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tact-and-impulse · 4 years

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With These Hands Chapter 11

Look, I say we’re ending 2020 with affection and fluff! Also, now that I know what it’s like working in a hospital, I can write this AU better, and this episode has heavy influence from my first night call shifts. For my fellow healthcare workers, because this was...a year. Here’s to staying safe in 2021!

The rest of this chapter is under the cut or on FF.net and AO3

Chapter 11: Endurance

Admittedly, Kenshin’s stomach dropped when he saw her. She was limp in her chair, arms dangling at her sides and her face turned away.

“Kaoru-dono?!” He rushed to her desk, panic overriding sensibility. But before he could touch her, her eyes snapped open and her right fist lashed out in a glancing blow that brought him to his knees. Acting on instinct, he latched onto the edge of her desk, elbow colliding with the hard surface. “Oro!”

At the contact, she blinked away her drowsiness. “Ken…shin? Oh, no! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” She sat up, her fingertips brushing his aching cheekbone. The pain was already fading, and he resisted leaning in.

“This one is fine. It was this one’s fault, surprising you.” He managed to answer. Despite how his skin was buzzing, he was not going to behave like a hormonal teenager.

“I still shouldn’t have punched you.” She withdrew, her voice full of concern. “I hope it won’t bruise.”

“There have been worse hits that this one has taken, so don’t worry.” And on that same side as well, he ruefully thought. “Are you still working?” It was already past seven.

“I’m on night call.” Her explanation contained no small amount of misery. “And I had a meeting in the afternoon, so I only got an hour of sleep before I came here. It’s going to be a long Thursday night; at least, I have the weekend off. What about you?”

“This one is also in the same situation, filling in for a colleague who was supposed to work tonight. There was a family emergency, so this one is here instead.”

“Oh, good. Not that you have to work on short notice,” She hastily added. “But we can keep each other company.”

“That’s true. It will be easier to stay awake.” He would have been content to stay at her desk; he had nothing urgent at the moment. But she did, as signaled by her blaring pager. She mouthed an apology, before taking the call. Leaving her to her responsibilities, he drifted back to his spot across the room, to print his list of patients.

***

He was reading the interim notes on his patients when she commented.

“By the way, I forgot to mention earlier. I like your scrubs.”

“Oro?” The faded magenta met his downward gaze. “These are very old.”

“But you look so cheerful! The other male doctors stick to blue or black.”

“So did this one, in the past. However, brighter colors can be comforting or distracting for the children, so that’s something this one can do for them.”

“You also can pull it off, because you’re an attending.” She pointed out, and he laughed.

“There’s nothing wrong with navy either.”

“It’s not navy, it’s indigo.” Grinning, she tugged the front of her scrub top. “But it’s my favorite color.”

“It suits you very well.” Belatedly, he wondered if that was harassment, but she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she blushed. At the sight, his own face warmed.

“Thanks.” For a heartbeat, the only sound was the humming of their computers. Abruptly stretching her arms over her head, she declared. “I need coffee. The cafeteria’s closed, but do you want anything from the vending machine?”

“This one can join you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to bother you if you’re busy, and you can just text me.” They had already exchanged numbers, thanks to the group chat Misao had started for the workroom.

“No, it will be a long night and this one prefers not to stay in one spot.” He pocketed his pager and stood from his chair.

Her smile widened. “Yeah, I won’t argue with that. And I’m glad! It’s more fun with you.” Her blush had not faded, and his cheek tingled.

He replied honestly. “This one feels the same way.”

Unfortunately, the closest machine had its interior lights off and the glass front bore a paper sign. ‘Out of Order’ was written in large block letters, punctuated by a frowning face. If he had to guess, it appeared to be the handiwork of either Sano or Misao, perhaps even a joint effort.

“That’s a shame.” He said. “Should we search for another?”

“Sounds like a plan! Let’s hope the others are still functioning.”

Their workroom was at the injunction between the main building and the children’s hospital, so they had options. He allowed her to decide, and she headed for the pediatric side. She swiped her badge to access a corridor that was glass on both sides, from ceiling to floor.

“This part is one of the best, in my opinion. Well, at least during the day.” Outside, it was dark, except for the street lamps. Occasionally, a car zipped past on the road below, illuminating the surrounding greenery. But he understood her. When it was sunny, they were provided with a scenic view of the city beyond.

“Yes, it’s the closest we have to stepping out. It’s important to have something to look at, other than the interior of the building.”

“Right? I always feel more rejuvenated when I go through this way. Although, I do love the murals in the children’s hospital.”

“Which do you like best?”

“Hmm. I think the bamboo forest, on the sixth floor. The animals are cute, the pandas and the tanuki.”

“Also, because that is where shinai come from?” He innocently referred to her love for kenjutsu.

“Okay, a little bit.” But she laughed. “Well, which is your favorite?”

He already had an answer. “The fourth floor, with the countryside motif. It reminds this one of his childhood.”

“You were a country boy?”

“In the Kansai region, yes. However, it has been almost twenty years since this one lived there. This one doesn’t even remember the closest town. We did grow rice and vegetables, and there were some chickens.” He pieced together the fragmented memories. “But it was a very long time ago.”

“It must have, I couldn’t tell at all.” She was thoughtful, and he realized he might have shared too much. But she didn’t pry, instead asking. “Did you have any baby chicks?”

“Not that this one can remember.”

“That’s too bad.” Disappointment showed on her face.

He smiled. The image of Kaoru, cradling fluffy chicks in her arms, was sweet.

In a corner near an empty waiting area, they finally found a working vending machine. Kaoru cheered at its presence, peering within to decide on her snacks. She was terribly adorable, depositing her change and punching the buttons. Holding her coffee and a package of chocolate-covered biscuits, she beamed. “Alright, your turn!”

As she walked past, he caught the scent of jasmine flowers. Too subtle to be perfume, it must have been her shampoo. He thought it was pleasant.

“Kenshin? Aren’t you going to buy something?”

He jolted, realizing he hadn’t moved. “A-ah, yes.” Breathing deeply to settle his nerves, he chose a bottle of green tea, and the same cookies she picked. She had already opened her drink and sipped it as they walked back.

“Whew, I feel a lot better.”

“That’s good. You need your strength for the hours ahead.”

“Yeah. I still wish I had more sleep, but I just remind myself that at least, I’m not in one of the hospital beds. That was much harder.”

“And now, you’re here. Your patients are extremely fortunate to have you, because you understand what it must be like.”

Her blush had returned in full force. She nodded, before her brows drew together. “Wait-”

Overhead, the loudspeaker crackled, calling for a medical response team. They both stopped, listening attentively. The alert meant that a patient’s condition was deteriorating. He checked his list as the room number was announced. It did not belong to any of his charges, and judging from how Kaoru exhaled, it wasn’t any of hers either. But elsewhere, someone was struggling and their colleagues were doing everything they could to save them.

As they approached familiar walls, it was his pager’s turn to vibrate, and reluctantly, he excused himself.

***

After midnight, he had one emergency surgery, for a patient that had gone into hemorrhagic shock. Two hours later, he emerged from the operating room, the worst outcome kept at bay. He ordered for two units of blood, to be transfused if the patient was anemic, and headed back to the workroom.

Kaoru had her earbuds in, obviously engrossed. Upon his entrance, she removed them and greeted him. “Hey, Kenshin. How’d it go?”

“Well enough. The patient is stable for now, but this one will keep a close eye. Did you have any new admissions?”

“Just one in the emergency room, who’s waiting to be placed in a room, but it seems like a straightforward case. History of glycogen storage disorder, so I’ve been reading up.”

“This one didn’t realize articles were accessible on CD.” He had noticed the small player next to her keyboard, that had appeared in his absence.

“Oh, no, this is an audiobook. It’s an old one, I already know all the twists. I only replay it because of the narrator.” Her expression became very fond.

“Ah.” Inwardly, he was caught off guard, but he maintained a neutral face. “Is he a good actor?”

“I think she was. This book is one of my mother’s recordings, after all. Would you like to hear her?”

Somewhat embarrassed, he agreed, and she transferred the CD to her computer. Momentarily, a woman’s gentle voice filled the air. Her cadence and intonation were similar to Kaoru’s, and she switched between characters with impressive ease. It seemed to be an anthology of short stories.

“You were not wrong; her performance is wonderful.”

“I’m glad you think so! She’d be happy to hear that, if she were alive.” Kaoru clarified. “She had lupus, and she passed away from kidney failure when I was young. She couldn’t get a transplant in time. The Mirror Wing in the main hospital is named for her.” The dialysis unit was located there.

“You must miss her.”

“I do, but at least, I have Okaa-san in this way. Not many people can say the same.”

He definitely couldn’t. Then, the staccato beeps of her pager interrupted them again. He was beginning to dislike that particular ring.

By three in the morning, Kaoru was starting to falter. She was continuing to type on her computer, but her head nodded and she occasionally jolted, unconsciously trying to stay awake.

“Kaoru-dono.”

“Hmm?” Her gaze lifted, though not quite focusing.

“Please, get some rest. The work can wait.” He gently said. “This one can turn the lights off, if that would help.”

“Would you? That’d be really nice.” She murmured.

He flipped the switches, leaving the glow of his monitor. “If there was a bed, that would be better.”

“It’s okay. Hospital beds aren’t very comfy.” She certainly spoke from experience. She opened one of her desk drawers, taking out a spare surgical mask. “Please don’t tell anyone else in your department.” Before he could inquire further, she proceeded to wear it over her face, and it was large enough to cover her eyes.

He had to stifle his laughter. “This one promises.”

It was uneventful afterwards, without beeping pagers or loudspeaker announcements. He lasted another hour and a half, before he felt the familiar pull of exhaustion. He logged off and sat back in his chair. He could never fully sleep while on the job. That was especially true now, with Kamiya Kaoru in the same room, softly breathing.

It was Director Kamiya who had offered him a place at Kamiya Kasshin, while he was still working for Katsura. He had been disillusioned and burnt out, entertaining ideas of quitting medicine. He was too ashamed to talk to Hiko, but he caved to the “fates” as his guardian liked to refer to them. Akane, Kasumi, and Sakura had sat him down, persuading him to take the new job before deciding anything further. Akane was particularly fervent, she had never liked Katsura.

So, he had accepted the position and adjusting to the new work environment occupied him. Then, the accident happened. It was on a night not too different from this one, and he had also been on call. He heard there was a group of people, on the phone with the director at the crash site, trying to obtain details. He had run to that desk, preparing to encourage the man who had helped him so far. It was at the other end of the hospital and he was relatively late, everyone else mobilizing for the victims’ arrival. When he picked up the phone, he was out of breath. “Kamiya-dono?”

Instead of Director Kamiya’s voice, there was a young, feminine one. Choked with tears, but still strong. “Hello? Please, can you hear me?”

One fateful conversation, and she reminded him of what he loved about his profession. But she didn’t seem to remember. That was alright, the memory was wrapped up in tragedy, and he didn’t want to hurt her. Getting to know her was enough. Even after six years, she was very much the same woman he had spoken to. Compassionate, brave, honest.

Hiko, being his usual infuriating self, had accused him of having a crush, although Kenshin was disgruntled. Not that Kaoru wasn’t attractive, but it was not the point. It wasn’t a crush, he was immensely grateful to Kaoru as well as her late father, for his current life. Originally, he was trying to repay their kindness, in what little he could manage on his part. So far, he enjoyed spending time with her, even when on call. Around her, and for that matter, their other workroom colleagues, he felt at ease in a way that he hadn’t experienced in decades.

But if she asked about him…? He hadn’t decided what he would do yet.

***

Kenshin slowly emerged from his trance. The blinds had been opened, the sky pink with dawn. He clicked his mouse and the monitor lit with the time. Just past six. Night call was almost over.

Kaoru’s chair was empty, and he drowsily recalled her rummaging about, before the door closed. She must have gone to pre-round on her patients, to check on them before meeting with the rest of her team. He hoped they would let her go before noon.

He relayed the night’s events to the day shift’s surgeon, who insisted that everything would be taken care of and please get some rest, Dr. Himura. But he went to check on his shock patient, who was thankfully stable. Then, the parents arrived in the waiting area, and he took the opportunity to speak to them. By the time he returned to retrieve his things, it was already ten. Kaoru was also there, greeting him as if she hadn’t spent the night at the hospital.

“Morning, Kenshin!”

“Good morning. How were your rounds?” He inquired, clearing his desk.

“Quick, thank goodness.”

“And how are you?”

“I feel fine. Well, I know it’s fake, I’ll probably crash once I get home. I’m just going to submit my notes, and then, I’ll go.” She didn’t sit down, her eyes glued to her screen as she logged in. A few clicks, and then, she grabbed her bag. “Done! Geez, I’m ready to leave.”

“Good work, Kaoru-dono.”

“You too.” Despite how little she must have slept, her smile was as radiant as ever. “But you’re still here? I thought you would have been out by now.”

“This one had a few tasks, but this one was just about to leave as well. After you.” He urged her ahead of him. They shared an elevator down, luckily without any stops.

“Have you already eaten breakfast?” She asked.

“This one had a leftover rice ball. The cafeteria is…” His weary mind searched for a word that would be appropriate.

“I know, I really want Tae to expand her hours, but she can’t while she has her regular job. I think I have cup ramen in my pantry.”

“Next time, this one will bring enough onigiri to share.”

“Next time?” She repeated, emphasizing the implication of another call shift in the near future, but she was laughing. “Would they have caffeine in them?”

He smiled at her. “For you, this one will make an exception.”

Her cheeks grew pink. “Thank you, I’ll look forward to it.” After a pause, she added. “What would even be inside such onigiri? Instant coffee?”

Matcha powder actually, but he needed to perfect that recipe. “It would be a surprise.”

“Geez!”

They passed the lobby, and bright sunshine filled his vision. After spending so long in the hospital, it was a relief to be out in the open again. The cloudless sky was an immaculate blue, the fresh air crisp. Beside him, Kaoru sighed, her lips curving. The wind tossed her ponytail, and she shoved her hands in her pockets, continuing on. Suddenly aware that he was staring again, he picked up his feet. Then, they were already at the garage and had to part ways. Work had truly ended.

“Drive safe and sleep well! I’ll see you on Monday!” She waved and he did the same.

“Take care.”

There was no traffic, and his empty apartment was cool. It was quiet as he meticulously cleaned his belongings. As he walked to his bedroom, he barely made a sound. The shower seemed too loud, and so did the hair dryer. Slipping between his clean sheets, he noticed the lack of scent. After leaving his glasses on his nightstand, he checked his phone again. Nothing new, which was supposed to be good. He hovered over Kaoru’s name in the group chat. Well…it wouldn’t hurt. His thumb pressed down, and he began to type.

This one hopes you returned home without issue and that you have a relaxing weekend.

With the message sent, he locked the screen. She could reply on her own time.

And at last, he closed his eyes.

#rurouni kenshin #kenkao

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ezrisdax-archive · 4 years

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Do you ship any Star Trek rare pairs? Tell us what you like about them!!!

Send me a ship and I'll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it

I mean that’s most of my trek ships because of femslash, I’d guess kiradax might not fully count but!

ezri/leeta

I barely see any of this which is funny to me cause their mirrorverse pair is married for god sakes. but anyway I like both the mirrorverse pair of them and the main pair itself. I just think Ezri needs someone who would let her ramble and just get it? And also maybe not be someone Jadzia was involved with that much. I know Leeta and Jadzia were friends but like they weren’t as close and Leeta seems the most chill about Dax switching hosts. She’s a go with the flow person and Ezri could learn that at times too.

idk, I mostly just think they are cute and had potential and it was a shame we only got a season of Ezri so they don’t interact as much

ogawa/tasha

I once made an au gifset of this pairing because I just like the idea of them meeting and Tasha as security always coming in injured and Ogawa helping her out and them talking and getting to know each other over time and then getting to spend time together outside of sickbay and I just think?? it could be cute?? they could be cute?? give Ogawa a girlfriend pls.

joann/keyla

now I’m not sure how much this qualifies as a rare pair anymore, it def would meet the criteria on ao3 so I’m counting it. my god the looks between these two, the way Joann has been there for Keyla this season and noticed right away something was off and has just been reaching out. I’d love to see more of them interacting, what we do get each episode is small but it does give me hope they actually might head there some day? Like I’m not used to getting the potential of canon, it’s wild.

I do wish they’d delve more into their backstory and give me more details about Joann but I do accept these two aren’t main characters and then that gives me leave to make this however much I want of a big deal. to me they’re a big deal and I just need them to get together, I want to see that relationship develop.

michael/tilly

oh man I just checked and technically by ao3 rules which is to say if you have less than 200 fics on there, they count as a rare pair. That’s just sad to me because I do feel they should have a lot more and wow I’ve only written one fic for them??? I gotta fix that at some point.

