tony made for Peter at some point.

May to not date Happy, but instead to bond with Pepper, and for them to eventually find love again in each other’s arms and get married so that Peter and Morgan can be official stepsiblings. (Like Peter is Morgan’s big brother anyway, but this would make it Official™.) Happy can date someone else. (Also I know that May is Peter’s aunt and not his mom, technically, but come on. She might as well be his mom.)

But that’s it for now. Time to go nurse the pain with some fics (including potentially a couple of my own.)

#mcu #endgame #avengers endgame #irondad and spiderson #mcu spoilers #avengers spoilers #endgame spoilers #avengers endgame spoilers #avengers 4 spoilers #irondad & spiderson

[callmecayce]

Happy Donghae Day!

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017

Today marks the seventh annual Donghae Day. That is, it’s been seven years that I’ve been a kpop fan. This year also marked my two-year anniversary at my full time job (for those who don’t know, prior to 2016, I had been working two jobs for almost nine years). Not everything has been good, the state of the world gets worse, we lost three idols from groups I love, as well as author/chef who meant a lot to me personally. But it hasn’t all been bad or sad, it has been like so much of life - full of everything. 

My journey into kpop started with this post and has continued forward ever since. The links above are all of my previous Donghae Day posts, including the original reblog. This day has become more than just the simple reminder of my love of kpop. Instead it has become a celebration of the things, and the people, that I love. To me, Donghae Day, like kpop, isn’t just about the music or the idols. It’s about everything that comes with that - it’s about friends, food, love, life, and joy. It’s understanding that kpop is more than just an escape from the shittiness that is the world today. I am forever grateful for that Donghae gifset and for everything that has come after - from the music itself, to the tv shows, to the concerts, to all of the friends of I have made. 

Before I get into the really fun stuff - I want to take a moment to talk about those friends. People talk shit about women who like pop music, they judge you for liking cute boys, for writing fanfic, for listening to music, going to concerts, buying plushies/albums/whatever. But none of that matters, not really. What does matter? All these people I’ve become friends with. Over the past year (Donghae Day year as well as 2018) I have made friends with so many new people - some close friends, some not - and it is wonderful. This, to me, is at the heart of what I love about kpop and is deeply important to understand why Donghae Day is so important. Of all the things I love about kpop, it is my friendships that are the single best part. So, to all of my friends (kpop fans and non fans alike), I love you all. Thank you for being amazing people. ❤️❤️

And now … the fun stuff!

So, you say, seven years? And I say: FUCK YEAH, SEVEN YEARS!!! 

What has happened since last year’s Donghae Day? A LOT and sort of not much at all. Kpop-related, there were two really big events for me. One of the was that @namjoonrecyclables and I went to Chicago to see VAV! It was a fantastic concert, though we both realized that we’re getting too old (lol) to drive down to Chicago the same day as the show. It’s also the only concert we’ve been to in 2018 and our wallets are grateful. The other thing that happened was that I flew out to Colorado to see @jillwandersen after not having seen her since the concert in 2014. It was also quite a lot of fun. 

A lot of smaller things have happened this year. As I said above, I’ve made new friends. I’ve also gotten into a ton of new (and not so new) groups that I am trying to learn. I also bias way too many people (the list is ever-growing). I finally admitted that my favorite groups (aside from Speed) are Seventeen and SHINee. My husband is still there, though he’s left BAP. My boyfriend list has held steady (though this may be changing - read: growing). 

I also made this playlist, called Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. It’s 20 tracks long (for now) and about an hour and 12 minutes long. You can find it on YouTube and Spotify. Please, enjoy.

Last year I talked about all the nugu/underrated groups that I love - but I can’t do that this year. Not because there aren’t any, but because there are too many. I was talking to @killerzebras (also known as my sister) the other day about why I love kpop. She told me I didn’t need to justify why I loved it, but it got me thinking about what it is that keeps me loving kpop. I am really good at loving things, but it tends to be fleeting (for many reasons, most of them perfectly reasonable) - but kpop? My love for kpop appears stronger than even my love for pro-cycling, which, for a time, I thought nothing could break (that is another post for another time and probably not on here). 

