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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year

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fic rec friday 18

welcome to the eighteenth fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. A Kind Of Cosmic Joke by @eatdirt

And it's not like it's a big deal. It's decidedly not a big deal. Really it's hardly a deal at all. It's just that, maybe, in the trick of the light, if you squint and turn your head just so, Keith is…

Keith is big.

nothing in the entire history of voltron legendary defender, nay the history of voltron entirely, is funnier than the moment where lance called keith grizzled. he absolutely deserves to be clowned on for that for eternity, even in modern aus, like this fic. lance freaking out about keith getting bigger is funny in every universe in every way and this fic nails it lol

2. only a hippopotamus will do by perfchan

Lance walks into the kitchen and stops. Physically stops, the cup in his hand that’s in need of a refill completely forgotten.

He turns, slowly. Raises an eyebrow. Are those...cookies? He blinks.

Yep. He leans in closer to inspect. Sugar cookies in the shape of pine trees. Green icing, mostly, with the stars on top slathered on in yellow. Well. They’re sort of messy, more like green and yellow blobs, actually. But that’s clearly the intention. Sprinkles for ornaments.

Christmas cookies.

There’s a whole plate of them---a paper plate, stacked high with handmade cookies, wrapped in plastic wrap---and they just randomly appeared. Right here on his kitchen counter.

Lance huffs out little sigh and shakes his head. Maybe mutters something under his breath. But he doesn’t give it much thought once he’s left the kitchen. Afterall, his perpetually cranky, sourfaced roommate basically lives to do weird shit to annoy him. Or something. Lance has found that living with Keith means one thing: expect the unexpected.

And everything tends to get a little crazier when the holidays roll around.

sweetheart keith! overdramatic lance! yes yes yes! and i mean overdramatic lance in this fic lmfao he is epitome dramaqueen bisexual. this fic kills me tho bc for starters its a modern au, and i fckn love modern aus, but further still it is an au wherein lance gets keith as a roommate entirely bc he finds keith hot and his smile breathtaking. what a dumbass nerd. love him

3. Trying Times by @shyfoxes

Keith comes back Hot and Lance has a crisis on the bottom bunk.

u know those fics that make u fan ur face a little? not necessarily bc it’s explicit or anything but bc its just so swoony and romantic and shit and ur embarrassed about how affected u are?? that’s this fic.

4. As If by @surveycorpsjean

The five times Lance was his impulse control, and the one time he wasn't.

y’all know me with 5+1s. i love this one in particular tho bc keith is such a prick lmao. i love when keith is rough and scowly and doesnt handle other people well and can’t emote to save his life. i love when he loves deeply and endlessly with his whole heart but in the least conventional possible way, and i love fics where lance slowly learns to recognise the strange ways in which keith says i-love-you and this fic kills that

5. A Human Thing by @xirayn

Lance comes through a wormhole as a woman. It doesn't change much. aka Lance is gender fluid so getting gender bent by space magic only presents one problem, which turns out not to be Keith.

“Lance, can we just talk? After that you can go back to avoiding me.” Lance scoffed even as her eyes remained stubbornly forward. “I’m not avoiding you.” “Then what are you doing?” That earned him a glare, which would have been annoying if not for how happy Keith was to have her looking at him again. “I’m being a good partner and giving you space while I'm not your type.” Keith crossed his arms and met her eyes with a glare of his own, brow furrowed and lips a tight line. “Not my type?” Lance let out a long sigh of exasperation. “Female, Keith. I don't want you to feel like you have to force yourself to be attracted to women just because your boyfriend currently is one.”

genderfluid lance loml! this fic explores that entire concept so so well, even with the complications of extablished klance and team dynamics and UGH this fic is genuinely one of my faves. the slow trickle to the reveal near the end was planted there the whole time, but i was so caught up that i didnt realise it so when it finally came to light i was gagged!!

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

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blackdagger456 · 1 year

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Lets Talk About: RWBY VOLUME 9 EPISODE 5

Alright let's jump right into it!

Overall the pacing of this episode and the others was great as has been the case with the whole of this Volume. Ilike how they explained the 'afterlife' of the Everafter or really, it's way of reincarnation.

Because that's exactly what it is, reincarnation. When their purpose is fulfilled or someone is broken they return to the Everafter and ascend to a new form and purpose. It's a nice concept that felt organically explained.

The highlights of this episode however were, as seems to be the theme of this Season, towards the latter half.

Firstly, we have Ruby talking to the weaponsmith.

I feel like every time we separate Ruby from her friends and family we're going to get her going through a crisis. Here we once again see her fall into the trap of the "I'm the leader, responsibility and blame falls on me. I can handle it all." Mindset.

But honestly? I feel like she's breaking that mindset down and not in a good way. The way her eyes go from open to half lidded and her voice becomes monotone is direct proof of that, she's saying that not because she believes it.

She's saying it because she's trying to keep herself moving one step at a time. An action that is proving to be very difficult as she sees Penny in her sword and then later on sees an image of her mother in the blade of an axe.

There's this theme of Ruby giving away or letting go of her past that seems to be playing out here and I am admittedly excited to see where it goes. The Weaponsmith telling Ruby to "Set her burden down." and saying that she's "Searching for something she doesn't know." are driving that plot theme home but it's also dangerous.

Because Ruby could also misinterpret those words as her needing to just let EVERYTHING go. A path that, at this point, may sound more appealing to her.

Now let's get to the last part of the episode i found myself surprsingly enjoying.

Jaune Arc The Rusted Knight.

I admit, I was NOT looking forward to Jaune being here. I've stated this before in a previous post and discussed it with friends but putting Jaune here could/might take away from Ruby and Co like he's done before. It's not his fault it's the writers fault for making his charcater do that but that, among other things in hindsight, has made my views on Jaune take a nosedive over the years RWBY has been going on.

So when I saw him show up I was like "Welp, knew it was gonna happen. Saw him fall, let's see what he's been up too."

And what he's up to has been, presumedly, ALOT!

I admit i was NOT expecting this. It seems time works differently in the Everafter in the best or worst way possible depending on how you look at it. Jaune has obviously been here for a very long time, beard aside there are GREYS in his hair. It's something that RWBY picks up on instantly.

Look at the mix of shock and horror on their faces. Their friend has been here all this time ALONE. They found each other quickly but him?

He's had nobody for who knows how long. He's a full on adult as of this moment and now V9 has my attention on this man, something I thought would never happen again.

Here's hoping they can keep it going forward.

#blackdagger 456 #rwby #rwby volume 9 spoilers #rwby volume 9 #rwby v9 #rwby v9 ep 5 #ruby rose #rwby ruby rose #analysis #lets talk #weiss schnee #blake bellodona #yang xiao long #jaune arc

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ezhuthalar · 10 months

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The EagleOwl Swap Part 3: Mark of Athena

It's been a while since I've read Mark Of Athena, but that's fine since this au has widely gone off course from the books. :D But pls correct me if i get anything wrong. Anyway this is heavily gonna focus on Reyna and Annabeth. Also Tartarus isn't going to happen in this, because to do that I would need to lessen the impact of tartarus or make someone veryyyy op, and I can't do that very well

After the failed attempt of trying to make Annabeth join her, Gaea decides to learn from her mistakes and make a better pitch, and find people who would actually gain something from joining her. (dramatic music intensifies)

Also the eidolons don't reveal themselves until the end of this book, so for the entire trip it looks like the team's self-sabotaging themselves, even they themselves don't realize they're getting possessed.

Leo gets posessed and fires on the romans, ruining the talks of peace between romans and Greeks. Frank leaves Reyna to handle the angry romans, the senate and, ugh, Octavian, to join the greeks with Hazel so that they can complete the quest.

Instead of every chapter having a fight or problem they have to solve, some have bonding moments. Annabeth telling Jason more about his sister, Piper and Frank bonding over being atypical demigods of their parents, Leo teaching Hazel how to play the Wii, Jason giving tips to Frank on how to be a praetor, Annabeth and Leo bonding over having braincells and yet being the most impulsive of their trios Piper teaching Hazel how to illegally get inside a locked car on one of their quests, Leo and Frank teaching each other control over their powers, which may or may not regularly burn the mast down, and Piper helping Annabeth to sleep with Charmspeak after the gang had a shared trio about Gaia prophecising their doom and making vague mentions of Percy, which sends Annabeth into staying awake for two days trying to find any sort of clue on Percy

We sometimes cut back to Reyna, having a hard time with controlling the romans, hating her job, and resenting her sister a little bit for ditching her for the amazons, all while she had to stay here. We also realise that she is from Circe Island, resenting Percy a lot for destroying their life on that island. Gaea contacts her, tells her Annabeth was there as well (Reyna doesn't know Annabeth was there) and starts doing her evil pitch to Reyna

Reyna has a lot to gain from joining Gaea. Her sister ditched her for the amazons and is so busy with leading them that she barely writes messages to her little sister, let alone meet up face to face. At least if Gaea takes over the world, there would be no reason for it to not revert back to just the two of them, sticking together, like in Circe Island, or when facing against those pirates. And she doesn't really care for the Greeks or the Romans. She feels stuck in her job, her closest friend was a colleague at best, who left to join the Greeks, and she doesn't like mortals. (She hates pirates the most) What's the point of fighting for the gods when that life gives you too many headaches and pains? (oh look, she's having a mid-life crisis right now)

But she's on the fence right now, because while Gaea side might look better, she still doesn't want to betray her sister, who unlike her is way more loyal to the gods. She was about to agree with siding with Gaea till the earth mother mentions Octavian's working with her as well. Big mistake. Reyna would love to not work with Octavian unless absolutely necessary. And anyone who willingly allies themselves with Octavian is immediately in Reyna's list of people to kill. :D Girl never forgets nor forgives, and thus Gaea loses herself another influential demigod.

But it's not too bad, Reyna reports to the senate that Octavian is colluding with Gaea, but her only proof is Gaea''s words while she was being recruited, which raises a few eyebrows in the senate. Octavian masterfully handles the situation and manipulates the romans that Reyna's the one working for Gaea, they kick her out of her job, before motioning to fight the Greeks for "manipulating and kidnapping" their fellow romans, which gets a majority vote. So Gaea's got to strip an influential demigod against her of her power, gain the allyship of another one, and has the romans in her pockets. Not too shabby, if she says so herself

Reyna decides to ditch camp entirely, making her a runaway traitor to the camp, and follows the ship, to at least warn them, even with her mixed feelings about the crew and especially about Annabeth. Gaea of course gets her possesed for a while through the eidolons, and attacks Annabeth. Now the gang doesn't trust her as well.

They find the Athena Parthenous and defeat the spider of Annabeth's nightmares with no one falling into tartarus (though Jason almost fell) when Percy shows up. Everyone except Annabeth welcomes him with open arms, but Annabeth knows somethings up, because no way they got him that easily, notto mention he looks like a zombie. She's right. Percy attacks them, almost killing Leo, Frank and Piper, and one shotting Jason and Hazel. He seemed to recognise Annabeth for a moment, before reverting backed to his dazed state and fighting the rest of the seven.

