#Callback to that one canon deleted scene

[tswwwit]

Lol Dipper vs Dipper where the alternate Dipper is dippy fresh, and Bill has to suffer dippy fresh while he frantically searches for his Dipper

Sadly, Bill would reluctantly refrain from outright murdering Dippy Fresh, despite his disgust. It would probably make for a very awkward conversation with his husband! Even if it's a really gross interdimensional version, Dipper might get his knickers in a twist about a him-corpse lying around -

But for once, Bill's wrong!

Upon his return - and seeing the horror that is Dippy Fresh - Dipper would gladly eliminate that abomination. With or without Bill's help.

[elrielffs]

I wanted to touch on the BC (yes, AGAIN, for the millionth time) because...

The Azriel PoV BC is treated special, like it matters more than any other BC that SJM has ever done and here's the thing...it doesn't.

The BC's are canon, that is a fact. They aren't deleted scenes or things that SJM didn't intend. They are just as they are stated. Bonus Chapter/Content.

Now, as a bonus that inherently means it's a cherry on top of the story. A fun little extra. It can forshadow, show character intentions in a deeper light, be fun, be smutty, have conflict but at the end of the day it is not important to the story and it is not needed. Even the BC where two characters get married--it is not needed. We know the couple are together and have already gone thru their journey. We never saw Feyre and Rhysand's mating ceremony--again something that we didn't need but would have been nice to have.

A lot of people have put much stock into the Azriel BC because of shipping wars, some even saying it should be in the book proper because how will the story continue without people knowing what happened?

But...that's just it. If this chapter was as important as people like to say it is--surely it would have at least been more widespread?? Included in all standard editions of ACOSF?? Instead it was released in two countries, in the US and Brazil, in copies only from one store.

You can't even get it anymore unless it's secondhand.

So many people in fandom don't even know this BC exists.

Now, to the contents of the BC proper.

I fully believe this BC was intended to cement Elain and Azriel's feelings and showcase that Gwyn has more going on power wise than first shown.

And guess what? We don't need that as readers.

We don't NEED a scene between Azriel and Elain because we know that the feelings are there due to the past books. (There are so many post detailing the Elain and Az scenes and people have eyeballs and supposedly read the books other than ACOSF.)

We know Gwyn has more going on power wise that has not been revealed. Her interactions with Nesta in ACOSF and Nesta herself describing Gwyn having something under the surface and the secret of Gwyn's parentage. Azriel's reactions to Gwyn are similiar to Nesta's. Even in the bc itself is a callback to Azriel's interaction with Elain--a thing of secret lovely beauty is used in BOTH scenes (which people conveniently forget).

It's was all laid out in ACOSF. We do not need this BC.

The BC takes place in the middle of the book--roughly. And nothing changes. Gwyn and Azriel's relationship to each other doesn't deepen, Azriel is still pining after Elain. Is the chapter still canon? Yes, but it is not integral to the story.

The only thing I can think of that might be important is Rhysand's conversation with Azriel but even that could be explained in a sentence or two or rehashed into a new scene which SJM could easily do if she felt like it.

I just don't think SJM intended the BC to blow up as it did. People can think differently, sure and I could be wrong but with it's limited availability and the fact that it was not included in the book proper and the story moves on without it---I just don't see how it's important as it's made out to be.

Edit to add: Yes the BC is available online but people would have to know it exists first to know to look for it and it’s only online due to fans. Neither Bloomsbury or SJM have published the BC online or pointed to it for understanding the next book.

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

Do you have any deleted scenes of fanfiction that you can share with us?

Oh boy, so actually yes, but I’m not sure if I can share them YET. Only because a lot of the reason why one particular scene was cut is because it tips my hand way too early in the story.

But I do have some scrapped scenes of the Sinners, particularly Kira, but I cut them because a) some were a little out of my comfort zone, and b) there was one that didn’t feature any canon characters, and I didn’t want to bore the reader. That scene in particular had a lot of callbacks tho to the S2 timeline that I was sad to see go, but they all interrupted pacing.

Anyway, if there’s real interest, I can post them separately

[spideyykid]

A Peter Parker Timeline (MCU)

Because I’m tired of fighting with people in TikTok comment sections.

Peter Benjamin Parker was born August 10th, 2001. This date is a callback to Spider-Man's first appearance in The Amazing Fantasy #15 comics, which premiered in August of 1962. Some iterations have his birthday as August 27th, but Peter’s passport shown in the trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home officially confirms his birthdate. The year of his birth being 2001 coincides with his age throughout different films in the MCU, as well as being listed in the official Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki.

The age in which he would have moved in with his Aunt and Uncle has yet to be determined, as we have not gotten any concrete evidence. What we do know for sure is that Aunt May raised him. Although Uncle Ben has yet to be mentioned by name, Peter alluded to his existence in Spider-Man: Homecoming:

Peter: Ned, May cannot know. I cannot do that to her right now, you know? I mean, everything that’s happened with her, I... Please.

There was also a deleted scene mentioned by John Goldstein, who co-wrote Homecoming with John Francis Daley. This would have the character’s mention Ben Parker by name.

Another confirmation is in the series “What if.” The whole point of that series is that it is canon up until one specific point, in which the story diverges into a new variation.

Watcher: But in another universe, a single choice created a whole new hero. All this to make one Super Soldier….There. That's the moment that created a new universe. When asked to leave the room, Margaret "Peggy" Carter chose to stay. But soon it would be her venturing into the unknown and creating a new world.

In Episode 5 of What if, Peter mentions Ben as someone he has previously lost, confirming his existence in the MCU.

Peter: Practice, I guess. My mom, dad, Uncle Ben, Mr. Stark. Now Happy. I've... I've lost a lot. But my Aunt May says... used to say, that if we don't keep smiling when they can't, then we might as well just be gone, too. And... Well, they'd want us to keep going.

We also see Peter’s briefcase contain the initials “B.F.P”, further solidifying his existence in the MCU.

In the comic’s, Peter’s parents died in a plane crash. In the TASM series, Peter is four years old when his parents say goodbye to him for the last time. From what I could find in my research, Peter’s age varies and has never been confirmed, although it is pretty certain that he was between the ages of infancy up until six years old. This would mean Mary and Richard Parker would have passed away between the years 2001-2007.

We first meet Peter Parker in Civil War. This is where the concrete dates become a little bit harder to track. Most people place Captain America: Civil War in June 2016.

Peter mentions in his conversation with Tony that he's had his powers for 6 months, meaning that he would have been bitten by the spider sometime around January 2016.

This would line up with Peter’s age in Civil War (14 years old.) We also know that there is a two month time skip between Peter being dropped off at his Apartment by Tony Stark and Happy Hogan and the start of Homecoming.

Bronx School of Science, the real life Science School Midtown High is based on, had its first day of classes on September 8th for the 2016-2017 school year. This would place that scene in the car in early July, which still lines up with the approximate timeline of civil war (depending on when this scene takes place in the continuity.)

This also lines up with Peter’s age, as he is supposed to be 14 in Civil War and 15 in Homecoming. Peter would have celebrated a birthday in the two month time jump. This also lends credence to Tony calling Peter a “fourteen year old kid,” after the Ferry incident; as Peter would have been 14 when he initially did his research on him.

The Academic Decathlon is said to take place between October 13th-15th, According to a poster visible in the movie. There is another poster contradicting this information, placing the Academic Decathlon a month earlier in September. This could be a continuity error, but a better in world explanation would be that the poster claiming the competition is in September is from the year previous. The poster itself is shown to be in Peter’s room, and he could have held on to it since it wouldn’t be a jump to assume he was on the team the year before, especially as the teams are established the year prior.

Of course, this is all assumption, it could still very well be taking place in September.

American Homecoming is typically set late September and can happen as late as October. This would place Homecoming sometime late October. If you are working on the assumption that the poster in Peter’s room is the correct date, Homecoming can take place as early as late September, as the Homecoming dance is the last major event in the movie.

Spider-Man Homecoming ends with Peter being offered a spot on the Avengers. This scene can take place anytime in the school year, but presumably not too long after the events of homecoming. I would guess the end of October early November, but that’s fully a guess. It doesn’t seem to be Christmas just yet, with no snow and warmish weather, but it could also take place as far as April/May 2017. Peter would still be fifteen at the end, regardless of this fact.

There is a significant jump between Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War.

Infinity War takes place in April 2018, making Peter Parker 16 years old. From Tony and Peter’s interactions, they have definitely had some level of a maintained relationship in that year/ year and a half between the two movies. This is a topic the producers, Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland have all commented on. We don’t know exactly how long there is between the start and the end of Infinity war, but it can’t have been longer than a few days.

Peter was snapped in April 2018, and returned on the same day of the final battle in Endgame, sometime in October 2023. He would still be 16 years old, as you do not age when blipped from existence.

By his literal birthday, Peter would not turn 17 until his next birthday, which is on August 10th, 2024. Biologically, as they weren’t snapped away for exactly 5 years, he would hit 17 sometime in April 2024. For simplicity's sake, we are still going to use his birthday as a marker for his age, which is what they do in the MCU.

Far From Home takes place 8 months after the blip, placing it in June 2024. This lines up with Peter’s age (“I’m 16!” to Beck in the bar) and the fact that School trips to Europe typically take place in June. We don’t know how much time takes place between the end of Far From Home and the end credit scene/the beginning of No Way Home, but we do know it takes place after August 10th, as J.J. Jameson notes that Peter is a “17 year old boy from Queens.” We also know that it takes place before the start of the school year, as we see Peter’s first day of class after the fact. This places the start of the film anytime after August 11th, 2024 and before the beginning of September, 2024.

