#two things: a) ambiguous ending bc canon stupid

[nyc-pizza-rat]

saw @bloodydeanwinchester's tags on this post so

*TW: SUICIDE IDEATION TYPICALLY DISCUSSED IN RELATION TO THIS EPISODE PLS TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES*

dean's always hated being stabbed. god, he'd have taken a bullet to his head over this any day. what's one last thing that doesn't go his way, he thinks.

it's uncomfortable, is the thing. the hurt, he'll take it. it's nothing he doesn't deserve, nothing he hasn't had before. but the feeling of metal slicing your innards, it's a bitch of a thing. you can never get used to it.

Atleast, he thinks, Sam's here. Atleast, he's able to say goodbye. Atleast he's not alone.

His nerves are all alight, pain painting him bright from the inside, but dean can feel the finality of this burst. it's all too fast and too slow, all at once. dean thinks about being four and the sharp sunlight waking him in his room, his sheets with hot wheels on them. he thinks about baby's headlights shining through thin motel curtains. thinks about....about angels and gods and all that blue light behind his own eyes. he thinks if this is how.. how cas felt, when dean had been stupid and cowardly , when he'd let Lucifer get to him, that night in Washington. he wonders if his soul feels like this too, all sharp angels and live current. he wonders what cas ever saw in him, why he ever tried to save him, even in hell. wishes he could see him, one last time. that wouldn't have been all that terrible.

Still, he thinks. Sam's here. Sam's here. Sam's okay.

he jolts into himself, and realizes that he's been talking, that he's been saying something to sam. he doesn't even know. dean is unraveling. he can feel his body emptying, the slickness of blood at his back.

he grabs at his brother, fists a hand in his chest. Sam's face is twisted in sorrow. Fuck. I love you, little guy, he thinks. then, fuck, don't let me go. i don't want to go. shit's never happened the way he wanted it to, but this is something else. Atleast. well, atleast he's gonna end up in the empty. that's what Billie promised him, right? Atleast he'll be with cas.

Still, Still. he's only human, and he's drowning in his own blood, can smell it, can taste it, it's everywhere, it's —

"I need you to.... to tell me... that it's okay," he says, and his voice comes out trembling, panicked. terrified. God. "I need you to tell me that it's okay."

his brother turns away from him, and dean can't hear him over the ringing in his ears, but he knows the stubborn bastard, the way his shoulders lift. God. God. Cas.

"Look at me," he pleads. "I need... I need..." he can't breathe. god, he can't breathe. "Please, Sam. I need you to tell me that it's okay."

Sam's face swims to the front of his line of sight, all warped like it's on the other side of a fishbowl. dean clutches at his brother harder. tries to, anyway. he's so tired. he's so fucking tired.

his fingers slip.

Something warm, and sam holds him in place.

"Dean...," and in another world, dean would've made fun of the blubbering mess he's become. would've teased him for caring so much about his stupid older brother. "it's okay. It's okay. i— I got you."

it's crazy, dean thinks, that it helps. the tone of his brother's voice. his face, even warped and cracking open with grief. dean raised this kid, and it was a bitch of a job, and man, did he hate it at times, but look at sam now. he did good. he did so good. he did —

dean goes under like he's being put to sleep. almost easy, almost soft. Thanks, he thinks, the last coherent thought in his head. Thanks, kid.

~

He wakes up on a road. The sun shines down bright like it's the start of summer, and there's this pleasant warmth in the air. the world around him is golden, stretching into the horizon on flat land where it meets the brown mounds of the black hills. dean blinks up at the mountains, a strange chill crawling down his spine.

"You're here early," a familiar voice says, and dean turns to find himself standing in front of Bobby's porch. light's drenched this whole place, too, making the wood panelling look blond. Bobby's fucking smiling. Shit. Shit.

dean's starting to feel disoriented, almost.

"And what's 'here' supposed to be, exactly?"

Bobby frowns, his smile slipping. he looks at dean like he's a right fool. "Heaven, dean," he says. "where else'd you think you'd go?"

dean thought.... Fuck. there's a strange emptiness pushing at the inside of dean's skin. he feels like he's been put together upside down. Billie.... Billie....

Billie's in the empty, and fuck. maybe grudges don't get passed down to the new death. fuck. fuck.

Dean stumbles to the porch steps, crumples on them when he can't go further. Absently, he's aware of Bobby moving behind him, the creaking of his rocking chair, his footsteps on the wood.

he stares out at the grass, the outline of the mountains, the clear blue sky. it's beautiful. it's nothing. it's empty. fuck. fuck. what the hell is dean supposed to do now. without — what the hell is he supposed to do?!

Bobby's hand is warm on his shoulder. dean feels small, the way he leans into it, the way he kinda wants to cry.

"what's wrong, dean?" Bobby asks, and his voice is all wrong , like he's tried to scrape the gruffness out of it and badly. dean could laugh. but. fuck. fuck.

why the hell is he here? why is he here?!

he swallows. shit's never really gone his way in life, so why would it in death? he swallows again. says, "i don't know, Bobby."

Me, he thinks. I'm what's wrong.

"i don't know."

[magpod-confessions]

Hi, no worries about my og ask being deleted, because I’m a weird little freak that writes drafts for my asks in my notes app. So here’s it again:

This is a completely personal opinion, and I’m not faulting anyone for having this headcanon, but I absolutely hate Asian Melanie headcanons, specifically Chinese Melanie.

The reason why is because I am Chinese, and I hate the idea of sharing anything in common with her.

But also, I don’t really like any PoC headcanon for Melanie. I’m not black so I can’t really say how bad it would be, but to me, headcanoning one of the most physically aggressive characters in the show as black is… not great.

And I understand that there are a lot of PoC that relate to Melanie, or see her anger as righteous fury that so many minorities feel.

But to me, she is 1,000% white, mostly because her anger sounds so entitled to me, she’s like “I fought tooth and nail for everything in my life” and it’s… a YouTube channel. Not “I worked so many jobs trying to climb the ladder but everyone looked down at me.” (Which Sasha did have) or “anywhere I go, people look at me with scorn.”

All her anger and the only thing we see that she’s angry about is that she became a meme.(an oversimplification, I know) And maybe she did have to work a lot of jobs until she got to where she is, but we never really hear about it, so it’s a moot point.

I am of the opinion, that all the characters that don’t have a canon race, are written as white, because Jonny Sims is white and he wasn’t trying to write a story about race. But for a lot of them, making the a PoC doesn’t really change their story, but I’ve seen people think otherwise.

The one I’ve seen most is saying that if Jon is brown, it changes his story because of the way Jonah was manipulating him and that he is a victim of police brutality, but I don’t really think that would really affect his story, because Jon isn’t a character that, to me, takes his race in to account for how others treat him. However, Melanie definitely is, if she were anything other than white, she would be loudly declaring the racism that she is met with all the time, as is, she only talks about her experience with sexism.

And I know I’m digressing, but it annoys me to no end when people are like “Jon has to be white, because if he were a PoC he would have been suspicious of Elias, and wouldn’t have been so shocked that he was the murder suspect. And if you think that he could be brown, you’re stupid and racist” And then they’ll turn around and say that one of the other ambiguously raced characters is a PoC.

Like, you’re going to say Jon has to be white because he he didn’t think he was a murder suspect, but turn around and say Martin “you’re the police” Blackwood isn’t one of the whitest characters in the show.

Race doesn’t really make a difference for any of the characters, but some do have more hints of being stereotypically white than others, and Melanie is definitely one of them to me.

Sorry, this got long. And once again, to be clear, I don’t really mind people headcanoning any character as any race, if I see something I don’t like , I just try to scroll past, and I never say anything on the post. I just needed to vent about the general situation of race in TMA, and put my two cents in. (Melanie was just a good starting point for it, and the one I personally have beef with) (also, sorry if it’s confusing, it’s pretty much just all stream of consciousness)

Anyways you can all tell me how wrong and racist I am if you want. 🗣️

Ask that ties to this

Yeaa I definitely see what youre saying. Personally I dont think much abt characters races, bc yea. The majority of it is rly ambiguous but I definitely see what youre saying - rosette

[spica-starson]

Hey sorry to bother you again, but you mention theres some difference from the donghua and the novel of land of miracles, can you tell me about those?? thank you very much

Hey! It‘s genuinely not a bother omg I always love to talk about them so feel free to send me asks whenever :D

Alright so funny thing is I‘d planned to do a comprehensive list sometime ago but I never got to it so I‘ll just do it now ahaha

- The biggest difference is the physical intimacy between Fa Hua and Lan Ge due to censorship. In the novels, they consistently hold hands from start to finish every time they need to power up and use the abilities of the Peerless Bead together. But of course the censorship couldn‘t have that, so all we got was them occasionally grabbing each other‘s wrists or touching palms in place of a hand hold 😩 it‘s better than nothing, but yeah…I just absolutely love how the grew so used to it over time and that holding hands is the norm but…oh well

- Another huge difference is how Hongbao was much less targeted as a „potential love interest“ in the novel. The donghua most likely did that to make sure it isn‘t too gay or the censorship will get their ass 😔💔 that scene in episode 36 where they talked about Hongbao while they were drunk doesn‘t exist in the novel, instead we had this iconic ambiguous af scene that made me go 🤨🏳️‍🌈⁉️:

You could interpret this scene in many ways, but what was most important to me is that by this point, both of them already accepted that they may be connected for the rest of their lives and are okay with it. Compare that to LG fussing over this and being disgusted at the start qwq and FH who was so against this bc he didn’t want to feel whatever LG was feeling now simply laughing at the notion and teasing LG, I just— *sOBs* MAN. They make so me insane. OTL You can interpret this scene a million ways and most of them does not have any hetero explanation like- JDFKDJDKSJK

No wonder that when they actually do adapt this scene later on (oh and they split this scene in two in the donghua), they changed Fa Hua‘s dialogues to be less ambiguous and even Lan Ge‘s to (again) circle back to „the girls“ even though that never happened in the novel lolol

Like I said, definitely to make sure the censorship doesn‘t shoot them down 😭 and to probably balance out the gayness in the next ep LOL (episode 37, my beloved…). Alas, some things had to give just so they can keep the other iconic scenes where they were mistaken for a couple and LG calling FH his boyfriend in front of his parents :“) even then the donghua diluted some things too ahaha (but at the same time made the scene more sweet too ???? Bless u donghua team ur a hit or miss but when u hit it‘s *chefs kiss*)

- The mention of Hongbao was also only added in the end as an afterthought, framed more as FH worrying over someone who literally sacrificed her life for them. Not only that, they actually also changed how Hongbao got the life stone from the Green Sea of Life. In the novel, she snatched it from them when she searched their bodies after they failed to run from her. In the donghua, they gave it to her after she protected them from the Heavenly Devils in episode 34.

- Lan Ge‘s personality in the donghua is a lot more…exaggerated? Probably to accentuate his cuteness ahaha so I‘m not gonna complain, but LG is a lot less…stupid in the novel JDJDJDK he still has his clumsy and stupid moments, but usually FH‘s there to knock him down a peg or two LOL

Tbh I like the donghua‘s interpretation of LG a lot, but what I wish they didn‘t change was him canonically having a beautiful singing voice. It‘s in his name dammit!! (蓝歌 = Blue Song). I wish we got to see him sing more qwq granted he doesn‘t even sing that much in the novel either but…I wish they showed him singing well in the donghua instead of what we got…

- They also showed much less bickering and banter between FH and LG in the donghua :( it‘s one of my fav moments of them in the novel, but I get why they had to cut it (screentime constraints and all that). But I reaally wish they kept FH‘s sassiness and bluntness with others too…like this man is absolutely ruthless especially with LG when it comes to dissing LOL but it also extends to other people he doesn’t like like Shenglian and Xiao Zhan. It‘s honestly insane how much they held back in the donghua 😭👏👏👏 I drew one of the funniest interactions of them here ahaha

- Fa Hua’s personality largely stayed the same, but the donghua did make him more…easily flustered around women who show interest in him ? In the novel he‘s actually quite dismissive and has a huge idgaf energy…😭 this is probably one of my biggest gripes with the donghua dhdjdhd but to be fair they also made him softer around LG too so I guess you win some you lose some LOL

The scenes in question were when Big Golden Goat Lady (who btw, they also made her to be all flustered when talking abt marriage??? When in the novel she was very matter-of-fact and pointedly not shy whatsoever, mainly focused on how FH would be an asset to her clan lol, and saying how marrying him would dilute the purity of the clan), LG teased FH about it and all FH did was glance at him and say „Childish.“ to him telepathically without all the embarrassed fussing lol. Oh and they also removed this dialogue between FH & LG,,, they‘re so damn silly bro i can‘t omfg

And another scene they excluded in the donghua was a scene where they were working together with the Five Commanders in the Thunder Legion. FH chose to work together with the only female Commander, Leng Lan, and she obviously didn‘t trust him. But only reason for this is bc she and her brigade was the only one he was familiar with bc they met them already and LG told him about her brigade earlier 😭 that and he was confident in his abilities regardless of who he chose ahaha

(I kid you not…FH smiled and laughed so much because of LG in this arc. Specifically, after That Hug Scene in episode 31/chapter 118…I had to stop reading bc my heart was so full lmao. I am so SO glad the donghua absolutely nailed this development bc the amount of times FH smiled/laughed bc of LG in S3 is twice as much as S1-S2 combined qwq <3)

Idk it just feels like to me that TJSS was reaallly hammering down how FH isn‘t interested in any of the female characters at all throughout the entire book 😭👏👏 like the female cast aside from Hongbao (and Shenglian) were mostly there to drive the plot forward + world building.