Reyna, after getting mopey and getting a great pep-talk from a random fisherman she's sure was secretly Neptune, goes back on ship just in time to stop Percy from killing Jason. Percy might be a skilled fighter, but so is she, and unlike the rest of the seven she has beef with them. They are at an impasse when there's a gigantic explosion in the distance,which Percy takes as a cue for something and peaces out

Annabeth nows joins the "hates Gaea with a burning passion' grp with the rest of the gang because she finally saw Percy, but he's not him anymore, and she hates Gaea for taking away someone who promised to never abandon her, and she's alone again, just like those terrible nights when she ran away before meeting Luke and Thalia, just like when she had terrible nightmares and there was no one to comfort her, just like when she's all alone and realise that the people she cares about are dead ( annabeth angst is so sad y'all)

Neptune arrives, in his fisherman outfit from a few hours ago, to tell them they should fortify CHB's defenses against the romans and that a few of gaea's forces are coaelescating at, you guessed it, Athens. Of course, he doesn't leave immediately unlike the other gods, oh no. If one of the big three makes an appearance to demigods out of their busy schedule, you know it's pretty serious. He drops the bombshell that they have to finish the missions by the summer solstice, if not both the Romans and Greeks will not exist anymore.

Also since this is an AU, I'm editing the prophecy of the seven. It goes like this: Seven will awaken. The doors of death, the lost must seal, and the broken bridge mended by forgiveness; the heralds and slayers of Gaea rise. Neptune reitierates that, changes to Poseidon and begs Annabeth to save his son too. And then leaves.

Nico, poor sweetheart, chooses that exact timing to shadow travel there and be like "Wow, you look like you just had a fist fight with Zeus and failed. Badly. Probably not the best time to say this butttttt I have bad news, and worse news, which one you wanna hear?".

Okay he doesn't talk like that but you get the idea

Also post credit scene where Percy is talking to Gaea about that "Athena' kid being familiar" and Gaea gaslighting him into thinking that he didn't recognise her, but all that leads is Percy managing to pull out Annabeth's name from his jumbled up brain, before Gaea resorts to having to block his only fully-formed memory of annabeth , and that sucks out the life back out of him

Previous Part -> The Son Of Neptune Rewrite

Next Part -> The House of Hades Rewrite Part 1

#heroes of olympus #mark of athena #hoo au #reyna avila ramirez arellano #annabeth chase #leo valdez #piper mclean #jason grace #frank zhang #hazel levesque #gaea #hoo #hoo octavian #moa au #mark of athena au #percy jackson #pjo chiron #rachel elizabeth dare #The EagleOwl Swap

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mysteriawrites · 11 months

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Hello! This is my first time making a request so I hope I don't ruin it-

I'd like to ask for a romantic matchup with honkai star rail, For pronounce, I use she/her. For romantic preference, male characters. I'm an INFG, for my personality, I'm pretty closed off and introverted, my silence and blank expression always gives off the impression that I'm intimidating (that's what people tell me at least) but I'm just shy and silent. I can handle socializing, but once my social battery runs out, I immediately escape to the nearest quiet place to recharge. I like helping people,as well as being productive to finish my work. I'm good at reading people and observing them, to the point my friend comes to me to ask my opinion about other people. I can't stand being in crowds, you will find me hiding in some corner or an empty room on family gatherings. I'm good at comforting and know many ways of comforting different personalities. I tend to be emotional and sensitive to words from the people I hold dear to my heart, I'm nice and easy going once you get to know me, I don't judge on first meeting, understanding and considerate. I'm the supportive mother of my friend group. For hobbies...I love reading, listening to music, drawing and sketching and recently writing stories and novels. What I look in a romantic relationship... stability, loyalty and honesty. I tend to overwork myself a lot without realizing so I need someone to tell me to slow down, I also have a tendency to overthink every little detail and situation so I want someone to stabilize me when I'm stuck in a hurricane of thoughts. I don't know how to express my feelings (ahem, I feel like I'm burdening someone if I talk about my feelings.) and try to give hints that I'm not feeling well, I want someone who can pick up on these hints and comfort me. I take relationships seriously and want someone to be loyal and not run away. My love language (me giving) is physical touch and acts of service (I was never good with words) as for receiving, probably words of affirmation and physical touch. For date ideas...I'm good with anything as long as it doesn't have a lot of crowds, something that I hate... ignorance and cheating, definitely my turn off.

Hello Hello thank you for the request sorry it took so long (why was your description just me in a nutshell *existential crisis activate*). *ahem* Anyway lets get straight to the point. DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

GEPARD LANDAU!!!

(Omg this gif is so cute XD <3)

You and Gepard are very similar, but I think that's why you two get along so well. You both are not the most socially adept people, but you both wish to protect those closest to you in your own ways.

I imagine you guy's love story starts as childhood friends...well sorta. You two are kind of more friends by association then anything. You're Serval's best friend so you two know of each other and have talked a few times over the years, but don't know much about each other besides that. Best friend's brother trope but in reverse.

You guys don't really get to know each other until Serval and her band have an after party for their latest album release. You're there to support you best friend (and be the designated driver) and Gepard is there for the same reason (and to be the security/bouncer). You two bond over childhood memories and your shared love for Serval and start talking (totally wasn't part of Serval's plan to set yall up).

After that night you guys start to hang out more, outside of Serval planning something, when Gepard has some free time. You two mainly spend your time together in the quieter parts of Belobog like the library to read together. He likes to read your writings and sometimes you'll draw pictures of him (which makes his face go a bright pink despite not being in the frosted wasteland lately strange)

It takes Gepard awhile to realize (and help from Serval, Luke, Dunn, and Pela) for him to realize he's been slowly falling for you. He goes through the 5 stages of grief trying to understand his feelings. When he finally reaches the acceptance stage, he starts to plan how he will ask you out. He remembers Serval reading him stories about handsome knights wooing beautiful princesses with their chivalry and gentlemen like nature, so that's exactly what he does.

One day he knocks on your door with a bouquet of roses, gets down on his knees, and asks if you will go out with him. Except it didn't go at all as he had planned given that he kept fumbling with his words, and you were frozen like one of the ice statues he had seen in the wastelands. It was hella awkward for both of you and he was about to turn away in defeat you let him inside to talk things out. and the rest is history.

You guy's relationship is shy, but sweet. You're both pretty awkward baby beans so you guy move pretty slowly, but sure enough you are moving forward. You guys prefer to keep your relationship quiet, not that you lie you just don't do PDA or call each other nicknames in public. In private however Gepard isn't opposed to hand holding and some snuggles.

Serval loves yall's relationship so much, she's glad her brother and best friend have both found good people let alone each other. She likes to tease you guys on how shy and flustered you are. Sometimes Pela uses you two as inspiration for her own writing and you guys compare notes. Dunn is especially happy for his boss/best friend, he had never seen him so happy.

Gepard himself can be a workaholic too, but he understands that you can't protect anyone if you don't take care of yourself. So, he likes to help you live a healthier life like he does. Positive reinforcement talk in the mirror, helps you overthink less by taking deep breaths and encouragement, he makes sure you eat 3 Nutrional meals a day, he makes sure you get decent rest (at least 8 hours of sleep at night), and he asks you how your day was and how you're feeling. he can seem like a bit of a parent, but he just loves you and wants you physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy.

Gepard is very busy as captain of the silvermane guards and doesn't always have time to hang out, but you're always on his mind when on duty. He keeps a little picture of you in a locket which he wears at all times. It reminds him of all the things worth protecting.

Sorry if this was a bit short, I ran out of ideas, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless.

Runners Up: No one

#multi fandom blog #multifandom #multifandom account #multifandom writer #multi fandoms posts #multifandom fanfiction #matchups #multifandom imagines #multifandom x reader #honkai star rail #gepard landau #gepard x reader

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butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway · 1 year

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Your talk about your eyes and not being covered kind of made me want to talk about something

I have Colorado medicaid. You know what we have covered? Dental (cause they realized it was cheaper to give dental than pay for complications) and eye exams (no glasses, but better than nothing)

People act like, and I wish I was joking, the idea with socialized medicine is to hold doctors at gunpoint (I figured we could just... pay them, but you do you rightwingers)

It's actually just really good insurance. I get into places as fast or faster than when I had actual insurance in the past (despite all the places that don't take medicaid, which might change if everyone had it). I've gotten way more care since I don't have copays. I pretty much never have had anything denied... it's like normal shitty insurance, but a bit better

Also here's a great bonus story, my mom's on disability. Had medicaid before she was able to get on disability even. Well she gets old enough to qualify for medicare. She's forced to pay like $125 a month for the privilege of worse insurance

By that I mean medicaid covered her thyroid medication. She gets medicare, they don't want to cover that med despite it being an old one and one she doesn't have a bad reaction to. Well medicaid won't cover it now cause she has other insurance. She literally pays a fee to be forced to pay out of pocket for a med that was previously covered (and as far as I know basically can't drop it now that she has it without messing things up with medicaid)

So... yeah. Just... just every time I mention like going to the dentist and having people say lucky, and me realizing oh shit I am lucky, and my luck being that I was broke enough to qualify... what the fuck?

Really really wish everyone just had at least as good as Colorado medicaid, even fucking bezos so we're not worrying about enforcement nonsense

Really wish we had universal healthcare cause... basically I just have kickass insurance, and it sucks hearing that you, someone working, are less well covered than I am

(And private insurance could still exist, it just might be forced to... you know... actually provide a benefit at a reasonable price to give people a reason to not just go with their medicaid)

Honestly the way we handle health care in this country is a goddamn nightmare, and we literally already know and have known for years that it kills people.

I will say that often even good medicaids are uhhhhhhhh not so good on the provider side. They "cover" a lot of claims that don't actually get paid, ya know? I work in healthcare, and have generally been a big fan of the medicaid in my catchment area because it actually seems to be pretty comperable to how you describe CO's. That said, as a provider, I would say a solid half of any "non-urgent" claims get denied, and at least one of the medicaid providers has denied every single claim the practice has submitted to them even though they keep telling us we're in network with them and following their instructions.

So. I do sort of get why it can seem (depending on which side of the insurance you're on) like holding providers at gunpoint. On the patient end you've got people receiving reasonably quality/comprehensive care with no fee at the point of service, which is phenomenal! On the provider side though, it often looks like losing literally thousands of dollars a month on denied claims for necessary services with little to no recourse.

We do it anyway of course, because the practice I work for is strongly oriented towards "serve the clients best needs even if it causes operating at a loss" but admittedly not every practice can survive under a premise like that for long. I think one of my biggest frustrations is that they always reject crisis care billable hours, even though they claim to cover them, and even when I am literally talking someone through a total breakdown in functionality. It's very frustrating to know that one of the most basic elements of mental health care (emergency support in crisis) will never be paid for (keep in mind that often when insurancr denies a claim, a practice won't pay a provider for that time) which neither the practice nor I can really afford.

Basically, we desperately need universal quality healthcare coverage, as well as (frankly) incentives for providers to actually register with the providers of this insurance rather than providing OOP care only. And that universal coverage needs to understand that "protecting patients from overcharging" is not mutually exclusive from "paying claims for emergency/out of norm care".

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fruit-salad-ship · 2 years

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Alright I'm gonna bite because that long comic HURTED.

I am *intensely* curious about what happened after they got through to Peach, and got her the hell out of there. Like just...do they even try to unpack it, or are they more worried about how she's doing right now than anything else? I know you mentioned that Grey would get upset when he found out Peach had been keeping this all from him. But I just...wonder if Grey and Plum would put that on a shelf for a bit and just...focus on Peach.