I think there are two huge reasons why I continue to adore kpop. The first is because of the friends I’ve made, as long as I have friends who love kpop, I will keep loving it, too - sharing is something I have slowly learned to love and, within the passed year, have worked on embracing. The second reason is that there is always new content. People often talk about the fact that their fandoms (books, movies, tv shows) only have limited content and often the endings are just that - endings. That works for some people, but not for me. Kpop is different (again, for me), it is, for now, the gift that keeps on giving. I get new groups to love (my heart is forever big enough), new idols to care about, new music to listen to, and the groups I already love give me more music. There is always, always something new to love while still loving what has already been. It’s not all unicorns and candy, sometimes it’s heartbreak, but there’s always something for me to love. 

I’m sure that there are quite a few things I’ve forgotten to talk about this year, but this post is already way too long. Therefore I want to talk about two (hilarious) moments in 2018. The first is the release of Infinite’s song, Tell Me, and their comeback in January. Some of you know that for many years I was not a fan of Dongwoo, for various (and dumb) reasons. However, 2018 became the year that I turned into a Dongwoo fan. 

I mean, really. How did I resist for so long? Thanks, 2018 Infinite comeback, for changing me.

The second … the second thing is something I am still embarrassed about even while having embraced it. It is something that several of my friends (especially @namjoonrecyclables) have been waiting for literally ever to happen. I have, somehow, after all these years, become a proper fan of EXO. Why, you ask? WELL, THAT’S A GREAT QUESTION. And the answer is as equally as embarrassing - it’s because of a stupid Soompi EXO quiz. You think I’m joking, but I’m not. Google said, hey you like Soompi and kpop quizzes, why don’t you take this What’s Your Relationship With EXO? quiz and I said no, but also why not. I mean, I can’t count and didn’t notice that it was just the current EXO members in the picture (it was early in the morning and I didn’t look too closely and I like quizzes … ) and so I took it and then this happened:

Look, I’m not saying it was a good idea. In fact, it was a terrible idea and I joked about it and then SM released the We Young MV with Chanyeol and Sehun and even while I love that song I joked some more because it was funny, right? Me, stanning someone in EXO just because a Soompi quiz told me to. Except … I kept joking about it and everyone who knows me knows that my biggest kpop weakness is soft rappers and @namjoonrecyclables told me (on purpose, for which I love her) that Chanyeol is a soft rapper and I was like no. But also, wait he is? And then, because I’m me, I took another quiz and it confirmed the first Soompi quiz and then I was like, this is embarrassing as fuck but why not embrace it and now, HERE I AM. 

I love Chanyeol. I bias Chanyeol. And I’m an EXO fan. I think I need help because no one knows who I am anymore. But, honestly, that’s fine. So, I guess, thanks for that Soompi.

This year’s Donghae Day is on a Friday, which means it is a full-ass day packed with stuff. @namjoonrecyclables and I have both taken the day off from work (yay!). We’re watching kpop mvs and a kdrama. We’re going out to lunch and doing more of the same. Then my friend H and I are going out for dinner and to see a movie. Why? Because we can. Because it’s Donghae Day. 

Seven years is a long time. It’s the seven-year curse year not for me (I hope!), but for groups that debuted the year I got into kpop. Of the ones that debuted in 2011, these are the ones I love: B1A4, Boyfriend, and Myname. Myname debuted a few weeks after I got into kpop, it’s so wild. We’re all still around, hopefully for longer than seven years. 

Donghae Day is about all of this. It’s about having fun, it’s about loving the things you love so much that sometimes it hurts. It’s about doing what you love and being with people you love, and it’s about living. 

I say this every year, but I don’t know where I’ll be in a year. Will I even still be a kpop fan? The trend so far seems to be yes, of course! But you can never rule anything out. Which is why I love to pour my heart into being a kpop fan. Nothing lasts for ever, but I’m going to love kpop for along as I can with as much of my heart as I can. 

I want to thank you all for accompanying me on this journey - whether you’re a kpop fan or just someone in my life who tolerates my love. Thank you all and here’s to many, many more Donghae Days if that’s what the future holds for all of us. 