The final scene of the movie shows that it takes place around Christmas time. Peter has not completed his High School Diploma, and Ned and MJ are still in New York, meaning that their senior year is not yet complete. This places the end of the movie is set in December 2024, right at the same time as Hawkeye. Hawkeye takes place Christmas 2024, as shown by an invitation to Kate’s Mother’s Party, which shows the date as December 2024.

There is another sign that shows that it’s “New Year 2025.”

This date would make Peter Parker 17 at the end of the film, NOT 18 as some people have placed him. The only argument typically used here is the fact that seniors are usually 18, but that’s not taking into account his birthday. He’s an August baby, making him the youngest of his year.

(Take it from me, an August baby myself. I only turned 18 several months after I completed high school.)

There you go, a complete timeline of events. Use it to write fic, win arguments- I don’t care.

[fromiftowhen]

The Rookie: 3x09 Amber Thoughts/Spoilers

I have… a LOT of thoughts about this episode. Unsurprisingly, the majority of them are Chenford related, but I had a LOT of West and Lopez feels too, so. Here we go. I started to try to get my feelings out, but it just became me copying quotes that I either laughed or had other feelings about, so…

“Grey’s busy, and Smitty’s getting a back tattoo.”

“That’s --”

“Don’t ask.

-- When I say I laughed out loud. Jackson and Smitty’s relationship is one of the best callbacks this show does, and every mention of that ridiculous man is hilarious.

“But it’s super important she doesn’t get shot today.”

“No promises. You ride with me, you ride the rollercoaster.”

-- Nyla Harper is my favorite person. She was excellent in this episode, from the very beginning to the sweet moment at the end (that ending scene did NOT need to be about Nolan, this should have been solely focused on Lucy and Jackson and what they accomplished today, but I can’t say I’m surprised. But Harper made it better.)

Tim tossing the list out the window immediately.

“You know, littering is a $250 fine.”

“Worth it.”

Lucy pulling a backup list right out. They know each other SO well.

-- HILARIOUS. Although I’ll admit my guard was up the moment she pulled that list out and used the word “trickery.” It worked out differently than I thought it would, but… well. We’ll get to that.

“I knew my TO would be important to my career. But I don’t know. I didn’t realize how important you’d be to my life.”

-- I should have been more prepared for the Lopez and West feelings today. Their relationship probably started out the rockiest of all the TO/rookie pairings, and maybe rightfully so… but it’s become the least complicated, the closest to friendship the fastest, and their bond is just really something. Jackson was right - a LOT has happened in their 13 months together (yes, show, I remember exactly how long it’s been -- do you?) and they’ve both grown and changed in such wonderful ways. Angela looked sentimental the whole episode (while still being her badass, hilarious self) and West looked SO relaxed, it was such a lovely bookend to their first days together.

“I wish someone taught me how to be in this one.”

“Oh, so we are in a relationship.”

-- All the references to a relationship were good, if not entirely baity. But Tim’s delivery of that line was amazing and made me laugh out loud. He sounds so long-suffering and very much like an exasperated husband, and it really pinpointed one of the ways they interact that just WORKS so well. It just feels natural, and Eric Winter’s delivery was great.

“Tell me the truth -- Am I gonna poop myself?”

-- This entire conversation was so randomly hilarious (but added levity they all clearly needed then). Harper and Lopez are hilarious together and I truly wish the show gave us more of that.

“Don’t worry -- I will personally stand watch over your kid until you leave the hospital.”

-- Jackson West. I love you.

“I really hope our last shift together doesn’t end with that.”

“Yeah, me too.”

-- EMOTIONS.

Tim distracting her with her list. The man KNOWS her. And him acknowledging that she’s been to hell and back. Again, I say -- EMOTIONS. It was such a good callback to him knowing she needs to focus on work and order and process to remain calm in some situations.

“One look from you could send me into a tailspin.” And one day, it will again -- in an entirely different way, I am SURE. The way they both knew she was referring to Plain Clothes Day was great.

“I dunno. Smitty is surprisingly maternal.”

“That is the most horrifying idea I’ve ever heard, and I want it to be a reality show so bad.”

“Right? I would watch the hell out of that.”

-- Lowkey this was the most hilarious exchange of the night. I would also watch the hell out of that reality show. All these little moments made me miss Lopez and West together so much. Their scene at the end of the episode was lovely. All the times he thanked her. Please still let them interact often. The show NEEDS it.

“We did it.”

“No. You did it.” THE MOST TIM BRADFORD THING I’VE EVER HEARD.

“Office Chen impressed me with every decision she made today. I will miss riding with her.”

The callback to the evaluation in Plain Clothes Day. My heart skipped a beat, honestly. The way that Tim was looking at her in this scene while she read the note was… it was a lot, and apparently too much for me to process currently because that’s the most intelligible thing I’ve got to say about it.

“You don’t let anyone ever tell you you can’t do something. Not even me.”

-- WHILE HE HELD THE HANDSHAKE. This one line tells you all you need to know about Tim Bradford and his RELATIONSHIP with Lucy Chen, honestly. He knows she’s “as tough as they come” and has “been to hell and back” and he knows, even if it scares him, even if it gives him flashbacks to Isabel, that she can do it.

Her gift to him was such a nice callback. For a show that doesn’t seem to track or care about its actual timeline, they’ve done a wonderful job with callbacks especially this season, and especially Tim and Lucy related ones. All the Caleb/Rosalind stuff. All Isabel mentions. Multiple mentions of Plain Clothes Day and their first day riding together, etc.

Every. Single. Time. He has called her Lucy this season, I have had to compose myself, none more than in this episode. I do kind of wish they’d waited until that last moment to have him call her Lucy (to her face, we all know I don’t think the phone call scene from season one, although one of their very best moments, counts)... it might have felt slightly more impactful (although the moment in the season premiere was great in its own way.)

Honestly, it was a little weird for me watching the show tackle their final moments as TO/rookie because I’ve written so many versions of that myself? (And look, I’m not gonna lie, their version gave me feelings, but I liked mine better). I wish that truly lovely garage scene hadn’t come on the heels of that “confession” scene, but it did help make up for it.

You might have noticed that I specifically skipped over that “confession” scene in the shop. As soon as he started talking about lying and UC work, I said “ugh” and then immediately wrote the scene in my head -- down to her laugh, it was that predictable once you got the gist. And I’m going to be honest -- if I had written it, I would have deleted it.

I KNEW going in -- and I think most people will agree -- that this was not going to be a true confession. That we weren’t going to get a Chenford love confession tonight (and please, can we discuss that ‘canon’ and ‘endgame’ are not interchangeable for just a sec.) But the way it happened just felt SUPER ship baity, and using it in the promo even more so. I just felt super pandered to in a ridiculous way that didn’t leave me with the most pleasant feelings about the writers… the garage scene at the end definitely helped, but overall the confession scene left a sour taste.

The thing is -- the things she said? How he saved her? How the reason he’s protective of her is that he might have feelings too? Those are all valid things! And things that, at least in fic, I believe. But watching that scene, me, someone who can read something shippy in the TINIEST glance? I didn’t FEEL those things. I wasn’t nodding along like “yep, yep, that’s all true” -- there wasn’t a moment during that scene where they looked at each other and I thought “yes, this is hitting too close to home for one of them.” Maybe that’s just me. I don’t know.

And I don’t know if that’s because I was too in my feelings about being badly pandered to, or if it just wasn’t there, or what. But… just overall I’m left with a feeling that it was just an entirely unnecessary scene that probably didn’t serve the ship well, just judging by some reactions I’ve seen.

Those feelings though? The ones I wanted to feel in that confession scene? I FELT THOSE, every single one of them, in the parking garage scene at the end.

Every look was perfect. Every pause, the handshake (a hug would have truly saved the confession mess, let's be honest, but can't be picky), the way he looked at her as she read, THAT is the writers do SO perfectly right for Tim and Lucy (and I know the majority of that credit goes to Eric and Melissa, because the moments that are the most impactful are the looks that just can't be entirely scripted.)

Do I still ship them with every fiber of my being? Yes, and nothing the writers do or don’t do will change that. Will I still (eventually again) write a million words about them falling in love how I think they should? Yes. Do I need the show to stick to moments like in the parking garage -- real, honest moments between them? YES. That is what the show gets right about their relationship. If they can just stick to those moments -- and somehow continue them and make them believable even if they’re no longer riding together -- I’ll be happy.

Am I worried about their interactions now that they’re no longer riding together? Yes. Their chemistry is honestly the best thing on this show. Giving less screen time to Lopez and West together has been rough -- not only on the relationships aspect that so much drives the show but on the timing/pacing as well -- and I worry that their best characters/best ship not sharing as much screen time will not help either of these issues.

Maybe they’ll surprise me. I hope -- I think -- they will.

(Random, but things I still need from this season: A Rachel mention? Don't get me wrong, if they want to forget her, I'm cool... but it feels like (even a fake love) confession should have been the right time to be like "I know this is awkward, you're dating my friend..." Come on, show. I don't care about her, but you tried HARD to sell us on her last season, so at least give her a two second mention to update us on what is actually going on. The Lopez-Evers wedding. (Do I think it'll be THE Chenford event most people are hoping for? No. But I'm ready to be proven wrong.) A continuation on Harper's love life. UPDATE ME on my girl.)