After the events of the comic, they have to bolt out of there FAST. Peach is not herself, and for weeks afterwards, is still missing huge chunks of memory. Because she can hardly recall the issue, the pair leave it alone for a while, and focus on helping her get back what she lost. Slowly her life patches back in, she recalls in jokes she shared with Grey, starts to argue back with Plum, uses nicknames for the pokemon that she had lost, recalls latin names for the plants in her garden. She does return, but it takes time.

One night she sits bolt up right, 4am, utterly riddled with fear, with guilt, with stress. The things she had forgotten all came back, like a switch flipped, and it's all too much at once, she has to walk it off. Plum feels her move and grabs her hand instinctively, she doesn't want her to run again, and has been worried about that since the last time it happened. Grey in turn stirs from sleep, and the pair notice Peach has an expression they know all too well now, she's afraid. Her grouchy disposition is back, she looks tired, more so than she had done while she was recovering.

They convince her to get back in bed, able to hold her, pinned in between them both, not sure what to say to them, only able to utter a sorry. Grey explains he was never mad at her, never upset that she kept things from him, but more that he was furious with himself. She didn't trust him, and that in his mind equated to him not being good enough for that trust. Convinced he'd done something to warrant the lies, Plum has to chime in, she knew he would do this, he's quick to blame his own actions, and tells him off for that mentality. She explains she was clearly angry before, and for good reason, but after nearly losing Peach again, and seeing just what kind of people she had in her court, the angers gone, it's just sadness now. They both feel so bad that the woman who works tirelessly, who gives everything to helping pokemon, who calmly handles crisis when others lose their head, had to grow up a pawn in her houses little game.

They just hold her, if they let go, it felt like she might disappear again, get snatched up by her past and dragged back there. She is covered in scars, the beating her cousin did to break her physically and mentally was more than any one person should have had to handle. Feeling them etched into her shoulders and back make their hearts hurt, every time they notice them, they both remember what kind of people she came from, and how far she's come to get to Dotaku, to build the facility, to study to help not hinder. No amount of anger or sadness would compare to how they'd feel if they lost her. A lot of honest truths come out in the dark of the room, even the hard edged professor shed a few quiet tears, hearing that they didn't hate her, they didn't blame her, and that she's not that person in their mind. True love, not like the conditional affections she got from her family, this is real honest to god adoration, probably the first real time she's acknowledged it, and accepted it was for her. Things start to repair a little after that. They know what Peach was forced to do, they know what she went through, they don't use her old name even though they know it. She's Peach now, the old her died a long time ago, and they want to keep it that way for her sake.

She gets horrible flashes of memory return from time to time, makes her head spin, hard to breathe, remembers sitting in that chair, remembers the pain, remembers trying to get free and failing miserably. Defo sitting on some PTSD there, but she had been since childhood, and then it got worse after Hisui, and then this all happened after that.

#fruit salad #brainrot

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xenclev · 3 years

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𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑡 — that one post I made about Osamu being "mean", so you sit on Suna's lap instead. yuuuuh, hype me up! enjoy~

tw: language, humiliation, mentions of oral, use of the term brat, mainly just suggestive

++ When Osamu is upset, he has no problem expressing himself, especially when his old teammates are present so he can show the perfect demonstration.

He's not petty enough to humiliate you in front of the others by spanking you or some shit, though he has thought about it on multiple occasions. He likes to think of himself as a lenient guy. He has more subtle ways of humiliating you. For instance, ignoring you while you're showing him affection or giving you a look that makes you feel dumb; it's all about giving you a chance to behave yourself and think about what you've done.

And he thinks the time has truly presented himself because of the day's events. It was supposed to be a nice day, just him and the guys with you in his arms. Unfortunately, your attitude the entire day has been bratty, to say the least. Yes, the term brat is cringey and overused, but how else could he describe you taking up Suna's offer to sit in his lap when he refused to let you sit in his? Maybe disrespectful is another good description because every time he looks over at you in his best friend's lap, that's all he can see— a disrespectful brat.

Furthermore, he's not the only one that notices; everyone else in the room does too, and he's not too keen on it. He doesn't like the way all of his old teammates and friends get a first row seat to your distasteful little display. He's not fond of how his own brother is telling him how awkward it must be to see you on another man's lap. He's most definitely not happy with how you're laughing along with Suna at some dumb joke he just made. He feels as if his tactics to fix your behavior have been too lenient; probably why you're still showing your ass.

That's when he decides to clear up the air and beckons you over, telling you he wants to talk to you about something. You expected him to tell you to behave like he usually did, but what you didn't expect was him to bring you down between his thighs and nudge your face towards the apparent tent straining against his pants.

You were confused. This wasn't how your Samu handled things. He's patient and discreet when dealing your tantrums, but this wasn't patient nor discreet. You would've asked him about it if it weren't for the grip he had on the back of your head. He was pushing your face so close to his bulge that your nose was practically touching it.

"If yer gonna show out, might as well give 'em a good show."

Once he sees you gulp and reach to undo his pants, he knows the crisis is averted.

See? He didn't yank his cock out and shove it down your throat.

He's a lenient guy.

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singofsolace · 3 years

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In celebration (and mourning) of Jill Murphy, I am taking stock of my own relationship to The Worst Witch and what it has meant to me.

In light of the recent deaths of Jill Murphy, the author of The Worst Witch book series, and Una Stubbs, the original Mrs. Bat, I have a lot of feelings I'm working through this morning. I'm crying as I write this, so it might not be as eloquent as I want it to be. I'm sorry in advance.

It's hard to articulate what The Worst Witch means to me. I've read the books and watched both the 1998 and 2017 television series. They've provided me endless hours of entertainment and inspiration. I've spent countless hours writing stories inspired by Jill Murphy's creations, and I really can't express how much her work has helped me in my worst moments.

To this day, there is one scene that never fails to make me cry:

youtube

I remember how I felt watching this the first time. Seeing this scene unlocked feelings in me I had locked up for a long time. It showed me how an adult should handle a conversation like this, even though as a child, no adults in my life had ever treated me with this kind of respect. It showed me that it was possible for an adult to receive criticism--even criticism they disagree with (like when she reacts pretty strongly to Mildred saying that she doesn't like it when she shouts). No adult has ever in the history of my life accepted criticism like this without some sort of retaliation, deflection, or just complete denial. (Key example: "I didn't say that, but even if I did, I didn't mean it like that, and even if I did mean it, it was your fault because.... blah blah blah")

There was such a... I don't know... softness to this conversation, even as Miss Hardbroom is explaining all the reasons she gives Mildred a hard time. I love how Constance allows Mildred to have her say, because as a child, adults never treated me like my thoughts and opinions mattered to them. In this scene, Constance allowed Mildred the opportunity to criticize her freely. (My mother and father and teachers would never?!?!). It was nearly beyond my comprehension that an adult would do this. I'm crying harder just thinking about it, and that's that on childhood trauma.

Anyway, when the new Worst Witch series came out, I wasn't expecting to fall in love with it as much as I did, but Raquel Cassidy won me over as the new Miss Hardbroom. And when Pippa Pentangle was introduced, I fell hard for their beautiful, complicated, not-so-subtly sapphic relationship. And while I didn't enjoy where the series winded up going, I will always be grateful that the first two seasons of The Worst Witch exist for me to revisit whenever I desire.

And now, taking stock of my own writing, specifically my hicsqueak The Proposal fic, it occurs to me that the date I last updated it is significant. March 8, 2020. I stopped publishing the week before the world (or at least my small section of it) shutdown. I was teaching a college-level creative writing course at the time, and little did I know that after that week, I would never see my students in person again.

My world changed. Everyone's world changed. And I tucked the fic into a drawer, unable to look at it. I've revisited many times over the last year and a half, and even got donation-commissions to update it by several people (for my failure to do so, I am very very sorry). There was something about that fic that represented "before" for me. The Proposal was "before" everything fell apart. The Proposal was "before" I was separated from my students. The Proposal was "before" I was excessed and lost my teaching job. The Proposal was before I spent every day worrying about my extended family and friends falling ill with a virus I didn't understand. The Proposal was before I lost all faith in humanity, with people refusing to wear masks and get a vaccine simply because they didn't want to.

Before the pandemic, I truly believed that if a global crisis happened, people would go out of their way to help each other. I believed protecting our grandparents and the immunocompromised would be more important to people than the personal discomfort of wearing a mask, social distancing, and getting a vaccine to help protect yourself and others. I suppose you could say that over the last year and a half, I became completely disillusioned. I hated my neighbors more than I loved them. Huge rifts formed between family and friends over covid safety. My country saw the first NON-peaceful transfer of power in our nation's history. The Black Lives Matter movement made the nation confront centuries-long injustices that we still haven't been rectified or resolved.

The world came to a boiling point, and I thought, "surely, this can't last? surely, things will get better?"

They haven't.

It might sound silly, but for a year and a half, the failure to update this fic has been a major source of sadness and frustration for me, and I feel that it's very much related to having my faith in humanity completely ripped out from under me. The fic represents a part of my life I feel like I will never be able to return to.

And yet, here I am, sitting in the midst of a tropical storm, desperately wanting to return to my story, and crying over it rather than making any progress.

I don't know why I'm sharing this. But the news of Jill Murphy's death has triggered a lot of emotions I don't know what to do with. I'm sorry for rambling, but maybe someone will read this and understand.

#personal #jill murphy #una stubbs #hicsqueak #the proposal #hecate hardbroom #pippa pentangle

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elia-de-silentio · 3 years

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Vanitas and affection: a complicated relationship

In light of recent chapters and waiting for the next to deliver our new dose of pain, I've decided to make a bit of analysis on how Vanitas relates to affection.

Vanitas enters this world, and gets the first of a long series of traumas. A classic: mother dies in childbirth, the baby is blamed for existing. Vanitas had internalized this thinking from his father ... or maybe it was a reasoning he made on his own (he says that his father 'must have hated him', but does not recall the man actually telling him so), and his father did not correct him - either because he subconsciously agreed or because he wasn't the most emotionally attuned man in the world.

After all, the only thing certain about Vanitas's father is his tendency to self-sacrifice: he abandoned his birth family and respectable profession to follow the woman he loved in her travelling caravan, even if he didn't like the rest of the people there; he gave up his life to save his son.

And this latter part is what furthers Vanitas's trauma, as he will feel an extra dose of guilt for causing his father's sacrifice.

After the death of his family, he is taken by the Chasseurs to be trained and become one of them. His strong hatred for vampires fueled him, and it's likely he was quite good at fighting, given what we see of him now. But alas, he caught the attention of Moreau.

Vanitas's damnation was his high empathy. As Luna will later point out, he would be able to escape; but Moreau had faked his death by killing a kid that looked like him, thus triggering his trauma of 'other people sacrificing for his sake'.

And then, he thought that even if he escaped, someone else would be tortured in his place. The reasoning is actually more based in self-loathing than reality, as attested by the existence of n.70 and 71; so he turned his reason for being there into trying to get more torture and lift it from the other children whenever he could.

Then he gets saved. Well, he likely doesn't perceive it like that, because Luna is a vampire, especially the Vampire of the Blue Moon whose blood Moreau injected him to try and turn him into a vampire. Nevertheless, there appears to have been a somewhat peaceful period between the escape from Moreau and the start of the series: we see Luna take care of him and Misha, giving them shelter, teaching them about malnomens and trying her hand at life lessons; we see little Vanitas do most of the chores, even if with a standoffish attitude; we see little Misha basking in the happiness of a somewhat stable and nice family situation.