It‘s like a subverted harem where the main male chars are surrounded by women who want to marry them but also not bc they aren‘t even interested in them and just need something from FH & LG lmao (the tiger sisters wanting to piss off their dad, golden goat wanted someone as strong as her to help her clan, Shenglian wanted the Peerless Bead).

I love how it shows how each of these female characters have their own ambition and aren‘t just there as „potential love interest“ for the boys but also show FH and LG‘s lack of interest 👍 it‘s a nice change from the usual ahaha. To be fair I do think the donghua managed to show this too, but the novel did it much better imo

- Another scene they changed slightly was the scene where they saw each other naked JDNFJDK and yes in the novel they had no clothing whatsoever lol and LG didn‘t have emergency clothes for them (that was only bc of censorship lolol)

FH‘s reaction was also quite different from the novel ahaha he was much more…crazy ???? Mad. Furious. Yes HDNFJFKDK-

He already apologized once like in the donghua, but they didn‘t immediately make up and needed some time to cool off by themselves bc FH literally beat LG up immediately 😭😭😭 LG was initially gonna let FH beat him up without much complaint bc he felt guilty, but then FH just didn‘t seem to be stopping and grew madder so they ended up beating each other up and wrestling JFNFDNDJK

"I'm sorry." Fahua's voice was a little hoarse.

Lan Ge was stunned for a moment. It had been a long time since they knew each other. This was the first time he heard Fahua actually apologize.

"The body, hair and skin are given to the parents. According to the tradition of our jurisdiction, except for the parents, the body cannot be seen by others casually."

"Then what would happen if I saw it?" Lan Ge asked curiously.

Fahua glanced at him, "Not much."

(this almost makes NO sense bc he was SO friggin mad that he thought LG saw him naked bc of his domain‘s traditions and apparently it meant nothing ??????? Nah. Nah man. I refuse to believe that LOL I mean you could argue this was the first time anyone‘s ever seen him naked which is why he overreacted that way but omg 😭 my intuition is saying sth else is at play…maybe he was angry the thought of being forced to marry LG HAHAAHKDJSK or maybe this is how he reacts when he‘s embarrased, or maybe all of the above :3 who knows. We already know nudity is one of the few things that can crack his stoicness ahaha)

LMAOOO WHY ARE THEY LIKE THISSSS

also LG crying out bc he didn‘t want to be the woman „why can‘t you be the woman?“ and FH‘s just like „can we not talk about this?“ while pouting ????? Ohmygoodjdjdh 😭👌💕💕💕

And of course, there‘s the scene where Lu Ying found them naked back in the house in the Green Sea of Life and just casually told them to continue what they were doing LMAOOOO I WISH THAT WAS ADAPTED BUT I GET WHY IT ISNT SHJDHSJS

(I drew a comic for that here!!)

- Hongbao is also quite different in the novel, and the Director actually admitted that they changed her to be slightly softer in the donghua. She was much more stoic and doesn‘t comprehend human culture like boyfriend-girlfriend, she’s colder and aloof even till the end of the book after she was reborn as a human girl. She only started to understand human emotions after she turned into a human at the end of the book.

- Hongbao‘s scene after the final battle with LG‘s parents were much, MUCH better in the novel. A lot of fans actually (rightfully) complained on weibo bc it was nothing like in the novel, instead the donghua snuck in another „come be LG‘s potential wife!“ joke even though by that point Hongbao was obviously intended to be more like family to FH & LG and learn how to be human through them and their families. In the novel it was only Xiangyun who mentioned that (bc Lan Xiang have always been more lax when it comes to LG marrying) and it wasn‘t done in an exaggerated manner either:

It‘s one of my fav scenes especially with Hongbao and I too was so upset they didn‘t include it :“) bc Xiangyun showing Hongbao warmth of a mother and family is so so important to her development as a character 😭💖 and seeing FH and LG as her family…sigh. Alas…

- Lan Ge‘s kindness

We know LG is a kindhearted person despite his flaws—FH wouldn‘t have loved him if he wasn‘t lol. But there are some scenes they didn‘t include in the novel that really show his consideration especially towards FH and explains why FH slowly warmed up and opened up to him.

For example after they met again at the Tri-Domain Competition, LG was shocked when he found out FH didn‘t have a place to stay and begrudgingly (but still willingly) planned to pay for his hotel room so he wouldn‘t have to sleep on the streets :“) Obviously they ended up not getting a single room bc it was all booked (they were so close to a "there was only one bed" situation damn…) but they did end up sharing a tent HAHAHA (eventually anyway when LG finally stops being a petty ass lmao)

And there was this scene after they started training together in earnest:

(P. S. LG sweetie wdym you‘ve always been observing him every day that you know his habits and that he takes a bath everyday (this was mentioned in an earlier chapter haha) 😄😄😄 sweetheart…

Oh the scene in the donghua where LG followed FH and saw him bathe before accidentally falling into the pool didn’t happen in the novel ahaha but it’s a welcome addition :3 I do think the donghua does a better job at showing LG being in denial about his attraction to men Fa Hua and it‘s sooo nice to especially see it in the deleted scenes ahaha)

But yeah, FH seeing how LG is actually quite generous and kind despite his brashness and arrogance, willing to pay for his hotel room bc he was about to sleep on the streets and considerate enough to get FH something to eat because he noticed FH was broke and ate nothing but crackers everyday…whose heart wouldn‘t be warmed by this ??? 🥹

And this scene after they met the Big Golden Goat and she treated them to the fish they caught:

The way LG—who complained nonstop about having to eat the bland crackers throughout the trip at sea—willingly ate it without complaints OR FH asking bc he didn‘t want to mess up FH‘s cultivation ?????????????:):):€/)/&-&-&

LIKE,,,, imagine this from FH‘s perspective: the person who obviously has a big appetite and loves to eat and is never against complaining his discomfort quietly follows your lead and only consumes the thing you‘re allowed to eat in solidarity without complaint and because he was afraid of messing your cultivation. If that isn‘t an act of love idk what is 😭💖💕💕 their love language really is acts of service ahaha

And FH being the little shit that he is (and obviously happy and touched at this gesture from LG) just never told him until that very second LOLLLL I love them so much byeeee OTL

- The scene that the donghua actually built upon is the scene in episode 34 when they had to part ways after basically being stuck together for 3 years qwq I absolutely LOVE the donghua‘s version omg and they nailed the quiet affection they have for each other and the discomfort of having to physically separate and be away from one another 😭💔

Fahua stood on the shore until the ripples left by Lan Ge dissipated, then turned and walked in the direction of the City of Wisdom.

Ever since they had the relationship of Wushuangzhu, they were together most of the time, and they were somewhat uncomfortable when they suddenly separated. In fact, it is impossible for them to be truly separated. Whether it is cultivation or spiritual communication, they maintain an extremely close connection.

— Chapter 124

*head in hands* they make me feel so ill….

- ok I’m gonna start talking about scenes from the last arc bc this is another scene that I hold so dear to my heart and absolutely gutted me when I realized they didn‘t have enough time to fit it in qwq

Any scene that starts with "Night fell" in the novel, you know it‘s gonna be sweet as hell 👌

Just- this whole scene + BBQ scene deserves a whole episode alone man 😭💔 but alas…

FH who‘s smiling more and loves messing with LG and LG who‘s grown so comfortable with FH and wants to show him the things he loves…we could‘ve had it all…

- Another scene they sadly couldn‘t fit in the donghua was this scene after the BBQ scene. Honestly I have no complaints bc the donghua made the scene even cuter than the novel, but it lacked the sheer hilarity of their interaction and FH trolling LG HAHAHAHA

Oh and in the novel, the BBQ scene is the first time FH drank alcohol, not just eat meat! I thought I should mention that bc I felt it important to his character development and relationship growth with LG :D bc FH has always avoided alcohol bc of its side effects, but he felt safe enough to drink and let go with LG at his side;;

Anyways here‘s the scene of FH being an absolute troll (and LG getting his revenge for all his bullying only for it to backfire LOL):

And another scene after they realized the Heavenly Demons have arrived where FH immediately told LG "I understand. I'll stay with you." They did keep a part of this dialogue but not all :“) which is a shame bc it gave us an insight on how they felt at that moment in time.

Basically LG called out to FH in his heart and FH replied faintly "There‘s no need to say words of gratitude." bc he could tell LG was so, so grateful he stayed just for him even though they should be running away, but at this point, their relationship was already beyond that. So instead LG deflected and said "For the sake of your willingness to stay with me, let's forget about the beef tongue just now!"

And Fa Hua only replied with:

"Speaking as if I can live if you die." Fa Hua's body paused for a moment before he accelerated again and headed straight for Thunder City.

Lan Ge was a little dazed while speeding up. Why did this guy's words seem inconsistent? Could it be that he was also a little nervous?

Like…omg OTL I really wish they kept this bc there‘s a lot of unspoken stuff between them and I love it qwq

- Even though the donghua did sneak in a really funny scene of LG‘s parents suspecting LG actually being in a relationship with FH and going „No way…right?“ in the novel they actually explored it more even if just a bit ahaha

It just showed how his parents would be totally okay with him being in love with FH as long as he either took on the job or got married LMAO

- "I would love the whole world for you."

「为了你我愿意热爱整个世界。」

They actually managed to reference this line in the donghua for a split second ahaha and I loooveee how they used "and the most important one…is you." in place of that bc I literally lost my mind during that scene BDNDBDK BUT !!! I wanted to talk about the significance of this line and why they had to remove it due to censorship.

This line "For you, I would love the whole world" was the name of the chapter (Ch 164), and it is also the name of the autobiography by the author Tang Jia San Shao/TJSS, where he narrates the 16-year love story between him and his (now late) wife, how their friendship and love persist over the years. The fact that he used this specific line for FH & LG is so— OTL it just shows how he wanted the readers to know that the love between FH & LG runs deep and changed them both for the better, how important they are to each other. That and…his wife passed away due to cancer while he was writing this novel. I will forever be grateful to him for still pushing through despite the obvious grief he lived in and wish him nothing but the best;;

Here‘s the scene from the novel:

While it is true that the ultimate law of fire is warmth, they were much more upfront of the true nature: THEY USED THE POWER OF LOVE !!!!! It‘s so clinche and corny and I love it so friggin much 🥹💖💕💕

And the way LG was all like „For whom do you love? For whom?!" as though he’s daring FH to say it outloud and FH not even denying it,,, them not wanting to acknowledge it bc obviously it‘s EACH OTHER 😭✨ man,,,, my embarrassed bbys ilysm 🥰

TJSS had no intention of being subtle in the novel that they do love each other—the nature of the love is intentionally kept vague so we can interpret it however we want, but the fact that they‘re also clearly written as soulmates is so— *chef‘s kiss*

We also got to see them hug nonconsensually aka forced by the Peerless Bead and they were like „ewwww get off!!!“ afterwards as if they’ve never hugged before (remember FH comforting LG with a hug…and LG hugging FH’s thigh…yea…) LOL it was so silly of them dhsjshajajah

- Chapter 118/Episode 31: "Good boy."

Saving this for last because it‘s 1) my favorite, most beloved scene in the entire book and 2) the donghua actually nailed it 100% and made it even better. Pretty sure all the budget went to that episode omg 😭🫶✨ which is so real of them bc it‘s THE most crucial scene in the whole book, especially when it comes to LG & FH‘s relationship. It created a very subtle shift in their dynamic in that…they know now. They know how much they matter to each other. Not just bc they could feel each other‘s emotions, but because of their actions.

In the novel, FH was willing to sacrifice his cultivation in order for them to survive, in order for LG to avenge his parents, and when LG saw FH…LG saw the back of his mother as she was sacrificing herself for him, and he snapped. The donghua turned it even more emotional and dramatic by making them nearly lose their lives but it works, bc it still followed the core of the narrative.