These two!!!! I don’t have enough words to explain how much it means to these how these two hug and hold hands and are just there for each other!! all the time!! always in each others corners!! trying to cheer each other up!! jumping in to help the other without hesitation!! I need more of it, like what they’ve given me is great but I miss these two being roommate buddies this season, please give me another shot of them in their room just talking to each other about what Michael’s been through the year she was in the future without them.

Like this I’ve accepted I’ll not get as canon, I’m not expecting it and that’s fine but I still enjoy every scene they get to have with each other and they are just so cute ; ; I love them both so much and please kiss, I know I just said I accepted it but please.

b’elanna/seven

okay this one counts too apparently! now a lot of my feelings for these two you can blame @trillscienceofficer because she encourages me with these two but like there’s so much there.

there’s the whole outsiders together thing going on they have, the whole somewhat antagonistic but also a huge amount of respect for each other thing, the whole pushing each other to be better, there’s just a lot with these two that I enjoy.

I think Seven does need someone who would call her on the bullshit of trying to remain logical and unemotional and B’Elanna needs someone with a cooler head at times to make her see beyond just her immediate reaction. I really enjoy that over time you can see this relationship between them grow into a friendship and I just like to imagine more from there.

b’elanna/stadi

OKAY LISTEN.

tom dies in the pilot and I get stadi au is like...one of my fave aus. they’d be so much fun together! Stadi enjoyed the teasing and I can def see her doing that with B’Elanna and sure there’d be some antaganism at first because Starfleet vs Maquis stuff but they’d get there and I just wanted to see it. I just like to imagine it happening in my head.

t’pring/uhura

oh my god I did not expect this to count but I do think it might just be a bigger thing on tumblr than elsewhere. or maybe that’s just me. anyway, these two! one of my top trek femslash ships! like c’mon Uhura straight up “she’s beautiful” and I’m expected to not take it this way?

I’ve talked about these two so much at times before so I think I don’t have too much to say here beyond....Uhura deserved a girlfriend and T’Pring deserved to see what else what out there beyond Vulcan men. and they deserved to have a proper conversation with each other and do Vulcan kisses and human kisses.

tasha/troi

???? man are all my ships so low on ao3?? I need to fix this somehow. Again I’ve talked about these two enough I don’t have much else to say here because I was robbed of Tasha being in more seasons but what we got of these two interacting was already amazingly gay and god I just like to imagine how much gayer and gooder it would have gotten over time....

ro/tasha

THEY WERE GAY TOGETHER IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE AND I DON’T THINK WE TALK ABOUT THAT ENOUGH. even if they did kill one of them off, whatever I’m over it (a lie).

worf/deanna

the rare trek het canon ship I have, like yeah I do love deanna/riker but these two were so fucking soft and good in season seven of tng I cry

worf/riker

look I’m putting 1 (one) slash ship on here and it’s this. I just enjoy riker teasing him a lot. I’m a weak individual what can I say.

#beej talks star trek #trek femslash #okay I actually do have a lot more but this post was getting long enough #Anonymous #replies in thirty minutes or its free

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drama-and-tv · 4 years

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First half of 2020 tv shows/dramas completed

SO apparently, my original blog “may contain sensitive media” (how my original blog contains them, I have no idea because I don’t think I have ever written nor posted anything that is inappropriate) so here I am, making a new one even though there are just so so many thoughts I poured in that blog since the beginning of 2018.

I wish I could put all of the contents from there here. But since I don’t know how to do that, I shall only put up my thoughts on the things that I have completed watching this year (2020) that I have put up from there.

With that being said, here they go... most of them in the original words that I had typed/written from last time. My only change will be the rating (now I shall use the numerical rating since I have figured how to rate things properly in numbers now) :

Season 2 of Sex Education was such a delight to watch! While I do feel that it lacks some Otis and Maeve’s interactions (and wtf is that cliffhanger?), I feel that the other characters are given the opportunity to flesh out and have really good story lines. Definitely a step up to Season 1!

FINAL RATING: 9/10

Bad news: The third part/season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is the worst part of the show that I’ve watched so far. Good news: I still somewhat like it.

The main issue of this new-released part is how messy it is story wise. There are far too many things going on that it felt a little bit too chaotic - like there’s the Pagan storyline, there’s that Faustus storyline etc etc. It’s just too much.

What makes me still enjoy it is because of its characters. I am attached to the characters and I wanna see their journeys in this show. For instance, Ambrose and Prudence are probably the standouts in this season because they are just super badass here.

Overall, it’s okay. I would still watch this show when the new set of episodes are released.

FINAL RATING: 6/10

Honestly, Chocolate would’ve been better or ranked higher if they cut down the number of episodes - from 16 to maybe just 8.

Despite its melodramatic tone and ridiculous story line, I actually really enjoyed the initial episodes. I mean okay, the time jumps are a bit too much but I was sold on the emotions and the characters. It’s a melodrama, for crying out loud - it’s not meant to be realistic.

But then, for some unknown reason, it got draggy around the second half of the drama. And it affected my love for the drama. It was like they put a brake on the main plot and save for it the last episode (which it did).

This does not mean that it’s not a good drama. For the most part, I actually enjoyed it and I was invested in the characters’ journeys.

Just that it could be better.

FINAL RATING: 6/10

Honestly, Black Dog was not a drama I thought of watching. The posters and the plot did not make me feel compelled to watch it because for some reason, I thought this drama would be something like those corruption dramas or corporate dramas - while I can enjoy those kind of dramas, I do have to be in the ‘mood’ to watch them.

It was only when I started seeing some gifs/images over Tumblr that I started to consider it. And when more and more people raved about it, I knew that I just have to check it out.

And just like what these people said, it was good. A really good drama, actually! I think what I love about this drama is how realistic it really is. I like that I can actually relate to the world and the characters in the drama. While Haneul and I don’t share the same type of field, I can empathise with her struggles in obtaining/maintaining her employment and sitting for the certification exam. I can empathise with how she tries to navigate the world of school and teaching.

All I know is I have definitely cried or teared up in some of the episodes. (that’s really a feat cause the last time I cried like this in a tv show/drama is season 3 of Anne with an E and we all know how I feel about that show.)

I also love how there is a good balance between drama and comedy in this drama. While this is primarily a drama, I like that it doesn’t feel heavy. It makes it easier to watch multiple episodes in one sitting.

If there is one minor problem with this drama, it is that it feels like the main drama ends with 12 episodes and the remaining 4 episodes are the epilogue or extra episodes. While the remaining 4 episodes are still pretty good, it has somewhat cooled my love for this drama. However, I do appreciate it and it gives a good look at what happened after Haneul’s first year of teaching.

With that, I have contemplated on whether to give this drama the best rating I could give in the drama or the second best. Considering that there is barely any flaw in this drama, I shall give it...

FINAL RATING: 10/10

Season 2 of Kingdom did not disappoint. It maintained the same energy and intrigue that it brought in the previous season. There’s the excitement, there’s the high-quality production and there’s never really a chance for it to falter or drag. Its pacing remains consistent and I remain hooked to the end. I also like that this show does not end in an agonising cliffhanger - it wraps up the main plot that was introduced in the first season and at the same time, teases on what is to come in the possible season 3.

Overall, a really good season!

FINAL RATING: 9/10

I gotta admit, Crash Landing On You was a pretty nice watch! I initially had quite low expectations for this drama - I have hard time being truly engaged in big budget romcoms because they tend to be unrealistic and too fluffy (and I like my dramas pretty realistic).

But to my surprise, I actually really like it. The episodes (particularly the first half of the drama) were candies to the mind and to the eye! Yes, this drama is hella trope-y and there’s a lot of moments which are very unrealistic and are there to be flashy and amp up the romance. But you know, something about this drama just works.

Of course, like a lot of k-dramas, the second half of the drama is less addictive to watch. But it was still a pretty good watch. I mean, it got my mum really addicted and my brother to finally watch a k-drama beyond Kingdom after all these years.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

For someone who doesn’t know shiz about baseball, Stove League was still a very good drama to watch. It has that underdog story (in this drama, the under-performing baseball team for 2 years in a row, Dreams) that makes it easy to root for. It remained tight and consistent throughout its run. Its tone is very balanced - has good balance of serious and comic relief.

And most importantly, it’s not very hard to like the characters that matter.

Overall, very solid drama!

FINAL RATING: 9/10

When the Weather is Fine is really a good drama to watch at the moment, during the midst of this current pandemic. Even though initially (the first episode) it did not win me over due the drama’s slow pace, I gradually enjoy watching it regardless of its pace and eventually, I was hooked.

This drama has a very calming and “healing” aspect to it even though the subjects dealt can be serious. I like that even though there’s some serious issues here, the drama remains well-balanced and still has plenty of light-hearted scenes. Lim Hwi (the male lead’s younger sister) is definitely my favourite character in this drama as she brings a lot of sunshine to the table with her innocent teen self. Also, the comforting presence of the community (whether it being the Good Night Book Club member or the people/families in the neighbourhood etc) along with naturally serene setting make the drama feels warm.

With that, I recommend watching this drama, especially to anyone who wishes to seek comfort and feel warm.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

Netflix’s Never Have I Ever was an unexpected treat for me. I did not know the existence of this show prior to its release. I did not see any of its promos/trailers etc. So there was no expectations whatsoever prior to watching it.

My brother and I only happened to stumble upon it when trying to find something to watch on Netflix. So you can say that this was a present that came out of nowhere because as soon as I just went into it (within the first few minutes), I already really like it!

This show was funny. It was relatable as someone who comes from an Asian background. And most importantly, it has plenty of hearts. Trust me, I was tearing up when watching the last two episodes of this season (I sincerely hope that the show will be renewed for the next season).

Definitely a really nice show to binge quickly as it only has 10 half-hour episodes.

FINAL RATING: 9/10

Find Me in Your Memory was a pretty decent watch. Yes, it is a very standard kdrama in the sense that the plot is very very generic and there are so so many obvious tropes here. However, its characters and the chemistry of the main leads still made it worth a look. This drama might not be the most unforgettable or unique drama out there, but it is very easy to watch and it makes a good addition to anyone’s watchlist if you want something straightforward and not complicated.

FINAL RATING: 6/10

Man, A Piece of Your Mind could have easily been this perfect drama that I’ve ever watched this year had it only retained its original length. It is not to say that this drama is not good - it is as of now, actually one of the top dramas among the dramas I’ve watched this year.

This drama basically fits the type of drama I typically love: a realistic drama which examines more on its characters and focuses on emotions etc. Yes, I know people have complained that it is very slow but to me, that was part of its charm. I love slowly getting to know its characters and how they are feeling etc. I like being emotionally connected to them and follow on their journeys.

So I’m just sad the drama was cut from 16 episodes to 12 (reason being because of its low number of audiences). While the drama did its extreme best in making it work and it does not affect the main plot of the drama other than speeding things up nor does it really diminish my enjoyment for this drama, I’m just sad on what could’ve been if they were able to keep the extra 4 hours to the story. Like, we could’ve gotten better exploration on the characters etc (especially for instance that character who was played by the evil mother in law from Search: WWW and the Eunjoo’s Homestay residents and even frigging Hoon, Hawon’s colleague... like why was he even in the grandma’s house in the countryside?) . Things would’ve been more... organically unfold.

Despite all this, I still really enjoy watching this drama and I still remain invested in the characters’ journeys etc. Our main leads’ relationship feels warm and comforting. The vibe of this drama is just my kind of taste. And most importantly, I feel comforted watching it until the end.

FINAL RATING: 9/10

With that being said, those are some of the shows/dramas that I have completed up until now. Others that I have completed are season 2 of The Sinner (5/10), ITV’s Belgravia (6/10), Netflix’s The Circle France (soooo entertaining with plenty of drama and strategies, 8/10), season 18 of American Idol (8/10) and most recently, Netflix’s Extracurricular (I will eventually share my thoughts on it soon).

Stay tuned.

#tv #kdrama #completed #s education netflix #chilling adventures of sabrina #jtbc chocolate #tvn black dog #kingdom netflix #crash landing on you #stove league #when the weather is fine #never have i ever #find me in your memory #a piece of your mind #the sinner #belgravia #the circle france #american idol

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tvdversefanfiction · 4 years

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The Originals 30 Day Challenge, Done in 1 day.

I love all of these 30 day challenge pics/posts/quests but I never have the patience to do it over 30 whole days, so instead I do them in one sitting, one go.

MY TVD 30 DAY CHALLENGE HERE

Feel free to comment your own opinions about The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals, whether it’s your favorite show within the TVDverse like myself or whether you just love it as much as I also love the other two shows TVD and Legacies, Legacies will have its own 30 day challenge soon enough too...

Feel free to answer these too, copy, paste it, like I have and do it for yourself...

1 - If you follow this post, or read any of my TO fanfiction it will come as no surprise to anyone that I’m in love with and very obssesed with Klaus Mikaelson, he will always be my king.

2 - Rebekah Mikaelson, she’s so badass yet has this softness that makes her so compelling at the same time, I worship this queen and often wonder what this show would have looked like if she remained a main star for all of its five season run.

3 - Making me choose between the love of my life Klaus, and the icon that is Rebekah is hard...so hard but I have to go with Rebekah on the grounds that when he hurts Rebekah in any way I’m always mad like no, not my Rebekah, whereas when its the other way around I’m normally like yeah he deserved that from her...Rebekah is the fictional bestfriend of my life and Klaus is the husband, and friends always come before men - side not this very answer will later be used on record when I find myself in an asylum one day lol

4 - I’d have to go with either Marcellus or Inadu, although Marcel is beyond irritating to me throughout most of his run I can’t argue his reasons for being annoying are somewhat justifiable especially after Davina’s death in season 3 :( so I’d say I hated Inadu the most, purely because the character in itself was so wasted, so stale, and a dud to be honest...I was hoping for more with the hollow arc but I’ll get to that later on no doubt.

5 - Season 1 Episode 16, Farewell to Storyville, Season 1 in general was one of the strongest debut seasons for any shows I’ve ever watched, if not the strongest! I loved Rebekah and Klaus’ bond most out of the siblings and although Klaus spends most of the episode trying to kill her and it involves Rebekah leaving as a main character...this has got to be the juiciest exploration of their relationship - also side note young Elijah should have left young Rebekah kill Mikael, just saying...

6 - I could put the entirety of Season 5 in here, minus all the epicness of all the Klaroline scenes and Hayley’s badass death...but to pick one episode out it would have to be the finale “When the saints go marching in” because it just felt like they had spent that season killing off characters who were least likely to appear in Legacies (which pissed me off), also I wanted Klaroline to be endgame and Julie Plec’s response to not doing that because of Steroline, a ship that always felt like Caroline was second place and that queen should be always be 1st.

I did not like that Klaus and Elijah died, which reminded me visually of that Avengers scene, which made no sense as we have seen originals die before and not once did it go down like that!

And even if I could forgive them for that I was rather pissed we saw no after life, even a Elijah and Hayley dance in the afterlife would have been appreciated...

I’m also always a little bittersweet when folk from the pilot don’t show up in the last episode, would have loved to seen more of Davina in general over seasons 4 and 5. (Rant over)

7 - Try not to pick a Klaroline scene...never mind, when Caroline first appears, pinning Klaus up against the wall and saying something along the lines of try picking on someone your own size, or the swoony moment in Mystic Falls where she tells him he was never the villain in his story, or again the swoony moment when their road tripping and trying to find Hope... but non Klaroline scenes which were epic, Davina going up against Klaus with the harvest power inside of her, Lucien going upgraded original and taking them all on, Dahlia’s entire arc, the finales of 1,2, 3, and 4 and last but definitely not least kid Hope’s entire arc, what a magnificent actress Summer Fontana is, a star in the making *

8 - “ We are the strongest creatures in the world, and yet we're damaged beyond repair. We lived without hope, but we will never die. We are the definition of cursed, always and forever.” said by Rebekah Mikaelson, all of the Mikaelson’s had epic quotes, this show, and it’s predecessor TVD have so many amazing quotes <3

9 - Klaus handing baby Hope over to Rebekah, trusting her above all others, and any scenes where Klaus, Hayley, Rebekah, Elijah and Kol have with baby Hope as well as kid hope - broody moments lol

10 - Josh’s death, I had feared his death every goddamn season especially knowing Julie Plec wanted him killed in the very first season :( however after being made a regular in the finale season I had hopes for him making it out alive and perhaps showing up in Legacies in a more prominent role as a teacher for the vamp kids or something...but no that woman just had to finish off her hit...nothing breaks me more than his death! Although, reuniting with Aiden in the afterlife gives me small comfort, Aiden’s was another’s death that was so sad!