Then something terrible happens.

It is revealed that due to Moreau's experiments, the kids are not exactly human anymore, but they aren't vampires either; their body can't substain this state of being, and they will die if they aren't turned into kins of the Blue Moon. Misha accepts, Vanitas refuses, wanting to stay human. Next thing we know, they are both kins of the Blue Moon with Marks of Possession, and Luna is dead.

As of the time of this writing, it is not clear exactly what happened; we know that Luna died, and that Vanitas played some role in it. Misha outright accuses him of killing her, but the framing of the actual events is quite ambiguous.

Vanitas, on his part, seems to have conflicting feelings: he says he wants to take revenge on Luna for drinking his blood, but when he's half-delirious, he mutters that he didn't really hate her; he appearently made Misha some promise that he didn't keep, and he is crushed by guilt as a result.

But whatever happened, his consent on the kin-making was ignored (just like it always happened in Moreau's laboratory) and another person that was close to him died either at his own hand, or because of him. And he gets some other trauma on top of an already long list.

Moreover, he was surprised to find out that Misha was alive. So, for some time, he believed the person who he loved like a brother was dead. Add good old grief to the mix.

So, we get to the Vanitas of the very first chapters of the manga. An outgoing, cocky individual ... a mask. After all, every time he has shown his actual feelings of anger and grief, it didn't turn out very well for him in the end, did it?

It also allows him to annoy and gross out people, specifically Noé and Jeanne. Nobody really likes his arrogance and pushiness, so they won't give him the affection he doesn't deserve.

Then, the aftermath of the Bal Masqué. Vanitas is provoking Ruthven, and Noé goes unexpectedly to protect him. To take risks for his sake. This already scares him, but then Noé has the gall to go and try to understand him! His reaction has to be more extreme: he flat out tries to attack Noé with a knife and tries to get him away, whereas he had been pretty much stalking him up to this point. But Noé refuses; and Vanitas is maybe just a little comforted and moved, enough to stop trying to push him away.

Then there is the Catacomb Arc, where a new character is introduced: Roland. He doesn't show spite to Vanitas, but still sees him with condescension, denying that he is acting out of his own free will. And this, to the former Chasseur who was left by the rest of them in Moreau's clutches, is untolerable. Roland means well, but he's going at it the wrong way.

After the fight with Roland, there is another argument between Vanitas and Noé. Vanitas does exactly what Noé had done before: shields him. This sends Noé on a sermon about how Vanitas, as a human, is weak and shouldn't take such risks, which infuriates the other boy: he bites back by calling Noé overconfident, citing the Ruthven accident as an example. This confuses Noé, because didn't he want him to become his shield?

I suspect that this was both Vanitas tendency to sacrifice himself for others, and a sign of tentative trust towards Noé. He does the same thing the vampire did for him ... and got rebuked, and called weak for his trouble. Noé's attitude is too patronizing to be seen as an actual sign of concern,and his already bad mood sours considerably.

Well, there is to say that after a similar crisis repeats itself a chapter later, complete with anti-vampire slurs on Vanitas part, Noè amends ... by using him as a fake hostage against Roland, which is still better that treating him as if he was weak.

Now, Noé might be naive in a lot of regards, but he is not stupid. From that moment onwards, he gets that Vanitas will be treated as an equal. He won't force him into dangerous situations, but he won't even treat him like he's too frail for it. He will be incouraging, but not condescending. And the result is that he actually snaps Vanitas out from his trauma-induced flashbacks, and gets him to be more open and trusting than he has ever been.

In the Gevaudan arc, Vanitas's emotional connections get shaken on two fronts: Noé 's and Jeanne's.

In this arc, he is the one to encourage and support Noé. He gives him advice on how to handle Astolfo; he gets worried about him when he's captured by Chloé (even if he expresses it in his own way).

He saves Noé from getting lost into Jean-Jacques's memories, listens to what he has to say, and concedes to what he wants, where at the start of the manga he was all 'my way or the highway'. He even almost (almost) admits that he was worried about Noé!

He still receives some actual support: demostrations of Noé's spirit which are good for the soul, and a proclamation that he believes in what Vanitas thinks about the origin of Malnomen, the first time a vampire says something like that. Vani plays grumpy, but he is obviously very shaken, in a positive way.

He finally shows Jeanne some actual support: he is cold to her after he was unwillingly vulnerable in her presence due to his illness, but pushes that aside rather quickly, in order to help her realize what she truly wants (saving Chloé instead of killing her) and that she's right to want it. He reminds her that she's a person, not a tool.

And she's grateful for it, and has definitely no qualms about expressing it. The result is that our hero spends days in blue screen, to then have a complete freakout at the possibility of being actually in love with Jeanne. He's so out of it, he ends up oversharing his feelings of being undeserving of love to a Roland who he doesn't like and a Olivier he has never met before. Still, it's the first time he flat-out says his issues.

This brings us to his rooftop conversation with Noé. I really liked the vampire's behaviour here: he was comforting in a sort of roundabout way, à la Vanitas. He said that he is happy Vanitas is the way he is, even if he still doesn't like him very much. Translation: you're a way better person than you think you are, and you deserve to be loved. This is coming from a totally unbiased place, I'm not a weird person who would like you or something.

And this is the last conversation we see between the two of them: as of the time of this writing, Noé has been compelled to drink Misha's blood, and Vanitas has just arrived on the scene.

Vanitas has seen his self-loathing perspective challenged and has changed a lot in the span of a rather short time, and I really don't know how he'll react to Noé learning the details of his past; he sure won't want any form of compassion. Personally, I suspect he'll be very cold to Noé for quite some time, possibly even trying to drive him away, before a reconciliation.

Thanks to anyone who bothered to read my ramblings!

#vnc #the case study of vanitas #vanitas no carte #vanitas no shuki #vnc vanitas #vnc meta #vnc analysis #vnc noe #vnc jeanne #vnc luna #vnc mikhail #elia's recaps

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dreamsmp-au-ideas · 3 years

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Okay so more thoughts on TUA Eggpire and Phil stuff!! Post is still long, hahaha.

So just before Phil left, things weren't in active crisis, but they also weren't looking super great. Skeppy was still apathetic and impossible to rouse for anything except the egg, and Bad was getting more and more distraught. Ant and Puffy had all but moved in to help keep an eye on Skeppy and support Bad. Phil offered what help he could, but when he saw a news story about a protest and saw footage of Fundy (assuming him for now because he seems the most likely to get on the news given what everyone's up to), what was he gonna do, not go find him? He had faith that Puffy and Ant would be able to handle it for the few days/weeks it'd take him to get there and back. He promised Bad that everything would be fine and then headed out.

It's a fairly uneventful trip, Phil all but vibrating the whole time because family?? Getting to finally see family again?? Getting to hug family again and know they're okay?? He's so hype?? And once they get in town it takes a little bit of searching but then hey!! It's Fundy!! And he's staying in a little flat above a bakery with some friends, and Fundy made friends?? (Phil tries not to sound as surprised as he feels at that, because he's honestly not used to Fundy ever interacting with people outside the family. But Fundy just laughs it off, looking genuinely not bothered, and Phil's like, maybe I'm not the only one who got a recovery arc here?)

So then Phil gets to meet Eret and Niki, too! And he's genuinely charmed, they seem like lovely people, but when they invite him to stay for a while Phil doesn't really want to leave the egg unattended for too long. And he contemplates just leaving Fundy with them, because he knows where he is now and he's clearly doing fine, and Phil's a bit hesitant to pull Fundy back into danger when he only just got out of it. But as soon as Fundy learns Phil's leaving again, he's 100% coming along, especially since Phil has a whole setup where he's trying to track where/when everyone else might reappear, and Fundy misses everyone, too. And he has a little bit of separation anxiety due to abandonment issues but he is not thinking about that noooo.

(Fundy, Niki, and Eret have a little farewell party. Tears are shed. Fundy vehemently denies this, while wiping his eyes. Niki gives him a box of goodbye mini-cakes and Eret gives Fundy a queer pride patch to sew onto his jacket. Fundy denies crying even harder.)

And then they're on the road back, but then when they get back to the apartment, it's... empty? Bad, Ant, Puffy, Skeppy - no one's home. The dogs have food and are taken care of and everything, so it's not been abandoned, or if it has it was recent. And when Phil checks for the notes he and Sapnap have been keeping about when the others might reappear, they're gone, too? So Phil starts getting a little bit of a bad feeling.

And then Ant comes in! He says he heard Phil and the others had just got back and came to get them, because there was a development with Skeppy and the egg, and they need to get there right away. And Phil's getting kind of weird vibes off of him, because he kind of dodges Phil's questions on where everyone is and why some of his stuff is missing, but Phil figures it's maybe because of whatever this new development is. And Ant spends most of the walk over trying to talk to Fundy, anyway, so Phil doesn't get a lot of words in.

And then they get to the egg, but they only see Bad there with a guy in a white hoodie, still no Skeppy or Puffy. And when they try to ask what's going on, where is everyone, what's this new development, they keep getting brushed off. The egg looks even bigger, to their concern, and there's even more vines everywhere, and Ant and Bad and the new guy, Punz, are getting insistent that they just get a little bit closer to the egg, trying to get Fundy especially to touch it, and then they'll explain everything. And then just before it looks like things might get violent, Puffy busts through the door and shouts at all of them to get out and away from the egg, and Phil and Fundy certainly don't need any convincing.

It turns into an all-out chase - one that Phil and Fundy and Puffy swiftly win, thanks to Phil's wings, but just how hard Bad and Ant and Punz try is still disconcerting. Puffy starts bringing them back to her own secret place, and she fills them in on what they missed on the way - Bad trying harder and harder every day to figure out the egg and get Skeppy back and failing, getting more and more desperate until one day Puffy came back to the apartment and Bad and Skeppy were both gone. She found Bad with the egg, Skeppy nowhere to be seen, and asking Bad what happened got her nowhere. Instead, Bad tried to blockade the door to trap them both with the egg, and Puffy only just barely escaped. She's had to lay low since then, doing what she can to overhear the egg's plans and learn how to fight back and try to prevent them from recruiting any more people. Most recently, she tells Phil and Fundy, she learned that Bad took all of Phil and Sapnap's notes because he wants to find all of them when they appear before Phil is able to.

Because, hey, guess who Phil confided in about all his kids? And how powerful they are? And how they'd probably make super useful assets to the Eggpire, if Bad can just get to them first, because hey, he knows and has been helping Phil! He can help reunite them with the rest of the family, even! They just have to come with him to check out something first. :)

So now it's become an even more dire race to either find the rest of the kids or find a way to stop the egg, because if Bad and the others can find any of them and recruit them first, it definitely will not spell good news for the rest of them. Or the rest of world, if the Commission has its way.

Perfect. I love this. I love this so much. This is amazing and I love Phil and Fundy’s reunion. God I love that so much. Also, Pain!

#dream smp #dream smp au #the umbrella academy au #philza #ph1lza #skeppy #badboyhalo #captain puffy #antfrost #sapnap #fundy #nihachu #eret #the eret #punz #ask

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watchinglikeafangirl · 3 years

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Light on me Ep 15

Oh my God, they are giving me that cliffhanger! I am obsessed with them and I feel like my ship is finally sailing and I can't believe slow burn can be that exciting. It's frustrating as hell and at this point, I'm just annoyed by Da-On. Who does he think he is? It's not okay. He missed his moment and his time, just move on. Tae-Gyeong isn't as attached to him any more and in the important moments, there's Shin-Woo, not Da-On, giving him the needed courage.