All that matters is for us to know just how important this was to them, and to show how LG who was passively suicidal defy death bc he wanted FH to live. That he didn‘t want FH to sacrifice himself like his parents did. And FH now knew just how much LG cares about him too qwq sigh. Man. This scene was done so incredibly beautifully and respectfully, and for that alone I‘m willing to overlook all the other flaws of the donghua ahaha

Here‘s my favorite excerpt from the novel:

Fahua felt the holy power in his body like a blowout, and felt the blank ninth page of the god-given code slowly opened. He lowered his head, looked at Lan Ge who was hugging his thigh in a daze, raised his hand, and gently stroked his head, subconsciously said: "Good boy! (乖!)"

Lan Ge suddenly let go of his arms as if he had been struck by electricity and jumped up in an instant, "Good boy, my ass!"

But Fahua laughed, with a gentle and happy smile, and surprisingly didn't diss him again.

Lan Ge also laughed, yes, they succeeded,

You remember how gentle FH is around children right? And he would often praise them with "乖" when they hug his thigh and clamour around him…I think LG definitely reminded him of them in that moment, clutching tightly to him, desperately, because he didn‘t want to lose him at all. He‘s so irrevocably fond of him and they love each other so SO much I just— *collapses*

FH‘s always been very gentle and patient with LG (when he‘s not being a bully and manhandling him lolol) especially in the face of his grief, and it all came to a head in this scene, where LG was struck with the fear of losing FH and being left behind again, where he was forced to be honest with his feelings and have it reach FH…god this scene is so peak. And the donghua did it perfectly.

Anywho hmm…I think I got all the important differences hmmm I can‘t fit in any more images anyway but if I did forget some (and I‘m sure i have lmao) I‘ll just add it under a reblog or sth :D

I do think the novel does a good job at keeping their relationship relatively vague and ambiguous while still catering to danmei enjoyers and keeping itself genuine and true to itself haha.

I heard TJSS actually wanted to write a BL but he realized it wasn‘t working out the way he wanted so he changed his mind and we ended up with this gem XD and honestly I wouldn‘t have it any other way bc that‘s what makes FH & LG so special to me (but that‘s just me).

(Plus censorship has been growing even more strict sadly and in a way…it‘s a good thing Shenlan Qiyu isn‘t a „true“ BL bc we might not have gotten 3 seasons worth of content in that case in this day and age 😭💔 ughhh)

[ao3feed-tedlasso]

stress relief

https://ift.tt/1l7TzMq by trentcrimminallybeautiful (biDEMONium) Trent's--nervous. He's never done something like this before, and it feels insanely risky and stupid and hot. He just... needs something to take the edge off. Needs to get out of his own head for a while. Needs to let go. And he doesn't exactly have anyone he can turn to for that, so--anonymous, in a somewhat official environment (that is to say, an establishment that was generally considered safe for this sort of thing) would have to do. Just his luck that only the second time he lets himself have this, two of Richmond's coaches walk through the door.   Or: Trent gets strapped to a bench at a sex club; Ted and Beard happen to be there and end up fucking his brains out. Words: 10931, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Ted Lasso (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M, Multi Characters: Trent Crimm, Ted Lasso, Coach Beard (Ted Lasso) Relationships: Coach Beard/Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso, Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso, Trent Crimm/Other(s), but only the ted/trent really has romantic vibes Additional Tags: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Smut, filthy filthy smut, Trans Trent Crimm, Trans Author ;), Sub Trent Crimm, Wet & Messy, Semi-Public Sex, Sex Club, Free-Use, Unrealistic Sex, honestly trent's being. not very safe, but nothing bad happens to him., except lack of aftercare which is indeed bad but he gets some later!, Vaginal Sex, Creampie, very brief mention of breeding kink but it's not a major theme, Double Penetration in Two Holes, Triple Penetration, Anal Plug, Bondage, Restraints, Gags, unrealistic use of ring gag. bc fanfic lied to me and i refuse to let go, Light Angst, bc poor trent is VERY stressed, mention of homophobic language/workplace, Praise Kink, Trent Crimm Has a Praise Kink, i WILL make that a tag. he also has a bit of a humiliation kink btw., Mildly Dubious Consent, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, but they're super into it and talk a bit, Under-negotiated Kink, Oral Sex, Ted Lasso is Good at Sex, Ted Lasso is Good at Cunnilingus, Ted Lasso's Canonically Huge Dick, Objectification, in the sexy way. being used like a toy ;), mild degradation/use of 'slut' and 'whore' but in a fun sexy way, Threesome - M/M/M, Unfortunate Workplace Relationship TBH, Anonymous Sex, until it isn't anymore (for ted/trent/beard), 'oops! u and ur bud accidentally fucked ur semi-enemy (semenemy?) from work!', both beard and ted fuck trent but they're not romantic and it's implied pre tedtrent, but you can interpret it how you want i mean they're buds fucking a dude tgoether so, like ted and beard aren't a couple but they ARE fucking weird. so trent wonders, ambiguously s1 (?) could be read as later but like pre s2 finale, timeline? i dont know her., do NOT try this at home. or at. public, also did no research on how this would work realistically irl, we are going off vibes and sexiness alone. so basically dw abt the logistics, i did think abt it but i dont wanna spend time justifying it when the point is:, trent getting FUCKING RAILED, POV Alternating, i plan on adding more but the first ch is fine standalone, a bit of subdrop, Porn with Feelings, NOBODY look at me btw. do not look at me, once aaaaaagain not my best work but it's OUT ! source https://archiveofourown.org/works/59702851 October 13, 2024 at 09:22AM

[lisascumslut78]

would you tell me about your wips 👀 if i looked at you like this 👀 until you told me 👀

OKAY!! finally had time and energy to do this i'm sorry 😭

okay so. most of these are like. darna/darlentina/reginarda and a few odd ones (surprisingly, almost all this is filipino. huh.) but anyway.

let's get the darna/darlentina/reginarda wips out first!!

5+1 things darlentina or five times narda saves regina and one time she doesn't.

this is my baby. the very first fic i've written for this fandom and it's very very special to me lsdkjfsld. i add to it little little by little every once in a while but i dont think it's nowhere near finished (sorry!!) it's basically a rewrite of the whole show so, you know, it's going to be a big one lmfaooo. i'm going to take what i want from canon and throw the rest in the trash. still deciding if i want it chapter by chapter or just one big oneshot thing. hm.

fake dating au

yeah fake dating. although not in the way you'd expect. regina thinks narda and darna are dating. so to keep regina off her back and from finding out she's both, narda thought it'd be a great idea to throw off regina by letting her think she's dating the superhero. this was funnier in my head. this one's a very recent wip, had the thought while in the middle of class one day lmfao

woman of her dreams (yeah no im not good with this)

okay so. basically regina keeps dreaming about this girl since like. she was a child. up until adulthood she keeps dreaming about her. she never has a name, only vague flashes of her facial features, her hands, her smile etc. semi-canon. narda is still half alien, but they dont meet the same. until they do meet and regina's so shocked she falls off the balcony.

gala smut

basically what the title says lkdjflfdfg. i remember working on this when the first few weeks the show was airing and like i was running on pure emotion that time. what a time indeed. well anyway. they fuck in a bathroom. so yea.

a scene rewrite

there was just this really really annoying scene in the show that i just. had to fix ya know? like. girl. she would not say that. so yeah.

friends with benefits au

was once again driven by pure emotion with this. bc like. that would be so so good. it'd be so angsty and like. i haven't really read anything like it in the fandom before so!!

regina almost dies

yeah so if you haven't seen the show regina dies (but only briefly) and like. i wanted to fix that because of how stupid they set it up like. GIRL. she was too far from that tree to pierce her oh my god???

ALRIGHT. i think i'm done with the reginarda wips. on to some other ones i have :D

i'm just going to list some of them off since i don't really remember where i wanted them to go lmfao.

chapter two of my lilanette fwb

lilanette childhood friends au

lilanette secretly friends au

a barbie oneshot

needifer x mean girls au

okay. with this one, my sister and i suddenly had a brain fart thinking what if jennifer survived and needy moved to chicago or something and attended northshore. fucking insane i know. it was supposed to be a collab thing but my sister didn't really want to anymore so i'm mostly the one working on it.

rookie exes au

okay so. rookie is a filipino movie about the new kid who doesn't play volleyball (she only plays basketball), joins the volleyball team, and falls in love with the team captain. the captain dislikes her at first but, you know, her swagless looks and cringe fail autistic personality eventually captivates her. you know, basic shit.

it's a very... feel good movie i would say. it didn't really resonate with me as much as i was hoping it would but, it's a good watch, i think.

i wanted to imagine them not too far into the future but they're not together. (though, the movie leaves us with an ambiguous ending regarding their relationship, first off) i just love exes aus. ough. oh yeah it's sapphic.

this is entirely too long omfg. i doubt it'll be an interest to anyone but maybe a couple of people but!!! yeah i kind of wanted to share this too. kinda.

[bisexualnamjoonie]

Literally saying izzy was romantically into ed in promos and in the show anf then saying he's Ed's mentor & father figure is queerbaiting. also idk if the deadbeat eich asshole dad and the abusive piece of shit man are gay for each other that's not the queerest thing on TV especially when Rhys & Taika are two straight men who can't kiss convincingly.

thank you for proving my point that y'all need to stop using words you don't understand the meaning of op!

queerbaiting is the act, for a piece of media, of intently (meaning it is a calculated move on the creators' part, keep that in mind) portraying characters and/or relationships in a way that's ambiguous enough that the character/relationship might be perceived as queer or leading up to it for queer people, while making sure that it won't be too obvious that it doesn't make you lose your core, straight, more often that not homophobic, audience. it also means that no matter how ambiguous the character/relationship is, the person is never explicitly queer on screen or the relationship never becomes canon. the essence of queerbaiting is that you NEVER see queerness being explicitly portrayed on screen. just because your fav didn't end up with the person he was in love with doesn't make it queerbaiting. that's just life, actually. sometimes your love isn't reciprocated and the person sees you as a friend/family and it sucks. someone who doesn't love you back when you're queer isn't queerbaiting you, i can't believe i have to spell it out??? what kind of twitter-induced braindeadness fuckery

also idk what show you've watched but i seem to remember than in the our flag means death i watched, not only are the two main characters explicitly queer, but literally so are the rest of characters who get to have a romance on screen except for spanish jackie, the swede and zheng (and i say explicitly bc there's no reasons to believe those three are 100% straight). not only that, but two characters who don't get a romantic partner are queer as well (izzy and wee john). so yes this show is one of (because i said one of, not the, hello, reading comprehension?) the queerest show on tv, idek how you manage to come to my ask box to argue otherwise??????

finally, and this is what it boils down to as well, is that y'all are acting like entitled brats who are unable or unwilling to differentiate reality from fiction. let's assume taika and rhys are straight. SO WHAT. WHO CARES. they are actors, it's literally their jobs to ACT. the people they portray on screen ARE NOT THEM, they are FICTIONAL. they do not EXIST IN REAL LIFE. an actor does not have to be queer to portray a queer person on screen. moreover, actors DO NOT have to justify themselves or be forced to come out to please you. that is such a dangerous and fucked up way of thinking.

do you know what the end result will be? actors will stop on taking queer role if it means not being forced to justify themselves or come out/not being literally HARASSED and THREATENED by entitled assholes like you who think they owe you their entire existence (they don't owe you shit, especially NOT their own identity). queer creators will stop creating content and putting it out there if it means being insulted, accused of being queerphobic, and even threatened everytime they make an artist decision y'all don't like. how can y'all be so fucking STUPID. y'all are the queerphobic ones. your pseudo purity and incapacity to look further than your own ass will be the end of queer media.

[convenientalias]

Brief Belated Review of "Mine"

Since I made a couple posts about Mine on here sort of recommending it, I thought I would do a brief belated review on what I think of it now that it's been a couple weeks since I finished it. When I first finished it, I was kind of like "...huh", and felt vaguely disappointed, but wasn't really sure why. Now after thinking it over, there are still some things I really liked about it, but it didn't really live up to its potential.

Spoiler warning--I do discuss the ending in this review, though not in great depth.

The Good

The female characters all have their own motivations and are really interesting. The actresses playing them are great too. You have a range of people: some nicer than others, some more rich and powerful than others, some older or younger than others. You get wealthy wives who pretty much are expected to just be wealthy wives at this point in their lives due to familial expectations (they're mostly okay with this). You get a rejected mistress who wants to win back her man and, more importantly, reclaim her child. You get a servant living a Cinderella story but feeling ambivalent about it. You get an old matriarch with anger management problems. You get major conflicts arising between women, women supporting women, and women having sexual tension with women.