11 - Kid Hope putting people in their place like Marcel, and even Davina (who I worship), I just loved this little badass kid going about like a little queen from the get go...Danielle Rose Russell had and still has very big shoes to fill IMO

12 - Freya and Elijah condemning Davina to the ancestors, or Elijah who was supposed to love Marcel like a son ripping out Marcel’s heart. A lot of season 4 Elijah annoyed me tbh, 50% of Hayley scenes ticked me off too and Marcel was a solid 90% throughout the entire run.

13 - Hmmm....Klaus meeting his real father then killing him in order to protect Hope as he just could not risk trusting his father :( that broke me, other shocking moments when Gia died, Hayley’s first and second death...

14 - Friendship as in friends but not family? friendship within family would be Rebekah and Klaus always, friendship outside of family bonds I would definitely say either Davina and Josh or Rebekah and Hayley.

15 - Klaroline, although I put myself out here considering they only kissed once in this show...I never shipped Haylijah but never hated it, I despised Camille and the Klamille ship and always will, I enjoyed Elijah and Gia but doubt it run its course well I think, I always thought Rebekah deserved more than Marcel and still do...so I’m going with Kolvina, even though Kol killed Davina, thanks to those damn ancestors, their romance was super sweet, I loved how Kol loved her and their marriage, though briefly seen, was everything! We should have got a flashback of their wedding god damn it! But I’ll settle for them being two of the few who got happy endings...and could appear in Legacies ;) fingers crossed!

16 - I loved Marcel singing How You Like Me Now, I wish Charles Michael Davis had a few more musical numbers within this show, he’s a really talented actor, singer, director...

17 - Joseph Morgan hands down, loved him from his first scene in TVD and loved his other work in Hex and Brave New World, to name a few...

18 - Claire Holt, she’s just wonderful as Rebekah and the actress herself, she seems like such a genuine sweetheart in real life and you can really see her love for the character of Rebekah too, I also liked her other work in A Violent Separation, 47 Meters Down and no I’ve never seen H20...yet

19 - The Originals hands down, although so far TVD is in second place, with Legacies in third place but with Legacies still going I have high hopes for that climbing...all are fabulous shows in their own rights <3

20 - Okay I wouldn’t be me if I did not answer this future episode question without a link to a fanfic season 6 of mines... Origins of Magic and my alternative season 5 Bad Blood

21 - Off the top of my head? Davina and Kol teaching at Salvatore Boarding School, giving Hope some family connections that she severely lacks in Legacies and how awesome would they be as teachers? I’d also like to see a cousin whether it be Freya and Keelin’s son Nik or Rebekah and Marcel adopt a child (creature) that also ends up in Legacies. Side note - may put this in my possible fanfic ideas board...

22 - I don’t think I could claim to be most like any one individual, I’d say I was definitely a little dorky like Josh but nowhere near as adorable, I have a lot of hurt inside of me like Davina and protect my friends as much as I can, I’ve definitely got a bit of paranoia like Klaus from being screwed over many times like him and also like them it was mostly by family members, I’m definitely as curious and of a quiz like nature as Camille, love a little too easy like Rebekah and get my hear broken too often like her too, can be a little bit twistedly playful like Kol although I’ve not killed half as many people ; I’d love to one day be as elegant as Elijah, or as brave as Hayley and who would not want to be a Tribrid like Hope?

23 - How is this any different to 4? Although I’ll just answer Inadu purely because of the waste of potential and how not one single time did I give a damn about her, although I despised that vampire bitch who killed Hayley!!!

24 - I definitely relate to Klaus, Rebekah, Josh and Davina the most which is why they are my favorites no doubt.

25 - Klaus Mikaelson, any day, any time, anywhere, unless of course him and Caroline make it work I love their love more than I love my love for Klaus so I’d be happy just watching them being happy as a stalker lurking in the bushes within the back garden of their marital home - side not another statement that could be put on record for my eventful visit to the asylum..

26 - The family bonds, I love how it’s not all about romances like it is in TVD and so far Legacies, but still has romances at the same time. I love the complicated bonds between Klaus and his siblings Rebekah, Elijah, and Kol (in that order) and I love the little homemade family of Marcel with Davina and Josh (also in that order) and Marcel’s complicated father/son relationship with Klaus.

I also love how we watch Hope from being in Hayley’s womb, to a baby, toddler, child and then teenager and the powers she shows even from as young as being a baby and stopping the car she was in with Cami (even if that did save Cami’s life for a little longer) sorry not sorry we all got to hate on somebody and I did compliment her in 22 sort of lol

27 - The fact that its finale season served more like a prequel to Legacies than a fitting ending to a show I had been invested in since before it even began airing, as most fans were, we have loved these characters since their inception in TVD and it did kind of feel like Julie kind of started the finale season with a hit list in mind killing off anyone she’d think would not cameo in Legacies at some stage which I guess is why there is so much ill will from TO fans for Legacies, which I did feel for a while.

I mean I still blame Hope for Klaus and Hayley’s deaths, also Elijah for Hayley’s death and Marcel for Josh’s but I do not blame the characters have as much as I blame Plec.

28 - Season 5 lol, Season 4 although at the time I did not want it to be its end, would have served as a better ending for TO and they could have still made Legacies work without any ill will of making TO’s finale season pitch Legacies.

29 - The Hollow turning out to be Henrik, or the original witch, or anything other than what is was, also the werewolf origins should’ve have been a bit more epic like the vampires origins were.

30 - I do love Joseph Morgan and Daniel Gillies in interviews, Daniel Gillies is one of the funniest actors behind the scenes and has great bromances with Joseph, Paul Wesley and many others within the TVD verse. I also love Claire Holt’s and Phoebe Tonkin’s friendship and how that’s been a thing since they starred in H20 together (which I want to watch purely because of those two)

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sablelab · 5 years

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Covert Operations - Chapter 96

SYNOPSIS: With Fergus’ help James Fraser makes his way through a series of underground tunnels to find Claire’s location and comes to her rescue in a dramatic way. Whilst hiding, he also hears a conversation that he was not expecting.

This chapter contains some violence. Previous chapters can be found at … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

MY THANKS for your continued support and comments on the previous chapter. Knowing that you have been waiting for Jamie to come to Claire’s rescue, I hope that you enjoy this chapter when he finally finds her.

CHAPTER 96(V) James Fraser jiggled the doorknob a little and found that the door was bolted but not locked. Carefully he loosened the bolt and slowly released it cautious of the fact that he was unaware of what or who may lie beyond when he opened the door. He inched the door open just enough to be able to see but to his surprise he discovered that some kind of bookcase disguised the tunnel's secret entrance and concealed the opening to a secret passageway. Entering the space, he listened then hurriedly ran his hand along the back of the bookcase searching for the mechanism that would open this sesame. Locating a button, he pressed it. Suddenly the secret entrance was revealed as a panel within the bookcase rose wide enough for him to slip through. Peering inside Jamie then made his way further into the room. His eyes immediately looked around searching for any clues that would lead to Claire's whereabouts but there was nothing.

"Fergus can ye give me a reading yet?" "Hold on Jamie ... I'm on to it." Tapping some keys on his computer Fergus locked onto Jamie's position but as he did so his monitor showed an ancillary signal was also being sent from inside the monastery. His eyes lit up with renewed vigour and delight.

"Oh! My! God! ..."

Alarmed he asked, "Fergus! What's happening?" "I'm getting another signal ... Claire has activated her tracker..." "What tracker?" "She had one in her shoe." Relief flooded through Jamie's body ... His Claire was still alive. The shot he had heard earlier had not been for her. "Where is she?" Looking at a schematic of the monastery sectionalized floor by floor, Fergus now had a full access and egress on the interior of the building and the surrounding rooms. He zoomed in on the hot spot which was obviously where Claire was being held. As he watched his monitor, square markings appeared on the screen indicating the amount of people in the room with her. A satisfied look crossed Fergus' face as he quickly reported the Intel back to Jamie as to her position. "Work your way through the room. Outside on the South East corner, you'll find a stairwell that leads to a corridor. Go up there and standby." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Quietly opening the door Jamie was about to exit the room when he heard the sound of voices and a sharp warning from Fergus in his comm. unit. "Jamie hold! ... Hostiles approaching." He stepped back into the shadows of the room as the footsteps came nearer. The men stopped just outside the room where he was hiding and he listened to the conversation of their raised voices. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* "That bitch tried to strangle me with her feet." "Let it be Jonathon ... She has been well trained. Obviously, Section One operatives have backbones of steel." "We've tried everything. What do we tell Sun Yee Lok when he calls?" he asked nervously. "Yes ..." Wang pondered, "He will want to know what progress we have made with the woman soon." Randall gave a flippant but frustrated reply. "Well that's easy ... none. She won't crack." Feeling the frustration of his colleague Wang Yu tried to placate him. "That's why we'll need to try a different approach." "What do you suggest?" "I told you there was another way." He looked at Jonathon and philosophically said, "You'll attract more files to honey than you will to vinegar." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* James Fraser fell deeper into the shadows when he heard the sound of the door handle engage. With his gun poised he waited as the door was slightly opened, but just as the men were about to enter the room, an alarm sounded in the corridor and an announcement blared out.

Alert! ... Alert! ... Intruder Alert! Wang Yu opened his cell phone. "Report!" He listened then turned to Jonathon Randall when the call was finished. “What?" "Karen has just been retrieved from the grounds," he announced amazed but jubilant at this information. "What? ... She was supposed to be in Hong Kong. How did she get here?" "She was kidnapped." "By whom?" "James Fraser." "Ah ... so he did find us after all," Jonathon replied with unveiled glee in his voice. "Apparently. It seems that he is somewhere within the grounds or building." "Is Karen okay? Sun Yee Lok won't like it if his daughter has been harmed. Where is she?" "In the parlour. She's waiting for us to report." "Let's go then!" Jonathon stated closing the door sharply behind him. The two men turned away from the room and hurried away leaving Jamie to ponder what they had been talking about. As they rushed to where Karen was located, Wang Yu looked at Jonathon Randall.

"Our honey may just have arrived," he stated cryptically. Jonathon nodded in agreement. "You may be right." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Jamie's near discovery had been a close shave and their conversation had been enlightening. However, the new explosive Intel about Karen's relationship with Sun Yee Lok would keep for his sole objective now was to retrieve his Claire without delay and egress as quickly as possible. "Jamie ... proceed ... the corridor is clear." Time was of the essence as the triad knew he was on the premises somewhere. Quickly opening the door, he made his way into the empty passageway and headed to the stairwell at the end. Once again, he held his silencer at the ready and climbed up the set of stairs two at a time. He ended in a landing which led to another corridor.

"I'm here." "Okay ... There's a second flight of stairs, to the left. Ascend, then at the end of the hall turn right. You're closing in. The torture room is along there." Following Fergus's instructions to the letter Jamie proceeded to his destination and once there reported back to him, "Where is she?" He knew he was close to his Sassenach now and although he hoped that she would be fine, he knew this may be wishful thinking. Would she have the stamina to make her way to egress? The tape he'd seen was testament to what the triad was capable of and also what they had done to her. Would he be able to get Claire out in one piece the same way he had managed to get into the monastery?

With these thoughts running through his mind, he waited impatiently for Fergus to respond. There was a long silence before he finally heard a reply from him. The intonation in Fergus's voice told Jamie that he was going to hear something he wouldn't like. "Jamie ... there's a lot of electrical energy near her ... and water." James Fraser became rigid. His eyes deepened to a steely dark hue. With his voice quavering somewhat Fergus voiced out loud what he was doing. "I'm trying to get a visual of the room. I'll have to disable their monitoring system first. Give me a minute." "Let me know when ye do." Furiously Fergus tapped away at his computer and keyed into the mainframe that had worked successfully in the security cameras and sensors. He created a layered matrix and soon had a visual inside the torture room.

"Got it. The triad have been trying to make Claire talk judging by the equipment in the room Jamie." Fergus' voice suddenly went quiet. "She is strung up to a rafter. She's alive but it looks like she's beaten up pretty bad from what I can see." Jamie felt numb. His emotions were in turmoil for all the suffering his beautiful, brave Sassenach had endured for the Section. But the pain of their separation and the fact the he had been unable to protect her ate away at him more. He felt a cold wave of regret for his inability to protect her and disdain for the triad waft through him. What had the Rising Dragons subjected her to? The words of Jonathon Randall echoed in his brain torturing his mind. We've tried everything ... Electrodes had obviously been used to torture her. What kind of state would he find her in? His heart felt the pain of his love’s suffering ... but it hardened with the loathing and contempt for the perpetrators of her torture. They would pay ... and pay dearly. Once he had rescued his Claire and the backup team had arrived to take care of the other triad members at the monastery, he would seek revenge but, in the meantime, he would do whatever it took to retrieve her. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wang Yu and Jonathon Randall had left Andy Ma and Ronald MacNab in the torture room with Claire Beauchamp with instructions to return her to her room but Andy had other ideas. With emotionless eyes he watched the prisoner. Her body hung like a limp rag doll from the rafters. He'd observed how Claire had recoiled at Jonathon's last attempt to make her talk. The episode with the rats had nearly been her downfall, but by far the most explosive method had been their water torture. Before cutting her down and following his orders, Andy decided to try one last time to see if he could make any headway with this woman.

"All right this is the last time that I'm going to ask. Look at me. LOOK! AT! ME!" he yelled his face flushing with the force of his words. Sweat dribbled down Claire's brow into her eyes but she defiantly raised them and stared at the man who had pretended to be a meek musician but was anything but.

"Why did you kill Tony Wong and where is Madame Cheung?" She refused to reply and closed her eyes. "Did you dispose of her too?" Her silence was beginning to get on his nerves. Andy signalled to Ronald MacNab to get the hose ready to spray her as he again threatened to use the electro shock treatment on her.

"Do you have anything to tell me? Anything?" Slowly opening her eyes, Claire tried to focus on her interrogator. She heard footfalls as they brought Ronald MacNab closer to her until he was within her line of sight too. She flinched when she saw what he intended to do.

"Wait!" she uttered, then whispered a little softer, "Wait… wait." Happy that MacNab had done enough, Andy smiled a pleased, malicious smile then menacingly came closer.

"Yes ... I'm listening." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* James Fraser hastened along the corridor but stopped when he saw two triad members who were watching what was going on in the torture room through a glass observation window. The men were preoccupied and didn't hear him approach until Jamie swiftly slammed one man back against the wall. The guard reached for his gun but before his hand could reach his weapon Jamie shot him with his silencer. The impact of the muffled bullet caused the man's body to jerk and fall into a heap on the floor. The second man tried to get a shot at him but the Section operative was aware of the guard's movements behind him. In a split second, he grabbed him by the throat. The man lashed out and somehow managed to wrench away from his attacker. He tried to make a run for it to raise the alarm of an intruder, but taking aim Jamie shot him down. The victim keeled over, his head hit the floor with a thump and blood spilled from his mouth. Returning to the observation window James Fraser peered through it. An anger so profound coursed through his being as his eyes locked on the sight before him. Time stood still while the pulse of rage and the need for blood thrummed like a heartbeat in his chest at what he observed below. There was no mistaking the long brunette hair hanging down around the face of the beautiful tortured woman inside the room. At last he had found her. He had found his Claire but what had they done to his beautiful Sassenach?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hoping that her frail reply had given her some respite from Andy Ma's persistent questioning Claire lowered her head, her chin resting on her chest. Although exhausted, she dug deep within herself for more hidden strength while at the same time bracing herself for what she was about to do. Andy was confident that their hostage would answer his question; however, although he inched closer to their captive, he was wary of her too. He'd seen what she had done to Jonathon Randall and stayed his distance somewhat. Even though Claire Beauchamp looked like a spent force, he didn't trust her. Keeping his gaze on her suspended from the rafters, he singled to Ronald MacNab to have the hose ready just in case she decided to try anything like the last time and in reprisal for him kicking her as well.

Nodding in understanding, MacNab turned on the valve and water gushed out of the hose onto the floor beneath Claire's feet. Andy moved closer. A purposeful gleam appeared in his eyes knowing that finally this woman was about to crack. At last he had the upper hand and his sarcasm was obvious. "You were saying?" Raising her head, Claire eyed him with contempt. In the split second that their eyes met, Andy realised that she was not submissive at all and began lashing out at him again with her feet. Noticing what their hostage had done to his colleague, Ronald doused her in a gush of cold-water causing her to lose her grip and set Claire in a tail spin with the force of the spray. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* James Fraser's shadow ominously fell across the observation window as he saw what was happening below. What they were doing to his Sassenach was more than he could bear. He would wait not one second more. Without a moment’s hesitation he burst through the tempered safety glass window shattering little pebble-like fragments of glass shards every which way as he flew through the air towards the ground like an avenging angel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Suddenly without warning there was an almighty crash. Claire looked up. Her face was dead white, sheened with a cold sweat that had soaked her hair.