Sorry to say it, but Da-On is selfish. Everybody can be selfish at times, that's totally fine and sometimes necessary but there's a certain degree and a right time. Da-On definetely tries very hard to get on a train that has long left the platform. Confessing now is just misplaced and, again, not the right time. He had his shot and he blew it. Yes, he has an identity crisis, so he is a bit slower and needs more time in processing things and coming clean with himself, but sometimes it also means because of your slowlyness, you miss out on things. It hurts, and not even just a little bit because you could've been the one, but the universe just doesn't want you to and you just have to accept that and respect the other person who has already moved on. Da-On really is too late.

Nevertheless, I find it very endearing how well and thoughtful Tae-Gyeong handles this whole situation. He respects Da-On but turns him down at the same time and he does it so smoothly, I nearly felt sorry for Da-On.

As time passed and I saw you, I felt sad for some reason. It seemed like you were trying really hard to be liked and you looked tired and unstable. That's why I thought if I loved you, you wouldn't try so hard.

It is very fair of Tae-Gyeong to explain why he liked Da-On in the first place, because this is still a rejection. He speaks in past-tense and it's more like reminiscing than confessing. They just have the talk they had to have for so long. I think Tae-Gyeong was always ready to tell him that, obviously wanted Da-On to know he can be loved by someone, but Da-On was caught up in his head. Tae-Gyeong painfully accepted that and after being mad at Da-On, he saw Da-On is just very lost and lonely.

I want you to do what you really want to do and find out who you really are.

This is a very beautiful quote and it has in some way the right effect because Da-On isn't scared any more but at the same time, he just sees that as an ecouragement to hit on Tae-Gyeong which urks me. I want to grab him and tell him he has to get over it. It's a lost hope. No matter how hard he tries, no matter how hard he forces the attention onto him, Shin-Wok will always be there and matter more to Tae-Gyeong. It's just like that.

So, watching Da-On pine and hope makes me uncomfortable because it just feels so damn realistic. We all hold on to something even if we know it would be better to let go - no matter if it's a friendship or relationship.

The thing that made me laugh and fangirl throughout this episode is how hard Da-On tries to be at peace with Shin-Woo but Shin-Woo just rudely rejects him everytime. This man just confessed and chases after his crush, ain't no one getting in his way to get his man because he has his destiny in his own hands.

Then we get this whole chaos when Tae-Gyeong's clothes go missing and Shin-Woo and Da-On both try to find them. It's literally a 50:50 between them at this point. Whenever Tae-Gyeong is there, one of them is as well and they switch places the whole time. Shin-Woo helps seeking but Da-On finds. Da-On tries to help with the make-up but Shin-Woo does it. Da-On encourages but Shin-Woo gives the strength. It's just a lot of back and forth for Tae-Gyeong but it's obviously Shin-Woo who has a bigger impact on him now.

The difference becomes very obvious when Tae-Gyeong is on stage. Da-On talks to him shortly before and reminds him of stuff, stressing him out even more but pushes him to do it nontheless. Da-On stresses himself often and just endures it. He sucks his energy out of stress and performs at his best because of it, but Tae-Gyeong is not such a person. He thinks too much, so his thoughts spin and scream "stress" and he needs someone to calm him down, so he can forget these thoughts. Da-On doesn't know that because he's still selfish and just does what would work for him. Like I said a few weeks ago, he admires Tae-Gyeong's honesty but apart from that, he doesn't know much about Tae-Gyeong. He doesn't know how to comfort him or love him. Yes, he can learn in time, but he doesn't have any. So, right here, he just stresses Tae-Gyeong out and no one is helped at all.

Shin-Woo knows how to encourage Tae-Gyeong. Pushing doesn't help. Saying "fighting" doesn't help. It's too much pressure. So, Shin-Woo comes up with the cutest, most precious and extremely proud smile.

It's important for Tae-Gyeong to know he's doing a good job, that someone is proud of him being on stage. Since Shin-Woo analyzed Tae-Gyeong to every detail, he knows and clearly has an advantage, so Da-On seems to be less important and becomes a part of the masses.

Still, this cliffhanger tortures me. There's clearly a metaphor here. Shin-Woo asking Tae-Gyeong directly if his hope is still reasonable or not, else he will stop hoping.

Thank God I don't have to wait that long for the finale...

#light on me #they take so long #please don't tell me they'll only finally kiss in the last scene

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chubbyhl · 2 years

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H and L are roommates who are very obtuse and don't realize that they're into the other. They're this sickly sweet couple of "best friends" that's attached at the hip - all of their friends have ongoing bets on when they'll finally get together and realize that they're absolutely made for each other.

One day, when both are enjoying a couple of joints and are all high and giggly and out of it, Harry starts off by saying how he needs a lot of luck in his upcoming exams, and for securing this one really cool and well-paying job, and just in general... And wouldn't it be so cool if he had a lamp like the one from Aladdin to rub and make wishes with and to bring him good luck. And Louis, who's soft lovely belly he has lain his head on says how rubbing his chub should have the same effect, bringing good luck and all, like rubbing the belly of a Buddha figure. And both lose it of course, because it's so goddamn funny, and they repeat it when the other one has just calmed down, and both break down in giggles again - but come morning when they've both slept it off, Louis is a little bit embarrassed about it and doesn't understand why the thought of Harry rubbing his belly makes him so flustered. The days go by, nothing happens, it seems like the whole thing is forgotten, until the Big Day: Harry's interview for the job. He is rushing and fretting about and jittery and nervous, so Louis wraps him up in a hug and tries to calm him down a bit. And it works for the most part; Harry is much more collected and ready for it, so Louis pulls away - when suddenly, Harry gently grabs his round and buttery soft belly and gives it a soft squeeze, whispers "for good luck" in his ear and leaves for his interview. And Louis just stands in the hallway of their flat, red like a tomato and breathing like he just ran a marathon and has to go take a really cold shower once he's calmed down enough to move.

From then on out it only gets worse: for every test, every exam, Harry starts to come up behind Louis and press up against him - nothing new of course, they've always been handsy with each other - and squeezes his belly. The first few times he will still say "for good luck", but with time it stops; and then he starts doing it all the time: when he goes to class, leaves for work, passes Louis who is trying to go out grocery shopping, heads to his room to do homework, cooks a complicated meal... All the time. Just little squeezes, to Louis' belly, soft sides, love handles; sometimes even his round jiggling ass. And every time Louis gets so flustered - he goes red, start stammering, fiddling with the hem of his shirt and his fringe and trying to hide his red cheeks while Harry is absolutely transfixed and gets hard from it, which Louis never catches on to because he can hardly look at Harry.

And then one day Harry is on his way out and gives The Squeeze and says "need good luck for asking out this cute boy" and leaves - and Louis is just devastated. Has a crisis about his relationship with Harry, because why wouldn't he want him to go on dates? Granted, he never really liked it in the past, but surely that was only because of the people Harry used to date..? But finally he stops pacing and thinking and denying and just accepts that he is in love with his best friend and isn't that just golden, now that he's figured it out Harry has gone to ask somebody else out. And while he's in the middle of thinking about a dramatic and convincing and desperate love confession, Harry comes back with a bunch of buttercups, Louis' favourites, and a pack of really expensive chocolates and shyly dances and stumbles around the subject for a while until he finally blurts out "Can I take you out? Forever?" or something equally cheesy and both realize what dumbasses they've been the whole time

The end

Sorry for the long ask, but I live for dumbass soft best friends

WOW ANON THIS IS A WHOLE ASS MASTERPIECE THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS

#like I'm obsessed #harry rubbing louis's belly for luck #it literally does not get cuter than that

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rachelbethhines · 3 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - The Return of the King

So we’re back to the quasi-filler stuff. This episode does set a few things up for the finale, like bringing Edmund to Corona, but none of those things are actually good and it’s still mostly filled with irrelevant shit alongside the more important stuff.

Summary: King Edmund arrives in Corona to see his long-lost son, Eugene, and to give him the royal sash of their bloodline. Eugene wants nothing to do with him, but Rapunzel invites him to stay. Later, the sash is stolen and a ransom note is left behind. Edmund and Eugene decide to go and retrieve it. Meanwhile, the Stabbington Brothers plot revenge on Eugene as they are both viewed as a joke by the other criminals.

So How Did the Stabbingtons Escape the Prison Barge

Last we saw them they were stuck on a prison barge along with Lady Caine and all of the other season one villains. How did they escape? Did Lady Caine or anybody else make it out? If so then where are they this season?

We’re not going to get any of those questions answered are we?

Man this is just sloppy continuity. Which ironic, because these two were only brought back this season because of continuity. They need to be “redeemed” so that they can be at the wedding. I guess it just sucks to be you if you’re an original villain for this show and not named Cassandra.

Why Is This Deserving of Ridicule?

Like...We’re talking about a world renowned thief and adventurer and his magical royal girlfriend who are well known enough outside of Corona to be mentioned and there for no doubt people know how they both defeated monsters, daemons, and several criminals besides just there two guys, right?

This plot point makes no sense.

You could just kick these dumbasses butts and be done with it. I doubt they’d bother picking on you again if you did.

Did we really need even more motivation for them to want revenged against Eugene?

Rapunzel is Back to Being Her Bossy Self

Rapunzel has not earned the role of “wise administrator” yet. She’s only been out of the tower for two years now and she has yet to prove to the audience that she has managed to learn anything since then. By jumping the gun and forcing her into a role that she hasn’t grown into, and by ignoring that this whole show started out as a coming of age story, it just makes Rapunzel unpleasant to be around. All her “advice” is just her ordering people about with a veneer of chipperness to try and mask her controlling nature. People who should know more about their own lives than she does and have no reason to listen to her.

So We’re Showing Rapunzel Being Responsible... By Having Her Avoid Responsibility?

Part of why the writers made her “acting queen” for the first half the season was to get her to grow into the role of becoming full time queen. However they screwed this up by not having her actually learn anything and having her avoid the real duties a queen preforms.

What Rapunzel is doing her is just being a socialite busybody. The only administrative thing she does is approve some low-scale building plans for a small business. A thing that would have been handled by a lower official in an actual functioning government.

Once again Rapunzel is being selfish and doing what she like, ie bossy people around while having them kiss her ass, as the real work of running the kingdom is left to someone else. This isn’t being responsible, it’s being hypocritical, but don't expect anyone to ever call Rapunzel out for this.

Pointless Action Scene is Pointless

At this point, the low stakes action sequences are just cringe. Like is this an adventure show or not people? Stop forcing crap like this and give us some real conflicts instead.

How Did You Get Here So Fast Edmund?

It took Rapunzel and company nearly a year to get to the Dark Kingdom. Even if Edmund wasn't delayed with pit stops like they were, it would have still taken him several months to get here by horse.

Did he take a boat, or have four to six months already past since Rapunzel’s Return?

I would argue that this episode was aired out of order and should have been later in the season, but Cassandra’s appearance at the end of this story, and Hamnuel’s appearances in later episodes, would suggest otherwise.

Crap like this is why season’s three timeline doesn’t work unless you stretch everything out to two years instead of one.