I have a hard time finding female-centric shows that I like, especially thrillers (always open to recs btw), so all this was very exciting to me.

Mine is also very aesthetically pleasing. The sets of large, luxurious houses are appealing. The outfits are all elegant and lovely. I actually found myself wearing more dresses than usual while watching this show bc Seo Hi-soo's wardrobe in particular kept on reminding me how nice it is when a skirt goes swish swish.

The Not-So-Good

I'm not sure everyone would agree with me that this is a flaw, but while this show starts out with a lot of female characters in conflict (Seo Hi-soo vs. her mother in law, Jung Seo-hyun vs. Kim Yu-yeon, Seo Hi-soo vs. Kang Ja-kyeong), by the final act, basically all female characters have either ended up on the same side or faded from importance, leaving the major conflicts to be about one man being Just the Worst, that man being of course Han Ji-yong.

The argument in favor of this development could be two-sided: first, arriving at one central conflict rather than eighty separate conflicts makes the finale more streamlined. Second, having female characters cooperate to take down a sexist and abusive man is a feminist plotline. So I guess both of those aspects of the ending are good. I actually really liked Hi-soo, Ja-kyeong, and Seo-hyun teaming up together for the most part.

However, it does make things much less interesting--and honestly, while the female characters all have their own arcs that bring them to the point of cooperating and becoming better people, the fact that they are ALL better people and ALL getting along by the end makes the women of this show feel kind of toothless. This is a show that starts with a murder flash-forward and heavily implies one woman will end up murdering another. By the end, not only do no women die, but the murder turns out to have been essentially defense and therefore justified. And wasn't even committed by a major character! This show spent episode after episode having its female characters grow more aggressive in their fight against Han Ji-yong, and all three major women threaten to kill him at some point, but in the end, it doesn't have the guts to follow through on these threats. Its women have to be good people :) :) so the murdering is foisted on a minor character, who is not even shown as really guilty of murder bc she did it in defense.

This is a thriller! Can I get some morally ambiguous main characters please?

I also thought the way Ji-yong went from kind of an asshole to a complete villain was pretty stupid. If the show wants to condemn him for bringing his mistress into his home, or for abandoning her in the past, or for lying to his wife, that makes sense. For him to continue mistreating women also makes sense if that's how he treats the women in his life. Do we need him to be secretly funding an extreme fighting ring? Hiring assassins? Do we need his lies to be shown as the reason his wife miscarries, and for this to be treated as a natural result he should have foreseen happening? No, we don't need any of that. I feel like Mine started out with a kind of boring Ji-yong, and then just threw all kinds of bizarre character traits and backstory details at him in an attempt to make him interesting. Making him a user and abuser of women would have been enough.

Overall Thoughts

It was a fun show. I don't regret watching it, and I would recommend it for femslash lovers--though the canon femslash is pretty boring, it's still great to see canon lesbians, and Seo Hi-soo/Kang Ja-keyong has amazing enemies to lovers potential. But I do think getting so focused on Han Ji-yong was a mistake, and the ending was very anticlimactic.

[gayjoshrusso]

Yo, you good after that spn finale or...? Cause like, that shit was wack.

(fair warning this absolutely became SUPER long so buckle up my dudes here’s a rant from someone who finally came back to this show after years (i kept up with it over the years and always wanted to go back but didn’t until the end) and is super pissed. also shout out to all of those who stuck through. y’all the real heroes. anyways, here we go)

THE ABSOLUTE WACKEST

so wacked that when it went to commercial break after Dean died I literally laughed. bc it was SO UPSURD. dean was literally like:

when Sam could’ve just called the ambulance? Like I get it, there’s decapitated bodies on the ground, they’d be suspicious. but like Sam could’ve quickly hid or burnt them as they waited for the ambulance while Dean still could’ve said his goodbye. and like, even if Dean didn’t want Sam to and just him die, he said that there was no time and that he was fading and yet they just? kept talking? and yes i cried bc jensen’s and jared’s acting were beautiful and all. but like? OF ALL OF THE WAYS DEAN HAD DIED IN THE PAST AND COULD’VE STILL IN THE FINALE?? THIS IS HOW HE DIES?? BY A RANDOM GOON FROM A RIDICLOUS MONSTER OF THE WEEK LET ALONE FINAL ‘VILLIAN’ WHO JUST LIKE...ACCIDENTALLY SHOVED HIM AGAINST A HOOK/POLE/WHATEVER THE HELL THAT STUPID THING WAS. LIKE DEAN FREAKING WINCHESTER?? i feel like they were trying to go with a ‘mundane’ ending bc this entire episode was them going back to like s1 without connecting to any plot and just them being two hunters again. (i’ll get to all of that in a sec) but like 1) going the mundane route is a terrible way for him to go unless it was executed extremely well which it was the opposite of. and 2) it was so incredibly anticlimactic and just an entire spit in the face of his character development.

and you know what? even if they still kept his death like that and pretty much else the same, I’d be okay with the ending if they changed just two things 1) brought freaking Cas (and Jack) back since he apparently helped jack create this perfect heaven for dean and everyone else, (i mean bobby literally said that this was the Heaven that he deserved. you cannot convince me that Cas didn’t explain all of this to Bobby and said those exact words that this was the Heaven that Dean deserves). And 2) at least brought the dead characters back when Dean was in Heaven. Instead Dean was like “I could see my dead parents but I’m just going to take a long drive in Baby whichcasmadeformebcheknowsmesowellandlovesmesomuchandwantsmetohavetheperfectheavenbutimnotgonnaackloweledgeanyofit and drive until Sam dies and then I’ll say hi to everyone I lost and been away from a lot longer than I’ve been away from Sam”. Like how beautiful would it have been if we saw Mary and John like we did in the 300th episode? And everyone else they had lost over the years? Like, I know that montage at the end of 15x19 was supposed to be the final ‘honor’ of all of the characters, but this is the finale. And as much as they kept on trying to say that this show was always just about Sam and Dean, it evolved into Sam and Dean and people they’ve cared about over the years. They were important too! Especially Cas. The show literally became Sam, Dean & Cas but he’s just gonna be mentioned twice...okay. Which brings me back to my 1st point. THEY SHOULD”VE BROUGHT CAS BACK IN HEAVEN. like we got a mention with Dean smiling and Bobby giving him a Knowing™ look but besides that, not only did we not see Cas I’m left with so many more questions. Like how did Cas help make Heaven with Jack? Did Jack bring Cas out of the Empty and just didn’t tell the brothers? Or is Cas still in the empty but helping Jack bc he’s just that damn good? But if he did bring Cas back, how did he help Jack create this new Heaven? Does he have god powers now too?? and yet when Bobby mentions this, Dean smiles (granted it was a cute smile bc to me it felt like a sorta ‘that’s my cas’ smile) not questioning the fact that the last he heard Cas was taken by the Empty to never return again and Dean wanted to honor his sacrifice by living (which don’t even get me started on that) and now he helped create Heaven with Jack. Dean doesn’t even look that much surprised. Which actually makes me think...did Dean know that Jack brought Cas back from the Empty this entire time but had to keep it from Sam bc... ✨reasons✨ and that was why he said that about missing them and having to honor their sacrifice and live, even though all of the other times Cas died he went batshit out of his mind? But not this time, bc Dean actually knew that Jack brought him back. omg was Cas the dog this entire time??? with Cas’ newfound powers did he just like morph into the dog so for some reason Sam couldn’t know bc...you know....✨reasons✨ okay i’m getting delirious here. let’s get back on track. my whole point is, Cas should’ve been there. and even if they wanted more of an ambiguous ending for destiel (which don’t even get me started on THAT) they could’ve at least still had Cas be there to also welcome Dean there along with everyone else. Like, as much as I love Bobby, how more beautiful and fitting wouldn’t it have been if Dean saw Cas there who explained everything there before Dean reunites with all of his loved ones? Cas deserved to be there (and Jack while we’re at it). HE FREAKING HELPED CREATE THIS NEW HEAVEN. He deserved to be there. like tbh I was desperately hoping that he’d at least appear in Baby when Dean started driving. BUT NOPE. 

but you know what, back to me wishing we got other important characters in Heaven, if we did I think it would’ve been better if both Sam and Dean died together and reunited with all of them together (which they prob will in canon since Dean ignored them until Sam came back akhsjshjshsjh). like would Eileen be there? which reminds me, speaking of Eileen, WHERE WAS EILEEN?? was she in Heaven this whole time like Bobby was? and who tf was Sam’s rando wife?? UGH. you know how i’d say i’d accept the finale if they just changed it to where Cas (and possibly Jack) was also there along with some of their dead loved ones? i’d prob still be (barely but it would 100% be better than this) but MAN this ENTIRE EP from the beginning was just WACK. like the beginning showing the ‘ordinary life’? i didn’t really mind it that much bc it seemed like that was the natural way to go. but for me personally, I was hoping and wishing that their journey was realizing that it’s not just them anymore and they both end up happy (maybe still hunting) but with their loved one by their sides (especially Cas and Eilleen). but you know, I’m used to not getting what I want and understand that what i want for a story isn’t necessarily the same as the storyteller’s/natural narrative progression. i may hate the the direction and think that it’s a load of crap, but whatever. but this? the entire narrative was OFF. like what even was the point of those weird mime-pires (who btw my sister couldn’t help but compare to clowns 👀.) and not to mention that random lady from like s1? it all felt off but I was hoping it was leading to something. only it lead to Dean’s wack-ass demise. also like, poor freaking Sam. he had to grow old, without his brother and any more family members by his side. which (someone eloquently pointed out) was what s1 Sam wanted but definitely not s15 Sam (not that s1/pre-series Sam wanted his family dead or anything he just wanted to live a normal life and start a family without his family) And we don’t even know who the hell his wife was and how the hell that happened. also, at least he mentioned missing Cas and Jack. but WHAT ABOUT EILEEN?? 

which brings me to one of my main problems with this whack ass finale (and there are PLENTY more I can talk about) their cohesive narrative between this ep and the rest of s15 and even longer, is just...not there? it’s like they forgot about everything they built just so they can go back to the basics of Sam and Dean. and like, I get it, they’re the heart and soul of the show. they’re supernatural. but like, it also grew more than that? like what was the point of them being parental figures to Jack? what was the point of their 12 season friendship/relationship with Cas? what was the point of all of their connections that they made on the way? and you know what? what was the point of this show lasting so damn long if both of Sam and Dean’s character developments just went ✨poof✨? like as someone who just recently came back to the show, I could just think that this was another early season episode but both of them looking older. (not saying that early seasons were bad. i LOVE early seasons but like as a storyteller and a viewer you want your characters to idk GROW and KEEP that growth). 

ANWAYS this became WAY TOO LONG and all over the place and everyone els e is saying all of this too, but I just needed to vent. basically, i’m not doing good from that wack ass finale my friend. sam and dean both deserved to grow old. and Cas deserved to come back (like the show became sam, dean, AND cas, for YEARS like don’t even get me started on THAT bc i could go on and on about how they did him/lgbtq+ community/his fans so dirty) and destiel deserved to be canon dammit (like what was the point of his love confession if they weren’t ever going to mention it? they could’ve still had cas die without that. but since they did it needed WAAAY better resolution dammit) and the finale deserved to have a better freaking cohesive narrative. 

Again, so sorry this became such a long ass rant. But I guess I needed to rant. Also, please no one send me hate for this. These are just my thoughts that I needed to get out. Anyways, how are you doing this this whack finale, Nonnie?? And thank you so much for the question!

[tiffgeorgina]

fuck it black monday soulmate au

this one goes out to brit pricevore and that damn quote rt about hating soulmate aus. also to all the time i wasted in the shower last night thinking about this. brit if you’re reading this i have done my part. 

this fic is sponsored by the hyuna and LE collab that i cannot stop blasting. it’s called blacklist and it kind of invented music

-ok so im starting with mo and dawn because of fucking course i am

-mo spends like four years in prison starting from when he’s 20 or 21 or sum shit. around this time, dawn’s getting her MBA from northwestern. as soon as mo’s out of prison, jammer stakes the jammer group and hands majority ownership over to mo. alright so mo needs some employees he can’t do all this by himself. so he schedules an interview with dawn and meets her and realizes that this is His Soulmate. 