"Jamie," she whispered, speaking hoarsely through lips cracked with dryness. She was clearly dazed and every line of her body was eloquent with pain but that didn’t matter now because her Jamie was here. Suddenly her pain was of no consequence for the man she loved had come for her.

Relief. He was here. Andy Ma and Ronald MacNab were startled by the noise and they too turned at the sound of the glass shattering. What appeared to be some kind of apparition had crashed down through the overhead observation window. Shooting at them with guns in both hands the man menacingly floated down as glass fragments, like a ray of light beams, showered all around him. They raised their guns to return fire but were no match for this cold Level 5 operative’s deadly aim. Andy was shot with a direct hit to the heart before he could even fire a shot in retaliation. He fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes wide with shock and with his gun still lodged in his hand. Ronald MacNab had no hope of returning fire. He was caught in Jamie's rampant crossfire as another rapid round of shots felled him immediately after Andy. James Fraser had swiftly taken care of Claire’s two torturers with not one thought for them whatsoever other than to seek revenge for what they had inflicted on his woman. Glancing down at the two bodies that lay below her feet still coupling their firearms Claire exhaled a breathy sigh.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Bending his knees to cushion his fall, James Fraser fell to the floor landing steadily as his feet touched the ground. With guns poised for any other assailant who might appear, he casually stood up. His eyes were focused only on the woman he loved strung up like a piece of meat at an abattoir. As he approached her, he did not take his eyes off of his bold Sassenach for one second. He wanted to see every inch of her injured body and see everything that they had done to his beautiful woman. Moving closer and closer to her, he casually stowed his guns away back in the holsters in his jacket. However, each step towards her was agony especially seeing what the triad interrogators had done to her and what she had endured. “Oh, my god ... Claire ... what the hell have they done to ye?” He whispered trying to ease the choking sensation that formed a lump in his throat.

His stomach too was in knots at seeing her suffer this way while a large ball of ice in the pit of his stomach seemed to grow more intense the closer he came towards her. Jamie's breath caught in his throat in uncontained rage as he looked at his love hanging suspended from the ceiling. He couldn't help glancing towards her and at the damage that the triad's torture techniques had wreaked on her. There was no escape from his feelings. His heart hardened with the contempt he felt for them and their methods. Loathing for the triad and revenge for what they had perpetrated were paramount in his thoughts. As he walked closer and closer, his eyes refused to sever their gaze from his love’s battered body. Claire looked traumatised, distressed and deathly pale. She was alive ... but only just. It only took one look at her to cause a gamut of emotions to rush through his body. Jamie's heart clenched in pain with thoughts of what his Sassenach had suffered at the hands of the vindictive triad and the torture methods of Jonathon Randall. Seething with such loathing and vindictiveness towards this man peppered his thoughts of what he would do to him when he had the chance.

In a voice that he didn’t recognise as his own Jamie declared again, “What has he done to ye? I’m going to kill him for this.”

There was nothing too severe or painful that he wouldn’t do to seek retribution on the man who had hurt his Sassenach. There was nothing that he wouldn’t do to make this man pay for the atrocities he had inflicted on the porcelain skin of his Claire. There was no suffering that would be good enough for Jonathon Randall that would ever be enough punishment for his methods of torture towards his love. He would take great satisfaction in seeing the man suffer exponentially until he saw him take his last breath. Nothing would be more gratifying than witnessing his demise and he would do it even with his bare hands. It wouldn’t be quick but a more protracted slow death that would make Jonathon Randall wish that he had never been born.

Jamie inhaled deeply swallowing back the bile that had risen in the back of his throat. It was impossible to stop the feelings that he couldn't control or deny. If only he could have changed places with her. He would have done anything humanly possible and more for his Claire to have avoided the suffering that she had endured. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Sassenach?”

Claire was near fainting but opened her eyes for a moment at Jamie’s gentle voice. Slowly but proudly, she raised her head to look at him with a tremulous smile on her teary face. Jamie could see the shock in the back of her eyes. Holding her gaze with his own, he came closer reassuring Claire that she was safe at last. His heart thumped erratically against his ribs until at last he stood directly in front of her. He studied her swollen and bruised face intently. His eyes traversed every inch of her features. Claire’s hair was ragged, soaked and dripping in matted tendrils across her beautiful face. Her skin was covered in welts and was laced with black and blue bruises like she had gone fifteen rounds in a boxing match. Seeing her suffer like this was tearing his guts out but the relief at finding her alive was overwhelming. His body's reaction to her overpowered him causing Jamie to be aware of the hot rush of awareness at her nearness. Something he had always tried to suppress time and time again refused to be denied. He fully acknowledged that his feelings for Claire Beauchamp were more than just a painful white-hot desire ... he loved her deeply and unconditionally and it was this overwhelming love for her that seared his heart. Claire looked at him. Shock registered on her face at seeing Jamie materialise before her eyes but when their eyes met, time stood still. She stared back at him in disbelief. His troubled but relieved eyes connected and held with hers as Claire searched his face, caressing his features while making sure that what she was seeing was real. Her beautiful blue eyes reassured him that she was okay despite what she looked like. Jamie saw the relief that was centred there and love radiated in eyes that lingered on his form. Reciprocating, his azure eyes bared his soul to her as well at having found her at last. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Bending down James Fraser gently lifted his love up holding her from behind her legs. "Arrrghhhhh!" Claire moaned as his hands nearly touched her sore ribs. Her head lolled backwards as he raised her arms so that he could unhook her wrist bonds from the overhead hook holding the chains on the beam. Closing her eyes, Claire placed her hand on Jamie's shoulder as her body weight was finally released from her shackles. Ever so gently, he guided her broken and bruised body back down his own. He moved closer and tenderly drew her towards him. Her arms latched about his neck. The connection of Claire’s torso to his was cathartic for he was so thankful that at long last he'd been able to find her alive. Jamie's eyes caressed every inch his Sassenach’s face then her body while assessing her demeanour. He couldn't seem to take them from her. He didn't want to look away. He wanted to see what damage the triad's torture techniques had done to his beautiful, brave Claire, and at the same time he wanted to make sure that she was okay. His eyes lovingly caressed every precious inch of her.

“Mo ghràidh?” he muttered, as his eyes canvassed her beautiful scared face. “I’ve got ye. Ye are safe now,” Jamie said decisively. "That man willna lay hands on ye again, while I live.”

Claire swayed in pain near to fainting. Her eyes closed, as sweat beaded in hundreds of tiny pearls on her porcelain skin … skin that had been marked by the vicious actions of her captors. However, she opened her eyes at the sound of his voice and it was her throaty words that brought his eyes back to her face.

"Jamie ... I'm okay." She tightened her arm on his shoulder for balance as he tenderly lowered her to the ground. Her legs felt like jelly, she could hardly stand, but Jamie supported her weight and held her a moment, looking at her with concern. He continued to caress her face, while her head leaned forward. The smudges under her eyes gave evidence that she had had little rest of late, while the evidence of her interrogators' brutality was written all over her beautiful face. He saw the outward bruises, but what of those within? He thought, “will those ever heal?”

Her eyes were glazed. Claire was teary eyed but not with the pain of her body but with the sheer elation of having him here. Her avenging angel had come for her as she knew he would. When her face fell towards his shoulder, Jamie captured it in his hands brushing her hair away so that he could see her better. He tenderly held her battered face within the palms of his hands while his thumb slowly and repeatedly caressed her cheek over and over, hoping that his loving touch would help kick-start her healing. His fingers gently stroked behind her ears reassuring her that he was here and that she was safe at last. His Sassenach looked at him with half lidded eyes and caressed his blue eyes with glassy eyed emotion. Jamie raised his right hand and traced over her face with fingertips that were as soft as silk stroking her softly. He couldn't stop touching his Claire ... caressing her ... loving her for her bravery and for her doggedness in the face of adversity. The triad and Jonathon Randal especially would pay dearly for what they had done to her. His vengeance knew no bounds. Placing his arm around her, Jamie protectively pulled Claire’s body flush to his own so that she could feel safe and secure. Her eyes looked at him stroking his face in return. He swiftly unfastened her cuffs removing the chains from around her wrists, one at a time. She fell forward exhausted and spent and he cradled her body gently to his own knowing that his Sassenach was in great agony. "I thought Karen was my friend," she uttered in softly spoken words. "Shhh... It doesn't matter now ... yer safe mon nighean donn ... I'm here," he replied his voiced laced with emotion. “Ye have my protection now.”

However, her concern for him was her only thought. "Jamie ... Oh, you should have had backup. You had no way of knowing if I was going to be all right. What if this room was full of triad members? Hmmm? You wouldn't have made it out of here." Her words filled his heart with joy and his reply was just as poignant. "If ye weren't alive, it wouldn't have mattered Sassenach." Opening her eyes, Claire lovingly caressed his features once again as Jamie's reply found a home in her heart too.

“You must get out of here at once. They’ll be back soon.”

“Let them …”

Jamie’s words spoke volumes as to what he was thinking as he hurriedly pulled the remaining chains away from her, flinging them away in disgust. Although his arm was around her waist, Claire was unable to stand alone at the moment. Her feet would not cooperate and she nearly stumbled but he held her tightly refusing to let her fall. Then placing his arm around her waist Jamie bent down and moving with exquisite care lifted her up. Her arms automatically wound around his shoulders and she held on tight. Quickly they made their exit from the torture room as James Fraser carried her upstairs and away from her place of torture and incarceration. He wanted to get his Claire as far away from the monastery as possible ... away from the triad and back to Section One and to Medical, for the sooner she began to heal the better.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued on Friday 24th

#Jamieandclairefanfic #jamieandclairecrossover #jamieandclaireau #covert operations #outlander fanfiction #outlanderandLFN #the lallybroch library

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deanie1987 · 5 years

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THE WEDDING POST!!!!!!!

Okay, I have now watched the episode in full like 8 times and it has been absorbed into my bloodstream and I feel stable enough to finally comment on it. For the most part I loved it and it delivered nearly everything that I wanted, even if it was delivered differently than I hoped for/imagined. There were definitely some missed opportunities I thought, but there really was nothing that I outright hated and I was pleasantly surprised for the majority of the episode. Here are some random thoughts as I was watching:

- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Lip chewing gum is hot as fuck

- I knew I was in for a special episode when Ian showed up in a towel followed shortly by Mickey in a towel. They have been hiding Mickey’s thicc sixpack all season and unveiled it here as wedding gift to the viewers.

- Cam’s line reading of “Mickey” when Liam asked who was going to wear white, sweet baby jesus. Why does it always sound so good coming out of his mouth?

- I love all the brother scenes. Carl clipping his toenails, Ian griping and then Carl wiping them on the floor was hilarious. Although considering it was his room, what does Ian care? But I love that he did. Very anal (no pun intended) big brother vibe there. Liam hightailing it out of the room the second Mickey walked in and headed toward Ian was a mood. The shit this poor boy has seen.

- I also loved everyone asking Ian about his meds, especially Carl. That really got to me for some reason, as did everyone giving the reason that it was going to be a stressful day. Like they weren’t asking to be assholes, they were just concerned and wanted him to have a good day. Little did they know how stressful. I liked that Ian didn’t get made, but you could still sense a tiny bit of annoyance.

- My second notice that this would be a different kind of episode was Mickey asking if Ian took his meds and then touching him gently under the chin and saying “good” in a very, very deep and low voice. Um....holy shit that was beyond sexy to me for some reason. Like I almost felt like I was intruding. The way Ian’s eyes were fixed seemingly on his chest/tattoo and then the way Mickey forced him to look up at him. Wow. Ahem.

- Ian obviously thought it was sexy as fuck too because he yanked him by the hips and grunted and pulled him in for some more caresses. So yeah, this was a lot different than the “hey what’s up bro?” scenes we had been getting. I mean there wasn’t a tongue kiss, but I appreciated it. I also appreciated that Mickey and Ian had no problem not only seeing each other before the wedding but showering together and messing around too. Poor Carl, he needs to take not of Liam’s reaction.

- Along these sexy lines, there is no way that anyone should find the violent biting/hitting scenes sexy. Like no way that Ian saying “you gonna make me hit you again?” and manhandling Mickey’s wrists to the ground and saying “you done?” in a softer voice while straddling him and then throwing the gun to Carl and telling him to get the cuffs, was sexy. And it definitely wasn’t sexy that Mickey finally calmed down and looked right into Ian’s eyes and nodded. Like, no way, we shouldn’t be romanticizing that shit. Okay? Ok. Ahem. Ha Ha 😅

- I could not survive Kev’s keg boot camp, but I will take his comment about Depeche Mode-loving Gen Xers” as a personal shout out because I put their song “Somebody” at the very top of my Gallavich playlist. It is the cheesiest, sappiest song known to man and my girlfriends and I would play it on repeat and get weepy in high school. And it fits Ian and Mickey perfectly and even out cheeses that Ed Sheeran song. See Gen X can do more than irony.

- Obviously I loved Mickey’s handcuffed speech, but I wish that there had been a reference to that terrible cursed episode in season 3. Not the rape, but the fact that Terry forced Mickey to marry a woman and that it basically ruined their lives and set Ian and Mickey on a destructive course. Nearly everything that they went through started with that terrible day. It was definitely subtly reference and I definitely think that Ian was thinking of it, but I wish it had been stated more clearly.

- I love that Sandy was wiling to go to jail to get Mickey his wedding. I love that Debbie was possibly willing to marry Mickey to get him his wedding as well. I definitely loved all of the Gallaghers rallying around to help.

- The tie scene was beyond cute and this was the kind of scene we have been waiting for and both Cam and Noel delivered. I love how sincere Mickey was in this episode and how straightforward and reverent this conversation was. The kid conversation, Ian telling Mickey exactly what he wants and Mickey revising his statement in response. It was a perfect statement and this scene was so intimate. I truly didn’t think we would get this before the wedding so I’m thrilled that we did.

- Why does everyone keep referencing the combination of Mickey and Ian’s genes? Do they know where babies come from? Have they read too many Mpregs?

- I loved the shot of them first arriving and the mention of the chairs. Mickey’s “I like how the gold captures the light” made me giddy. Then the long shot of them sort of taking in their surroundings and the impact of the day. The other shot I liked was them at the alter with a bit of the “deer in the headlights” look. You got me John Wells, you sneaky bastard.

- I loved everything about Kevin this episode even if it is beyond tacky to propose at someone else’s wedding.

- I had to mute the Gay Jesus crows singing “We Shall Overcome” because ugh and cringe, but Ian having a cult at his disposal may come in handy someday. I hope he thanked them and let them glory in his presence for a little bit. I also liked that Carl and Geneva were so familiar with one another. Lol.

- All of Ian’s interactions with his siblings were perfect. I wanted but didn’t get a scene of Ian asking Lip to be best man and also a best man speech (or any speech for that matter) but the “soft motherfucker” scene was adorable and very moving. I love that the only person besides Mickey that we have every seen Ian say ILY to was Lip. That is pretty appropriate and the kisses were sweet too. I, too, am a soft motherfucker and that swell of music to At Last got me.

- I liked how nervous Mickey was walking down the aisle, and I was happy that Sandy was there for him. But I sort of felt that him walking down the aisle on someone’s arm was a little too “bride” for me and I think I would have preferred to see him walk down the aisle by himself while grinning and walking his patented BDE Mickey walk. But his solemnity and serious was an unexpected choice and I appreciate them going with it.

- FRANK!!!! Oh my god that’s where my tears started. I was really hoping for a Frank/Ian scene but his tears will have to do. Wow, I just wish that Ian could have seen them. The utter disdain the two have for one another usually makes me laugh, but it felt wrong to me in this episode, at least from Frank’s side, so I was glad that it seemed that Frank’s emotion got the better of him. I definitely think that the spectre of Monica had something to do with it, but it was there.

- SPEAKING OF MONICA...wahhhhh! My favorite scene I think. It is no surprise that it comes when Ian is watching Frank and is sitting next to Debbie. I”ve already said this before but Debbie was the perfect person for Ian to talk to about this. I love how Ian still calls Monica “mom” and Debbie still called her Monica. And she was right, Monica would have loved everything about that day. Emma Kinney did a remarkable job in that scene, and she looked beautiful. The chemistry of the actors was palpable and it was just so nice to see. I also loved Ian’s slight laugh as he felt himself tearing up and then his choked voice as he said he should dance with his husband. Waahhh. Followed by Debbie’s sweet, sweet smile and then Ian finding Mickey, who had been dancing adorably and looking around for his boy. Then the way that Ian clung to him and collapsed into him, while the perfect and cheesy song played. WAHHHHH!!!

- Also can we give it for Debbie yet again. Not only did she miss the ceremony in order to save the day, but she missed Franny walking down the aisle. That is commitment and sacrifice and we appreciate it!