#donghae day #donghae #kpop #dongwoo #chanyeol #yongguk #husband

[accio-ambition]

And with this chapter, we are officially over the halfway point in this story! A million thanks over for all of you who have stuck with this since the beginning, and a million thanks to those who've hopped on along the way. As I might've said before, this had been an idea in my head for a long time before it actually started to become something. It really means a lot that all of you are enjoying it so much :) I want to, as always, give an extra special thank you to @sotheylived, @queen-icicle-fandom, @shipsxahoy, and @captainswanbigbang. You know what you did ;)

Summary: Bouncing around with her son for the majority of her life, Emma Swan has told herself she’s happy in the city. It’s where the most camera operating jobs are, and that’s how she makes her money. But when an old friend calls her and asks for her help on a new project in small town Maine, Emma finds herself in a place she’s never been with people she doesn’t know filming a profession she knows nothing about. But when the captain of the ship she’s filming begins taking a keen interest in her and her life, she finds herself wondering whether she might just catch something other than fish. Deadliest Catch AU Rating: M Content warning: Character death, some violent situations

FFnet/Ao3/Cover/Snapshots/Gifset

Chapter Thirteen

It seems like she’s hardly taken a breath when Emma’s settling into the corner of the couch at the Jones residence, watching one of the last commercials before their show - the one they’ve all put so much work into - airs. Crew dinner leads to crew drinks leads to both crews, Emma, Henry, David and Mary Margaret, Jefferson, Grace, and Ruby struggling to find a place to watch the premiere. Liam’s had to force some of the others into his room because not everyone could comfortably see the TV.

“Never thought I’d be nervous to look at me handsome mug on a screen,” Scarlet says, taking another drink of his beer. “Soon I’ll be changin’ ma numba. Too many ladies wantin’ a piece of me.”

“Sounds a bit optimistic, mate,” Robin jokes next to her. “No woman will want to come close to Storybrooke once they know you’re here.”

A pillow flies toward them, narrowly missing her face, in insubordination, and the room breaks into laughter before the title card comes on the screen and Henry shushes them all.

It’s the first time anybody’s seen the full cut of the episode, including Jefferson, or even the title of the series. The executives decided on Sea of Chaos, and it’s a bit pretentious for Emma’s taste, but if it’s what the execs want, she’s not going to disagree with the people who sign her paychecks.

Tonight’s premiere is an hour, mostly introductions to the people and explanations of the trawling world with occasional sass. Well, more than occasional: it seems the executives wanted to capitalize on the nihilism and sarcasm popular with millennials and makes sure to include more quips than Emma thinks she’s ever heard in one sitting.

(And that’s saying a lot, seeing as she spends the vast majority of her time in the company of Joneses.)

Money exchanges hands during one of the final commercial breaks when they determine Whale is going to be the asshole of the series. A lot of it is going into the possession of Whale himself, and Emma can’t be too stunned that he knows how much of an ass he is.

Overall, it goes off well. Everyone present is happy and excited for the next episode. On their way out the door, Jefferson tells her and David they’ll meet later in the week once the ratings come in.

“It’s look great,” he says, wiping at snowflakes that have caught in the fringe of his hair. “I have full confidence that it’s going to be a hit.”

“I hope so,” David says, wrapping his scarf around his neck. “You already promised us a second season. No take backs on that shit.”

Emma chuckles, bidding them goodbye as she wraps herself around a complaining Henry.

“C’mon, can’t I stay up a little while longer?” he pleads.

She shakes her head. “You’ve still got school tomorrow, as far as we know.”

Henry groans, dragging his feet in the little snow that’s already accumulated. “But August said that the weatherman said it’s going to snow a foot,” he argues. “And Killian promised I could sleep over the next time school was cancelled.”

“Well, Killian needs to talk that over with me before you do anything.” She nudges him in front of her. “And you’re going to school tomorrow. I feel it in my bones.”

Her bones, turns out, are wrong. When she switches off her alarm the next morning, all white greets her outside her window. She can’t even see the road, can barely tell where the plow had already been through earlier that morning. A quick call to the automated school system hotline tells her that, since all the roads are closed and the sheriff’s department has issued a no unnecessary travel throughout the county, students get the day off. They’ll make it up at the end of the school year.

Loathe as she is to leave her bed, Emma does, tiptoeing her way into Henry’s room. He’s haphazardly sprawled across the mattress, already looking too small for her weed of a son. Placing a hand on his back, she leans over and whispers in his ear, “No school, kid.”

“Told you,” he grumbles, turning his head further into the pillow and readjusting himself. Emma chuckles, moving the blankets so they better cover his body. She’ll let him off this once, let him sleep in and enjoy the snow day. It’s only January, but winter will come to an end eventually.

Emma finds out the hard way that Maine winters never end. It’s still snowing significantly at the beginning of May and she’s trying to prep for the next season of Sea of Chaos. Henry’s going on field trips every other day because the end of the school year is in sight and teachers know that no more learning is going to get done in the classroom, but even his field trips end up getting snowed out.