[gizkasparadise]

18 and 22 for the writing meme.

thanks for the ask! sorry for the delay in answering!!

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

it really depends on the project, tbh. with fic writing, it's very very basic outlining where i do something like this:

chapter title -thing 1 -thing 2 -thing 3

chapter title 2 -thing 1

repeat. and then i just delete the chapter section in the outline after i post it.

for work projects, it's a lot more intense. i usually spend a few days outlining, then i organize research/background stuff into physical piles if it's hardcopy or gDrive folders if it's digital. then i make liberal use of post-its to lay out points and general brainstorming. i outline sometimes in a word doc/gdoc, but most of the outlining takes place in notepads

for outlining tools, i mainly use google drive (i have folders and subfolders for each project) and the free version of trello (project management tool). ive thought about scrivener but i dont want to pay for anything :'D

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

i had such a hard time thinking of a passage :'| but let's do malak's death scene from i loved rome more (kotor, revan/malak). excerpt/thoughts under the cut:

general thoughts: i think this is the most i've gone over line edits in a fic, especially with the final lines in the scene. i wanted to phrase everything really carefully. the "this is drowning, this is breathing/This is loving, this is leaving" pair of lines went through a thousand variations in particular. but the main thing i wanted to do was 1) write this scene in a way that was still somewhat interesting despite being a canon scene all the readers have presumably played through already, 2) integrate/come full circle with some of the arc words and themes (in particular revan's inability to apologize with malak's avoidance tendencies/leaving a situation without resolving it, and 3) be sad LOL and kind of romantic? in a weird way (maybe more Romantic). a lot of it's call backs to previous chapters in the story

excerpt w/ commentary in bold

Revan meets his eyes. They both know that there is no coming back from what she’s done to him. this line works on two levels-- revan's killing him fully aware that she's responsible for the monster he's become

He sinks to his knees, then collapses backward. Without thinking, she kneels beside him, much like she did when she was eighteen and he was near death for the first time at the Enclave following a failed mission with Vrook.

No one will hurt you again, she lies. callback to chapter....2? i think?? anyway, it's revisiting the scene where revan kind of is threatened with alek/malak's mortality and basically says Not Today, Satan to it. sort of a bitter irony, here

For the first time in a long time, it’s just them, the quiet, and the emptiness of space. And it’s not peace, but it’s not hatred. It’s just empty.

He coughs. One of his hands is pressed over his chest. She watches it rise and fall with increasing shallowness, his breath coming and leaving in awful hitches.

Malak coughs again and she’s numb. “Revan.”

She swallows. “Yes?”

“I... I cannot help but wonder. What would have happened had our positions been reversed?” canon question lifted verbatim from the game, and part of why this ship is my favorite because of their inherent tragedy and the unfairness of everything

Her hair is sweat-soaked and stuck to her neck. Her body will be screaming in pain later. But now, it’s as though every nerve she has is dead, that every breath she’s taken is for someone else.

“You would have used it better,” she admits quietly. she knows, fundamentally, that alek was a better person than she ever was.

Unable to move, he reaches for her hand blindly.

She grabs it, holds his fingers even after they fall slack. this is a callback to a previous chapter (idr which one, but one of the mandalorian wars flashback chapters) where alek reaches for her hand when he's injured and she doesnt grab it because she doesnt want to look like she's showing favoritism in front of the other soldiers

“As the darkness takes me...I am nothing.”

-

This is drowning, this is breathing. This is loving, this is leaving.  lol the way i STRUGGLED with these lines and debated including them. but w/e im happy with them/the flow of this scene and im glad they're here

-

For the first time, she’s able to say it.

"I'm sorry," she chokes.

But he still goes away.

this is a final callback to the continued arc words "She can never say she's sorry/As always, Malak/Alek walks away" that's present several times in the fic

Thanks for reading!!!

[which-star]

18 and 20

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

YES so many! Off the top of my head Get Cool was supposed to be in-canon during the War of Realms/formation of new aoa. I deleted 1k words from that original idea and revived like 500 of them 🥲 such a pain.

The new aoa au I'm doing I did briefly consider making it a university/boarding school au. Class prez Ami, popular girl Seol, nerd Lei, jock Pearl and Cindy, etc. I still think it could be fun, haha, and the more I play around with it the more ideas for it I get.

Especially when I have a story idea or like a one off line but no characters in mind, it starts off with a bunch of different variations before I decide on one.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Again: so many!! Most of my Carmen Sandiego fics have the most meta since I Thought Too Much while writing, and my aoa au series is gonna have a lot too. Lots of detail in journey, on rooftops, and chisel! They're all very dramatic lmao, most of my cs fics are. Most notably I really like the relationships in skating through time and the wyts series tho.

[urne-buriall]

time has come today (12) Was there a scene you wished you could have included? Why didn't it fit in? and maybe (20) What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

back at it with time has come today (I am very inconsistent about linking things but you're all here because you already know what I'm talking about, I'm pretty sure)

12. Was there a scene you wished you could have included? Why didn't it fit in?

so there actually is 1 (one) deleted scene from this series. I started writing it and it was neat, but it was taking away from the finale, which already had so much to wrap up. it was a scene in the final chapter where John shows up in Bisbee 🙃🙃🙃 and it's 41-year-old Dean who sees him and the Impala, and it's very complicated for Dean, of course it is, but he tells John he has to stay away from Teen-Dean and Sam and leave them be because he's no good for them any more. but my thoughts on this matter are so complex and it was going to derail the story so John didn't turn up in Bisbee after all. (not then, anyway.)

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

again, hard question. there are a LOT of direct or coded quotes/callbacks to canon that I thought were clever while I was writing them, but I imagine those who notice just sort of smirk and move on. sometimes I worry I'm being too coy in my writing style and not making it clear when something that looks like it's being said in the authorial voice is actually Dean's totally whack way of processing the world. there were so many things he refused to face directly, from present feelings to past experiences, that I also sublimated on his behalf while trying to paint a clear picture of what he was thinking or doing and why. so I hope people noticed that stuff! I always trust readers to be clever and catch nuances perfectly well, but they have to be written well first and that part is on me.

ask game

[skyblue-ringpops]

A Deep Dive Into Blaine Anderson

I wrote a six page essay analyzing Blaine Anderson.

Click to read it, I would really appreciate if you did. Keep in mind - it’s long. 

I hope you enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts!

Warning: There will be discussion of neglect, abuse, homophobia, suicide, self harm, eating disorders, and sexual assault.

When we were first introduced to Blaine Anderson, he was made out to seem like Kurt’s mentor, very confident and open to being himself. It wasn’t long before he changed, and many would say that change was for the worse. As many people say, he became whiny, clingy, and, according to many of his critics, annoying. However, it isn’t hard to see that Blaine was struggling mentally, and these issues were never explored further. This essay will not only determine what he was going through, but explain possible causes and effects. 

We first meet Blaine at Dalton Academy, confident, accepting of himself, someone for Kurt to look up to and be guided by. But why does he suddenly change after season two? He isn’t being himself at Dalton, he’s being the way he’s expected to be. The Warblers all seem to have a similar presence that captures the spirit of the academy - formal, wise, confident. That fits the personality of season two Blaine. Why is he acting this way, though? There’s a few possibilities. One, he’s trying to fit in. Everyone else in the academy acts that way, and Blaine doesn’t want to stand out, he wants to fit in, something he wasn’t able to do at his old school. Two, he could have a mentor at the academy that he’s trying to act more like. Blaine is the head Warbler, but he isn’t the authority in the group. That role would likely belong to Wes or David, one of the members of the council. It’s possible that Blaine admired them or was inspired in some way, and tried replicating their behavior. Three, he could have been ashamed of his actual personality or feared nobody would like his true self, and tried hiding it either to fit in, as I said before, or to make Kurt like him. I personally don’t think this is the case since he took off his mask once arriving at McKinley. I think he was likely trying to fit the image of the academy, hoping it would prevent the bullying he faced at his old school. Although Dalton had a zero tolerance policy, he likely faced some trauma, and a simple policy wouldn’t be enough for him.

So, what happened at his old school? Blaine said that he and his openly gay friend were jumped at a Sadie Hawkins dance at their school, leading Blaine to transfer to Dalton. This affected him quite a bit, and it was shown multiple times. While at the prom with Kurt, Blaine seems protective of him at times and isn’t too sure they’ll be safe. The chance of this being his first dance since the Sadie Hawkins is very high, it’s no surprise that he’d be afraid, especially knowing that Kurt had been bullied in the past. After Tina very awkwardly asks Blaine to the Sadie Hawkins dance and gets rejected, she apologizes, thinking he said no because of his past experience. We know he said no because of his crush on Sam, however, I don’t believe that’s the only reason. He knew Sam wouldn’t feel the same way, and he knew Tina would have been willing to go as friends. Even if it wasn’t the main reason for him rejecting her, his trauma likely played a role in it. 

alton Academy was a place of refuge for Blaine. He went there after the bullying, he made friends, he met Kurt, the Warblers were probably the closest thing he had to a family, he almost went back after his very hard breakup in season four. It wouldn’t be hard to believe that Dalton saved his life, which I’ll get more into later. When the academy burns down in season six, it’s clear that he was very affected by it. He’s brought into the auditorium clearly upset, crying, quiet. When explaining what happened, he seems distant, sort of zoned out. Chances are, he watched the academy burn - many agree it is a boarding school so even if it wasn’t during the school day, it’s very likely he was there. But the fire probably happened during the day, it makes sense since there would be something that could have caused it. Even if he didn’t witness the academy burn, he would have seen the results of the fire, even if it was just in pictures. The academy was clearly important to every student, they did what they could to respect it. Blaine has an extra reason to hold it so close, That would almost definitely add to his trauma, especially since it was a place that meant so much to him.