-I had hoped for personal vows, but I am at least glad that they recited them and didn’t just say “I do.” Once again, Mickey’s earnestness and seriousness surprised and delighted me,

- I loved Ian grabbing Carl on his walk down the aisle. As I mentioned, every scene of Ian and his siblings was character appropriate and I loved this one too.

- Them having 120 people at the wedding was kind of dumb and ridiculous, but I did appreciate how true to life the variety of outfits was at such an event. From ripped jeans to gold lame dresses LOL.

- That last scene of them was cute too. The hand holding, the nudity, the TATTOO again and Ian’s hand hovering near it. Mickey caressing and pinching Ian’s arm, their TWO rings, the hideous room and their tired, happy, sleepy voices. Perfection. I don’t love how Terry’s murderous rage is somewhat played for laughs, but I admit that I did kind of chuckle at their expressions when they heard the tires screech and then the last shot of them looking at one another while the jaunty music cut in. It was very, very, very much like a rom-com.

So there was a lot to absolutely love this episode, but there were a few missed opportunities as well. I mentioned the lack of personal vows/family speeches and lack of any significant Frank/Ian interaction, but other than that the only thing that really bothered me was the lack of any Fiona or Mandy mention. That was actually a huge missed statement and it would have been easy to do. I find it more believable that Fiona would miss the wedding than Mandy, but to not mention either of them was a bad move, IMO. I liked Sandy and the role she played, but she doesn’t make me forget Mandy, show. And the lack of Fiona mention just makes me think JW was being petty toward ER. But beyond that, THEY ARE MARRIED AND HAPPY AND SUPPORTED BY A LOT OF PEOPLE!!! HALLELUJAH AND PRAISE GAY JESUS!!!

#whew #that's a lot #i'm still feeling a lot #is it season 11 yet #gallavich wedding #shameless 10x12

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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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RWBY Recaps: “A Night Off”

So RWBY has this weird thing going on in Volume 7 where it’ll give me a truly horrendous episode and then manage to turn things around just enough so that, despite my frustrations, I quite like parts of the next week’s stuff. That proceeds to get my hopes up, only for them to turn around mess it all up again in the following episode.

What I’m saying is, I should expect next week to be a pretty rough ride.

First, let me chuck out the details I personally loved in this episode that fit better together than spread out across a recap. Namely, treating Oscar like an actual human being. Thank you, Rooster Teeth, for:

Having him continually be involved by monitoring Jaune’s aura levels. (It likewise hasn’t escaped my notice how much he’s been paired with JNR lately. The fandom might get their new ‘P’ after all.)

Giving Oscar some thoughts and feelings beyond just the Ozpin situation. He’s worried about not having his semblance yet. Hark! A characterization!

Nora very kindly firing back with, “Well, I bet we’ll all be jealous when you do.”

Yang using Oscar as a convenient armrest. Granted, Yang hasn’t exactly treated him well enough lately to have earned that kind of casual buddy-buddy-ness, but if the writing is never going to call the group out on their Volume 6 behavior then I’ll take unearned kindness over continued indifference or cruelty

Jaune going out to the movies with Oscar and them both inviting Weiss. I mean, same issue here. Why is Oscar so comfortable and eager to hang out with the guy who attacked him? I wish that we had some acknowledgment that these kinds of things don’t just disappear once someone apologizes. Jaune still hurt Oscar, badly enough to leave him flinching against a wall... and none of that even takes into account Oscar’s supposed hesitation about lying to Ironwood. He should be acting more like Ren, involved with the group yet wary at the same time.

In addition, keep in mind that Oscar is currently living in this happy bubble where everyone has chosen to forget that Ozpin exists. I’m still highly suspicious of how they’ll treat him once Ozpin is out in the open again and Oscar is the convenient scapegoat for their anger. As said though, for now I’ll take it. I mean, look at that smile.

Right. Onto the actual plot.

We open on the aftermath of the Mantle riots, which is somewhat disappointing. I had hoped the group would actually be involved in that, giving them the chance to tackle a situation where brute force can’t be the go-to answer. You can’t punch out desperate citizens or run them through with your scythe. Instead, Ironwood’s men are handling it and we reconvene with the group the next day, election day. For the record, we know it has only been a day---and not longer rioting as I initially assumed---because Weiss comments that her father dropped that bombshell “the day before the election.” Which for me just speaks to how much time must have passed during those training montages. The political parts of this volume couldn’t have happened in any short amount of time.

We’re shown an interview with Hill wherein she quite firmly doesn’t condone the rioting, but admits that there are good reasons for it as well. Her body guard stands very awkwardly in the background in a way I don’t think the shot really needs.

We then segue back into the group training and, like I mentioned above with Oscar, there are a lot of details here that I really enjoyed. Two of which are Weiss creating a mini version of her knight to sneak up on Winter---yes, please show us this kind of creativity in the actual fights---and Nora and Jaune practicing with a rubber ball. Ren is also deep in meditation while all this going on, which raises some questions about how aware of the world he is in this state. Is he able to simply ignore all the commotion, even Ruby flying straight at him? Is he so deep down that he’s entirely disconnected until he resurfaces? If so, does he only meditate like this when he’s 100% sure he’s in a safe place? Would the group be able to wake him if something were to happen?

As you can see, I’m obviously a little too invested in details and world building lol.

Speaking of world building though, we learn a little bit more about semblances here. Namely that, like hinted at in Volume Five and recently with Harriet, all their semblances are “evolving.” Jaune can apparently regenerate his own aura now, much more quickly than he could before. And Ruby...

Okay, real talk. Did I miss something here? It’s entirely possible I did, but if not what even was that conversation between Ruby and Oscar? She flies at the pillar Ren is seated under, divides into three rose petal clusters to get around it, and recombines on the other side. You know, the thing we’ve known she can do for a long while now. Since Volume Four I believe. Except then we get this exchange:

Oscar: Have you always been able to do that?

Ruby: I don’t know. I don’t normally think it through that much.

What are you talking about? Of course you know, Ruby! This isn’t a new technique. And what do you mean by, “I don’t normally think it through that much”? Is the writing trying to imply that she’s done the split thing so instinctively in the past she didn’t even notice she was doing it? I’m just massively confused by this moment. Others have pointed out that the writing tends to make up easy to solve “problems” for the cast to deal with so it looks like they’re achieving some kind of growth. The most egregious example being Ruby’s lack of hand-to-hand in Volume 5, culminating in a single headbutt against Mercury. Notably, this supposed flaw hasn’t resurfaced at all since then. Not even, say, when she’s at a party without her weapon and Tyrian attacks...

This feels like another moment where they just threw out something random to make it look like Ruby is improving alongside with the other, actual developments they’ve managed to think through, such as Jaune’s aura. Which is particularly strange considering Ruby was set up as the one to evolve her semblance. Which will probably still happen... but why paint an old skill as new along the way? It’s just all very strange.

Anyway, we get a nice shot of Ren coming out of his meditation where the whole world is gray like when he activates his semblance. Excellent visual cue as to his emotional state. This continues as Ironwood arrives and the group lays into him about needing to trust Hill. Which is hilarious considering that none of them are currently trusting Ironwood. He points out that common ground can only exist “if she’s open too”---unlikely given the second half of the episode---and Nora is about to challenge that when Ren interrupts, asking about mission assignments. Ironwood announces that they’re getting the night off instead.

Note though how guilty Ruby looks after all that talk of trusting others.

We cut to the girls later that night in their room, listening to the election news and getting ready to go out. It’s all very cute, but I think Nora is onto something regarding how Blake and Yang are always together. It’s so blatantly obvious they’re falling for one another, especially after this episode, and I’m honestly thrilled we’re finally getting some queer rep beyond former villains and minor characters. However, I hope that as Blake and Yang’s relationship develops that the writers don’t completely lose track of their co-dependency issues as well. Meaning, Yang totally wrote Blake off because she “ran away,” AKA went home precisely like Yang did, warping a natural and understandable choice into a personal betrayal. Blake in turn broke down sobbing and promised Yang to never ever leave her again. Separation is not a new issue for them. Their desire to spend every waking moment together is definitely cast as romantic now, but it’s also tied up in their inability to function well without each other. As we saw recently, a throwaway comment about fighting with someone else generates legitimate anger in both of them. Couples have to be able to spend time apart, so I hope the writing eventually lets the girls work through all that as well.

For now though, they’re going dancing with FNKI. Very bad dancing based on what little we see. It’s enough to convince Weiss that the movies are her best choice here. Especially since she’s clearly not interested in Hill’s preemptive victory party. We see a tiny bit of that tension between Weiss’ views and Nora’s, but nothing with any substance. We just keep getting tiny glimpses that Nora is potentially passionate about the people of Mantle before it’s all quickly overshadowed by her romance drama with Ren. More on that in a moment.

The two of them plus Ruby make their way out into the streets where Ren admits that, “We spent so much time worrying about how Ironwood would react to the truth about [Salem], but have any of us even considered how we’re going to beat her if we work past that?”

Ruby reminds them that Jinn told Ozpin he couldn’t destroy her. Nora: “Maybe someone else could?”

It only took you weeks to figure that out! Though I love how this still---still---apparently has no bearing on how they view Ozpin. This was another perfect, quiet moment where three characters, notably three of the least angry characters, could have acknowledged how terrifying this information is. How they still can’t bring themselves to tell Ironwood, a man who thus far has done nothing but support them. Wow, I totally get why Ozpin would have trouble telling us. Oh also, we just realized that maybe Jinn’s information was specific to him. Maybe someone else can destroy Salem. That’s a pretty big revelation. I wonder if Ozpin himself realizes that? We should probably try to talk to him at some point.

It’s while they’re talking about the heavy stuff that Ren mutters about how they should still be training. Nora counters that they deserve a night off and the two of them clash enough to walk off angry. We see now at least part of what’s been bothering Ren lately. Nora is a very bubbly, silly, go-with-the-flow sort of person, whereas he is hyper focused on becoming as strong as possible in the hopes of finding a way out of this Salem mess. He doesn’t want to hear compliments while searching for a geist, or have her playing with his hair while on patrol, or turn training into a conversation about their relationship, or waste time on frivolous parties. There’s obviously a happy medium between Ren’s work ethic and Nora’s relaxed attitude, though they haven’t worked through that at all because they’re too busy kissing. Again, more on that in a second.

They reach the party, Penny is there, Nora and Ren dive into another fight that serves to canonize both them and Blake/Yang. Nora comments about how they’re spending so much time together, Ren observes that they’re at least friends again, and the response is,

Nora: “Friends, huh? Just friends?” Ren: “What else would they be? Nora: “Two people who have gone through so much? I think there’s more going on...”

It’s clear at this point that Nora is talking about them rather than Yang/Blake, but the initial comparison holds. Though she uses them as an in to discuss her own relationship, I doubt she was lying here. She clearly views them as a parallel to her and Ren: two partners who have been through a great deal together and, as a result, have grown to love each other as more than just friends. Those who insist that Rooster Teeth isn’t heading in a Blake/Yang direction don’t have much of a leg to stand on anymore. That ship (ha) has long since sailed.

Ruby sneaks away from their fight though nothing terribly exciting happens. She adorably clings to Penny’s arm. They adorably fist-bump (ouch). Marrow and Hill get into a conversation about making change and whether or not she’ll accomplish that within the bounds of the law. Funny... I thought we saw that very same theme last volume. If only the writing acknowledged that there’s a connection between this conversation and our protagonists. We’re supposed to see both sides of the situation here: Hill’s need to bend the rules once in a while and Marrow’s desire to keep the peace; how the law is a man-mad construct that’s far from perfect and the importance of making change in a way that will stick---namely, legally. Here is a complex look at a morally difficult question and notably both Marrow and Hill are minor characters. It’s only when RWBYJNR is involved that the message moves from ‘Each side has a point’ to ‘Teens are 100% justified in breaking the law and anyone trying to stop them is an evil, crazy racist.’

It honestly astounds me that Rooster Teeth can give us that subtly here but never when it comes to our heroes.

When Ruby finally returns she finds Ren and Nora still fighting. As she snuck off we heard Ren admitting---in the round-about way of theirs, pretending that they’re talking about other people---that he’s worried, there’s a lot going on right now, and basically implying that he doesn’t know how (or doesn’t want) to balance a new relationship on top of all the horrific Salem business. Which, fair. The problem is that they don’t discuss this. Hill’s speech about how they’re always stronger together resonates with Nora and she tries to initiate a conversation, asking Ren to explain more fully what’s bothering him. To talk about it. He admits that talking has never been his strong suit.

I expected this to segue into a cliche, “Well try” moment and we’d finally get Ren and Nora bonding outside of their jokes and silent communication. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Look, I’m all for a renora kiss, but we have got to stop portraying sexual assault as romantic. Because that’s what Nora does here. It doesn’t matter how sure she (or we as the audience) are that Ren will like this kiss in the end. Grabbing someone and kissing them without their consent is sexual assault. Ren has not agreed to kiss her. He hasn’t expressed any desire here to kiss here. He’s completely blindsided by it and is flailing before he gives in.

People will justify this because, again, we all “know” that Ren secretly wants it and will be grateful that Nora got him past his fear. But that’s a terrible message to perpetuate in a world where others insist they also “know” when someone “really” wants them (they don’t) and where kissing or sex is seen as an easy way to supposedly solve problems between a couple. How many times have we seen an angry woman in media essentially told to shut up by a guy kissing her? The message is that her thoughts and grievances aren’t important here. The man knows her better than she knows herself and the second her forces her to start kissing him she realizes that’s really all she needed all along. That trope isn’t redeemed by changing the gender dynamic. Ren clearly has problems with their relationship that he’s struggling to work through. Nora clearly recognizes as much. Yet instead of acknowledging them and overcoming them, she erases any potential development by forcing him into a kiss. I’m sorry, it doesn’t matter how much Ren enjoys it a few seconds in. The continued message that forcing sexual intimacy on someone will fix both their hesitation and your relationship problems has go to stop. Kissing Nora doesn’t magically solve whatever it is Ren has been grappling with for the last six episodes. You know, the stuff they were just arguing about.

Once again, RWBY succeeded in giving me something I wanted, but in a way that severely downplays that enjoyment. I wanted a renora kiss, but not without consent and as a way of ignoring their issues. I wanted more focus on Ren and Nora as a whole this volume, but it would be nice if their characters could exits outside of each other some. Like the criticisms against Blake and Yang, Ren and Nora seem to be a package deal. They don’t fight with anyone else. They don’t go to different activities (why can’t Ren continue training if he’s that focused on it? Let Nora vent her feelings to a friend while he’s gone). They don’t interact with Ruby when they’re out with her. Their arc, it seems, doesn’t exist outside of each other. Which I suppose is better than no development at all, but still.

From then on things devolve rather quickly. While Hill continues her speech---and we see the ever closing gap between her and Jacques---Ruby gets a quick look at Tyrian’s tail before Watts turns out the lights. From there Tyrian proceeds to murder so many people, including attacking Fiona and going after Hill. All the while Ruby and Penny struggle to attack, despite the fact that Penny clearly has night vision and hangs back too long, obviously for plot purposes. It’s when she finally gets him away from Hill that Watts turns the lights back on, making it look like Penny had attacked the crowd and Hill was defending herself from her. I’ll admit, making Penny suitably creepy during the battle helps sell it.

Man do I hate framing plot-lines though. Not in a ‘Rooster Teeth shouldn’t have done this’ sense, just that it hurts to watch people react so badly based on a misunderstanding. This setup works best when there’s no one to refute the assumption. Yet here we have Ruby who absolutely saw Tyrian there, Penny who absolutely saw him with her night vision, Marrow who just made a connection with Hill and took the time to insist, “This wasn’t us, I swear,” etc. We’ve even got really basic stuff like, does Penny have blood all over her blades? Yet based on Hill’s look, all the evidence against Penny being the attacker isn’t going to do much good. Which makes for a more frustrating experience than a sad, yet understandable one.

We end with Jacques thanking everyone for his victory, rigged by Watts. Watts uploads the video of the attack, which has presumably either been altered in some way or just shows Penny in that damning position with her weapons out. If the former, that would at least go a long way towards explaining the inevitable backlash against her. An angry mob in the heat of the moment is one thing, but if Watts is looking to convince the entirety of Atlas that Ironwood is using his robot---a robot the people seem to currently love---to take out his competition, a doctored video of Penny attacking innocent people is far more persuasive. For both them and us the audience, wondering why everyone is this gullible. So far we’ve gotten some truly excellent villainy this year. Let’s continue that with them thinking ahead.

At the very least this should (should) provide us with some excellent development for Penny. She’s long struggled with her status as a robot and being the defender of Atlas seems to have helped her come into herself. Having others accept her differences as a boon will do that. Now that she’s labeled as nothing more than a dangerous weapons again? We should see some inner conflict. The writing didn’t let her or anyone else grapple with her death. For the love of everything, at least let Penny grapple with this.