-im not really certain what the exact soulmate au would be for this because frankly i don’t care, i don’t want to get into that rn lol. but it’s something obvious and clear-cut, like seeing color for the first time when you make eye contact with your soulmate or smth. Actually i rly like that idea so im gonna roll with it. Fuck it you see color the first time the first time you touch your soulmate (i’ll get into the general implications of this some more later on, maybe after keith/mike’s part stay tuned xx) i love me some ambiguous soulmate aus but all the relationships in this show are ambiguous enough so i’ll pass in that regard this time. also in this universe, your soulmate isn’t necessarily regarded as your romantic partner for life. some conservatives/evangelists/fundamentalists/traditionalists will consider any marriage/sexual or romantic relationships with people other than your soulmate to be an abomination or w/e, and the 80s were pretty conservative, but they were also pretty weird, so a lot of people give zero fucks and will date/fuck/marry whoever. these people tend to regard soulmates as the most important person in your life, regardless of the nature of your relationship with them. some people’s soulmates are like a parent to them, and could never imagine being romantic/sexual with them. lots of people never meet their soulmates due to distance/death/etc. basically fate is not as all-knowing in this soulmate au as it is in some others. there is more to a long-lasting, successful romantic relationship than just love. back in the 40s or whatever, people would meet their soulmates and marry like two weeks later, never having had sex or a romantic relationship with anybody else, and then two days into the marriage they realize how devastatingly incompatible they are and the relationship crumbles under the strain of resentment and confusion within a year. people in the 80s have started to learn the lessons the people in the 40s never had time to figure out, so most people have some romantic/sexual experience before they meet their soulmate. besides, who wants to wait that long to have sex? not me tf

-ok back to the plot now that we got the background is down. mo and dawn meet and know they’re soulmates. so they get to know each other, but their main focus is work bc they’ve got a lot of work to do if they want to get anywhere. the company is young, dawn’s just out of school, and mo’s just out of prison. there’s a lot of ground to cover and they’re impatient asf to be rich and powerful. 

-the romance sort of happens naturally, given how much time they spend together, and they fall hard. they start dating, and when it’s great, it’s great. but when it’s bad, it’s fucking horrible. they’re both really underdeveloped as people (should i mention that they both literally just entered the workforce lol) and they just. can’t. get. along. 

-they hire some more people, like keith and yassir and wayne, and even they can tell that their relationship just sucks. they fight all the time over petty shit, and their fights always go way too far and never get properly resolved. sure, the sex is good and they want pretty similar futures (lots of money and no kids), but emotionally, in the short term, they are as incompatible as it gets. they have the same argument that they’ve had a gazillion times about promoting dawn to partner, but this time it goes a little too far. the things they say are a little too hurtful, and at this point, the relationship is a little too broken to salvage. they both know that when dawn storms out that night, it’s the last time. she moves out the next day.

-but she can’t really quit, can she? at this point she’s put in like three years of work at this place, and it’s moving up the ranks, and she’s head trader. she’s not taking a pay cut because she’s too immature to work with her ex-who-is-also-her-soulmate. so she sticks around. it’s a little awkward at first, but she and mo just come to an unspoken agreement that they’ll spend less time together and let themselves detach as much as possible, because at this point, a romantic relationship just seems so impossible, so why try? they can be each other’s most important person without being romantic partners, right? of course they can! Yeah, maybe they were just destined to be platonic soulmates. this will definitely work.

-so dawn meets this guy. his name is spencer. they hit it off right away too. of course, they’re much less compatible (in terms of long-term plans and all that, especially regarding having a family) than she and mo ever were, and the chemistry is nowhere near as electric, but at least they can have a conversation about something other than how much they hate the lehman brothers without screaming at each other. despite how much she knows she doesn’t love him like she still does used to love mo, she thinks she can live the rest of her life like this. they get engaged after dating for a year, and then married after a six month engagement period.

-mo stays single for about a decade or so. the most serious relationship he has isn’t even monogamous and it’s like, barely a year. he tells himself that he’s not looking for love, and he’s much happier to just sleep around and count his money and focus on that. everybody he ever talks to knows this is a bald-faced lie. they choose not to bring it up.

-(IM REALIZING HOW SIMILAR THIS IS TO THE CANON BACKSTORY/PLOT OF BLACK MONDAY IM SCREAMING SHGLKSDFHGLKSDRGHLS WHATEVER IM HAVING FUN) so mo and dawn are still working together and their relationship is... getting better. time heals all wounds right? well, not if you keep rubbing salt in the wound by literally working with your ex-who-is-also-your-soulmate and seeing them everyday. they know subconsciously that they could’ve been really fucking great, if only they hadn’t been such idiots in their 20s. but now that chance is gone, and they both just have to accept that. they still get into fights and shit, but it tends to be over much more superficial stuff. of course, people without fifteen years of history don’t get into screaming matches over tiny shit like they do. but that’s the territory of working with your ex-who-is-also-your-soulmate.

-so mo has this stupid fucking idea that he doesn’t even run by dawn before throwing $60 mil on it, because of course he does. so she has no choice but to go with it. they hire this kid, his name is blair, because they need him to pull this off. blair finds out that mo and dawn are soulmates who used to date but don’t anymore, and he’s really not even that surprised. of course, it’s weird to find out that your bosses whom you’re weirdly close to, who seem to hate each other, used to be in love and date and the whole nine yards and all that, but it makes a lot of sense.

-so they go off to the predator’s ball bc even rich people need money sometimes. you know that scene where they’re walking back to their rooms after that wild ass night, and mo’s like “you want to call it, or?” and dawn’s like “would if i could but im married” and then they get into a fight over collateral shares? fuck that scene entirely. let dawn find out about that 30% collateral shit like the next day or some shit idfc. instead, dawn’s just a smidge drunker than she was in canon, or maybe she was thinking more clearly than she has in a while, and she just fuckin goes for it. she kisses him, and of course he kisses her, and they... sleep in the same room that night. lmfao you know what i mean. and so starts this sort of friends/business-partners-with-benefits thing. 

-they are next level awkward when they get back to NYC, and blair and keith notice the fuck out of it. they aren’t exactly on speaking terms, so they don’t bring it up to each other, but fuck if they don’t bitch about to their respective soulmates (which i will get into)

-dawn feels soooo guilty it’s unreal. But she rationalizes the hell out of it. Her relationship with spencer has a textbook dead bedroom (which is actually sort of canon), and she signed up for monogamy, not celibacy. it’s not her first example of fucked up morals for sleeping with somebody other than her husband, anyways; there are worse things she can do (and has done) than cheat. It’s not fair that he gets to have all the sex he wants while she has to suffer in silence. So she keeps hooking up with mo even if it’s the worst thing she could do for her relationship with him (and her relationship with spencer, who doesn’t even know that she’s met her soulmate, let alone that her soulmate is her fuckin business partner [canon divergent, spencer does not find out about her and mo in 1x02])

-mo feels guilty in theory but really he’s just happy to be with dawn again in some way. They’re never in dawn’s apartment, so there’s no chance they can ever be caught ever. This is fine. They are fine.

-as one can expect, they are not fine and spencer notices dawn acting differently. Eventually she has a couple drinks one night and the guilt overwhelms her so she ends up coming clean. Safe to say she and spencer get that divorce.

-around this time, mo is telling blair about the georgina play, and blair is telling him to go fuck himself. Also around this time, tiff is getting kidnapped.

-dawn immediately suspects that mo did some stupid shit when she finds out mo told blair everything. So she goes to find him, only to find him at his lake house, spreading ashes. After he tells her he knows nothing of tiff’s kidnapping and he’s spreading the ashes of a friend, she relaxes and they spend the night together, just talking over all the shit they’ve been through. They don’t have sex that night, but they feel what they used to feel when they were together 15 years ago.

-in the middle of the night, blair calls dawn in a blind panic, talking about how tiff’s parents arranged her kidnapping for the press without telling her. Blair says, “Let’s you and me run the georgina play. That’s right, i know you knew, you’re too smart not to” and dawn says “no.” she doesn’t give excuses or anything, she puts her foot down because she will not let this kid she’s known for barely a year convince her to fuck up the most fulfilling relationship she’s ever had as soon as they get to a good place again. She tells him she’ll run the play with him, but it’s not gonna be against mo. either all three of them are fucked with mo and dawn $60 mil in the hole and blair out of a job, or all three of them can be filthy rich and successful. That’s the deal. Blair says he’ll call her back tomorrow.

-the next morning, mo and dawn are talking on the doorstep, and mo brings up the georgina play and how the kid fuckin hates him now, and there’s no chance of pulling off the play bc he quit. Dawn’s like “yeah, about that… we need to schedule a meeting with him” and mo’s like “what for?” and dawn’s like “i spoke to him last night, his fiancée’s kidnapping was a sham that her parents pulled off and he might be in the right headspace to fuck them over right around now” and mo’s like “holy shit you miracle worker” and they make out and when they walk back into the office, they’re hand in hand. 

-they call blair into the office and they basically just yell at each other for three hours. Keith, yassir, wayne, and ronnie do not know what is going on and frankly they are too afraid to ask. Eventually, they reach an agreement: blair will pull hand over 6% of georgina jeans in exchange for 20% of the jammer group, and another 25% to dawn (after they use blair’s algorithm to grab that last 30% from the lehmans). They shake on it, but none of them leave happy.

-blair’s not exactly happy to fuck over his parents-in-law, and mo isn’t happy to lose majority control of his own company. Dawn lucked out, gaining more power and losing little in the play, but her relationship with both of them is so on-the-rocks that she can’t imagine upholding a business partner relationship with them. This is gonna go so great after blair gets married in *checks watch* like two months.

-so blair gets married and the georgina play is a thing that happens (successfully might i add) and everything is kind of shitty because there are at least two relationships to repair here, and one that’s coming back from the dead. But little by little, they all get to a better place until they’re more or less back at where they were before mo told blair everything and they were all just friends except this time mo and dawn are dating xx

-WHEW and that is that on that. And by that on that i mean that on mo/dawn for this au. Dw im gonna get to blair/tiff and mike/keith and im super excited to write those too but i’ll make sure to put those in a separate post because i don’t think tumblr could handle a +7000 word post lmfao (since this post is nearly 2500 words jesus christ)

-i hoped y’all liked reading this as much as i loved writing it!! Again i love feedback and i read everything y’all say in the tags so please put stuff in the tags bc i love that shit!! Gn xx

[chiliconsharls]

hey on your post about the cut iron man scenes confirming rhodey is gay- i don’t understand how it would’ve confirmed it? no hate bc gay rhodey is >>>> but i’m just stupid and don’t understand it, especially that end scene with the guns and stuff?? would you be able to explain it?? :’)

ok so, i wanna make something clear, evidently, because like 50% of those posts are sorta shit-posting: the only actual confirmation of rhodey being gay would be to have him say literally “i’m gay” or “i like guys” or just have him date another man or someone say something like ‘hows your boyfriend?’ or whatevs (hell, i’d even take rhodey dropping a ‘he’ pronoun, idc). that obviously hasnt happened so, whatevs. 

now in the realm of subtext, i feel like there’s a lot about rhodey’s character to take in consideration. the post you mention included (tho, we can argue the canonicity of it since those are scenes that didn’t make the final cut). 

first, we have the fact that rhodey is one the most sexually ambiguous character in the mcu. we’ve never seen rhodey being engaged in flirting with any female character, not even something slightly suggestive that he might be interested in anyone (granted, i guess the same thing can be said about male character which would have us discussing the possibility of an asexual rhodey, but, well, his interactions with tony are my next point) – the only time we’ve seen rhodey dealing with female characters in a sexual/romantic manner was IM1 prelude comics & that one (1) shot of rhodey sorta oggling the lady standing next to tony at the casino scene of IM1. other than that, nothing, zero. (even rhodey’s reaction to carol’s “good luck” quote was ambiguous) 

now, further on the subtextual aspect, although marvel has written rhodey as being ambiguous where interpersonal romantic/sexual relationships are involved, they also have made jokes & puns about rhodey being with guys or just basically had moments of rhodey just not being interested in the attractive women surrounding him: 

the first thing to come to mind is obviously, tony’s quote about rhodey “guessing wrong” (which yes, it reeks transphobia, but statement still stands) in spring break of ‘87. “that lovely lady [rhodey] woke up to, what was his name? Was it Ivan?” – Rhodey tells Tony to stop because ‘they’ll believe that’ (sortof back-hand denying the whole thing, textually) – BUT it’s important to note that DADT policy was still a thing then so it makes sense for Rhodey to try to deny that in front of fellow airmen on an air force base) 

then theres another innuendo about rhodey & guys/dicks that happens actually before this scene: rhodey finds tony at the casino & comes over to him & tony asks him to give him “a little something” as he points his dice to him to which rhodey goes, serious, “I don’t blow on a man’s dice”

then there’s tony telling rhodey “if we survive this, i’ll hold your own” & rhodey replying “you had to make it weird” (again, this can count as a no-homo reply or whatever but it’s still a comment) 

not to mention tony telling rhodey “you have a big gun you are not the big gun”, which is another dick innuendo since we’re introduced to Rhodey’s big gun with Hammer saying “let me tell you something, size does matter”

ALSO in the iron man 2 novelization, which i’m not sure counts as mcu canon but some people count novelizations as canon, tony makes a comment to rhode about how he “needs a boyfriend”. 