The Warblers were the closest thing Blaine had to a family. What about his parents, what about Cooper? We met Cooper and Pam, and his father was mentioned. However, in a deleted scene, it is confirmed that Blaine’s parents weren’t present in his life, they were too busy with work. Cooper and Blaine didn’t have much of a relationship, due to their age difference. Blaine’s father and Cooper aren’t even at the wedding, although it wasn’t originally his. There was a deleted explanation for Cooper’s absence, he had a callback for an audition. The only explanation for his father’s absence was also deleted - an implication that his parents got a divorce. It’s hard to say the effect this would have on Blaine, it was deleted so we never saw his reaction, and we don’t know if it even affected him much due to their absence. Also, it’s more than likely that Blaine raises himself. In flashbacks, it’s shown that he didn’t have the best childhood. We see Cooper teasing him and not letting him play, and we see him play Operation by himself. Chances are, he raised himself. He probably had nobody to raise him, no role models. We know Blaine didn’t have the best relationship with Cooper, we saw in the episode Big Brother that, although they seemed to make up at the end, Cooper never really supported Blaine and constantly criticized him, and Blaine seemed jealous of the attention Cooper received. These problems have probably always existed, and could even be traced back to their parents, if Cooper got more attention or praise. Their parents were absent for most of Blaine’s childhood, but due to the age difference, we can’t definitively say the same for Cooper. As for their father, he isn’t talked about much, but Blaine does tell Burt that his father used to fix cars with him in an effort to turn him straight. Now, this is only based on what Blaine says, it’s possible that he just assumed this and his father’s intention was simply spending time with his son. However, even if that is the case, there has to be some reason for Blaine to assume this. Whether his father made homophobic comments in the past, reacted badly to Blaine coming out, or explicitly said he had an issue with Blaine’s sexuality and/or wanted to “fix him”, or if his father never actually did anything, and he assumed the worst because of something done by someone else, there has to be some reason for him to think this. His mother does seem to be the better parent, at least she shows up once and he doesn’t have anything bad to say about her. But that doesn’t mean she was all good, and just observing her behaviors at the wedding shows this. First of all, she’s shown dancing with Puck, which must be weird for Blaine. Imagine seeing your recently divorced (although I’m not sure if we can consider the divorce canon since it was deleted, making this situation even worse) dancing with one of your classmates, who’s only a year older than you. This next point isn’t canon, it’s more of a possible scenario. His mother seems to be acting drunk at the wedding, and is one of the only ones to appear that way. Again, not confirmed. But if that is the case, imagine this scenario - Blaine’s mother hardly being present, and drinking when she is. First of all, this would make it much harder for the two to bond, since she probably wouldn’t be focused as much on him. Second, there isn’t much she would be able to do for him, so he wouldn’t have a responsible adult around if he needed one. And third - again, this is entirely speculation - it could potentially have a negative influence on him. While it definitely doesn’t seem Blaine has a dependence on alcohol (it actually seems to be more of the opposite, since he’s apparently drunk after one beer in The First Time), it could have a negative influence on his coping mechanisms, shown when he and Dave Karofsky are explaining their relationship to Kurt, saying they met at Scandals. This may not seem like an issue, but remember, during season six, Blaine was too depressed to do much of anything, to the point of getting kicked out of NYADA, but still chose to hang out in a bar.

Speaking of his relationship with Karofsky, almost everyone agrees that he shouldn’t have dated his ex’s former tormentor, and many criticize him for that. But what was his reason for choosing to date him? There are a few possibilities. First, he could have actually had feelings for him, which I doubt. It isn’t impossible, but he clearly wasn’t over Kurt, and he knew how Karofsky used to treat him, although he changed. It is possible that Blaine was just taking whatever he could get, like after the season four breakup when he was finally able to move on due to a crush on Sam, likely developed out of loneliness. Also, his feelings for Dave quickly disappear when he realizes he has a chance to get Kurt back. Another possibility is that he chose to date Dave to upset Kurt, out of spite possibly, but Blaine doesn’t seem like the type to intentionally hurt someone he loves. He usually tries to take on the role of a protector, so why would he try to hurt Kurt, even if he was upset with him, especially knowing what Dave did in the past? The third reason, which seems the most probable to me, is that Blaine dated Dave because he was seeking pain or abuse. There’s a few reasons why he could have done this. One, it isn’t uncommon for survivors of abuse, which with his father, Blaine might be, to seek out more pain after their abuser has stopped. It’s possible that, if his father was abusive, he did stop sometime around season 6, since Blaine likely doesn’t live at home anymore and if his parents did divorce around this time, he may not see his father anymore. Two, it could have been a form of punishment. If he blamed himself for the breakup, he may think he deserves pain for hurting Kurt. He also could have been seeking pain in order to feel something. He was extremely depressed after the breakup and likely felt numb, and in his mind, pain would be better than that. Finally, he could have been with Dave thinking he couldn’t do any better or didn’t deserve any better. This could be a result of the breakup or his previous insecurities shown in season 5.

Now, let’s take a closer look at his insecurities. Insecurity is something that has been covered quite a bit on the show, but is typically done poorly. In Blaine’s case, his insecurity makes him jealous and many criticize him for that. When Kurt begins a more healthy lifestyle and gets in better shape, rather than being happy for him, Blaine becomes jealous, tries to reverse his progress, and turns to the internet because he doesn’t feel comfortable around Kurt. There are some suggestions that Blaine may be going through something many characters in the show face - the eating disorder that only lasts one episode. There are many implications that he may be binge eating at the beginning of the episode, and even after deciding he wants to get into shape, continues consuming a large amount of calories, seemingly using it as a coping mechanism. However, this issue was completely overlooked, just like many others throughout the show. He also says to Kurt, “One day, you’re gonna wake up and realize that ‘I don’t love him anymore.’” He has the belief throughout the episode that Kurt is better than him, and could do better. However, this isn’t the first time he has a mindset like this. When Kurt texts Chandler, Blaine accuses him of cheating despite doing something similar with Sebastian and seeing no issue with it. When Kurt graduates, Blaine worries that the long-distance relationship won’t work for them, he worries that Kurt will leave him. When Blaine meets Elliot, he confronts him for trying to steal Kurt from him, despite both of them assuring him they are just friends. Kurt hasn’t done anything to make Blaine believe he isn’t loyal or wants to leave him. It seems that Blaine has abandonment issues, which could be traced back to his parents’ absence. This would also explain his clinginess and dependence on Kurt. Even when Kurt isn’t around, he always seems to have one person he latches onto. For example, in seasons four and five, he’s hardly seen without Sam, and even in season six, when he seems to go everywhere with Dave and moves in with him very quickly, and the only times he is without them are usually when he is with Kurt.

Blaine’s anxiety is shown in more ways than just his abandonment issues and clinginess. For example, when Blaine is reconsidering his choice to audition for NYADA and instead claims he wants to be a doctor despite having no prior interest, he is avoiding a cause of worry, a common symptom of anxiety. He also shows signs of an anxiety attack during the shooting. He’s shown sitting quietly, crying, and hugging his knees. He’s okay at first, but later panics after being shushed. He most likely thinks everyone is mad at him for making noise, and fears that if anything happens to them, he will be blamed. When Ryder calls “Katie” and the phone rings, everyone tells him to turn it off except for Blaine, who can be seen mouthing “Turn it off please” but doesn’t make a sound, likely because he’s too scared to speak. He doesn’t move and is the only one to not touch anyone during the lockdown. Even when Sam is trying to leave, Blaine doesn’t help, just covers his ears and tries to block it out. This could be signs of PTSD. Throughout the experience, he seems almost childlike, for example, curling up, audibly sobbing, clinging to Sam, and being the only person to call his parents and greeting his mother with “hey mommy”.

Along with his anxiety, Blaine is shown to have severe depression, which is especially notable during seasons four and six, but likely existed even before his transfer to Dalton. He talks about being unable to sleep and eat after he and Kurt broke up in season six, and was even kicked out of NYADA due to his lack of motivation. He nearly transfers back to Dalton after the season four breakup, a place of refuge for him, because everything at McKinley reminds him of Kurt and he can’t handle it. He even shows signs of being suicidal in seasons three and four. Season four has less to discuss, he says a few things that suggest he either is or is becoming suicidal, showing signs of severe depression and acting as if he has nothing left. In season three, though, there is more to look into, and if you aren’t paying close attention, it’s easy to miss. Both examples are from the episode On My Way. The theme for regionals is inspirational, and Blaine chooses to sing the song Cough Syrup. The song is viewed as a cry for help from the band when they were first starting out and unsure what to do. However, the song is not about suicide. It’s about the difficult decision to stray from the norm and do your own thing, or do what is expected of you. In fact, upon viewing the episode, the band said they never thought of the song in that way. However, many listeners do think of the song as being about suicide, and we don’t know what Blaine’s interpretation was. Later in the episode, the club discusses suicide. Everyone makes eye contact, and when they say what they are looking forward to, everyone laughs and smiles. However, Blaine doesn’t. Rather than looking at everyone else, he looks down, rubbing his wrists, suggesting possible self harm or suicidal ideation. He looks sad throughout the discussion, and his only smile, towards the end of the discussion, looks very forced and his eyes still look sad. Due to his past, it wouldn’t be hard to believe he had thoughts of suicide at some point, whether before Dalton, or during seasons three, four, and/or six.