Finally, Ruby and the others are forced to spend the night defending the city from a ton of grimm. Seriously, take in how many grimm showed up because of an election. Now think about what will happen if Ironwood announces Salem’s existence... I don’t think the cast is admitting to themselves precisely how many lives they’d be sacrificing by pulling that stunt. Ironwood at least (as far as we know) truly thinks he has a shot at winning the war. Ruby has no excuse at this point, with the exception that telling people about Salem is just plain hard.

Insert standard ‘Ozpin was right and they’re being hypocrites’ meta here.

And that’s it, folks! Issues aside, an all around better episode than some of the others we’ve gotten this season. Based off of experience it’ll be a small miracle if RWBY manages to keep that up next week.

Until then 💜

Minor Things of Note

All the people who were arrested the day of the election... do they get to vote? I know Watts rigged things, but potentially keeping everyone that furious with Ironwood from deciding who will oppose him on the council won’t exactly look good... especially combined with the Penny situation. Not that I think RWBY would actually introduce that as a complication. Just a thought.

Another extremely nit-picky thing, but it’s hilarious to me how bare the girls’ room is. Obviously there’s little time or inclination to animate personal items, even the few they have, but it kind of looks ridiculous to have this sterile space with one mirror and one tube of mascara. Here are the exact things we need for this scene and nothing more! I do like that shot in the mirror though.

Fiona getting teary-eyed over Hill being on the council was beautiful. I barely know them, but I like these two.

I’m just gonna post this again...

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #rwby recaps #mymetas

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imaginaryelle · 5 years

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Hi!! I've seen the untamed and A. I love your posts!! B. I was wondering if you'd read the book and maybe had any warnings to give for someone who is ace and would very much not like to read beyond kissing?? And C. Do you have a favorite episode of CQL? If yes then which and why??

Hello hello, I’m so glad you like my posts! I have indeed read MDZS and do indeed have warnings for it. I listed the major ones here in a post when someone asked for a link to the translation (I promise the link is there if you hover over it). I will add spoilery ace-specific warnings (basically a list of the very few chapters and sections to skip) at the end of this post because tumblr is inconvenient about spoiler cuts. But in the meantime, my favorite episode!

My favorite episode of CQL is ep 44 (with a possible option on the first ~24 minutes of ep 45 as well, but mostly ep 44). It has almost everything I love.Wangxian! Wangxian with kids! The kids themselves! Lan Wangji and WeiWuxian standing together! The inherent ridiculousness that is required to happen whenever Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning are within five feet of each other! And of course, Wei Wuxian finally gets to talk back at people for spreading malicious rumors about him and blaming him for every wrong in the world. This ask probably doesn’t require graphics, but staring at these pictures makes me happy so here we go. The highlights:

Okay, on to the ace-friendly content guidelines:

You’re honestly good to go for quite a long time, though you should know that the dynamic is different. CQL has a lot more build-up and, frankly, pining going on that MDZS does. Some of this can be attributed to translation (there are references EN readers won’t catch), and some to the fact that Wei Wuxian is the POV character and he is undeniably an unreliable narrator who barely knows what he himself wants, let alone anyone else. He spends a long time thinking Lan Wangji dislikes him, and not realizing he himself is bi. He also… flirts in a way that is intended to offend, when he’s pretending to be Mo Xuanyu, and some of those situations involve innuendo. It’s just really different for a long time.

Okay, moving on. This story is not really about smut and sex at all. There is some kissing without explicit consent in chapter 69 (Wei Wuxian doesn’tknow who’s kissing him but the audience does). If you want to skip that section stop reading at “After the song finished, Wei Wuxian crossed his arms and leaned against the tree in a more comfortable position. The flute was between his arms, while the flower was still at his chest, emitting a crisp, quiet fragrance.” and skip to “He began to walk randomly around the forest.”(this is in the middle of a paragraph, but the start is just about giving up looking for the person who kissed him).

You might want to skip chapter 95 entirely, and definitely most of it. You maywant to stop reading at “After a hard struggle, Wei Wuxian finally dragged Lan Wangji back to the inn. When the owner saw that they caught two hens in the middle of the night and even gave them to her, her expression almostcouldn’t be put into words” in Chapter 94 (It’s the start of a bath scene that leads into the next chapter). There is one section at the end of chapter 95 where Wei Wuxian begins to confess his feelings after sex if you want to read that. It starts with “Wei Wuxian had buried the things he wanted to ask Lan Wangji inside of him for a long time, too afraid to ask” and does contain some situational references to the sex (they’re on the bed and Wei Wuxian is calming down), and goes through the end of the chapter. If you want to avoid it entirely you can skip straight from the start of the bath scene in 94 to chapter 96 and just know that they’re having major, major miscommunications about feelings.

You should be good from then on until chapter 111 in terms of actual sex taking place. Wei Wuxian references the sex and wanting to sleep with Lan Wangji in chapter 100 as part of the actual confession scene (“I want/wanted to sleep with you”). It never gets more explicit than that phrase, but it’s almost impossible to edit out by skipping text and there’s a lot of plot happening around it.

In Chapter 111, you have some choices. If you don’t want to read references to the kiss in chapter 69, stop at “As he wished, Wei Wuxian was pinned onto the ground and smooched for a long while.” If you don’t mind that reference, stop at “Only a lil’ fuddy-duddy like you would believe me hahahahahaha…” Then you can either skip rest of the chapter, or to “Carefully, Lan Wangji went to kiss him, his movements somewhat clumsy”and read through “Until now, it’d been thirteen years since scab grew over this wound” if you want the story of how Lan Wangji got a brand on his chest to match Wei Wuxian’s scar (this tangent is embedded within the sex scene).

Chapter 112 is really up to your taste, and there’s nothing super plot-relevant you’ll miss by skipping it. There’s no sex, but there are references to the fact that they’re having sex often, and there’s a bunch of teasing that leads tolight bondage and making out before they’re interrupted by the novel’s version of meeting Mianmian and her family. I think that if you want just the Mianmian scene without the references and teasing you can start at “The two parted at once” and end at “Lan Wangji plunged over and finally caught him, holding him tight in his arms as he protested, ‘We have [bowed as in a marriage ceremony], so we already are… [married].’”

Chapter 113 is the conclusion of the main text and is entirely ace-friendly. They’re married! And happy! Joy and looking to the future!

I have not read most of the extras. The last two (125: Lotus Seed Pod and 126: Dream Come True) are the only two I have read, and they are ace-friendly (there’s some pining and kissing and flirting and cuteness, but nothing beyond that). I know that you definitely DO NOT want read the Incense Burner extras (117 and 119). They’re reportedly entirely dream/fantasy smut stuff.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have more questions ^^

#squishybunny129 #mdzs content warnings #dubcon mention #mdzs spoilers #alex replies #tumblr out here murdering photos #as always #chen qing ling #mo dao zu shi #tumblr what was that formatting mess #why

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mia-cooper · 5 years

Text

2019 fanfiction in review

I usually put more effort into pimping my favourite fics of the year, boosting a few new writers in my fandoms, etc. This year, however, I have not, for reasons both within and beyond my control. Which is pretty much my excuse for not Doing Better with writing for the past month or so, but hey. At least there’s this.

.......................................................

1. Best fic(s) you read all year, and why?

How can I even begin to list all the beautiful, shocking, feel-good, feel-terrible-but-in-a-good-way, envy-inducing, page-turning, soul-destroying, fluffy, hilarious, infuriating and horny fics I’ve read this year? I can’t. So I will instead list three that come immediately to mind.

@curator-on-ao3 – The Dismissed Protocol (rated T, VOY, TNG, Janeway & Crusher)

This fic made me angry. So angry that I left a ranty and incoherent comment, slammed down the lid on my laptop and stormed around the house for a bit. Why was I so pissed, you ask? Because this fic hit a good few of my personal triggers around bodily autonomy and the right to make informed choices, and because although the fic ends triumphantly, it’s somewhat of a pyrrhic victory and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Which, considering this is fiction, is the mark of some really good writing. When it comes to tackling difficult topics with a fresh and thought-provoking perspective, and without opting for the easy answers, Curator never disappoints. This story is just one of many examples of that in her work.

@love-in-the-time-of-kolinahr – it will take place without witnesses (rated E, DSC, Pike/Number One)

Okay so let me start by saying it was the author’s fucking EXCELLENT pun of a pseudonym that made me read this in the first place. Then it was the poem they quoted (Discovery by Wislawa Szymborska, which is like a portentous rocket in the guts). Then it was Una’s scales-off-the-eyes, we-are-true-equals, don’t-bullshit-me-lover candidness in the way she sees, talks to, knows Chris Pike. I adore Pike in his laconic-space-cowboy-with-a-heart Disco incarnation, I like him a lot as the CoolDad in AOS, but this fic? This fic gives me smart, forthright, deeply tender Number One, and Pike as the fractured and very human hero I hope like hell we’ll see more of because they are definitely making a Pike series RIGHT? It is written. Anyway… this fic is beautiful and harsh and deft and real and sexy and poetic and at its core it’s about love, and who doesn’t love love?

@captacorn – Stars in a Ruined Sky (rated M, VOY, Paris/Torres)

It took me a while to read this one because CaptAcorn was posting it at the same time I was writing my epic, and I had no brain space to maintain a hold on someone else’s dark and compelling plot. But when I picked this one up, I couldn’t put it down. It is AMAZING. A Timeless AU, set in a universe where Voyager crashed and most of the crew survived, this goes where no other 100k+ epic I’ve read before has dared to tread, and it does so without flinching. The details are what make this unforgettable – there’s no magic reset button, so when something bad happens to the crew, there are actual lasting consequences – but it’s the humanity of the characters (if I can use that word to describe a crew that includes aliens) that makes it unputdownable (fuck off, my nana said that’s a word). This is not an AU I want to think happened, but CaptAcorn makes it one that rings true. And I’ll definitely read this again when I have the emotional fortitude for it.

Wow, there’s no Janeway/Chakotay in my top three. What? So here’s a bonus:

Northernexposure’s trilogy – Soft Light, Aftershocks and Resolution (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay) – three for the price of one! I mean, when northernexposure posts a new fic I race to read it no matter what, but smut! Beautifully written, true to character, sexy sexy smut from one of my all time favourite authors! How could I turn that down?

2. Best fic(s) you published all year, and why?

Mmmyeah to be honest I kinda feel as though my writing peaked in 2017, but here we go.

Desperate Measures (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay and other pairings) – because there’s angst and smut and the plot is twisty as fuck and I feel like there’s a pretty satisfying payoff. And it’s really long and relies on the reader engaging with my OCs which people seem to have done, which makes me think that if I ever do want to go write another original novel, maybe I won’t want to burn it as soon as I’m done.

This Is The Moment (rated M, DSC, Pike/Tyler) – because these two have exhausting chemistry and I couldn’t not write this but it was hard to make it come out of my brain the way I wanted it. But I’m really happy with it.

And I have a soft spot for First Officer’s Log (rated T, VOY, Chakotay & Tuvok, implied Janeway/Paris), because I just really love Threshold, okay? And while the episode is wack on so many levels there are really dark and heavy themes to explore there which I feel have gone very unexplored and I hope my fic struck that same balance between moral philosophy and holywhatthefuckery.

3. Favourite opening line(s) in a fic you published in 2019:

From Bad Maquis (rated M, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay):

The only thing more restrictive – and bosomy – than this outfit, Kathryn mused as she stared at her reflection, was her holodeck governess costume.  

Still, at least she didn’t have to leave her quarters wearing this getup, and thank goodness for small mercies. Because she was on the verge of backing down from this challenge as it was, and Kathryn Janeway did not chicken out. Ever.

I mean, it sets the scene, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t love Janeway in leather.

4. Favourite closing line(s):

This is maybe cheating a little bit because this fic isn’t finished, but this first chapter can stand alone and I won’t be continuing it for some time (first, I have to finish the two prequels, haha). Anyway, these are the closing lines from Inertia (rated T so far, VOY, Janeway/Paris and others):

When the daze clears and Tom looks up to discover that his hovercar is parked in front of an address he’s never visited but has nonetheless memorised, maybe he should feel a little bit surprised.  

He doesn’t. No matter how far he tries to go or how long he stays away from her, turning up at Kathryn Janeway’s door is inevitable.

Why do I like it? Well, I have an everlasting appreciation for Janeway/Paris, for one thing. For another, if you read the rest of the story and understand what Tom has just learned, you’ll want to know what happens next. I hope. I sure want to know.

5. The fic that was best received, and your favourite comment(s) on it:

That would be Desperate Measures again. It’s my longest fic by far and I was absolutely bowled over by the response to it, but one of my favourite comments on it is this one:

It actually looks like Janeway is saying gimme and it cracks me up.

Honestly though… the depth and kindness of comments on that fic in particular, the time and thought and effort that people have put into their reviews … it made up for every moment I wanted to chuck it in and never look at that fic again, or any other.

6. The fic you wish had gotten more love:

Honestly, I was surprised there was so little response to my @voyagermirrormarch fic trilogy, Heaven in the Shape of Hell. I really thought they’d be crowd pleasers, but it shows what I know, lol. I haven’t even finished the third one because the lack of interest made me wonder if they were just really shite, but I’m not so butthurt about it anymore and I will come back to it someday.

7. How many fandoms you wrote for in 2019, and which inspired you most:

Does Star Trek in all its incarnations count as one fandom? If so, I wrote for two (Trek and Marvel). If all the different versions of Trek count separately, I wrote for seven (MCU, AOS (that’s Trek Alternate Original Series, not Agents of SHIELD), Disco, Mirror, Enterprise, DS9 and Voyager).

Anyway, I guess I’ll never stop being inspired by Voyager, so even if Disco season 3 and the Picard show do nothing for me, I’ll always have that.

8. Your favourite pairing(s) to write for:

I mean, Janeway x Chakotay, for sure. But I’m deeply, deeply invested in Janeway x Paris at the moment.

9. What you’re writing now/next:

I’m struggling through the second part of what was supposed to be my contribution to @25daysofvoyager. I’m actually going to post the first part once I’m done with this quiz in the hope it’ll kick my ass into gear. I’m also on semi-hiatus from Kinetic Friction, but I’ll be going back to it as soon as I’m done with my 25 Days fic. At some point after Kinetic there’ll be the sequel, and then the rest of Inertia. I’m also contemplating something for Threshold Day, possibly throwing something into @voytalentchallenge (don’t count on that one), and I have an idea for a pre-Enterprise D, pre-Voyager meeting between Picard and Janeway (with smut, obvs), plus all the other fics I’m definitely going to write …

And of course there’s my meat raffle. Time to pimp that one again. Donate to AO3 and if I draw your name out of the hat of randomness I’ll write you a fic to your specifications (roughly).

10. Writing goals for 2020 (word count? new fandoms/pairings? anything?):

Look, I’d just really like to actually write to some of the prompts I’ve had sitting in my ridiculously complex filing system without getting sidetracked by the newest shiny thing to catch my eye. In terms of fandoms, I hope I’ll write more for Discovery, I’m looking forward to Picard, and I would like to branch out from Trek a bit. More MCU, definitely, and maybe others if I get inspired. The main thing I want out of writing fanfiction at the moment is for it to continue making me happy, though, so I just hope I keep having fun with it.

#miamemes #miawrites #2019 fanfiction in review

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green-blooded · 5 years

Text

Hokay, I'm starting Star Trek: Beyond. Going to rant again... maybe say some positive things here and there. Does McCoy get to be a character in this one? Guess I'm about to find out.

Summary:

(Because he did! And also other words! So there’s still some negativity here, but I liked this one best out of the three movies.)

What.... are these aliens. Why do they look like this. Why are they gargoyles. Why are they attacking Kirk. Why is this happening. Why is this in a Star Trek. Okay. I'm. Trying. Let me enjoy this. Let me try to enjoy this. I will stop being grumpy.

Haha he ripped his shirt okay you got me but if the nipples aren't out it doesn't count.

McCoy is onscreen early in a corridor walk that they could've easily left him out of, so that's a good sign? They were a trio for a second.

Why are they showing all Kirk's uniforms as the same? Where is his fat shirt? This is important to me, okay. Wait, I said I wasn't going to be picky.

Whoa, McCoy has a second scene already!!!!!!!! Oh they're having a whole interaction oh no it's cute. WHY IS McKIRK THE ONLY THING I LIKE IN THESE MOVIES? "You know me, Mr. Sensitive." Oh no he's so cute.

MCCOY'S CONTINUING TO BE IN SCENES AND ARGUING WITH SPOCK. It's still about nothing because these movies don't do deep conflict, but. Y'know. There was a tiny trio moment again. I'm being positive.

Okay, those were a lot of establishing shots for Yorktown, so I hope it's actually important...

MCCOY IS IN ANOTHER SCENE WOW.

Oh yeah this is the one where they kinda let us know Sulu's gay? I forgot about that.