“This has got to be one of the worst winters in history,” Robin says, watching even more snow fall from the warmth of his living room. Emma’s over visiting  the Locksleys, mostly so Henry can distract Roland outside and give Regina some needed rest. Taking a sip from his mug of tea, Robin turns back to her. “Seriously, I don’t know what gods you angered when you both moved here, but tell them to quit it. We’re not going to be able to go out until next year at this rate.”

Emma shrugs, drinking from her own cup of hot chocolate. “I go where the money goes,” she says. “Take it up with whatever god patronizes that.”

0000

On the early June morning season two is set to start filming, a freak storm  - just rain this time, it seems the snow has decided to make its delayed exit - forms from nothing and the Jones brothers both think it best to stay ashore. Word on the radio says that the water is choppy, and swells were nearing record heights.

“It’s not safe for anyone out there today,” Liam tells her as they stand by the docks just behind his home. Water is already lapping vigorously at wooden planks they stand, and Emma makes a mental note to get a few seconds of that after she finishes this higher vantage point B roll.

“That’s good,” Emma mutters as she looks into the viewfinder. “Make sure to say that when David sits you down later today.”

Liam chuckles. “No weather can stop the show from shooting, does it now?” he asks.

Pulling back from her camera, Emma hitches it further up her shoulder before sinking to the ground. “I’ve got a son. When you’ve got a kid who has the reading ability and love that he does, you’ve got to have the money to keep up with the habit.”

“Your boy could have much worse habits.” And it’s true: Henry could be addicted to video games. Or rather, more addicted. She’s just lucky that he enjoys imagining the story rather than watching it play out on a screen. “Killian was rotten when we were growing up.”

That piques her interest. “Really?” she asks in disbelief. “How so?”

“Oh, you know,” Liam leads. “Boys will be boys and such.”

“Nuh uh.” Setting the equipment between her feet to steady the shot, Emma looks up at Liam, pulling the hood of her slicker forward. “You and I both know that I don’t stand for that logic. And you wouldn’t bring up the topic if you didn’t want to share a story.”

Grinning wide, Liam claps her on the shoulder. “Have I told you how much I enjoy your company, Emma?”

She shrugs. “Not today you haven’t,” she concedes. “But get to the point.”

Liam crosses his arms over his chest, leaning his head forward so his hood properly shielded him from the rain. “Killian was probably 12 when this happened. After our mother died and father left, I had to take on the role of parent and brother. But Killian just lashed out. He wouldn’t come home at night.” He rolls his shoulders back and straightens up a bit. “I still, to this day, don’t know where he ran off to sleep at night. But when I could wrangle him home, he spent the entire night downstairs in the living room.” Liam paused in the middle of his story to glance at Emma out of the corner of his eye. “Watching I Love Lucy reruns.”

“No!” Emma gasps, to which Liam nods, his smile growing wider by the second.

“I would come down every couple of nights to make sure he was still there and there he was.” His words are tinged with laughter now, as Emma’s sure that he’s seeing preteen Killian, wide-eyed and half asleep on their couch, in his mind’s eye. “I asked him about it once and he yelled and stormed off and didn’t come home for three days. His teacher eventually sent him home because he smelled rancid.” With a shake of his head, Liam heaves a large side. “Honestly, it’s a miracle that he made it through any classes.”

“That’s surprising for how smart your brother is,” Emma defends him, though she isn’t quite sure why. “I mean, TV Land obsession aside.”

“It’s ‘cause he read all the time,” Liam says with a reluctant chuckle. “During waking hours, I never saw him without a book close by.” Crossing his arms, he sighs. “Yeah, he’s a fool, but damn, do I love that nerd.”

“Which nerd?” Both Emma and Liam turn to see Killian wandering toward them, footsteps stuttered as the mud sucks his boots in the ground. “Is my brother boring you with tales of Star Trek, Swan?”

“Actually, he was telling me about you,” she tells him smugly. “How you spent your late nights at the Copacabana with Ethel and Desi and Fred.”

Killian is stupefied. His jaw hangs from its joints and his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. He looks at his brother with accusation. “I told you, you prick, that was the only thing on at that hour!” he shouts.

Liam shrugs. “Whatever you say, little brother.” He steps back, away from Emma and toward the house, with a slight bow. “Whatever you say.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Killian,” she tells him. “We all do things when we’re desperate for distraction.”