Read the Room Rapunzel

One could argue that Rapunzel is just trying to be polite, but that doesn't really hold water.

For starters Eugene is clearly upset and has every right to want to set boundaries between himself and Edmund. Ignoring that is incredibly rude and if my significant other ever did such a thing, well they wouldn’t be my significant other for very long.

Secondly, Rapunzel could have offered other accommodations if she felt pressured to be polite to Edmund. Not only are their lots of inns in a port town known for trade, many of which are probably well-to-do, but there’s also that convent that was mentioned back in season one. It has to be somewhere in Corona itself and as the so far only mentioned major religious organization in the country it would no doubt have stately quarters for when royalty and nobility would visit.

So not only would it be a suitable place for a visiting king to stay in, as it would be made for such things, but it’s also far enough away that Eugene wouldn’t feel like his space is being invaded but close enough that Edmund could come and go as he pleases.

By that point it’s still between Edmund and Eugene and Rapunzel can stay out of it, like she should.

Eugene is Right

These are all valid reasons for cutting someone out of your life. Furthermore, you don’t even need a reason. If you don’t want to associate with somebody then just don't associate with. It’s your life. You don’t have to justify how you choose to live it and people who actually care about you should respect that.

Unfortunately no one respects Eugene.

Not Edmund, not Rapunzel, and most certainly not the writers.

Then Why Don't You Get Closer to Edmund, Rapunzel?

I understand Rapunzel’s viewpoint here. Edmund is the only person she’s ever met who has experienced the same isolation that she has. He’s one of the very few people whom she can empathize with.

However that doesn’t give her the right to force her views upon her boyfriend. If she cared so much than she could just befriend Edmund herself and leave Eugene out of it.

Trying to encourage a child to have relationship with a parent who neglected them is super tone deaf at best and outright disrespectful at worst. It’s also highly hypocritical seeing as Rapunzel cut Gothel out of her life for similar reasons and Eugene only ever supported her for it.

No really, flip the situation. If Eugene tried to encourage Rapunzel to give Gothel a second chance everyone would be slamming him for it. So why does Rapunzel get a free pass?

Shorty Already Did That, Eugene. Don’t You Remember?

I mean, you were literally right there when it happened. Are we forgetting season two the same as season one now?

So Why Are Stan and Pete Suddenly Back, But Not Cap?

I mean we went through all that trouble in Rapunzel’s Return to write them out of the narrative and here they are without any explanation. Why are simple set ups so dang hard for this show?

Rapunzel is Overstepping Her Bounds Here

Ok, giving Edmund a place to stay is one thing. Suggesting to Eugene that he should give Edmund a chance is not appropriate but still forgivable. But this?

This crosses a fucking line!

Eugene is not Rapunzel’s subject. He’s her boyfriend, and a prince in his own right. Rapunzel can’t just volunteer him for crap without his consent. That’s just indirectly ordering him about like she would a servant.

Once again, flip the script. If Eugene tried to force Rapunzel to work with Gothel everyone would be up in arms. Why is this then deemed okay?

This is Coercion

Not only is Edmund and Rapunzel trying to guilt trip Eugene here but she even fucking elbows him!

Like this isn’t “cute couple bickering” here. That kind of stuff is reserved only for inconsequential shit.

This a woman trying to strong arm and guilt trip her husband to be into having a relationship with his abusive father! Because guess what? Neglect is still abuse!

Rapunzel has zero say in Eugene and Edmund’s relationship. It’s none of her fucking business! Trying to force her into this plot just makes her look like an asshat.

I mean look at this smug smile! The fucking bitch is proud of being a shit human being and a terrible girlfriend.

And of course don't expect the show to call out this behavior as wrong because of out of date sexist double standards. If you think any of this is okay then just role reverse Eugene and Rapunzel here and then tell me its still alright.

The Show Missed a Real Trick By Not Naming Him Horus Instead

Horus, the sun god, would have been a nice bit of irony and given meaning to the name while keeping the joke virtually unchanged. You could have had both lore and a punchline.

And I would argue that the joke as is, isn’t even funny. Horace is indeed a lame name, but not for the reason that the show gives. It’s lame because it’s not unique enough. There’s already a Disney character named Horace and I’m sure there are real people out there with that name as well since it’s not completely unheard of. So the joke falls flat and winds up insulting anyone with that name.

Don’t Expect Any Pay Off for Eugene’s Identity Issues This Season

Yeah the show makes a big deal out of Eugene having a mid-life crisis through out season three, but then never resolves it in any meaningful way.

Edmund Is an Asshole

I don’t care how “crazy” he is. Calling someone by a name they don't wished to be called is just plain rude. Acknowledging someone’s preferred name is just a basic common courtesy that is expected of everyone. Once again, this isn’t funny, quirky, nor charming, just unpleasant.

So the Animators Wasted a Model on a No-Named Character Who Only Appears Once

Someone said this little girl appears in season one, but it’s not noticeable if she does. She also doesn’t have a name and this is her only speaking role. What a waste of money. Just have one of the braided girls from the movie instead. You already built models for them and haven’t really used them.

And before some mentions race here, this is poor rep already cause the character has no impact.

Turns Out, Varian Didn’t Even Need Those Truth Serum Cookies

Not only does this dumb down Pete to a ridiculous degree, but it also invalidates everything Varian went through in The Alchemist Returns and the grief he got from everyone for using the truth serum.

Oh, and it’s also lazy writing and a plot contrivance.

That’s Not Figgy Pudding!

This is Figgy Pudding.

It’s a boiled “pudding” that’s more like a cake with dried fruit in it. During the 14th through 18th centuries such bread puddings were made to be carried around in ones pocket or knapsack for eating on the go. They’re nothing like the creamy custards we call puddings today.

It also looks nothing like what’s shown on the screen below.

That’s like a half eaten loaf of wheat bread?

That’s jelly filled .. apparently...?

Once Again, If You Have to Make Everyone Else Incompetent to Make Your Hero Useful to the Plot Then You Need a New Plot

Rapunzel has zero business in this plot. She doesn’t even need to be in this episode beyond a cameo. Trying to cram her into the protagonist role in a conflict that doesn’t involve her is just a disservice to everyone.

Winnie The Pooh Is More Mature Than This Show

More of that meta commentary I was talking about last episode, and it just as full of shit as ever.

Seriously Find Her, Keep Her is the best script I have ever seen in any show. It’s perfectly balanced so that anyone of any age can relate to it. It’s real and heartbreaking and perfectly suitable for small children to understand. There’s no shock value, no darkness, no modern satire, but its far more mature and complex and deep than anything TTS has tried.

Also Rabbit is a far better father than any dad in this show, while still being cut from the same trope. There’s no shame in being a children’s show when its done well and this now 30 year old kids show runs rings around what ever mess Tangled is trying to sell.

Eugene Isn’t Exaggerating Here and I Don't Know How to Feel About That

Turns out Eugene did grow up with these guys the same as he did with Lance. It’ll be confirmed only two episodes later. That just recontextualizes everything. He didn’t just betray some rando guys that he held no feelings for, he betrayed people that he’s known and worked with since childhood.

Now just because he’s known them doesn’t mean that they were family to him like Lance, but like the fact that he keeps claiming then as such through out the episode would suggest that perhaps they were like siblings.

That’s ... ingenious. That makes Flynn Rider retroactively an even worse person and gives the Stabbingtons real reason for vengeance.

Only the show doesn't do anything with this! It just makes Eugene an even bigger jerk in the movie for zero reason.

Let Me Reiterate, Edmund Is an Asshole

Just like with Frederic, Cassandra, and Rapunzel the show uses framing to try and make the audience side with people who do unforgivable things.

Edmund is an abuser. He neglected his own son for 25 years. But the show presents him as “funny” and “quriky” and “look at his pouty face, he’s so lonely”....

No!

Edmund isn’t deserving of anything and how he treats Eugene here is garbage.

This show is utter crap writing wise but boy does it know how to gaslight its own audience into siding with bullies and abusers.

Eugene Is One Thousand Percent In the Right Here, But Don’t Expect the Narrative to Acknowledge That

There’s nothing you can do to make up for that.

Eugene might forgive him. Eugene might move on from it. Eugene might decide a relationship it still worth having with Edmund. But the horrible thing still happened and it happened because Edmund allowed it to happen. There’s no going back from that and everything going forward has to be on Eugene’s terms alone.

But the narrative won't allow Eugene that agency.

Even as he makes his grand proclamation about being done with Edmund the cameras chooses to focus on Edmund and his feelings. The story is already priming the audience to prioritize Edmund over Eugene so that when the forced and contrived forgiveness scene comes we won't question it. But it only comes because Chris doesn’t deem Eugene as individual person with thoughts and feels of his own, but as an avatar to fulfill his wishfulment fantasy regarding his own personal daddy issues.

Rapunzel’s Characterization in Season Three is Just....Off

Ok, even ignoring the major stuff, like not recognizing what she’s done wrong, putting her into roles she’s not meant to carry, and making her a shitty girlfriend suddenly, Rapunzel just behaves contrary to her character all through out season three even in small subtle ways like here.

On the surface this seems like a clever call back to Great Expotations, but lets examine more closely, shall we.

On one end we have yo-yos; an invention that’s been around since ancient Greece and is so wide spread across the globe that the word “yo-yo” itself is theorized to come from Indonesia and the Philippines.

On the other end there is Rapunzel. A woman who spent 18 years isolated inside of a tower, because of this she is both ignorant of somethings and insatiability curious and eager to learn. Or at least she was, until striking out onto a year long road trip, and having now been out of the tower for only two years, claims to know better than the entire fucking world about this object who’s existence she didn’t even know about until only a year and half ago!

Like what kind of sense does this make? Why would you abandon the core of her drive and motivation, to learn, explore, and grow, and then call it “development”?

How Did Edmund Get Beat By These Guys?

Edmund took out Adria. The Brotherhood is suppose to be the best physical fighters in this world and Edmund is supposed to be best out of all of them. Yet he’s taken out by two random, mediocre dudes who didn't even jump him. They gave him time to respond and he stood up to fight them.

Was all his physical prowess tied into that axe? Is the axe magic?

If you characters have to be depowered for unexplained reasons for the plot to work than you haven’t a good plot.

This Isn’t as Heartwarming as You Think It Is Show

If Edmund knew where Eugene was this whole time then he could have actually provided for his son. He could have arranged adoption with someone by letter, sent money, food, clothes, ect, maybe even wrote to Eugene directly and kept up a long distance relationship to be there for him emotionally.

There is literally no excuse anymore for Edmund to hide behind. He literally neglected his duties as a parent, just cause.

Finding these things shouldn’t make Eugene happy. Finding these things should piss him off even further because that’s how any logical adult would respond to this bullcrap.

I sure know I’m angry. I’m angry that Eugene is a pawn for the creators’ writing wank-off rather then being treated as human being; as an actual character.

“Nice” Isn’t the Same Thing as Kind, Rapunzel

One could argue that she’s not even superficially nice in season three, but the real problem here is that the show, and by extension Rapunzel herself, doesn’t understand the difference between being “pleasant” and actually being a good person. Outwardly polite people can stab you in the back, can kill you even, and not care, as Rapunzel has demonstrated repeatedly since season one.

Do They Have to Be “Family” for Eugene to Give a Damn?