Oh no don't make me cry about nimoy please i don't want to deal with real emotions watching these movies. :(

Some of this does feel vaguely Star-Trek, even though it's still taking place in such HUGE environments that it throws me off. Every room is so POINTLESSLY huge.

Um... we're leaving Yorktown so I'm continuing to wonder if those establishing shots meant anything...

The CMO is on the bridge where he belongs, thank you.

Oh, did they let the lady characters have rank now? Soooo progressivvvve.

Do we really need to completely destroy the Enterprise in every movie? Like. Gosh. Where is Kirk's weird sexual attraction to his ship that makes him want to keep it safe? He's sexually attracted to everything ELSE in this version.

Oh my god are Spock and McCoy getting to do something without Kirk there???!!! ARE THEY CHARACTERS????

Everything is so spaced out on the bridge that Kirk has to be standing at the nav station to talk to someone in another part of his ship???

Newer versions of Star Trek keep putting the "evil" aliens in five hundred pounds of latex and makeup... you don't have to make the aliens less humanoid to make them threatening if you just... write better. Also maybe stop creating evil aliens.

I really have no emotional reaction to seeing the Enterprise being destroyed two movies in a row. I don't even have any emotional attachment to this version of the ship because it looks so stupid inside.

... We couldn't get the red alert sound right? Really?

Too much action too much action too much action. Please give me a story so I can care about what's going on.

Once again the gravity situation shows why the Enterprise shouldn't have such huge interiors... I know I'm going on about that a LOT, but it's one of the stupidest design choices in these movies.

WHY DO THEY THINK WE CARE ABOUT THIS VERSION OF THE ENTERPRISE WHEN THEY HAVE MADE NO EFFORT TO MAKE IT FEEL LIKE HOME OR EVEN A SETTING IT'S JUST A BUNCH OF STERILE LIGHT FIXTURES.

Pointless action sequence with Scotty just... getting out of his escape pod. Cool.

Why put Uhura with an alien race where she could use her linguistic skills and then just have them know English? Sigh. Oh well, at least she's getting a scene to herself. Like she's her own character or something, wow.

Hello Spock and McCoy interacting! Thank goodness for small mercies. But a little less exciting when they have no established relationship to this point, but it's fine.

Oh wow they're having a conversation that could be considered somewhat philosophical. Someone saw a Star Trek episode before writing this!

The hot alien lady seems like a D&D character, but that's fine.

I appreciate McCoy yelling at Spock for collapsing in pain. But like, a caring kind of yell. Good job Urban.

I really do keep zoning out during action scenes. I barely know what's going on in the Kirk scenes because it's just a ton of action that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Like... the character who has already lied... lied again. Wow.

I really would like to have some emotional reaction to characters running around the wreckage of the Enterprise, but I don't. :(

Goodbye pointless alien who screwed everyone over a lot.

"Federation has taught you that conflict should not exist." No, these movies are just really bad at it, latex face alien.

Ooookay, we established Yorktown so we should care that this alien guy wants to destroy it because he hates unity or something. Cool.

Spock and McCoy scene okay. And we directly mention philosophy! Blunt, but cool. Again... it's just hard to get into it because there's nothing established with these characters, since these movies are more into action than character. But that was a good moment between them. Like... McCoy saying he'd throw a party if Spock left doesn't work because we have seen hardly ANY of the banter between them. It's relying on what we've seen in TOS... But Spock laughing was cute.

I like Jayla a lot. She's definitely a Star Wars character, but it's fine.

Lol they had to give us a ship older than the Enterprise to find one that looked a little bit like a Star Trek ship. Sigh. But at least they're doing it.

I love you Karl Urban for trying so hard to sound like you're from Georgia. I forgive you for, y'know, not.

OKAY AGAIN... the "Of course I care..." etc lines are good, but there is NO HISTORY BETWEEN THESE CHARACTERS BECAUSE YOU JUST MADE EVERYTHING ACTION SCENES AND THE ONLY FEELING I HAVE ABOUT THEM CAME FROM DE AND NIMOY.

He just yelled at Spock for collapsing in pain again, which is just the best.

Spock: [dying a lil]

McCoy: DAMMIT SPOCK STOP THAT

Gotta say... I did like the moment where Spock looks to McCoy when Kirk says he needs him to stay alive. All I wanted this whole time was the trio.

Okay, McCoy calling Uhura's necklace a tracking device, then saying that he's glad Spock doesn't respect him--when literally a few scenes ago, Spock said he did respect him--is kinda great. Especially since respect in this scenario is, like, a way of Spock saying he has romantic feelings for Uhura? Beyond is bringing Spones back into the picture, and it's not perfect, but I'll take it.

Scott saying "she's lost people too, Captain" was good. It was real good. There are good moments in this one, thank goodness.

Holy goodness, they're letting Scott be a character too! They're letting everyone be real characters instead of just scene dressing for the Kirk and Spock show!

I appreciate Kirk calling everyone Mr. Whatever and McCoy is just "Bones."

McCoy saying "I'll keep an eye on him" about Spock oh no. Oh no it's cute.

Wow this dumb motorcycle scene is Very CG.

The main storyline of this movie is Also Very Bad, but I can deal with bad plots when there are good character moments.That's why I can watch the worst Star Trek episodes for the most part... So Beyond is capturing the feel of a bad Star Trek episode, which is an improvement from the first two movies.

On the other hand, while I would like to try to judge these movies on their own merit, I CAN'T because they lean on the original series. The Spock and McCoy interactions are just one example where all of the emotion and development was actually in the series, but now I'm supposed to apply it to this version of the characters who have never shown any connection before now. So, I have to compare them to TOS and it's just not going to come out well for AOS in any department but special effects and budget. (And Pine being more likable than Shatner as a person tbh.) Then even the relationships they HAVE developed in the show, like Spock and Uhura, make me feel very little because they didn't develop them well. Again, action scenes take precedence over development, and it makes the entire thing weaker.

But little moments like Kirk going to save Jayla when she thinks she'll be left behind, which calls back on the moment with what Scott said about being a team... that was a good within itself because it didn't rely on anything from the original series without entirely deviating from the spirit of it! I wish moments like that weren't so rare in these movies.

Were all those establishing shots like an hour ago really enough for me to care about what's happening to Yorktown? Not... not really? I mean, it's sad, but. I don't know anything about this place. The only ones I have any connection to are Sulu's family, and that's only because I like Sulu...

AHHHHHHHHHH MORE SPOCK AND MCCOY um... do you see how easy i am to make happy like... i could have easily loved these movies if they'd done a little better

Scott and Jayla are really cute engineering buddies and this is one thing that's 100% AOS that I really appreciate.

This is how I feel when I hear the Beastie Boys too. (Not in a good way. Not a fan.)

Hey guess what I'm about to say! Guess what it is! If you guessed "This action sequence is too damn long" then you get no prizes because it's pretty much a given at this point.

.... Krall is Idris Elba? I could've been looking at Idris Elba this whole time? Stupid latex.

This... reveal makes... no sense? I mean, on the plus side, I guess this means that the evil latex face aliens weren't evil aliens, but bad Humans... Still not great that they use latex to other characters and make them more ~scary~ imo.

Also, this is... basically the same reveal as the Khan reveal, just slightly less stupid because we didn't already know this character like we knew Khan. But they literally did the "different name, and then we find out who they are" thing twice in Into Darkness... seems weird to do it a third time for Beyond.

ALLLLSO I'm really tired of every conflict in these movies being resolved with fighting... isn't the theme of this very movie about how conflict is something we're moving beyond as Humans?

Are McCoy and Spock still just flying around? I'm confused. Too much action has happened and I can't tell who is doing what. I only know Kirk is in danger because people keep saying he is.

Oh, okay, they were still just flying around so they could save Kirk at the last minute. Which is goofy, but okay. Gotta love Kirk continuing to give Spock all the credit when McCoy is the one saving him. GREAT LOVE THAT SO COOL.

Love that Spock's conflict about leaving Starfleet to help his people is literally the exact same in these two movies.

Oh no they're bringing back Nimoy related thing to give me emotions again. Don't do that. You didn't earn my love of Nimoy, movie.

OH NO THERE'S THE PICTURE PART THAT I WAS TOLD ABOUT OH NO MY FEELINGS. OH NO.

Oh, Karl Urban. I appreciate your accent efforts.

....... lol that look Spock and McCoy exchanged about the necklace. Um. Okay. I won't read into that, don't worry, not at all.

HEY HEY HEY THEY LET MCCOY JOIN THE KIRK AND SPOCK SHOW AT THE END WOW THANKS IT'S LIKE IT'S NOT JUST THE TWO OF THEM. AND NOW THEY'RE ALL DOING THE "THESE ARE THE VOYAGES" SPEECH. That's a nice touch.

Okay, this one was the best of the three movies by a lot. Still not. Y'know... great. But they introduced a new character I liked. They had some good Spock and McCoy moments, even if they pretended that the TOS relationship was intact. They let Uhura exist outside of Spock for a while. Scotty got some really great moments. Overall, I'm not as angry as I was while watching the other two!

But now I'm going to watch some TOS, and the next episode I have queued up is Journey to Babel, so. I'm much happier about that. (Yes, this is a call back to the gif I used up top. Look at me, tying things together like a cohesive story would.)

#negativity

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medea10 · 5 years

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My Review of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

#anime review #wotakoi #wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii #narumi momose #hirotaka nifuji #tarou kabakura #hanako koyanagi #naoya nifuji #kou sakuragi

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lia-nikiforov · 6 years

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Fall Anime 2018 Watchlist

We’re about halfway into the season so this is probably kinda pointless by now, but here’s a quick rundown of the stuff I’m watching this season.

Dropped

Jingaisan no Yome: This is a 3 minute show and I won’t spend longer than that writing about it (I’m timing myself). I didn’t know it was a short going in. I’m not really into shorts, Saiki kun being the only exception and the story was less MahoYome and more... i don’t even have an apt comparison, it just was maybe more serious about the “marriage” thing than something with a giant floofball character should be.

Tokyo Ghoul: Re 2: It’s simple. I watched episode 1 and realized I had no fucking clue of how any of this related to the ending of the first season, no idea of who half the characters were and where did they allegiances lie and what is Kaneki even trying to do. Although not loyal to the manga, the first two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul had a story that could be followed and made sense, this, however, is just jumping over plot points with no rhyme or reason and there’s nothing but confusion.

Bloom Into You: There’s nothing actually wrong with this show and I was kind of looking forward to a yuri romance that wasn’t rapey or incesty bullshit, but something about this one just didn’t click with me. Like Touko fell in love with Yuu too quickly, and given Yuu’s ace/aro identity, it would feel weird for her to do a 180 and suddenly fall in love with Touko. I kind of want more fun and emotions in my romance stories and this one didn’t have much of either.

Chopping Block

Given a few things the past two weeks that didn’t go according to plan, I fell behind on my anime watching after keeping it in control for the first third of the season and i’m quite annoyed. And because of this, and my upcoming research trip to Japan at the end of the month, I might end up having to drop a couple of series.

Bakumatsu: Objectively speaking, this show is really bad. The production values are poop, the story is a wacky mess that takes itself a bit too seriously and the characters are flat and uninteresting, the villain is egregiously boring. This show also has Matsuo Basho as a secret tive traveling ninja, and that puts me at quite the predicament. I want to see more of this utterly bonkers historical reinterpretation, but boy do I wish they could make it more exciting.

SAO Alicization: The only reason I, a notorious SAO hater, is watching SAO is because I hate myself. With that out of the way, boy is this SAO boring. We’re four episodes in and the only thing that’s happened is they cut an old tree because nothing can stop Kirito and his new friend, Yellow Kirito. This show needs to start getting offensive and/or stupid soon or i’ll die of boredom.

Karakuri Circus: I hear this one’s from the same mangaka as UshiTora? I love UshiTora and I can see the resemblance between giant guy whose name I can’t remember and Tora. His character and his schtick are so far the most interesting thing to me, with the kuudere puppet girl whose main purpose seems to be to get paired with him having yet to make an impression on me. I’m also still not really certain what the overall plot is. I do love stories about found families, so hopefully I can stick with this one

Hinomaru Sumou: If my watching schedule were normal, this wouldn’t be in this section. Whilst not the best sports show of the season, and chock full of some of the most eyeroll worthy aspects of sports shonen *cough cough* toxic *cough cough* masculinity *cough cough*, Hinomaru Sumou has the fire and passion for an underrepresented sport that’s usually enough to hook me. I just don’t have time, and if push comes to shove, I’ll prioritize other shows over this one.

Banana Fish: Yo, okay, before you lynch me for being a hater or whatever, let me tell you I have zero issues with Banana Fish. I don’t hate it, I don’t think it’s Bad Representation(TM) whatever the fuck that means, I definitely don’t think it’s fujobait or just another BL. It just doesn’t make me happy. This probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I’ve never been a fan of tragedy. It’s also part of the reason I’m dropping Tokyo Ghoul. I don’t like hopeless stories and tragic romances. I’m somewhat spoiled on how the manga ends and each time I find myself less and less inclined to watch the newer episodes because the descent into misery is just not enjoyable for me. It’s not the show’s wrongdoing, it’s just not the kind of story I like. I’m probably too far along to drop it at this point, but also I kinda wish I could drop it because I get so little joy out of it. Also, my main hook is of course Ash and Eiji’s relationship, but 15 episodes in (I’m behind, as is evident) the time they’ve spent together is so minimal, I can’t even appreciate that a whole lot.

I guess I’m watching this?

Dakaichi: Me: Man I really want a yuri anime without rapey bullshit. Also me: watches BL anime with rapey bullshit. I have literally no excuse. I think the basic setup lends itself really well for a romcom and Takato is a very likable character, it’s a shame it’s the same old rapey bullshit. In my defense, episode two was really sweet and I’ve been hoping for more stories along that line, even though the show has failed to deliver them since. Episode 5 may have pushed the line even beyond what I’m willing to tolerate, but it’s unclear. I might end up unexpectedly dropping it after episode 6. HEY JAPAN WOULD IT KILL YOU TO MAKE A BL ANIME THAT WASN’T RAPEY BULLSHIT? JUST ONE?

(honestly, Takato deserves better)

wao episode 6 was maji disgusting i might drop it after all

Fairy Tail Final: I just want closure man. This adaptation retains all the worst attributes of the previous season, terribly slow pacing (what for?! the manga is over!!) minimal animation, recapalooza. The color palette is slightly brighter than before, which I appreciate. Fairy Tail’s last arc wasn’t as bad as Bleach’s, but it was still pretty bad in the manga; still I hope seeing it animated will make it feel less messy and slightly more coherent. The FT anime has also in the past filled in some blanks that existed in the manga, so hopefully they can make the best out of it here.

(Erza is still my wife)

Tsurune: No, this isn’t the best sports anime of this season either. Although that’s hard to judge given how it’s barely on its second (third, i’m behind) episode. Technically, I feel more compelled to drop this than Hinomaru, but also I want to give it a fair chance. That said, the first episode was.... profoundly underwhelming and borderline upsetting, with how everyone put Minato on the spot in spite of his having an actual psychologic condition that drove him away from kyudo. I’m all in for stories about growing and surpassing your own obstacles, but I hope they go about it in a less mean-spirited way. Also, the characters feel pretty shallow so far. I’m not even gonna pretend the main reason I want to keep watching isn’t gorgeous guy with the ponytail-san, because I’m now old enough that I immediately gravitate towards the senseis rather than the teenage protags.

i am so weak to long hair _(:3」∠)_

welp he cut his hair right next episode, thanks for nothing kyoani

In spite of everything, Anime is, in fact, Good

Golden Kamuy: Like with many split-cours, there’s nothing much to say beyond “if you liked the first one, you’ll like this one”. The production values are still tragic, but I think the pace has improved, and the dynamics between the different factions are so fluid and constantly changing they make the story very enthralling. It also continues to have the Best Reaction Faces.

Gakuen Basara: Listen, listen. You all knew I was gonna watch this. And I love Basara so much I still think this show is a masterpiece even when it’s objectively atrocious. I do not reccommend it to anyone who isn’t already a fan (and I mean a blind fan willing to consume anything from this franchise, even in its cheapest, dumbest, worst looking incarnation). That said there are a couple of interesting things, namely the power rivalry between Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, this never happened in the original series because Nobunaga died before Hideyoshi was introduced. Anyway, just shoot that Masamune x Kojuuro fanservice straight into my veins please and thank you

Zombieland Saga: One of the two biggest surprises of the season and one that was nowhere near my radar. An original production by studio MAPPA with perhaps the wildest premiere episode of the season that’s somehow making me like idols?! It’s also giving us the most Miyano Mamoru has ever Miyano’d and it’s amazing and histerical. The characters are also very charming, specially bikegang leader Saki and the always legendary Yamada Tae and the show isn’t scared of letting its cute idols get gross and silly and dirty. There’s also a feeling of mystery that I find very appealing. Definitely didn’t expect this one to be one of the highlights of my week, yet here we are.