My final point will be discussing this article. The article points out some inconsistencies about Blaine and sex, from his open discussion with Burt, casually bringing up masturbation, his sometimes sexual song choices, the car scene after he and Kurt go to Scandals, and his talk about sexy faces, to his argument with Sam when he says he’s “not for sale”. He shows no discomfort most of the time, until one suggestion makes him become angry and defensive. His character did go through quite a bit of changes, which could be an explanation for his inconsistencies, mixed with Glee’s notoriously bad writing, but there is another way to look at it: some kind of sexual trauma during his childhood. The ability to have a mature discussion about it can be explained by his exposure to it at a young age if this is the case, since, depending on his age, he would probably need an explanation and a discussion with adults, possibly strangers, if he came forward about his experience. He could, depending on the trauma, view sex as a way to gain approval. And if his dad actually is homophobic, this could be directly linked with Blaine’s experience, with his father possibly believing his sexuality is a result of the trauma. The presentation of his trauma could differentiate every day, being perfectly fine with talking about it one day and not wanting to the next. This could also provide a bit more of an explanation for the car scene during The First Time, if Blaine’s experience happened at a young age and that was his first exposure to and therefore the foundation of his understanding of sex, Blaine may not realize when he goes too far. We know that, whether this theory is true or not, Blaine experienced sexual assault when Tina “vaporaped” him. He doesn’t seem too bothered by her, and she even becomes one of his best friends after it happened. However, the response to trauma I discussed earlier seems to be present. Sam brings up the event later on, meaning he knows about it, and since the chances of Tina or Kurt (the only other ones who know) telling him aren’t high (Tina because she wouldn’t want to admit to it, unless she slipped up like she did with Kurt, and Kurt because he wouldn’t want to reveal Blaine’s trauma), and the fact that Sam brought it up in front of Blaine, shows that he was likely okay with talking about it. He wouldn’t tell Sam if he wasn’t okay discussing it, and if they never talked about it, Sam probably wouldn’t casually joke about it in front of him. If Sam thought the comment he made was okay, he probably didn’t think it affected Blaine too much. However, when Sam brings it up, Blaine clearly looks upset. It did have a negative effect on him, and it was more than likely traumatic. And there’s a possibility that it may not have been his first experience with sexual trauma.

There is no question that Blaine had a rough past, and many of those struggles continue to affect him. However, the show, for the most part, ignores them. I hope that through this essay, you were able to learn a bit more about Blaine, understand his inconsistencies and behaviors that seem out of character, to look past the surface level. Blaine is one of the strongest characters, but his issues are hardly ever brought to light. Keep in mind, a lot of this is speculation, headcanons, or analysis of background information that may not have been scripted. Respectful discussion is encouraged, and feel free to share any additional observations, theories, or headcanons, or suggest another character for me to look into.

[aion-rsa]

The Book of Boba Fett Just Pulled off Major A New Hope Callback

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett article contains spoilers.

In the flashback portion of The Book of Boba Fett episode 2, “The Tribes of Tatooine,” Boba Fett is on the hunt for something that can help the Tusken Raiders take down the Pyke Syndicate’s hovertrain, but it isn’t power converters. When the bounty hunter visits a cantina in the desert, he’s searching for the speeder bikes he needs to catch up with the Tuskens’ spice-smuggling enemy, and he has no problem punching and shooting his way through a biker gang to get what he needs.

But eagle-eyed Star Wars fans know that this is no ordinary cantina in the middle of nowhere. Boba Fett has brought us to one of the most famous locations from A New Hope.

Tosche Station

“But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!” young Luke Skywalker whines in protest after his Uncle Owen asks him to clean up their new droids. It’s an oft-quoted line from the original Star Wars that has immortalized a little piece of lore that until The Book of Boba Fett had never actually appeared on screen in an official capacity.

At one point, George Lucas did originally intend to bring Tosche Station to the big screen, with the scene serving as the audience’s first introduction to Luke and a group of his friends on Tatooine. But it was cut for time and pacing, and once you’ve watched the scene, it’s hard to argue with Lucas and the editors’ decision:

In the deleted scene, Luke rushes to Tosche Station to tell his pals Biggs Darklighter, Laze Loneozner, and Camie Marstrap about a space battle happening above Tatooine (the moment the Empire trapped the Rebel cruiser at the start of the movie). It’s during this scene that Biggs also tells Luke that he’s leaving to find the Rebellion and join them in the fight against the Empire. He invites Luke to come along but the young farm boy feels he must stay to help his uncle on the moisture farm for one more season. As we all know, that season will never come for the Lars family, who are killed by stormtroopers a little later in the movie.

Since 1977, Tosche Station appeared from time to time in the pages of Star Wars books and comics, usually as a background detail or easter egg within those stories. The power station/repair shop is located just outside the town of Anchorhead, which also gets a mention in the deleted scene as well as later in the theatrical cut when Luke offers to accompany Obi-Wan Kenobi on his journey “as far as Anchorhead.”

To this day, Luke has yet to pick up those power converters.

Laze and Camie

While Boba Fett is smashing bikers through glass windows, there are two terrified bystanders watching from a corner table. Nine years after the events of A New Hope, Laze and Camie are back at Tosche Station, this time being harassed by Nikto bikers, who use the station as a watering hole after their raids.

Like the station itself, these two minor characters have never appeared on screen outside of the aforementioned deleted scene from 1977. Laze and Camie did return in the old (now non-canon) Marvel comics from the late ’70s, at one point selling out Luke as a rebel to the Empire to protect their livelihoods. No, they’re not very good friends. (Even in the deleted scene, Camie likes to make fun of Luke, calling him “wormie” throughout, which is just mean.)

In The Book of Boba Fett, Laze and Camie are played by Skyler Bible and Mandy Kowalski, respectively, taking over from the original 1977 actors, Anthony Forrest and Koo Stark.

These A New Hope deep cuts are far from the only Star Wars easter eggs in “The Tribes of Tatooine.” You can check out a complete list of easter eggs and references here.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post The Book of Boba Fett Just Pulled off Major A New Hope Callback appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3GeYW4t

[goblinconceivable]

All The Feels

Random bulletpoints of Annie/Jeff analysis because I am overcome with shippiness.  :D  Also more like bullet-lengthy-paragraphs.  You tried, self, you tried.

Pascal’s Triangle (PT) is not a love triangle.  

Sure, look at the top two rows and you’ve got a binary split, ie, choice between two women.  But PT is row based, your current row based on the one above.  It’s complex.  Look below the binary surface of choice to row 3, where it actually becomes PT, where the complexity begins (and Community is about complexity.)  1, 2, 1, a total of 4. The 2 is the merging of the two 1s from row two - Ie, two women who get lumped together.  And beyond them is a 1 that springs out of nowhere - Annie.  Surprise!

Kiss at the end of S1

Jeff’s major deal is being afraid of expressing caring/vulnerability, while desperately craving/needing it.  Britta and Slater were both saying they loved him, and he does want to take that, but runs scared because they are  challenging him to admit his feelings in public, which no one who really knows and cares about him would do.  His scene with Annie is private. And she isn’t asking him FOR anything, she’s just asking what’s up, because she cares about the answer.  He feels safe, he opens up, it’s intimacy, which is both giving and taking.  Notably he admits he’s glad she’s staying after his share, this is him saying he cares about her too.

His explanation of the situation is a perceived choice between being the New Year’s guy (who he wants to be) and the Three Weeks Later guy (who he is.)  But the thing about New Year’s is the initial momentum always fades, and you have to put in the work, which Slater doesn’t help him with.  And he WON’T be able to sustain it on is own.  The guy he IS isn’t who he wants to be, it’s just giving up, rather than striving, even if imperfectly, to reach those goals.  Annie falls into the sweet spot: she understands what his default is, but shows him that he CAN be the man he wants to be, shows him what those steps ARE, encourages him to take the steps to be that person, and rewards him when he succeeds.  Which he does, with her behind him.  

And she kisses him first.  Which is an offering similar to Britta and Slater’s public announcements, but through action, not words.  Jeff uses words as shield and weapon, as did the other two.  Bypassing this essentially shortcircuits his brain.  His brain will warp and analyze and question, but she kisses him gently, an invitation not a demand.  He’s already put aside his sword and shield during their talk, and doesn’t feel the need to pick them up because he feels safe and cared for and is okay accepting and reciprocating that.

Play

Jeff is all adult and aloof and beyond such petty childish pursuits such as play, which is the scoffed at domain of Annie/Troy/Abed.  But he actually really wants it.  It likely stems in part from his loss of a proper childhood, but it’s also just who he is.  Imagination isn’t just for the young, the loss of the ability to play is an oft-bemoaned feature of adulthood, one the learned remind us we ought recapture.  (And a joy of parenthood is getting to do that through your children.)  But look, he literally was playacting being a lawyer.  It’s how he engages with the world.  He just justified that as a means to an end and did it for power and profit, rather than for enjoyment.