Can’t Eugene just do the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do? People don't need to be friends and family to care about each others lives. Kindness isn’t transactional. Empathy and true charity doesn’t come with strings attached. If Eugene’s whole arc is about becoming a better person, then making the Stabbingtons “family” kind of undermines this.

Don’t Reward the Dude for Doing the Bare Fucking Minimal

No seriously. Edmund forfeited the right to ever be called “dad” by Eugene a long fucking time ago. He doesn’t get to be called that now just because he stopped being a piece of scum and showed the bare minimal of human decency. Even if Eugene decides to have a relationship with Edmund after this, it doesn’t mean that he has to be recognized as his dad or that that relationship will be a parental one.��

Eugene, and by Extension the Show, Places Rapunzel Upon a Pedestal to the Detriment of All

Only 4 villains out of 20 get redeemed in this show. Four, and yes I’m counting the Stabbintions as one entity here. That’s 16 times Rapunzel failed to give someone a second chance just cause she didn’t feel like it that day, and even here she did fuck all in trying to give the Stabbingtons any sort of chance. That was all on Eugene.

The more this show goes on, the more it looks like Eugene is just in love with the idea of Rapunzel rather than who she actually is as a person. It’s a disservice to both their characters but it damages Rapunzel most of all because the show perpetuates this over idealization to everyone she interacts with.

It’s really sickening to watch and terrifying to know that some uphold this selfish brat as a “role model” for little girls. There’s nothing empowering in being an inhuman “goddess” who can do no wrong....even as they do several wrongs and never gets called out on it.

This Isn’t “Cute”

Eugene can’t even have an opinion on a fucking toy!

Look if you still like New Dream despite how horribly written it is this season, then good for you. That is completely understandable, especially since this is mainly a problem with season three and not really in the first two seasons and certainly not in the movie.

But if you try to deny that they aren’t toxic in season three, that people who do have problems with how they’re written aren’t valid in their concerns, than you’re either someone who hasn’t been paying attention or someone who has gross double standards for women in relationships.

This Scene Is A Waste of Time

This doesn’t tell the audience anything. It contradicts what was previously established concerning her powers without explanation and then just throws the creepy girl voice in there for a lazy hook. It doesn’t work at foreshadowing since we repeat this info all over again in the next episode and it doesn’t expand upon neither Zhan Tiri’s nor Cassandra’s characters.

In fact it kind of contradicts Cassandra’s characterization in the last episode as well. Is she a remorseless bad bitch or a vulnerable woobie? She can’t be both. Not in the way show is going about it anyways.

It’s poor time management and poor storytelling.

Conclusion

It was mildly better than Rapunzel’s Return, but that’s not saying much. Everyone’s character is still circling the drain and there’s no escape line in sight.

But before I close out, here is a real world update. I had to quit my job at Amazon for personal reasons and am currently job hunting. I’m not hurting right now, I do have money saved up to cover me for at least a month and I’ve been doing commissions here and there, however despite having more time technically to write these reviews, I’m now having to juggle it along with artwork and job hunting.

If you would like to support my reviews and other personal projects you can send me a tip over at Ko-Fi and more public commissions will be opening soon over there as well.

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#eugene #anti-rapunzel #anti-tangled #tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure

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deberiaestarescribiendo · 3 years

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Summary: Javi hasn't called...again, Isa tries to distract herself making a new friend, but she doesn't know that her intentions are far from innocent and are tied to Javi crossing paths again with someone from his past.

Warning: cursing, mention of violence, threats, anxiety, kidnapping. Very hateful characters from the show 👀

A/N: I'M SO SORRY THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED ALMOST A MONTH AGO. I will try to finish this before this month ends. I think I could wrap this in one chapter more and an epilogue probably.

Just a small warning. This is a work of fiction and the intention is merely to develop a little bit more of a character I adore, Javi Peña. There's mention of the drug cartel, the violence they inflected in Latinoamérica (and as a Latina it hurts me very deeply, believe me) and the political involvement of different governments and agencies but this is not a political statement or trying to do other thing than entertain.

Chapter VII: Smart Choices

Isabel had never been a very popular girl, always the shy one in high school and she made a very small group of friends in college. But as everything in her life, there was a before and after since her life changed and she had Elvira.

She could not go to the club with her friends, their conversations about their new graduate’s struggles hurt her since she had to drop out, their heartbreaks and adventures had nothing to do with her life surrounded by diapers, feeding bottles and sleepless nights and so one day the phone stopped ringing, their friendship was limited to birthday parties and Christmas postcards while she became a mum and a wife. And thus making her world a very small universe with her child at the center and Javi and her turning around her.

So when that lady at the supermarket, Judy, called her she didn’t think anything weird out of it. Instead she was happy, excited to have another struggling mum that needed some comforting from somebody that understands her as much as she did.

“I’m sorry I took the liberty to ask for your phone number, I have a friend that goes to your mum’s salon and I ask her for it” she had said the first time she called.

Judy is a funny and very quick and intelligent woman. When they got their first coffee together, Isa barely asks any question, Judy fills the conversations so Isabel never has the chance to ask when she is meeting her kid or who gave her her phone number since she knows every client of her mother’s salon by heart and nobody mentioned her ever. But Judy keeps the conversation flowing, sharing her tragic story about leaving Colombia out of a very tough situation with a guy and creating a new life for her and her kid in the USA.

“It must have been so tough” Isa pounders

“Colombia back then was a bloodbath, you had to navigate the streets in survival mode, always looking behind your back and praying to come back home safe” Judy explains

“My husband worked in Colombia for a few years”

“Oh really? When?”

“80’s early 90’s"

“Well, he must have known. So sad! it is a very beautiful country...”Judy’s gaze is fixed far away as if she’s remembering something

“I guess it’s difficult to talk about it, my husband never shares much”

“Mm” she hums, she opens a golden lighter and gets the flame close to the cigarette on her red lips “What did he do there?”

“He worked at the Embassy” she’s not lying but she prefers not to specify, and now that’s past, the details are not really important

“Oh! and that’s what he’s doing in Mexico now?” she asks exhaling a white cloud of smoke making a perfect o with her lips

“Not exactly”

“He must be careful; I heard things are following the same path we suffered back in Colombia”

“Yes...he’s...smart, I’m sure he will be fine” Isa answers more to convince herself than her new friend

“I saw in the news the other day how a few civilians died during a clash between two fronting cartels and then the police. Very, very horrible images" she smacks her lips

"I haven't watched the news…" the knot in Isa's stomach grows tighter, Javi haven't called back even if he promised he would

"They kill anyone that is on their way, civilians, gringos too, DEA agents…" the Colombian woman casually brings the coffee cup to her lips when Isa frowns at her

"What did you say?" She asks

"They kill civilians?" Judy smiles uncomfortably the corner of her lips stretching up

"No, the last part"

"Gringos...DEA agents" she repeats

"Why did you say that?" The knot gets tighter restringing her throat and her question is just a whisper

"I… assume Javier must be…"

"I haven't told you what he does"

Judy gasps and bats her long black lashes a few times before changing her face to a complete cold expression, her glossy lips now a tight red line

"Look, Isabel, I think you are a very smart woman…" she starts

"I'm leaving"

Isabel pushes her chair back to go but the other woman's hand holds her to the table, her perfect manicure claws making her stay

"Sit, don't do anything stupid" Judy spats, the brief confrontation has alerted the waiters and they look at them intently until Judy gives them a very warm apologetic smile

"Who are you? What do you want?" Isabel tries to hold herself but her instincts is crying for her tu run, to get her baby back and look for Javier

But Javi could be anywhere

"You know your husband and I met, many years ago" she continues smoking "we worked closely in the hunt of Escobar" she smirks "I admit I was surprised to find him married and with a kid. He used to be involved with a very different type of woman"

"What do you want from Javi? If you hurt him I swear…" Isa mutters

"You must have been really special. A magical pussy" she laughs "or are you that dumb and naive that he lied to you and believed it" she crosses her arms over her chest, looking with a smug face from the white cloud of smoke "do you know what he did in Colombia? Do you know what he's capable of?"

"Where is he? If you touch him I swear to God I kill you" Isa tries to contain the tears, to seem strong but fails which makes Judy smile wider

"Oh! So you are an idiot little girl. Better keep up, cielo, if you want your husband alive"

México

A constant, something that keeps on proving itself to be right: shit does follow him. He tries the breathing techniques that the doctor showed him but the bag on his head stinks like rotten meat and the heat inside the van is unbearable. He finds a little solace feeling Steve's tigh pressed against his. Both of them rocking back and forth with each bump on the road

"Connie is going to kill me" his friend says

" If they don't kill us first"

"Callense cabrones" one shouts and Javi hears the muttering insult Steve pronounces before receiving one hit himself

He feels the vomit running up his throat, the smell, the heat and the fear have mixed themselves on his stomach and he can no longer calm himself down. He’s about to die, he knows it. About time, my friend, I elude death for so long in Colombia, so many close calls and now I’m about to die in some unknown part of Mexico because of a fucking middle age crisis I couldn’t handle.

He tries so hard to close his lips and swallow, breath, Peña, breath. The only cold thing in this van is the thin silver chain and medallion he wears around his neck.

This would be a marvellous moment to do some magic, old man Javi says to himself and that old saint around his neck. What did Isa call the old man engraved in it? Saint Jude. Okay, Jude, show yourself, please. This is actually a lost cause, it’s your field of expertise, c’mon

“Andando” the sicario pushes him out of the van before he can even process they have stopped the vehicle. The man grabs him by the arm harshly and guides him forward, the sun pierces the black bag over his head but he can’t only perceive the light and the sound of the gravel under his boots.

Suddenly the light changes to a white light and he feels the temperature lowering: a house with air conditioner and there’s a soft murmur of water but otherwise the house is silent. Javi memorizes those tiny details, it’s the only thing that could eventually help him if they’re held hostage and not killed right away.

The sicario pushes him and for a few milliseconds Javier thinks he’s about to fall hard to the ground but ends up on a chair. Then they pull both his arms to the back without any care and handcuffs him there.

Javi jumps from his seat when he hears the loud thump of the door closing, still in the dark and without any sign of company, he calls:

“Steve…”

Nothing

“Your friend is in the other room”

He could recognize that fucking voice anywhere, is engravated in his brain, in that part of his head that is capable of the worst, that tiny espace where he keeps every hateful and the worst people he has met, Bill Stechner being the number one on that list.

“I was so happy thinking you were dead and crawling back to hell” Javi sighs before he’s hit by the clarity in the room. He blinks fast until his eyes are adjusted to it again. It’s a nice room, wide and scattered by a few pieces of furniture covered by white sheets, the dust in the air makes evident it has been closed for a long time.

“So was I thinking you were rotting old in your father’s little ranch but here we are”

His beard is greyer and the already receding hairline is back a few inches, but he looks exactly the same, tha smug stupid face is looking at him from above. That smirk of “I’m always five steps ahead from you” the same he had when he made him leave the Embassy before catching Escobar and the same he had when he tried to take down Cali. But now he’s here in Mexico, what the fuck is he doing here?

“And, do tell, please, why the fuck do are path cross again?” Javier spats

“Oh! I didn’t want to cross paths with you. I must admit I found it funny when I saw who was managing the account for our textile export, but you, being the noisy stupid man that you are “ Stechner approaches him, his smirk freezes in a tight line “had to call your friends. And you see, you’re mending on my business again”

“So you switched from the CIA to the Narcos?”