SSSS Gridman: Just when I’d vowed a giant fuck you to Studio Trigger, in they come with one of their most quiet productions yet, with characters that speak their lines in soft, leveled voices, tragedies that feel palpable, emotionally climactic battle scenes and a sense of tension and mystery that makes it impossible to take your eyes away. It does have the caveat of oversexualizing the female characters, specially the villain, and not giving Rikka virtually anything to do, but past that, it’s been a very pleasant and intriguing surprise. Also of note, I have no background knowledge of the Gridman tokusatsu series but that hasn’t really been an impediment to enjoy this series.

Double Decker: Doug & Kirill: A spinoff to the 2010 superhero hit Tiger & Bunny, we have a less superpowery buddycop comedy with a cool and diverse cast, whose main character wants to BRING DOWN CAPITALISM, okay, put an end to economic inequality and classes, but that’s basically the same thing. The show is pretty far along because it premiered early for some reason, and so far it’s been mostly one-shot stories very thinly connected to the distribution of the illegal drug Anthem, with our main plot having only come up two episodes ago with the fantastic Zabel and Bamboo Man twist. The dynamics between the main duo are great and Kirill is a riot as a protagonist.

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru: Or Run with the Wind. Now THIS is the best sports anime of the season. Brought to you by the studio behind Haikyu, based on a novel by the author of Fune wo Amu. Firstly I love that it’s set in university, because it gives the cast a lot more variety in their interests, ages and personalities, their goals, their baggage, and it makes the process of bringing this team of misfits together even more interesting to watch. The characters feel very human in the way they speak, their worries, their relationships, their actions. The show’s done a great job so far in building the characters and making them worth cheering for. Also Ouji is my spirit animal. If you ever wanted a show to motivate you into running, this is what you’ve been waiting for! Another great surprise of this season for sure.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo: Finally part Five is here! And in it we get perhaps the most interesting Jojo protagonist right off the bat, with troubled Giorno and his difficult past and his wonderful Stand ability. His new set of allies is also quite eccentric and interesting and every scene and dialogue has that special Jojo flavor of crazy and ridiculous and always a load of fun. This one will have 39 episodes, so we’re barely getting started and I’m already loving all of it.

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2: Urobutcher’s favorite puppets are back with a vengeance! Every bit as fun, insane, cool and over-the-top as the first season, with the added value of the rapport between the characters, evidenced by how brilliant the few scenes in which Shang and Lin share the screen are. With a brand new story that expands the world of our favorite puppets, and even more new gorgeous puppets added to the mix to make Shang’s life a mess, this show is definitely my favorite this season and potentially of the year. Let Urobuchi keep doing puppets for as long as he wants!

ooof i’m finally done. It’s midseason so probably nobody cares but do hmu with your favorite shows of the season and if there’s anything worth hatewatching that I may be missing ;)

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mooncaps · 5 years

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Okay, so I've just finished reading this new Carmilla adaptation novel. I'm not sure if this will develop into a full-on review, but I have a few thoughts.

For the unfamiliar, the novel adapts Season 1 of the 2014 webseries, which itself was a loose adaptation in a modern setting of the 1872 novella written by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. To give a broad and succinct summary: It's about lesbians, mysteries, and vampires.

For the most part, this is a pretty straightforward adaptation of Season 1. It's told from Laura's perspective in a first-person, present tense narration. There's no: "I leaned in. We waltzed around the room. She was so close I could feel her breath." It's all: "I lean in. We waltz around the room. She's so close I can feel her breath." The present tense seemed like a curious choice at first, but it sort of works for keeping the reader with Laura from moment to moment.

The book begins as Laura arrives at Silas, giving a couple of short scenes that weren't in the webseries. This is probably the thing I wanted most from this adaptation: to really add detail to the story. In what ways can the story expand without the conceit that Laura's webcam has to be filming for the audience to see it? What potential is there for storytelling beyond the format of two-to-six minute episodes that are confined to one small set? On this front...I may have set my expectations too high.

With few exceptions, the book goes vlog update to vlog update. Episode to episode, following the webseries. There are a handful of small moments added here and there. Scenes that were only explained to the webcam after the fact now play out in Laura's first-person, present tense narration instead, which is a welcome change. Additional content is generally light, but what's there is appreciated by this reader. There are some extra moments for fans of both Hollence and Hollstein, as well as a few other bits and bobs.

This book still could have benefited from more though. LaF and Perry are still introduced after the blood in the milk container, but introduced as people Laura already knows, and present tense Laura has to explain that she met the two of them in between the moments that are presented to the reader. Danny is mentioned early by Betty, but then shows up later, again introduced as someone Laura already knows and the reader is caught up after the fact. There are so many things that could happen in between the vlog updates, and I feel this novelization by and large misses out on the potential to flesh out the story, opting in almost every instance to follow the webseries beat for beat.

Following the webseries is understandable, though I must say this book seems to rely on the webseries in some ways. There's less descriptive language for people and settings than I'm used to in a lot of the fiction I've read. A modest amount is said about how Laura is feeling from moment to moment, but somewhat less is said about what anyone or anything looks like. This could be a deliberate choice, since Laura is the narrator and the focus is on the things she notices, but it ultimately leaves this reader wishing for more. I know that there's something to be said for leaving things up to the reader's imagination. The descriptions don't necessarily need to go all the way to Lord of the Rings levels. What's here though could almost pass for a middle grade novel, were it not for the occasional "shit," "bitch," and "fuck off" sprinkled throughout.

I wouldn't say it's required, but knowing the webseries is definitely helpful in some ways. I don't know what kind of mental image a reader would conjure about the look of Laura's dorm room or of Laura herself based on the minimal information in this text. I think I did less imagining the scene based on the text and more just picturing the webseries...which I could just watch. In other ways, being so familiar with the webseries felt like a hindrance. I found myself thinking things like "why would they change that line?" or "wasn't there a bit more to that exchange?" It feels like this novelization can't make up its mind about whether it wants to stick strictly to only the established events from the webseries or adjust things and add in extra content. While I appreciate the few new things, they're kind of inconsequential; much of the new content doesn't really deepen the characterization or storytelling. The book does enough to avoid being entirely redundant, but I just can't help wishing it had done more to differentiate itself.

I recognize that many of my hangups are based on my own hopes and expectations. As the saying goes: Your mileage may vary. I'm gonna feel really embarassed if I'm entirely alone in all of these opinions though. For my mileage, I think I would've preferred a third-person omniscient narration that could really delve into the goings on around the Silas campus, with focus on what each of the principal characters were doing and thinking, both during the scenes from the webseries and between them. Another thing I would've liked to see is some acknowledgment of the transmedia content. None of it comes up. At all. Again, I feel like I set my expectations too high. I was kind of hoping that this could be a version of the story that unifies all of that content and threads it throughout the flow of the narrative in a more cohesive, natural way.

I don't want to be all negative and nitpicky here. This is a simple and straightforward adaptation of a story that I really love. Laura's character voice is generally quite strong in the dialgogue and narration. The novel is able to explore some things in thoughtshots and prose that wouldn't really come up in dialogue. The significance of some of the body language is given more prominence. There are areas where this book demonstrates some things that can be done in the text-based format that wouldn't have translated as well (if at all) to the screen. I just wanted it do even more of that.

I really love what this novelization has done for LaFontaine. Season 1 of the webseries leaves the audience to infer some things about LaF's identity, without doing much in the way of explaining or establishing. I know the webseries was trying to build a world where people just are lesbians, or bi, or genderqueer and no one makes a big deal out of it. Season 1 felt a bit too vague about LaFontaine though. I clocked one "them" for LaF in all of Season 1 and it might have even been a plural, referring to both LaF and Perry. The novel is much clearer about what it means that LaFontaine doesn't want to be called Susan. They, them, and their pronouns are used from the moment the character is introduced to the reader. The word genderqueer is used. LaFontaine directly states that they do not identify as male or female. Laura corrects Perry's use of improper pronouns. A lot of this didn't come up until Seasons 2 and 3 in the webseries version. I like that the novel gave clear and visible representation from the start.

That said, I really wish the editor had taken another pass at this, because I did notice three instances of she/her pronouns in the narration. As someone who also uses they/them pronouns, it pulled me all the way out of the story all three times. I'm very tempted to take a pen and mark up the typeset with my awful handwriting just to fix it. And there was one other quirk in the prose that repeated so often it became distracting. When a sentence refers to both Perry and LaFontaine, "her friend" is the go-to phrase. Over and over. A simple "them" or "their" would have been easy enough to follow in most instances. A "LaFontaine" or "LaF" could have been used if a sentence would have otherwise become unclear. "Her friend" made some of the sentences feel particularly clunky and the phrase was repeated enough times that it really started to stand out to me.

Again, I don't want to be all about negativity. This was an enjoyable reading experience. Truly, I hate to be anything but supportive of this, but I do feel that there was a fair amount of room for improvement here. It's good; I just wish it could have been even better.

This novel is a solid adaptation of a rare gem of a story. I feel certain that I'll want to reread this at some point, after some time passes and I can take it as it is, rather than focusing on whether or not it's what I expected or hoped it would be. I look forward to being able to do that as I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more. At the end of the day, I'm excited that this book exists and I'm very happy to have read it.

#Carmilla #long post #my first thoughts on this

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theonceoverthinker · 6 years

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Theme Songs - Worst to Best

With the series winding down and only a few episodes to go, I wanted to look back at the shows four theme songs and share my thoughts. And given how there’s only four of them and lists are fun, let’s make it a worst to best list.

So enjoy...that!

4. You Do/You Don’t Want to be Crazy

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I’m sorry to start this list on a downer, but from the moment I first heard this song, I hated it and that has not changed one bit since it initially aired. Musically and lyrically, it’s ugly, not having a central beat of its own and changing five times in the span of thirty seconds. The four personas relate to Rebecca’s feelings vaguely at best and are more a reflection of society’s views on craziness, giving it an unavoidable distance from Rebecca that the other theme songs just don’t have. it’s too short to really take form in the way the show wants it too. But most importantly, while every other theme song reflects the feelings of Rebecca consistently as they pertain to the entire season, this song only reflects Rebecca during the season’s first four episodes. Following that, Rebecca’s stance on craziness is simply that she doesn’t want to be crazy, but because she takes her diagnosis as “crazy,” it’s something she has to deal with. And any positiveness that comes from her diagnosis is not understood in the show in the same way as it’s understood by the two personas who are for craziness. I will say this though: The sets, costumes, and visuals are fantastic, selling the respective tones they’re going for flawlessly. I just wish they weren’t in this song because they’re so detailed and cool! They all deserve their own numbers!

3. Meet Rebecca!

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Okay, now that that burst of negativity is out of the way, let’s get positive! I think the writers of this theme song really knew what they were doing here. Rebecca’s personality throughout not only the entire season, but in the series as a whole is infused in this song. The complexities of Rebecca’s character -- not just sweet, generous, snarky, sarcastic, but ultimately, like Rebecca herself, too hard to ultimately summarize with just a handful of words -- is both funny and makes for a good introduction to the character (Ultimately what a theme song hopes to accomplish). We see her insecurities as it shows how she’s compared to someone cooler and who seems to have her shit more together. And what I like the most about this theme song is its ending. Not only are other Rebecca’s lines hilarious and something that keeps the theme song fresh every time, but there’s something deeper to it as well. We see this ideal other Rebecca deconstructed from the ultimate cool girl ideal she is set up to be with every building episode while simultaneously through both the theme song and show proper making Rebecca a more complicated and nuance woman -- making her the actual “cool” one of the two. The costuming also shows this contrast -- Rebecca’s colors are a dark and brooding blue (Something normally classified as a cool color, showing a bit of subtlety for the changes that these women undergo as to their portrayals by the theme songs) while other Rebecca is wearing more of a conventionally cooler bright red dress) Finally, the music itself is great -- borrowing from sitcoms from the 80′s and 90′s. The use of horns as well as the introductory nature of the lyrics is a nice callback that completely works and paints the series as the more complex comedy that it is.

What are numbers 2 and 1? Go below the cut to find out because this is getting a lot longer than I expected!

2. I’m Just a Girl In Love

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This is another theme song that I didn’t like upon first hearing it, but that’s more the fault of me loving the original theme song and being given no warning that it would be changed every season. And over the course of the season, it grew on me and by the end of the season, I was regularly singing it and even made a cute video of Trent’s equivalent to the song with my puppy! But anyways, let’s talk about the song itself. This season is very much a spiral for Rebecca’s character and this song perfectly incorporates the uncomfortable feeling both the audience and her friends have because of it. The music is a callback to the old classical musicals that Rebecca loved growing up and to basically one episode ago. Betty Boop always comes to my mind because of the uses of pink, black, and red all throughout the number as well as the 20′s dresses. The lyrics are perfect in that they are a list of how NOT to handle love and they retain this amazing level of absurdity throughout the song. Additionally, I love the focus on the backup dancers during the final few lines of the song, showing a level of disbelief and possible panic on their faces as they sing a song they know isn’t true. AND I like the foreshadowing that comes from Rebecca literally breaking Josh’s heart through her spiral. But the most important point for me is how the theme song was incorporated into the show. While in the first season, that incorporation was played as a joke, that could not be more turned on its head for the second season. Those lyrics are more than just ones she created to cement her love of Josh, but are callbacks to excuses Rebecca’s mother made for her after it was revealed that Rebecca was a former arsonist, the biggest twist of the show by far. The lyrics to an already disturbing, albeit bouncy song become downright horrifying with this revelation and something we enjoyed to a large extent now kind of makes us sick, but in a really good and complicated way! And it makes going back to this song equally complicated and therefore leaves the longer lasting impact.

1. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

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...So throughout numbers 4-2, even when I had bad things to say about the songs, I still HAD more to say about them that was more than meets the eye (pardon the reference).

Buuuuuutt here’s the thing: I don’t really have that for the initial theme song, or at least, not as much as I did for the previous two theme songs mentioned.

So why’s it number 1?

I really tried to justify to myself to put “I’m Just a Girl In Love” as the top spot. It definitely would’ve made me seem smarter for the points made about the number as a whole and would make this list seem more objective than my current choice.

Ultimately though, I couldn’t. But still, let me explain myself, if you will for why I love it.

“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (the song, not the show) is very much “what you see is what you get,” but what you see is pretty freakin’ great!

First, I love the visuals. I ADORE cartoons, the animation for the theme song is simplistic, but clean and fluid all the same. Greg, Josh, Daryl, Heather and Paula look cute in their cartoony designs. And hey! The visuals say a lot about Rebecca’s more simplistic viewpoint on the decision to uproot her life and move halfway across the country, so there’s a hot take for you! The cartoon visuals lack dimension, whereas Rebecca doesn’t, making her the only three-dimensional character in an otherwise two-dimensional world in her more subconscious opinion (I can’t see her consciously thinking that about her friends). It makes her journey to West Covina seem like more of a fairy tale or a sitcom than the big and somewhat consequential choice that it was and has the added bonus of deconstructing that lack of dimension throughout the season.

Second, I love the line “the situation’s a lot more nuanced than that.” I love the line so much that it’s my blog’s header! It’s all at once foreshadowing for the underlying deepness of Rebecca’s character pertaining to her past and insecurities, an excuse that she makes up for being confronted about a very simple yet gigantic life-altering decision made for awkward at best reasons, and a promise to the viewer that the series beyond just Rebecca herself is more nuanced than the title gives it credit for. Besides being a musical, I hear that people are drawn away from this series because of its title, and I think the writers of this song were deftly aware of that. So this singular line -- not sung -- is a plea for new viewers (Something this song can reasonably expect given that its in its first season) to give the show a chance to say more than it initially appears to. That’s honestly downright bold of a show to do and I admire that level of self-awareness on display!

Third and finally, I honestly just like the song. There’s a fun upbeat rhythm to it that I just love clapping along to. The lyrics are fast and get across the general idea of the series in an exciting way. It’s kind of like being on a short but sweet roller coaster. It starts out exciting with the buildup and drop (The story of how Rebecca got to West Covina) and then chugs along the rest of the track, but in a fun way (The lines about how Rebecca’s a crazy ex-girlfriend). it’s the song I sing along to the most and is nice to come back to as a seasoned viewer because -- hey, look how far we’ve come!

()()()()()()()()()()()

So that’s the list! What did you think? Let me know because I literally ALWAYS want to talk about this show and I can’t wait to see how it finishes out!

Anyway, nothing else to say but...BLAM!

#crazy ex girlfriend #cxg #rebecca bunch #rachel bloom #crazy ex-girlfriend #theme songs #worst to best #jenna ranks stuff

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