AND then, there’s those deleted scenes (& even the actual scene that made the final cut) i put in the post you mention. which brings me back to answering your question on what i meant it confirms rhodey’s gay: there’s an aspect of those two scenes that i find sorta telling: rhodey isn’t actively interested in any of those women. in both the deleted scene & the actual scene of the air-plane, rhodey’s invested in talking to tony about the importance of the air force as a support system & about how he [tony] is a good man. in the deleted scene, rhodey actually comes to notice the girl’s presence going all ‘oh’. & then when being approached by two of them --- i’m not sure if it’s a thing of terrence’s acting or an active script decision -- he doesn’t look exactly engaged only a little chipper due to his drunken state. he even goes to joke about guns to them & im puzzled between reading that as rhodey being gay or just a big ass nerd that has no idea how to flirt with women (i mean, im not ruling out the second option either, i love my some nerd rhodey).  in the actual scene that made the cut, rhodey doesn’t even address the ladies: tony tells him “would you excuse me if i’m a little distracted here?” & rhodey interrupts him yelling, drunk, “no! you cant be distracted right now!” 

in the second scene i put in that post (later on, as a reblog), kind of the same thing happens again, this time in IM2, at tony’s birthday party: tony has a conventionally attractive girl in a short dress flying above him with his tech, rhodey comes over & the scene could’ve had rhodey trying to subtly oggle the girl (like he did in the second-long shot of IM1) but instead it has him unbothered by her & just annoyed at the situation. 

even taking from behind the scenes aspects i got material because don cheadle has talked about a lot of rhodey things in interviews since he’s played him since 2010 & he never once has made a comment about rhodey being romantically involved with anyone -- except in one interview during the CW press tour, where he said, jokingly i presume, that rhodey “has a crush on clint”. tho, he did call brie ‘darling’ a few months ago on twitter. 

now, what i mean with all of this is: there’s a somewhat solid foundation for them to make rhodey canonically gay in the mcu, if only proven by the fact that he’s almost the only secondary male character that’s never actually been shown to have an interest in female characters (not even extras) -- not to say that they cant have a character whos been previously shown as “straight” suddenly be gay bc i believe anybody can be gay at any given time of their lives but yk, i feel like rhodey is one of the top easiest choices

[vicsep7250]

@ren-amamiyaa and their (he/she?) Golden Heist, Thief Nanako and Cryptid Chaser aus flooded my brain and now Im making this post bc I cant fit all of this in asks!!!

All right, so, idea. Cryptid Chasers, Thief Nanako and Golden Heist are all connected righr???

CC acts as a prequel, TN becomes the inbetween starring Nanako and Akechi, and GH stars a broken and older IT and slightly jaded PT.

So far CC has Yosuke and Naoto forming the brotp that fanon wanted through silly Saturday Night Ghost Chasers Shenanigans, Akiren is bein' a lil shit at midnight bc he needs an outlet and exercise to Phantom Thief. While this goes on, Akechi's ghost/spirit/rement/heart/whatever pulls pranks and shenans along with Joker (hiwever that happens).

As the Cryptid Chasers keep going out of their way to confront Joker about Arsene (bc even he likes to mess around) the other IT in Inaba start to try and stop them from disrupting the peace (read : harassing a known criminal) and this somehow leads to a falling out. Mayhaps Naoto and Yosuke break a few laws and Chie busts them, Kanji wants to know why theyre stalking his student/protege, and Yukiko just wants to keep the rumors about the inn in check bc jfc Yosuke STOP SCREECHING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT IN THE LOBBY THERE IS NO GHOST ON THE TV!

Maybe eventually they call it quits or dont bc Naoto dug this hole too deep to climb out themself and Yosuke is having the time of his life since Partner isnt around and hasn't come back to visit yet (Not sayin' souyo is canon and there but-). And the Cryptid Chasers arc probably ends here with there being some animosity towards their shenanigans , but the IT are all still friends.

Now fast forward to like, uhhh (*flings dart at wall of calendars*) 2014 during winter and Akiren's cryptid acts are now fully accepted and maybe exposed, who knows. Nanako is like 10 ~ 12 (P5 is maybe three/five years post P4 I believe) and is just going through the motions of public education. I.E. go to class, do work, get good grades. Dojima is still the same as he was before Yu came but is at least doing better at being a dad, not much but better. Yosuke and Ted aren't around as much bc Junes, Chie is transferred to Tokyo, Yukiko is busy managing the Inn, and Kanji is busy with work (as a teacher and crafts business owner). Rise unfortunately cant come visit and Big Bro now visits every other year.

Nanako starts to look back and wonder how things started to fall apart amongst the group and recalls that "delinquent" who came back at the same time the Cryptid^tm showed up and ruined the group. So now she starts to remember the good times when Big Bro came by and starts to notice some blanks around winter... Why was she in the hospital when she got kidnapled? Why does she remember these weird flashes of Big Bro and his friends and some monster?? And how come she tried to ask them anything about it they brushed her off each time???

The TV in her room flashes and soon she starts hearing things. She starts to move closer to the tv, as if she was in some sort of trance, as the sounds start to become voices to her. When she's directly infront of the screen she sees something... someone on it...

Nanako doesnt show up for breakast, or to school, and nobody seems to have seen her.

A full year passes on after that day. It starts off with a big search party of the IT and Social Links for the first two months, then after ankther three something stange happens... are people forgetting that Nanako existed or something? Everybody's starting to act like completely different peoplw than who they are too, some even end up hospitalozed due to severe headaches and such, and start claiming that Nanako was never around when she vanished or that she left Inaba or was already deamed dead or missing. This rings alarms in the IT's mimds as they search for answers, eventually all fully reuniting for the first time in years/months.

Naoto and Yosuke blame themselves bc they piece together her disappearance with the Cryptid + Ghost case and immediately get scolded for trying to pin their stupid kids game on a missing person's case - especially now with Nanako missing and possibly in danger again! Afterwards the IT are a bit on edge and a bit broken with the whole thing. Meanwhile Akechi can hear the tale ends of "missing person" and "literal disappearnace" and starts looking into this weird limbo metaverse he's in bc some shit is kinda fucked in here now for some reason. They're pretty much only together as a team to rescue Nanako.

GH in the PTs POV starts when Akiren invites the group to the Amagi Inn thanks to licrative money grin- I mean training. He comes clean into having seen something weird on the tv one late night and wants to let the gang know.

Midnight rolls around and Akechi shows up on the screen and the Thieves losing their shit is an understatement - numerous noise complaints were filed that night. Anyways Akechi decides to just play the role of "hey moron, some shits fucked come help fix it" and ends up informing them of a missing girl and this weird TV Mementos world he is in.

I would like to note that Akechi is not at all bitter or confused at everyone's circumstances in life, no of course not Joker stop crying I know its been a while but shutup theres a kid in trouble rn and youre the only ones who can possibly help her.

When the PT figure out a plan to reach this other world Goro is in (Arsene : THOUARTTHEESTICKYOURHANDINTHETVDOITDOITDOITDOIT) the IT eventually come to the very sad conclusion that Nanako moght be in the TV world and that opens a whole can of worms and burnable bridges to cross.

While in the TV world, I'd like to imagine that due to Akechi having been there for a good while it has been shaped to reflect his heart and be the new overall theme of that world. It all still looks like Inaba, but it all holds themes to Akechi and his no good terrible life. However due to Nanako having been in that world as a kid, and now for an uncertain amount of time, the world now holds motifs to the Heaven area from P4, but it's all sorta ruined and kinda darker.

When both teams get together and enter the weird Tele-Mentos world (IT in a Junes storage and PT at either Ren's pad [bc he moved out obvi] (OR bith teams enter from seperate TVs at the Inn so SHENANS!)) Yu and the IT go through Akechi's influenced world/TV Palace, finding out about his tragic backstory and involvement with the PT, but anything that can and could reveal their true identities is blurred and staticy or missing bc Akechi aint gonna snitch out who ruined his sperm donors life (also I guess saved the world too yeah). While going through the Palace the Team starts to think that finding Goro will just be an "if it happens" sort of deal bc he's been missing for years already, what if we just leave him here bc M U R D E R E R.

Cue a sudden appearance by someone in some sort of fallen angel garb who starts whipping out a full on Metal Gear Villain monologue about how hypocritical the IT are when they find the truth about Akechi's life and disappearance - they claimed to want to live in a world where no one hides in the fig, was that all a lie? Are they going back on their word, and hiding behind a shriud of lies and falsehoods once more? "You've gone and lied and hidden the truth already, what's to say you won't continue?"

Meanwhile Akiren and the Thieves enter at the very top of the Heaven TV Set and have to climb all the way down. As they do so they start seeing little murals or epitaphs about memories and people in this girls life. They see all of these memories of a happy girl who had such a loving family - both found and by blood. As they go further and further down the ruins start to look like an actual Heaven, and the scenary becomes more bright and colorful. Eventually they might run into Crow in his Black Mask clothes and give the bastard a slug on the arm and a group hug or two, bc man he doesn't deserve to suffer anymore like this.

Now that the Phantom Thieves have been reunited (Akechi : I can't leave this world The PT : FUCK, MORE PLOT) they end up thinking up ways to get Akechi out until this weird angel priest looking dude shows up and starts babling about how they are criminals and how they've done more bad than good and blah blah blah. Everyone is just all "We're the good guys, we do the right thing even if its morally grey/ambiguous!" and oh look! Another crazed maniac wants to kill us for our "injustice" *Crow has the decency to look away and not say anything* annnnnnd Heaven is locked off. Perfect.

Now maybe the Phantom Thieves and Investigation Team run into each other somewhere in Akechi's Palace and "You have Personas?!?!" "The hell is a Palace?" "YOU'RE THE CRYPTID OF INABA!!?!?" "And Im the 'Ghost' that follows him." "Wait you followed me as a ghost?" "WAIT WHY ARE THERE TWO AKECHIS??!??!!"

Oh yeah, Shadows... Akechi is still kinda in denial about the whole friends and justice thing...

And now the Dark Priest is back great ("Good name Skull" "Well I've got my moments right?").

Annnnnnnd now I have no idea what happens next and Im all burned out but AAAAAAAAA this entire AU crossover thing is so GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!

[wolfqueen-is-here]

Dense & Disastrous

You know what my main problem with processing S8 is? I don’t know where to begin getting over it ‘cause I have no idea what the actual plot of it was. Honestly guys, it was like watching Gossip Girl Westeros, each character suffered from a personality transplant every other episode, 90% of arcs got dropped without explanation, even logical conclusions (like dark!Dany) made no fucking sense within the actual plot. Build-up? Doesn’t mean shit. Foreshadowing? What the fuck is foreshadowing? Here, have a bunch of hot nameless dudes and shut your hole (cheers, Hot Prince of Dorne and Hot Robin Arryn).

What, we have to give the throne to a nerdy disabled kid whom we ignored for the past seven seasons? Can we at least make it ambiguous enough to make a casual viewer wonder whether Bran had planned it all like the evil mastermind he clearly was? No? (Doesn’t matter, we’re gonna do it anyway.) 

Jaime is supposed to end up dead in Cersei’s arms? Sure, George, makes sense, but we kind of got our viewers invested in Braime so do you mind if we engage in quick fanservice which turns him into a complete ass in the end?

I’m seeing things that aren’t in the script, but not seeing things that are. We have Tyrion walking for fifteen fucking minutes but we gloss over issues like: WHY DOESN’T DORNE WANT ITS INDEPENDENCE BACK, TOO? (Argh, this bugs me so much, we all know they would be the first to jump ship, they don’t give a flaming fart about the Seven... Six... Five Kingdoms anyway. And they were independent the longest!) WHY IS THE WALL STILL A THING? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLOT DEVICE CALLED THE PEOPLE OF MEEREEN? For fuck’s sake, I’m angry without a way to deal with my disappointment. 

I don’t even consider S8 canon bc I honestly don’t know what counts as canon at this point. Thus, I’m unable to have proper closure, and it frustrates me more than anything.

Stupid cunts. What a disaster of a script that was. Poor actors, poor directors, poor filming crew, poor costume designers and visual effects magicians. Poor Ramin Djawadi. Poor people pouring away their hearts and souls into something that will go down in history as one of the worst fuck-ups in the history of television. All because two elderly white dudes excruciatingly overestimated their combined total count of functional brain cells. 