We see this, I argue, when responding to Annie’s playacting they were married. Annie anticipates a bad reaction, but he doesn’t give one.  No judgment.  He then establishes it’s not a deeper issue (”do I have to worry about this” ie, is this real/insanity).  When he says “I can tell you one thing your fantasy got wrong...” he’s not challenging her, or even taking offense, and while he’s not entering into her fantasy world (which is over anyway), he’s offering fodder.  He’s involving himself in the narrative process for her benefit.  And in the couched language of daydream he’s reassuring her -if- it was true, he would be devoted.  IF is a super important word in play, because you don’t have to believe, for example, you ARE a pirate.  You just need to act as IF you were a pirate.

Also cute, I take as justified fanon the deleted scene where he orders her appletini.  He was whining to her about it but it was relaxed because they both know he’d do it anyway.  And when the bartender turns out to be a believer in Annie’s created fantasy world, Jeff stops himself from correcting him and destroying the world.  Instead, he lets it persist just far enough to let himself glance at Annie as if it was true, and in that moment he sees her through the eyes of fantasy, and sees a beautiful woman, rather than all the complexity of their relationship.

Then there’s basically all the giant Greendale instances of play.  Which one way or the other, he gets roped into and ends up jumping into with abandon.  (Paintball, lava etc.)  And they’re often paired, because he enjoys playing with her, and the “if this” acts as license for them to explore their compatibility.  And their capers, when they pair up in the “real world”, is really just a sophisticated form of play.  As brought up pointedly when they were searching for the ASB, there’s a dual nature here.  They aren’t just buddies, like Troy and Abed, who are also very fantasy oriented (cardboard submarine!).  There’s a level of daydream beneath the fantasy world where they can set aside the complexities of their relationship, and say “if we’re solving this crime, then we can live in this bubble and just be together.”

I also really love the whole Professor Professorson episode because of course the layers are just so intricate and delightful when they unfold.  He tackles her which was total overreaction, he’s in a heightened world and committed to it.  They plot out this crazy intricate play to teach the Dean a lesson together, where they involve real emotions.  Many of which are Annie’s, but that means they’re creating a world in which it is safe to amplify her feelings which they are both aware of but are usually repressed, especially by Jeff.  And he praises her for that later (she went off book and deceived like a master) rather than being uncomfortable.  They exit play safely because they trust each other while playing and can leave that permissive world as an if.  And it ends with the blanket fort collapsing and cocooning them.  It is a play space literally being broken, begging the question of how much impact our play can have on our real selves.

Season 6

So basically I think I missed fandom the first time around and just binged on meta and there’s (fanon?) that Jeff spent the season looking for her attention, but Annie had pulled back?  I zipped through a bunch of scenes they were in together, and heartily agree.  Also I think I went a little nutty but What I see:

Annie doesn’t ignore him or anything, but where she might have previously inserted herself in his life, she starts to let him fend for himself while she diverts her attention to other relationships, and treats him more like she does the others.  I don’t think she really does anything like taking his class so she can evaluate his teaching and bludgeon him into being better?  But when they’re in a situation, like City College’s ad, she stands up to him as normal, challenging him to be better and do the right thing, as she always has.  Rewards him with approval when he does, and his whispered “thank you” is the cutest thing ever because it’s an intimate choice in a rather boisterous exchange.

Meanwhile Jeff does seem to spend a lot of time and energy trying to get back to a place where he’s first in her eyes.  There are a lot of shots in S6 a the Table and group scenes that involve him looking at her disproportionately, first, last, or only when speaking, esp when they’re all at the table.  When I went back and tried to do the same to S5 those scenes are set up a bit differently and I saw less of it but I think there’s just fewer group scenes in general though?.  In S6, he often ends a comment directed at the group (non table) by looking at Annie, indicating he wants her response, and thus her attention and engagement.  And often, she is the next person to speak.  Which is her personality as a leader, which supports the idea that while he’s seeking her out, she isn’t necessarily responding to that but just being her. 

Finale

I’ve sort of run myself dry thinking through other things.  And great analysis is plentiful and most recent.  So not even bullet points just ramble But:

Oh3, so when Garrett proposed and Abed noted Jeff had a funny look, he’s been daydreaming marrying Annie for that lone plus longer?  That took me a long time to put together as an actual literal thing.

Oh2, it’s all canon that he has issues with prolonged eye contact because he doesn’t want people to see him broken and he doesn’t break eye contact through any of this.  He knows she knows he’s broken already and is quietly fine with her seeing everything and this is a moment for *sobs*

Oh wait hey, so callback to that bit where she’s like “your words don’t mean anything” and he’s like “That’s what conversation is, people saying things to get stuff.”  Because he’s 100% not trying to get anything by telling her he’s let her go.  And he means a lot by saying it.  And if he said “I love you” there’s an implied sense of obligation to say it back and since he means romantically he can’t do that.  So this is just him letting her know, no pressure, no expectation, that he loves her and has loved her but it’s okay because she’s free and he wants her to be free because he loves her.  And he means it so hard when she says “kiss me goodbye” he’s all “you don’t owe me anything.”

But she does love him too, except she knows she’s in a different place emotionally and professionally.  And it’s sweet and a gift because she doesn’t make this about her but about him and his feelings.  So she preempts his regrets because she knows he WON’T kiss her goodbye unless she invites him to.  There’s something I’m reaching for and can’t find here.  She doesn’t admit to anything because there’s no point?  It would just hurt him either way?  Sharing her feelings through action rather than words?

And so much squee thinking how far everyone’s come for this scene to be a thing which could happen.

Callback to Annie’s marriage fantasy when Jeff has his own.  Hers was external, by her personality (esp at the time of her maturation) and thus public and psychologically working out a reasonable feeling of abandonment as she gave their fictional selves marital difficulties.  His is very internal, and occurs after Abed, always so reliable as a gateway to fantasy, turns the tables on him.  He’s experiencing reasonable feelings of abandonment, and while he runs, it’s to a safe space of “what if,” a coping mechanism he has learned, and which allows for working out of psychological issues.  

It’s dual: in that the larger issue is his need for a sense of stability.  Though he’s staring at the table the scene doesn’t involve Greendale at all, he already had that fantasy.  This is about wanting a life outside of the safe zone of the college.  And while he suggests a dog as an option he imagined a kid because having one represents stability for him - it was his father who left, and he won’t leave.  If there’s a kid, this is a life, Annie can’t leave.  But he offers her imaginary self complete editing powers, because all he really wants is to be able to love and be loved.  It’s indulgence, a desperate grasp at balm because while he let her go, he can’t let her -go.-  He was okay with being close friends, they do love each other as friends.  See his pitch.  But faced with losing that, he’s stripped bare.  He indulges in his supressed hearts desire and is faced with the reality of what he already knows: it’s not in the cards.

And he’s stripped down to insecurities that aren’t limited to Annie.  It’s cute how they jive over Marvel, though it’s weird to me and takes up more time and weird dramatic looking around that doesn’t feel playful enough to be justified.  The tone of their voices is too serious, it’s a mismatch.  I like how he admits the huge thing that he let her go as far as he has control, and suddenly a time pressure is on their alone time.  Everything is immediate right now, everything happening fast.  I wonder what Annie would have said if not for the text.  But that’s the thing, it’s the wrong time for them and this is a goodbye.  It’s too late but just under the wire all at once.

In this chapter at least.  In the safety of the group Annie brings up a season 7, which we all know could happen years down the line.  Would have been more fitting if she said movie though.  Still, he takes that as the comfort in which it was intended.

WTF with his all coed season 7?  Yes, we cut to it so it totally isn’t happening, but has he put his issues to rest and is just fantasizing crap or what?  It makes no sense to me.

I love that he not only puts her first after she invites him to kiss her goodbye by asking “what about you,” but is -asking for consent.-  He doesn’t even move towards her until he gets it, he’s literally just standing back.  What’s up with the penis thing?  Meta reference to shortcut arguments that it’s not true love but lust?  Is it Jeff acknowledging his own cynicism and how he’s dropped it?  Since he’s so clearly not in a lust mode here.  Is he adding a tiny bit of his usual pointed add ins to his speeches?

I guess it’s like...  this is one of his speeches, but it feels out of place because of his delivery?  Which is beautifully subdued and resigned and honest and just defeated, but defeated in the sense that he defeated all the barriers he still keeps around himself.  

and goodbye hug and kiss at the airport.

[ayankun]

Got a lot done today, rewarding self with hsmtmts S1 (who am I kidding, this was going to happen regardless) just starting ep 3, thoughts that contain S2 spoilers below

It's not as awkwardly zany as I feared! I think its mockumentary style is certainly more stylized than it's become, but the jokes still land. Even though some of said jokes are based on their characters' archetypes rather than the people they're going to grow into. What can you do, it's only been an hour of runtime, everything's gonna be different by hour 10.

Gosh the kids are so young! But they're all doing so so so well. I've also now seen an hour or two of cast interviews, and the age differences of the actors is pretty wild. Like I think Frankie is one of the older ones, but for the first time I paid attention and found out Carlos is supposed to be a sophomore like Gina (but now it makes more sense that he's only just turning 16 lolololol)

I'm feeling really bad for Ricky, remembering that his home life troubles are specifically what are causing him to react and over-react and generally be a drama-maker on behalf of the plot. Like on one hand, it's such an interesting choice to have your leading man be the anti-hero of his own story, 'cause he hecks up ALL the time and is sometimes hard to root for, but taking a step back to observe that this is a fiction and everything is designed with intent, Ricky's character isn't really a hero or villain, he's a personification of a message, which is that sometimes you gotta dig deep and identify the root of your problems first before you can start applying beneficial solutions. And you might just keep hecking up until you get there. The stuff with his mom in 2x09 is sosososososo important and a long time coming, the character's going to have to be a different person going forward because he's finally been able to address some of his issues that have been festering since 1x01.