“Javier, javier…” he sighs “You are always focusing in the wrong things and not in the bigger picture”

“The bigger picture being…” Javier rolls his eyes at him

“You wouldn’t understand, I tried a few times in Colombia and you ended up fucking it all up” he shakes his head

“So what do you want from me now?”

“Well now that you are here fucking everything up again I’d prefer if the repercussions go to the right direction”

“Which is it not yours, I guess, or whomever you’re working for”

“Yeah” he laughs and points at him “you’re smart when you want”

“And wouldn’t it be better to kill us right away?”

“Oh, you see, my associetes want to do it” Stechner nods “The really don’t give a fuck. But I told them that you could be of service”

“You’re really delusional if you think…”

Stechner interrupts him “And if you weren’t willing to cooperate we could always resort to the good old ways” the man walks to a nearby table, over the white sheet there’s a manila folder. Bill opens it slowly, that stupid smirk back at again on his face, relishing on the desperation and fear in Javi’s eyes.

Please, not Isa, please not my child

“Your wife made a new friend, it’s a small world after all, isn’t it?” Stechner shows him a picture, he recognises the cafe, Isa is seated talking to another woman he hasn’t seen in years.

“Judy is very nice when she wants” he takes out another picture, this time Isa is on the backyard playing with Elvi “You have a very beautiful family”

“If you touch them, motherfucker” Javi tries to get out of the chair, he doesn’t even care if the metal from the cuff cuts his wrists. He just want to do what he has wanted to do since he started working in Colombia and crossed paths with the CIA

“They won’t, it is entirely upon you that this is just a simple anecdote. I promised I’ll try to control them...if you do what you have to do” Stechner shrugs and throws the pictures to the floor where they rest in front of Javi’s feet

“What do you want?” he murmurs, his gaze is fixed on those images trying to see something, when were they taken? how does he know if they already hurt them?

Please, please he begs and his vision is starting to blurry

“Well, my associates will appreciate it if the DEA will center its efforts on our common enemy. You see it right? it’s the same story all over again; the enemy of my enemy is my friend…”

“I’m not DEA anymore”

“Are you? I mean you’re here with your dear Steve in an ongoing investigation that mainly relies on your testimony so…”

Stechner roams around Javier’s chair “It’s not like you haven’t done it before, Javi, think about it as if you are involving yourself with the lesser evil, there will be a time to capture my associates, but not now”

“Just go back home and when the time comes you can assure the DEA that those terrible horrible people that are getting that poison in our beautiful country are involved with our common enemy. What is the difference between one Cartel and the other? It just a matter of time they both get caught” he continues

“Why are you involved in this?”

“We’ve done this many times, Peña, let it go. It’s better this way or do you want to end up like Kiki? or better yet, your beautiful wife or your kid?” Bill points to the pictures of the Peña’s family “think about it”

And he thinks about it, the hate and the fear burning in his chest. So many years protecting himself in covers of solitude, brief encounters to relieve the stress and alcohol, protecting his heart from this fear and pain of getting his family killed for his job.

You did this to them, you looked for it. Now what?

Isa (Laredo)

She drives fast, fast as she has never driven before. She has always been a very responsible person and even more when she became a mother. Elvira is seated on the back, her little hands holding the seat hard and she has called her a few times, her voice shaky and scared.

“Mami, where are we going?”

“To Grandpa’s, honey”

“You’re too fast”

“I know, but we need to get there now”

The screeching sound of the tires stopping abruptly on the road has alerted Chucho who now waits with the porch lights on when they get out of the car.

“Mija, what’s wrong?” he screams

“I think Javi is in the danger”

#Javier Peña #Javier Peña x ofc #Javier Peña fanfic #Narcos #Narcos Fanfic #Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal characters #Pedro Pascal fanfic #Javier Pena #Javier Pena fanfic #Javi Peña #pedro pascal fanfiction #Pedro Pascal fic

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buddha-in-disguise · 4 years

Text

I'm not going to review the season finale in quite the same way as I've usually written something afterwards. I'm ultra tired due to distinct lack of sleep. So it is more truncated than I'd intended. Also unedited so advance apologies if something makes no sense or is misspelled etc.

The episode was facing the challenge of not only being edited after COVID-19 shut down production, but what was intended to be the penultimate episode became the finale. So I'm trying to take that into consideration.

First part in Kara's loft. It was choppy. Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against the humour, or the scenes in general. Although they missed the glaring opportunity to place a "flew here on a bus," moment! It felt pretty disappointing they didn't recognise what has become an iconic line within the SG fandom, and made it even more iconic.

Before the bus though, back at the loft, considering that Lena had literally only just arrived at Kara's, with all that entails, it felt completely out of place for that context. Did it have been overwhelming heavy at that point? Absolutely not. But it was too close to slapstick at times for me and internally I was cringing. I admit, I'm not sure where they could've put it in, but perhaps if they'd just lowered it a fraction, made it a little more subtle a couple of times, it would've helped for me.

Some of the dialogue (especially early on) was also all over the place for me. It did get better as the episode wore on, but I wonder how much was the need to redo parts of the episode because of COVID-19? Unless they think to put an episode as intended in a future season DVD (perhaps S6 DVD), or someone gives us full details via an interview we will probably never know.

Which brought me to one piece of dialogue that I wish they'd not put in at all!

In 5.18, as I've spoken about a lot on Twitter especially, the way Lex screams into Lena's face, and Lena's flinch, and how that had been me 20 odd years ago. They then had the line as Lena talks to Kara; "Go ahead. Scream at me if you have to, I know I deserve it."

I know for many, they'd just see it as a line to use, but .... for many of us who have suffered abuse, who recognised (& in some instances were triggered) by last weeks episode, to not have acknowledged why that line was so problematic is worrying. It heavily suggests they're not going to address Lena's trauma and abuse because they really don't understand it (& again, if anyone believes she didn't suffer trauma and abuse, but accept others in SG do, go away with your bias from my page), but considering they haven't addressed much of Kara's trauma, particularly watching Argo destroyed again, being stuck for months during Crisis like they were, etc - then I guess it isn't a surprise.

But it is uncomfortable as hell to watch a line like that glossed over.

Overall though, I did enjoy the episode. Once that 1st half was over, especially (baring a few moments, including watching Alex do her badass Mission Impossible meet Cirque du Soleil moment because that was awesome) it felt much more like SG of previous seasons. So that was great.

Watching Lena as she watched Alex and Kara hug behind her was so emotional. Watching siblings love unconditionally. Something she thought she had with Lex, only to realise he hadn't changed at all. Lena didn't need to say anything, as once again Katie's acting brought all the emotion Lena was feeling to the fore.

Having Lena and Alex mirror they choice of words in regards Kara was pretty iconic. Then having Alex whisper, "Jinx." really made it work.

Seeing Dreamer in her element, including some great lines again. "I can't believe you left to fight Earth, Wind & Fire without us." "Guess they didn't take the bait? Maybe you should've been meaner?" As they begin the fight with J'onn, M'gann Alex and Dreamer - Alex to Dreamer: "You ready?" Dreamer. "Nope." Alex. "Me neither." Dreamer at her best imo.

Kelly going all, damn my girlfriend is hot & I want sex right now despite the circumstances was pretty cute and funny.

The Kara and Lena monologues being in unison. Now that was pretty amazing and one of the best parts of the whole episode imo.. But again, you feel as if they're matching Lena and Kara together with those scenes as a couple.

Lena not only protecting Kara, but stopped Andrea from going down a dark path as Acrata. Was also great.

Last frame of Lillian. Does it turn out she is the head of Leviathan? Because again they laid out more than once the leader was a woman. It has been noted several times now in different episodes. I was hoping Lena's biological mother, considering she knew of the legend of Acrata, but it is now looking more likely this reincarnation of Lillian is who it is, unless it is a character we've not been introduced to, but I highly doubt that.

The 2nd half of the episode was what we missed so much this season. In fact aspects throughout the episode were missing for too much this season.

This includes the women being the focal point of it. Brainy though absolutely rightly taking a strong subplot to what else was going on. J'onn ably supported by M'gann. M'gann who managed to advise Nia on embracing her dreams and not trying to avoid part of them. Dansen actually working together and both being badass in their own way (after all, this is something I've advocated for much of the season, & while fantastic to see, it never should've taken this long. Now where have we heard that before?)

But we still have glaring unanswered questions that I can't imagine would've been answered in 5.20.

Every indication since 5.17 is Kelly knows Kara is Supergirl. Yet we don't know for certain, because they've failed to show us how or when. I've said before, considering every other person who knows Kara is Supergirl, we had them tripping over themselves to explain to the audience how it happened. I'm pretty annoyed that we as the audience don't get given the same courtesy with Kelly. This is why so many of us feel short changed on some characters this season. The really aggravating thing is would only take a few lines to clear it up!

Now onto Alex. This ties in with J'onn. Where are they getting the money to survive? Did J'onn manage to accumulate enough over all the years he was on Earth to finance everything & pay Alex a wage? No clue.

Also, are Kelly & Alex living together? Or do they have keys to each others apartments? Yes, Kelly was at Alex's in 5.17 so the answer is pretty much yes, but nothing has been said! We knew more about Brainy & Nia's living arrangements from 5a than we do Kelly & Alex.

Kara's trauma. Lena's abuse & trauma. See above.

Lastly, the one most I know want (except a few vocally against), leaning towards Supercorp becoming canon. Again for another season, we end up with the, 'Maybe they'll do it next season.' being said. Particularly as in 5a they really went all out on Supercorp parallels to Clois and at times Dansen, plus even a little on Brainia. But unless something pretty fundamental changes behind the scenes, they're going to recognise what their biggest draw is, keep baiting but never fully go into it. And that is what I fear the most. When you've got media, even non-Supergirl fans saying it, but the show refusing to acknowledge it - that could be their legacy, and it will not look good or have a lot of fans look back kindly on them for it.

The 4 seasons it took for Lena to find out Kara was Supergirl was, in the end, terribly executed. This waxing and waning as well of; is Lena good or bad? Will she follow in the Luthor footsteps?

She is flawed. She's made some pretty awful mistakes. But now they're said she is good. She isn't evil or a villain. So now that line they've drawn needs to stay there! No more ambiguity on her character being a villain.

But you know what's not good? Feeling you can't trust the show to draw a line under that aspect of the character. That doesn't mean you have to have any one of them not be flawed, or to even cross some lines (they've all done it at some point, some moreso than others, but not one character is innocent).

When the show is now generating that level of mistrust on how they could handle future events, that is a problem.

Season 5 overall (particularly 5b) was absolutely horrendously bad. It had some moments of sheer brilliance (either individual scenes, or some episodes), but the rest was just flat out awful. Irrelevant. Messy. No cohesion. 5b became too much of the Lex Luthor show. Certain character additions were vastly unpopular and definitely caused down turns in viewer numbers (& again, from far more than a section of fandom). As did keeping Lena away from everyone for so long.

To sum up. Season 5 was a disaster.

Season 6 needs to have considerably different direction to even try & pull back some viewers (if they can at all). Distrust is rife.

The worst is no-one in the cast deserved this, especially as they're so talented. Some of the performances, even with how poor much of the season was, have been magnificent. But as the saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

I've never been so relieved a season is finally over. We'll watch our favourite episodes for sure, of which there aren't many, but a full rewatch of the season we normally do will not be happening. Some episodes were better off consigned to the trash.

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