[thesummerstorms]

What kind of relationships do you think Etain has with the various nulls?

Ordo: 

Ordo & Etain’s relationship starts out really rough, to say the least, but you can see some turn around by the beginning of  Order 66 and definitely by the not-canon-ending where he tries to revive her and then sobs at her funeral. I want to say that they eventually actually end up pretty close friends. Gena has said before that she thinks Ordo actually ends up closer to Etain than Darman, and I kinda love that (especially the irony). 

I do think they squabble. They root for opposite sports teams, and Ordo’s type A while Etain’s definitely not so they drive each other crazy sometimes. Sometimes they inadvertently offend one another or are a little too honest. But It’s a good friendship. They’re supportive and honest and unreasonably loyal and gossipy. Etain has probably threatened to beat someone up for Ordo as if he wasn’t a super soldier twice her size. Etain also probably kept sending him letters when he went incommunicado for mental health reasons, not to pressure him, but just because she still loved and was thinking of him.

I like to think that, even though they aren’t living in the same place, Ordo and Etain try to raise their daughters to be at least somewhat close? Mirja and Koa are only two years apart, the same age difference as between me and my cousin, who I was super close to growing up, but I haven’t really discussed it with Gena.

Anyway, tl:dr Ordo and Etain go from “constantly in disagreement” to “probably still in disagreement, but in a loving sibling kind of way, absolutely have each other’s backs”.

A’den: 

So I feel like Etain has a decent respect for A’den long before she meets him just because she and Dar write letters constantly and Darman respects A’den. (She may or may not ask after him while Dar is stationed on Gaftikar, out of principle, after she asks after Dar and the rest of the squad.) 

I don’t feel like they probably meet until after Order 66, and Etain is not exactly at her best just then- but there’s still probably mutual respect there. A’den is, by all accounts, a man who smiles a lot, loves food, and has a sense of humor, and I think Etain would appreciate that about him when they interact, and A’den has likely heard good things from Mereel and Ordo- but Etain is at a place where it’s hard for her to bond very deeply with him. Then it’s more or less one thing after the other until Mereel dies and she and Dar flee.

More than likely, I think they become actual friends more after Mereel comes back from the dead. Mereel shows up at the safehouse he left Dar and Etain in pretty miserable shape, and of course as soon as the Nulls know, they immediately converge. Since Ordo’s travelling with an infant, A’den might actually be the first to show up? (Probably startling the hell out of poor, sleep-deprived Darman who sees him in the kitchen at 1 am and just blinks a few times before…. “Sarge?”) He and Etain start talking a little more after Dar and he bond over foodie stuff, and they stay friendly, even if she’s not as close to him as Mereel or Ordo.

At some point much later they probably have to haul Mereel out of some situation (or Mereel hauls them into a situation idk), and find they actually work well as a team for short durations.

Jaing

Everyone makes a point of “don’t tell Etain about the gloves”, but let’s be real guys. She knows. The emotions in the Force don’t lie, and she knew Ko Sai as well, which makes the impression stronger.

Jaing is easily the Null Etain is weariest of. It’s hard because she’s instinctively someone who reads emotional undercurrents, and while she feels threads of violence and anger in all the Nulls, Jaing wears his against his skin as trophies.

I don’t think she ever confronts him about it, even when it unsettles her.

He;s still family. She’s tortured people before and there’s no one in the family (except maybe the children) who aren’t capable of some terrible things. She appreciates the way he looked after Fi, or what she saw of it for those few days on Mandalore before she went into labor. He’s capable, and she respects that the same way she does for all of them. 

But at the same time, I think Jaing will always be the one she holds herself the most emotionally distant from. She would absolutely go after him on a rescue op if needed, out of shared bonds to other family and loyalty and duty, but they’re never gonna be close buddies.

Prudii

The mun forgot Prudii existed again, whoops.

Coughs, and links you to this post. And this post. Which have Etain: !!!!!!!!!!

I honestly don’t as many particular headcanons for Prudii at the moment. Etain pretty much auto-extends the same loyalty to him before she even meets him by virtue of his being first Dar and then Ordo and Mereel’s brother. I very much feel like she has hung over a staircase banister throwing pebbles at him at some point, but I can’t justify that?

Someone with a more developed sense of Prudii as a character is free to propose things, but I was rereading his scenes and nothing ..really..stuck?

I’m so sorry Prudii; I am failing you.

Komr’k

So I feel like initially Etain starts out a little off balance around Kom’rk. They’re the Null who, other than Prudii sorry Prudii, she probably knows the least about, and they don’t meet until after Etain’s death experience. Kom’rk has this weird balance of weary aloofness and bluntness going on, and I think that keeps Etain a little distant at first. She can match them for bluntness at least some of the time, but aloofness is harder for her to deal with. 

She grew up in the Temple, she has a mask she built for distancing herself from attachment to the people around her, and she retreats back into it at first, her emotional state at the time not helping matters any. (Possibly Kom’rk thinks her either cold or in shock at first.) But at her core she’s someone who wants desperately to be emotive and touchy-feely and reach out to everyone.

Eventually when they’re less weary of each other and Kom’rk’s more social side comes out a little, things relax between the two of them. I feel like while Etain is still in recovery, Kom’rk would be one who would pick up on her ambiguous feelings re: Kal, especially given their similar (if for different reasons) feelings and absolute willingness to call a spade a spade, and perhaps that ends up being an eventual basis of support for the two of them?

I want to say they end up having occasional lunches when their different travels have them in the same side of the galaxy, and since Kom’rk seems to be into some of the same social scenes as Mereel, maybe some occasional sight-seeing? But idk.

Mereel

Oh gosh. This is gonna be long, isn’t it? I tried to bookend with the most developed relationships, but… Listen, Etain loves Mereel. 

I think she probably wanted to try and steal the CipQuad from him on Trip Zip, but they don’t really get to know each other well until she’s pregnant and isolated and terrified on Mandalore. At which point Mereel shows her both massive kindness and genuine respect for her ability and competence, both of which Etain is practically starving for at that point. There are very few people who genuinely give a damn about her, not as a Jedi or because she’s carrying a clone’s baby but as herself.

She’s not used to being cared for. 

 He sees her when she’s incredibly vulnerable and gives her both some compassion and a sense of control/purpose back, and it pretty much cements a friendship from her end. We don’t know what all went on during their two months together, but obviously Mereel also felt close to Etain because he lets himself show an incredible amount of vulnerability back to her rather than laughing or playing it off as a joke like he does literally anywhere else.

I think they stay really close. When Etain needs reassurance post-death and Dar is still stranded on Coruscant, Mereel’s the one she trusts enough to be open with. I think they’re pretty casually affectionate with one another, and she worries about him, particularly after Kal destroys the cure and he goes off alone. (For good reason, as it turns out.) Mereel, of all people, actually gives her spiritual guidance that results in her seeking out Tarre and Ranah, pretty much instantly lands on her “unbelievably lengthy letters” sending list with out even any surprise from Ordo, is a fabulous Uncle to her kids. She trusts him in a way she doesn’t trust many people other than Dar. Perhaps goes to him for advice on occasion, though she also tries to give him advice she knows he’ll never follow.

(I also… I really ship Etain/Mereel? It started as a crack ship and then I started thinking about it too much and… oh no. It’s definitely a poly arrangement, though idk about actual Mereel/Etain/Darman. I’m not even sure how canon this is to me now bc it got all invested in my feelings and my brain betrayed me. But in whatever verse or AU it does happen it starts with a mix of closeness/vulnerability and guilty ust, and then after years of a strong friendship between them, develops into something open, less a demand or formal arrangement than their trust/care finding another avenue of expression. Possibly after Mereel dies bc the timing would be sketchy otherwise. Or ,again, in a different verse? Idk. Stupid overly invested crack ship.)

[bellarkefanworkawards-blog]

Best Modern One-Shot

HOLD ME CLOSE AND HOLD ME FAST by Kacka @katchyalater​

Clarke doesn’t hate Bellamy Blake. She and her co-star aren’t on the best of terms, but luckily they’re both pretty good actors.

SEEN BY EVERYONE by Arysa13

Bellamy doesn’t realise that when you change the name of the group chat EVERYONE can see it.

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED by Kacka @katchyalater

One of Bellamy and Clarke’s longest-standing arguments happens to be over which one of them– the PhD or the MD– is more of a ‘real doctor.’ He thinks he’s holding his argument pretty well until he goes and gets sick.

Best Canon One-Shot

A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD by LaughingSenselessly @wellsjahasghost​

“If today is the end of the world,” Clarke says, carefully, “I want you to know tonight, with you, was the best night I’ve had on earth.” – Clarke, Bellamy, and the night before the second apocalypse.

NOT WITH HASTE by winterwaters

Post-canon: Long after they’ve saved the world, Clarke and Bellamy try to get their shit together.

Or, how Clarke comes to realize she might need a bit more than subtlety to get her point across.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING by caramelle @mellamymake

It’s fucking confusing. They found each other. They’re all together again. Clarke and Bellamy, they have each other now, literally right there. Shouldn’t Clarke be happy?

Or, the one where the delinquents return to Earth, and things between Clarke and Bellamy aren’t going the way Raven expects them to.

Most Underrated One-Shot

LOVE IS ALIVE by FrisianWanderer

Clarke looks at her friend, feeling shocked and confused, while Bellamy waits for a response. In the heat of the moment she doesn’t know how to react, because this isn’t a situation she ever envisioned. Therefore, she decides to handle it like the mature, responsible adult that she is - by making a joke out of it. He can’t be serious anyway, she reminds herself; Bellamy doesn’t do romantic relationships and has never given her the slightest indication he wanted that with her. She chuckles and playfully rolls her eyes at him. “Come on Bell, we all know how you date. You come with one girl and leave with another. That’s not what I’m looking for.”

Or the one where it takes them a while to get there, but they get there eventually.

TIME by Pawprinter

It's been five years since Praimfaya. They were supposed to return on this day. They were supposed to be Wonkru. In reality, it didn't work out this way. They didn't return. All Clarke feels is betrayal. 

"Bellamy!" she cried. "You abandoned us!" She couldn't take it anymore. The feelings that tore her apart. "Bellamy!" She sobbed again. "Bellamy, I loved you!"

I'M ONLY HONEST WHEN IT RAINS by bella_my_clarke @sherlockvowsontheriverstyx

She meets his gaze, eyes full of heartbreak and pain and terror, and the urge to comfort her becomes so powerful he nearly falls forward. “Bellamy. I don’t think you understand—this mission has a ninety percent chance of failing, of killing you in twenty different ways, and just the thought—” “We’ll make it,” Bellamy murmurs, even though he’s not a fool. “We’ll come back.” “You don’t have to leave at all,” Clarke pleads, grasping at straws now. “Please, Bellamy, you’ll be safe—we’ll be together, with our people—you don’t have to do this.”

Or: there are only so many lifeboats, and Bellamy isn't going to be on one

Best Hurt/Comfort & Angst One-Shot

I HAD HOPE by wanheda_two_heda @youleftme-clarke

Bellamy’s used to his best friend treating his apartment as her own. She lives there half the time anyway. But he’s a little more than concerned when he finds her crying in his bed, blankets pulled up under her chin. He knows that she lets her work get to her sometimes, but he’s never seen her like this, and maybe the trouble is that she had too much hope.

I WANT THIS by wanheda_two_heda @youleftme-clarke

Clarke’s spoiled, rich princess attitude has always irked Bellamy when he wasn’t too busy crushing on her. And her attitude is what leads to a lot of their fights at work. But when Clarke gets a call in the middle of one of these arguments and she needs a ride to the hospital, Bellamy realizes that he might have been wrong about the feisty blonde all along.

BRAVE PRINCESS by mockingbird616

Bellamy comforts Clarke after she kills Finn. Set after 2x08

Best Fluff One-Shot

MORE LIKE THE EMPEROR by emperor_bell

Based on the prompt: "you give me a different fake name every time you come into starbucks and I just want to know your real name bc ur cute but here I am scrawling “batman” onto your stupid cappuccino" but Bellamy's a nerd so Roman emperors instead.

LOOK WHO FAILED FLIRTING 101 by Kacka @katchyalater​

In Bellamy's defense, he and Clarke only know each other through their YouTube videos and emails. That's probably why he didn't realize she was flirting with him.

IT'S CALLED A HUSTLE, SWEETHEART by prosciutto @prosciuttoe

That gets a grunt out of him. “Why me?” “Let’s see,” she goes, tapping her nail against her chin, feigning deep thought. “Uh, it may have something to do with the fact that you’re the only thieving, morally ambiguous individual that I know of?” “Cute.” Bellamy snorts.

Or: It has always been a part of Clarke’s plan to join the force. Partnering up with a con-artist? Not so much.