Semi-related, I'll always show up for a good redemption arc. Ricky, the hero, is going to need one! Nini might even get one (1000% I don't believe she needs one, keep self-actualizing, queen!), but anyway the S1 antagonist trio of EJ, Gina, and Mr. Mazzara is so fun/frustrating to watch, knowing that in S2 they're literally all going to become not just protagonists but also my favorite ones.

ALSO seeing evil!Gina and villainous!EJ interact keeps giving me chills. Those poor kids have NO IDEA what they're in for!!!!!

Similarly, Matt Cornett has grown on me a lot. Even first time through, I thought he was the weakest of the cast (lol he's the oldest, he's ridiculously old for that baby face) and just now in One Billion Sorrys I was like, isn't EJ supposed to be leading man material? Why is his performance so bad for comedy reasons? Oh... it's less comedy reasons and more Matt Cornett doing his best? Also why is he so white-washed this season! The makeup they've caked on him makes him look sickly. ANYWAY he's really come a long way, and especially with the stuff they've been giving him in S2, his scenes where EJ's successfully engaging with Gina as a human being are sosososo effective and I'm looking forward to getting back to that point.

Clocking some callbacks S2 has made to S1, like Kourtney talking to Nini about how she's avoiding talking to Ricky about something important and then Ricky comes up, or Nini needing to keep her phone out of the hands of her insecure clingy boyfriends so they don't jealously delete things. EDIT: just finished S1 and there was another major parallel I noticed but since noticing I have somehow forgotten :<<<<< OH COULD IT HAVE BEEN 1x08 is where Ricky and Nini rekindle things and 2x08 is where they call it quits????? (also Ricky getting earth-shattering home & family news on holidays and having to bottle it up b/c someone's on his doorstep and he has to perform Emotional Stability) (found another one, Miss Jenn's "Trust the process" vs Dean Patel's "Trust the outcome.") (Miss Jenn giving Nini a voice and YAC literally taking it away)

I guess also Ricky's mom problem and Nini's decision to put her dreams first were the inciting incidents for these two characters' arcs -- like, the narrative's inciting incident is "I think I kinda you know," and it plays out in the spaces where the Ricky/Nini romance storyline provides conflict for the success-of-the-show storyline, and vice versa, but the CHARACTERS' STORIES are about the mom thing and the dream thing, and are actually the root of all the interpersonal drama.

Not sure that I have a point, it's more of a comment of appreciation.

Another good thing about S2 is that it opens up to include more stories for the supporting cast, kinda like how HSM2 does and makes Ryan your favorite character. So even in retrospect, in S1 my faves are Gina and Mazzara and Seb & Carlos and Ashlyn, and Nini and Ricky are just Also There.

Different thought: my singular major complaint when I watched this the first time was that the show (accidentally? Due to unyielding adherence to the conventions of the genre?) uniformly conflates personal success with romantic success. As in, you know you've finally achieved your dream when you are handed a SO as a trophy. The sole SOLE exception to this in S1 is Kourtney, and look how that's played out in S2. :/ especially since one of my favorite favorite things was Start of Something New recast as Nini's romance-free self-actualization ballad, I really thought that was a premise that would make an appearance s o m e w h e r e in the show. SO IM SO HAPPY THAT'S FINALLY PAID OFF FOR NINI. LIKE IN 2x09 WHERE RICKY'S DROWNING IN HIS UNSHED TEARS AND THEN IT CUTS TO NINI SCROLLING COMMENTS IN HER INSTAGRAM HOLY SHIT. There's a read where she's the bitch or whatever for not being as broken up as Ricky is, but gurrrrrrl this has been her true character aim since day one!!! Her story is not! About! RICKY!!!!!

(I wanted my ace!Taylor HC to magically transfer into Kourtney, whose canon feminist self-affirming character core might prevent her from getting roped into a romance storyline. Like I don't want to begrudge a character a romance plot if that's what the character wants, but GOSH wouldn't it have been cool if this rom-com genre could find room to accommodate aspec stories. ALSO where my trans teens at!!! Fingers crossed, S3.)

In conclusion, I identify with Mazzara what with his autism and his robots and his AV club and his green gingham button-up that I also have; I love love love his look of consternation with himself when he sends that email. 10/10. But also, if we were in high school, I'd have been a grade ahead of his actor sooooo guess that means I'm just a crusty old grandpa

(Started writing this going into ep 3, now I'm headed into ep 6 lololol. HOMECOMING SEBLOS AND DONT WANT NO SCRUBS KOURTNEY CASTLES IN THE SKY MY BELOVEDS)

[thinkingheron]

One thing that really annoyed me in ROTS is that Padme didn't take a more active role in the formation of the Rebel Alliance. I completely understand that she was preoccupied with her secret pregnancy and that she was actively involved with the Petition of 2000 which was v imp in the long run, but it was at least partly a smokescreen for what Bail and Mon were doing, and Padme would've been perfect for that. She brought together the unlikeliest of allies and used the most unorthodox of methods

(pt 2) to free Naboo. People don't just call her the Mother of the Rebel Alliance because she gave birth to the twins (I assume). I'm sure during her time as Queen and Senator, Padme would've continued to make allies in unlikely places, and do things in unconventional ways (like sneaking into Geonosis, though that may not have been her best plan), and would've had a lot to contribute to a 'secret' organisation. This is her bread and butter. Sorry, it feels like I complain about canon a lot.

No need to be sorry! XD

Pretty sure there was a deleted scene in RoTS, showing more details on the Petition of 2000 with various senators including Padme, Bail and Mon discussing about Palpatine’s alarming growth of power and how to stop that. It would have been really neat if that was included, though I’m sure for a casual viewer it would have made for a boring scene.

...still would have been awesome because that’s the start of the freakin Rebel Alliance! It’s an OT callback!

I think the novelization does go deeper into that bit, though I haven’t read it myself. I’m a bit wary of reading SW novels, because they’re book adaptations all written by different authors who will inevitably color the tone with their own views. I’ll never be able to tell if an event really happened That Way or if it’s from a Certain Point of View.

Is Padme called the Mother of Rebel Alliance? I didn’t know that lol. Padme could have def helped in getting the Gungans more involved with the Rebel Alliance, since the Gungans actually seems like pretty competent warriors (barring perhaps one member) if they want to be. I’m kinda disappointed that TCW doesn’t show her handmaidens from the Prequel movies more, like Sabe, because I enjoyed their action sequences in TPM.

In fairness, though, there probably wasn’t a whole lot anyone could really do within the legal boundaries by RoTS. And if Padme did survive after Order 66, she’d be on top of Palpatine’s blacklist and she’d be too closely watched to be too actively involved. She’d have to be very, very, very careful. There is an Anakin Doesn’t Fall AU fic called Precipice by Shadowsong26, that has quite a few scenes of Padme (who survived Order 66) secretly helping with the Rebel Alliance, discussing with Bail on finances and finding allies. (I know I rave about this fic at every chance I get but, well, that’s what happens when I find a good long fic.)

[thetriggeredhappy]

Hey! I love your fics. I'm writing one of my own right now and I was wondering how long you take to write a fic. Do you make multiple drafts? Do you take a long time to edit? Thanks!!!!

thank you, you’re very kind!! and it kinda depends, actually. i’m gonna put the answer under a cut because it’s kinda long and involved ^^;

-

so i tend to think of my fics in different categories—one-shots and multi-chapter—because while it will vary from fic to fic, they tend to take different chunks of time and energy and are written in different ways, with multi-chapter taking the longest. even though i can write a bigger number of words in a one-shot, a shorter piece that’s part of a larger work tends to take longer for a few reasons.

the things that add up to make even a shorter chapter from a larger work take longer than a big chunk from a one-shot is stuff like research (what’s the name of this weapon? what music would they listen to? what slang would they use?), following a scene outline (they need to say this, talk about this, or notice this to be called back to later or make something else make sense), and just in general making sure it all follows a similar tone and pacing. with any given part of a multi-chapter fic, i’ll usually have to re-read the chapter before it a few times to make sure it flows well with what i want to do, and need to stop and start with getting sidetracked and fact-checking myself or even just sitting and doing math on ages and birthdays and significant life events.

with a one-shot, i don’t need to worry about that as much. i’m essentially given a brand new sandbox to play in, and it doesn’t have to matter what’s been established or what specific characteristics i tend to put on the characters—they’re a new, untouched iteration, in whatever convoluted situation i can justify. for that reason, those fics tend to go faster, since i can just burn through to the joke or line or frame that i wanted to work towards and resolve it and be done.

the shortest fics to write (and also usually in word count) tend to be when i’m not playing around with larger ideas, and i’m just sitting two characters down in a room and having them banter. the longest ones are the ones where i’m playing with larger metaphors and word usage gets super specific and callbacks are majorly important. with some of the fic requests i get, sometimes i’ll sit down and write them in less than an hour and hit post and practically forget about them. with some of my multi-chapter work, i’ll end up needing to walk away from it entirely for a while so i can come back to it feeling fresh and new and uncluttered mentally.

i haven’t ever really had multiple drafts of a work in the usual sense. the closest thing i have to multiple drafts is when i’m halfway through the outline and i realize something i’m doing isn’t working, and i usually scrap at least the last few paragraphs, sometimes the entire thing (although i don’t usually delete those words, i shove them off somewhere else to be glanced at later to see if there’s any good ideas in them). my work usually just goes through maybe one or two drafts—the first draft of the fresh write, the second draft where i edit out my formatting notes (italics and sometimes strikethroughs), and maybe a third draft where i read through it for spelling or grammar mistakes. 