“I’m not ashamed of it,” he corrects her with a shake of his head. Water droplets flick onto her face. “When I did watch it, I found it quite amusing.” He sighs and looks back toward the retreating figure of his brother. ���I just wish my elder brother wouldn’t go throwing out that story willy-nilly.”

“Well, it sounds like he watched Star Trek more than someone normally would,” she observes. “I’m not saying payback, but I’m also not not saying it.” That gets a guffaw out of him, Killian leaning back and laughing toward the sky. It’s a great sound, something that wards off the chill of the rain around them.

His laughter dies down and Emma sighs. “I should get back inside.”

“Before you go,” he grabs her arm and gently tugs her back to look at the harbor. “The last episode of the series airs tomorrow night.”

“It does, finally.” Between award shows, holiday specials, and breaking news events, Sea of Chaos had been pushed back and interrupted more than originally expected. “Are you excited?”

Killian shrugs, his hands digging into the pockets of his jacket. “I have no real opinion on the matter.” He shuffles his feet a tad before looking at her. “However, I was wondering if you might want to come and watch it.” His eyes flit to the side. “With me,” he adds, “alone.”

Pursing her lips to hide her smile, Emma raises a brow. “If I didn’t know you any better, Jones, I’d think you were asking me out on a date.”

“Not a date,” he says quickly. “No, if I was asking you on a date, you would know.” He shrugs again and looks out to the roiling water before admitting, “I miss our little sessions on the Jolly Roger.”

“What little sessions?”

“In the captain’s roost,” he explains. “The ones where you come up and bother me by asking questions and doing your job.”

“Killian, we’ll have those little moments as soon as this weather lets up and we get out on the water,” she reminds him.

“Maybe I didn’t want to wait until then.” He says it quietly, maybe hoping it would get lost in the sounds of the storm. But Killian shakes his head and gestures back to the house. “It’s fine, Swan. I’ll watch it with my prat of a brother. I’ll talk to you later.”

Turning to follow in Liam’s footsteps, Killian starts back toward the dryness of the indoors. He looks sad, a dejected little puppy caught out in the rain, and Emma can be cruel and play too many games, but not to him. Not when he looks like an animal out of an ASPCA commercial. She reaches out and manages to catch his arm.

He stops and looks over his shoulder at her. “Yeah,” she says, nodding. “I’ll bring the rum.”

His smile could stop the storm itself. In fact, Emma’s surprised it doesn’t. “No need, love. We’ve got plenty of that.”

“I’m bringing it anyways. I’m afraid Henry’s going to start getting adventurous and rebellious soon.”

Killian scoffs and shakes his head. “Nonsense. He’s 10. Besides, your lad wouldn’t dare to disobey his mother.”

Both her brows raise up as she comes up next to him and they match their steps heading up to his house. “You’d be surprised,” she grumbles. “I was pretty stubborn at his age.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

Emma happily regales him with some of the stories of her youthful hijinks the next evening while lazing about on his couch during commercial breaks. She leaves out the part about Neal, stays in the realm of foster care and the time before Henry. There aren’t many years to draw from, nor an array of good memories, but she shares them nonetheless.

It’s nice, just hanging out with him. He doesn’t try any funny business, of which she’s a little bit confused about because the last couple times they were together, they were hard-pressed not to find a space more secluded. But it’s nice, having a more-than-friend to do whatever with, even if it’s just laughing at something stupid his brother said on camera that was supposed to be inspirational.

“I can’t believe he said that!” Killian shouts, laughing so hard he smacks himself in the stomach. He grabs his phone and starts texting. “I’ve gotta ask Dave if he actually said that.”

“I’m sure he did,” Emma tells him. “Talking heads are the one thing we don’t really mess with.”

He cocks a brow and pulls at her foot, legs lying tangled with his legs across the couch. “That’s good information to have, Swan. Thank you.”

“Except the cursing,” she adds. “Don’t go cursing up a storm because I will edit the shit out of that.”

“I’m a sailor, love,” he whines, tugging at her socked toes. “How else am I supposed to talk?”

#csbb #captain swan big bang #cs ff #captain swan #ouat #ditlot #my words #storytime #a date not date? #did anyone ask for a date not date? #how about liam and emma being friends? #or swan believer? #or the premiere of the show? #no one? #okay then #never mind #go about your business #as usual