Best Comedic One-Shot

MISCOMMUNICATION IS STILL A FORM OF COMMUNICATION by myonetruelove

Octavia suggests that Bellamy pretend to be Clarke's boyfriend to save her from some random guy hitting on her at the bar, but Bellamy can't do that bcause he's in love with her (which of course Octavia knows). So Octavia steps in to save her instead and Bellamy loses his shit.

TWO HEARTS IN ONE HOME by twilightstargazer @hiddenpolkadots​

'Roan: okay so look this whole treaty things it's just not working out. Bellamy: what can I do to fix it? Roan: well a marriage might fix things Bellamy: ...Roan: between you and Clarke. Roan: and some heirs. Roan: and to make the alliance official make me the godfather Roan: they can call me 'cool uncle roan'

or basically, a marriage of convenience fic with bonus bellarke babies

CAN'T CONTROL MY FEELINGS, CAN'T CONTROL MY THOUGHTS by katsumi

When Jasper accidentally gifts Clarke a love potion, everyone she interacts with starts acting...weird. Everyone, that is, except Bellamy. [Hogwarts AU]

Best Smut One-Shot

NOW I'M ADDICTED by arysa13

Clarke loves her boyfriend, honestly. She just can't seem to stop cheating on him with Bellamy Blake.

AND THEY'LL HANG US IN THE LOUVRE by Twilightstargazer

“Well I mean, I can always give you a hand. If you want.” By the time her brain has managed to catch up with what she just said, his eyes have already snapped over to her and she pretends to be engrossed in the salt slowly dissolving around the rim of her margarita. “Really,” he says flat. “What are friends for, am I right?” she says breezily, looking anywhere but at him.

or, Clarke is only doing this to help him. Really.

A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD by LaughingSenselessly

“If today is the end of the world,” Clarke says, carefully, “I want you to know tonight, with you, was the best night I’ve had on earth.”

Or, Clarke, Bellamy, and the night before the second apocalypse.

[bizarre-dollhouse]

Discussing the intersection of expectations, culture, and narrative structure when it comes to suspension of disbelief and perceived narrative quality (using Kuroshitsuji and Sherlock season 4 as examples)

The title makes this sound kind of smart but in reality this is another really really long and totally incoherent ramble that accomplishes nothing it’s just something I thought was interesting and wanted to rant about. I’m sorry. One day I’ll go back to writing clever text posts I just don’t know when that day will come.

TL;DR: I thought of what it would be like to describe the 2ct becoming canon to someone who’s never heard of it and it sent me on this long spiral of thought where I concluded that the cleverness of a plot twist can be weighted on toooootally different criteria depending on who you ask.

Honestly the 2ct becoming canon is the most bizarrely conflicting plot twist to ever happen to a fandom.

Like, on the one hand I legitimately think that it was a good twist although who knows it could fall apart in the future only time will tell. I say that because in retrospect it was blatantly obvious (especially in the Boat arc and the Green Witch arc) but Yana still framed everything in such a way that it still felt ambiguous. Evidence piled up piece by piece so each thing on its own could be like “nah, it’s just a coincidence” but once it’s all together it starts to be like “....that’s a lot of coincidences.....hmmmmmm”

Plus, it’s a fun twist even if you figure it out before hand. Also, if you did put all of the pieces together you get that fun feeling of accomplishment that comes with solving a puzzle. 

On the other hand, one of my friends was really into to kuro, but (as far as i know) she’s not caught up past the green witch arc and she doesn’t keep up with the fandom on tumblr, so she probs doesn’t know about the 2ct or that it’s canon (and even if she does then idk make this a hypothetical friend it still works).

I’m like

What would she even say if I told her that Ciel has a twin brother? I can’t imagine it being anything except for “what the fuck! that doesn’t make sense and came out of buttfuck nowhere!”

Which is weird bc, as stated earlier, I think it was a plot twist which was easy enough to figure out, but maybe if you weren’t looking for hints then it’s actually a bad twist.

But on another level, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either. Because a twist that you can figure out is good, but if it’s too obvious then it just feels like a stupid non-twist. And, like I said, I think Yana did a really good balance of “in plain sight” but also kind of ambiguous (that’s also just my opinion, though). 

Sooo...why do I think it would feel so out of left field and terrible if you didn’t figure it out?

I think the elephant in the room is the fact that it’s the most cliched plot twist in the history of western media. Ever. Any parody of a soap opera being used for comedic purposes shows how corny and stupid soap operas are by showing someone had a secret twin. Fucking Gravity Falls had the twin twist but they still had a fake show to make fun of how cliched their own canon plot twist was. It’s mostly only annoying if it’s to create artificial drama or legitimately comes out of nowhere (which I’ll get into later), but it’s still a joke at this point from being used in the past.

it’s a cultural meme.

And this is super fucking unfair because, as akumedeenglish points out, it’s not a trope in Japan, so for Yana and her Japanese fans this is probably purely and unironically rad.

But for any member of the Western fandom who hasn’t heard of the 2ct or just thought the idea was stupid, it feels really stupid. 

If I were to tell someone who doesn’t get into kuro theories something like “hey, John Brown turned out to be a grim reaper!” their reaction would probably be more positive even though there is waaaaaaaay less evidence for that actually being a thing even though i want that to be a thing.

But at least you can take it seriously.

I feel like the main reason people hated the 2ct even before it became canon is because it is physically impossible to not think it’s dumb on some level just because it’s been made fun of so much, even if from a technical writing structure it makes perfect sense.

Expectations and specifics can greatly affect the public perception of a good twist. My absolute favourite comparison to make is the twist in Sherlock season 4, which is literally the worst twist of all time ever. In that show, Sherlock also has a super secret sibling, except it makes no fucking sense. Sherlock apparently magically forgot about her, and apparently she had the ability to mess with him at anytime but just...chose not to for several years.

Also she can fucking control people and see the future in a show that is not science fiction and is supposedly set in reality.

Like nothing was building up to the twist except for like one line where Mycroft says something about “the last one” or something implying maybe there was another Holmes. Still dumb, and still last minute. But because of that people weren’t dedicated to an expectation that the sibling theory wasn’t canon, so there was no disappointment, just shock.

Followed by disappointment when the next episode aired.

But what made me paranoid was that my mom (who also hated season 4 of sherlock by the by) had a coworker who totally thought that it made sense and wasn’t contrived as shit. My mom said something that made me rethink the entire structure of a show like Sherlock compared to the Kuro manga.

“He was defending it”.

So of course I sat down to have an existential crisis about the nature of plot twists and narrative structure. “Am I just defending a shitty plot twist by telling myself it wasn’t shitty?” I thought to myself while sitting with my fist under my chin in an intellectual position of philosophical thought.

No, with a “maybe” on standby in case this whole Phantomhive twin thing totally sucks in future chapters.

Like i said, the 2ct follows the structural rules for creating a good plot twist. It makes narrative sense, and you could figure out before hand while still having fun with it. The same fucking plot twist was total bs in Sherlock for the reasons mentioned above (btw I should point out that I actually like the first two seasons of Sherlcok before anyone has my head. I would also like to point you towards the 1.5 hour video where someone describes how Sherlock doesn’t work as a mystery bc in that video there is a clip of the directer/writer saying “ah man, if we dove into Sherlock’s backstory, that would be a mistake and no one would buy it!” ....but you did. ah yes. clearly the sibling thing was a brilliant and well thought out twist and not something you made up to look clever. way to be consistent.)

Kuro is dumb, but it’s not stupid.

Sherlock looked smart but turned out to be incompetent. 

Plus, even though I love kuro, I’m not gonna sit here and be like “oh man, that boyband arc was totally necessary and not stupid at all! I’m sure glad Yana spent 3 whole volumes describing Ciel having wacky antics at a public school!” I may have Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to this manga but I also have standards. (Actually in all honesty I was falling out of love with the series because I hated the boyband stuff so much, but real ciel brought me back XD).

(Actually, I think a valid point about the 2ct becoming canon is that the timing was baaaaaad because it happened right after a point where people where drastically losing interest in the series).

But in the end, it is a legitimately bad twist for some people for a multitude of reasons. It is cliched, even if Yana didn’t know that and it only affects western readers. It can change people’s perception of the main character in a way they don’t like. If you’re an audience member who has never heard of the 2ct, it can really feel like it came out of buttfuck nowhere. Plus, for every reader, it kinda turned the series in a weird direction??? I legitimately have no idea where this is going. It could totally suck balls. Yana could unintentionally make it follow the evil twin cliche to a point of nausea. My only ray of confidence is coming from the fact that she had a plan for this and I have foolish optimism.

So I guess at the end of the day it comes down to suspension of disbelief and level of investment/curiosity? Like, how much are you willing to accept it as a twist that makes sense and are you interested enough to see how it plays out.

But like I said, I still think it’s a good twist based on dramatic stakes, narrative consistency, and the fact that it was set up in a clever way. This becomes a lot more obvious when Kuro is compared to Sherlock season 4.

That’s my rant. bye.

[biromantic-nerd]

for those of you who follow me for my writing, here’s some of the unposted draft wips that I’ve been working on throughout the years:

Stranger Things: 

• 5 times someone comes out to Steve + 1 time he comes out (bi!Steve)

• 5 times people try to support Will liking boys without actually having to acknowledge that he’s gay + 1 time his crush throws it in his face. Will POV and internalized queerphobia and angst. Absolutely canon compliant 

• Stoncy fic with lots of Steve & Dustin friendship (end of season two + beginning of season three canon divergence. debating whether to include season 3’s plot or not, we’ll see how it turns out. semi-angsty but with a happy ending)

• Steve & Robin friendship fic (but with a Steve POV this time as opposed to TRWHTTAW) with the focus on Steve being autistic and people calling him stupid. Semi-angsty bc self esteem issues and ableism but mostly lighthearted

Marvel:

• MJ/Gwen fic (based off the ‘I’m Mr. Brightside’ chapter from my Marvel Drabbles fic) which will eventually be its own series, so that’s exciting 

• Peter & Foggy friendship fic. Peter, Foggy, and Matt are all disabled and Matt has some serious internalized ableism 

• Karen, Matt, and Foggy are all trans and that’s the whole fic, baby. 

Umbrella Academy: 

• Diego & Grace centric family fic (Diego POV)

• another Grace-centric fic on what is means to be a robot built and controlled by a man and how she gains self autonomy (but more canon-based than HHOIFA because it’ll be set pre-canon when the kids and Grace are younger.)

• I don’t even know how to describe this one but basically Diego is demiromantic and talks to his family about sexuality, gender, and consent because someone’s got to do it and their dad never did

BNHA:

• disabled!au gen fic that’s going to take me ten years to write but I have to do it. No quirk, Olympics AU with disabled All Might and disabled Midoriya. (Is Midoriya just as self destructive + filled with boundless determination without a quirk? You betcha) It’s actually going to very similar to canon in the regards that All Might keeps his poor health a secret because he’s a public hero and Midoriya becomes his successor who keeps that secret. This is a super condensed summary of the story but that’s basically the gist

Naruto:

• canon divergence from Shippuden 51, multichaptered fic that might take me decades to write (that I blame entitely on one of my best friends because they got me into Naruto) where the reunion goes very differently, and Sasuke basically kidnaps Naruto because he misses his friend and Naruto decides to stay with him because he has a better chance to convince him to come home if they’re together.

Merlin: 

• Gwaine/Merlin AU fic with Arthur POV, magic reveal, and bandits obviously. Also Gwaine is a Robin Hood type figure, so even though it’s canon adjacent, it’s definitely an au 

• Season 3 canon divergence fic. In that one episode where the dude names Merlin, Gwaine, and Arthur as magic, strength, and wisdom, he phrases it more ambiguously on who's who. Gwaine figures that he's strength and, naturally, Merlin is wisdom - which means that Arthur is magic. Cue misunderstandings!trope as Gwaine tries to be very supportive of Arthur having magic and trying to get counsel from Merlin - a disaster - on ideas of how to do so. Instead of coming out to a clearly supportive Gwaine, Merlin goes along with it. And while that’s happening, Arthur is coming to terms with Gwaine having magic - because obviously Arthur’s Strength and Merlin is Wisdom, so Gwaine is Magic - and tries to be as understanding as possible. Gwaine and Arthur separately consult Merlin, who they both believe to be Wisdom, and Merlin really is a Disaster. (Eventual magic reveal and happy ending)

Baby Driver

• Yes, I have had another Kingsman crossover in the works for forever but haven’t finished it yet. However, this one’s way more lighthearted and a oneshot, as opposed to CTBTH

• Trans!Debora fic, Debora POV, canon divergence where Baby delivers pizzas and everything is Soft