but even then i don’t tend to do a lot of editing, because i inadvertently trained myself to edit as i write (mostly because i was the type to only write my school papers half an hour before they were due). by editing as i go for spelling and grammar, i can preserve the flow of it and things will blend together a lot more naturally. it also saves me a lot of time and stress—rethinking phrasing or dialogue over and over again will only make you second-guess yourself, and no matter how long you spend on editing, you’re going to notice a spelling mistake three sentences in the second you hit the post button. in my experience it’s best to just try your best and only spend as much time as you think you need on editing, and then to do a soft edit for spelling or grammar after you’ve hit post because you really do notice more that way.

as a note on my writing process, i actually don’t tend to take a lot of notes—unless it’s a multi-chapter fic that involves planning ahead for pacing, i tend to just wander through organically until i stumble into the thing i want to do. i almost always just write my fics front to back, typing what seems like a good idea and then rolling with it until i feel satisfied with the scene or conversation. but if you don’t do things that way (which is fair, find the method that works for you!), and you find yourself having trouble with the flow of it, it helps to read it out loud or to plug it into a text-to-speech program. if you get stuck, delete the previous two sentences and try again. multiple drafts can be good—especially if you’re planning out several chapters in advance and aren’t sure about concrete details—but it also helps to remember that this is a place to play in. have fun, put in jokes that make you laugh, and straight up ignore canon details if you like your own take better.

i think the most helpful thing for me is the fact that i write so much fic that i never post, just to give me  space to goof off if i get frustrated with my draft. i write fic, barely start it, never finish it, and get the thing out of my system that’s clogging up my brain, usually with no intent to post it or finish it. and sometimes i do come back to it, sometimes i don’t. either way, keeping around the doodles you do just for fun helps a lot.

best of luck with your fic, dude!! it’s scary sometimes but it’s also super fun!! i believe in you, you’ve got this!!

[avenueofesc]

1, 5,20 & 25

Thanks, anon!

1. Tell us about your current project(s) - what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

The one project that I have (finally) started to actively work on is for an anon fest, so I can’t share much. But I am finally motivated enough to start working on the outline for it! I’m currently figuring out scenes and a general timeline I want it to follow. (I have to have an outline for anything “longer”. I’m hoping this isn’t long but it won’t be short, either.)

Aside from that, I have a lot of ideas that I want to pursue! Some of them will include:

The idea that made me start writing in the first place. It is going to be complicated and likely will be…really long. I have to do a lot of world building with this so it’ll be quite awhile until I get anywhere with it. But I’m most excited for this.

A short fic based on Best Friend by Saweetie and Doja Cat.

Possibly a Draco/Charlie fic

A continuation of my Out Of The Shadows microfic. Suuuper excited for this one.

A case!fic with Auror!Harry and Fiendfyre Fighter!Draco.

5. What character that you’re writing to you most identify with?

This is honestly really difficult for me to decide on. I think I have characteristics of a lot of different characters. But my version of Draco is most often who I identify with when I am writing—not in terms of how he was raised or his beliefs, but how I imagine he experiences emotions. I don’t imagine he is comfortable or at ease with showing how he really feels, and he always has to uphold a certain image. Which makes it complicated and difficult for him to experience life fully and develop relationships. You’ll notice that whenever I write really angsty/emotional fics, it’s normally always from Draco’s POV. I like to make him hurt.

I’m also very much like Harry in the sense that I am oblivious AF.

I have a very specific head canon for a minor character who I think resembles me perfectly. But it is purely fanon, so I won’t get into that.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Okay, so you know how I just said I am like Harry in the sense that I am oblivious AF? That includes my own writing, more often than not lol. I cannot tell you how many times I write something, with nothing in particular in mind other than a general feeling I want to express, and then people comment about how “omg this represents this so well” or “I love the underlying meaning that reflects this”. Which leaves me sitting there like… “Wow! Thank you! I totally did not intend for that but I absolutely love your interpretations of my random writing!”

@zoupia is extremely good at recognizing people’s style of writing. I can’t remember exactly how they described it, but that I tend to lean towards visualizations of light, which I have realized is so true. As I have continued exploring, I have also realized that I learn towards using really short sentences. (Any of my second person POV microfics are the perfect example of this.) I’m not very good at really describing things and creating an atmosphere, so I think my way of attempting that is to write shorter sentences that will (hopefully) pack a punch.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

The idea stage is a lot of fun for me! Because this is when I get the most excited. Once I start writing I will go from loving a scene that I write to thinking everything is shit and I should just delete it all, to some sort of middle ground. I am a ball of anxiety!

I also love after the anxiety of posting, seeing peoples reactions. I delete any negative comments because I don’t need that in my life. Sorry, not sorry. But this fandom is on the whole such a positive and encouraging place, and seeing that makes me so happy.

Writer Asks

[negrek]

4, 17, 18, 20? :D

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Well, I was going to put something from "accolade" in here because I thought I did a pretty nice job of the atmosphere, with shifting clouds of steam and the flowing river, something clanking and splashing in its midst, obscured and then revealed again by the mist, but actually, no, revisiting it it's even more of a mess than I remembered and I like none of that, lol.

Ice is another thing I enjoyed playing with, though, and there are a couple lines I still like there. One is, "Lunete shook her head and watched Glace wander the courtyard, blowing idle puffs of ice that turned bushes to miniature sculpture." Nice and simple, but I think it does a good job of conjuring up the kind of glittering ice-rimed... things... plants turn into after an ice storm. I think it's an unexpected moment that's fun to visualize. Should definitely be "puffs of *frost*" rather than "puffs of *ice*," though.

I also like, "The glalie's displeasure shed from him in a litter of snowflakes." Again, I think this is just a fun mental image, and a way of making the glalie feel different than a human. When glalie get disgruntled, the temperature around them drops, so you get a little shower of snow... again, a nice little image, and something that people might not ordinarily think of when they think of ice-types. Shoutout to myself for picking this out of the doc and going, "Hey, I like this sentence!" and not realizing until I pasted it in here that it was in the wrong fucking tense.

17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

Ahaha, well, I think many people perceive my writing, and probably me in general, as a lot more serious than it actually is? Most of my writing is just me having fun, and what it contains is unabashedly driven by rule of cool/rule of funny a lot of the time. Which, honestly, considering a lot of the nonsense that goes on in the chapterfics especially, shoudn't be too much of a surprise. There are certain themes that show up throughout, but generally speaking they emerge organically as a result of what I find interesting or because plot naturally accretes around certain aspects of the story or characters. But generally speaking my stories aren't really *about* anything except me having a good time.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Salvage has so many of these. So many! Which is kind of weird, because my previous stories haven't, despite Clouded Sky taking nearly as long to produce. It might be that I haven't been working on any big long chapterfics, and not even many one-shots, while writing it as I have with my previous fics, so maybe effort/ideas that would ordinarily go into those stories have ended up spawning all these spinoffs/mutations of the main fic instead.

As far as abandoned plotlines, this story has been pretty extensively and publicly restructured, so yeah, stuff's gotten lost in the shuffle... I used to joke to myself that the story had an unreasonable amount of hanging out on the beach given its overall tone, but thennnnn Mewtwo went and burned down the child's house and it won't be going back to its island again, so in fact the story now contains almost 0% beach from this time on, oops. (There is one scene in Orre that will take place on a beach, assuming it makes it all the way through to publication. It's not a plot-crtical one.) We also missed out on Nate going to prison, the child being Red (although that one could still happen), and one scene that I really liked where Nate got to lament the fact that his pokémon were all gone and it was all his fault. Now you'll just have to imagine it, since we won't be seeing him until he gets them back, if ever.

And AU's, so many AU's. Even way back in 2012 or something I was talking about one I was rather fond of, where the child demands that Nate read it a children's book, and he isn't about to put in the effort to actually do that and makes up something ridiculous solely based on the pictures. Assuming I still have the file around somewhere, that one will end up getting published as an extra at some point near the end of the fic. Other than that, I've got everything from alternate endings to a weird time travel AU that happens in a scene that isn't even in the main fic (because the child isn't there for it). There's also a rather extensive PMD AU that may or may not end up seeing the light of day at some point and which is gently referenced within the fic itself. It's perhaps not technically an AU, since it's not in any way incompatible with the main canon; you could choose to pretend that it happened or not without it changing the story as written at all.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Uhhh this one seems hard to do without spoilers. But I hope you've all been paying attention to the stuff about how psychic abilities work and their ability to warp the thinking of people around the psychic, especially over time. I'm quite proud of this worldbuilding thing, but people haven't commented on it much. The concept is central to the plot and drives basically all of the final arcs in Orre, so it's definitely worth thinking about if you haven't! Relatedly, there was a scene in one of the now-deleted Orre chapters (but it will 100% return largely unchanged in the new version) that dropped some info that I thought made it pretty screamingly obvious what's up with Mew and where she might be, buuuut nobody ever commented on that, either, so perhaps it wasn't quite as big of a giveaway as I thought, haha. If you're interested in trying to figure out the plot before the characters, all the psychic bullshit is what you should be paying attention to.

Also, Absol is very precise in her wording, and what I understand as the "twist" of this story (it's not much of a twist, way more important for the characters than anyone reading) relates to something the child's misunderstood for the entire story so far about something she told it.